Current cultural historians often seek to uncover oppositional views - frequently deriving from differences in gender, race or class - which are hidden beneath the smooth surface of consensus. Far from being a homogeneous entity, culture is regarded as the site of continuous struggle, negotiation and compromise. One period that lends itself well to such investigations is the 19th century. In Uneven Developments, for example, Mary Poovey explores legal history, medical history and literature to create a complex view of the relationship between gender and ideology in this period. Similarly, in Family Fortunes, Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall show how the social history of the early 19th century reveals contexts traditionally ignored by mainstream historians. Both of these studies draw attention to the need to include a consideration of the capacity of legal practices to produce culture and contain opposition. Within 19th-century fiction itself, moreover, the social influence of law was a recurrent concern. The progress of social, political and legal reform throughout the century prompted interest in questions of property and law, questions that are often addressed in plots concerned with inheritance. Among novelists who addressed this issue, George Eliot consistently, though not exclusively, examined situations in which women are affected negatively by inheritances. Three of her later novels - Romola (1862-63), Felix Holt. The Radical (1866) and Middlemarch (1871-72) - present female characters who experience difficulties as a result of the transference of property through written wills. My purpose in this essay is to explore Eliot's concern with the way a will confers identity on the heir through the transfer of wealth and property rights. To provide a context for Eliot's critiques, I will begin by examining the analysis of inheritance practices by 19th-century legal theorist Henry Maine. Then I will compare her treatment of inheritance in Romola and Felix Holt with the way the topic is addressed in novels by her male contemporaries, Anthony Trollope and Benjamin Disraeli. Finally, I will proceed to an extended reading of the inheritance narratives in Middlemarch in which Eliot's critique of testamentary practices receives its most detailed treatment. In Middlemarch, I will argue, Eliot criticizes the coercive nature of the concept of an underlying unity between the will's author and its heir that is implicit in the idea of inheritance. Eliot shows not only that the economic implications of inheritance erase a woman's identity as an individual, but also that the notions of sanctity and duty encoded in the will ensure a woman's metaphysical complicity in her own effacement. Throughout the 19th century, there was debate about the means by which a man could dispose of his goods at death. Early attempts at reform resulted in the passage of the Inheritance Act of 1833 and the Wills Act of 1837; but these acts merely improved the mechanism by which the existing law operated and did not effect any substantial change (Simpson 275). More radical requests for reform called for the abolition of primogeniture, the right of the first-born legitimate son to inherit the entire estate, in favor of the partibility of the estate. Under this scheme, the testator, or author of the will, could divide the estate among a number of heirs. A reason for the reluctance to abolish primogeniture may be found in the historical antecedents of 19th-century English law. Henry Maine's 1861 Ancient Law examined in detail the early history of testamentary succession, or the passage of property through wills, and traced the roots of many testamentary practices to Roman social expediency. Maine's work, which Eliot read during the writing of Middlemarch (Pratt & Neufeld 205), introduces a positivistic historical analysis of legal practices. His "crucial contribution was to give the old-established notion of patriarchal society a legal definition" (Kuper 101). …


Laypeople and scientists alike believe that they know anger, or sadness, or fear, when they see it. These emotions and a few others are presumed to have specific causal mechanisms in the brain and properties that are observable (on the face, in the voice, in the body, or in experience)—that is, they are assumed to be natural kinds. If a given emotion is a natural kind and can be identified objectively, then it is possible to make discoveries about that emotion. Indeed, the scientific study of emotion is founded on this assumption. In this article, I review the accumulating empirical evidence that is inconsistent with the view that there are kinds of emotion with boundaries that are carved in nature. I then consider what moving beyond a natural-kind view might mean for the scientific understanding of emotion.


In this chapter, we examine the synthesis of phenolic compounds via catalytic reactions and processes, with a special focus on sustainability issues. In recent years, considerable steps forward have been made with the aim of developing greener routes for the functionalisation of phenol and diphenols. Examples of these include: (a) the use of methanol instead of methylchloride or dimethylsulphate for the synthesis of ethers, such as anisole, guaiacol and veratrol, which are key intermediates for the synthesis of a plethora of fine chemicals and specialties; (b) the use of alkylcarbonates for the synthesis of alcohol-ethers (e.g. phenoxyethanol), cresols, and ethers; and (c) the use of aldehydes instead of halogenated alkanes for the hydroxyalkylation of phenolics to alcohols, such as piperonyl alcohol. Indeed, many of these reactions were inspired by the successful industrial application of methanol as an electrophile for the synthesis of o-cresol and 2,6-xylenol. The latter reaction may be considered the very first 'green' process for the functionalisation of phenol; surprisingly, despite its industrial use for several decades, only in recent years has the mechanism of this reaction been elucidated. Some emblematic examples of the more sustainable synthesis of phenolic compounds, briefly discussed here, are 2,6-xylenol, guaiacol, vanillin, methylendioxobenzene, phenoxyethanol, hydroxytyrosol and piperonal.


A Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, short rod-shaped, non-motile bacterial strain designated 4M24(T) was isolated from cotton-waste compost. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain 4M24(T) revealed that it is a member of the genus Sphingobacterium, sharing 88.5-94.5 % sequence similarity with type strains of the genus Sphingobacterium and being most closely related to Sphingobacterium daejeonense TR6-04(T) (94.5 % sequence similarity) and Sphingobacterium mizutaii ATCC 33299(T) (92.2 % similarity). The major fatty acids of strain 4M24(T) grown on trypticase soy agar medium were summed feature 3 (iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH and/or C(16 : 1)omega7c; 37.5 %), iso-C(15 : 0) (29.5 %) and iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH (19.7 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 42.3 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain 4M24(T) represents a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium composti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 4M24(T) (=KACC 11313(T)=DSM 18850(T)).


The upper part of the human eccrine sweat ducts, embedded within the epidermis layer, have a well-defined helical structure. It was recently suggested that, as electromagnetic entities, the sweat ducts interact with sub-mm waves [Y. Feldman et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 128102 (2008)]. Although correlation between changes in the reflectance spectrum in this frequency range and physiological activities has been shown, a direct link between the electromagnetic reflection and the helical structure itself has remained to be established. The fact that the sweat ducts manifest natural homochirality is henceforth used to produce this link. We report the detection of circular polarization asymmetry in the electromagnetic reflection from the human skin at sub-THz frequencies in vivo. We compare the results to numerical simulations and to measurements of a fabricated metamaterial. We argue that the observed circular dichroism can be interpreted uniquely as the signature of the helical structure itself. By twisting reflected electromagnetic waves, the human skin exhibits properties which are usually discussed only in the framework of metamaterial science.


One hundred eight patients with recurrent or metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelial tract were randomized to receive cisplatin (C) 80 mg/m2 on day 1 every 4 weeks, or methotrexate (M) 50 mg/m2 on days 1 and 15 plus C 80 mg/m2 on day 2 every 4 weeks (C + M). Fifty-three eligible patients were randomized to C + M and 55 to C. In the C + M arm, 45% of patients responded (complete response [CR], 9%) and 31% (CR, 9%) in the C arm (P = .18). In the C arm, 20 patients failing or relapsing after C received M. Two patients responded, and four with progressive disease (PD) and one with a previous partial response (PR) showed no change. The median survival was 8.7 months (C + M arm) and 7.2 months (C arm), P = .7. Relapse-free survival was not significantly different, but C + M was associated with a significantly increased time to disease progression (median, 5.0 months, v 2.8 months for C arm). The response of untreated patients (37%) was not different from those with prior treatment (39%). On the C + M arm, 92% of patients and 96% of patients on the C arm received 85% or more of the scheduled C dose. Significantly more grade 3 or 4 hematological toxicity (27% v 2%; P = .01) and mucositis (20% v 0%; P = .0005) occurred in patients on the C + M arm. Although the initial response rates seen on the combination arm look superior, and the time to disease progression is increased, these effects have not translated into a clinically important increase in the duration of survival and were associated with increased toxicity.


One of the largest sources of uncertainties in modelling of the future global climate is the response of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Studies have shown that it is likely that the extant land sink of carbon will weaken in a warming climate. Should this happen, a larger portion of the annual carbon dioxide emissions will remain in the atmosphere, and further increase global warming, which in turn may further weaken the land sink. We investigate the potential sensitivity of global terrestrial ecosystem carbon balance to differences in future climate simulated by four general circulation models (GCMs) under three different CO2 concentration scenarios. We find that the response in simulated carbon balance is more influenced by GCMs than CO2 concentration scenarios. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) reveals differences among GCMs in simulated SST variability leading to decreased tropical ecosystem productivity in two out of four GCMs. We extract parameters describing GCM characteristics by parameterizing a statistical emulator mimicking the carbon balance response simulated by a full dynamic ecosystem model. By sampling two GCM-specific parameters and global temperatures we create 60 new "artificial" GCMs and investigate the extent to which the GCM characteristics may explain the uncertainty in global carbon balance under future radiative forcing. Differences among GCMs in the representation of SST variability and ENSO and its effect on precipitation and temperature patterns explain the majority of the uncertainty in the future evolution of global terrestrial ecosystem carbon in our analysis. We suggest that the characterisation and evaluation of patterns and trends in simulated SST variability should be a priority for the further development of GCMs, in particular as vegetation dynamics and carbon cycle feedbacks are incorporated.


effects against microalgae. These valuable properties of Pcs Abstract: In this study, a water-soluble metal-free phthalocyanine (SPC) containing sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate substituents at the peripheral positions was used to investigate the algaecidal properties and oxidative effects on the growth of two microalgal species, Arthrospira platensis and Chlorella vulgaris . Although OD at 560 nm and chlorophyll- a content were decreased in Arthrospira platensis during 7 days depending on dose and time, increases in both OD at 750 and chlorophyll- a content at 8 ppb (parts per billion) concentration on the 7th day were observed in Chlorella vulgaris . However, total SOD (superoxide dismutase) and GR (glutathione reductase) enzyme activity of A. platensis cultures did not display any alteration in all concentrations, SOD activity displayed an increase significantly at 2 ppb concentration, and GR activity showed increases at 1, 2, and 4 ppb concentrations in C. vulgaris application. In A. platensis application, APX (ascorbate peroxidase) activity decreased at 0.50 ppb, 1 ppb, and 1.5 ppb concentrations. In addition, C. vulgaris application showed decreases at all concentrations. When MDA content increased at all concentrations, the H 2 O 2 content increased only at significatly 0.125 ppb concentration in A. platensis cultures. Both MDA (malondialdehyde) and H 2 O 2 (hydrogen peroxide) content of C. vulgaris cultures showed a statistically significant decrease at all concentrations compared to control. Free proline decreased at 0.25 ppb, 0.50 ppb, 1 ppb, and 1.5 ppb concentrations in A. platensis application, and it decreased at all the concentrations of C. vulgaris application. It concluded that this compound has inhibition effects on A. platensis, but it supports growth in C. vulgaris . Therefore, this synthesized phthalocyanine compound (SPC) should be consumed carefully, and


A concept of volume porosity together with model of moving walls were elaborated and implemented into the COM3D code. Additionally to that a support of real-time data exchange with finite-element code ABAQUS © Dassault Systèmes provided possibility to perform simulations of the gas-dynamic simultaneously with geometrical adaptation of environmental conditions. Based on the data obtained in the KIT combustion experiments in narrow gaps [1], the authors performed a series of the simulation on the combustion in the corresponding conditions. Obtained numerical results demonstrated good agreement with the observed experimental data. These data were also compared with those obtained in the simulation without wall bending, where simulation showed considerably different combustion regime. Application of the developed technique allows to obtain results unreachable without accounting on wall displacements, which demonstrates massive over-estimation of the pressures observed during flame propagation.


Perceived Quality (PQ) is the current battle-ground for automotive manufacturers. It is accepted that most vehicles today are of an appropriate inherent and measureable product quality , so the current competitive edge is sought in tangible, demonstrable Perceived Quality . PQ is directly related to Design and Emotion; the latter is a component in understanding why customers make purchases. Current, mostly commercial measures do not take into account all aspects of a purchase decision based on PQ. This paper looks at a wealth of previous research on PQ and proposes a new framework, building upon recent research looking at product impact, centred upon humans, developed by Delft University. The perception of quality is personal and potentially very different for each consumer, so this paper sets out to understand how PQ is currently measured in the industry, as what is measured can surely be controlled, so manufacturers should welcome an improvement upon current measures of PQ. The Product Impact Model makes it possible to access a real-time view of PQ from customers at points of sale, automotive shows, etc. Data gathered via this method will contribute to a better understanding of PQ, including how to measure and control it.


Threespike goosegrass (Eleusine tristachya) is a difficult-to-control perennial grass of increasing concern for orchard production systems in the Central Valley of California, USA. This grass has a bunch-type growth habit when tillered, which can interfere with orchard operations, particularly nut pickup from the ground at harvest. From 2016 to 2019, herbicide efficacy on threespike goosegrass was evaluated in a walnut (Juglans regia) orchard in Chico, CA, USA; an almond (Prunus dulcis) orchard in Livingston, CA, USA; and a prune (Prunus domestica) orchard in Orland, CA, USA. At each location, two independent experiments were conducted to evaluate 12 preemergent (PRE) herbicide treatments and eight postemergent (POST) treatments over several years, for a total of 16 trials. PRE herbicides were applied in January according to the region's typical winter orchard management practices. One treatment included an additional sequential application in March to extend residual activity later into the warm season when threespike goosegrass germinates or resumes growth. In separate studies, POST control of established stands of threespike goosegrass was evaluated in May and June of each year. Each trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Threespike goosegrass control was visually estimated monthly for 5 months after the PRE treatments or at weekly intervals for 5 weeks following POST treatments. The most effective PRE treatment was a sequential application of indaziflam in January, followed by a March application of pendimethalin, providing 90% or greater control of threespike goosegrass 5 months after treatment across all sites and all years. Of the POST treatments, the three graminicides outperformed the other treatments with 73% to 91% control overall sites and years at 5 weeks after treatment. Fluazifop had the highest control ratings (85% to 91%) among the graminicide herbicides but was not always statistically better than clethodim or sethoxydim (74% to 83% control). Glyphosate alone resulted in unacceptable control (33% to 51%) regardless of rates tested, experimental sites, or years. Together, these results confirm grower reports of poor glyphosate performance on threespike goosegrass but suggest that effective herbicide programs can be developed to manage threespike goosegrass using PRE herbicides and POST graminicides registered in California orchard crops.


The Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University incorporated the use of a game-based learning platform into a junior level Immunology course. The primary goal of this addition was to increase student engagement during review sessions. In previous years, each Immunology class was started with a review of material from an earlier lecture. The review consisted of short answer and multiple choice questions as a means to highlight important concepts and allow additional opportunities for students to ask questions. During these review periods it was observed that class participation ranged from 3-20%. Additionally, those who did participated were the same students in each class period. The incorporation of the game-based learning pAlatform into review sessions involved asking review questions in multiple choice format with 30 seconds of time for students to answer after each question was asked. This new format resulted in class participation increasing to 95-100%. Review of student answers also allowed the instructor to determine which areas the students needed additional assistance with before exams. Student feedback indicated that they enjoyed the ability to be anonymous when answering questions while still getting immediate feedback. This new review format will be utilized in additional courses, specifically Immunohematology. Furthermore, this game-based platform will be used to review material with senior students in their advanced senior level courses.


ABSTRACT

Very rapid technological developments in modern times almost reaching all social life, ranging from education, health, communication, entertainment and other fields.
In the world of multimedia education is used as a medium of instruction both in the classroom and individually. In the business world of multimedia is used as a medium for a company profile, product profile, even as media training. In addition, multimedia is also used in the gaming world.
In Indonesia, multimedia products such as animation, graphic design, gaming and web design experience rapid growth characterized by the emergence of communities of multimedia products in Indonesia. But the results of the nation's children are still losing competitiveness with the work overseas both in terms of quality and marketing.
To take advantage of business opportunities in the multimedia market both locally and nationally and even internationally it is necessary to build a container in the form of interior design Multimedia Studio is able to make a serious impression in addition equipped with facilities planning and management of the right to meet the need for multimedia technologies for entertainment , communication and information or other fields.
With a concept of "Futuristic" is selected to be the ultimate goal which is designing the interior of the case is expected to continuously selected.

Keywords: technology, multimedia, futuristic


It is conventionally understood that the purpose of antitrust law is to promote competition. Much more fundamentally, however, antitrust law allocates coordination rights. In particular, our current antitrust framework authorizes large, powerful firms as the primary mechanisms of economic and market coordination.

Still, the notion that antitrust exists to promote competition has been critical for maintaining its particular allocation of coordination rights. The pro-competition norm has been deployed to purge other normative benchmarks from antitrust analysis, which would if revived pose challenges to the status quo allocation. And of course, the pro-competition norm has served to undermine other coordination mechanisms—such as workers' organizations, "cartels," and the public coordination of markets.

Yet for its preferred coordination mechanism—the business firm—the current antitrust framework relies upon reasons that have nothing to do with promoting competition, even as it bars the consideration of similarly extrinsic reasons for any other form of economic coordination. This paper traces the appearance of this legal preference, reveals its logical content, and argues that its justification is far less certain than assumed. In particular, I explain why antitrust's "firm exemption" is a specific policy choice that cannot be derived from corporate law, nor from contracts, nor even from property.

Indeed, because antitrust has effectively established a state monopoly on the allocation of coordination rights, we ought to view coordination rights as a public resource, to be allocated and regulated in the public interest rather than for the pursuit of only private ends. Intra-firm coordination is conventionally viewed as entirely private, buoyed up by the contractarian theory of the firm. But the contractarian view of the firm cannot explain antitrust's firm exemption, and is indeed inconsistent with the conventional justifications for it. The paper also briefly sketches some of the policy directions that will flow from the recognition that coordination rights are a public resource, focusing upon expanding the right to engage in horizontal coordination beyond firm boundaries.


We present a Python-based software package to automatically obtain phenomenological models of input-controlled synthetic biological circuits from descriptive models. From the parts and mechanism description of a synthetic biological circuit, it is easy to obtain a chemical reaction model of the circuit under the assumptions of mass-action kinetics using various existing tools. However, using these models to guide design decisions during an experiment is difficult due to a large number of reaction rate parameters and species in the model. Hence, phenomenological models are often developed that describe the effective relationships among the circuit inputs, outputs, and only the key states and parameters. In this paper, we present an algorithm to obtain these phenomenological models in an automated manner using a Python package for circuits with inputs that control the desired outputs. This model reduction approach combines the common assumptions of time-scale separation, conservation laws, and species' abundance to obtain the reduced models that can be used for design of synthetic biological circuits. We consider an example of a simple gene expression circuit and another example of a layered genetic feedback control circuit to demonstrate the use of the model reduction procedure.


The article deals with the history and the development of the Turkic languages from the first traces of Turkic until today. It provides the reader with an overview about the languages of the Modern Turkic, the Middle Turkic and the Ancient Turkic periods. Furthermore, the article gives basic informations about the different cultures of the speakers of these languages. The reader is taken through the history of those groups which are suspected to have played a role during the formation of Turkic, and of groups which really spoke or speak a Turkic language. The part about Turkic language history also includes the treatment of Turkic-Mongolic language contacts. Both language- families have influenced each other to such a degree that they became more and more similar to each other through the curse of time. This seems more probable than a genetic relationship between the two language families which is a central postulate of the Altaic Hypothesis.


Geochemical analyses of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the western Brooks Range reveal a complex evolutionary history for strata surrounding the large Zn-Pb-Ag deposits of the Red Dog district. Data for major elements, trace elements, and rare earth elements (REE) were obtained on 220 samples of unaltered and unmineralized siliciclastic rocks from the Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Endicott Group (Hunt Fork Shale, Noatak Sandstone, Kanayut Conglomerate, Kayak Shale), the overlying Carboniferous Lisburne Group (Kuna Formation, unnamed drowned shelf facies), and the Pennsylvanian-Permian Siksikpuk Formation. Major base metal sulfide deposits of the region are present only in the Kuna Formation, which in the Red Dog district comprises siliceous black shale and black chert, minor limestone (calcareous radiolarite), and sparse lithic turbidite and bedded siliceous rock. Gray and rare black shales of the Kayak Shale and common black shales of the Kuna Formation are anomalously low in iron (avg Fe/Ti = 6.25 and 6.34, respectively) relative to other Paleozoic shales in the region (9.58–10.6) and to average shales worldwide (10.1–10.5). In contrast, the bedded siliceous rocks contain appreciable hematite (avg Fe/Ti = 35.0) and high U/Ti and REE/Ti ratios that are interpreted to reflect low amounts of detrital material and a major Fe-rich eolian component.

Geochemical data (e.g., MnO <0.01 wt %; avg Cr = 317 ppm), sizes of framboidal pyrite grains, and limited bioturbation suggest anoxic and denitrifying depositional conditions for most black shales of the Kuna Formation; low Mo/Ti ratios argue against euxinic (sulfate-reducing) conditions. Organic-rich black shales of the Kuna Formation with up to 8.4 wt percent Corganic and gray to black shales of the Kayak Shale with up to 4.1 wt percent Corganic typically have only sparse pyrite (<1 wt % S) and very low iron-limited S/C ratios (mostly <0.2). Immobile element plots (e.g., Th-Zr/10-Sc) suggest that source terranes for all of the formations were dominated by one or more felsic-rich continental arcs; a small proportion of recycled sediments is present locally. A minor mafic igneous component also occurs in several shales of the Kuna and Siksikpuk Formations. High average values for the chemical index of alteration [Al2O3/(Al2O3 + CaO + Na2O + K2O)] ∞ 100 for shales of the Endicott Group (76.4–81.5) imply moderate to intense chemical weathering in source areas of these sediments. A lower average for black shales of the Kuna Formation (73.7) does not require such weathering.

Textural and geochemical data record the effects of diagenetic and/or hydrothermal fluid flow in some of the Paleozoic rocks. Mobility of P, F, U, and light REE is documented in black shales of the Kuna Formation by phosphate replacements of carbonate clasts and of matrix material surrounding the clasts. A relatively low average Ce/Ce* value of 0.73 for P-poor black shales of the Kuna Formation (<0.05 wt % P2O5) and a similar Ce/Ce* value of 0.78 for a siderite concretion in Kayak Shale suggest that these diagenetic fluids were oxidizing. Many shales of the Kuna Formation have high (K2O ∞ 100)/(K2O + Al2O3) ratios of 21.0 to 23.0, which contrast with low ratios of generally <18.0 for shales of the underlying Endicott Group. The high ratios in shales of the Kuna Formation reflect preferential reaction of smectite to illite during the Jurassic-Cretaceous Brookian orogeny, owing to high silica activities in pore fluids that were generated by the dissolution of abundant biogenic silica.

The distribution and composition of Paleozoic strata in the western Brooks Range may have played a fundamental role in Zn-Pb mineralization of the Red Dog district. In our model, deposition and early lithification of biogenic chert and bedded siliceous rocks in the upper part of the Kuna Formation served as a regional hydrologic seal, acting as a cap rock to heat and hydrothermal fluids during Late Mississippian base-metal mineralization. Equally important was the iron-poor composition of black shales of the Kuna Formation (i.e., low Fe/Ti ratios), which limited synsedimentary pyrite formation in precursor sediments, resulting in significant H2S production in pore waters through the interaction of aqueous sulfate with abundant organic matter. This H2S may have been critical to the subsurface deposition of the huge quantities of Zn and Pb in the district. On the basis of this model, we propose that low Fe/Ti and S/C ratios in black shale sequences are potential basin-scale exploration guides for giant sediment-hosted, stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposits.


A range of actors, including government, third sector organisations (TSOs) and academics, have claimed recently that third sector organisations (TSOs) can play an important role in supporting people to adopt pro-environmental behaviours. These claims often refer to TSOs' potential to innovate, their proximity to citizens and their trustworthiness, as well as the role of collective action and small-group interventions. This paper reviews these different claims as well as the evidence that has been offered to date on the role of TSOs in pro-environmental behaviour change. We find that there is indeed some evidence that participation in environmental third sector initiatives can facilitate certain changes in people's day to day lives, particularly when it comes to 'low hanging fruits' such as increasing recycling or switching off appliances. However, the review also identifies a range of challenges that TSOs experience in their work, including engaging the broader public around climate change or other environmental issues, scaling up practice change to a wider audience and a lack of resources to sustain successful initiatives. Finally, the paper argues that there is a need for further discussion on a range of issues related to empirical research in this area, including methodological challenges of examining behaviour change and the more differentiated assessments that take organisational form, nature of intervention and type of targeted behaviour into account


As long as we live in the world, we are not able to avoid conflict although we never invite it. A conflict comes to us unconsciously and usually we do not realize that our attitude causes a conflict. Conflict is a contradiction between two persons, each of which has his own idea of principle.

A well-developed character is one that has been thoroughly characterized, with many traits shown in the narrative. The better the audience knows the character, the better the character development. Thorough characterization makes characters well-rounded and complex. This allows for a sense of realism. Character development is very important in character-driven literature, where stories focus not on events, but on individual personalities

This study is aimed at answering the following three research problem and gain better understanding on the content of the novel. The first is what the original character of Jean Valjean is. The second is what are Jean Valjean's conflicts, and the last is how does the conflict influence Jean Valjean's character. The objective of the study are based on three items. First of all to identify the original character of Jean Valjean. The second is to explain Jean Valjean's conflicts. And the third is to describe how conflict influences Jean Valjean's character

This research is classified into literary criticism because the writer examines deeply about everything which has connection to the novel. In order to reach the goal, she uses structural approach. Structural approach is an approach that is used to analyze a literary work by interpreting and focusing on the text alone, apart from the author and reader. With structural approach, the researcher analyzes The Influence of Conflict to Jean Valjean's Character Development in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

The result of this study shows that the original character of Jean Valjean is kind, a hard worker and responsible man. Three kind of Jean Valjean's conflict is Psychological, social and physical conflict. Social conflict, for example: after spending nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean is at last a free man.. Entering the small town of Digne, he looks for food and shelter for the night, but without success. He is rejected and insulted by everyone he meets. Physical conflict for example: when Jean Valjean in prison, he feels suffering. He is imprisoned for 5 years in the Toulon galleys and ultimately serves nineteen years, because he receives three additional years for each of four escape attempts, and two more for resisting arrest following the second attempt. Psychological conflict for example: When he had imprisoned, he feels that the society is unfair. He is angry and bitter at the cruel injustice of life. And he will take revenge when he released from the prison. All of the conflict that happen to Jean Valjean apparently changes Jean's character for the first time he is kind, a hard worker and responsible man. Become a person who bears a grudge, desperate and grows to the bad side. In the end of the novel Jean Valjean realize it and grows to the good side.


Knasibfite, ideally K3Na4[SiF6]3[BF4], is a newly discovered mineral species that can be considered a potassium and sodium hexafluorosilicate–tetrafluoroborate. It occurs in an altered pyroclastic breccia associated with hieratite, avogadrite and demartinite in a low-temperature fumarole at the rim of La Fossa crater, Vulcano Island, Aeolian Archipelago, Sicily, Italy. The mineral is orthorhombic, space group Imm 2, with a 5.522(1), b 17.106(3), c 9.175(2) A, V 866.7(3) A3, Z = 2. The crystals are colorless, prismatic up to 0.1 mm, most commonly showing the forms {001}, {100}, {010}, {110}, {011} and {101}. The mean analytical results are: K 16.78, Na 13.14, Si 11.36, F 57.83, B 1.50, for a total of 100.61 wt%. The boron content has been estimated from results of the crystal-structure analysis. The empirical formula (based on 33 apfu ) is: K3.09Na4.11Si2.91B1.00F21.89; the simplified formula is K3Na4[SiF6]3[BF4], which requires: K 16.24, Na 12.73, Si 11.67, F 57.87, B 1.50, for a total of 100.00 wt%. The crystal structure has been refined to a final R index of 0.0272 for 660 observed reflections. The asymmetric unit contains two twelve-coordinated independent K+ ions, located on m .. and on mm 2 sites, respectively [K–F distances in the range 2.756(3)–3.332(2) A], two independent Na+ ions, of which one is nine-coordinated [Na–F distances in the range 2.254(5)–2.949(3) A], and the other one displays instead octahedral coordination [Na–F distances in the range 2.224(3)–2.387(3) A]. There are also two crystallographically independent octahedral SiF62− anions with Si–F distances in the range 1.640(6)–1.684(4) A, and a tetrahedral BF4− anion, with B–F distances ranging from 1.385(6) to 1.386(7) A. The calculated density is 2.77 g/cm3, the measured density is 2.75(1) g/cm3. The mineral is optically nearly isotropic, with n = 1.32(1). The strongest six lines in the X-ray powder-diffraction pattern [dobs in A( I ) hkl ] are: 4.044(100)(022), 8.558(50)(020), 2.280(50)(222), 3.175(30)(141), 8.107(25)(011) and 2.094(25)(251). The name reflects its chemical composition.


The edible brown seaweed, Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh was harvested from the coastal region of Malaysia. In this study, analysis of the nutrition and metal content in the methanol extract showed positive for sodium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and E and arsenic contamination. The brine shrimp lethality assay (BSLA) revealed the extract to be non-toxic with LC50 value of 15.60 mg mL−1 (LC50 > 1). The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the methanol extract were measured through various bioassays. The structural and physicochemical characterisation of the NaAlg, analysed through the 1H-NMR analysis revealed the M:G ratio of NaAlg at 0.733 with mannuronic (M) and guluronic (G) fractions at FM = 0.423 and FG = 0.577, respectively. The degraded NaAlg through methods of ultraviolet irradiation and sonication showed an increment in the in vivo antioxidant activities at intervals of 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 min. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra of polysaccharides taken before and after UV irradiation showed breakage of covalent bonds and thus, increase in the intensity of both O–H and C–O stretching vibrations. Therefore, the increment in antioxidant activities observed in the treated samples were related to changes seen in their molecular structures.


Because of the sensitivity of some photovoltaic devices to moisture-induced corrosion, they are packaged using impermeable front- and back-sheets with an edge seal to prevent moisture ingress. Evaluation of edge seal materials can be difficult because of the low permeation rates involved and/or non-Fickian behavior. Here, using a Ca film deposited on a glass substrate, we demonstrate the evaluation of edge seal materials in a manner that effectively duplicates their use in a photovoltaic application and compare the results with standard methods for measuring water vapor transport. We demonstrate how moisture permeation data from polymer films can be used to estimate moisture ingress rates and compare the results of these two methods. Encapsulant materials were also evaluated for comparison and to highlight the need for edge seals. Of the materials studied, dessicant-filled polyisobutene materials demonstrate by far the best potential to keep moisture out for a 20 to 30 year lifetime.


The crimmigration landscape in the UK is much lamented. Reference is frequently made to the recent creation of dozens of new immigration offences and a sharp increase in the administrative detention of immigrations during the last two decades. In particular the prison has recently become an acute site of crimmigration with separate prisons for foreign nationals (Kaufman, 2013). Norway, on the other hand has traditionally been regarded an exception. The treatment of criminals and outsiders is described as inclusive and rehabilitative and focused on their successful return to society. However, here a distinction is also increasingly made between prisoners that will return to society and those that will not, most particularly foreign nationals. The UK and Norway are virtually the only countries in Western Europe with regular prisons that are exclusively reserved for foreign nationals. This article examines how the arguably most benign and the arguably most severe prison systems of Western Europe have come to mimic each other in this fashion. Wider implications for our theoretical understanding of the nature and loci of crimmigration policies are also considered.


At the moment, humankind faces global problems that demand an integrate vision towards many phenomena that cannot be studied separately, but only by taking their interdependence into account. Many interdisciplinary fields enjoy a great popularity. The interdisciplinary instruction encourages connections among disciplines by helping students build powerful knowledge schema. Interdisciplinary teaching encourages students to integrate their specific knowledge in a domain in the context of a new problem. Modern technology, like the computer and the interactive whiteboard, helps students develop competencies and skills of interdisciplinary thinking. Thus, there is a tight connection between Physics and Anatomy, with a large applicability in the teaching process. As an example, there is a need for knowledge belonging to the Physics domain to understand the functioning of the heart. The present paper intends to emphasize the connection between Physics and Anatomy by applying the notions regarding the sound propagation considering the heart function.Using the interactive whiteboard and an assisted computer experiment, we have succeeded in recording the cardiac and vascular sound. Relying on the performed measurements, we have determined the pulse rate per minute. It is of the utmost importance that students understand how Physics concepts are applied in the medical field and that the therapeutic and diagnostic tools have their origin in the basic principles of Physics. In the making of the teaching aid presented during class lessons, we have taken into consideration the Cognitive Load Theory, and the implications of a Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The information was organized in order to minimize the cognitive load and to make sure that the learning is efficient.


The graduate taught programme in Clinical and Translational Research aims to expose students to research content as well as research process and problems. This practice has strongly influenced our teaching approach by the integration of research in the curriculum by means of a wide-ranging programme of hands-on practical experience complementing classroom-based learning. Here, we investigate the potency of the  Research-Teaching Nexus in our programme by using the Healey & Jenkins pedagogical model as a curriculum development tool and thereby enhancing learning. We map our module learning outcomes to this model enabling us to examine research-teaching linkages in our curriculum as well teaching strategies and learning experiences. These findings also allow us to highlight areas of our curriculum for development. Other outcomes are the development of a curriculum evaluation tool for staff and the broadening of students' awareness of what constituents research by providing a framework for research driven continuous professional development.


The Country Diagnostic Study (CDS) for United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) uses the Hausmann-Rodrik-Velasco growth diagnostics model to identify the binding constraints being faced in its quest for higher economic growth and make recommendations to relax these constraints. Hence, the findings of the CDS can help the Islamic Development Bank in identifying areas where it can have a greater impact and provide an evidence basis to support the development of the Member Country Partnership Strategy. U.A.E.'s development journey has been painstakingly crafted over time, with the latest being Vision 2021. Launched in 2010 and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), Vision 2021 was designed to place the U.A.E. among the best nations in the world. It has achieved several targets under the competitive knowledge pillar of the Vision, but some key targets related to economic growth, innovation, and knowledge workers are yet to be fully realized. This is because growth has been low and inadequate with relatively low private investment since the 2008–2009 GFC, leading to a lower than potential real GDP trend. To bring in private investment and improve growth, both quantity and quality of human capital may need to be scaled up through improving the education system and spending on research and development to support industry-university collaboration on innovations. Efficient institutional governance in the areas of corruption control, regulatory quality and conducive bureaucracy is necessary for the vibrant functioning of the private sector.


Synoptic conditions of daily changes in the snow cover depth by ≥ 5 cm were analyzed. Negative pressure anomalies appear over the North Atlantic and Scandinavia, which means low pressure systems moving over Europe along a northerly path. At the same time, positive pressure anomalies appear over the Mediterranean, indicating the expansion of the Azorean High. Such distribution of anomalies increases the horizontal baric gradient, which results in the intensif cation of the western and south western f ow and stronger than usual winds from the SW quadrant. Transport of warm and humid air masses from the south-west brings about thawconducive conditions in central Europe: an increase in temperature and a considerable increase in the content of precipitable water, which means abundant precipitation. Different circulation types favorable for intense thawing were distinguished using the method of the hierarchical grouping. Two of them are characterized by the presence of deep and widespread cyclonal systems located north, north-west or west of the researched area. Less frequently, the decrease in the depth of snow cover occurs in the presence of the high located west over the Atlantic Ocean, which brings air masses from the north western direction. Such situations occur most frequently towards the end of winter.


Epidemiological studies show a markedly increased risk of cerebral palsy following the combined exposure of infection and birth asphyxia. However, the underlying mechanisms of this increased vulnerability remain unclear. We have examined the effects of a low dose of bacterial endotoxin on hypoxic–ischaemic injury in the immature brain of rats. Bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide 0.3 mg/kg) was administered to 7‐day‐old rats 4 h prior to unilateral hypoxia–ischaemia and the neurological outcome was determined 3 days later. Rectal temperature and cerebral blood flow was measured during the study and the expression of CD14 and toll‐like receptor‐4 mRNA in the brain was examined. We found that a low dose of endotoxin dramatically sensitizes the immature brain to injury and induces cerebral infarction in response to short periods of hypoxia–ischaemia that by themselves caused no or little injury. This effect could not be explained by a reduction in cerebral blood flow or hyperthermia. In association with the sensitization of injury we found an altered expression of CD14 mRNA and toll‐like receptor‐4 mRNA in the brain. These results suggest that the innate immune system may be involved in the vulnerability of the immature brain following the combination of infection and hypoxia–ischaemia.


communication via satellite a vision in retrospect is available in our book collection an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our book servers saves in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the communication via satellite a vision in retrospect is universally compatible with any devices to read.


From Jan. 1990-Aug. 1992, 616 patients with papillomatous growth of the lower female genital tract (the nodular type 307 cases, the papular type 309 cases) were investigated as determined by a PCR (polymerase chain reaction)-based method, associated with immunohistochemistry avidin biotin complex (ABC), electron microscopy, histopathology, colposcopy and clinical follow-up. The PCR is the most sensitive and specific method. Using PCR the HPV DNA 22.214.171.124.33 were positive in 97.90% of the nodular type. However HPV DNA were positive in 1.10% of the papular type. In the patients with both type, HPV DNA were also positive in nodular, but negative in papular. In the nodular type the HPV-Ag present in 53.55% by ABC method, the koilocytes were 70.49% by microscopy, HPV particles were seen in 5 out of 85 samples by electron microscopy. So that the nodular type (typical cauliflower like) is genital warts (condyloma acuminatum) by HPV infection. The papular type (typical papular or finger like) growth on the mucosal surface of the labia minora of lower vagina. They were negative for HPV DNA, HPV-Ag, HPV particles and koilocytes. On follow-up observation for 3 months to 2 years they had not developed to nodular type and no sexually transmitted feature was observed. The papular type is pseudocondyloma.


Background: Low level light (or laser) therapy (LLLT) has been studied and practiced for promoting wound healing, reducing pain, inflammation, and ischemic tissue damage. Recently, a series of experimental and clinical investigations have suggested that LLLT may be a novel therapy against hypoxic/ischemic brain damage. A clinical trial of LLLT therapy for ischemic stroke is now on going. However, the molecular mechanism of LLLT-conferred neuroprotection remains poorly defined. In this study, we tested our hypothesis that LLLT may attenuate impairments of mitochondrial function induced by hypoxic/ischemic insults in primary cultured mouse cortical neurons. Method: At day 9 of culture, primary neurons were subjected to 4 hr OGD followed by reoxygenation. One 810-nm LLLT treatment was applied for 2 minutes at 2 hr after reoxygenation. Neurotoxicity was measured after 20 hr after reoxygenation by LDH release assay. We also measured MTT reduction and mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) at 2 hr after LLLT treatment as markers of mitochondrial function. Results: The neurotoxicity study showed that 4 hr OGD plus 20 hr reoxygenation caused 33.8± 3.4% neuronal cell death, while LLLT treatment significantly reduced the neuronal death rate to 23.6± 2.9% (30.2% reduction, n=6, p smaller than 0.05). Mitochondrial functional assays showed OGD decreased MTT reduction to 75.9± 2.68%, but LLLT treatment significantly rescued MTT reduction to 87.6±4.55% (15.4% improvement, n=6, p smaller than 0.05). Furthermore, after OGD, MMP was reduced to 48.9±4.39%, while LLLT treatment significantly ameliorated this reduction to 89.6± 13.9% (83% improvement, n=4, p smaller than 0.05) compared to normoxic controls. Conclusion: The present study suggests that LLLT treatment is protective against OGD-induced neurotoxicity of primary neurons and that this protection may be conferred through preservation or rescue of mitochondrial function.


In this paper, we present an extension of a recently developed AM-FM decomposition algorithm, which will be referred to as the extended adaptive Quasi-Harmonic Model (eaQHM). It was previously shown that the adaptive Quasi-Harmonic Model (aQHM) [1] is an efficient AM-FM decomposition algorithm with applications in speech analysis. In this paper, we show that a simple extension of the aQHM algorithm to include not only frequency but also amplitude adaptation results in higher performance in terms of Signal-to-Reconstruction-Error Ratio (SRER). To support our hypothesis, eaQHM is tested both on synthetic signals and on a subset of the ARCTIC database of speech. Overall, compared with aQHM, eaQHM improves the SRER by more than 2 dB, on average.


This paper presents a disturbance decoupled fault reconstruction (DDFR) scheme using two sliding mode observers in cascade. Measurable signals from the first observer are found to be the output of a fictitious system that is driven by the fault and disturbances. Then the signals are fed into a second observer which will reconstruct the fault. Sufficient conditions which guarantee DDFR are investigated and presented in terms of the original system matrices, and they are found to be less conservative than if only one single observer is used; therefore DDFR can be achieved for a wider class of systems using two sliding mode observers. A simulation example validates the claims made in this paper.


Reliable, predictable engineering of cellular behavior is one of the key goals of synthetic biology. As the field matures, biological engineers will become increasingly reliant on computer models that allow for the rapid exploration of design space prior to the more costly construction and characterization of candidate designs. The efficacy of such models, however, depends on the accuracy of their predictions, the precision of the measurements used to parameterize the models, and the tolerance of biological devices for imperfections in modeling and measurement. To better understand this relationship, we have derived an Engineering Error Inequality that provides a quantitative mathematical bound on the relationship between predictability of results, model accuracy, measurement precision, and device characteristics. We apply this relation to estimate measurement precision requirements for engineering genetic regulatory networks given current model and device characteristics, recommending a target standard deviation of 1.5-fold. We then compare these requirements with the results of an interlaboratory study to validate that these requirements can be met via flow cytometry with matched instrument channels and an independent calibrant. Based on these results, we recommend a set of best practices for quality control of flow cytometry data and discuss how these might be extended to other measurement modalities and applied to support further development of genetic regulatory network engineering.


The obligately outbreeding root hemiparasite Striga hermonthica (Orobanchaceae)is a serious threat to subsistence agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Resistance to this parasite in its crop hosts, such as rice, sorghum and maize, is not common, and the evolution of host adaptations that are able to overcome new sources of resistance is an ever-present risk. Research into host adaptation in S. hermonthica has generally sought to correlate the genetic relationship between Striga individuals with host identity; however, such approaches must be supported by lab-based evidence of host adaptation,
otherwise ad hoc field sampling may result in the confounding of host identity with isolation-by-distance. Additionally, genetic variation used to reconstruct relationships is unlikely to provide an insight into relationships at functional loci underlying host adaptation. In this thesis, I use a range of new approaches to investigate several different aspects of parasite adaptation in the S. hermonthica-Sorghum bicolor pathosystem.

Host adaptations, or pre-adaptations, are commonly revealed using tests for differential virulence between Striga populations and host genotypes; that is, by
demonstrating population-level genotype-by-genotype interactions. Evidence for such interactions was found between three West African populations of S. hermonthica and five sorghum cultivars. These interactions were shown to be strongest at the parasite post-attachment life stage, and to depend on the parasite virulence metric used. Environmental influences on host-parasite interactions were strong and variable between years and sites.

Candidate genetic loci for virulence, responding to selection in a micro-evolutionary fashion, were identified by Fst differentiation-based approaches ('outlier
analyses') that aim to uncover associations between particular loci and environmental drivers, such as host identity. An AFLP outlier analysis was used on Striga plants
parasitising nine sorghum cultivars in a field trial in Burkina Faso. Significant locus-specific differentiation was detected at 14 out of 1275 loci. However, predicted allele frequencies at these loci did not correlate with a field measure of Striga virulence across host-selected sub-populations. Simulation results suggested that the estimated levels of Fst at outlying loci could mean that alleles underlying host adaptation exist at intermediate frequencies in populations.

A three-generation pedigree, created from a cross between S. hermonthica individuals from an East African and a West African population, enabled further insights into the genetics of adaptation. Individuals from a pseudo-backcrossed F1 (BCF1) generation, grown on two different sorghum hosts and in axenic culture, indicated
significant host-related segregation distortion. Analyses of virulence in the BCF1 also provided strong evidence for epistasis, and for an effect of maternal identity. A second
outlier analysis of host adaptation, investigating the East African population used in the pedigree, indicated some correspondence between outlier loci and loci found to be
differentially segregating between different hosts in the BCF1 generation, and demonstrated the differing genomic extents of these phenomena. The results accumulated across these experiments provide evidence for a complex, polygenic basis to virulence in S. hermonthica.


In this paper, we survey various technologies in the field of virtualization that are used for 'on demand' dynamic resource allocations. Cloud Computing is one of the emerging areas in the various fields related to computer science and can be exercised for on demand dynamic resource allocation for providing reliable and guaranteed services to the consumer. Cloud systems are 'on demand' as they offer a way of providing required resources to consumers as and when they need it. It is pay-as-you-use manner service. In Cloud systems, a pool of resources is shared by several users. So making these resources available in most optimal way is a challenging task. This paper reviews various techniques for how such dynamic resource allocations can be achieved in an optimal manner. Keywords— Cloud Computing, Dynamic Resource Allocation, Virtual Machine, Virtualization Technology, VM placement, Xen


Continuous and interval exposures to 1 atmosphere of oxygen (hyperoxia) were examined using insects. Hyperoxia did not affect hatchability of Heliothis zea or Trichoplusia ni. Continuous hyperoxia was 100% lethal for H. zeal and T. ni. Most insects died as larvae and pupae of H. zea which resulted were deformed, reduced in weight, and failed to emerge. Hyperoxic exposures of T. ni for 48 h at sequential 48-h intervals during development, revealed that first instar and prepupae were most sensitive to hyperoxia and 80% were killed when exposed to only 24 h of hyperoxia as prepupae. T. ni which survived hyperoxia exposures at all development stages tested, were capable of producing progeny. The differential hyperoxic sensitivity and its correlation with specific morphogenetic stages suggest the usefulness of these insect species for studying biochemical sites of oxygen toxicity.


Summary

Potato flour (PF) is a material that does not differ significantly from wheat flour (WF) with regards to its physical appearance and chemical composition. For that reason it may be used in bread making. In this study mixtures of wheat flour and potato flour were prepared containing PF at levels of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10%. The farinograph properties of wheat flour affected by addition of potato flour were studied. Water absorption increased gradually from 62% for WF to 79% for blend with 8% PF. Other parameters such as development time, weakening of dough (Brabender units) and valorimeter value (W) were adversely modified by the addition of potato flour. The bread properties were studied using mixtures containing 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 15% PF. The substitution of WF produced increases in water absorption, loaf weight and loaf volume as compared to all-wheat bread. In addition, bread containing PF retained moisture for longer periods than normal bread. Loaves made from wheat flour and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% potato flour were tested for their chemical composition and protein efficiency ratio (PER) in the rat. Moisture of bread increased with each increase in the level of potato flour substitution. The protein content of bread showed a progressive fall from 6.8% (at 4% level) to 6.3% (at 10% level). The protein efficiency ratio did not change significantly with the inclusion of potato flour up to 8% compared to all-wheat, but at the 10% level there was a significant reduction in this parameter (P < 0.05).


Innovations in healthcare, diagnostics, sensors and data analysis with Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning / recommendations offer opportunities for improved personalized healthcare, lower costs and benefits to the medical industry. The age of personalized human health monitoring has begun. Human health monitoring using fluidic diagnostic monitoring, non-invasive sensors, wearables (electronic health sensors), implanted health sensors, sound, visual images, and combinations of these data trends offer individuals personalized healthcare guidance. The data, analytics and recommendations from these personalized solutions are beginning to aide our early detection and understanding of health risks from chronic diseases and overall health / wellness. Examples include: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, oncology / cancer, kidney disease, elder care, Parkinson / Huntington Diseases, and many other healthcare applications. Rapid advancements of innovative healthcare diagnostic tools, health and environmental sensors along with data trending and analysis using AI systems or platforms can provide industry disruptions in healthcare. AI systems already aid health professionals and individuals with knowledge and recommendations that offer the promise of improved quality of life and lower healthcare costs. Examples such as: (1) earlier chronic disease detection and potential for disease progression delay or prevention, (2) understanding individual behavior, medication treatments and effectiveness of the treatments on activities of daily living and (3) personalized care based on your DNA, medical diagnostics and your healthcare trends relative to your healthcare needs and options to manage your quality of life. In this paper, we describe both new technologies and advancements to heterogeneous integration technology tools, materials and processes that provide differentiating electronics for future healthcare diagnostic tools and sensors. These new technologies are being applied to targeted applications in healthcare diagnostics and sensor monitoring for precision diagnostic data, smaller product size and much lower costs. Data streams can leverage AI to provide smart personalized healthcare guidance or solutions that compliment existing technology and data to partners such as healthcare professionals, patients and clients. In many applications, we leverage industry available technology or benefit from these new technology advancements to provide for the best system solution. Examples of these new and advancing technologies include: (1) Precision handling thinned wafers with large die, small die, multi-die, sub-components, components and substrates technologies, (2) Injection molded solder (IMS) technology for wafers (TSV and / or interconnection) and substrates, (3) Precision micro-component, die, multi-die substrate and multi-component assembly / integration technology for healthcare, IoT and AI Systems, (4) Precision laser micro-machining, cutting and welding technology, (5) Flexible multi-channel, micro-fluidic systems for smart sensing, point of care (POC) diagnostics, and AI and (6) Small form factor micro-systems and energy solutions / technologies that support future healthcare, IoT, and AI linked computing solutions. Examples of key challenges and advantages of these technologies for the targeted applications are shared relative to current industry standard solutions. Highlights on future demonstrations in progress at the time of writing this paper are targeted for our 2018 ECTC presentation and other future technical publications.


We present results from two projects in which we have used the HI 21cm emission line as a tracer of gas-rich galaxy populations in the vicinity of Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers. In the first case, we examine the HI environment of SBS 1543+593, the nearest damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorber. We use a VLA map of the region around this LSB galaxy which itself shows an extended HI disk to identify 3 gas-rich neighbours within 185 kpc. While it is not clear whether we should expect local damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems to reside in such gas-rich regions, we would expect this kind of environment to be more prevalent at higher redshifts where less of the gas is in the dense inner regions of galaxies or has been consumed by star formation. This local galaxy is the only system in which we can study the gaseous environment in this kind of detail. In the second case, we examine the HI environment surrounding 16 Lyman-$\alpha$ forest absorbers along 4 QSO sight-lines. We do not detect any gas-rich galaxies at the absorber positions indicating that, at least down to our sensitivity limits, these absorption lines do not seem to be associated with galaxy halos. For half of the Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption systems there is a galaxy within 500 kpc, but for the other half there is not. In two cases there is no galaxy within 2 Mpc of the Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption systems indicating that absorbers do, in some cases, reside in voids.


Population structures largely affect higher levels of organization (community structure, ecosystem functioning), especially when involving ontogenetic changes in habitat or diet. Along life cycles, partners and interaction type may change: for instance Lepidopterans are herbivores as larvae and pollinators as adults. To understand variations in diet niche from larvae to adults, we model a community of two plant species and one stage-structured insect species consuming plants as juvenile and pollinating them as adult. We model the coevolution of juvenile and adult diet specialization using adaptive dynamics to investigate when one should expect niche partitioning or niche overlap among life stages. We consider ecological and evolutionary implications for the coexistence of species. As predicted based on indirect effects among stages, we find that juvenile diet evolution increases niche overlap and favours the coexistence of plants, while the evolution of the adult diet decreases niche overlap and reduces plant coexistence, because of positive feedbacks emerging from the mutualistic interaction.


To the Editor .—I write to raise the flag of a "Will Rogers Phenomenon" 1 in the article by Heller et al. 2 Any time a supersensitive test not in prior use is introduced that changes the designated stage of a cancerous lesion, a staging shift has occurred. Removing severe cases from a lower stage makes it appear as though, on average, the remaining patients with this lower stage of cancer live longer. By moving the early bad cases to the group with higher-stage cancer, the patients representing the early bad cases also appear to live longer because the remaining patients with higher-stage cancer have more favorable prognoses. Survival data on cases with and without positive cell cultures for melanoma cells should be studied as to the prognostic significance of the cell culture results treated as an independent variable. This would allow the quantification of the relevance of the new


During the last decade it has been shown that severe plastic deformation (SPD) is a very effective for obtaining ultra-fine grained (UFG) and nanostructured materials. The basic SPD methods are High Pressure Torsion (HPT) and Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE). Recently several new methods have been developed: 3D deformation, Accumulative Roll Bonding, Constrained Groove Pressing, Repetitive Corrugation and Straightening, Twist Extrusion (TE), etc. In this paper the twist extrusion method is analyzed in terms of SPD processing and the essential features from the "scientific" and "technological" viewpoint are compared with other SPD techniques. Results for commercial, 99.9 wt.% purity, copper processed by TE are reported to show the effectiveness of the method. UFG structure with an average grain size of ~0.3 μm was produced in Cu billets by TE processing. The mechanical properties in copper billets are near their saturation after two TE passes through a 60º die. Subsequent processing improves homogeneity and eliminates anisotropy. The homogeneity of strength for Cu after TE is lower than after ECAE by route BC, but higher than after ECAE by route C. The homogeneity in ductility characteristics was of almost of inverse character. The comparison of mechanical properties inhomogeneity in Cu after TE and ECAE suggests that alternate processing by ECAE and TE should give the most uniform properties.


Vector coprocessors (VPs), commonly being assigned exclusively to a single thread/core, are not often performance and energy efficient due to mismatches with the vector needs of individual applications. We present in this article an easy-to-implement VP virtualization technique that, when applied, enables a multithreaded VP to simultaneously execute multiple threads of similar or arbitrary vector lengths to achieve improved aggregate utilization. With a vector register file (VRF) virtualization technique invented to dynamically allocate physical vector registers to threads, our VP virtualization approach improves programmer productivity by providing at runtime a distinct physical register name space to each competing thread, thus eliminating the need to solve register-name conflicts statically. We applied our virtualization technique to a multithreaded VP and prototyped an FPGA-based multicore processor system that supports VP sharing as well as power gating for better energy efficiency. Under the dynamic creation of disparate threads, our benchmarking results show impressive VP speedups of up to 333% and total energy savings of up to 37% with proper thread scheduling and power gating compared to a similar-sized system that allows VP access to just one thread at a time.


Macro invertebrates have been used to monitor organic pollution in rivers and streams. Several biotic indices based on macro invertebrates have been developed over the years including the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP). A new biotic index, the Gammarus:Asellus ratio has been recently proposed as an index of organic pollution. This study tested the validity of the Gammarus:Asellus ratio as an index of organic pollution, by examining the relationship between the Gammarus:Asellus ratio and physical chemical parameters, and other biotic indices such as BMWP and, Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) from lakes and streams at Markeaton Park, Allestree Park and Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. Macro invertebrates were sampled using the standard five minute kick sampling techniques physical and chemical environmental variables were obtained based on standard sampling techniques. Eighteen sites were sampled, six sites from Markeaton Park (three sites across the stream and three sites across the lake). Six sites each were also sampled from Allestree Park and Kedleston Hall lakes. The Gammarus:Asellus ratio showed an opposite significant positive correlations with parameters indicative of organic pollution such as the level of nitrates, phosphates, and calcium and also revealed a negatively significant correlations with other biotic indices (BMWP/ASPT). The BMWP score correlated positively significantly with some water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen and flow rate, but revealed no correlations with other chemical environmental variables. The BMWP score was significantly higher in the stream than the lake in Markeaton Park, also The ASPT scores appear to be significantly higher in the upper Lakes than the middle and lower lakes. This study has further strengthened the use of BMWP/ASPT score as an index of organic pollution. But additional application is required to validate the use of Gammarus:Asellus as a rapid bio monitoring tool. Keywords—Asellus, Biotic index, Gammarus, Organic pollution, Macro invertebrate.


Objective: It has been shown that Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) may be related with bone mineral density (BMD) or osteoporosis. But there are few evidences on the role of genetic variation of IGF-1 on the BMD or osteoporosis. We observed the relationship between polymorphisms of IGF-1(rs35767, rs2288377 and rs5742612) with osteoporosis and BMD in the postmenopausal female population in our study. Methods: A total of 216 postmenopausal women with a primary diagnosis of osteoporosis and 220 normal healthy women were included in the study. Genomic DNA of IGF-1 rs35767, rs2288377 and rs5742612 was extracted from the whole blood using QIAamp blood DNA mini kits (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) according to the methods recommended by the manufacturer. Results: We found that T allele of rs35767 had higher increased risk of osteoporosis (OR=1.34, 95%CI=1.0-1.81). Those carrying T allele of rs35767 had a significant lower BMD at L1–L4 vertebrae, femoral neck, total hip and trochanter when compared with those carrying C allele (P < 0.05). In addition, the BMD of L1–L4 vertebrae, femoral neck, total hip and trochanter decreased by 2.09%, 3.74%, 3.52% and 2.54% in women carrying T alleles compared with those carrying C alleles. Conclusion: Our study suggests that polymorphism in IGF-I rs35767 was significantly associated with BMD and osteoporosis in postmenopausal female population, and polymorphism of rs35767 could be a marker for lower BMD and risk of osteoporosis.


The development of industry 4.0 in the world is creating challenges in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in particular. Machine Reading Comprehension (MRC) is an NLP task with real-world applications that require machines to determine the correct answers to questions based on a given document. MRC systems must not only answer questions when possible but also determine when no answer is supported by the document and abstain from answering. In this paper, we present the description of our system to solve this task at the VLSP shared task 2021: Vietnamese Machine Reading Comprehension with UIT-ViQuAD 2.0. We propose a model to solve that task, called MRC4MRC. The model is a combination of two MRC components. Our MRC4MRC based on the XLM-RoBERTa pre-trained language model is 79.13% of F1-score (F1) and 69.72% of EM (Exact Match) on the public-test set. Our experiments also show that the XLM-R language model is better than the powerful PhoBERT language model on UIT-ViQuAD 2.0.


Object: Tics are involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent, stereotyped motor movements or phonic productions that involve discrete muscle groups. Pharmacological treatment was considered as the most effective approach for tics management for many years. In recent period clinicians attempt to use behavioral methods for this purpose.


Access to and benefit sharing of genetic resources, which are defined as including microorganisms, plant and animal material including indigenous seeds, genetic plant varieties and traditional animal breeds that contain functional hereditary units, has been a topic of debate in international law. Previously genetic resources were regarded as a common heritage of mankind, this granted free access, collection and utilization of genetic resources belonging to local communities without the informed consent of those community. This study examined the current legislative and regulatory globally and in Kenya and came up with recommendations which Kenya can implement to facilitate the participation of local communities in the process of access to genetic resources and to ensure that local communities benefit from exploitation of their genetic resources. The study was conducted through comparative analysis of the approaches taken by India and Philippines.


The effects of acetoacetate and butyrate on Ca(2+)-influx in HT-29 cells were unknown. Extracellular signals can be transferred to the intracellular environment of the cell via changes in the Ca(2+)-concentration. Extracellular Ca2+ may enter the cell via Ca(2+)-channels in the plasma membrane. Physiological processes occurring within the cell are dependent on Ca(2+)-concentration, including enzyme activity. Intracellular Ca(2+)-concentrations were measured using Fura-2/AM, a fluorescent intracellular Ca(2+)-probe. Ca(2+)-concentrations were measured immediately on application of the inducers to the cells, as well as after a 9 day incubation period. The effect of these inducers on the L-type voltage-operated Ca(2+)-channels were determined using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. To validate these results for the intestinal epithelial model, membrane current studies were performed on HT-29 cells grown on a polycarbonate membrane. ATP concentrations were measured, and the theoretical effect of the inducers on PDE 4 activity was determined. It was found that both acetoacetate and butyrate blocked Ca(2+)-influx through the L-type voltage-operated Ca(2+)-channels, resulting in the initial low Ca(2+)-concentration (p < 0.05). The blockage effect is short-lived as after a 9 day incubation period in the presence of the inducers, Ca(2+)-concentrations were higher than that of the HT-29 control sample (p < 0.05). ATP concentrations of the cells were decreased in the presence of the inducers (p < 0.05), whilst it was suggested that no interaction between the catalytic site of PDE 4 and the inducers existed.


Increasing globalization, e-commerce usage, and social awareness are leading to increased consumer demand for variety, value, convenience, immediacy, verifiable authenticity and provenance, ethical materials sourcing and manufacturing, regulatory compliance, and services after sales. Fulfilling this increased complexity of consumer demand has required supply chains to evolve into multienterprise networks with numerous flow paths in production, merchandising, and fulfillment involving many organizational/institutional handoffs, to effectively manage a large number of complex products with shorter life cycles and high transaction volumes. The supply chain management models of today place higher demands on automation and require a transition from the traditional paradigm of planning followed by long-loop execution for a handful of segments to a paradigm of managing a portfolio of end-to-end instrumented data-rich microsegmented supply chains that are monitored and adjusted in near real time. These essential aspects and challenges of supply chain management require the supporting information technology to also evolve. In this paper, we propose a novel reference software architecture to address the complex requirements of modern supply chains that also integrates blockchain into several layers of the stack. We present several examples where this reference architecture is applicable, and then demonstrate through a use case in production that integrating blockchain technology helps with providing visibility, documenting provenance, and allowing permissioned data access to facilitate the automation of many high-volume tasks such as reconciliations, payments, and settlements.


This document presents an experimental evaluation carried out during the summer of 2003 in an academic environment. The goal of the experiment was to compare how different methods of documenting semantic information affect software reuse. More specifically, we wanted to measure if there were any differences between the methods with regard to the time needed to implement changes to existing software. Four methods of documentation were used; executable contracts, non-executable contracts, Javadoc-style documentation and sequence diagrams. The experimental setup used was a factorial design with documentation method as the treatment, and with test persons and assignments as blocking variables. The results indicate that executable contracts demanded more time than the other three methods and that sequence diagrams and Javadoc demanded the least time. ANOVA-tests on the data indicates that there were statistically significant differences between the methods


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection leads within about 10 years to the progressive collapse of the 2 most complex regulatory networks of the human body: the immune system, and the central nervous system. AIDS results from the loss, in each organ, of a selective cell population: CD4 + T cells in the immune system, leading to immune in competence; neurons in the brain, leading to dementia. Research on AIDS pathogenesis has mainly focused on 2 different approaches: 1. the cytopathic effect of HIV is the main driving force in the collapse of the immune system; 2. the immune system is a major participant in its own destruction, and HIV is the trigger of the immunopathological disturbances that results in disease. These virological and immunological views of AIDS pathogenesis are not mutually exclusive. An integrated approach is required in order to fully understand AIDS, and to design the optimal therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing the development of disease.


The current paper proposes a new parametric local color correction technique. Initially, several color transfer functions are computed from the output of the mean shift color segmentation algorithm. Secondly, color influence maps are calculated. Finally, the contribution of every color transfer function is merged using the weights from the color influence maps. The proposed approach is compared with both global and local color correction approaches. Results show that our method outperforms the technique ranked first in a recent performance evaluation on this topic. Moreover, the proposed approach is computed in about one tenth of the time.


The small-angle scattering patterns predicted by discrete dislocation plasticity versus local and non-local continuum plasticity theory are compared in a model problem. The problem considered is a two-dimensional model composite with elastic reinforcements in a crystalline matrix subject to macroscopic shear. Only single slip is permitted in the matrix material. Emphasis is on the relationship between characteristics of the scattering patterns and the dislocation structures that can develop as a function of the composite morphology. The computed small-angle scattering patterns clearly distinguish between the different dislocation structures that arise for different composite morphologies. Many features of the small-angle scattering patterns are also reproduced by continuum slip plasticity theory, although the local features due to the discreteness of the individual dislocations are not. The non-local hardening description that gives the best fit with the overall stress-strain response is found to also give the best agreement between the non-local continuum and the discrete dislocation scattering patterns.


This essay examines the significance of inns and taverns in the early modern period. Drawing above all on a series of registers from the French and German lands of the Swiss Republic of Bern, the discussion is presented in two parts. A first section investigates structural aspects such as ownership, clientele, and the remarkably multifunctional character of these establishments. The second part illustrates the continuing growth in provision during the Ancien Regime and the limited impact of government regulation. It is argued that inns and taverns became the most prominent social centres in early modern local communities and that popular demand for their services prevailed over sustained campaigns to restrict numbers and discipline patrons.


Any business is composed of certain activities and segments deriving investment and revenue from various resources and avenues respectively. The prime sources for the business unit are its stakeholders which taken together form stakeholder influence on the business in one way or the other. This paper tried to focus on the stakeholder theory and the influential power of the stakeholders to have an impact on the business policy of any business house. The paper has reviewed and analysed every possible stakeholder and their interest in the business. Paper concludes the degree and impact of the stakeholders influence.


The objective of this study was to assess the relationships between expatriates' personality dispositions and their desire to terminate the overseas assignment as well as with their performance. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 32 expatriates and their supervisors. Descriptive statistics and effect sizes were used to analyse the data. The NEO-Personality Inventory Revised, Orientation to Life Questionnaire, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, Work Locus of Control Scale, COPE and expatriates' desire to terminate the assignment, and supervisor ratings of expatriates' performance, were administered. The results showed that the 'Big Five' personality dimensions, locus of control and coping, are related to expatriates' performance. Coping was also found to be related to expatriates' desire to terminate the assignment. Implications regarding selection procedures for potential expatriates are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) syndrome is the most common cause of hereditary colorectal cancer with an early age of onset. Microsatellite instability (MSI) and germline mutation in one of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes are found in the majority of HNPCC families and provide an opportunity for genetic diagnosis and prophylactic screening. The MMR gene mutation spectrum may vary across different populations and be influenced by founder mutations that prevail in specific ethnic groups. China is a big and ancient nation with enormous genetic diversity, which is especially notable between the northern and southern Chinese populations. A MMR gene mutation database for the southern Chinese population based in Hong Kong has been previously established. This study compares the MMR gene mutation spectrum and the MSI of HNPCC between the northern and southern Chinese populations.

METHODS
Twenty-five HNPCC families from northern China were systematically analyzed. The MSI analysis was performed using five loci in the USA National Cancer Institute (NCI) panel (D2S123, D5S346, BAT-25, BAT-26 and BAT-40) by PCR from the tumor and normal tissue. MSH2, MSH6 and MLH1 were performed using immunohistochemical staining. Two founder mutations of MSH2 and MLH1 were examined by PCR base analyses using primers flanking the two deletion sites (c.1452_1455delAATG in MSH2 and 1.8 kb deletion involving exon 11 of MLH1).

RESULTS
Of the 25 families collected, 19 met Bethesda guideline (BG) 1 and six met BG3. Twenty-two (15.7%) were extra-colonic cancers with gastric cancer (in seven patients) being the most common cancer type. Of the 25 tumors analyzed, 21 (84%) were high level microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and four (16%) were microsatellite stable (MSS). Eighteen (86%) of the 21 MSI-H tumors showed loss of either the MLH1 or the MSH2 protein. Three MSI-H tumors and all four MSS tumors showed no loss of expression of the three MMR proteins. Out of the 21 patients with MSI-H tumors, 12 (57%) showed pathogenic germline mutations in either MLH1 (n = 8) or MSH2 (n = 4). Overall, three novel mutations (in patients H22, H17 and H29) have been identified. One of them, c.503_4insA, caused a frameshift mutation in the MLH1 gene. The other two were found in the MSH2 gene, including a frameshift (c.899_890insAT) and a splice junction (IVS7-1G-->A, SA of Exon 8) mutation.

CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest a distinctly different mutation spectrum of MMR genes between northern and southern Chinese populations and call for a systematic, nationwide study to facilitate the design of a MMR gene mutation detection strategy tailored for individual populations in China.


The objective of this research is to build a "Whole Slide Images" classification system using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). This system is capable of classifying Thyroid tumors into three types: Follicular adenoma, follicular carcinoma, and papillary carcinoma. Furthermore, the cascaded CNN technique is additionally employed to classify the classified follicular carcinoma into four subclasses: follicular carcinoma, papillary follicular variant, well-differentiated follicular carcinoma, and Poorly-differentiated follicular carcinoma. Results of the proposed CNN architecture showed effective classification of Thyroid carcinoma in the whole slide images with an overall accuracy of 94.69%. In the first classification stage, the images are classified into either one of three main types with an overall accuracy of 98.74%, while in the second classification stage, using the cascaded CNN, accuracy was 95.90% for further sub-classification into four sub-classes. Our cascaded CNN outperformed the accuracy of other studies due to splitting classification process of the thyroid into two stages which reduces the number of classes in each stage.


Automatically locating vulnerable statements in source code is crucial to assure software security and alleviate developers' debugging efforts. This becomes even more important in today's software ecosystem, where vulnerable code can flow easily and unwittingly within and across software repositories like GitHub. Across such millions of lines of code, traditional static and dynamic approaches struggle to scale. Although existing machine-learning-based approaches look promising in such a setting, most work detects vulnerable code at a higher granularity – at the method or file level. Thus, developers still need to inspect a significant amount of code to locate the vulnerable statement(s) that need to be fixed. This paper presents Velvet, a novel ensemble learning approach to locate vulnerable statements. Our model combines graph-based and sequence-based neural networks to successfully capture the local and global context of a program graph and effectively understand code semantics and vulnerable patterns. To study Velvet's effectiveness, we use an off-the-shelf synthetic dataset and a recently published real-world dataset. In the static analysis setting, where vulnerable functions are not detected in advance, Velvet achieves 4.5× better performance than the baseline static analyzers on the real-world data. For the isolated vulnerability localization task, where we assume the vulnerability of a function is known while the specific vulnerable statement is unknown, we compare Velvet with several neural networks that also attend to local and global context of code. Velvet achieves 99.6% and 43.6% top-1 accuracy over synthetic data and real-world data, respectively, outperforming the baseline deep learning models by 5.3-29.0%.


The topic of this thesis is the experimental generation and characterization of warm dense matter, i. e. the intermediate Regime between solid state materials and dense plasmas. These states are challenging for both theoretical models and experimental measurements in the laboratory. The physics of warm dense matter is of essential importance for inertial confinement fusion and the understanding of giant planets. For testing different theoretical models of this field, experimental data is urgently needed. In the framework of this thesis, the properties of carbon at a pressure around 100 GPa and a temperature of roughly 8000 K were investigated. Theoretical models predict a solid-liquid phase transition in this regime. This transition could be characterized for the first time in the laboratory by the experiments presented in this thesis. The desired matter states were produced by laser-driven shock compression of graphite samples with an initial density of 1.84 g/cm³. For this purpose, the laser system nhelix at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung was applied. Density and pressure inside the shock wave were determined by measurements of shock velocity and particle velocity. The carbon samples were compressed to a density of 3.9+/-0.2 g/cm³, i.e. about two times the initial density, and pressures from 80 GPa to 170 GPa were achieved. This is in very good agreement with one- and two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using the code packages HELIOS and MULTI2D, respectively. For the investigation of the microscopic structure inside the compressed carbon samples, intensive pulsed X-ray radiation was produced by irradiation of titanium foils with the PHELIX laser system. The applied titanium helium-alpha transition, which emits photons of the energy 4.75 keV, could be triggered very efficiently. In fact, a conversion efficiency from laser energy to X-rays of ~0.5% was achieved. The spectrally resolved measurement of the scattered radiation allows for determining the correlations of the carbon atoms via the structure factor. For the specially Chosen scattering angles of 105° and 126°, a strong change of the structure factor is expected to happen for the solid-liquid phase transition resulting in a strong change of the scattering cross section. This change could be verified experimentally in the framework of this thesis. Absolute values of the structure factor were obtained by determining the intensity ratios of elastically and inelastically scattered X-ray radiation. The existence of a liquid phase was experimentally observed for a density of 3.9+/-0.2 g/cm³ and a pressure of 145+/-17 GPa inside the shock wave. For a lower pressure of 86+/-11 GPa and a similar density of 3.9+/-0.2 g/cm³, a state of matter was produced which is very close to the melting line and just barely liquid. This is in very good Agreement with ab-initio simulations which were used to calculate structure factors for the investigated parameters. Thus, in the framework of this thesis an experimental method for the characterization of phase transitions in warm dense matter was demonstrated and the formation of liquid carbon under shock compression was reliably observed using graphite as initial state for the first time.


In this paper, we propose the concept of Android Printing, which is printing a full android, including skin and mechanical components in a single run using a multi-material 3D printer. Printing an android all at once both reduces assembly time and enables intricate designs with a high degrees of freedom. To prove this concept, we tested by actual printing an android. First, we printed the skin with multiple annular ridges to test skin deformation. By pulling the skin, we show that the state of deformation of the skin can be adjusted depending on the ridge structure. This result is essential in designing humanlike skin deformations. After that, we designed and fabricated a 3-D printed android head with 31 degrees of freedom. The skin and linkage mechanism were printed together before connecting them to a unit combining several electric motors. To confirm our concept's feasibility, we created several motions with the android based on human facial movement data. In the future, android printing might enable people to use an android as their own avatar.


Objective To examine the risk for cyanotic congenital heart diseases (CCHDs) among live births in the USA, resulting from various forms of infertility treatments. Methods This study is a cross-sectional analysis of live births in the USA from 2011 to 2014. Infertility treatments are categorised into two of the following groups on birth certificates: assisted reproductive technology (ART) fertility treatment (surgical egg removal; eg, in vitro fertilisation and gamete intrafallopian transfer) and non-ART fertility treatment (eg, medical treatment and intrauterine insemination). We compared the risk for CCHD in ART and non-ART fertility treatment groups with those infants whose mothers received no documented fertility treatment and were naturally conceived (NC). Results Among 14 242 267 live births from 2011 to 2014, a total of 101 494 live births were in the ART and 81 242 resulted from non-ART fertility treatments. CCHD prevalence in ART, non-ART and NC groups were 393/100 892 (0.39%), 210/80 884 (0.26%) and 10 749/14 020 749 (0.08%), respectively. As compared with naturally conceiving infants, risk for CCHD was significantly higher among infants born in ART (adjusted relative risk (aRR) 2.4, 95% CI 2.1 to 2.7) and non-ART fertility treatment groups (aRR 1.9, 95% CI 1.6 to 2.2). Absolute risk increase in CCHD due to ART and non-ART treatments were 0.03% and 0.02%, respectively. A similar pattern was observed when the analysis was restricted to twins, newborns with birth weights under 1500 g and gestational age of less than 32 weeks. Conclusions Our findings suggest an increased risk for CCHD in infants conceived after all types of infertility treatment.


The Merton problem is the well-known stochastic control problem of choosing consumption over time, as well as an investment mix, to maximize expected constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility of consumption. Merton formulated the problem and provided an analytical solution in 1970; since then a number of extensions of the original formulation have been solved. In this note we identify a certainty equivalent problem, i.e., a deterministic optimal control problem with the same optimal value function and optimal policy, for the base Merton problem, as well as a number of extensions. When time is discretized, the certainty equivalent problem becomes a second-order cone program (SOCP), readily formulated and solved using domain specific languages for convex optimization. This makes it a good starting point for model predictive control, a policy that can handle extensions that are either too cumbersome or impossible to handle exactly using standard dynamic programming methods.