The intense colors emitted by lead halide semiconductor nanocrystals such as cesium lead bromide, CsPbBr3, make these materials promising candidates for application in television displays, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. Standard synthesis procedures leave these nanocrystals, or quantum dots (QDs), covered with oleic acid and oleylamine ligands, which chemically stabilize the particles. But these so-called native ligands don't stay put. They adsorb and desorb from these QDs more readily than they do from less ionic QDs such as cadmium selenide. Because the ligands affect QD optoelectronic properties—and because they often need to be replaced or altered after synthesis for applications—researchers need to quantify the ligand-exchange chemistry on these lead halide QDs. That's exactly what Sara R. Smock, Travis J. Williams, and Richard L. Brutchey of the University of Southern California have done. Using NMR spectroscopy and other methods, the team showed that the native ligands undergo reversible e...


The utilization of shape design to improve heat transfer characteristics in heat convection fields is an important subject in engineering. This review paper explains a numerical solution for the shape design problems involving steady and unsteady heat convection fields. Reshaping for the shape design is carried out by traction method, which is proposed as an approach to solving shape optimization problems. The traction method is a shape optimization method with some advantages such as deformation analysis of pseudo-elastic bodies can be used in the shape update analysis and smoothness in shape update can be maintained. In steady-state heat convection fields, shape design problems that control the temperature distribution in the sub-domains of the heat convection field are introduced. The square integration error between the actual temperature distribution and the target temperature distribution in the specified sub-domains is employed as the objective functional for the shape design. In unsteady heat convection fields, two shape design problems are shown; these problems also involve control of the temperature distribution in sub-domains of the field. In the first problem, in a manner similar to the steady-state problem, the square integration error of the sub-domains during the specified period of time is used as the objective functional. In the second problem, a multi-objective shape design problem that utilizes a normalized objective functional is formulated for the problem to prescribe the temperature distribution and the total dissipated energy minimization problem. The shape gradient of these shape design problems for steady and unsteady fields is derived theoretically using the Lagrange multiplier method, adjoint variable method, and the formulae of the material derivative. Numerical analysis programs for shape design problems using the traction method are developed, and the validity of the demonstrated method is confirmed by results of 2D numerical analyses.


A robot monocular localization method based on 4-DOF ego-motion model and RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) in country road environment is introduced in this paper. The algorithm uses as input only those images provided by a single camera mounted on the roof of the vehicle. Given the image motion, the stable localization of vehicle is computed by the 4-DOF ego-motion model and RANSAC algorithm, which can efficiently estimate the instantaneous steering angle and traveling distance even if the vehicle runs on bumpy road. The proposed algorithms are successfully validated on videos from an automotive platform. Furthermore, the localization results from our method are compared to the ground truth measured with a GPS/INS joint system, and the trajectory recovered from the estimated localization parameters is superimposed onto a digital map. These experimental results indicate that the algorithms are efficient and encouraging.


Model No. 11-A was designed as an improvement over N.A.C.A. Model No. 11, a complete test of which is described in N.A.C.A. Technical Note No. 464. In contrast with the longitudinal upward curvature in the planing bottom forward of the main step on Model 11-A was made as flat as practicable. Otherwise, the two models have very nearly the same form. The results of towing tests made on Model 11-A in the N.A.C.A. tank over a wide range of speed, load on the water, and trim angle are presented, both as original test data and as non dimensional coefficients. A comparison is made with similar results from the test of Model No. 11. The practical significance of the improvement obtained is demonstrated by applying the data from the new form to the illustrative design problem use in the note on Model NO. 11.


Qualitative preference is frequently used to make significant, programmatic choices between competing suppliers and products. Translating qualitative choice into defensible quantitative representation is possible with patience, method and, care. One example of this translation is the application of a popular Total Quality Management (TQM) tool, known as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), in the choice of a new/replacement, collegiate-training aircraft. Using QFD is especially important when a fleet replacement is being considered as the cost of a new, current aircraft can easily approach $500,000; thus a significant fiscal commitment is incurred in replacing a multi-aircraft fleet. A choice of this magnitude deserves multiple stakeholder inputs and requires respect from differing viewpoints. The successful outcome of any decision process ultimately hinges upon confidently exercising the best choice. The decision tool needs to be transparent, easy-to-understand and easy-to-apply. The corresponding choice of a preference scale can either mask or illuminate driving criteria in the decision process. This paper explores the application of QFD to the decision process across competing training aircraft choices and offers justification of the QFD non-linear "0, 1, 3, 9" preference scale. Application research into the mechanics of human preference showed that if 95% reliability in choice between alternatives is desired, then the perceived difference between the choices needs to be a factor of 3.0, as is the case in the employed QFD scale. Selection criteria used in the training aircraft decision, their dissimilar weighting, and the evaluation of competing aircraft in a recent collegiate-training aircraft selection are displayed as exemplars.


Macrophages isolated from tumor-bearing patients as well as cultured human monocytes express Fc receptors that cross-react strongly with murine immunoglobulins of the G2a but only slightly or not at all with the G1, G2b, or G3 subclasses. Such macrophages in the presence of murine immunoglobulin G2a monoclonal antibodies to tumors mediated the killing of tumor cells in vitro. These data suggest that monoclonal antibodies of the G2a subclass may be useful in the immunotherapy of human cancer.


Electron microscopic and histochemical investigations were carried out on the differentiation of the biliary pole of the hepatocyte in fetal and neo-natal rat liver.


Detailed examination of inner shelf sediments of the Bay of Bengal, off Karikkattukuppam, south-east coast of India near Madras, revealed quite a few rarely recorded or hitherto unidentified taxa. Of these, one species is a living representative of the genus Cocoarota Loeblich and Tappan, considered to be extinct since the Eocene. The few existing records of this genus from the Upper Eocene, exclusively from the American region, and lack of subsequent ones, raise questions with regard to its geographical distribution and possible migration since the Eocene. Cocoarota madrasensis n. sp. Rajeshwara Rao and Revets is a calcareous, densely perforate (except for the apertural face and sutures), foraminifer characterized by the presence of a series of irregularly shaped bosses clustered in the depressed umbilical area, resembling spiralized ornamentation as a result of thickening of folia and inner ends of sutures of earlier whorls. The flaps or folia on the umbilical side hover over the umbilical aperture that remains open in the earlier parts of the test. It is one of the more abundantly occurring species on the inner shelf off Madras (now Chennai), associated with considerable numbers of Asterorotalia trispinosa (Thalmann) and A. inflata (Millett), particularly at depths between 38 and 55 m, and on substrate with relatively higher mud content. The present discovery necessitates not only extension of the stratigraphic range of the genus Cocoarota but also a thorough review of the existing literature.


Restricted gene flow and reproductive philopatry are increasingly being described in marine predators such as sharks. However, observing shark reproductive behaviour in situ is problematic because of issues associated with sampling in the marine environment. As such, molecular tools have become fundamental to unravelling complex mating behaviours. In this study, we examined patterns of genetic structure in the oviparous Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) using 10 microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial (mt)DNA control region. Patterns of genetic structure were investigated between breeding aggregations in Sydney and Jervis Bay, as well as between two sites within Jervis Bay. Significant genetic differentiation was detected between Sydney and Jervis Bay using mtDNA, but no structure was observed within Jervis Bay. No significant genetic differentiation was found with microsatellites within or between aggregations. Mean assignment index values were significantly higher for females than males in Jervis Bay, but not in Sydney. Both females and males migrate inshore during the Austral winter for breeding, but it appears females may exhibit higher levels of reproductive philopatry than males. This is the first study to document reproductive philopatry in an oviparous shark, highlighting the importance of conserving and appropriately managing breeding sites for H. portusjacksoni and potentially other oviparous shark species.


Depending on the evolving technological possibilities, distance and online education applications have gradually gained more significance in the education system. Regarding the issues, such as advancements in the server services, disc capacity, cloud computing opportunities resulting from the increase in the number of the broadband internet users, web design applications; and increase in the number of mobile device and social media users and the time spent on the internet, traditional reading and working habits as well as the preferred information resources of man have considerably changed. In accordance with these changes, it has become an inevitable necessity to improve the higher education courses and learning materials. Any higher education system, which fails to keep up with these requirements, will inevitably have difficulties in providing the students with the necessary knowledge and skills within an appropriate workload frame. Within this context, one of the fields to benefit from distance and online education opportunities is undoubtedly "architecture and design education". Although the use of computer technologies is inevasible and highly intensive in this field, the speed of conformance with the rapid technological changes and the adoption of the advancements is considerably slow compared to others. However, it is still among the fields where the technological opportunities are utilized at most. Thereby, distance and online education technologies present an essential potential to help students achieve the required planning and architectural knowledge and skills. In this respect, this article evaluates the distance and online education opportunities for design and planning education through the experience of Anadolu University.


Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal carcinoma is considered to be in the early stages of an epidemic. A marked rise in the incidence of this sexually-transmissible cancer has captured the public interest, and much debate exists over both the prophylactic and therapeutic strategies currently employed to manage this healthcare priority.
HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinoma is associated with highly favourable oncological outcomes. Clinical attention over recent years has been paid to the potential de-escalation of therapy in order to account for the disease's favourable prognosis, in addition to reducing therapeutic burden in a well-prognosticating, younger patient cohort, for which consequences of radical chemo-radiotherapy strategies may disproportionately impact on longer-term quality of life. Whilst optimising the management of the ever-increasing proportion of HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinomas is desirable and highly justifiable, it appears the poorer prognosticating HPV-negative oropharyngeal carcinoma has at least in part become overlooked.
Oropharyngeal carcinoma is unique in comparison to many other established HPV-related cancers inasmuch as a clear HPV-negative subset exists, to which established aetiological factors (tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption) strongly correlate. For most other HPV-related carcinomas, such as cervical, anal and penile, tumours classified as HPV-negative are either regarded as potentially-virus containing, or else cannot be correlated to a definitive aetiological agent. Comparison of HPV-positive and -negative oropharyngeal carcinoma therefore offers unprecedented insight into the biological significance of each aetiological agent, and how prognostication of each disease may relate to tumour behaviour at a molecular level. Whilst improved outcomes may be attributable in part to greater radio-sensitivity due to preservation of key wild-type genes in HPV-positive tumours, more comprehensive biological differences are likely to underpin the overall behaviour of disease – indeed, surgical outcomes are also favourable in HPV-positive disease.
This thesis explores the potential for the tumour microenvironment to differ between HPV-positive and -negative disease. We hypothesised that due to the strictly epitheliotropic nature of the Human Papillomavirus, activation of the tumour microenvironment would potentially be suppressed in order to avoid host clearance of pathogen during the natural history of viral infection, whereas penetrating carcinogens linked to tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption may either directly derange the stroma or, less contentiously, induce an increased mutational load which in turn in turn may offer greater opportunity for tumour evolution towards deranged microenvironmental signalling.
A 2D tissue culture model of the tumour microenvironment was created and used to test the hypothesis of a difference in microenvironmental interactions between HPV-positive versus HPV-negative disease, and normal stroma. Confirmation of an increase in migration-inducing signals from the modelled normal fibroblast stroma in HPV-negative disease led to further investigation at a molecular level using cytokine array technology. Further ELISA quantification and recombinant protein dose-response analysis ultimately identified Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) as a primary candidate molecule for driving the additional migration observed in response to activated stroma. IL-6, co-secreted with HGF by stimulated fibroblasts, was also found to have a supporting role through the co-induction of STAT3. Final confirmation of HGF's principal role in inducing HPV-negative tumour migration was undertaken using the clinically relevant c-Met inhibitors, foretinib & INCB28060 (recently rebranded as capmatinib).


Rat colonic circular muscle, main target of otilonium bromide (OB) spasmolytic activity, is subdivided in an inner and outer portion. Since the inner one is particularly rich in organelles involved in calcium availability (caveolae, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria), the expression of specific markers (Caveolin-1, eNOS, calreticulin, calsequestrin) in comparison with the outer portion was investigated. The possible changes of these organelles and related markers, and of muscarinic receptors (Mr2) were then studied after OB chronic exposition. Rats were treated with 2–20 mg/kg/OB for 10 or 30 days. Proximal colon was processed by electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and western blot. In colon strips the stimulated contractility response to muscarinic agonist was investigated. The inner portion showed a higher expression of Caveolin-1 and Mr2, but not of eNOS, calreticulin and calsequestrin, compared to the outer portion. Chronic OB treatment caused similar ultrastructural and immunohistochemical changes in both portions. Organelles and some related markers were increased at 10 days; Mr2 expression and muscle contractility induced by methacholine was increased at 30 days. The present findings: 1) provide new information on the immunohistochemical properties of the inner portion of the circular layer that are in favour of a role it might play in colonic motility distinct from that of the outer portion; 2) demonstrate that chronically administered OB interferes with cell structures and molecules responsible for calcium handling and storage, and modifies cholinergic transmission. In conclusion, chronic OB administration in the colonic circular muscle layer directly interacts with the organelles and molecules calcium-related and with the Mr2.


Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is a technique developed in Japan for "en bloc" resection of larger superficial neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract as an alternative to the traditional Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (EMR), with removal of the lesion in multiple fragments ("piecemeal"). ESD offers a lower recurrence rate and allows a more accurate histopathological examination. This procedure is however considered technically difficult and therefore requires an adequate learning curve, it is time consuming with more discomfort for the patient, it has a higher complication rate, it is more expensive. To overcome these disadvantages, in the Western countries a hybrid technique called Circumferential Submucosal Incision - Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (CSI-EMR) has been developed and is especially employed for colonic lesions. This article analyzes retrospectively the results obtained in a single centre by a single operator in the treatment of 23 patients (12 men and 11 women, average age 65,6 years), all suffering from superficial, larger than ≥ 20 mm colorectal neoplasms: 9 were treated with ESD for rectal lesions and 14 were treated with CSI-EMR for colonic lesions. Findings show a technical success rate of 66,6% for ESD and 78,5% for CSI-EM, and a 0% recurrence rate during follow-up, 4,3% bleeding and 13% perforation complications. The histology of the removed lesions showed 13 (56,5%) low grade dysplasia adenomas, 8 (34,7%) high grade dysplasia adenomas, one grade 1 sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma infiltrating the submucosal layer without lymphovascular invasion, with free margins (R0), treated conservatively, and one grade 1 cecum adenocarcinoma, infiltrating the submucosal layer, with lymphovascular invasion and involved excision margin, treated surgically with no residual neoplastic disease in the surgical specimen. These data are in line with the most significant ones in literature, except for the higher complication rate, which the authors ascribe to the "learning curve" and the smaller number of treated patients.


We report on a method to fabricate complex microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) structures onto a flexible membrane. Three-dimensional and high-aspect-ratio MEMS structures were formed on a silicon-on-insulator wafer by deep reactive-ion etching and then were partially buried in a flexible polymer membrane. After being released from the silicon substrate, the flexible membrane with the complex structures could deform to curvilinear shapes and then could be transferred onto curvilinear surfaces. The effect of the structure and density of the pillars on the transferring procedure is studied. Potentially, this method could be utilized to transfer any MEMS structures and devices to any nonplanar surfaces, thus possessing great potential in MEMS devices.


This study explores 'immediate' and 'potential' supply chain voids (SCVs) in capability within three Welsh priority sectors and is sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The research design employs a multiple case study strategy targeting Biosciences, Financial and Unmanned Systems utilising instruments such as secondary data, semi-structured and telephone interviews. The findings from this study demonstrate that SCVs are contingent upon different sectors, supplier search and the behaviour of searchers, organisational size and structure, technology, markets and the nature of supply and demand at the macro level, the lack of suitable suppliers, poor quality standards and high prices. The moderate development of Pare Aberporth and Unmanned Systems operations is impeding progress in the Welsh SME base owing to the lack of locally based customers with 'home base' capabilities, the early life-cycle position of the cluster, motivations of companies to move to the area, a deficiency of competition and the efficacy of economic development methods. The key contribution is the development and pilot testing of a 'Hoshin Kanri' policy deployment framework for operation by the WAG (and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)) whilst investigating 'immediate' and 'potential' SCVs across different sectors and firms. The study was limited to the deployment of WAG strategies and companies operating in Wales therefore, in order to position it within a wider United Kingdom (UK) context, other RDAs were consulted. In addition, the literature was used to compare Wales to other regions in the UK and elsewhere. Policy recommendations for the sponsors are identified and the findings are likely to be of interest to RDAs, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and UK Trade and Investment. The results have interest in relation to the framework and its application through aligning regional strategies to target SCVs using sustainable development and regional embeddedness criteria.


ABSTRACT The present paper develops a model where service buyer loyalty can be achieved by seller education of the service buyer. Buyer education implies both offering services and development of the service buyer's capability to use the service. Service buyer education is facilitated by seller competence on the service offering and the buyer's context. The reason for this is that the more embedded the service seller is in the buyer's context, the better able are they to educate the service buyer. Antecedent to seller competence, at any given point of time, or level of relationship development, is the service buyer's current understanding of seller resources. The model is tested and confirmed on 255 small firms. The model identifies that education can align the service offering, buyer resources, and seller resources in buyer-seller relationships.


Recent studies with adeno-associated virus (AAV) have shown that site-specific integration is directed by DNA sequence motifs that are present in both the viral replication origin and the chromosomal preintegration DNA and that specify binding and nicking sites for the viral regulatory Rep protein. This finding raised the question as to whether other parvovirus regulatory proteins might direct site-specific recombination with DNA targets that contain origin sequences functionally equivalent to those described for AAV. To investigate this question, active and inactive forms of the minute virus of mice (MVM) 3' replication origin, derived from a replicative-form dimer-bridge intermediate, were propagated in an Epstein-Barr virus-based shuttle vector which replicates as an episome in a cell-cycle-dependent manner in mammalian cells. Upon MVM infection of these cells, the infecting genome integrated into episomes containing the active-origin sequence reported to be efficiently nicked by the MVM regulatory protein NS1. In contrast, MVM did not integrate into episomes containing either the inactive form of the origin sequence reported to be inefficiently nicked by NS1 or the active form from which the NS1 consensus nick site had been deleted. The structure of the cloned MVM episomal recombinants displayed several features previously described for AAV episomal and chromosomal recombinants. The findings indicate that the rules which govern AAV site-specific recombination also apply to MVM and suggest that site-specific chromosomal insertions may be achievable with different autonomous parvovirus replicator proteins which recognize binding and nicking sites on the target DNA.


Assessing the direct and indirect health impact of the COVID 19 pandemic is central in managing public health and other policy measures while learning to co-exist with the virus. Many countries are publishing statistics on COVID 19 related mortality. While the frequent and timely publication of such figures provides insights into the ongoing trends in a given country, differences in coding and reporting practices pose challenges for international comparisons. Looking at the number of total deaths can help to overcome some of these differences in national practices whilst also providing a better view of the overall impact of COVID 19, by taking into account not just the possible underreporting of COVID 19 deaths but also indirect mortality caused, for example, by health systems not being able to cope with other conditions – acute and chronic.


Growing awareness of the transition from an industrial age to a communication- and knowledge-based economy appears reflected in some changing directions in libraries. Major trends include (1) a change in management practices, (2) a realignment of operational goals away from technical processing activities to client-oriented outreach services, and (3) the identification of educational functions as a primary professional role. The twin concepts of knowledge utilization and information brokering are beginning to have an impact on the definition of the librarian's role.


Apart from performance and power efficiency, security is another critical concern in the modern memory sub-system design. SRAM, which is routinely used as a data preservation component, has now been developed into an effective primitive known as Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) for cryptographic key generation to protect the sensitive local information. Considering the constraints of hardware resource on embedded systems, it is desirable to have an SRAM used both as a regular memory and a PUF to save the overheads of having these two functions implemented independently. Unfortunately, while process variations are the entropy sources for secure key generation, it impacts failure rates in memory-mode operations. This paper presents a statistical analysis on SRAM and provides an insight into how the SRAM cell geometry can be optimized to qualify it for both modes of operation simultaneously.


In this paper, an embedded elliptical crack in a weld of pressure vessels under tension was taken into consideration, and stress intensity factors at the crack tip were calculated numerically with the emphasis on the influences of the weld surface. It is found that when the embedded depth is 4 times larger than the minor semi-axis of the ellipse, the weld surface effects on the crack can be neglected and the numerical solutions for the stress intensity factors well agree with the analytical ones. This result can be used to distinguish a shallow embedded crack from a deep embedded crack. It is also found that the point with maximum stress intensity factor is always located at the end of minor axis of the ellipse no mater the shape of the ellipse is and how deep it was embedded.


Curious similarities between flows into venture capital and aggressive small cap growth funds in the public markets, and between buyout strategies and small cap value fund flows, may offer insights into the "timing of private equity deals." Only recently have the outflows of small cap value stopped and the flows turned positive. This shift might indicate that buyout strategies may take precedence over venture investments in the private equity world over the next eighteen months. Private Market Value, or what a firm is worth if taken private, should become more relevant among investors as small and microcap firms exhibit recession-level valuation multiples. Despite a significant pickup in mergers and acquisition (M&A) in the U.S. small and microcap markets, the financial buyer has been notably absent. Although the lure of venture capital investments has been siphoning funds from buyout strategies, with the collapse in aggressive growth valuations, buyout-style investments may become much more appealing.


The simplified odor measurement in Japan is conducted using simplified versions of the conventional sensory tests or by methods using a detection tube. In addition, research has recently been undertaken to create practical odor sensors with a single sensor element and electronic noses with multiple sensor elements. The odor sensor with a single sensor element, already used for more than 10 years, features the ability to provide measurement results immediately on-site and to conduct continuous monitoring. However, to match the sensitivity of the nose, the odor sensor requires the creation of calibration curve for each odor element. Also care must be taken about interfering gases when using the odor sensor. To solve these problems, research has been conducted in recent years into electronic noses that incorporate multiple odor sensor elements. Attempts are being made to create electronic noses that automatically evaluate odor category, evaluate the intensity of odor regardless of its category and output odor category information for the identification of odor sources. Future investigation is required to determine if the electronic nose incorporating multiple sensors can act as a replacement for the human sense of odor, as well as to determine the practical limits to its application.


Pulsed homodyne quantum tomography usually requires a high detection efficiency, limiting its applicability in quantum optics. Here, it is shown that the presence of low detection efficiency ( < 50 % ?> ) does not prevent the tomographic reconstruction of quantum states of light, specifically, of Gaussian states. This result is obtained by applying the so-called 'minimax' adaptive reconstruction of the Wigner function to pulsed homodyne detection. In particular, we prove, by both numerical and real experiments, that an effective discrimination of different Gaussian quantum states can be achieved. Our finding paves the way to a more extensive use of quantum tomographic methods, even in physical situations in which high detection efficiency is unattainable.


The growing occurrence of malnutrition in developing countries is gradually receiving the needed research attention. Plant protein products exhibited potential for protein supplementation of tapioca and was thus explored in this study. Cassava tubers (Manihot esculenta) were processed into tapioca grits (partially gelatinised irregular flakes from roasted cassava starch grits) with different proportion of almond seed (Terminalia catappa) flour (ASF) (0 to 50% ASF w/w). The samples were evaluated for their proximate composition, energy value, functional and sensory properties. The results showed that the ASF-cassava starch grits had significantly (p < 0.05) higher protein, fat and ash contents but lower water absorption and swelling capacities, compared to the 100% cassava tapioca. Substitution of cassava starch with ASF significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the acidity and cyanide content of the tapioca but had a negative effect on the pasting properties of starch grits and sensory attributes (taste, colour and texture) of the tapioca. The study concluded that the fortification of cassava starch with ASF at 10% level has commercial potential.

 Key words: Cassava starch, almond seed flour, physicochemical properties, functional properties, acceptability.


Among the various technologies that boost the production of crop, nutrient management has got an important impact in maximizing the yield. Application of balanced fertilizers alone is not only the solution for this problem, application of residue free nutrients that protects the soil health and environment is very important. Here comes the concept of organic farming. Hence, a field experiment was conducted in the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar to study the effect of organic nutrients on growth and physiological parameters of radish. The experiment was conducted with eighteen treatments in three replications and laid out in FRBD design. The treatment includes various sources of organic manures viz., FYM, vermicompost, enriched manure along with and without use of consortium biofertilizer. Biostimulants viz., buttermilk solution and EMI were given as foliar spray at 15 d interval as 2 sprays. The intercultural operations and plant protection measures were carried out as per the recommendation. The results of the experiment revealed that application of farm yard manure @ 25 t ha-1 along with consortium biofertilizer @ 2 Kg ha-1 and EMI @ 1:1000 dilution ha1 as foliar application recorded the highest growth parameters viz., shoot length, number of leaves and shoot weight. The physiological parameters viz., leaf area and chlorophyll content were recorded the highest in the same treatment T6.


I have been asked to open this session by saying something about official publications from the Stationery Office point of view, in the hope that those of you who handle them, and are often exasperated by illogicalities and catalogue inadequacies, may realize that the reasons for these difficulties are not obscurantism on the part of the Stationery Office, but are inherent in the intractability of the material. Originally all official publications were parliamentary publications; they were solely the Bills, Acts, Reports and Papers which Parliament required for its day‐to‐day business or had prescribed by Statute that departments should present to Parliament as a record of their activities. With the growth of the functions of Government, official publications have increased enormously in number and variety, particularly those known as non‐parliamentary which arise from the executive functions of departments. Transfers and over‐lapping of functions of Government departments increase the complexity of the pattern. A very technical report, say, on the incidence of duodenal ulcers in busmen can turn up as a Ministry of Labour Report, instead of under the Ministry of Health, because it arises from a trade dispute, and over all this criss‐crossing, bedevilling any rigid classification, still stands the division between parliamentary and non‐parliamentaty, which because of some temporary political circumstance such as a threatened strike, will lift the same report from its natural group and make it a Command Paper in the parliamentary series. No wonder then, that to the librarian, Government publications are like weeds—they spring up all over the place, disregard the formal beds in which they ought to appear, and even grow on the paths of his tidy garden.


A system is proposed for robust and efficient search for solid objects in a cluttered depth scene. Since the system is designed for obtaining robustness in real industry applications, it utilizes only depth information without color or texture on the object surfaces. The search is based on image matching of our novel surface representation called depth aspect image (DAI). The representation defined as a basic cue for the search is a two-dimensional orthographic image of local depth distribution and it is created through voxel framing, which gives effective references for definition of various aspects without any prominent features on the surfaces such as vertices or edges. For local coordinates of DAIs, the aspect coordinate frame is defined by 3-tuples of voxels and five constraint conditions on the 3-tuples can be formalized for the efficient selection. These can contribute to a reduction of the number of possible voxel sets. A robust statistical estimator called least quantile of residuals is furthermore introduced for robust matching even in the presence of occlusion and/or lack of data. The estimator can be utilized for both depth matching and model verification. Since the proposed system is following a model-based approach with possible views of local depth distributions, the computation cost for matching has to be reduced by introducing random sampling and an effective hashing. The sufficient number of trial samplings is derived through investigation and modeling of voxel arrangement. Experiments with real scenes show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Background and Objectives: Supraglottic airway devices (SADs) have revolutionized the pediatric anesthetic practice and got a key role in difficult airway (DA) management. Several modifications of SADs design had come up to improve their safety. Aim: The aim of this survey was to determine the current usage of SADs in pediatric anesthetic practice, their availability, and to know any difficulties noted in practice. Methods: It was a questionnaire survey among the anesthesiologists who attended the National Pediatric Anesthesia Conference-2016. The questionnaire assessed the current practice preferences of SADs in routine pediatric cases and DA management, availability of various devices, and any difficulties noted in their usage. Results: First-generation SADs were widely available (97%), and 64% of respondents preferred to use it for pediatric short cases. 64% felt the use of SADs free their hands from holding the facemask and 58% found better airway maintenance with it. Intraoperative displacement (55%) was the common problem reported and only 11% felt aspiration as a problem. Most of the respondents (73%) accepted its use as rescue device in airway emergency, and 84% felt the need of further randomized controlled studies on safety of SADs in children. The majority were not confident to use SADs in neonates. Interpretation and Conclusions: The key role of SADs in DA management was well accepted, and aspiration was not a major problem with the use of SADs. Although many newer versions of SADs are available, classic laryngeal mask remains the preferred SAD for the current practitioner. Further, RCTs to ensure the safety of SADs in children are warranted.


Encainide biotransformation to its active metabolites O-desmethyl encainide and 3-methoxy-O-desmethyl encainide cosegregates with the polymorphic oxidation of debrisoquine. Because quinidine has been reported recently to be a potent inhibitor of the enzyme responsible for this polymorphism (cytochrome P450db1), we tested the hypothesis that quinidine would selectively inhibit encainide metabolism and alter its effects in subjects with the extensive metabolism phenotype for debrisoquine oxidation. Seven subjects with the extensive and four subjects with the poor metabolism phenotype received encainide (60 mg p.o. and 4.5 mg of [14C]encainide i.v. administered simultaneously) alone and during chronic treatment with low dose quinidine (50 mg q 6 hr) in a randomized, crossover design. In extensive metabolizers, quinidine decreased encainide systemic clearance from 935 +/- 541 to 190 +/- 77 ml/min and encainide nonrenal clearance from 782 +/- 474 to 95 +/- 32 ml/min (both P less than .02). In this population, quinidine significantly increased encainide elimination half-life from 1.8 +/- 1.2 to 7.7 +/- 2.4 hr and fractional urinary recovery of unchanged encainide from 17.5 +/- 7.6 to 47.4 +/- 7.8% (both P less than .001). The extent to which quinidine altered these indices of encainide disposition was highly correlated with the metabolic ratio for debrisoquine oxidation (r = 0.62-0.95). Moreover, poor metabolism and QRS prolongation during encainide were blunted by addition of quinidine; the extent of quinidine-induced reversal of encainide-related ECG changes was also correlated with debrisoquine ratio (r = 0.91). In contrast, in poor metabolizers, quinidine did not change encainide disposition kinetics and neither encainide alone nor encainide plus quinidine significantly altered electrocardiographic intervals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Saul (2002) criticizes a view on the relationship between speaker meaning and conversational implicatures according to which speaker meaning is exhaustively comprised of what is said and what is implicated. In the course of making her points, she develops a couple of new notions which she calls "utterer-implicature" and "audience-implicature". She then makes certain claims about the relationship between the intersection of those two notions and successful communication and also about the difference between conversational implicature and the intersection of utterer and audience implicatures. Finally, she tries to figure out the role and importance of conversational implicature in communication. Her claim on this issue is that conversational implicature plays a normative role in communication. In this paper, I will introduce her views on the above issues and critically engage some of them. I will show that her identification of successful communication with the intersection of utterer and audience implicatures is wrong. I will then show that her views on the difference between conversational implicature and the intersection of utterer and audience implicature run to several problems. Finally, appealing to what she says in Saul (2010) I try to make her claim about the normative character of conversational implicature more accurate.


Objective: To update for both clinicians and the lay public the evidence-based position statement published by The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) in July 2008 regarding its recommendations for menopausal hormone therapy (HT) for postmenopausal women, with consideration for the therapeutic benefit-risk ratio at various times through menopause and beyond. Methods: An Advisory Panel of clinicians and researchers expert in the field of women's health was enlisted to review the July 2008 NAMS position statement, evaluate new evidence through an evidence-based analysis, and reach consensus on recommendations. The Panel' s recommendations were reviewed and approved by the NAMS Board of Trustees as an official NAMS position statement. Also participating in the review process were other interested organizations who then endorsed the document. Results: Current evidence supports a consensus regarding the role of HT in postmenopausal women, when potential therapeutic benefits and risks around the time of menopause are considered. This paper lists all these areas along with explanatory comments. Areas that vary from the 2008 position statement are noted. A suggested reading list of key references published since the last statement is also provided. Conclusions: Recent data support the initiation of HT around the time of menopause to treat menopause-related symptoms; to treat or reduce the risk of certain disorders, such as osteoporosis or fractures in select postmenopausal women; or both. The benefit-risk ratio for menopausal HT is favorable for women who initiate HT close to menopause but decreases in older women and with time since menopause in previously untreated women.


This paper shows the great importance of taking transportation costs into account when deciding on the shipment sizes. During the last few decades companies have tried to reduce their shipment sizes, in order to increase their inventory turnover rates. However, the transportation cost is hardly ever included as an explicit parameter in the shipment size decision. The results from a case study show that it is economically advantageous, in the perspective of the model applied, to increase the shipment sizes for many of the suppliers. These results are discussed together with the factors that act for smaller shipment sizes. One of the final conclusions is, however, that if the manufacturing and the materials flow systems were changed in order to take full advantage of smaller shipment sizes and less material in house, it would possibly be profitable to decrease the shipment sizes even more than has hitherto been done.


Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of loci at very stringent levels of statistical significance across many different human traits. However, it is now clear that very large samples (n~10^4-10^5) are needed to find the majority of genetic variants underlying risk for most human diseases. Therefore, the field has engaged itself in a race to increase study sample sizes with some studies yielding very successful results but also studies which provide little or no new insights. This project started early on in this new wave of studies and I decided to use an alternative approach that uses prior biological knowledge to improve both interpretation and power of GWAS. The project aimed to a) implement and develop new gene-based methods to derive gene-level statistics to use GWAS in well established system biology tools; b) use of these gene-level statistics in networks and gene-set analyses of GWAS data; c) mine GWAS of neuropsychiatric disorders using gene, gene-sets and integrative biology analyses with gene-expression studies; and d) explore the ability of these methods to improve the analysis GWAS on disease sub-phenotypes which usually suffer of very small sample sizes.


Recently, the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system could support various aspects of everyday life of elderly and disabled people. In this research, we developed a noninvasive BCI system that controls the robot hand using induced brain waves Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) in order to improve the quality of life of patients with hands or arms deficient or impaired. This BCI system consists of visual stimulator, 6 degree of freedom (DOF) robot hand, an EEG recorder and a laptop for processing data. The subject induces the corresponding SSVEP signal by seeing one target in the three visual stimuli (5Hz, 6Hz, 7Hz) representing the motion: grip, pinch and arm rotation of the robot hand. The detected SSVEP signal is classified by canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The robot hand is operated by converting the SSVEP into the control signal according to the classification result. The results show that the proposed BCI system has a high performance, achieving the average accuracy of 97% in a time window length of 4 s and the use of three harmonics.


Stereotype researches of natural conditions on the territory of Serbia have caused limited application value of the large number of recent development strategies and planning documents of different purpose. The best indicator of this is the Strategy of development of planning area of the municipality Ub where, apart from general analysis of natural potential, determining the areas endangered by different intensity of geomorphologic processes was neglected in many ways. At what extent the territory is at risk of slope processes represents an important factor in choosing the location and planning the purpose of the land use, and in defining the degree of concentration of physical structure and objects of infrastructure. This kind of analysis is unavoidable segment of strategy for spatial development of some territory. Therefore, apart from the analysis of natural conditions as the potential of development of some territory, the same attention should be paid to rightful assessment of degree of impairment of the territory, i.e. limitations for its development and growth. .


Recently, the excitation of various types of Rydberg wave packet has become a common method for studying quantum-classical correspondence, internal dynamics in the presence of strong electromagnetic fields, and possibilities for quantum control. This paper reviews several methods for probing the evolution of Rydberg electrons including the basic theory behind each method and what dynamical information can be obtained.


The CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering system has revolutionized biology by allowing for precise genome editing with little effort. Guided by a single guide RNA (sgRNA) that confers specificity, the Cas9 protein cleaves both DNA strands at the targeted locus. The DNA break can trigger either non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homology directed repair (HDR). NHEJ can introduce small deletions or insertions which lead to frame-shift mutations, while HDR allows for larger and more precise perturbations. Here, we present protocols for generating knockout cell lines by coupling established CRISPR/Cas9 methods with two options for downstream selection/screening. The NHEJ approach uses a single sgRNA cut site and selection-independent screening, where protein production is assessed by dot immunoblot in a high-throughput manner. The HDR approach uses two sgRNA cut sites that span the gene of interest. Together with a provided HDR template, this method can achieve deletion of tens of kb, aided by the inserted selectable resistance marker. The appropriate applications and advantages of each method are discussed.


The country-of-origin ( COO ) effect is one of the most controversial areas of scientific marketing research because some studies results lead to different conclusions about the COO and its impact on consumer attitude and behavior. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of COO effect on consumer's attitude to a product and how it depends on COO effect's moderators in the Lithuanian market. Theoretical analysis reveals that COO effect on consumer's attitude to a product depends on moderating effects of consumer experience and product knowledge, consumer ethnocentricity, consumer product involvement, consumer perceived product risk and a product brand . Three moderators like consumer ethnocentricity, product knowledge, and product involvement were chosen for our empirical research, as they were not deeply explored in previous empirical studies . Findings showed that a consumer's attitude to a product is strongly influenced by COO effect. A consumer's attitude to a product is also influenced by COO effect moderators, which are product knowledge and product involvement. Analyzing the results of empirical research it is also not ic ed that in this research case, when respondents evaluated their attitude to products made in foreign countries, one of COO effect moderators analyzed in theory, a consumer's ethnocentricity, did not have influence on a consumer's attitude to a product. The original contribution of this article, the study investigates moderating effects of consumer ethnocentricity, product involvement, and product knowledge to the relationship between COO effect and consumer's attitude to a product in an emerging market. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.28.4.17535


Background: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of diurnal enuresis (DE) and its association with background variables among children aged 5–15 years living in Sivas and Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. Methods: The parents of 1,760 children voluntarily completed a questionnaire consisting of 42 items under supervision of a researcher. Results: Overall, the reported prevalence of DE was 4.2%, with a tendency to decrease with increasing age and with no difference between genders. Smoking during pregnancy, delayed initiation and dealing with the child by punishment in toilet training, urination frequency, urgency, soiling, arousal difficulty, urinary infection history, lower school performance, poor social adaptation, wetting history in the family, were all significantly prevalent among diurnal enuretics (p < 0.05). Socioeconomic or sociodemographic factors based on families and stressful life events were not associated with DE (p > 0.05). 63.9% of all parents reported some level of concern about the wetting problem and 51.7% of the diurnal enuretics had previously visited a physician. Conclusions: The prevalence of DE in our sample is not too different from the prevalence rates reported previously from Turkey and other countries. This type of enuresis seems to be more associated with an organic neurological or urological disorder than is nocturnal enuresis.


The timing of growth phases in a cave flowstone from Yorkshire, England, has been precisely dated by thermal ionization mass spectrometric 238U–234U–230Th dating. Six growth periods of both short duration and fast growth rate are separated by nondepositional hiatuses. The ages of these phases were determined to be 128.8 ± 2.7, 103.1 ± 1.8, 84.7 ± 1.2, 57.9 ± 1.5, 49.6 ± 1.3, and 36.9 ± 0.8 ka. There is a remarkably good correlation between the periods of active speleothem growth and the timing of solar insolation maxima, derived from orbital parameters, which has not previously been reported. Speleothem growth theory and evidence from other terrestrial paleoclimate records suggest that episodic, rapid growth phases at the insolation maxima are most likely to be caused by changes in either precipitation intensity or volume, which caused switching in the routing of water flow in the unsaturated zone above the cave. Such a result provides new evidence of the importance of variations in solar insolation for terrestrial paleoclimate and offers the potential for derivation of a paleowetness index from speleothem growth.


Natural products are widely used globally in various formats for preventive and therapeutic health care. Although the use of natural products for several health conditions is supported by only a limited number of rigorous scientific tests, they continue to be used by majority of the population due to extensive trust in them imparted by time-tested traditional medicine practices and folklore. Natural products have also severed as foundations to the development of many currently used synthetic drugs. The expansion of synthetic drugs industry had such an enormous commercial and health gains that it eventually became the mainstream of drug discovery, with exclusive focus on active ingredient-based approach. This target and target-unlock/lock-based approach has been the paradigm of therapeutics for the past several decades with variable outcomes. Such an approach was also a considerable deviation from the traditional medicine practices, which used natural products in a combinatorial way with multiple active/inactive ingredients, which would most likely be influencing multiple targets and in most cases achieving better outcomes. Despite natural products being preamble to drug discovery, they never became the mainstream of therapeutics, probably due to commercial, technical, resourcing, and logistic factors.


Use of biofilm dispersing NO-donor compounds in combination with antibiotics has emerged as a promising new strategy for treating drug-resistant bacterial biofilm infections. This paper details the synthesis and preliminary evaluation of six cephalosporin-3'-diazeniumdiolates as biofilm-targeted NO-donor prodrugs. Each of the compounds is shown to selectively release NO following reaction with the bacteria-specific enzyme β-lactamase and to trigger dispersion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms in vitro.


Applying Unsupervised Machine Learning techniques to a set of nominal variables (based on the optimum currency area [OCA] theory and the Maastricht Treaty criteria) and industrial indicators (based on similar production patterns), this paper aims to identify potential candidates for a monetary integration in South America (SA). The main conclusion is that, according to the clustering of the nominal and industrial indicators, the countries in best position for a hypothetical monetary integration in SA are Chile, Colombia, and Perú (and Ecuador to a lesser extent); countries that are generally members of the same cluster. This group of economies, which belong to the Pacific Alliance, are in a better position to meet various criteria for regional monetary integration, such as nominal convergence and similar production patterns.


A Chemistry concept inventory has been developed for assessing students learning and identifying the alternative conceptions that students may have in general chemistry. The conceptions in question are assumed to be mainly learned in school and to a less degree in student's daily life. The inventory therefore aims at functioning as a tool for adjusting teaching practices in chemistry. The concept inventory presented here is mainly aimed at assessing students learning during general chemistry courses. The inventory has been administered and evaluated using statistical tests, focusing on both item analysis and on the entire test. The results indicate that the concept inventory is a reliable and discriminating tool in the present context.


Innovation is a solution being called for in response to social, environmental, and economic problems. The methods of innovation are numerous, but one popular method in Europe has been the development of living labs. Living labs involve partnerships between diverse stakeholders, e.g. public and private institutions, individuals, NGOs, and universities and aim to develop innovative solutions using real-world conditions. The European Union has provided strong funding and support for living labs as part of an effort to develop an innovation network in Europe. Many living labs include public participation as well as projects designed to solve current policy issues, such as eldercare and environmental issues. Thus, living labs incorporate a promise of democratic governance through their use of public participation and social benefit through the development of new technological innovation. However, despite the positioning of living labs as being led by citizens and being for social benefit, living labs are also used to support business development. Since living labs are a recent phenomenon, there is very little research that critically analyzes living labs or their claims to support democratic participation. This thesis critically assesses three very different living labs from the perspective of participatory governance. One living lab had a strong participatory structure and involved participants in meaningful ways. The research on the other two living labs suggests that in at least these case studies, living labs are not consistently able to incorporate participants in activities related to forms of participatory governance.


This article will appear as part of a Symposium on "Nietzsche and Legal Theory" to be published by the Cardozo Law Review. It addresses connections between philosophical hermeneutics and Nietzschean critique, and the relevance that these connections might have for legal theory. Legal practice inevitably is hermeneutical, with lawyers and judges interpreting governing legal texts and the social situations in which they must be applied. Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics describes this practice well, but he treats the question of the possibility of a critical hermeneutics in an ambiguous and under-developed manner. Consequently, Gadamer is frequently (and unfairly) accused of conventionalism and quietism. At the other end of the spectrum, Nietzsche's perspectival hermeneutics is seemingly nothing but thoroughgoing critique, to the point of collapsing into irrationalism under certain postmodern readings. This article develops a critical hermeneutics by demonstrating that philosophical hermeneutics can accommodate Nietzschean critique. I set the stage for the paper by recounting Allan Hutchinson's Nietzschean-inspired claim that radical critique in the tradition of the critical legal studies movement provides a necessary antidote to Gadamer's hermeneutical conventionalism, and then I provide an overview of Nietzsche's hermeneutical philosophy in terms of his naturalism and perspectivism. In the heart of the article I draw connections between Nietzsche and Gadamer by comparing perspectivism and fusion of horizons, their treatment of rhetoric and aesthetics, and their investigation of the critical power of tradition. I then develop the connections between these two thinkers through a close and critical reading of Gianni Vattimo's "weak thought," and conclude the article with a consideration of Supreme Court jurisprudence on the legal status of gays and lesbians in contemporary society. Arguing that the Supreme Court opinions fail on hermeneutical grounds, I suggest that Nietzschean critique helps to supplement our understanding of legal practice and also provides helpful insights to legal theorists.


rgentina's original settlement was spurred by the spread of rural agricultural production. Two centuries later, we may ask: What remains of this cultural legacy and how has it shaped modern Argentina? This question is the central theme of the following brief historical review of a country of almost 3 million square kilometers, much of which is devoted to agriculture.


This article describes a non-majors biology class linking neuroscience and women's studies. The class had 24 students from 13 majors. We met for three classroom hours and three laboratory hours each week. We used animal and human case studies to explore issues of gender, sexuality, hormones, anatomy, biochemistry, behavior and environment to explore the differences and similarities between male and female brains. Reading focused on two major texts, Roughgarden's Evolution's Rainbow and Hines's Brain Gender, and primary literature referenced within. Student performance was assessed through exams, class participation, presentations of primary literature, and independent research projects with oral and written presentations. The cross-listing with women's studies improved the class because it led to a great richness of majors and experiences. Furthermore, these students were used to vehement discussion and careful analysis, which carried over to assessing the primary literature, to a surprising degree.


The long-term fiscal outlook of most high-income countries is grim. Should independent central bankers be afraid of an unpleasant monetarist arithmetic, i.e., fiscal imbalances spilling over to monetary policy and jeopardizing price stability? To provide some insights, this paper tracks the interactions between fiscal and monetary policies in the data since 1980 for Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In doing so it uses a combination of time-varying parameter vector autoregression with sign, magnitude, and contemporaneous restrictions identification. Unlike conventional approaches, this can capture changes in monetary and fiscal behavior that are gradual and differ across the two policies. Our results show that in the United States the degree of monetary policy accommodation of fiscal shocks (debt-financed government spending) increased gradually between the late 1980s and the 2008 crisis, i.e., over the whole tenure of Chairman Greenspan. In contrast, it seems to have decreased over this period in the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, and Canada. Our benchmark analysis and several robustness checks show that legislating numerical inflation targets may account for some of the country differences, presumably because they may shift the strategic power from fiscal to monetary policy. We conclude by considering the implications of our results for the long-term likelihood of an unpleasant monetarist arithmetic in the six countries.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and understand the condition that lead to a constitution's path of Brazilian Science Parks, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, and consequently to propose a new dimension of analysis to the Triple Helix.

Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was used to elaborate a descriptive and exploratory research design, where a case study method was applied on six science parks.

Findings
The use of the Triple Helix model could not explain the Brazilian Science Park development realities. A new element, related to the innovation model, was considered as a determinant in the constitution of the Brazilian parks, and is represented as the community leadership category, as the Fourth Helix.

Research limitations/implications
Since it is a qualitative study, the results obtained have a strong relation with the local, cultural and historically constructed contexts. Bias from the researchers' subjectivity in the data collection procedures is present, although the validity and reliability measures were performed.

Practical implications
The construction of designed and implemented specific "fertile models," which are capable of developing the necessary conditions for the constitution and the consolidation of science parks in Brazil.

Social implications
Such empirical contribution comes from data referring to spontaneous and endogenous local community development movements.

Originality/value
The identification of a new element of the Triple Helix innovation model is represented as the community leadership category and is considered as a key determinant in the constitution of the Brazilian Science Parks.


This collection of essays interrogates the repositioning of Africa and its diasporas in the unfolding disruptive transformations of the early twenty-first century. It is divided into five parts focusing on America's racial dysfunctions, navigating global turbulence, Africa's political dramas, the continent's persistent mythologisation and disruptions in higher education. It closes with tributes to two towering African public intellectuals, Ali Mazrui and Thandika Mkandawire, who have since joined the ancestors. [https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/africa-and-the-disruptions-of-the-twenty-first-century]


This paper presents a study on a high-performance design for a block cipher algorithm implemented on modern many-core graphics processing units (GPUs). The recent emergence of VLSI technology makes it feasible to fabricate multiple processing cores on a single chip and enables general-purpose computation on a GPU (GPGPU). The GPU strategy offers significant performance improvements for all-purpose computation and can be used to support a broad variety of applications, including cryptography. We have proposed an efficient implementation of the encryption/decryption operations of a block cipher algorithm, SEED, on off-the-shelf NVIDIA many-core graphics processors. In a thorough experiment, we achieved high performance that is capable of supporting a high network speed of up to 9.5 Gbps on an NVIDIA GTX285 system (which has 240 processing cores). Our implementation provides up to 4.75 times higher performance in terms of encoding and decoding throughput as compared to the Intel 8-core system.


Hepatitis sero-positivity at initiation of haemodialysis may suggest a causal role or arise due to repeated blood transfusions and reduced immunity associated with advanced chronic kidney disease.  This study was to determine the sero-prevalence of Hepatitis B and C infection at initiation of haemodialysis, and describe the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients.  This is a cross-sectional study of all end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who had haemodialysis from January 2012 to January 2016 in the study centre. Patients with HIV infection were excluded. Data on the demographic characteristics, health status, aetiology of renal disease, clinical and biochemical parameters were collected. Fifteen (4.9%) out of 341 patients were hepatitis sero-positive; 2.6% were hepatitis B seropositive, while 2.3% were hepatitis C positive. Majority (86.6%) of the patients were males. Hepatitis infection was significantly commoner among patients with sickle cell disease (2 out of 6, p=0.005). Median duration on haemodialysis was 1 month (IQR 0.6, 1.0), while mortality was 20%. Hepatitis B and C infection is commoner among male ESRD patients, the young/middle-aged, and patients with sickle cell disease. Majority of patients are unaware of their hepatitis status and are treatment naive. Haemodialysis treatment drop-out rate and mortality are high.

 Key words: Hepatitis, end stage renal disease, haemodialysis, sickle cell disease.


In 1984, the patient, a 68-year-old male, underwent pacemaker implantation for the treatment of sick sinus syndrome. Because of a postoperative pocket infection, the atrial lead was removed ; but it was difficult to extract the ventricular lead, which was therefore left in place. While under observation, transient facial edema, atrial fibrillation, chest discomfort were noted. Chest X-ray revealed that the ventricular lead had gradually moved to the side of the pulmonary artery. Pre-operative phlebography of the internal jugular vein led to a diagnosis of obstruction of the superior vena cava (SVC). Maze procedure was performed and the lead was readily removed through the right atriotomy. The obstruction was incised and the lesion reconstructed by using a patch by the autologous pericardium. The satisfactory return of circulation was confirmed by postoperative imaging. At the discharge, an electrocardiograph indicated a sinus rhythm and a heart rate was 82 ppm. The facial edema and thoracic symptoms had been completely eliminated.


Abstract. In precision agriculture detailed geoinformation on plant and soil properties plays an important role. Laser scanning already has been used to describe in-field variations of plant growth in 3D and over time and can serve as valuable complementary topographic data set for remote sensing, such as deriving soil properties from hyperspectral sensors. In this study full-waveform laser scanning data acquired with a Riegl VZ-400 instrument is used to classify 3D point clouds into post-harvest straw residues and bare soil. A workflow for point cloud based classification is presented using radiometric and geometric point features. A radiometric correction is performed by using a range-correction function f(r), which is derived from lab experiments with a reference target of known reflectance. Thereafter, the corrected signal amplitude and local height features are explored with respect to the target classes. The following procedure includes feature calculation, decision tree analysis, point cloud classification and finally result validation using detailed classified reference RGB images. The classification tree separates the classes of harvest residues and bare soil with an accuracy of 96% by using geometric and radiometric features. The LiDAR-derived harvest residue coverage value of 75% lies in accordance with the image-based reference (coverage of 68%). The results indicate the high potential of radiometric features for natural surface classification, particularly in combination with geometric features.


Are presented results of experimental pig kidney xenotransplantation in Brazil, which aims to reduce the waiting list mortality due to shortage of organs. Recent clinical results obtained abroad are commented.


Adaptive gradient methods, especially Adam-type methods (such as Adam, AMSGrad, and AdaBound), have been proposed to speed up the training process with an element-wise scaling term on learning rates. However, they often generalize poorly compared with stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and its accelerated schemes such as SGD with momentum (SGDM). In this paper, we propose a new adaptive method called DecGD, which simultaneously achieves good generalization like SGDM and obtain rapid convergence like Adam-type methods. In particular, DecGD decomposes the current gradient into the product of two terms including a surrogate gradient and a loss based vector. Our method adjusts the learning rates adaptively according to the current loss based vector instead of the squared gradients used in Adam-type methods. The intuition for adaptive learning rates of DecGD is that a good optimizer, in general cases, needs to decrease the learning rates as the loss decreases, which is similar to the learning rates decay scheduling technique. Therefore, DecGD gets a rapid convergence in the early phases of training and controls the effective learning rates according to the loss based vectors which help lead to a better generalization. Convergence analysis is discussed in both convex and non-convex situations. Finally, empirical results on widely-used tasks and models demonstrate that DecGD shows better generalization performance than SGDM and rapid convergence like Adam-type methods.


Our study is focused on evaluation and use of the most effective and correct nutrients. In particular, our attention is directed to the role of certain amino acids in cachectic patients. During parenteral nutrition in humans, physician already associates in the PN-bags different formulations including amino acids, lipids and glucose solutions or essential amino acids solution alone or exclusively branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). Studies investigated the effects of dietary BCAA ingestion on different diseases and conditions such as obesity and metabolic disorders, liver disease, muscle atrophy, cancer, impaired immunity or injuries (surgery, trauma, burns, and sepsis). BCAAs have been shown to affect gene expression, protein metabolism, apoptosis and regeneration of hepatocytes, and insulin resistance. They have also been shown to inhibit the proliferation of liver cancer cells in vitro, and are essential for lymphocyte proliferation and dendritic cell maturation. Oral or parenteral administration of these three amino acids will allow us to evaluate the real efficacy of these compounds during a therapy to treat malnutrition in subjects unable to feed themselves.


Experimental animal models for erythrocyte-rich (ER) and platelet-rich (PR) arterial thrombosis were developed in dogs and rabbits and used for the evaluation of the effect of antithrombin and antiplatelet agents on thrombolysis with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activators (rt-PA&). The canine models consist of a whole blood clot produced in the left anterior descending coronary artery (ER thrombus) or a 1-cm everted (inside-out) segment graft in the circumflex coronary artery that predisposes to occlusion with PR material (PR thrombus). The rabbit models consist of a femoral arterial whole blood clot (ER thrombus) or a femoral arterial eversion graft (PR thrombus). The whole blood clot models are sensitive to recanalization with rt-PA but are consistently associated with reocclusion, notwithstanding the concomitant use of heparin and/or aspirin. Clot lysis is accelerated and reocclusion is prevented by the administration of F(ab)2 fragments of a monoclonal antibody 7E3 directed against the platelet glycoprotein lIb/IHla receptor; of Argatroban, a synthetic thrombin inhibitor; or of kistrin, a glycoprotein lIb/llla-blocking polypeptide from the Malayan pit viper venom. The PR thrombus models are very resistant to recanalization with rt-PA, but this resistance can be overcome by the concomitant use of the platelet glycoprotein lIb/llla-blocking antibody. Thus, selective platelet glycoprotein lIb/Illa inhibitors are more effective than aspirin, heparin, or both in accelerating arterial thrombolysis with rt-PA; in preventing reocclusion after clot lysis; and in overcoming the resistance ofPR thrombus to dispersion with rt-PA. These experimental animal models may be useful in the development of improved thrombolytic strategies using plasminogen activators in conjunction with specifically targeted antiplatelet and anticoagulant agents. (Circulation 1991;83 [suppl IV]:IV-26-V 40)


Patient body or respiratory motion between emission imaging and CT can cause misalignment of position of heart in the emission and attenuation maps, causing significant artifacts in emission reconstruction upon attenuation correction. In this work, we investigate multi-modal registration of cardiac SPECT and CT datasets, and then use the registered CT maps for attenuation correction (AC). The challenges for multi-modal registration are many: missing structural data in SPECT, nonrigid motion between organs, noise etc. Our hypothesis is that some of the missing structural information in the photo-peak window slices is available if we use the scatter window reconstructed data because of the tissue density dependence of scatter at 140 keV. We investigate this by converting the emission scatter-window slices into "CT like"-images and then using rigid and non-rigid registration methods to align them to actual CT. The non-rigid registration method used is the diffeomorphic demons algorithm with sum-squared difference as the metric. To evaluate the method, MRI-derived volunteer-specific XCAT datasets were obtained for volunteers undergoing large motions between successive MRI imaging scans. These were used to create Monte Carlo simulated SPECT and CT studies. The motions investigated were a bend, a twist, and an axial slide between emission and CT. AC using the matched CT was employed to gauge the success of registration. We observed that using registered attenuation maps eliminated or reduced the AC artifacts due the motions, where present. More motion cases for a larger population of volunteers and polar map quantification of cardiac update need to be analyzed before conclusions can be drawn from these studies.


Multi-armed bandit (MAB) models are a viable approach to describe the problem of best wireless network selection by a multi-Radio Access Technology (multi-RAT) device, with the goal of maximizing the quality perceived by the final user. The classical MAB model does not allow, however, to properly describe the problem of wireless network selection by a multi-RAT device, in which a device typically performs a set of measurements in order to collect information on available networks, before a selection takes place. The MAB model foresees in fact only one possible action for the player, which is the selection of one among different arms at each time step; existing arm selection algorithms thus mainly differ in the rule according to which a specific arm is selected. This work proposes a new MAB model, named measure-use-MAB (muMAB), aiming at providing a higher flexibility, and thus a better accuracy in describing the network selection problem. The muMAB model extends the classical MAB model in a twofold manner; first, it foresees two different actions: to measure and to use; second, it allows actions to span over multiple time steps. Two new algorithms designed to take advantage of the higher flexibility provided by the muMAB model are also introduced. The first one, referred to as measure-use-UCB1 (muUCB1) is derived from the well known UCB1 algorithm, while the second one, referred to as Measure with Logarithmic Interval (MLI), is appositely designed for the new model so to take advantage of the new measure action, while aggressively using the best arm. The new algorithms are compared against existing ones from the literature in the context of the muMAB model, by means of computer simulations using both synthetic and captured data. Results show that the performance of the algorithms heavily depends on the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the reward received on each arm, with different algorithms leading to the best performance depending on the PDF. Results highlight, however, that as the ratio between the time required for using an arm and the time required to measure increases, the proposed algorithms guarantee the best performance, with muUCB1 emerging as the best candidate when the arms are characterized by similar mean rewards, and MLI prevailing when an arm is significantly more rewarding than others. This calls thus for the introduction of an adaptive approach capable of adjusting the behavior of the algorithm or of switching algorithm altogether, depending on the acquired knowledge on the PDF of the reward on each arm.


A finite element method was developed to reveal the thermal characteristics of concrete with a cooling pipe, and the influence of cooling pipe on thermal field was calculated by the coupled fluid flow and solid heat transfer method. Temperature distribution along the pipeline was calculated and the mean Nusselt numbers on each section in the cooling pipe also were obtained. Numerical results show that the flow field and the temperature distribution were very complexly and the heat transfer was severely attenuated in the bend position, the outboard temperature of pipe was higher than the inboard temperature. In addition, in order to study the effect of the cooling pipe on thermal distribution, the temperature of different positions at the hydration time were compared with the no cooling results. The present results could be helpful to predict the temperature cracks in structure engineering.


We develop state‐level proxies for informal employment using differences between measures of self‐reported employment and officially sanctioned employment. In construction and landscaping, industries associated with under‐the‐table labor, we develop proxies for informal work based on productivity per officially sanctioned worker. We relate each set of proxies for informal employment to changes in immigrant population and composition. We find some evidence that immigration is associated with informal employment generally and in the construction industry when prevailing wages are low. States with high concentrations of low‐skilled male immigrants have higher levels of informal employment in the landscaping industry.


Electronic negotiations are business negotiations conducted via electronic means using information and communications technologies (ICT). Two dominant types of electronic negotiation systems are automated negotiation systems for software agents and negotiation support systems (NSSs) for humans. However, the integration of two types for human-agent negotiations is an important task. In this paper, an extended communication model for human-agent business negotiations is presented. For this purpose, the underlying communication models of automated negotiations and NSSs are analyzed. The extended communication model is based on a common negotiation ontology which captures the negotiation agenda and paves the way for such hybrid communication, a natural language processing (NLP) component which process natural language negotiation content, and a translator to covert human message to agent message and vice versa. NLP component has been added as an alternative approach to manual annotation of message content. Our aim is to show that using an ontology-based negotiation approach as implemented in the NSS Negoisst and NLP techniques integrated into it can make human-agent communication better.


A central light atom in a cofactor at the nitrogenase active site is identified as a carbon. Nitrogenase is a complex enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia. Despite insight from structural and biochemical studies, its structure and mechanism await full characterization. An iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco) is thought to be the site of dinitrogen reduction, but the identity of a central atom in this cofactor remains unknown. Fe Kβ x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) of intact nitrogenase MoFe protein, isolated FeMoco, and the FeMoco-deficient ∆nifB protein indicates that among the candidate atoms oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, it is carbon that best fits the XES data. The experimental XES is supported by computational efforts, which show that oxidation and spin states do not affect the assignment of the central atom to C4–. Identification of the central atom will drive further studies on its role in catalysis.


The purpose of this guide is to introduce CPS students to navigation of Lightner Library resources and to provide research tutorials.


A model that describes the magnetic behavior of nanocrystalline ring cores is useful for simulations of electronic circuits that contain inductors or transformers using these cores. A general but computationally demanding model combines a macroscopic model of the ribbon with a dynamic Preisach hysteresis model. In this paper, we present two models that-taking into account the principle of loss separation-make it possible to avoid the use of the CPU time consuming dynamic Preisach model. Both models compute the waveform of the magnetic flux density for an arbitrary waveform of the magnetic field, or vice versa. The first model uses a macroscopic model based on the plane wave theory and the classical rate-independent Preisach formalism. The macroscopic model operates in the frequency domain and applies the harmonic balance principle. Because of nonlinearity, the model is solved iteratively by a Newton-Raphson scheme. The second model starts from a single evaluation of the classical Preisach model. Additionally, it uses a lookup table that is a function of the flux density and its time derivative to evaluate the classical and excess field to be added. The models are validated by measurements between 2 and 100 kHz on Vitroperm nanocrystalline ring cores.


This paper presents an analysis of legal issues related to the use of a blockchain in business. Considering the legal aspects at as early a stage as possible is one of the key areas which are crucial for the success and timely realisation of a project. The scope of legal issues depends on the type of the decentralised solution chosen by the organisation. The authors explain the differences between an open blockchain and a closed one, noting the degree of control and the advantages of both solutions. When it comes to the following paragraphs of the paper, the meaning of jurisdiction selection and the manner of managing personal data in projects related to the use of blockchain are discussed. The authors explain what smart contracts are to the reader. They point out sector regulations which may have an influence on the carrying out of blockchain projects in individual sectors that are regulated. They analyse the issues of the cryptocurrency market and explain to the readers why the taxation of cryptocurrencies is controversial. In the final part, they signal that organisations planning to implement a blockchain-based solution should take the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and related issues concerning Know Your Customer (KYC) into consideration. The paper makes it possible to understand why the legal regulations discussed may turn out to be an essential project risk if they are not recognised in time, and how addressing legal issues smoothly helps in the transformation of a project at the Proof of Concept stage, into a solution that works productively.


The wireless sensor network has become a hot research area due its wide range of application in military and civilian domain, but as it uses wireless media for communication these are easily prone to security attacks. There are number of attacks on wireless sensor networks like black hole attack, sink hole attack ,Sybil attack ,selective forwarding attacks etc. in this paper we will concentrate on selective forwarding attacks In selective forwarding attacks, malicious nodes behave like normal nodes and selectively drop packets. The selection of dropping nodes may be random. Identifying such attacks is very difficult and sometimes impossible. In this paper we have listed up some detection techniques, which have been proposed by different researcher in recent years, there we also have tabular representation of qualitative analysis of detection techniques


The cosmological standard model at present is widely accepted as containing mainly things we do not understand. In particular the appearance of a Cosmological Constant, or dark energy, is puzzling. This was first inferred from the Hubble diagram of a low number of Type Ia supernovae, and later corroborated by complementary cosmological probes. Today, a much larger collection of supernovae is available, and here I perform a rigorous statistical analysis of this dataset. Taking into account how the supernovae are calibrated to be standard candles, we run into some subtleties in the analysis. To our surprise, this new dataset - about an order of bigger than the size of the original dataset - shows, under standard assumptions, only mild evidence of an accelerated universe.


With weighted fair queuing, the link's bandwidth is distributed among competing flows proportionally to their weights. In this paper we propose an extension of the DCF function of IEEE 802.11 to provide weighted fair queuing in wireless LAN. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is able to provide the desired bandwidth distribution independent of the flows' aggressiveness and their willingness to transmit. Backwards compatibility is provided such that legacy IEEE 802.11 terminals receive a bandwidth corresponding to the default weight.


Improving feed efficiency of dairy cows through breeding is expected to reduce enteric methane production per unit of milk produced. This study examined the effect of 2 forage-to-concentrate ratios on methane production, rumen fermentation, and nutrient digestibility in Holstein and Jersey dairy cows divergent in residual feed intake (RFI). Before experimental onset, RFI was estimated using a random regression model on phenotypic herd data. Ten lactating Holstein and 10 lactating Jersey cows were extracted from the herd and allocated to a high or low pre-experimental RFI group of 5 animals each within breed. Cows were fed ad libitum with total mixed rations either low (LC) or high (HC) in concentrates during 3 periods in a crossover design with a back-cross and staggered approach. Forage-to-concentrate ratio was 68:32 for LC and 39:61 for HC. Cows adapted to the diets in 12 to 24 d and feces were subsequently collected on 2 d. Afterward, gas exchange was measured in respiration chambers and rumen liquid was collected once after cows exited the chambers. Pre-experimental RFI was included in the statistical analysis as a class (low and high RFI) or continuous variable. Methane per kilogram of dry matter intake (DMI) was lower for Holsteins than Jerseys and the response to increased concentrate level was more pronounced for Holsteins than Jerseys (27.2 vs.13.8%); a similar pattern was found for the acetate:propionate ratio. However, methane production per kilogram of energy-corrected milk (ECM) was unaffected by breed. Further, total-tract digestibility of neutral detergent fiber was higher for Jerseys than Holsteins. For RFI as a class variable, DMI, methane production regardless of the expression, and digestibility were unaffected by RFI. For RFI as a continuous variable, DMI was lower and methane per kilogram of DMI was higher for cows with negative (efficient) than positive (inefficient) RFI values, and neutral detergent fiber digestibility was higher for Holsteins with negative than positive RFI values, but not for Jerseys. Daily methane production and methane per kilogram of ECM were unaffected by RFI. In conclusion, methane per kilogram of DMI of Jerseys was lowered to a smaller extent in response to the HC diet than of Holsteins. When pre-experimental RFI was used as a continuous variable, higher methane per kilogram of DMI was found for cows with negative RFI than positive RFI values, but not for methane per kilogram of ECM. These findings call for validation in larger studies.


Background: Flexor tendon damagemakes up a small number of total hand injuries; butmanagement of these injuries often poses a surgical challenge because the results remain unpredictable despite all efforts. The results of flexor tendon repair damage of both deep and superficial injuries, especially in zone II, despite using various methods, still remains poor. Objectives: This study aimed to assess results of flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) repair with resection of flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) stump in a setting where both tendons are transected. Lack of human studies for FDP repair alone makes the decision difficult. Methods: Files of patients, who were referred to the research hospitals with flexor tendon rupture between April 2014 and April 2016 were studied. Patients, who had recent concurrent FDP and FDS rupture in zone II were included. After six months, range of motion (ROM), pinch strength, and disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) score were measured. Results: Twenty patients were studied; three were excluded due to missing follow-ups. Seventeen patients remained in the study. Thirteen were males and four were females. Ages were between 17 and 55, with mean age of 23.7 years old. According to the DASH score, 13 patients were placed in mild disability group (score one to seven) and four patients showed no disability (score zero). Conclusions: The results suggest the outcomes of FDP repair alone in zone II is comparable to repairing both tendons.


Introduction MOST is a one day high-fidelity multi-professional simulation course which was developed in 2013. Candidates include obstetricians and midwives of all levels. Faculty members include obstetricians, midwives, anaesthetists and simulation trainers. The course was designed to address human factor training needs. Candidates work in small teams in several scenarios. Each is followed by a multi-professional debrief, focussing on non-technical skills. Methods Candidates completed pre- and post- course evaluation on the day of the course. Eight months following the course candidates were asked to complete an anonymous online questionnaire in order to determine their views. Questions focussed on two main areas. Firstly, candidates were asked to reflect on their experiences of the course itself. Secondly, candidates were asked to reflect on whether they had made changes to their practice and to provide specific examples. Results Replies were received from both midwives and obstetricians at all levels of seniority. Most respondents had attended other multi-professional courses but not high-fidelity simulation or human factors training. Candidates appreciated staying in-role and the immediate, multi-professional feedback they received. They enjoyed the high level of realism. All candidates felt they had gained knowledge and the great majority had changed the way they communicated and worked in teams. Some candidates had made specific procedural changes in their departments as a result of attending MOST. Criticisms mainly involved wanting more experience. Conclusion Candidates used skills gained on the course to change systems and procedures on the labour ward. This should translate into better outcomes for patients.


Investment in large-scale infrastructure, after a lull, has accelerated in the last decade, where roads in particular feature predominantly in development initiatives globally. While conventionally academic interventions have primarily focused on infrastructure in relation to economic development processes and its promises of modernity, more recently these arguments extended to diverse processes of environmental, economic, political and social change. Scepticism surrounding road infrastructure development interrogates whether this form of infrastructure development is justifiable. In particular, the faith placed on roads to catalyze trade, create profitability, enhance economic opportunities of local communities living adjacent to new road infrastructure projects and its ability to mitigate environmental concerns are noted concerns. Our review draws together and extends these arguments, claiming that while social, political and economic processes, and consequences of road development have undergone recurrent assessment, gaps in addressing environmental and energy aspects prevail. Given the central import of climate and environmental change at the current juncture, thus, there is also a pressing need to articulate and examine this in future work.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
The use of intraoperative frozen section to determine the extent of margin resection is a common practice. Our aim was to identify the value of intraoperative frozen section in margin evaluation and to investigate its indication for gastric cancer of the cardia.

METHODOLOGY
Intraoperative frozen section examinations of the proximal margins of 66 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma of the cardia were reviewed. The frozen section results were compared with those of the permanent sections. Clinicopathological features that predict a positive frozen section margin were examined by univariate and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS
The overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of an intraoperative frozen section, was 97%, 77.8%, and 100%, respectively. Infiltration on frozen section occurred in 10.7% (7/66) of the proximal margins, while in 28.6% (2/7) of the entire additional resection margins. The positive margins were associated with more advanced in depth of tumor invasion and disease stage. However, the depth of invasion was the only independent predictor for a positive frozen margin.

CONCLUSIONS
Routine evaluation of the proximal resection margin by intraoperative frozen section does not appear to be necessary in gastric cancer surgery of the cardia. However, this technique is advisable for patients with T3 or T4 lesions.


This research investigates the affects of underwriter reputation on the earnings management practice in the period of Initial Public Offering (IPO). This research is held to find out the empirical evidence in order to reply the three main problems exist. Firstly, do managers opportunistically manage earnings in the period of IPO? Secondly, how is the pattern of earnings management in the period of IPO? and thirdly, do underwriters with good reputation can lessen the existence of earnings management practice in the period of IPO? In this research earnings management is measured by discretionary accruals ( Dechow model,1995). Using a sample of 43 IPO's over four-year period (2007-2010), we find that in the period of IPO, managers have manage earnings and the pattern of the earnings management is income increasing. Differ from result of previous research , we find that underwriter reputation is insignificantly influence earnings management practice in the period of IPO. Keyword : initial public offering, underwriter reputation, earnings management, discretionary