In providing a service to mobile users, it would be critical to know what types of information they would look for in association with geo-referenced entities that may be extractable from queries or contexts. While understanding high-level user intentions in accessing the Web, such as informational, navigational, and transactional, is useful, a finer-level classification of user interests would further help adapting mobile search results to user intensions. Our research focuses on understanding what aspects of geo-referenced entities are mentioned in user queries in an attempt to create a model for user intents in geo-referenced Web searching. By collecting and analyzing geo-referenced questions posed to operational question answering systems, we delineated major aspects of non-topical information that people would seek in association with geographic information. The identified aspects were further conceptualized to develop a user interest model with three dimensions, which was validated with two sets of data. The model can be a basis for identifying user's intent in a mobile search context as well as classifying geo-related text to be retrieved for its aspectual category.


Pseuado Zn-Al alloy coatings were made by using of dissimilar metal wire arc spraying technology on the surface of the steel Q235 and the H2S corrosion experiment was carried out on the coatings. The corrosion rate was calculated with weight-loss method. The configurations of Zn-Al coatings before and later suffered corrosion were observed with scanning electron microscope, and the coating surfaces were analyzed with energy spectrum. The corrosion potential of the coatings was tested by using the electrochemistry testing system. The corrosion results showed that Zn-Al coatings can protect the covered steel surface and the steel substrate exposing in the corrosion environment. Being processed with pore sealer, the coatings have shown more excellent corrosion resistance.


We present a method for estimating neural scenes representations of objects given only a single image. The core of our method is the estimation of a geometric scaffold for the object and its use as a guide for the reconstruction of the underlying radiance field. Our formulation is based on a generative process that first maps a latent code to a voxelized shape, and then renders it to an image, with the object appearance being controlled by a second latent code. During inference, we optimize both the latent codes and the networks to fit a test image of a new object. The explicit disentanglement of shape and appearance allows our model to be fine-tuned given a single image. We can then render new views in a geometrically consistent manner and they represent faithfully the input object. Additionally, our method is able to generalize to images outside of the training domain (more realistic renderings and even real photographs). Finally, the inferred geometric scaffold is itself an accurate estimate of the object's 3D shape. We demonstrate in several experiments the effectiveness of our approach in both synthetic and real images.


In this work the prominent influence of Particle Stimulated Nucleation (PSN) on the overall process of nucleation and subsequent grain growth is discussed and a global recrystallisation kinetics model is proposed. This model accounts for the effect of the most relevant industrial parameters, such as cold reduction and annealing temperature. Moreover, not only the role of the cementite content, which is function of the nominal carbon content, is included in the model, but also the morphology of the second phase particles. Experimental evidence is given to ascertain the accuracy of the theoretical predictions.


Norovirus (NoV) is one of the most ubiquitous factors contributing to acute gastroenteritis that causes widespread outbreaks in travel industry, military, or healthcare facilities. NoV could lead to serious symptoms and result in severe societal costs worldwide. Surprisingly, there has been no available licensed vaccines, albeit there are ongoing pre-clinical or clinical trials of several candidate vaccines. Development of effective universal vaccines has been found difficult clinically due to the frequent point mutations and a lack of robust animal model and cell culture system. Preclinical studies showed that vaccines with virus-like particles (VLPs) have high immunogenicity and efficacies and were demonstrated to be protective and safe. Recent in vitro research also suggests that human intestinal enteroids can enhance our understanding of protection mechanism and give guidance for vaccine development. Overall, this chapter will give a comprehensive review of the current challenge and progress of clinical findings, efficacy/safety of the developing vaccines, and antiviral drug developments for NoV in clinical trials or preclinical investigations.


Objective: to evaluate the quality of life of hypertensive elderly women in the Family Health Strategy. Method: cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study that evaluated 60 hypertensive older women using the tool World Health Organization Quality of Life with 26 items divided into four domains: social relations, psychological, physical and environment. Results: regarding the quality of life in all domains, except the psychological domain, the quality of life was considered regular. The psychological domain demonstrated a quality of life that needs to improve. Some questions are presented as unsatisfactory, such as the items: pain and discomfort, dependence on antihypertensive medications, negative feelings, lack of health care and recreation. Conclusion: understanding the health profile and the quality of life of hypertensive elderly women allows better knowledge about them and their adaptation to the condition imposed by the disease, offering support for planning care strategies and health education interventions.


Calculation of similarity between corresponding documents becomes a major task in information retrieval from a textual database (e.g., electronic books or electronic dictionaries). The comparison between documents can be conducted by constructing associative feature vectors or set of terms and computing distance between the corresponding vectors or sets. While Boolean distance seems not practical and set similarity cannot handle with the case that some terms are more effective in retrieval than others, statistics of terms in documents is recognized as a good for computing document relevance. However, the efficiency of the calculation is based on only the size of the statistical data while the documents discourse or additional meaning from the structure of text is not considered. In this research, cellular structured space templates are used for building input documents. The concept of the cellular structured space template for specifying the basic layout and semantics of the document is a reasonable compromised between time-consuming manual document retyping process and unavailable totally automated document recognition process. Semantics-based similarity between documents is computed attached calculation of cellular structured vectors which are n-dimensional context vectors of the documents. The experimental result shows the improvement of similarity between relevance documents compared with the normal retrieval methods.


Expressed sequence tags, ESTs, are DNA molecules experimentally derived from expressed portions of genes. Clustering of ESTs is essential for gene recognition and understanding important genetic variations such as those resulting in diseases. In this paper, we present the design and development of a parallel software system for EST clustering. To our knowledge, this is the first such effort to address the problem of EST clustering in parallel. The novel features of our approach include 1) design of space efficient algorithms to keep the space requirement linear in the size of the input data set, 2) a combination of algorithmic techniques to reduce the total work without sacrificing the quality of EST clustering, and 3) use of parallel processing to reduce the run-time and facilitate the clustering of large datasets. Using a combination of these techniques, we report the clustering of 81,414 Arabidopsis ESTs in under 2.5 minutes on a 64-processor IBM SP, a problem that is estimated to take 9 hours of run-time with a state-of-the-art software, provided the memory required to run the software can be made available.


Background The Mexican mandatory year of social service following medical school, or pasantía, is designed to provide a safety net for the underserved. However, social service physicians (pasantes) are typically unpracticed, unsupervised, and unsupported. Significant demotivation, absenteeism, and underperformance typically plague the social service year. Objective Compañeros en Salud (CES) aimed to create an education-support package to turn the pasantía into a transformative learning experience. Design CES recruited pasantes to complete their pasantía in CES-supported Ministry of Health clinics in rural Chiapas. The program aims to: 1) train pasantes to more effectively deliver primary care, 2) expose pasantes to central concepts of global health and social medicine, and 3) foster career development of pasantes. Program components include supportive supervision, on-site mentorship, clinical information resources, monthly interactive seminars, and improved clinic function. We report quantitative and qualitative pasante survey data collected from February 2012 to August 2013 to discuss strengths and weaknesses of this program and its implications for the pasante workforce in Mexico. Results Pasantes reported that their medical knowledge, and clinical and leadership skills all improved during the CES education-support program. Most pasantes felt the program had an overall positive effect on their career goals and plans, although their self-report of preparedness for the Mexican residency entrance exam (ENARM) decreased during the social service year. One hundred percent reported they were satisfied with the CES-supported pasantía experience and wished to help the poor and underserved in their careers. Conclusions Education-support programs similar to the CES program may encourage graduating medical students to complete their social service in underserved areas, improve the quality of care provided by pasantes, and address many of the known shortcomings of the pasantía. Additional efforts should focus on developing a strategy to expand this education-support model so that more pasantes throughout Mexico can experience a transformative, career-building, social service year.


A wet clutch is a device that transfers torque between two shafts via a hydraulic mechanism. Wet clutch control is key to achieve smooth and fast clutch engagements. Optimal control of a wet clutch is not trivial because of the complexity of the system due to nonlinearities, hybrid dynamics and changing dynamics over time due to changing temperatures and wear. Nowadays simple parametrized feedforward controllers are used in industry. The parameters of the control signal are tuned by hand and updated over time by an operator to account for the changing dynamics. Several solutions to the wet clutch control problem exist in the literature, however the structure of the solutions is fixed beforehand and they rely on expert knowledge of the system. Another challenging aspect of wet clutch control is model uncertainty, currently robustness of performance is considered by running a finite number of experiments, but no hard guarantees can be given. In this thesis a method is developed to automatically synthesize controllers for a wet clutch which are robust to model uncertainties. The method uses Genetic Programming (GP) to automatically synthesize controllers. Using GP controllers for a wet clutch can synthesize without fixing the structure beforehand and in a multi-objective way. Robustness is considered by optimizing the worst case performance. To be able to give a guarantee on the worst case performance of a controller a method, that is able to formally guarantee a lower bound on the worst case performance using reachability analysis, is developed. This method is to costly to incorporate into GP and instead a use cheap estimation of the worst performance in practice. This method was able to find robust controllers which outperformed a hand tuned baseline controller, but in order to compare this method to other methods in literature, real life experiments are needed.


In Australia, deaths due to the ingestion of opioid analgesics, though numerically small, have been increasing at a rapid rate. The reasons for this increase are multifactorial; the conceptually outdated legislation that controls prescription and administration of opioid analgesics might be one of them. The stated purposes of the governing statutory instruments include prevention of the improper use of drugs of dependence and protection of the public. However, in order to achieve these aims, the relevant legislation should utilise theories and definitions that are consistent with the medical understanding of the relevant physiology and behaviour, so as to provide a common linguistic and conceptual platform for regulatory and clinical decision-makers. Although Victoria, with its intricate statutory framework for Schedule 8 poisons, is used as an example of an obsolescent approach to the concept of drug dependency, conclusions reached are applicable to other jurisdictions, other scheduled drugs, and all health care practitioners who have the statutory authority to possess and prescribe them.


From 1990 to 2010, the 11 countries of the south-eastern Mediterranean region (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey, hereafter SMCs) recorded
the highest growth rates in inbound world tourism. In the same period, domestic tourism in these countries also
increased rapidly, which is astonishing given the security risks, natural disasters, oil prices rises and economic
uncertainties in the region. Even the 2008 financial crisis had no severe impact on this growth, confirming the
resilience of tourism and the huge potential of the SMCs in this sector. The Arab Spring brought this trend to an
abrupt halt in early 2011, but it may resume after 2014 with the gradual democratisation process, despite the
economic slowdown of the European Union – its main market.
This paper looks at whether this trend will continue up to 2030, and provides four different possible scenarios for
the development of the tourism sector in SMCs for 2030: i) reference scenario, ii) common (cooperation)
sustainable development scenario, iii) polarised (regional) development scenario and iv) failed development –
decline and conflict – scenario. In all cases, international and domestic tourist arrivals will increase. However,
three main factors will strongly influence the development of the tourism sector in the SMCs: security,
competitiveness linked to the efficient use of ICT, and adjustment to climate change.


In situ grafting on surface was developed to modify porous microspheres. Functional monomers were grafted onto the porous microspheres. The grafting yield was up to 54.6%. The self-assembly of functional monomer and L-tryptophan molecules was verified by UV spectrometry. The surface imprinted polymer microspheres (SMIPs) were synthesized based on the in situ grafting on surface. The competitive binding experiments were carried out to assess the recognition. The results showed good selectivity of the SMIPs towards target molecule. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models were applied to description of the experimental adsorption isotherm. The analysis suggested that the adsorbing behavior of SMIPs was in agreement with Langmuir isotherm equation.


Model-based forecasts of future emissions are important tools for finding strategies to reach the Swedish transport policy objective concerning effect on climate and air pollution. In order for the calculated emissions to reflect the actual situation, input data on kilometrage, vehicle types and vehicle ages must be representative of the region of interest. High-quality forecasts of these variables are therefore of great importance when estimating future emissions. This report proposes a forecasting model system for the composition and use of the Swedish car fleet, based on experiences from existing models in the literature. The system operates on two levels, an aggregated (national or regional) level and a disaggregated (household or personal) level. Forecasts of the total number of cars and total kilometrage are provided from the aggregated models whereas the disaggregated models provide the distribution of cars of different types and ages and the distribution of kilometrage over the same classification of cars. These results are then combined to give the final outcomes: the number and kilometrage of cars of different types and ages (A). This document is also available at http://www.vti.se/EPiBrowser/Publikationer/English/R518A.pdf.


Lyons, J. P., Ryder, R. C., Campbell, H., Clarke, W. G., and Gough, J. (1974).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,31, 36-44. Significance of irregular opacities in the radiology of coalworkers' pneumoconiosis. A correlation study of ventilatory, morbid anatomical, and radiological findings 95 deceased coal miners who suffered with simple pneumoconiosis during life was undertaken using the new ILO U/C International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconiosis, which now provides for the occurence of irregular opacities in addition to the classical rounded opacities. The study was carried out with a view to ascertaining the frequency of occurrence and the significance of irregular opacities in coalworkers' pneumoconiosis. Two ϰ-ray films with an average interval of 11 years between them were reported on in each case. The results showed that irregular opacities amounting to category 1 or more were present in 20% of the earlier films and in 48% of the later ones. Exceptionally they occured alone but were usually admixed with classical rounded opacities. Irregular opacities correlated positively with the extent of emphysema and the impairment of FEV1 whereas rounded opacities did not. Possible pathological causes for the irregular opacities are discussed and it is maintained that coalworkers' pneumoconiosis is the most probable one. Finally, it is suggested that the significance of these irregular changes may have been underrated in certain cases hitherto, with consequent underestimation of pneumoconiosis and its related effects. Morphological findings in a typical case showing radiologically mixed irregular and rounded opacities are demonstrated.


The achievement and maintenance of energy balance in cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the central aims of management. Growth retardation in affected children and wasting in CF adults remain major clinical problems. We consider the basis for the energy deficit, examine the spectrum of nutrient imbalance and review the current guidelines for dietary management.


Critical opinions on the methods of innovation policy coordination (New Public Management and governance), which abound recently, especially after the 2008-2009 crisis, are not yet reflected in adequate changes in EU documents determining the implementation of this policy. In EU studies, multi-level governance is the preferred mechanism of coordination. Meanwhile, one of the main reasons of the failure to implement the Lisbon Strategy is rejecting the need for competently functioning public administration capable of long-term thinking. The approach emphasizing that successful implementation of public policies depends on the existence of efficient administration, derived from M. Weber's oeuvre, called the neo-Weberian state. The purpose of this paper is to describe the neo-Weberian state approach compared to other approaches to public management, and to indicate which features of a mechanism for coordinating collective action are used in the design of innovation policy. In order to achieve the goal, the author discusses the process of establishing regional smart specializations in the Malopolskie voivodeship. Next, he matches it with four models of administration: Weber's administration, New Public Management, governance, and neo-Weberian state model. The analysis shows that this process has some characteristics of both the governance model and the neo-Weberian state. One can expect that the neo-Webarian state approach will be considered as an alternative mechanism of coordination in the context of innovation policy planning in the coming years. (original abstract)


Both theoretical arguments and Monte Carlo observations indicate that the topological structure of the QCD vacuum consists of a laminated array of extended, coherent codimension-one membranes of alternating sign. Large-$N_c$ arguments, supported by gauge/string holography, indicate that these membranes are domain walls which separate discrete "flux vacua" with values of the topological $\theta$ parameter which differ by $\pm 2\pi$. This exposes a close analogy with 2D U(1) gauge theory, where $\theta$ can be interpreted as electric polarization, and the domain walls are pointlike charged particles. In 4D QCD, the $\theta$ parameter represents background Ramond-Ramond flux, which can be interpreted as a polarization of the charged membranes in the vacuum. In this framework, the chiral condensate is formed from the quark surface modes on the membranes. Massless Goldstone boson propagation takes place due to a coordination between bulk oscillations of the polarization field $\theta$ and the surface currents represented by the Chern-Simons 3-form on the brane surface. This coordination is enforced by overall gauge invariance which imposes an anomaly inflow constraint between bulk and surface currents.


The mortality of workers from an Ontario factory manufacturing amosite asbestos insulation materials under poorly controlled environmental conditions is reported here. Seven (58%) of 12 deaths among exposed workers 10 or more years after first exposure were due to malignancies; four (25%) were from lung cancer, and there were two deaths from peritoneal mesothelioma. Those dying from mesothelioma were 47 and 49 years of age. Three (25%) of 12 deaths were from respiratory disease, two were attributed to asbestosis (in men 42 and 53 years of ages), and one to pneumonia in a 54-year-old male.


The present work describes the esterification of Moringa oleifera oil (MOO) using ultrasound treatment at a frequency of 60 kHz. The influence of process parameters of esterification such as methanol to oil ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction time on acid value reduction have been analyzed by central composite design (CCD) of Response surface methodology (RSM). ANOVA table indicate the significance of methanol to oil ratio and interaction between catalyst concentration and ultrasonication time. Using Numerical optimization tool, the acid value is reduced to 3mg KOH/g of oil using 2 vol% conc. H 2 SO 4 , 0.4:1 volumetric ratio of methanol to oil in 60 min at 60°C. Meanwhile, the conversion of free fatty acid (FFA) into methyl ester is further confirmed with the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis.


In the present investigation, tomato plants irrigated with treated wastewater were evaluated for their toxicity using short term (acute) animal studies. Male wistar rats fed with tomato plants at the dosage of 150 and 300 mg kgG1 b.wt. for 14 consecutive days showed no symptoms of toxicity. Assessment of haematological parameters such as RBC, WBC, haemoglobin, platelet count showed no significant changes. Plasma and serum analysis also indicated no significant differences in parameters such as urea, AST, ALT, ALP, bilirubin in all the treatments. The present investigations suggested that short term wastewater irrigation in plants do not pose any toxicity to animals. The toxicity depends upon the level of composition of treated wastewater and its transfer to the soil and then plants. Further studies are required to assess toxic effect of long term irrigation with treated wastewater.


Magnetic finishing is a new machining technology. It was widely developed for its high productivity and quality, especially its better flexibility and self-sharpness finishing tools. As a new material, Nd-Fe-B with high magnetic energy makes the internal finishing easier. Being used as permanent magnetic pole to finishing the surface of workpieces instead of solenoid, it makes the structure of magnetic pole more compact and the techniques adaptability better. Internal finishing using permanent magnetic pole is mainly discussed in this paper: a new technology to finishing the middle/small or deep hole using permanent magnetic pole is provided; a new kind of pole is developed, lots of experiments have been completed ,the roughness of internal surface is decreased from Ra0.8μm to about Ra0.3~0.1μm. The data prove that internal finishing using permanent magnetic pole is ideal technology.


Technology is, here, meant as an umbrella concept that finds its location in some dimensions of the school governance such as a practice of scrutiny and a means to develop teacher training, but mostly as part of students' background and expectations to be shared in a co-constructed curriculum. Technologies, nowadays, have been developing a new "world order" where education can cover some of the gaps students can hardly handle by just "living" the digital reality in which they are fully involved also thanks to a continuous online connection aided by the mobile devices. Being autonomous in managing online contacts and information doesn't mean being digitally confident citizens and educational institutions can help identifying personalized and self-regulated learning path where students' needs and potentialities can find in the collaborative construction of the curriculum a common ground which ensure equity of the educational offer and respect of diversity at the same time. Keywords : technology, school, curriculum


Birds reduce their food intake by the exposure to high ambient temperature (HT) which ultimately affects their productivity. However, physiological and behavioral responses of young chicks of different ages to HT have not yet been investigated. In this study, we examined the effects of HT (40°C, 4-h) in 3-, 5-, 7-, 14and 21-d old chicks. There were no significant differences in food intake between heat exposed and control chicks up to 7-d old, while clear suppressions of food intake were observed in 14and 21-d old heat exposed chicks. Body weights were not affected in all age groups; however, rectal temperature was significantly increased in almost all ages. We examined blood metabolites of 7-, 14and 21-d old chicks and found that plasma glucose concentration gradually increased in 14to 21-d old heat exposed chicks. Conversely, triacylglycerol age-dependently decreased during exposure to HT. No significant changes were detected in plasma total protein, uric acid and calcium investigated in 7-, 14and 21-d old heat exposed chicks compared to control groups. However, plasma glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase showed a significant interaction between HT and age, implying that liver and/or heart was damaged by HT with aging. These results indicate that HT (40°C; 4-h) suppresses food intake in young chicks of 14or 21-d old age which reflects in some of their plasma metabolic concentrations.


Several training strategies and temporal models have been recently proposed for isolated word lip-reading in a series of independent works. However, the potential of combining the best strategies and investigating the impact of each of them has not been explored. In this paper, we systematically investigate the performance of state-of-the-art data augmentation approaches, temporal models and other training strategies, like self-distillation and using word boundaries indicators. Our results show that time masking is the most important augmentation followed by mixup and Densely-Connected Temporal Convolutional Networks (DC-TCN) are the best temporal model for lip-reading of isolated words. Using self-distillation and word boundaries is also beneficial but to a lesser extent. A combination of all the above methods results in a classification accuracy of 93.4%, which is an absolute improvement of 4.6% over the current state-of-the-art performance on the LRW dataset. The performance can be further improved to 94.1% by pre-training on additional datasets. An error analysis of the various training strategies reveals that the performance improves by increasing the classification accuracy of hard-to-recognise words.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of proANF-(31--67) on renal function in conscious, chronically instrumented monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). The experimental protocol consisted of a 30-min control period followed by 60 min of peptide infusion and a 30-min recovery period. Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)-(99--126), proANF-(31--67), of a combination of ANF-(99--126) plus proANF-(31--67) was infused at 15 pmol.kg-1.min-1. ANF-(99--126) caused sodium excretion to increase from 12.5 +/- 3 to a peak of 37.9 +/- 10.4 mueq/min, whereas fractional sodium excretion (FENa) increased from 0.69 +/- 0.2 to 2.3 +/- 0.43%. ProANF-(31--67) increased sodium excretion from 12.7 +/- 5 to a peak of 23.3 +/- 9.0 mueq/min and FENa from 0.56 +/- 0.07 to a peak of 1.15 +/- 0.4%. When ANF-(99--126) and proANF-(31--67) were infused in combination, sodium excretion increased from 9.6 +/- 3 to a peak of 5.19 +/- 12.5 mueq/min, whereas FENa increased from 0.97 +/- 0.4 to 3.9 +/- 1.1%. Mean arterial pressure decreased by approximately 10 mmHg in all three groups. These findings indicate that intravenously administered proANF-(31--67) causes an increase in sodium excretion and that when proANF-(31--67) and ANF-(99--126) are given in combination, they act in an additive fashion to increase renal sodium excretion.


This study examined group perceptions as predictors of treatment outcome for 49 adult survivors of father–daughter incest participating in a 10-week group therapy program. Repertory grid measures of clients' perceptions of other group members and leaders in early and late treatment were considered as potential predictors of outcome, with pretreatment symptomatology treated as a covariate. Findings indicated that reduced identification, negativity, and tendency to construe members and therapists in extreme, polarized terms were associated with poorer outcome, defined in terms of social adjustment, self-concept, and symptomatic distress at termination and 6-month follow-up. However, the specific set of predictors shifted over time, with perceptions of other group members playing a more significant role early in therapy, and perceptions of therapists being more predictive of outcome when assessed in the penultimate session.


Background: Measuring contrast sensitivity (CS) allows a better understanding of the visual performance of the human eye. This study aimed to examine the correlation and agreement between the results of two sinewave grating-based CS measurement methods, Metrovision and CSV-1000, in normal eyes.
Methods: This cross-sectional, comparative study was performed between December 2018 and April 2019, at an optometry clinic. Subjects underwent comprehensive ocular examinations, which included pupil reflexes, subjective refraction, external eye examinations, smooth pursuit eye movement assessment, the cover–uncover test, and detailed slit-lamp examination of the anterior and posterior segments. Metrovision and CSV-1000 were employed to assess CS under photopic conditions. The correlation and agreement of the results of the two tests were evaluated.
Results: CS was measured for 104 normal eyes for 3, 6, 12, and 18 cycles per degree (cpd) spatial frequencies (participants' mean age ± standard deviation: 37.3 ± 26.4 years). The CSV-1000 measurements were significantly higher for the 3 and 6 cpd spatial frequencies (both P = 0.01); however, at higher spatial frequencies, CS scores were similar. The highest and lowest differences between the two tests were recorded for the 3 cpd spatial frequency and 18 cpd spatial frequency, respectively. Except for the 3 cpd spatial frequency, in both eyes, the findings correlated significantly between the CSV-1000 and Metrovision (P < 0.05). The narrowest and widest limits of agreement between the two tests were found for the 12 and 3 cpd spatial frequencies, respectively.
Conclusions: The CSV-1000 method estimated CS higher than the Metrovision method, mostly at lower spatial frequencies. Furthermore, the agreement between the two methods was greater at higher spatial frequencies than at lower frequencies. This should be kept in mind when using the two methods interchangeably in visual screening.


— Bottled water has become part of everyone's daily life. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate its influence on the human health and the environment. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the major type of material to be used for water bottles. The PET bottles can in fact affect the quality of water it holds. One major concern is leaching of antimony from PET water bottles. As such, this paper investigated the existence of antimony in the bottled water. Experiments were conducted on exposing water with bottles from different brands at different times and temperatures. After the experiments were conducted, water was tested for antimony using the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS) machine. The results indicated that antimony was leaching from the PET bottles. Longer exposure indicated higher antimony leaching, as was the case for higher temperatures in most samples.


The Commentary on Sefer Yeṣira (Book of Creation), with its pronounced Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic overtones, written by Saadya Gaon in 931, stands out among the other writings of this Jewish theologian (mutakallim), and raises the question of the purpose of its composition. It has been argued that in writing a commentary on this work of letter-speculation, Saadya responded to mythical and mystical trends in tenth-century Judaism, endeavoring to recast this foundational mystical text as a work of rational philosophy. The present article argues that Saadya was also responding to the intellectual challenge of his broader environment, stretching beyond the Jewish community. In some circles in the Islamicate world, letterspeculations, often associated with the sciences of the occult, were presented in this period as the height of philosophy. In particular, al-Tawḥīdī's account of the Pure Brethren and Ibn Masarra's Book on the Properties of Letters demonstrate the relevance of these trends in Saadya's immediate geographic and intellectual environment.


Small states are conspicuously absent from mainstream comparative political science. There are a variety of reasons that underpin their marginal position in the established cannon, including their tiny populations, the fact that they are not considered "real" states, their supposedly insignificant role in international politics, and the absence of data. In this article, we argue that the discipline is much poorer for not seriously utilizing small states as case studies for larger questions. To illustrate this, we consider what the case study literature on politics in small states can offer to debates about democratization and decentralization, and we highlight that the inclusion of small states in various ways augments or challenges the existing literature in these fields. On this basis, we argue that far from being marginal or insignificant, the intellectual payoffs to the discipline of studying small states are potentially enormous, mainly because they have been overlooked for so long.


This paper presents a novel rate allocation scheme to compute the 3D structure of the scene from compressed stereo images, captured by the distributed vision sensor networks. The images captured at different view points are encoded independently with a balanced rate allocation. The central decoder jointly decodes the information from the encoders, and computes the 3D geometry of the scene in terms of depth map. We first consider the scenario of estimating the 3D geometry from the views, compressed using standard encoders, e.g., SPIHT. Unfortunately, we noticed that the depth value is not precisely reconstructed in the low contrast regions or region around weak edges. It is mainly due to the rate allocation scheme, that allocates the bits based on the variance of the coefficients. We therefore propose a rate allocation scheme, where each encoder first identifies the low contrast regions and then distributes the bits such that the visual information in the low contrast regions is preserved. At the same time, the approximation quality in the rest of the image should not be penalized significantly. We adapt the SPIHT coding scheme to implement the proposed rate allocation methodology. Experimental results show that for a given bit budget, the proposed encoding scheme reconstructs the 3D geometry with more accuracy comparing to SPIHT, JPEG 2000 and JPEG coding schemes.


The tripartite account of propositional, fallibilist knowledge that p as justified true belief can become adequate only if it can solve the Gettier Problem. However, the latter can be solved only if the problem of a successful coordination of the resources (at least truth and justification) necessary and sufficient to deliver propositional, fallibilist knowledge that p can be solved. In this paper, the coordination problem is proved to be insolvable by showing that it is equivalent to the "coordinated attack" problem, which is demonstrably insolvable in epistemic logic. It follows that the tripartite account is not merely inadequate as it stands, as proved by Gettier-type counterexamples, but demonstrably irreparable in principle, so that efforts to improve it can never succeed.


UMS can be described as a system that allows for communication between users via a number of communication technologies over heterogeneous network infrastructures[1]. It integrates networking technologies such as Ethernet, ATM, IEEE 802.11, GSM and UMTS alongwith various devices such as laptops, tablet PCs, desktops, mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, fax machines and landline phones. In other words, it allows the users to access their different types of messages by logging into one inbox from these different devices[2]. The user is able to create, modify, access and administer messages belonging to various formats on a single device to which he/she has immediate access. This form of 'anywhere', 'anytime' access to 'anykind' of messages enables the UMS to become ubiquitous and pervasive[3, 4].


Evolutionary Genetics![Figure][1]

Amazonian Heliconious butterflies show incredible diversity in wing patterning

PHOTOS: R. W. R. WALLBANK ET AL., PLOS BIOLOGY 14 , 1 (15 JANUARY 2016)

Butterflies show enormous diversity in wing patterning, so much so that many species can be identified by their wing patterns alone. Differences in gene expression underlie pattern variation between closely related species. To better understand this, Wallbank et al. examined the genetic elements that control the expression of optix , which encodes a transcription factor that determines red patterning in Amazonian Heliconious butterflies. The authors identified two distinct genetic regions that affect optix expression and hence the pattern of colors on the wing. These elements appear to have evolved in separate species but were brought together when these species hybridized, demonstrating that regulatory elements introduced by new species can cause phenotypes to evolve.

PLOS Biol. 14 , e1002353 (2016).

 [1]: pending:yes


In any active safety system, it is desired to measure the "performance". For the estimation case, generally a cost function like Mean-Square Error is used. For detection cases, the combination of Probability of Detection and Probability of False Alarm is used. Scenarios that would really expose performance measurement involve complex, dangerous and costly driving situations and are hard to recreate while having a low probability of actually being acquired . Using a virtual tool, we can produce the trials necessary to adequately determine the performance of active safety algorithms and systems. In this paper, we will outline the problem of measuring the performance of active safety algorithms or systems. We will then discuss the approach of using complex scenario design and Monte Carlo techniques to determine performance. We then follow with a brief discussion of Prescan and how it can help in this endeavor. Finally, two Monte Carlo type examples for particular active safety algorithms (LDW and AEB) will be presented. 2014 NDIA GROUND VEHICLE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM AUTONOMOUS GROUND SYSTEMS (AGS) TECHNICAL SESSION AUGUST 12-14, 2014 – NOVI, MICHIGAN Measuring the Performance of Active Safety Algorithms and Systems Tony Gioutsos Jeff Blackburn Tass International 17199 Laurel Park, Ste 205, Livonia, Mi 48152


Epidemiological studies have provided overwhelming evidence for a causal role of chronic HBV infection in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the molecular mechanisms underlying virally-induced tumorigenesis remain largely debated. In the absence of a dominant oncogene encoded by the HBV genome, indirect roles have been proposed, including insertional activation of cellular oncogenes by HBV DNA integration, induction of genetic instability by viral integration or by the regulatory protein HBx, and long term effects of viral proteins in enhancing immune-mediated liver disease. In this chapter, we discuss different models of HBV-mediated liver cell transformation based on animal systems of hepadnavirus infection as well as functional studies in hepatocyte and hepatoma cell lines. These studies might help identifying the cellular effectors connecting HBV infection and liver cell transformation.


Abstract Objectives Activating germline mutations of the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) are responsible for a rare form of neonatal nonautoimmune hyperthyroidism (NAH). We report the first case of familial neonatal neonatal nonautoimmune associated with c.1856A>G (p.Asp619Gly) variant in the TSHR gene. Case presentation We describe an eight-year-old African-American female presenting with neonatal NAH associated with an inherited heterozygous c.1856A>G (p.Asp619Gly) variant in the TSHR gene. This variant was previously described in one patient presenting with sporadic NAH in adolescence. Our patient was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in the neonatal period. The mother had a history of hyperthyroidism and had thyroidectomy at the age of 4 years. The patient had goiter and elevated free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels that normalized with methimazole treatment; however, TSH level remained suppressed. Thyroid antibodies were negative. The patient also had bilateral exotropia, a trait shared by the mother and may represent a new association. Conclusions Familial neonatal NAH is associated with heterozygous c.1856A>G (p.Asp619Gly) variant of the TSHR gene.


TiO2/ZnO Nanocomposite powders with different Zn/Ti ratios were synthesized via sol-gel method. The as prepared and calcined Titania nanopowders were added to the ZnO sols. Also the as prepared and calcined ZnO nanopowders were separately added to the TiO2 sols. However, in the latter case, the nanocomposite never formed due to the high acidity of the sols. After gelation, the powders were dried and calcined at 500°C for 1h. The phase composition, structure, morphology and optoelectrical properties of the powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV-Vis photospectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The XRD patterns confirm the presence of TiO2 and ZnO crystalline phases in the TiO2 particles/ZnO sol samples. The FESEM micrographs show that TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites heat treated at 500°C were formed with average diameter of about 250nm with 50nm ZnO particles on clusters of 40nm TiO2 particles. It was found that the optoelectronic properties of the nanocomposites were improved according to the UV-Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy.


The present study was performed to evaluate the insecticidal potential of Actinomycetes isolated from the soils of the Dublarchar and Kochikhali, Bangladesh. The actinomycete isolates were identified by various parameters such as colony morphology, spore arrangement, staining, and biochemical reactions. Insecticidal activity of different concentrations of ethanolic extract of the isolates was determined against the second instar larvae of Sitophilus oryzae. The larvicidal effect, in terms of mortality of larvae, of the extracts was determined by counting the number of dead larvae after 24 hours. Ten actinomycete isolates were recovered from the soil sample and one was subjected to identify (Due to potent antibacterial activity) as the species of Streptomyces on the basis of microscopic, biochemical, and staining characteristics. The insecticidal potential of ethanolic extracts, in terms of larval mortality, was found to be dose dependent. The isolate showed a marked insecticidal activity. At a concentration of 24mg/ml, the isolate caused 100% mortality of the larvae. The lethal conc. 50 was found 3.16mg/ml. Isolation and characterization of active constituents from the ethanol extract possessing insecticidal potential are to be investigated. Key words: Streptomyces, Antibiotics and Insecticides.


Introduction – Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with excellent tissue penetration. Systemic use was popularised in the 1950s due to its affordability andease of preparation. It is now rarely used in developed countries due to its significant side effect profile including toxic optic neuropathy.
Case Description – A 68-year-old female presented to a neighbouring eye department with a 2-month history of bilateral visual deterioration, initially thought to be due to cataracts. However, due to the moderate cataract density and visual acuities of 6/60 and hand movements a medical history revealed that she had been taking systemic chloramphenicol for 6 months for chronic septic arthritis following a complicated total knee replacement. Following a normal ophthalmic examination besides reduced colour vision and constricted visual fields a diagnosis of toxic optic neuropathy secondary to chloramphenicol was made. Once systemic Chloramphenicol was stopped, her vision improved to 6/24 bilaterally although subjectively did not return to baseline.
Conclusion – Cataracts are a common cause of visual reduction, however, if the amount of cataract does not correlate with the extent of loss of visual acuity then an alternative cause must be considered. Early recognition of toxic neuropathy is key, as withdrawal of Chloramphenicol often results in improvement of visual symptoms.


Efficient spectrum sharing is becoming more critical as the demand for wireless services increases across many industries and available bandwidth remains scarce. To respond to this need, regulators must understand inter-system interactions in specific spectrum sharing scenarios in order to make informed policy judgments. These decisions are best made through risk-informed interference analysis, rather than worst-case advocacy, as noted by De Vries (2017) and many other scholars. Nowhere is this analytic need more apparent and urgent than the 5.9 GHz frequency band. 5.9 GHz is adjacent to existing Wi-Fi spectrum and a prime candidate to enable highly-demanded wireless broadband services, but it is today allocated exclusively to Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), a technology in development for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) safety and commercial communications. A sophisticated and realistic technical understanding of coexistence between Wi-Fi and DSRC is therefore central to this archetypal spectrum sharing case study – an understanding that, to date, has been lacking, leading to a nearly five-year policy stasis since the FCC initially proposed sharing for this band in 2013. This paper uses radio frequency (RF) engineering and computer science techniques to provide the necessary technical foundation for spectrum sharing policy in 5.9 GHz. Specifically, we use lab-based RF measurements as the foundation for simulation of real-world system interaction between Wi-Fi and DSRC, with a particular focus on how the presence of adjacent channel Wi-Fi impacts the performance of the crash-avoidance safety application of DSRC according to the leading strategy for sharing 5.9 GHz, known as the "re-channelization" plan, which is described further in this paper. Lab-based RF measurements provide actual DSRC performance impacts at different inter-system configurations, which are then anchored to a network and road traffic simulation that captures the behavior of Wi-Fi and DSRC in an actual cityscape with observed vehicular volume and movement patterns. DSRC system architects define its key performance indicator as packet error rate (PER). In this paper we build on PER and define a risk-informed metric called safety alert failure rate (SAFR) which focuses on the failure rate for packets that have an impact on safety outcomes in real world traffic scenarios, consistent with risk-informed spectrum policy analysis. We use an open-source vehicular traffic simulator known as Veins (Vehicles in Network Simulation) to observe the DSRC SAFR for over 20,000 vehicles traveling during rush hour in Bologna, Italy, with the presence of Wi-Fi interference. This approach is data-intensive and enables calculation of SAFR in scenarios where vehicular traffic makes collisions probable – which is the inter-system interaction of greatest concern for spectrum policymakers. In so doing, we provide a path forward for policy in this important frequency band. We observe that DSRC SAFR is not impacted by the presence of Wi-Fi traffic in the adjacent channel. We also observe that the SAFR is above the levels deemed by DSRC architects to be harmful to system performance in the majority of locations simulated; however, since this result is not due to Wi-Fi interference, we conclude that it is most likely attributed to DSRC system instability in high vehicular traffic scenarios. We perform a number of checks to demonstrate the robustness of these conclusions. Our results therefore suggest that regulators can successfully enable Wi-Fi use of the 5.9 GHz band without impacting DSRC safety efficacy. This finding provides the necessary technical foundation for policy in an important frequency band, and provides a valuable case study for rigorous analysis in spectrum sharing scenarios more generally.


Internationally recognized scholars from many parts of the world provide a critical survey of recent developments and achievements in the global field of religious studies. The work follows in the footsteps of two former publications: Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Jacques Waardenburg (1973), and Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Frank Whaling (1984/85). New Approaches to the Study of Religion completes the survey of the comparative study of religion in the twentieth century by focussing on the past two decades. Many of the chapters, however, are also pathbreaking and point the way to future approaches. Originally published in 2004, New Approaches are now available as paperback for classroom use. Also available as a 2 volume set.


Propionibacterium freudenreichii CIRM-BIA 129 (P. freudenreichii wild type, WT) is a probiotic bacterium, which exerts immunomodulatory effects. This strain possesses extractable surface proteins, including SlpB, which are involved in anti-inflammatory effect and in adhesion to epithelial cells. We decided to investigate the impact of slpB gene mutation on immunomodulation in vitro and in vivo. In an in vitro assay, P. freudenreichii WT reduced expression of IL-8 (p<0.0001) and TNF-α (p<0.0001) cytokines in LPS-stimulated HT-29 cells. P. freudenreichii ΔslpB, lacking the SlpB protein, failed to do so. Subsequently, both strains were investigated in vivo in a 5-FU-induced mucositis mice model. Mucositis is a common side effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy with 5-FU, characterized by mucosal injury, inflammation, diarrhea, and weight loss. The WT strain prevented weight loss, reduced inflammation and consequently histopathological scores. Furthermore, it regulated key markers, including Claudin-1 (cld1, p<0.0005) and IL-17a (Il17a, p<0.0001) genes, as well as IL-12 (p<0.0001) and IL-1β (p<0.0429) cytokines levels. Mutant strain displayed opposite regulatory effect on cld1 expression and on IL-12 levels. This work emphasizes the importance of SlpB in P. freudenreichii ability to reduce mucositis inflammation. It opens perspectives for the development of probiotic products to decrease side effects of chemotherapy using GRAS bacteria with immunomodulatory surface protein properties.


Potts (2005) and many subsequent works have argued that the semantic content of appositive (non-restrictive) relative clauses, e.g., the underlined material in John, who nearly killed a woman with his car, visited her in the hospital, must be in some way separate from the content of the rest of the sentence, i.e., from at-issue content. At the same time, there is mounting evidence from various anaphoric processes that the two kinds of content must be integrated into a single, incrementally evolving semantic representation. The challenge is how to reconcile this informational separation with these pervasive anaphoric connections. We propose a dynamic semantic account that accomplishes this by taking appositive and at-issue content to involve two different kinds of updates to the Context Set (CS). Treating the context set as a distinguished propositional variable, p cs , we argue that appositives directly impose their content on the CS by eliminating possible values assigned to p cs . In contrast, we treat at-issue assertions as introducing a new propositional dref and proposing that p cs be updated with its content, subject to addressee's response. In addition to capturing the behavior of appositives in discourse, we show that the account can be extended to capture the projection of appositive content past various sentential operators.


The superhydrophobicity and the strong solid-liquid adhesion of the dually structured ZnO surface are attributed to the suitable size of microstructure and nanostructure. This phenomenon, so different from the Lotus effect, can be called the Petal effect— the super hydrophobicity and the enhanced solidliquid adhesion coexist on the same surface. The Cassie impregnating model was proposed to understand the underlying reason.


This article is concerned with how we might go about theorizing the roles of nonhumans (technologies, animals, etc.), and their associations with humans, in the production of 'social data'. Drawing on recent sociological work on heterogeneity, the article explores how nonhumans contribute to the emergence of both the 'microsocial' and 'macrosocial' as complex patterns of ordering and disordering. These patterns are exemplified with reference to a 'disastrous interview episode'. With the aid of such concepts as parasite, preposition and co(a)gent, the disastrous interview episode is interpreted in three ways to show how nonhumans must be disciplined in order to allow the emergence of social data; how nonhumans' 'misbehaviour' can be understood in terms of their 'hybridic' associations with humans; and how the interaction between hybrids mediates such macro entities as universities and corporations. Finally, in conclusion, some of the broader implications of this analysis for sociological practice are considered.


ABSTRACT Three depositional facies occur on the outwash fans of Fountain Stream and Alder Stream, which presently drain portions of the Malaspina Glacier along the northeastern Gulf of Alaska. Deposition of longitudinal bars occurs during high-flow stage and consists of plane-bedded, imbricate, very poorly sorted pebble and cobble gravels. The sediment of the bars decreases in mean size downstream. Some bars terminate in avalanche slip faces of poorly sorted, silty, medium to coarse sand. Paleocurrent directions suggest that stream flow diverges across bar surfaces. Deposition in channels occurs in two morphologically distinct areas, riffles and pools. Sediment deposited in pools consists primarily of ripple cross-laminated, poorly sorted, silty, medium to coarse sand, commonly capped by draped lamination. Ripple crests vary from straight to cuspate. Sediment in riffles consists of gravel laid down under upper flow regime conditions as transverse ribs and stone cells. Both apparently are relict antidune bedforms. During late-stage flow, thin patches of horizontally bedded sand are deposited between transverse ribs and adjacent stone-cell borders. The longitudinal bar facies and channel pool facies are common in cutbank sections. The channel riffle facies was not recognized in cutbank sections. Scour pits, commonly observed on some bar surfaces, are produced by currents scouring around grounded ice blocks. Ice-block trails are produced by ice blocks dragged through soft sediment. Neither of these sedimentary structures have been reported in the literature. If found in ancient sediments, both structures would indicate a nearby source of ice.


This article analyzes allegations of fraud and deception in two popular evangelical Christian "mommy blogs" in order to demonstrate how the rhetoric of authenticity in social media plays a central role in the formation of online communities. I argue that a personal religious blogger together with her readers constitutes an ongoing public conversation and community, one that is held together by a kind of belief or trust in the truthful representation of the blogger and her story. When a blog claims to be a story about the power of faith, hope, and miracles, it can be read and understood by its devoted readers as "evidence of things unseen," that is, as a representation of the evidence of authentic religious faith and practice shared by the community. On the other hand, if credibility is doubted, the blog may become the focus of allegations of deception, leading to the creation of new forms of online community. These cases highlight the importance of attending to claims of credibility and authenticity as constitutive of religious practice and community formation in social media and in the academic study of religion more broadly.


Background Based on anecdotal and observational evidence, we hypothesized that the prevalence of cervical musculoskeletal disorder (C-MSD) would be high among plastic surgeons. A questionnaire review was undertaken to test this hypothesis. Ergonomic assessment was undertaken to assess causal factors of C-MSD. Method An anonymous questionnaire recording demographics, physical symptoms and behavioral responses to C-MSD was distributed to UK Plastic Surgery consultants. The postural impact of wearing loupes was assessed using motion capture techniques and recording cervical muscular activity. Results The questionnaire response rate was 81%. The prevalence of cervical spine morbidity was recorded as 32%. Employment implications included 28% of the cohort requiring sick leave. The professional impact was 7% permanently modifying their practice. There were 2 factors significant for C-MSD, the surgeons' age and the duration in hours of wearing loupes per week. Ergonomic assessment of surgeons operating in loupes demonstrated: 1. increased forward and lateral cervical flexion; 2. increased cervical muscular activity to maintain the protracted "head forward" posture; and 3. prolonged static posturing to maintain head position for visual focus. Table height adjustment and variation of loupe working distance can reduce neck flexion. Conclusions Cervical morbidity is a prevalent problem among plastic surgeons. Long procedures, static postures and neck flexion result in the "head forward" posture. This posture exaggerates when operating with loupe magnification. Early-middle-aged consultants are more prone to cervical morbidity hence afflicted when at the top of their game. The work force is diminished for a potentially avoidable morbidity. Rather than accept this morbidity, co-operation between plastic surgeons and ergonomist may help to reduce injury.


Suppose we have a set of sensor nodes spread over a geographical area. Assume that these nodes are able to perform processing as well as sensing and are additionally capable of communicating with each other by means of a wireless network. Though each node is an independent hardware device, they need to coordinate their sensing, computation and communication to acquire relevant information about their environment so as to accomplish some high-level task. The integration of processing makes such nodes more autonomous and the entire system, which we call a sensor net, becomes a novel type of sensing, processing, and communication engine. The sensor net architecture presented in this article starts from a high-level description of the mission or task to be accomplished and then commands individual nodes to sense and communicate in a manner that accomplishes the desired result with attention to minimizing the computational, communication, and sensing resources required. Much work remains to be done to refine and implement the relational sensing ideas presented here and validate their performance. We believe, however, that the potential pay-off for the relation-based sensing and tracking we have proposed can be large, both in terms of developing rich theories on the design and complexity of sensing algorithms, as well as in terms of the eventual impact of the deployed sensor systems.


Adaptation in spatially heterogeneous environments results from the balance between local selection, mutation, and migration. We study the interplay among these different evolutionary forces and demography in a classical two-habitat scenario with asexual reproduction. We develop a new theoretical approach that goes beyond the Adaptive Dynamics framework, and allows us to explore the effect of high mutation rates on the stationary phenotypic distribution. We show that this approach improves the classical Gaussian approximation, and captures accurately the shape of this equilibrium phenotypic distribution in one- and two-population scenarios. We examine the evolutionary equilibrium under general conditions where demography and selection may be nonsymmetric between the two habitats. In particular, we show how migration may increase differentiation in a source–sink scenario. We discuss the implications of these analytic results for the adaptation of organisms with large mutation rates, such as RNA viruses.


Living in the City of the Dead. A research-action project for an exceptional informal habitat - The article focuses on one of the most suggestive and controversial habitats of the Cairo megalopolis, the 'City of the Dead', as the vast areas of monumental cemeteries are collectively termed. Over time they have actually become a true and genuine 'city' within the city, inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people. It is a slum according to some definitions currently in use, but a very particular slum which is host to both a huge and special historical and architectural heritage and at the same time to a residential environment which is unique of its kind, in which a heterogeneous local society maintains the City of the Dead 'in life', by means of a specific residential culture linked to the sepulchral nature of the places. A research and action project intends to try and deconstruct the negative and destructive images currently adopted by Cairo's urban planning policies for this urban environment. It does this by exploring the possibilities of a more detailed portrayal from different viewpoints in order to stimulate action to conserve and enhance the City of the Dead that is based on recognition of its value given by the ineluctable links between the monumental necropolis and the living environment.


The effect of corn grain harvested at 87%DM or harvested at 70%DM ground and ensiled were evaluated. Diets contained different roughage sources, either corn silage (20% of the diet DM) or sugarcane bagasse (12% of the DM). Thirty two Santa Gertrudis bulls with initial average age of ten months and initial average weight of 245 kg were fed an adaptation diet for 33 days. After that period four animals were slaughtered to obtain initial body composition. The other 28 animals were allotted to the four treatments for a 124 days experimental feeding period. The experimental design was randomized blocks in 2 X 2 factorial arrangement (two roughage sources X two corn grain sources) with seven replicates, testing the following treatments: corn silage+high moisture corn (Si-MU); corn silage+dry corn grain (Si-MS); sugarcane bagasse+high moisture corn (Ba-MU) and sugarcane bagasse+dry corn grain (Ba-MS). There were no interactions between roughage and grain source for any variable evaluated. Corn silage was superior than sugarcane bagasse for daily empty body gain, and for deposition rates of all chemical components and energy. High moisture corn increased fat and energy content in the gain as well as the rate of lipid deposition. Data demonstrated that sugarcane bagasse is a poor roughage source in high concentrate diets when compared to whole plant corn silage. Results are also consistent with an increase in net energy content of ensiled corn grain.


We present the first short-duration candidate microlensing events from the Kepler K2 mission. From late April to early July 2016, Campaign 9 of K2 obtained high temporal cadence observations over a 3.7 deg2 region of the Galactic bulge. Its primary objectives were to look for evidence of a free-floating planet (FFP) population using microlensing, and demonstrate the feasibility of space-based planetary microlensing surveys. Though Kepler K2 is far from optimal for microlensing, the recently developed mcpm photometric pipeline enables us to identify and model microlensing events. We describe our blind event-selection pipeline in detail and use it to recover 22 short-duration events with effective time-scales teff < 10 d previously announced by the OGLE and KMTNet ground-based surveys. We also announce five new candidate events. One of these is a caustic-crossing binary event, modelled in a companion study. The other four have very short durations (teff < 0.1 d) typical of an Earth-mass FFP population. Whilst Kepler was not designed for crowded-field photometry, the K2C9 data set clearly demonstrates the feasibility of conducting blind space-based microlensing surveys towards the Galactic bulge.


The article aims to provide a comprehensive description of the legal order of the General Government (1939–1945) and thus systemize the sources of the reconstruction of legal norms used in the processes of applying the law in the studied area. The analysis will be focused on issues related to jurisprudence and extra-legal axiologies to which the law in the General Government was subjected. The article is based on a comprehensive approach to the law of the General Government. It describes the creation of law in the GG (where it came from), the application of the law, and the factors that influenced this process. The presented characteristics provide the basis to describe the synthetic features of the GG's legal order. It also argues that the German authorities deliberately created a politicized, colonial, uncertain, unclear, and racist legal order in the GG. Despite emerging from the sources of European civilization (including the legal one), the Nazi German legal order in the General Government was a contradiction of legalistic principles, guarantees, and values developed over the centuries. Therefore, the term "legal (dis)order" should be considered a proper definition of the described phenomenon. The article uses the research methods appropriate to jurisprudence and to interpreting historical sources.


Abstract:The revolutionary process in Egypt since 2011 has not only mobilized masses in Egypt, but has also led to a massive politicization and polarization of Egyptian communities abroad. Women from different generations became active in the protests claiming their agency to participate in changing their country. Cyberactivism became a particularly important vehicle for women to participate politically in the revolutionary process. This paper looks at transnational political networks in Paris working to influence politics in Egypt in the (post)-revolutionary phase between 2011 and 2013 with a special focus on women. An analysis of 30 informative-narrative interviews and several popular Facebook pages of diaspora networks reveals how women participated alongside men in transnational mobilizations in Paris, and how they experienced and lived these moments as they took part in their struggle. Several factors shape the political participation of women in this diasporic context, the gendered character of Egyptian migration to France itself, an inner fragmentation and politicization among women and finally, women's broader understanding of politics blurring the traditional boundary of public and private. Contrary to assimilation theory, most participating women are not marginalized or poorly educated immigrants, but are on the contrary well educated and socially well connected.


It is widely recognized that sustainable land management practices (SLM) are much needed for improving land-based livelihoods of 2.5 billion people living in the dry areas across the globe. Adoption and effectiveness of SLM depend on specific contexts. The high contextual diversity over global drylands makes (1) uniform blanket policies promoting SLM less effective and (2) the synthesis and upscaling of site-based successful lessons difficult. We propose the functional context type (FCT) approach to overcome these challenges by grouping common biophysical, economic and social drivers of land use adoption and change into distinct context types that shape SLM adoption and resulting primary productivity and efficiencies. The drivers selected for analysis were based on a literature review. We identified and mapped context types using spatial cluster analysis with global data. The functionality of the derived context types were evaluated by unbalanced ANOVA that measured and tested the differences in primary productivity and rain use efficiency among the context types. The testing of the types' function regarding SLM adoption will be the subject of follow-up studies at regional or national scale, where adoption data are available. Our initial result demonstrates the potential of the FCT approach to further our understanding of the role of socio-ecological contexts in SLM, and management of the contextual diversity. The results can be used by SLM-oriented projects/programs and citizen scientists to improve their targeting. For example given limited resource and aims, we can know approximately where efforts should be focused by managing, or coping with what drivers. The result can also be used as an extrapolation domain: given SLM outcomes in a number of project sites, we can identify where similar intervention options have a potential of success based on contextual similarity.


Generic sentences (e.g., "birds lay eggs") express generalizations about kinds, in contrast to sentences that express facts about specific individuals or sets of individuals (e.g., "all birds lay eggs"). Although generics are pervasive in natural language, there is no unique linguistic marker of genericity, making the identification of generics a challenge. We investigate the morphosyntactic cues that listeners use to identify whether a sentence should receive a generic interpretation or not. We find that two factors – the definiteness of a sentence's subject NP and the tense of the sentence – are extremely important in guiding intuitions about whether a sentence should receive a generic interpretation. We argue that the importance of these factors can be explained by taking generic interpretations to arise due to a failure to ground expressions as referring to specific entities or events.


This paper presents an adaptive control technique for the variable series capacitor (VSrC) using a recurrent neural network (RNN). Since parameters of the controller determined by genetic algorithm (GA), which is one of the optimization algorithms, are optimum for only one operating point, it is possible not to realize good control performance against variations of the operating point and fault point. Then, the adaptive controller proposed in this paper consists of the optimum controller using GA and the recurrent neural network (RNN). As the RNN is learned on-line, robust control performance can be realized in various conditions. The effectiveness of this control method is verified by simulation results of a multi-machine power system.


A small-scale microwave convective dryer was built to study the effects of microwave power level, air temperature, and air velocity on drying kinetics, temperature development, and specific energy consumption (MJ/kg evaporated water) using statistical designs. Increased microwave power had a large significant effect on moisture loss and temperature development and it reduced specific energy consumption. Increased air temperature and air velocity increased specific energy consumption, as their effect on drying kinetics was smaller in the system used. Low air temperature slowed the drying process, without affecting the relationship between average sample temperature and average moisture content during drying.


Storage of video information is experiencing rapid growth as digital broadcasting services have developed. This has rapidly increased video data storage requirements in DVD and hard disc recorders in recent years. We design a video summarization tool for personal video recorders. This tool provides a video summarization function to grasp the original long video content quickly. This tool is with a two- level redundancy detection procedure. After the video parsing step, it removes redundant video content with the hierarchical agglomerative cluster method in the shot level. Impact factors of scenes and key frames are defined, and parts of shots are selected to generate the initial video summary. Finally a repetitive frame segment detection step is used to remove redundant information. We have developed a prototype model and tested this tool on TV series, movies and cartoons data. The experiment results are given to illustrate the proposed tool.


Psychotic symptoms are infrequent in multiple sclerosis (MS) and their relationship to cerebral lesions has not been clearly documented. The case of a 58 year old woman with secondary progressive MS is presented. She had acute delirium with persecutory delusions associated to paresis of her left leg. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain disclosed an active lesion in the left hippocampus. The patient was treated with risperidone and megadoses of methylprednisolone, with dramatic improvement. Clinical and radiological data in this patient suggest that psychotic disorders can be symptomatic of a relapse in MS and, therefore, susceptible to be treated with steroids.


Aims My Medication Passport (MMP) is a booklet and app developed to allow recording of medications and allergies, aiming to improve patient involvement in conversations about their medicines and bridge possible communication gaps between primary, secondary and tertiary care in prescribing. Medication errors are relatively common in children as prescribing is often dependant on age, weight or body surface area. Our aim was to evaluate the potential use of MMP in the paediatric population by asking patients and parents if they if they would find MMP useful and issues they had experienced in inpatient and outpatient prescribing. Methods All children were recruited from hospital in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Inclusion criteria were patients aged between 0–17 years, regularly taking one or more medication. After consent was obtained, patients and families were given a questionnaire assessing whether parents or patients would find MMP useful, as well as other questions about problems they had experienced with medication prescribing in hospital and the community. The content of the initial surveys were designed with input from patients, parents, pharmacists and doctors. They were generated using an online survey tool and subsequently exported to Excel. Results 15 patients and families were consulted. The median age of the patient was 10 years, and median number of medications was 6. 80% of patients and families consulted said they would find MMP useful. All of these said they would store a list of medications on the app followed by 87% using it for dose information and 73% for medication frequency. Only one patient would use the app for information about medical conditions. Importantly, 20% of the sample asked had experienced incorrect medications being prescribed when in hospital. Conclusions MMP shows potential in the paediatric age group. It could help encourage patient and parent involvement in medication management as well as reducing errors in prescribing. A further study involving a larger number of patients and families, pharmacists and doctors would be helpful in assessing specific changes that need to be made to the existing passport to adapt it to a paediatric population.


We theoretically investigate the Zitterbewegung (ZB) behavior of electrons in the Bernevig—Hughes—Zhang model with a short laser pulse. To obtain a steady picture, we fix the electron on the Landau levels with a magnetic field. The ZB motion and the electromagnetic radiations in the quantum spin Hall regime are given. We find that over a shorter time, the electromagnetic radiations show a quasi-classical cyclotron oscillation, while over a longer time, they exhibit a clear revival picture. The resulting revival time and excited electric field are large enough to make experimental detection accessible.


International pork trade has not only been influenced by trade agreements but also altered by consumer perceptions on disease-infected animals. This study uses a gravity model with fixed-effects to investigate how pork trade is affected by foot-and-mouth disease among 186 countries. Results confirm that pork export falls when an exporting country develops FMD. Exporters with a vaccination policy have larger negative impacts than those with a slaughter policy. Further, pork importers that develop FMD and institute a slaughter policy will import more pork, but importers with a vaccination policy import the same level of pork. In order to retain a position as a top pork exporter, a slaughter policy is often a better choice than a vaccination policy.


Hoarding, which includes the excessive acquisition of, and inability to discard, numerous possessions, is a debilitating mental health condition and is associated with significant family dysfunction and burden on family members. Currently, little is known about the effect that family members have on individuals" hoarding symptomatology and functioning, and vice versa. Thus, the present study examined the nature and frequency of family accommodation (i.e., the process by which family members participate in hoarding symptoms or modify personal and family routines in response to an individual"s symptoms; Calvocoressi, Mazure, Stanislav, et al., 1999), in 52 individuals with self-reported hoarding problems and their close significant others (CSOs; i.e., intimate partner or family member). Participants completed the Family Accommodation Interview for Hoarding (FAI-H), which is an 11-item clinician-rated interview that was adapted from a previously validated measure for this study, and a series of self-report questionnaires. The FAI-H was found to be a valid and reliable assessment of accommodation in this hoarding sample. Most CSOs reported engaging in at least some accommodating behaviours; however, CSOs who lived with the individual with the hoarding problem engaged in accommodating behaviours more frequently than those who did not live with the individual with the hoarding problem. More than half of the CSOs endorsed hoarding participant-driven, as well as personally-driven motivations for engaging in accommodating behaviours, and believed that their accommodating behaviours were reasonable or helpful for both the individual with the hoarding problem and themselves. Family accommodation was positively associated with hoarding symptom severity, relationship conflict, CSOs" rejecting attitudes toward the individual with hoarding problems, relationship problems, impairment in activities of daily living, and hoarding participant-rated anger. Family accommodation partially mediated the association between hoarding symptom severity and relationship conflict, averaging across hoarding participants and CSOs, and between hoarding symptom severity and impairment in activities of daily living for individuals with hoarding problems, but not CSOs. Results of the present study further elucidate the role of accommodation in hoarding, and increase our understanding of the interpersonal processes that may play an important role in problematic hoarding.


Across Europe we see faith-based organizations (FBOs) getting involved in the policy field of immigrant integration. The interweaving of the policy fields of religion politics and immigrant integration is particularly delicate in systems of religionstate cooperation. Here, FBOs and state actors build on each other to fulfil certain tasks. This paper explores how FBOs are involved in the field of immigrant integration and which techniques of government are being used. Drawing on empirical case studies from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the paper shows that religious communities fulfil multiple roles as civil society actors, as religious representatives or as migrant associations. While similarities occur due to comparable structures and institutions, observed differences are the consequence of different constellations of suspicion and trust between FBOs and state actors.


As organic agriculture evolves from a movement to an industry, the organic label is increasingly disconnected from the founding spirit of organic, which is now more associated with the broader term sustainable agriculture. Increased competition due to the "commodification" of organic agriculture poses challenges to sustainable organic farmers in the Northeast U.S. This paper discusses the options for creating and maintaining niche markets by providing information on "process" attributes to consumers who wish to support a more sustainable food system, including labeling alternatives and the role of government. It concludes with a discussion of the prospects for this movement and research needs for the future.


A large amount of [3H]GABA was bound to crude synaptic membrane fractions of rat, by sodium-independent process in a medium that contained 100 microM [3H]GABA used for assaying GABA uptake site. This [3H]-GABA binding was different from receptor binding of GABA. It was confirmed that this sodium-independent [3H]GABA binding scarcely occurred in the presence of a physiological concentration of sodium chloride, and that sodium-independent GABA binding had a negligible influence on sodium-dependent GABA binding.


This paper considers the objectives of accurate stereo matching, especially at object boundaries, robustness against recording or illumination changes and efficiency of the calculation. These objectives lead to the proposed SemiGlobal Matching method that performs pixelwise matching based on Mutual Information and the approximation of a global smoothness constraint. Occlusions are detected and disparities determined with sub-pixel accuracy. Additionally, an extension for multi-baseline stereo images is presented. There are two novel contributions. Firstly, a hierarchical calculation of Mutual Information based matching is shown, which is almost as fast as intensity based matching. Secondly, an approximation of a global cost calculation is proposed that can be performed in a time that is linear to the number of pixels and disparities. The implementation requires just 1 second on typical images.


ABSTRACT This paper examines the role of six European certification firms attempt to position themselves in China's offshore wind industry. We find that European certification firms lack attention to local needs and struggle with differences in risk perceptions. Chinese companies, on their part, stress the importance of first-hand experience rather than foreign involvement in project development, making the efforts of European certification companies redundant. We conclude that the Chinese development strategy is in opposition to established European certification practices: from a Chinese perspective, the European approach looks like over-engineered project development, whilst in China, taking risks and gaining access to necessary experienced and 'independent' knowledge is seen as a precondition for developing the offshore wind industry.


Local governance, interpreted as the active involvement of the local population in ensuring improved quality of service and leadership at the local level, involves greater participation by civil society in decision-making processes. The paper examined women's participation and the prevailing gender issues in local governance in Nigeria. Analysis in the paper derived from an empirical study of gender issues and women participation in local governance at Amuwo-Odofin Local Government in Lagos State and Ilorin West Local Government of Kwara State. Qualitative methods such as focus key informant interviews, personal observation and focus group discussions were used to generate data for the study. The study discovered that the Nigerian society, operating largely on patriarchal sentiment, allocates sensitive and powerful political posts for men and deliberately marginalises women at the local level. Also, in the absence of a gender policy, planning and budgeting did not target gender equity goals and women's rights and empowerment programmes were hardly implemented at the local level. Given the devolved nature of governance in Nigeria, the paper concluded that local government represents an important political space that can strengthens good governance by ensuring that women's interests are represented in policy making and service delivery. Keywords: Gender issues, local governance, women empowerment, women participation


A $[k,n,1]$-graph is a $k$-partite graph with parts of order $n$ such that the bipartite graph induced by any pair of parts is a matching. An independent transversal in such a graph is an independent set that intersects each part in a single vertex. A factor of independent transversals is a set of $n$ pairwise-disjoint independent transversals. Let $f(k)$ be the smallest integer $n_0$ such that every $[k,n,1]$-graph has a factor of independent transversals assuming $n \geqslant n_0$. Several known conjectures imply that for $k \geqslant 2$, $f(k)=k$ if $k$ is even and $f(k)=k+1$ if $k$ is odd. While a simple greedy algorithm based on iterating Hall's Theorem shows that $f(k) \leqslant 2k-2$, no better bound is known and in fact, there are instances showing that the bound $2k-2$ is tight for the greedy algorithm. Here we significantly improve upon the greedy algorithm bound and prove that $f(k) \leqslant 1.78k$ for all $k$ sufficiently large, answering a question of MacKeigan.


The objective of system security planning is to improve protection of information system resources. All federal systems have some level of sensitivity and require protection as part of good management practice. The protection of a system must be documented in a system security plan. The completion of system security plans is a requirement of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources, Appendix III, Security of Federal Automated Information Resources, and Title III of the E-Government Act, entitled the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), The purpose of the system security plan is to provide an overview of the security requirements of the system and describe the controls in place or planned for meeting those requirements. The system security plan also delineates responsibilities and expected behavior of all individuals who access the system. The system security plan should be viewed as documentation of the structured process of planning adequate, cost-effective security protection for a system. It should reflect input from various managers with responsibilities concerning the system, including information owners, the system owner, and the senior agency information security officer (SAISO). Additional information may be included in the basic plan and the structure and format organized according to agency needs, so long as the major sections described in this document are adequately covered and readily identifiable.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how the interplay of individual-level resources and culture affects entrepreneurs' propensity to adopt social value creation goals.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 12,685 entrepreneurs in 35 countries from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, it investigates the main effects of individual-level resources – measured as financial, human and social capital – on social value creation goals, as well as the moderating effects of the cultural context in which the respective entrepreneur is embedded, on the relationship between individual-level resources and social value creation goals.FindingsDrawing on the resource-based perspective and Hofstede's cultural values framework, the results offer empirical evidence that individual-level resources are relevant for predicting the extent to which entrepreneurs emphasise social goals for their business. Furthermore, culture influences the way entrepreneurs allocate their resources towards social value creation.Originality/valueThe study sheds new light on how entrepreneurs' individual resources influence their willingness to create social value. Moreover, by focussing on the role of culture in the relationship between individual-level resources and social value creation goals, it contributes to social entrepreneurship literature, which has devoted little attention to the interplay of individual characteristics and culture.


While data regarding school violence are gathered on a regular basis, noticeably missing from the literature are incidents that involve violence directed toward K-12 teachers and school leaders. The scarce evidence that does exist regarding this phenomenon suggests that this population is targeted more often than one may think, and they suffer from great harm as a result of various violent behaviors such as harassment, verbal threats and intimidation, bullying, property offenses, and physical attacks. Since very little is known about violence that is directed toward K-12 teachers and school leaders, there is a significant need for more research in this area in order to provide a more comprehensive view of school violence and to develop policies and formulate effective solutions. Addressing these issues will not only allow teachers and school leaders to perform to the best of their abilities, but school environments will be safer so that learning can take place without the interruption of violence.


Trademark law's failure to function doctrine focuses on whether certain words or symbols are used and perceived as a trademark that identifies and distinguishes the source of products in the marketplace. If certain matter fails to function as a mark due to its inherent nature or the manner in which it is used, it cannot be registered or protected under trademark law. A phrase, design, or product feature may be denied registration under failure to function doctrine on the ground it is merely informational or ornamental matter or otherwise fails to function as a mark for this product. Examples include the words I LOVE YOU for jewelry, a swastika symbol for fabrics used to make flags and other textiles, and a peppermint scent and flavor for medicine.

Like trademark law's requirements that marks be distinctive and non-functional, failure to function doctrine can promote fair competition and freedom of commercial expression. Yet this separate doctrinal tool is rarely used by courts and has only recently been used more frequently at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In the past, the USPTO has registered some words or symbols that would likely be classified as "inherently distinctive" on the Abercrombie distinctiveness spectrum, but which are arguably not functioning as trademarks that provide source-identifying product information. Examples include the phrases LIFE IS GOOD and I ♥ NY for T-shirts and other apparel. These words conveyed a non-source-identifying message before the phrases were adopted as marks and arguably fail to function as marks when displayed prominently in large letters on the front of clothing. As such marks have been registered for more than five years, they cannot be cancelled on failure to function grounds. Moreover, if the registrant's right to use the mark is incontestable, the mark's validity cannot be challenged in litigation on the ground that it fails to function as a mark.

This paper proposes that Congress add failure to function and lack of distinctiveness as grounds for cancellation of a mark at any time (like generic terms and functional matter) and also revise the Lanham Act to allow accused infringers to raise these defenses in litigation even when a mark becomes incontestable. Congress should also amend the Lanham Act to explicitly permit third party use of another's mark in a functional, ornamental, or informational manner as a defense to a trademark claim. Courts and decision-makers at the USPTO should always consider whether a phrase, design, or product feature claimed as a mark is actually used and perceived as a trademark, and be more willing to apply failure to function doctrine when the matter does not function as a mark due to its inherent nature or the manner in which it is used. These changes and other reforms of the Lanham Act suggested in this paper will protect expressive values and better promote competition and trademark law's other goals.


Aim: Hyperuricemia and urates crystals deposition which lead to acute gout are responsible for inflammatory processes and possibly oxidative stress. However uric acid has been described to have both oxidant and antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to determine if there is an oxidative stress in acute gout in Cameroonians.
Methods: We made a case control study on 60 Cameroonians subjects including 30 people with acute gout and 30 other free of gout with same age and sex. Oxidative status where evaluated with 4 markers: Malondialdehyde, Catalase, Glutathione Peroxidase and Superoxide Dismutase.
Results: Acute gout was associated with high levels of Malondialdehyde, but no difference was observed between the other stress markers in the groups.
Conclusion: Acute gout patients have oxidative damages to lipids which could play a role in the pathogenesis of diseases associated with gout and represent a potential target for prevention of these affections.


The World Health Organization (WHO) World Malaria Report 2021 < https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240040496 > estimates that there were 241 million malaria cases, including 627,000 deaths, worldwide in 2020, which represents around 14 million more cases, and 69,000 more deaths, than 2019. Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest malaria burden, accounting for about 95% of all cases and 96% of all deaths in 2020, with around 80% of deaths in the region among children under five years old. Since 2015, the baseline date for the WHO's global malaria strategy, registered increases in malaria deaths were reported in 24 countries. In the 11 countries that carry the highest burden of malaria worldwide, cases increased from 150 million in 2015 to 163 million cases in 2020, and malaria deaths increased from 390,000 to 444,600 over that same period. As in previous years, the report includes an up-to-date assessment on the burden of malaria at global, regional, and country levels, and tracks investment in malaria programmes and research, as well as detailing progress across the four intervention areas of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and surveillance. There are also dedicated chapters on malaria elimination and key threats, such as insecticide and drug resistance.


Layered and cooperative elements such as femto-cells and relays can improve performance or energy efficiency in mobile networks; however, they consume energy per se and their durations in operational state must therefore be minimised. This paper investigates the use of relays in WiMAX network deployments and concentrates on the cost/revenue performance and energy efficiency trade-off in such cases. Specifically, it investigates the performance achievable by networks that are deployed in various sectorization configurations with and without relays, and matches this to varying traffic loads at different times of the day to maximise the use of sleep modes, where possible, by relays, also in consideration of coverage requirements. It does this for scenarios based on pioneering propagation measurements in the hilly area of Covilhã, Portugal. Results show that through the maximal use of power saving by relays at low traffic times, considerable energy savings in the relays' power consumption are achievable, typically 47.6%. These savings are shown to map to a financial saving for the operator of 10% in the operation and maintenance cost. However, it is also demonstrated that such solutions have to be used cautiously so as to maintain coverage requirements and not decrease the profit in challenging propagation scenarios such as investigated in this paper.