Radioisotope thermoelectric generators used in space missions are designed with a great factor of safety to ensure that they will withstand reentry from orbit and impact with the earth, and safely contain the nuclear fuel until it is recovered. Existing designs, utilizing $sup 238$PuO$sub 2$ fuel, have proved more than adequately safe. More data about the interaction of this material with terrestrial and aquatic environments is continually being sought to predict the behavior of these heat sources in the extremely unlikely contact of these materials with the land or ocean. Terrestrial environments are simulated with large environmental chambers that permit control of temperature, humidity, and rainfall using different kinds of soils. Rain falling on thermally hot chunks of $sup 238$PuO$sub 2$ causes the spallation of the surface of the fuel into extremely fine particles, as small as 50 nm, that are later transported downward through the soil. Some of the plutonia particles become agglomerated with soil particles. Plutonium transport is more significant during winter than during summer because evaporation losses from the soil are less in winter. Aquatic environments are simulated with large aquaria that provide temperature and aeration control. Earlier fuel designs that employed a plutonia-molybdenum cermet showed plutonium release rates of about 10 $mu$Ci/m$sup 2$ - s, referred to the total surface area of the cermet. Present advanced fuels, employing pure plutonium oxide, show release rates of about 20 nCi/m$sup 2$ - s in seawater and about 150 nCi/m$sup 2$ - s in freshwater. The temperature of these more advanced heat sources does not seem to affect the release rate in seawater. (auth)


In this paper I present a model in which an increase in inequality can lead to a decrease in voters' demand for redistribution. In my model, people sort into groups according to income and as a result they become biased about the shape of the income distribution. I demonstrate that an increase in inequality can lead to a decrease in perceived inequality in the presence of segregation, and hence to a fall in people's support for redistribution. I motivate my main assumptions with empirical evidence from a small survey that I conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk.


Tungsten is the main candidate material for the armor of plasma facing components for ITER and future fusion devices [1]. Plasma spraying is an alternative method for manufacturing tungsten-based coatings, including composites and graded layers, having a number of advantageous features [2]. On the other hand, the main limitation to application of these coatings on high heat flux components, is their low thermal conductivity, originating in the layered structure [3]. This paper is focused on four methods of improving the coatings' thermal conductivity. First method consists in modification of the basic spraying parameters, which have a direct influence on the coating structure and therefore properties. The other three methods involve post-processing of the coatings: molten copper infiltration, laser remelting and densification by HIPping. The latter encompasses also tungsten-copper composites of various compositions. Experimental results, including structural and thermal characterization, are presented for each method. Finally, the applicability of these methods, from the point of view of manufacturing the plasma facing components, is discussed.


What human values are carried by natural systems? I can answer that question directly while I indirectly address a deeper question. Are values in nature objective or subjective? Some values (the nutrition in a potato) seem objectively there, while others (the eagle as a national symbol) seem merely assigned. Either way, certain experiences that humans find to be valuable require and are carried by natural things. As we examine the types of natural values, we can wonder whether—at times at least—value intrinsic in nature enables humans to enjoy these values.


An in depth look at Incident Management for I.T. departments. 10 simple steps to design and deploy your Incident Management program based on ITIL's best practices. Topics include: Incident Detection Incident Prioritization Response Plans Managing an Incident Escalation Matrix Communications Plans Vendor Management Documentation Bonus Templates The author has over 30 years of leading I.T. departments for some of the world's largest companies. This book goes beyond ITIL's theory with real world experience and recommendations


High intakes of Fe may impair Cu status, but the underlying mechanism is not known. Male rats, aged 7 weeks, were given purified diets adequate in Cu (8 mg Cu/kg) and containing either 7, 40 or 389 mg Fe/kg. After 6 weeks the concentrations of Fe in liver and spleen were positively related with dietary Fe level and those of Cu were negatively related with dietary Fe level. Increasing Fe intakes reduced apparent absorption and biliary excretion of Cu in a dose-dependent fashion. In individual rats, biliary Cu excretion showed a significant, positive correlation with Liver Cu concentration. It is concluded that increased Fe intakes depress Cu absorption which produces a decrease in plasma and organ Cu concentrations. As a result, biliary Cu excretion is lowered which contributes to achieving Cu balance at high Fe intakes. Because the concentrations of Cu in plasma and bile, and also plasma ceruloplasmin (EC 18.104.22.168) activities, showed much greater percentage reductions with increasing Fe intake than did the concentrations of Cu in organs, it is possible that increased Fe status interferes with the mobilization of Cu stores.


The pharmacological activity of several 16-bromosubstituted trienediones 4 and 5, 16-methyl substituted dienediones 6 and 7 and the 16-methyl substituted trienedione 8 was determined on gonadectomized hamster seminal vesicles by measuring the in vitro conversion of testosterone (T) to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) as 5alpha-reductase inhibitors and also the ability of these steroids to bind to the androgen receptor. Steroids 6 and 7 when injected together with T decreased the weight of the seminal vesicles thus showing an antiandrogenic effect. Compounds 5 and 6 reduced substantially the conversion of T to DHT and therefore can be considered good inhibitors for the enzyme 5alpha-reductase; however both steroids failed to form a complex with the androgen receptor. On the other hand compound 7 which showed a very small inhibitory activity for the enzyme 5alpha-reductase, exhibited a very high affinity for the androgen receptor and thus can be considered an effective antiandrogen. This compound also reduced substantially the weight of the seminal vesicles. Steroids 4 and 8 did not reduce the weight of the seminal vesicles and exhibited a low affinity for the androgen receptor; 8 showed a weak 5alpha-reductase inhibitory activity, whereas 4 exhibited a weak androgenic effect.


INTRODUCTION
Cochlear Implantation (CI) surgery has long been used as an effective treatment for children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss who failed to benefit from the use of hearing aids. Among other factors, the age at which implantation is done is thought to have an effect on the speech progression outcome of patients postoperatively.

OBJECTIVES
The Jordanian CI Program has limited resources, and Jordan has an underdeveloped early screening and intervention program for deafness. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of age at time of implantation on receptive and expressive language outcomes in Jordan, to guide funding and focus efforts on patient groups who would benefit most, thus reducing unnecessary longterm morbidity and disability, and improving cost efficiency.

METHODS
Data was gathered from all major sectors in Jordan on patients who underwent CI from 2006 to 2018 (a total of 1815 patients). We compared the language outcome 2 to 4 years after implantation for patients aged below 3 years, 3 to under 6, 6 to under 9 years, and 9 and older at the time of implantation.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
We found a statistically significant difference in language outcomes between patients aged below 6 years vs those 6 and older, with better receptive and expressive language outcomes in the younger age groups.


A word cloud is a visual representation of a collection of text documents that uses various font sizes, colors, and spaces to arrange and depict significant words. The majority of previous studies on time-varying word clouds focuses on layout optimization and temporal trend visualization. However, they do not fully consider the spatial shapes and temporal motions of word clouds, which are important factors for attracting people's attention and are also important cues for human visual systems in capturing information from time-varying text data. This paper presents a novel method that uses rigid body dynamics to arrange multi-temporal word-tags in a specific shape sequence under various constraints. Each word-tag is regarded as a rigid body in dynamics. With the aid of geometric, aesthetic, and temporal coherence constraints, the proposed method can generate a temporally morphable word cloud that not only arranges word-tags in their corresponding shapes but also smoothly transforms the shapes of word clouds overtime, thus yielding a pleasing time-varying visualization. Using the proposed frame-by-frame and morphable word clouds, people can observe the overall story of a time-varying text data from the shape transition, and people can also observe the details from the word clouds in frames. Experimental results on various data demonstrate the feasibility and flexibility of the proposed method in morphable word cloud generation. In addition, an application that uses the proposed word clouds in a simulated exhibition demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed method.


Activities at a recent NSF-sponsored workshop are described in this note. Background information and motivation for the workshop are discussed, along with a description of its organization. Initial observations from the workshop are reported, and areas of leadership with respect to the use of information technology in undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education are identified.


The natural species tropism of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is limited to humans and higher primates. Due to the limited availability of chimpanzees, the establishment of a small-animal model for the study of HCV infection has a high priority. The recent identification of the human cellular receptors that are essential for HCV entry together with the advances in mouse genome engineering provides the bases for creating an inbred mouse model of HCV infection and propagation.
In our study we designed a gene targeting strategy to produce novel humanized mouse strains expressing human-specific HCV entry receptors. Human genes for HCV essential entry factors were introduced in the mouse genome by homologous recombination in murine embryonic stem cells. To achieve the native expression patterns of their murine orthologues, we adopted a knock-in approach replacing the murine genes with human coding sequences. Three novel humanized mouse strains were generated, expressing respectively human CD81, scavenger receptor class B member 1 and occludin. Molecular analyses of mice genomic DNA and messenger RNA confirmed the presence and germ line propagation of the human genes, and their transcription.
The native regulated expression of human-specific HCV entry receptors can overcome the major block to HCV replication in murine cells. To verify the virus entry into the cells of our humanized mice, we successfully optimized isolation and culture of murine primary hepatocytes and HCV pseudotype particles infection assay. Genetic humanization of mice for species-specific HCV receptors could allow HCV glycoproteins mediated cell entry and could be an important tool for in vivo studying of virus-host interactions.


Plants recognize viral infection via an immune receptor, i.e., nucleotide-binding site (NB)-leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins. Another immune receptor, receptor-like kinase proteins, which share an LRR domain with NB-LRRs, perceive conserved molecules of pathogens called pathogen- or microbe-associated molecular patterns, but NB-LRRs generally perceive particular viral proteins. As viruses can evolve more rapidly than the host immune system, how do plant immune systems, which rely on the perception of proteins, remain effective? Viral adaptive evolution may be controlled by penalties that result from mutations in viral proteins that are perceived by NB-LRRs. Our recent studies in pea (Pisum sativum) suggest a penalty of increased susceptibility to another immune system. When a viral protein mutates to evade one immune system, the virus with the mutated protein becomes more susceptible to another. Such antagonistic pleiotropy of a viral protein by two independent plant immune systems may have precedents. Plants may rely on pairs of immune systems to constrain adaptive evolution by viruses and thereby maintain durable antiviral immunity.


Objective: To compare occupational psychosocial hazards in green collar versus non-green collar workers. Methods: Standard Occupational Classification codes were used to link the 2010 National Health Interview Survey to the 2010 Occupational Information Network Database. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to predict job insecurity, work life imbalance, and workplace harassment in green versus non-green collar workers. Results: Most participants were white, non-Hispanic, 25 to 64 years of age, and obtained greater than a high school education. The majority of workers reported no job insecurity, work life imbalance, or workplace harassment. Relative to non-green collar workers (n = 12,217), green collar workers (n = 2,588) were more likely to report job insecurity (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02 to 1.26) and work life imbalance (1.19; 1.05 to 1.35), but less likely to experience workplace harassment (0.77; 0.62 to 0.95). Conclusions: Continuous surveillance of occupational psychosocial hazards is recommended in this rapidly emerging workforce.


MDC-9 is a widely expressed member of the metalloproteinase/disintegrin/cysteine-rich protein family. The disintegrin domain of MDC-9 lacks an RGD motif but has recently been reported to bind the alpha(6)beta(1) integrin; however, it is unclear whether MDC-9 can bind other integrins. In the present study myeloma cells, but not lymphoblastoid cells, were shown to bind to immobilised, recombinantly expressed MDC-9 disintegrin domain (A9dis). Binding was divalent cation-dependent, being supported by Mn(2+) and Ca(2+). Adhesion of myeloma cells to A9dis was completely inhibited by an antibody to the alpha(v)beta(5) integrin but not by antibodies to other subunits. RGD-containing peptides had no effect on binding, suggesting that MDC-9 interacts with alpha(v)beta(5) in an RGD-independent manner. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that myeloma cells, but not lymphoblastoid cells, expressed alpha(v)beta(5) on the cell membrane. These data indicated that the disintegrin domain of MDC-9 can function as an adhesion molecule by interacting with an alpha(v)beta(5) integrin.


This guide is designed to provide a resource to members of the SRU Community regarding places to find Open Educational Resources (OER), which permit free use and modification by members of the Academic Community.


Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population of any region of the world, and that growing working-age population represents a major opportunity to reduce poverty and increase shared prosperity. But the region's workforce is the least skilled in the world, constraining economic prospects. Despite economic growth, declining poverty, and investments in skills-building, too many students in too many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not acquiring the foundational skills they need to thrive and prosper in an increasingly competitive global economy. This report examines the balancing act that individuals and countries face in making productive investments in both a wide range of skills - cognitive, socio-emotional, and technical - and a wide range of groups - young children through working adults - so that Sub-Saharan Africa will thrive.


Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an issue that impacts all nationalities, ethnicities and cultures, and is continuing to gain more acknowledgement the more IPV is openly addressed. The South Asian culture is built on collectivism and patriarchy, creating oppression among women, leading to higher rates of IPV and domestic violence. Research regarding immigrant communities and cultures is lacking and therefore, prevents professionals such as therapists to obtain appropriate education around culture and there remains a lack of cultural competency. Given the lack of cultural competency, IPV is underreported among South Asian Immigrant women (Shankar et al., 2013). The purpose of this thesis is to explore the South Asian culture and its norms, while also addressing acculturation, and the social construction of Indo-Canadians. This thesis will also provide recommendations to increase the cultural competency of professionals in supporting IPV and domestic violence among South Asian women. INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE v Table of


This paper re-examines the issue of the establishment of a common political institution in the Commonwealth Caribbean. It recognizes that while a unitary form of governance may be necessary due to converging global forces, the implementation of this type of institutional arrangement will be constrained by factors such as the economic, social and political environments of the different countries. Yet, the article argues, the European Union and the Parliament that was subsequently established in 1979 suffered these limitations as well. In the case of these countries, however, it could be argued that the similarities were more powerful than the differences. Analysts, for example, have argued that the countries that make up the European Parliament are not separated by sea as occurs in the case of the islands in the Caribbean. Thus, the proximity of these countries allows for closer ties. However, a major argument that has been advanced to explain why the Caribbean will have difficulty in establishing a common Parliament has to do with leadership. Because of their history as slave and indentured societies, it has been suggested that the leaders in the Caribbean were reluctant to transfer authority and cede their sovereign status. While these factors are no doubt valid, this paper argues that perhaps the major problem in the Caribbean may be the absence of a well- thought out federal political arrangement and the inability of the various countries to articulate clearly defined procedures and practices.


STUDY QUESTION What are some of the challenges of working in a fertility clinic? SUMMARY ANSWER The most frequently mentioned challenges were workload (e.g. high time pressure) and patient-related sources (e.g. unrealistic expectations). WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY One study showed a too high workload, worry about handling human material and low success rates were main stressors in fertility clinics. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION An online open-ended survey inviting participants to respond to seven questions was distributed to 5902 members of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE, October 2010). Questions asked participants to describe the top three factors that made (i) their work stressful (hereafter 'Work stressors') and (ii) working with patients difficult (hereafter 'Perceived sources of difficulties'), and (iii) to choose from these factors which top three issues they would be willing to attend a workshop to resolve (hereafter 'Workshops'). A qualitative content analysis using inductive coding for each question was used to extract meaningful themes from the text replies, at three levels of increasing abstraction (lower and higher categories, general themes). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS The final sample comprised 526 respondents (8.9% participation rate). Respondents were predominantly clinicians (41.3%, n = 216) or embryologists (35.5%, n = 186) from European countries (73.0%, n = 386). MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE The number of text replies generated for each question was 1421, 1208 and 907 for the 'Work Stressors', 'Perceived sources of difficulties' and 'Workshop' questions, respectively. The most often reported higher-order categories of Work Stressors were 'Time and Workload' (61.6%, e.g. time pressure), 'Organisation, Team and management issues' (60.4%, e.g. team conflicts) and 'Job content and work environment' (50.3%, e.g. burdensome administration). For 'Perceived sources of difficulties' these were 'Patient-related sources' (66.7%, e.g. unrealistic expectations), 'Communication and Counselling with patients' (33.7%, e.g. strained information giving) and 'Misinformation and lack of knowledge' (27.8%, e.g. Dr Google). Finally, the topics participants would be willing to address in Workshops were 'Communicating and Counselling with Patients' (24.9%), 'Dealing with Patient-related sources' (19.6%) and 'Clinical topics' (19.6%). Three general themes emerged. First, a theme of 'time and time trade-offs' expressed the oft-mentioned need to trade-off time spent on one activity (e.g. managing patient demands) against another activity (e.g. clinical workload, administration) with stress level dependent on the efficacy of trading-off. Second, the theme of 'multifactorial causes' of challenging patient interactions that embodied the many sources of difficulties working with patients. What staff would be willing to address in workshops was indicated by the final general theme of 'a little of everything', which linked to the need for multiple workshops addressing the multifactorial nature of challenges in fertility clinics. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Only about 10% of members receiving the survey participated. The work was limited to the stressful and difficult aspects of working in fertility clinics, which may give a more negative impression than if questions about the rewards and benefits had also been included. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The nature of stressors and difficulties of working in a fertility clinic are consistent with models of occupational stress and patient complexity. Specialized psychologists, management consultants and other occupational experts could assist fertility teams in overcoming many of the challenges. More research is required on the effect of encountered work stressors and perceived sources of difficulties in working with patients on staff and patient outcomes. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) None declared.


The silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring) is an important pest of tomatoes in Florida and elsewhere. Associated with populations of the whitefly is an irregular ripening disorder of fruit characterized by inhibited or incomplete ripening of longitudinal sections of fruit and by an increase in the amount of interior white tissue. Experiments were conducted during the spring and fall tomato production seasons of 1995 and 1996 to elucidate the relationship of nymphal and pupal density with severity of the disorder. Insecticides or insecticide combinations were applied at predetermined densities of whitefly nymphs and pupae and the subsequent severity of the disorder was rated separately for external and internal symptoms on red ripe fruit harvested weekly. Expression of irregular ripening symptoms, especially external symptoms, were corre- lated positively to the density of whitefly nymphs and pupae (number·10 -1 terminal leaflets on the seventh to eighth leaf from the top of a main or lateral stem) increased. Expression of external symptoms tended to be better correlated with whitefly density when symptom severity was rated 1 and 3 weeks after estimating whitefly density for the spring and fall seasons, respectively. Expression of internal symptoms tended to be more consistently correlated with whitefly density when symptom severity was rated 2 and 3 weeks after estimating whitefly density for the spring and fall seasons, respectively.


Various forms of speech by the government implicate religion in one way or another. These include nativity scenes and Ten Commandments displays in town halls and courthouses, the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, the printing of "In God We Trust" on money, and so on. Over the past three decades, the Supreme Court has attempted to analyze these questions under various "tests:" the government should not "endorse" religion; should not "coerce" religious compliance; should in all ways act "neutrally." But none of these tests has enjoyed consensus on the Court. The leading test has never commanded the support of more than five justices, and its subscribers have often disagreed internally over how the test should be applied. The "tests," at this point, have very little predictive value. This Article explores the Court's struggle to impose tests on the question of government religious speech. I argue that outcomes in these cases depend less on the elements of any particular test than on majority bias and the sum of the voting Justices' gut reactions. I then explain how an upcoming legislative prayer case offers the Court an opportunity to begin to let go of "tests" altogether, and to adopt an approach that is even more deferential to governments and the sensibilities of religious majorities.


A new approach is proposed to monitor in situ the influence of gamma radiations on Brillouin properties of optical fiber extensometers. Experimental results are illustrated with the characterization of two fibers samples up to total dose of about 600Gy. The Brillouin frequency shift remains unaffected at such radiations level, as well as the spectral Brillouin signature or its dependence with strain. Meanwhile, propagation losses increase under radiations with an amplitude related to fiber dopants. The target application is nuclear wastes repository monitoring where higher doses are expected. UV radiation preliminary tests show that compaction phenomenon may occur at such high doses, inducing Brillouin frequency shift up to 20 MHz.


This paper presents a method to calculate a totally focussed colour image from recordings of a plenoptic camera. The three colour channels have to be extracted from the raw image. The virtual depth is estimated analyzing the disparities of image points in different microlens images which correspond to the same object point. With the such created depth map, the image points are chosen from the microlens image with correct focus to create the totally focused colour image.


Compute capability of high-performance hardware has been growing at immense rates, increasing over 130x in the last decade. Communication bandwidth, however, only grew by a factor of 6x in the same time, leading to a significant decrease in the byte-to-flop metric. This trend leads us to the situation where, in many cases, computation is virtually free, and the dominant cost of a parallel application comes from its communication cost. We expect this trend to continue and, hence, the parallel application wall-clock time to be increasingly correlated with the amount of data transferred between the nodes involved. In order to alleviate this communication bottleneck, we test several communication-reducing schemes based on the idea of using higher precision for the inner cells and lower precision communication. For every approach, we report the resulting network traffic and weigh it against the decreased accuracy. We perform our experiments in a collocated Discontinuous Galerkin finite element method framework (DG-FEM) applied in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). First, we present a parametric study using the method of manufactured solutions on a 3D compressible Navier–Stokes supersonic cube. Using this method allows us to quantify communication reducing schemes' impact on the error in test cases representing a range of solution polynomial degrees and problem sizes. Finally, we verify the findings on a full-scale CFD problem, flow around the delta wing, and report on methods' consistency as the number of processes and the number of halo elements change.


Intelligent Universal Transformer (IUT) is a smart multi functional power electronic device will comprise Advanced Distribution Automation (ADA) with new approach in distribution system in future. In contrast to traditional transformers, IUT comes with full monitoring and control functionalities and is controlled by the optimized Genetic Algorithm (GA) for tuning the Membership Functions (MFs) of Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC). Normally it is the designer concerns to choose the best MFs and expert knowledge is emerged in MFs with no optimization procedure. FLC is non analytic alternative solution for controlling complex applications based on linguistically rules. GA is inspired by natural selection results in survival of strongest individuals in a competitive environment. It employs analogy of natural evolution to find the optimization solutions in highly complex topics. In each replication GA proposes the population of solution so that the value of next population is enhanced due to the last population. This procedure continues till the global optimal solution is occurred. In this approach the IUT application in microgrid for integrating the distributed new resources of energy to power utility is discussed and an optimized FLC fashion is presented for generating the switching pattern for the high frequency inverters of IUT in both Input-Output stages. The proposed optimized FLC together with the IUT topology yields to the smooth control scheme for integrating the microgrid to main grid which will improve the system reliability and performance.


This paper examines consumer attitudes to quality characteristics of chickpea in India. A linear hedonic price functional form was estimated using price and quality data of 52 kabuli chickpea and 128 desi-type chickpea samples obtained from major chickpea markets in India. Empirical results indicate that physical quality characteristics and purity standards are important factors influencing consumption decisions in the Indian chickpea market. The chemical quality characteristics have been found to be unimportant in influencing consumption decisions due to their cryptic nature. The implicit values of the physical quality characteristics and purity standards are reported. The results demonstrate that there is an incentive for breeders, producers and exporters to improve the quality characteristics of chickpea export because consumers in India discriminate between chickpea varieties based on their physical characteristics and purity standards.


Dollar-cost averaging requires investing equal amounts of an investment sum step-by-step in regular time intervals. Previous studies that assume expected utility investors were unable to explain the popularity of dollar-cost averaging. Statman [1995] argues that dollar-cost averaging is consistent with the positive framework of behavioral finance. We assume a prospect theory investor who implements a strategic asset allocation plan and has the choice to shift the portfolio immediately (comparable to a lump sum) or on a step-by-step basis (dollar-cost averaging). Our simulation results support Statman's [1995] notion that dollar-cost averaging may not be rational but a perfectly normal behavior.


The goal of this effort is to diagnose fault on steel structures by using non destructive techniques. Ultrasonic techniques are usually applied in engineering for faults determination, thickness measuring, adhesive layers, and in metallurgy to establish the quality of welds in metallic pieces. But the ultrasonic techniques could be difficult or impossible to apply in structures with reduced space, i.e. car frameworks. Acoustic signals have been employed since ancient times for detecting faults. Striking an object produces a sound whose differences may be heard when the object is damaged, therefore the vibration signals can be applied to detect differences into a metallic structure. Moreover, the Frequency Response Function (FRF) is used in this work to detect damages in metallic structures. The FRFs are used as input in an artificial intelligent system such as neural nets to detect damage. In general, non destructive evaluation is applied to detect and localize structure faults by using a signal with wavelength smaller than the detecting fault. The method requires analyzing the object in numerous small sections just only to detect the fault. Damages in metallic structures cause small changes in resonance. This work considers global non destructive tests focused only on the estimation of the integrity of the system. Therefore, the whole structure is analyzed to detect damage with only one measure. Traditional fault structure detection practices usually require testing in numerous small sections. The technique used in this research decreases the fault detection costs drastically. The number of FRF spectral lines used to input the neural net is a small fraction of the total frequency range. The designing of a practical implementation requires the usage of a simple method for damage detection, i.e. neural networks. A supervised feed-forward network with Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation algorithm is applied for testing goals. The net structure is a three-levels layer. The net has only one hidden layer and one output neuron that classifies the damage in the steel beams. The particular selection of the forty two spectral lines values results in forty two neurons as system inputs. After training on a small set of data, the neural network is able to identify the damaged beams with considerable accuracy. The network converges in average in less than twenty epochs. Focusing in the technological implementation, the artificial neural network obtains excellent results with few neurons. Mecánica Computacional Vol XXVIII, págs. 181-188 (artículo completo) Cristian García Bauza, Pablo Lotito, Lisandro Parente, Marcelo Vénere (Eds.) Tandil, Argentina, 3-6 Noviembre 2009 Copyright © 2009 Asociación Argentina de Mecánica Computacional http://www.amcaonline.org.ar


The r esearch was to obtain proper length of upper stem to the success rate of grafting and grwoth of the seedling cashew nut plants have been conducted in the Garden Experiments Cikampek, Karawang regency, West Java . Soil types was rocky laterite andesite, type C climate and altitude of 50 meters above sea level. The research was conducted in August 2009 until April 2010. While the materials used cashew seed type B 02 for both rootstock and to the upper stem. Grafting was done after 3 months old seedlings with seedlings about 60 cm high and 0.6 cm diameter stems of seedlings. Experiments prepared following the randomized block design was repeated three times that consisting of 10 plants. The treatments were tested namely long scion 10, 15 and 20 cm. Plants gr ew in polybags with size 15 x 25 cm. The indicators were observed covering the base of the cuttings scion diameter, cutting the base color of entres, the percentage of shoots continued success, increased plant height, leaf number and stem diameter of the seed.The results showed that the length of entres effect on continued success gra f ting  of seedling cashe w . Scion length was 20 cm which gave the highest grafting success is as much as 78%.


This paper examines the micro-level factors that constrain Zimbabwean firms in the country's post-conflict environment. An analysis was conducted into what Zimbabwean firms see as their most debilitating obstacle to achieving higher levels of competitiveness. Among the findings was that so-called non-politically constrained firms face many challenges in their day-to-day operations, which often points to internal strategic and operational shortcomings. Politically constrained firms, on the other hand, have progressed to a stage where their internal systems are in good shape, but their future vision and goals are potentially threatened by the unstable political situation in the country. This creates uncertainty, which can impact negatively on ongoing investment and expansion.


Despite the terms' often being used interchangeably, it has been suggested that perceptions of effort and perceptions of exertion may differ. Eccentric (ECC) cycling may provide a model of exercise by which differences between these perceptions can be examined.

PURPOSE
To examine and compare perceptions of effort and exertion during ECC and concentric (CONC) cycling at 4 intensities.

METHODS
Ten healthy male participants (mean [SD]: age = 29.8 [2.3] y) performed an incremental cycling test for the determination of maximal aerobic power output, followed in a randomized and crossover design, by four 5-min bouts (30%, 60%, 80%, and maximal) of either ECC or CONC cycling. Through each bout, participants were asked to report their perceived effort, exertion, and muscle pain. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were continuously recorded throughout each bout.

RESULTS
Perceived exertion was greater for CONC at 30% (8.5 [1.5] vs 7.1 [1.8]; P = .01), 60% (12.4 [1.4] vs 10.3 [2.0]; P = .01), 80% (15.8 [1.7] vs 12.4 [2.5]; P < .01), and maximal (17.2 [1.3] vs 15.6 [1.8]; P = .03) in comparison with ECC. Perceptions of effort and pain were similar between CONC and ECC. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were greater during CONC than ECC.

CONCLUSIONS
Perceived exertion was greater during CONC compared with ECC cycling, yet effort was similar between conditions despite different physiological stress. Such findings have implications for understanding the development of such perceptions during exercise.


Recent advances in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for turbulent combustion with the relevance for gas turbine jet engines are discussed. Large eddy simulation (LES) has emerged as a powerful approach to handle the highly turbulent, unsteady and thermochemically non-linear flows in the practical combustors, and it is a matter of time for the industry to replace the conventional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach by LES as the main CFD tool for combustor research and development. Since combustion is a subgrid scale phe-nomenon in LES, appropriate modelling is required to describe the SGS combustion effects on the resolved scales. Among the various available models, the flamelet approach is seen to be a promising candidate for practical application because of its computational efficiency, robustness and accuracy. A revised flamelet formulation, FlaRe, is introduced to outline the general LES methodology for combustion modelling and then used for a range of test cases to demonstrate its capabilities for both laboratory burners and practical engine combustors. The LES results generally compare well with the experimental measurements showing that the important physical processes are captured in the simulations.


Background The knowledge about the capacity of organisms' early life stages to adapt to elevated temperatures is very limited but crucial to understand how marine biota will respond to global warming. Here we provide a comprehensive and integrated view of biological responses to future warming during the early ontogeny of a keystone invertebrate, the squid Loligo vulgaris. Methodology/Principal Findings Recently-spawned egg masses were collected and reared until hatching at present day and projected near future (+2°C) temperatures, to investigate the ability of early stages to undergo thermal acclimation, namely phenotypic altering of morphological, behavioural, biochemical and physiological features. Our findings showed that under the projected near-future warming, the abiotic conditions inside the eggs promoted metabolic suppression, which was followed by premature hatching. Concomitantly, the less developed newborns showed greater incidence of malformations. After hatching, the metabolic burst associated with the transition from an encapsulated embryo to a planktonic stage increased linearly with temperature. However, the greater exposure to environmental stress by the hatchlings seemed to be compensated by physiological mechanisms that reduce the negative effects on fitness. Heat shock proteins (HSP70/HSC70) and antioxidant enzymes activities constituted an integrated stress response to ocean warming in hatchlings (but not in embryos). Conclusions/Significance The stressful abiotic conditions inside eggs are expected to be aggravated under the projected near-future ocean warming, with deleterious effects on embryo survival and growth. Greater feeding challenges and the lower thermal tolerance limits of the hatchlings are strictly connected to high metabolic demands associated with the planktonic life strategy. Yet, we found some evidence that, in the future, the early stages might support higher energy demands by adjusting some cellular functional properties to increase their thermal tolerance windows.


Inadequate rooting systems due to excessive soil compaction have prevented farmers in the Tennessee Valley region of northern Alabama from adopting conservation tillage systems. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) yields declined on many farms when conventional tillage systems were replaced with strict no-till systems. Experiments were initiated in 1994 to develop conservation tillage systems that incorporated in-row tillage and rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crops as methods of maintaining surface cover and alleviating extreme soil compaction conditions. Depth of in-row tillage [18 cm (7 in.) or 33 cm (13 in.)] and timing of tillage (fall or spring) were also investigated in this experiment. Cone index measurements taken in the spring and fall of 1997 prior to tillage and bulk density measurements taken in fall 1998 immediately after harvest were used to examine changes in soil condition resulting from several years of experimentation. The results showed reduced cone index and bulk density from either shallow or deep in-row tillage performed in the spring or fall of the year. Although fall measurements in no-till plots showed no effect of cover crops, the spring measurements of cone index were reduced substantially by the use of cover crops, most likely due to increased soil moisture. Therefore, reduced soil compaction beneath the row to depths adequate to sustain proper root growth was achieved by either shallow in-row tillage and/or cover crops.


In this paper, we study the prediction of a real-valued target, such as a risk score or recidivism rate, while guaranteeing a quantitative notion of fairness with respect to a protected attribute such as gender or race. We call this class of problems \emph{fair regression}. We propose general schemes for fair regression under two notions of fairness: (1) statistical parity, which asks that the prediction be statistically independent of the protected attribute, and (2) bounded group loss, which asks that the prediction error restricted to any protected group remain below some pre-determined level. While we only study these two notions of fairness, our schemes are applicable to arbitrary Lipschitz-continuous losses, and so they encompass least-squares regression, logistic regression, quantile regression, and many other tasks. Our schemes only require access to standard risk minimization algorithms (such as standard classification or least-squares regression) while providing theoretical guarantees on the optimality and fairness of the obtained solutions. In addition to analyzing theoretical properties of our schemes, we empirically demonstrate their ability to uncover fairness--accuracy frontiers on several standard datasets.


Background In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died, mainly from prematurity, infections, and intrapartum events. Preventing these deaths requires health systems to provide routine and emergency care at birth, and quality inpatient care for small and sick newborns. Defined levels of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and standardised measurement of "signal functions" has improved tracking of maternal care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Levels of newborn care, particularly for small and sick newborns, and associated signal functions are still not consistently defined or tracked. Methods Between November 2016-November 2017, we conducted an online survey of professionals working in maternal and newborn health. We asked respondents to categorise 18 clinical care interventions that could act as potential signal functions for small and sick newborns to 3 levels of care they thought were appropriate for health systems in LMICs to provide: "routine care at birth", "special care" and "intensive care". We calculated the percentage of respondents that classified each intervention at each level of care and stratified responses to look at variation by respondent characteristics. Results Six interventions were classified to specific levels by more than 50% of respondents as "routine care at birth," three interventions as "special care" and one as "intensive care". Eight interventions were borderline between these care levels. Responses were more consistent for interventions with relevant WHO clinical care guidelines while more variation in respondents' classification was observed in complex interventions that lack standards or guidelines. Respondents with experience in lower-income settings were more likely to assign a higher level of care for more complex interventions. Conclusions Results were consistent with known challenges of scaling up inpatient care in lower-income settings and underline the importance of comprehensive guidelines and standards for inpatient care. Further work is needed to develop a shortlist of newborn signal functions aligned with emergency obstetric care levels to track universal health coverage for mothers and their newborns.


Many rheumatic diseases affect women of childbearing age. It is well known that during pregnancy, some patients with inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis go into remission, whereas in others, pregnancy aggravates disease activity. Unfortunately, the flares of rheumatic diseases during pregnancy may result in fetal loss, intrauterine growth retardation, and premature delivery. Furthermore, during pregnancy, anti-rheumatic drugs used to control disease activity may lead to fetal complications. In this review, the effects of pregnancy on the disease and the effects of disease on the fetus are discussed first. The effects of biological and non-biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs on fertility, pregnancy, and lactation are then summarized. Physicians dealing with rheumatic diseases need to be aware of the potential adverse effects of these medications and discuss the risks and benefits of drugs during pregnancy and lactation with their patients in detail.


Visible light communication (VLC) is a short‐range wireless access technology based on the dual use of illumination structure. The frequency‐selective characteristics of VLC channels motivate the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In addition, the presence of multiple light sources in most indoor spaces makes multiple‐input–multiple‐output (MIMO) communication techniques a natural solution for VLC systems. In this paper, we investigate the design of an adaptive MIMO OFDM system. Specifically, we propose adaptive bit and power loading for a direct current–biased OFDM VLC system with MIMO mode switching between repetition coding and spatial multiplexing. We formulate the adaptive algorithm design as an optimization problem where we aim to maximize spectral efficiency through the proper selection of modulation order, power level, and MIMO mode, while satisfying a targeted bit error rate. To solve the underlying NP‐hard problems, we use a simulated annealing heuristic. We present Monte Carlo simulation results for a typical indoor setting and illustrate the performance improvements through link adaptation.


While it is well-known that faculty-student interaction is key to student success, few institutions have directly leveraged faculty in supporting academic persistence. Many myths about persistence proliferate, and faculty can unwittingly hinder persistence by implementing the wrong kinds of practices. Faculty are most empowered to support student persistence when they understand and care about this issue. They are also better equipped to help when they have a good, current command of the body of knowledge relating to persistence. To address this, we created a blended faculty development program to engage faculty in the scholarship of academic persistence, addressing myths and misconceptions about persistence, and expanding understanding of what it is like to be a first-year student at our university. The Persistence Scholars Program engaged a total of 32 faculty over two semesters, beginning with pre-readings and an in-person daylong workshop followed by an eight or ten-week course. The curriculum was built around a central text, Completing College by Vincent Tinto, and selected empirical and germane articles. Participants engaged in online discussions and two experiential projects, including one that asked them to complete an activity that would enhance their understanding of first-year students' experiences. Assessments of this program focused on participant ratings of target competencies (e.g., the ability to identify and dispel myths about why students persist), perception of usefulness of different specific assignments and materials, and suggestions for how the program can be refined for future cohorts.


We present an algorithm to overcome the local maxima problem in estimating the parameters of mixture models. It combines existing approaches from both EM and a robust fitting algorithm, RANSAC, to give a data-driven stochastic learning scheme. Minimal subsets of data points, sufficient to constrain the parameters of the model, are drawn from proposal densities to discover new regions of high likelihood. The proposal densities are learnt using EM and bias the sampling toward promising solutions. The algorithm is computationally efficient, as well as effective at escaping from local maxima. We compare it with alternative methods, including EM and RANSAC, on both challenging synthetic data and the computer vision problem of alpha-matting.


Data from electronic swine feeders contain errors that must be identified, edited, and corrected. The objectives of this study were to develop comprehensive criteria to identify errors in feed intake data from FIRE electronic feeders and to compare the ability of five editing methods to accurately estimate daily feed intake (DFI) and average daily feed intake (ADFI). Data from FIRE feeders on 591 pigs from the National Pork Board's Maternal Line Genetic Evaluation Program were used. Errors in each visit were identified using 16 criteria. To create an error-free data set as a basis for comparison, data from 124 pigs with few errors were selected and visits with errors were replaced by error-free visits from the same pig. Resulting DFI and ADFI were assumed to be the true trait values. Error visits were then introduced, representative of field data. Data were edited using five methods (EM1-5). For EM1, a DFI record was deleted if DFI < 1000 g or >4500 g. For EM2-5, the 16 criteria were used to identify errors in each visit. For EM2 and 3, all DFI records with >1 and >2 error visits were deleted. For EM4-5, DFI was obtained by summing feed intake over error-free visits. For EM5, DFI records were then adjusted for the effects of presence of error visits on unadjusted DFI, which were estimated from a linear model analysis. For EM1-4, missing DFI records were replaced by linear regression estimates of DFI on test day for each pig. DFI and ADFI from the edited data sets were correlated to true values. Correlations were high (.90 to .99) for both traits for all editing methods except EM1. EM5 had the highest correlation for DFI (.99). EM2 and EM5 had the highest correlations for ADFI (.98 to .99). EM1 had the lowest correlations for both traits (.82 to .93). Results indicate that editing methods affect the accuracy of data from electronic feeders. EM5 is recommended for maximum accuracy for DFI and EM2 is recommended for ADFI for maximum accuracy and ease of implementation.


While seeking practical tools for resilient investors, a myopic ability for single-period decisions to reflect outcomes at multiple time horizons without dynamic programming is developed. It captures tail risk and, with multiple overlapping observations compounded at different frequencies, captures time-series properties as well. These benefits rely on pairing multilevel representation of the utility probability distribution with the use of Rubinstein utility—logarithmic in investor surplus. Other tools demonstrated for practical use include top-down hierarchical cluster analysis to provide qualitative information, simplified shrinkage of observed return means (but not covariances or higher moments), and better measures of potential tail risk. The resulting asset allocation examples drawn from 28 mutual funds and exchange-traded funds vary by investor risk aversion, degree of anticipation of different regimes, and whether they consider short, longer, or multiple time horizons. For single-horizon problems, resilient methods appear most helpful to conservative investors or those who trade infrequently. In contrast, multiple time horizons appear potentially helpful to all investors. Key Findings ▪ A toolset for investors seeking greater resilience against systemic risk stemming from nontraditional sources, such as pandemics, revolutionary technology, climate change, and political upheavals, is created, with an example based on the impact of poorly understood derivatives in the financial crisis of 2007–2009. ▪ Confronting the wavelike character of systemic disruptions with time stages that may include a sudden shock, rolling disruption, or gradual recovery as winners and losers are revealed leads to a method of making single-period allocations that reflect multiple time horizon outcomes while staying within a simple and easily implemented decision-theory framework. ▪ Other tools for resilient investing include top-down hierarchical cluster analysis, measures of tail risk customized by risk aversion, preserving more useful information by shrinking means but not covariances, and transparent open-source software.


OBJECTIVE
To find in our population with diabetes mellitus (DM) the prevalence of other cardiovascular risk factors, as well as their degree of control.

METHOD
A cross-sectional study was carried out in 15-82 years population of our health coverage area, by means of a mailed survey sent to a simple random sample composed of 33,022 individuals, and a interview with collection of exploration and analitic data to a 495 people sub-sample.

RESULTS
Among patients with DM 47/ have history of hypertension, and 58/ blood pressure =140/90 mmHg. Only 33/ have values <130/85 mmHg, and the percentage of patients with controlled blood pressure is significantly inferior between the women. There is history of hipercholesterolaemia in 45 210 / of diabetic patients versus 19/ of non-diabetic population; in the former group the total and LDL cholesterol levels are significantly lower. Smoking affects equally to both groups, while obesity and central obesity are more frequent between diabetic patients, although only in the case of women.

CONCLUSIONS
In our diabetic population blood pressure control is limited: two third parts of the patients show values above recommended. This fact forms a contrast with a high degree of dyslipidemia control. We should pay a greater attention to hypertension treatment in patients with diabetes, mainly in women, and promote smoking cessation interventions essentially in males.


Starra and Trough Tank are stratabound Cu-Au deposits hosted by stratiform
magnetite-hematite iron formation in the Mount Isa Eastern Succession, Australia. They
are part of the rift-related Middle Proterozoic Mary Kathleen Group, deposited in a
shallow to evaporitic setting, and subsequently deformed and metamorphosed. The
location of Starra (consisting of 4 geographically separate orebodies), on the margin of a
major Greenschist facies shear zone (ore metamorphism estimated at 500 - 550° C, 3.5 -
4.5 kbar) has led to a more complex structural history than that experienced by
surrounding rocks. Both structural/metamorphic and syngenetic ore genesis models have
been proposed for the ores. Trough Tank is far less stained, but was metamorphosed to
upper Amphibolite grade (680 - 720° C, -4 kbar).
Structural events in the Starra region are identified as (1) Starra Shear
development during D1a extension, (2) peak-metamorphic D2(Main Phase) deformation,
producing upright, north-trending, isoclinal folds, (3) retrogressional left lateral strikeslip
on the Starra Shear, producing adjacent steeply-plunging medium-scale folds
(D2(Late Phase)), (4) D3 northwest-trending fold and kink domains, and (5) D4 reverse
movement on the Starra Shear and nearby Mount Dore Fault Zone.
A new stratigraphic sub-division for the base of the Staveley Formation is
proposed. Lowermost is the Harley Member, a strongly deformed chloritic unit with a
tholeiitic tuff component. This is conformably overlain by the low-Nb-Zr-Y felsic
Mariposa Creek Member, in turn conformably overlain by the Starra Iron-formation
Member, and undifferentiated calcareous metasediments. To the south and east, the
mineralised horizon strike-equivalents are massive hematitic ironstones, conglomerate-bearing
ironstone, Hamersley-style banded iron formations (BLFs), and tourmalinites, all
intercalated with shallow marine and fluvial-marine sediments. The local ore environment
is interpreted as a deeper section of the basin.


A version of the quantum theory of gravity based on the concept of the wave functional of the universe is proposed. To determine the physical wave functional, the quantum principle of least action is formulated as a secular equation for the corresponding action operator. Its solution, the wave functional, is an invariant of general covariant transformations of spacetime. In the new formulation, the history of the evolution of the universe is described in terms of coordinate time together with arbitrary lapse and shift functions, which makes this description close to the formulation of the principle of general covariance in the classical theory of Einstein's gravity. In the new formulation of quantum theory, an invariant parameter of the evolutionary time of the universe is defined, which is a generalization of the classical geodesic time measured by a standard clock along time-like geodesics.


Deceptive interpersonal interactions are an ideal venue in which to examine the issue of reality. Interpersonal deception theory offers a framework for considering why deceivers (by convention called senders), coparticipants (i.e., targeted receivers), and observers arrive at discordant views of reality. Deceivers' ulterior motives lead them to construct through communication a version of reality contrary to what they hold to be true. Due to adherence to Gricean principles of cooperative discourse, conversational demands, and the nature of the relationship between participants, interlocutors as well as nonparticipative observers may be inclined to accept the alter reality created by senders rather than apprehend the "true" state of affairs. Recent research findings are reviewed, and original data from a pilot investigation of deception strategies are presented to illustrate ways in which senders may perpetrate deception and the extent to which receivers and observers recognize such machinations.


Global Oscillation Network Group data reveal that the internal structure of the sun can be well represented by a calibrated standard model. However, immediately beneath the convection zone and at the edge of the energy-generating core, the sound-speed variation is somewhat smoother in the sun than it is in the model. This could be a consequence of chemical inhomogeneity that is too severe in the model, perhaps owing to inaccurate modeling of gravitational settling or to neglected macroscopic motion that may be present in the sun. Accurate knowledge of the sun's structure enables inferences to be made about the physics that controls the sun; for example, through the opacity, the equation of state, or wave motion. Those inferences can then be used elsewhere in astrophysics.


This thesis studies the links between language, migration and integration in the context of the 'new migrant' group of Latin Americans in London. It reviews the many ways in which language impacts the integration processes of migrants by influencing people's access to jobs, services, social contacts and information. By focusing on migrants' experiences this research also investigates the ways in which language and identity articulate, as well as the affective variables that are at play in the acquisition of the local language. With a large sector trapped in a cycle of poor command of English and labour market disadvantage, many Latin Americans experience exclusion and poverty. In reaction to this, a sector of the community is campaigning for ethnic minority recognition. This work reviews the debates for recognition and the strategy of organising around ethnicity, paying special attention to the role language plays in the process. The study is based on over two and half years of qualitative research, which included interviews, surveys, and long-term participant observation within a community organisation and a recognition campaign. Its interdisciplinary perspective allows the recognition of both the intimate links between language and identity, as well as the social and structural forces that influence migrants' linguistic integration. It unveils the practical and symbolic value that the mother tongue has for Latin American migrants and provides a broader account of their experiences. This research calls attention to the need for a more comprehensive approach to the study of language and migration in order to acknowledge the affective and social factors involved in the linguistic practices of migrants. By studying the community's struggles for recognition, this work evidences both the importance of visibility for minority groups in London and the intrinsic methodological limitations of monitoring through ethnic categorisation.


Renewable Energy Sources (RES) based Distributed Power Generation use Power Electronic Converters for grid interfacing. This paper deals with a multiobjective control strategy for a current controlled three phase Distributed Generation (DG) inverter. The DG inverter incorporates active filter functionality in forward and reverse power flow modes when connected to a nonlinear load. The multifunctional grid connected inverter (MFGCI) can compensate for load current harmonics, load unbalance and load reactive power demand with closed loop active power control. The proposed closed loop power control scheme achieves accurate power tracking with zero steady state errors under ideal and non-ideal supply conditions. A hysteresis band current controller is used to generate the switching pulses for the interfaced inverter. Extensive simulation studies are done in MATLAB/Simulink software to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.


This article examines the impact of management structure on the performance of population control program in Pakistan. Specifically, it explores the relationship between management structures and program outcomes in social marketing program (SMP) contexts. A combination of pattern matching and explanation building techniques for embedded case analysis was used and the data brought together in a reasoned form to provide an analysis and explanation of the focused topic. Management structures adopted for various SMPs for family planning were defined directly or indirectly by the funding agencies, and these, in turn, led to varying implementation difficulties. The Pakistani experience shows that donor agencies' involvement in operational issues has little positive impact on the program outcome. Essentially, the findings afford program managers evidence-based insights in developing new structure and avoiding failed ones. It emphasizes that, in countries where more than one SMP are in operation, the stakeholders need to assess program components circumspectly to avoid duplication. Overall, the article provides strategic directions to stakeholders on how varying organizations handling social marketing projects could enhance operational effectiveness of the program. It emphasizes the need for improved coordination, devolution of responsibilities, alignment of organizational goals with the program goals, and effective involvement of local stakeholders in program planning.


This paper is written to address the problem of having floating or fixed exchange rates. My results showed that between 2008 and 2009, having a free floating exchange rate actually worsened the percentage change in GDP per capita by -2.58331 %. On the other hand, a second regression analysis estimated that a floating exchange rate increased the percentage change in GDP per capita between 2008 and 2009 by 2.8914 %.The estimate was not however statistically significant at any of the standard significance levels.By taking the two extremes perhaps one could investigate a superior exchange rate regime in terms of protecting against global economic crisis. Many countries have chosen to adopt a managed floating instead but these were not looked at very thoroughly in the paper.


Valuating the position of a controlled object using indicators which are management and control tools is widely used in many areas of the economy. Usually such indicators are based on internal data, however, as the volume of available open information grows, algorithms for valuation of the position of certain control objects and on open structured data are appearing. The disadvantage of these models is their narrow specialization and binding only to structured, and sometimes strictly official data, which, as a rule, have a rare publication frequency. This does not allow you to track the change in the position of the object at different times. The authors have proposed a concept for constructing a universal complex indicator (UCI) for express valuation of the position of a controlled object in various types of activity: banking, educational, industrial, etc. Another difference in the construction of the UCI is that the concept presented in the article assumes, as a reference point, to take into account the requirements of regulatory authorities, while in most Russian and foreign studies, indicators are built for the needs of investors. It is also proposed to use, along with structured and unstructured data, tracking the dynamics of changes in the position of the control object. To determine the UCI values on the basis of various econometric models and methods, the components that characterize the requirements of the control bodies to the control object are calculated; using them the UCI value is determined from the truth table. The concept proposed was tested to build an express valuation of the financial position of 108 banks for the period from 1 January 2018 to 1 February 2020. In accordance with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the values of the three UCI components were obtained, and the value was calculated for each bank. The predictive ability of the constructed model, tested on three banks of the test sample, was confirmed by the consistency of the express valuation with their actual position in March 2020.


Throughout their lives, squids are both predators and prey for a multitude of animals, many of which are at the top of ocean food webs, making them an integral component of the trophic structure of marine ecosystems. The escape jet, which is produced by the rapid expulsion of water from the mantle cavity through a funnel, is central to a cephalopod's ability to avoid predation throughout its life. Although squid undergo morphological and behavioral changes and experience remarkably different Reynolds number regimes throughout their development, little is known about the dynamics and propulsive efficiency of escape jets throughout ontogeny. We examine the hydrodynamics and kinematics of escape jets in squid throughout ontogeny using 2D/3D velocimetry and high-speed videography. All life stages of squid produced two escape jet patterns: (1) escape jet I characterized by short rapid pulses resulting in vortex ring formation and (2) escape jet II characterized by long high-volume jets, often with a leading-edge vortex ring. Paralarvae exhibited higher propulsive efficiency than adult squid during escape jet ejection, and propulsive efficiency was higher for escape jet I than escape jet II in adults. These results indicate that although squid undergo major ecological transitions and morphology changes from paralarvae to adults, all life stages demonstrate flexibility in escape jet responses and produce escape jets of surprisingly high propulsive efficiency.


This paper addresses the problem of providing bandwidth and delay guarantees in passive optical networks. To resolve this problem we propose an algorithm that provides absolute bandwidth and delay bound guarantees. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm does not breach bandwidth and delay bounds for guaranteed service traffic even under the highest loads. Additionally, we analyze the lower bound for providing delay guarantees.


In Committed to the Sane Asylum: Narratives on Mental Wellness and Healing, artist Susan Schellenberg, a former psychiatric patient, and psychologist Rosemary Barnes relate their own stories, conversations, and reflections concerning the contributions and limitations of conventional mental health care and their collaborative search for alternatives such as art therapy. Patient and doctor each describe personal decisions about the mental health system and the creative life possibilities that emerged when mind, body, and spirit were committed to well-being and healing.

 Interwoven patient/doctor narratives explain conventional care, highlight critical steps in healing, and explore varied perspectives through conversations with experts in psychiatry, feminist approaches, art, storytelling, and business. The book also includes reproductions of Susan's mental health records and dream paintings.

 This book will be important for consumers of mental health care wishing to understand the conventional system and develop the best quality of life. Rich personal detail, critical perspective, clinical records, and art reproductions make the book engaging for a general audience and stimulating as a teaching resource in nursing, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and art therapy.


In an era marked by processes of economic and political integration that are arguably unprecedented in their range and impact, the translation of law, whether understood in its literal or metaphorical sense, has assumed a significance that can hardly be overstated. The following situations are typical. As the expression of a strong postcolonial commitment, various African states have decided to draft their legislation in more than one official language with a view to conferring equal authority to colonial and traditional languages. Elsewhere, an influential group of European lawyers is seeking to develop a civil code for the European Union that stands to be translated in 23 languages. Meanwhile, former political and military leaders are being prosecuted for genocide before the International Criminal Court, a body consisting of judges from many different legal backgrounds and operating according to a complex multilingual procedure. Controversially, the US Supreme Court has relied upon foreign law in order to assess the constitutionality of a Texas statute criminalizing certain forms of sexual behaviour. Each of these instances raises the matter of law in translation. Can legal rules carry identical normative implications in more than one language? Can law achieve uniformity despite requiring to be rendered in many languages? How do interpreting and translation affect adjudication in a multilingual courtroom? To what extent can a given legal text make sense in a different legal culture? These questions raise only some of the difficult issues that confront lawyers and translators currently acting across national borders. This special issue of The Translator features a number of critical, innovative and interdisciplinary contributions drawing on fields such as translation studies, linguistics, literary theory, sociology, philosophy and postcolonial studies which probe the interface between law, language and translation, with specific reference to the transnational situation as it is currently unfolding.


One of the hallmarks of tumor neovasculature is the prevalence of immature vessels manifested by the low degree of recruitment of vascular mural cells such as pericytes and smooth muscle cells. This difference in the architecture of the vascular bed provides an important therapeutic window for inflicting tumor-selective vascular damage. Here we demonstrate the application of gradient echo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for noninvasive in vivo mapping of vascular maturation, manifested by the ability of mature vessels to dilate in response to elevated levels of CO2. Histological alpha-actin staining showed a match between dilating vessels detected by MRI and vessels coated with smooth muscle cells. Switchable, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-overexpressing tumors (C6-pTET-VEGF rat glioma s.c. tumors in nude mice) displayed high vascular function and significant vascular damage upon VEGF withdrawal. However, damage was restricted to nondilating vessels, whereas mature dilating tumor vessels were resistant to VEGF withdrawal. Thus, MRI provides in vivo visualization of vascular maturity and prognosis of vascular obliteration induced by VEGF withdrawal.


We examine the performance of high-bandwidth multimedia applications over high-speed wide-area networks, such as the vBNS (Internet2). We simulate a teleimmersion application that sends 30 Mbps (2,700 datagrams per second) to various sites around the USA, and measure network- and application-level loss and throughput. We found that over the vBNS, performance is affected more by the packet-rate generated by an application than by its bit-rate. We also assess the amount of error recovery and buffering needed in times of congestion to present an effective multimedia stream to the user. Lastly, we compare our application-level measurements with data taken from a constellation of GPS-synchronized network probes (IPPM Surveyors). The comparison suggests that network-level probes will not provide information that a multimedia application can use to adapt its behavior to improve performance.


Abstract. The BIM method allows to include topography and remote sensing in important way: it is a continuous dynamic, in itinere, not only before the construction but, also, as design verification, after the construction. Understanding the right level of BIM to use is necessary in order to obtain an Opera constructed exactly as was it designed; and to manage the BIM process during the entire construction. This paper supports a precise thesis: the concept of "measure" as a way of implementing BIM. "Measuring" does not only means exchanging data, between design phase and construction phase but, also, identifying accuracy, reliability, , tolerance, modus operandi, "level" of BIM. Identifying and measuring this level is the "way of BIM", since the design, during the building site work, until the opera's delivery. Predefined ways of applying BIM do not exist it depends on the type of work, context, people, equipment, times and resources, including the human skills. Our research group was asked to support two projects. A public work: the Navy Academy recovery; and a private work: the monitoring via BIM-GIS of the technical components laid in the building site.


Reverse genetics in Plasmodium, the genus of parasites that cause malaria, still faces major limitations. Only red blood cell stages of this haploid parasite can be transfected. Consequently, the function of many essential genes in these and subsequent stages, including those encoding vaccine candidates, cannot be addressed genetically. Here, we establish conditional mutagenesis in Plasmodium by using site-specific recombination and the Flp/FRT system of yeast. Site-specific recombination is induced after cross-fertilization in the mosquito vector of two clones containing either the target sequence flanked by two FRT sites or the Flp recombinase. Parasites that have undergone recombination are recognized in the cross progeny through the expression of a fluorescence marker. This approach should permit to dissect the function of any essential gene of Plasmodium during the haploid phase of its life, i.e., during infection of salivary glands in the mosquito and infection of both the liver and red blood cells in the mammal.


The usefulness of the lz person-fit index was investigated with achievement test data from 20 exams given to more than 3,200 college students. Results for three methods of estimating θ showed that the distributions of lz were not consistent with its theoretical distribution, resulting in general overfit to the item response theory model and underidentification of potentially nonfitting response vectors. The distributions of lz were not improved for the Bayesian estimation method. A follow-up Monte Carlo simulation study using item parameters estimated from real data resulted in mean lz approximating the theoretical value of 0.0 for one of three θ estimation methods, but all standard deviations were substantially below the theoretical value of 1.0. Use of the lz distributions from these simulations resulted in levels of identification of significant misfit consistent with the nominal error rates. The reasons for the nonstandardized distributions of lz observed in both these data sets were investigated in additional Monte Carlo simulations. Previous studies showed that the distribution of item difficulties was primarily responsible for the nonstandardized distributions, with smaller effects for item discrimination and guessing. It is recommended that with real tests, identification of significantly nonfitting examinees be based on empirical distributions of lz generated from Monte Carlo simulations using item parameters estimated from real data.


This study aimed to model carbon footprint, carbon dioxide sequestration, and emissions from kenaf cultivation as well as utilization of core and bast as biomaterials in the automotive industries and their environmental implications. It also considers the selection of suitable processing methods to improve the environmental performance of automotive parts. The data were obtained from three areas, and each area was divided into three cultivated sub areas for the carbon footprint model. Data regarding the conversion of kenaf to fibre when using kenaf high decorticator machines were provided from Kenaf Processing and Marketing Centre (CMPC) in Malaysia. The results showed that the total estimated quantity of carbon footprint of kenaf cultivation in the studied areas as well as the farms was about 0.750 tonne CO2/tonne. In addition, the total estimated quantity of carbon sequestration of automotive components in the studied states as well as the district was approximately 180,000 tonne CO2/tonne/hectare/year in addition to carbon sequestered by soil in hectare of cultivated kenaf. The practices of kenaf cultivation, processing, and utilization into automotive components is essential for the environment and will assist in the mitigation of climate change risks.


This research assesses how poverty-based resettlement programs make a contribution to poverty reduction and controlling migration of ethnic people in rural Laos. In 2009, the government of Laos launched new resettlement programs in six northern provinces. The programs aimed to improve the accessibility to land of people who were remaining poor in some rural areas. Primarily, poor people were required to resettle in a village where land could be available for them.  I investigated two resettlement sites in Thathome district, Xiangkhoang province. I applied a qualitative approach to examine the poverty experiences of settlers. In particular, I focused on identifying the causes and impacts of poverty-based resettlement programs on ethnic migrants. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather responses from migrants, government officers and host villagers. Two focus group interviews were organized with migrant participants who came from different locations.  The findings revealed that poverty-based resettlement programs did not directly address the core causes of poverty and migration of poor people in rural Laos. Conversely, the improper planning and implementation of programs were responsible for poverty that happened in the resettlement sites. The programs were carried out while the local government was hampered by insufficient funds. There was little support and assistance provided to settlers during the transitional periods. As a result, settlers faced worse hardship than they had in their original villages. Poverty-based resettlement programs instead of reducing poverty had created a situation whereby there was a greater potential for poor people to become trapped in continued poverty.


In this paper we show that reasonable proxies for the FF factors can be readily constructed from 'off the shelf' style index data. We employ a GMM testing procedure in which the main focus of the tests is to assess the overriding validity of the restrictions placed on the empirical model framework. In addition, we augment the system of equations with a simple mean equation for each of the three FF risk factors, thereby permitting a direct estimate of the associated risk premia. The key findings are as follows. First, the proxy mimicking portfolios do represent pervasive sources of exposure across a sample of industry-sorted portfolios. Second, based on the outcome of all the GMM tests performed on our sample, the evidence seems to quite strongly support the three-factor Fama and French model. Third, when we take into account the estimated risk premia produced by our framework, the conclusion favouring the model has to be downweighted somewhat. Nevertheless, the estimated risk premia for the market and for the book-to-market factor are typically found to be significantly positive. Our main 'perverse' finding relates to the size risk premium which in our sample is typically significantly negative. This is consistent with other recent evidence of a 'reversal' in the size effect.


Envisaging the role of Co in theranautics and biomedicine it is immensely important to evaluate its antimicrobial activity. Hence in this study CoO thin nanosheets (CoO-TNs) were synthesized using wet chemical solution method at a very low refluxing temperature () and short time (60 min). Scanning electron microscopy of the grown structure revealed microflowers () composed of thin sheets petals (60~80 nm). The thickness of each individual grown sheet varies from 10~20 nm. Antimicrobial activities of CoO-TNs against two Gram positive bacteria (Micrococcus luteus, and Staphylococcus aureus), and two Gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were determined. A 98% and 65% growth inhibition of M. luteus and S. aureus respectively, was observed with of CoO-TNs compared to 39 and 34% growth inhibition of E. coli and P. aeruginosa, respectively with the same concentration of CoO-TNs. Hence, synthesized CoO-TNs exhibited antimicrobial activity against Gram negative bacteria and an invariably higher activity against tested Gram positive bacteria. Therefore, synthesized CoO-TNs are less prone to microbial infections.


Patients with schizophrenia show a loss of sensory (motor) gating, which is reflected in a reduced prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle reflex. Furthermore, patients with schizophrenia habituate less than healthy subjects. From previous studies, it is clear that typical antipsychotics have little or no effect on either sensorimotor gating or habituation, while only limited data is available on the effects of atypical antipsychotics on these processes. Forty-four schizophrenic patients (27 stable on typical and 17 stable on atypical antipsychotics) and 35 healthy control subjects were tested in a PPI paradigm. The prepulse and startle stimuli were pure tones of 1500 Hz (duration 40ms, intensity 80 dB and 110 dB respectively), with a fixed interstimulus interval of 120 milliseconds. Block effects in PPI and startle amplitude to the pulse alone trials (habituation) were analyzed over the three groups, using comedication (i.e., benzodiazepines) as a covariate. Main effect for block was found for startle amplitude (habituation), while main effects for group and block were found for percentage PPI. Further analysis displayed significant differences in PPI between the patients treated with typical antipsychotics and the healthy control group, while patients treated with atypical antipsychotics did not differ from either the healthy control group, or the patients treated with typical antipsychotics. Furthermore, post-hoc division of the patients treated with atypical antipsychotics in patients treated with clozapine and risperidone revealed that this superiority from atypical antipsychotics over typical antipsychotics appeared to be mainly based on the effects of clozapine. Patients with schizophrenia who are treated with atypical antipsychotics appear to have levels of sensorimotor gating that are more consistent with healthy controls than patients who are treated with typical antipsychotics. Furthermore, within the class of atypical antipsychotics, clozapine appears most potent in restoring this process.


Purpose: The aim of this exploratory research was to investigate the use of simulation in physiotherapy curricula across Australia and New Zealand. The key areas of focus were whether simulation was being used, the forms of simulation used for training and assessment, evidence for educational simulation practices, and the enablers and barriers to implementing simulation into the curricula. Method: All Australian and New Zealand Universities offering a physiotherapy degree were invited to participate in an electronic survey. As no pre-existing tool was available to answer the aims of the study, a custom designed survey was developed. The survey was pilot tested on three physiotherapy academics to limit ambiguity and ensure the questions directly related to the purpose of the study. An introductory invitation was circulated via the Council of Physiotherapy Deans Australia and New Zealand. Open and closed ended questions were analyzed following a sequential explanatory strategy. Results: Fourteen (14) of the possible 22 universities (64%) responded, with all indicating that they use simulation for training or assessment and many using it for both. All core areas of clinical practice were represented, as were low to high-fidelity forms of simulation. Role play (77%), low/medium fidelity manikins (77%), and standardized patients (62%) were the most frequently used for training. Role play (73%), standardized patients (45%), objective structured clinical examinations (45%), and low/medium fidelity manikins (37%) were the most frequently used modalities for assessment. The key enablers appear to be availability of equipment, academic support, growing evidence for its use, safety, and positive student experiences. The key barriers appear to be time, cost, and access to trained staff and equipment. Conclusions: Academics across Australia and New Zealand described simulation practices for both training and assessing physiotherapy students. Academics were able to identify a limited but expanding evidence-base for simulation, more strongly focused on training than simulation-based assessments. Recommendations: Further research may justify increased investment of time, money, resources, and training in different simulation modalities.


The aim of this research was to compare the following: 1) policies of the central and local governments of China and Thailand in driving Special Economic Zones, and 2) the benefits and targeted industries of Mengla and Chiang Rai Special Economic Zones that attract business investment. The research employed qualitative research methods, including the analysis of relevant policies, laws and regulations of Thailand and China at both the central and local government levels as well as in-depth interviews with stakeholders. The interviewed stakeholders were selected from four groups related to the Special Economic Zones: state officers, businessmen or entrepreneurs, local people and scholars. The results revealed that the Mengla and Chiang Rai Special Economic Zones have both similarities and differences in development strategies and benefits. The similarities include the context of their establishment, location and goal of reducing inequality between the coastal and the inner areas of the states. The different issues are the model and period of benefits, the utilization of land and the targeted industries. This research also indicates that key success factors for special economic zones, apart from the benefits, are management, infrastructure, and community.


Abstract Objectives: Neurocognitive impairment has been found in bipolar patients. Hypercortisolemia is one possible cause but there has been no agreement on this. Previous sampling methods assessed only acute cortisol levels, whereas the association between cortisol and psychopathology might be better understood by investigating chronic levels. Fingernails are a novel method for measuring chronic cortisol concentration (CCC). Here, we measured CCC in euthymic bipolar disorder I (BD-I) patients and healthy controls using fingernails to investigate whether differences in CCC influenced neurocognitive performance. We also investigated whether differences in clinical illness variables influenced CCC in euthymic BD-I patients. Methods: A previous study demonstrated neurocognitive impairment in euthymic BD-I patients. The current study included a portion of this sample: 40 BD-I versus 42 matched controls who provided fingernail samples. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in CCC between controls and BD-I (P = .09). Logistic regression analyses revealed that euthymic bipolar I subjects with more than five years of current euthymia had decreased odds of having higher fingernail cortisol concentration (>71.2 pg/mg) compared to those with less than 1.5 years (P = .04). There was no association between CCC and cognitive impairment in all domains before and after adjustment for age and sex. Conclusions: The current evidence suggests CCC is not a trait biomarker in euthymic BD-I (BD-I). Longer periods of stability in affective disorders are associated with lower CCC. Fingernail cortisol does not seem to be implicated in neurocognitive impairment and BD-I. Future studies may investigate CCC in different illness phases of BD-I.


Decentralized algorithms are examined for optimally distributing a divisible resource in a distributed computer system. To study this problem in a specific context, the problem of optimal file allocation is considered. In this case, the optimization criteria include both the communication cost and average processing delay associated with a file access. The algorithms examined have their origins in the field of mathematical economics. They are shown to have several attractive properties, including their simplicity and distributed nature, the computation of feasible and increasingly better resource allocations as the result of each iteration, and, in the case of file allocation, rapid convergence. Conditions are formally derived under which the algorithms are guaranteed to coverage, and their convergence behavior is additionally examined through simulation. >


Half of the 22 extant crocodilians show evidence of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). We examine evidence for TSD in 11 species by reviewing reports on five and presenting new data for six. The female-male pattern (FM; females at low temperature, males at high temperature) attributed to Alligator mississippiensis and Caiman crocodilus are here revised to be female-male-female (FMF; males at intermediate temperature, females at low and high temperatures). A similar pattern characterizes Crocodylus palustris, C. moreletii, C. siamensis, and Gavialis gangeticus based on new data; published accounts establish a FMF pattern in Crocodylus porosus, C. johnstoni, and C. niloticus. TSD apparently occurs in Paleosuchus trigonatus and Alligator sinensis, but patterns are not yet documented. In the well-studied species, the incubation temperatures for FM transitions are congruent, but MF transition temperatures differ among species. In A. mississippiensis, 100% males are produced over a range of constant incubation temperatures, whereas in C. johnstoni, only low proportions of males are produced at any constant temperature.

The thermosensitive period (TSP) for A. mississippiensis occurs during stages 21 to 24 (days 30–45 at intermediate temperatures) and coincides with gonadal differentiation. A similar scenario is suggested in other species. The TSP in A. mississippiensis (and possibly other crocodilians) encompasses the third quarter of development and occurs later than in turtles and a lizard. In A. mississippiensis as in turtles, the duration (cumulative effect) and/or the magnitude (potency effect) of incubation temperatures during the TSP predictably alter sex ratios. TSP chronologies and features which are shared among TSD reptiles suggest common, underlying mechanisms; A. mississippiensis is an appropriate model for further study. In crocodilians, clutch effects are a significant source of variation in TSD response. Hatchling sex ratios previously reported for A. mississippiensis are reconsidered in light of our new data. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


We present an approach and a system to let tutors monitor several important aspects related to online tests, such as learner behavior and test quality. The approach includes the logging of important data related to learner interaction with the system during the execution of online tests and exploits data visualization to highlight information useful to let tutors review and improve the whole assessment process. We have focused on the discovery of behavioral patterns of learners and conceptual relationships among test items. Furthermore, we have led several experiments in our faculty in order to assess the whole approach. In particular, by analyzing the data visualization charts, we have detected several previously unknown test strategies used by the learners. Last, we have detected several correlations among questions, which gave us useful feedbacks on the test quality.


Are Americans' political attitudes shaped by where they live? To date, research on the effects of local contexts in the U.S. has focused on a small subset of potential contextual influences, most notably racial demographics. This paper develops competing hypotheses about the extent to which political attitudes are shaped by contextual attributes more generally. It then analyzes the spatial correlates of attitudes across 11 different issues, including air pollution, climate change, crime, defense spending, economic growth, federal land, income inequality, immigration, nuclear power, terrorism, and wolf hunting. In keeping with hypotheses emphasizing the``morselized'' nature of public opinion, the central finding is of very limited spatial influence. The issues that do show spatial patterning are those that are already salient in national politics. Considered jointly, the results suggest that contextual influence is more the exception than the rule, and that contextual attributes are more likely to be influential when politicized.


Molecular recognition plays an important role in biological systems. Exploiting the complementary base-pairing observed between nucleotides (in DNA and RNA) to build discrete multicomponent composite micelles would be of high value. Herein, we describe the synthesis of short chain block copolymers functionalized with the nucleobase adenine (A) or thymine (T). The copolymers self-assemble in a phosphate buffered aqueous solution and base-pairing is observed between the nucleobase end-functionalized block copolymer and the free nucleobase despite the highly competitive aqueous environment. This phenomenon is only observed when the nucleobase is attached to the hydrophilic end of the copolymer. Exposure to elevated temperatures destroys the hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) between the nucleobase end-functionalized block copolymer and the complementary nucleobase, thus releasing A or T from the micelle. The molecular recognition properties exhibited by these structures have the potential to build higher ordered structures and furnish nucleobase or DNA containing nanomaterials.


Approximately 44 million people worldwide live with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or a related form of dementia. Aggregates of the microtubule-associated protein tau are a common marker of these neurodegenerative diseases collectively termed as tauopathies. However, all therapeutic attempts based on tau have failed, suggesting that tau may only indicate a higher-level causal mechanism. For example, increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) may trigger protein aggregation or modulate protein degradation. Here we show that type 4 NADPH oxidase (NOX), the most abundant isoform of the only dedicated reactive oxygen producing enzyme family, is upregulated in dementia and AD patients and in a humanized mouse model of tauopathy. Both global knockout and neuronal knockdown of the Nox4 gene in mice, diminished the accumulation of pathological tau and positively modified established tauopathy by a mechanism that implicates modulation of the autophagy-lysosomal pathway (ALP). Moreover, neuronal-targeted NOX4 knockdown was sufficient to reduce neurotoxicity and prevented cognitive decline, suggesting a direct and causal role for neuronal NOX4. Thus, NOX4 is a previously unrecognized causal, mechanism-based target in tauopathies and blood-brain barrier permeable specific NOX4 inhibitors could have therapeutic potential even in established disease. Graphical abstract