Objective The purpose is to determine the prevalence of electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities, including borderline and prolonged QT, among screened children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and to analyze their subsequent medical workup. Study Design Institutional Review Board–approved case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary academic center. Subjects and Methods Cases from 1996 to 2014 involving pediatric patients (N = 1994) with SNHL were analyzed. Abnormal ECGs were categorized as borderline/prolonged QT or other. A board-certified pediatric cardiologist retrospectively determined the clinical significance of ECG changes. For follow-up analysis, children with heart disease, known syndromes, or inaccessible records were excluded. Results Among 772 children who had ECGs, 215 (27.8%) had abnormal results: 35 (4.5%) with QT abnormalities and 180 (23.3%) with other abnormalities. For children with QT abnormalities meeting inclusion criteria (n = 30), follow-up measures included cardiology referral (46.6%), repeat ECG by ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist (20%), clearance by ENT specialist with clinical correlation and/or comparison with old ECGs (20%), and pediatrician follow-up (6.7%). Documentation of further workup by ENT or referral was absent for 6.7%. For children with other ECG changes meeting inclusion criteria (n = 136), abnormalities were documented for 57 (41.9%); normal QT without other abnormality was documented for 18 (13.2%). The most common follow-up referrals were to pediatricians (16.9%) and cardiologists (10.3%). Among patients with clinically significant non-QT abnormalities mandating further evaluation (n = 122), 38 (31.1%) had documented follow-up in medical records. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of ECG abnormalities among children with congenital SNHL. If findings are confirmed by future studies, screening should be considered for congenital unilateral or bilateral SNHL, regardless of severity. We describe a standardized protocol for ECG screening/follow-up.


Software companies often make use of project management knowledge as well as a set of development processes in order to build their solutions with quality and within scope, time and resource constraints. Software projects are very dynamic systems that demand recurrent adjustments of their plans even during execution due to their particular nature. Such adjustments can be viewed as reconfigurations on schedule, on resource allocation and on other project elements. A systematic review is a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to a particular area of interest. This paper presents the results from a systematic review of four subareas underlying the dynamic reconfiguration of software projects. A number of works were analyzed from the year of 2004 up to the present moment.


Dislocation cores have long dominated the electronic and optical behaviors of semiconductor devices and detailed atomic characterization is required to further explore their effects. Miniaturization of semiconductor devices to nanometre scale also puts emphasis on a material's mechanical properties to withstand failure due to processing or operational stresses. Sessile junctions of dislocations provide barriers to propagation of mobile dislocations and may lead to work-hardening. The sessile Lomer-Cottrell and Hirth lock dislocations, two stable lowest elastic energy stair-rods, are studied in this paper. More specifically, using atomic resolution high-angle annular dark-field imaging and atomic-column-resolved X-ray spectrum imaging in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, dislocation core structures are examined in zinc-blende CdTe. A procedure is outlined for atomic scale analysis of dislocation junctions which allows determination of their identity with specially tailored Burgers circuits and also formation mechanisms of the polar core structures based on Thompson's tetrahedron adapted to reactions of polar dislocations as they appear in CdTe and other zinc-blende solids. Strain fields associated with the dislocations calculated via geometric phase analysis are found to be diffuse and free of `hot spots' that reflect compact structures and low elastic energy of the pure-edge stair-rods.


We introduce trajectory balancing, a general reweighting approach to causal inference with time-series cross-sectional (TSCS) data. We focus on settings in which one or more units is exposed to treatment at a given time, while a set of control units remain untreated throughout a time window of interest. First, we show that many commonly used TSCS methods imply an assumption that a unit's non-treatment potential outcomes in the post-treatment period are linear in that unit's pre-treatment outcomes as well as time-invariant covariates. Under this assumption, we introduce the mean balancing method that reweights the control units such that the averages of the pre-treatment outcomes and covariates are approximately equal between the treatment and (reweighted) control groups. Second, we relax the linearity assumption and propose the kernel balancing method that seeks an approximate balance on a kernel-based feature expansion of the pre-treatment outcomes and covariates. The resulting approach inherits the property of handling time-vary confounders as in synthetic control and latent factor models, but has the advantages of: (1) improving feasibility and stability with reduced user discretion compared to existing approaches; (2) accommodating both short and long pre-treatment time periods with many or few treated units; and (3) achieving balance on the high-order "trajectory" of pre-treatment outcomes rather than their simple average at each time period. We illustrate this method with simulations and two empirical examples.


In the scientific community, ferroelectric ceramics have attracted great attention because of their unique dielectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties. These properties of ferroelectric ceramics make them suitable for various multifunctional device applications. Till date, owing to excellent dielectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties, the Pb(Ti,Zr)O3(PZT) based ferroelectric ceramics, near morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), are widely used in applications such as actuators, sensors, etc. However, the toxicity, problems in recycling and disposal are the major environmental concerns against the use of lead-based ferroelectric materials. Therefore, there is an urgent need for searching effective lead-free ferroelectrics, whose properties are comparable to those of the well-known PZT based materials. Among the effective lead-free ferroelectrics, the (Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3(NBT) system has drawn great attention in recent years. Although, the NBT system shows a strong ferroelectric behavior, yet it has some critical limitations such as (i) high coercive field, (ii) high conductivity, (iii) high dielectric loss and (iv) high leakage current, which goes against the use of this system in various device applications. Efforts have been made to overcome these limitations by doping or synthesizing solid solutions with other systems. The solid solution of the (1-x)NBT-xBT system exhibits an MPB at x≈0.07. Similarly, in the solid solution of the (1-x)NBT-xKNN system there exist an MPB at x≈0.07 between the rhombohedral FE phase and a tetragonal AFE phase. Therefore, it is imperative to study structural, dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, polarization fatigue and leakage current density properties of the (1-x)NBT-xBT and (1-x)NBT-xKNN systems near their respective MPBs. Selected Perovskite Materials
 (1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-xBaTiO3/NBT-xBT
 (1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-x K0.5Na0.5NbO3/NBT-xKNN
(Where x=0.05, 0.06, 0.07, 0.08)
Solid solutions of the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN (where x=0.05, 0.06, 0.07, 0.08) systems were prepared by solid state reaction route. The XRD study confirmed the single perovskite phase in both the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN systems at 1000oC and 800 oC calcination temperatures, respectively. No remarkable change in the grain size (average grain size ~2.5μm) was observed with the variation of BT content in the NBT–xBT system. Whereas, in the NBT–xKNN system, the average grain size first increases with the increase of KNN content up to x=0.07 and then starts decreasing for x=0.08. Highest experimental density was found to be ~5.89g/cc (98.30% of the theoretical density (ρth)) and 5.77g/cc (97.81% of the ρth) for x=0.07 compositions of the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN systems, respectively. Dielectric study showed existence of both Td (depolarization temperature) and Tm (temperature corresponding to maximum dielectric constant) in all the systems with diffusive phase transition behavior. Dielectric constant (er) (at 1 kHz frequency) at room temperature (RT) and at Tm were found to be ~2275 and ~5067, respectively for the x=0.07 ceramic samples of the NBT-xBT system. Whereas, for the x=0.07 ceramic samples of the NBT-xKNN system, er (at 1 kHz frequency) at RT and at Tm were found to be ~2787 and ~4438, respectively. Leakage current density was found to be between 10-7-10-6A/cm2 and ~10-6A/cm2 for all the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN ceramics, respectively. In the NBT-xBT system, optimum values of remnant polarization (Pr) ~ 31.71μC/cm2, piezoelectric coefficient (d33) ~105pC/N, electromechanical coupling coefficient (kp) ~0.21 and maximum induced strain% ~0.45 at RT were obtained in the x=0.07 composition. Whereas, optimum values of Pr ~20.61C/cm2, d33 ~78pC/N, kp ~0.12 and maximum induced strain% ~0.36 were obtained at RT in the x=0.07 composition of the NBT-xKNN system. Bipolar polarization fatigue study confirmed the degradation of all the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN ceramics after 107 cycles. Excellent dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties confirmed the MPB nature of x=0.07 composition of both the systems. Still, both these systems lack the reliability issues such as polarization fatigue, high coercive field, high On the other hand, bismuth layered structure ferroelectrics (BLSF) such as SrBi2Ta2O9, SrBi2Nb2O9, Bi4Ti3O12, SrBi4Ti4O15, etc., are the natural anti-fatigue materials which can withstand 1012 erase/rewrite operations. A detail structural, dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, leakage current density and polarization fatigue properties of the effective BLSFs systems were carried out.
Selected BLSF Materials SrBi2Ta2O9/SBT, Sr0.8Bi2.15Ta2O9/SBexT and SrBi2(Ta0.925W0.075)2O9/SBTW 2-layered SBT, SBexT, and SBTW ceramics were synthesized in single phase by solid-state reaction technique. SEM micrographs showed the development of plate-like grains with maximum experimental density ~8.87 g/cc (98 % of the ρth) of the SBexT ceramic samples, sintered at 1200oC/4hr. Enhanced transition temperature (Tc), and better er and ferroelectric properties were observed in both the SBexT and SBTW ceramic samples compared to the SBT ceramic samples. The dielectric study also showed the sharp transition in both the SBexT and SBTW ceramic samples, whereas a diffused phase transition was observed in the SBT system. From dielectric measurements, highest Tc was obtained in the SBexT system. P-E hysteresis loop study confirmed the ferroelectric nature of all the SBT based ceramic samples. The maximum Pr ~ 8.07μC/cm2 with minimum coercive field (Ec) ~ 15.18kV/cm were obtained in the SBexT ceramic samples. Optimum RT value of d33 ~24pC/N and kp ~ 0.098 were obtained in the SBexT ceramic samples. Reduced leakage current density ~3.14x10-9A/cm2 was obtained in the SBexT ceramic samples. Bipolar polarization fatigue study confirmed the negligible degradation of all the BLSF materials even after 109 cycles. Though, the MPB compositions of the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN systems exhibit high dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties but they show high leakage current density and large degradation of polarization value after repeated cycles. On the contrary, SBexT ceramic samples showed lower leakage current density and better polarization fatigue resistance after repeated cycles. But, the Pr value of the SBexT samples is lower compared to the MPB compositions of the NBT-xBT and NBT-xKNN systems. Therefore, for retaining comparably higher value of Pr and improving the polarization fatigue resistance, these MPB compositions were further modified by SBexT system.
Selected Perovskite-BLSF Materials
(1-ϕ)(0.93 Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-0.07 BaTiO3/NBT-BT)-ϕSr0.8Bi2.15Ta2O9
(1-ϕ)(0.93 Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-0.07 K0.5Na0.5NbO3/NBT-KNN)-ϕ Sr0.8Bi2.15Ta2O9 (Where ϕ= 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 wt. %) (1-ϕ)(NBT-BT)-ϕSBexT and (1-ϕ)(NBT-KNN)- ϕSBexT (where ϕ= 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 wt. %) ceramic composites were prepared by solid state reaction route. XRD studies showed the co-existence of individual phases in both the ceramic composite series. SEM study showed the development of plate-like grains for higher content of SBexT phase in both the composite systems. RT er and tanδ values decreased and diffuse phase transition nature increased with the increase of SBexT content in both the ceramic composite systems. In both the ceramic composite systems, the leakage current density was found to be ~10-7 to 10-8 A/cm2, which is one to two order less than the NBT-BT and NBT-KNN systems. Maximum induced strain% decreased with the increase of SBexT content in both the ceramic composite systems. P-E hysteresis loops of the SBexT modified NBT-KNN ceramics showed the retention of good Pr values. Polarization fatigue studies showed the improvement of polarization fatigue resistance with the increase of SBexT content in both the ceramic composite systems. Improvement in leakage currents density, fatigue resistance, retention of high er, Pr, d33 and kp for ϕ ≤ 4wt. % of (1-ϕ) (NBT-KNN)-ϕSBexT ceramic composites suggested its usefulness in capacitor, piezoelectric and NVRAM applications.


The CAF1 protein is a component of the CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex. While yeast CAF1 displays deadenylase activity, this activity is not required for its function in vivo, and CCR4 is the primary deadenylase in the complex. In order to identify CAF1-specific functional regions required for deadenylation in vivo, we targeted for mutagenesis six regions of CAF1 that are specifically conserved among CAF1 orthologs. Defects in three regions of the CAF1 protein (residues 173-175, residues 255-257 and residues 340-342, alleles caf1-1, caf1-3 and caf1-6, respectively) were found to dramatically reduce the rate of deadenylation in vivo and to result in typical caf1 deletion phenotypes without critically affecting the ability of CAF1 to bind CCR4. In contrast, defects in residues 213-215, which were defined as the site required for binding CCR4 (caf1-2 allele), reduced the rate of deadenylation to a lesser extent than did caf1-1, -3 or -6 and its in vivo phenotypes were correspondingly less severe than these other alleles. The caf1-1, -3, and -6 alleles or a caf1 deletion, unlike that of ccr4 or caf1-2, were synthetically lethal with defects in DHH1, a decapping regulator that is involved in controlling translation, and with certain defects in poly(A) binding protein (PAB1) that display decreased rates of translation and deadenylation. A caf1 deletion also had a more significant effect on translation than did ccr4. These and other genetic experiments suggest a role for CAF1 in translation separate from that of CCR4. Conversely, a pab1 translation defect that did not affect deadenylation by itself or with ccr4 severely blocked deadenylation when coupled with a caf1 deletion. These results support a role for CAF1 in communications between translation and deadenylation that are required for both processes.


This guide is a selected list of resources that will be useful for locating information for a business plan. These resources include print materials available in the Stewart Library, and electronic resources.


Fresh fruits are considered as a healthy source of water soluble vitamins. Vitamins
 are needed for metabolic reactions, their deficiency or increased intake lead
 to different irregularities in normal metabolism. Our work aimed to determine
 some different types of vitamin B as B1, B6, B2, B9 and B17 and applications of
 different methods of extracting and analyzing them by HPLC then loading them on
 chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) to study its biological applications and cytotoxicity
 on different cell lines. HPLC analysis of acid hydrolysis samples showed that
 thiamine (B1) was found in range of 88.13-96.66 %, riboflavin (B2) was 95 - 96.216
 %, pyridoxine (B6) was 95.22 - 100 %, folate (B9) 95.6-96.94 % while amygdalin
 (B17) was 94.975-96.66 %. After loading vitamins with chitosan, the results
 showed cytotoxic activities of Vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9 and B17 as these extracted
 vitamins were tested against different cancerous and normal cell lines. Vitamin B6
 nanoparticles showed the best cytotoxic effect on different cancerous cell lines
 as Hepatocelluar carcinoma (HePG2), Mammary gland Breast cancer (MCF-7)
 and Epitheliod Carcinoma Cervix cancer (Hela) and it can be considered as a safe
 compound on normal cell as normal human lung fibroblast cell line (WI-38).


Abstract. A research conducted on soil samples using different depths were carried out on the determination of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd and As) in Wuro-Gude vegetable garden soil and waste dumpsite soil, Mubi Metropolis Adamawa State, Nigeria. The soil samples were collected on different depths and were transported to the department of animal production laboratory for digestion. The mixtures were digested with tri-acid mixture (HNO3: HCO4: H2SO4) and determination of the heavy metals was done using a Buck Scientific 200A Model, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). It was found that the heavy metals concentration in both types of soils at the depth of 5, 15 and 25cm was as follows: a) Vegetable garden soil: Ni – 7.33mg/g, 5.06mg/g and 3.04mg/g; Zn – 16.31mg/g, 13.08mg/g and 8.37mg/g; Cu – 6.94mg/g, 4.77mg/g and 3.28mg/g; Pb – 1.07mg/g, 0.57mg/g and 0.42mg/g and Cd – 0.35mg/g, 0.31mg/g and 0.29mg/g, respectively; As was not detected in all the depths; b) Waste dumpsite soil: Ni – 6.75mg/g, 4.33mg/g and 1.95mg/g; Zn – 14.67mg/g, 12.55mg/g and 9.04mg/g; Cu – 8.34mg/g, 5.72mg/g and 3.82mg/g; Pb – 2.15mg/g, 1.06mg/g and 0.67mg/g and Cd – 0.68mg/g, 0.57mg/g and 0.84mg/g, respectively; As was not detected in all the samples. All measured heavy metals concentrations were within the permissible limit set by the World Health Organization, except Cd which was above the permissible limit in waste dumpsite soil. Therefore, waste dumpsite soil should not be used for farming and effort should be made to educate the public on the health effect of these metals when ingested, to avoid bioaccumulation and biomagnification in the food chain.


By combining high-resolution (HST/WFPC2) and wide-field ground-based (2.2 m ESO/WFI) and space (GALEX) observations, we have collected a multiwavelength photometric database (ranging from the far-UV to the near infrared) of the galactic globular cluster NGC 1904 (M79). The sample covers the entire cluster extension, from the very central regions up to the tidal radius. In the present paper, such a data set is used to study the BSS population and its radial distribution. A total number of 39 bright (m218 ≤ 19.5) BSSs have been detected, and they have been found to be highly segregated in the cluster core. No significant upturn in the BSS frequency has been observed in the outskirts of NGC 1904, in contrast to other clusters (M3, 47 Tuc, NGC 6752, M5) studied with the same technique. Such evidence, coupled with the large radius of avoidance estimated for NGC 1904 (ravoid ~ 30 core radii), indicates that the vast majority of the cluster heavy stars (binaries) has already sunk to the core. Accordingly, extensive dynamical simulations suggest that BSSs formed by mass transfer activity in primordial binaries evolving in isolation in the cluster outskirts represent only a negligible (0%-10%) fraction of the overall population.


The classical fourth-order Orr-Sommerfeld problem which arises from the study of the linear stability of channel flow of a viscous fluid is generalized to include the effects of a temperature-dependent fluid viscosity and heating of the channel walls. The resulting sixth-order eigenvalue problem is solved numerically using high-order finite-difference methods for four different viscosity models. It is found that temperature effects can have a significant influence on the stability of the flow. For all the viscosity models considered a non-uniform increase of the viscosity in the channel always stabilizes the flow whereas a non-uniform decrease of the viscosity in the channel may either destabilize or, more unexpectedly, stabilize the flow. In all the cases investigated the stability of the flow is found to be only weakly dependent on the value of the Péclet number. We discuss our results in terms of three physical effects, namely bulk effects, velocity-profile shape effects and thin-layer effects.


Extensive brain pathology attributed to Sarcocystis is described in a heifer and a 2- to 4-month-old calf. These appear to be the first recorded cases of naturally occurring acute sarcocystosis in cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. The heifer became recumbent and had convulsions before dying, while clinical signs in the calf included loss of body mass, diarrhoea, nervousness and opisthotonus. Disseminated haemorrhages were noted in the brains of both animals at necropsy. Microscopically, the grey and white matter contained multiple areas of necrosis associated with haemorrhage, fibrinoid vasculitis, perivascular cuffing and gliosis. A multifocal meningitis was also present. First-generation Sarcocystis schizonts were evident in, or adjacent to endothelial cells of several arterioles and small arteries. The association of first- (as opposed to second-) generation schizogony with overt and fatal bovine sarcocystosis, has not previously been reported.


It is proposed that the electron should be considered classically as a charged conducting surface, with a surface tension to prevent it from flying apart under the repulsive forces of the charge. Such an electron has a state of stable equilibrium with spherical symmetry, and if disturbed its shape and size oscillate. The equations of motion are deduced from an action principle and a Hamiltonian form alism is obtained. The energy of the first excited state with spherical symmetry is worked out according to the Bohr-Sommerfeld method of quantization, and is found to be about 53 times the rest-energy of the electron. It is suggested that this first excited state may be considered as a muon. The present theory has no electron spin, so it cannot agree accurately with experiment.


Laser-induced combustions and explosions generated by high laser irradiances were explored by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in rich, and stoichiometric conditions. The laser used for target ablation is a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with 7 ns pulse duration at wavelength of 1064 nm laser energies from 40 mJ to 2500 mJ (6.88 x 10 6.53 x 10 W/cm). The plasma light source from aluminum detected by the echelle grating spectrometer and coupled to the gated ICCD(a resolution (/Δ) of 5000). This spectroscopic study has been investigated for obtaining both the atomic signals of aluminum (fuel) – oxygen (oxidizer) and the calculated ambient condition (plasma temperature and electron density). The essence of the paper is observing specific electron density ratio which can support the processes of combustion and explosion between ablated aluminum plume and oxygen from air by inducing high power laser.


This study explores the following research questions using OpenStreetMap-based mapping approach and healthcare facility survey from one of seven slums being studied in Africa and Asia. What are the differentials of spatial proximity to health care providers in informal settlements like slum? What are some of the lessons learnt from using OpenStreetMap-based mapping approach for slum health research? Preliminary findings suggest that residents can access four categories of healthcare facilities (Clinics/Maternity Centres; Patent Medicine Stores; Traditional/Faith Healers; Eye Health Centre) within a walking distance (under 1km) where Clinics and Maternity Centres are farthest from most residents.


When Vero or murine cells were stably transfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) long terminal repeat (LTR) that directs the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene (pU3R-III-CAT), expression was suppressed. Treatment with the nucleoside analog 5-azacytidine (5-azaC) restored CAT expression. S1 nuclease analysis and a nuclear run-on assay demonstrated that activation of the latent HIV LTR by 5-azacytidine occurred at the transcriptional level. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that this activation was due to the demethylation of cytosine residues in the LTR enhancer. Thus, the HIV LTR appears to be susceptible to transcriptional inactivation by methylation, a process that is proposed to play a modulatory role in viral latency.


The Rho small GTPases, Cdc42, Rac1 and Rho, are implicated in regulation of integrin-mediated cellsubstratum adhesion and cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion. Identification and characterization of effectors of these GTPases have provided insights into their modes of action. Rho-kinase, an effector of Rho, regulates integrinmediated cell-substratum adhesion (focal adhesion) by regulating the phosphorylation state of myosin light chain (MLC): it directly phosphorylates MLC and also inactivates myosin phosphatase. IQGAP1, an effector of Cdc42 and Rac1, regulates cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion by interacting with β-catenin and dissociating α-catenin from the cadherin-catenins complex. Activated Cdc42 and Rac1 inhibit IQGAP1, thereby stabilizing the cadherin-catenins complex. Cdc42/Rac1 and IQGAP1 thus appear to constitute a switch that regulates cadherinmediated cell-cell adhesion. SUMMARY


Cell transfers to carrier-immunized irradiated mice have permitted an analysis of the in vitro stimulation of clonal precursors of anti-2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP) antibody-producing cells derived from both immune and nonimmune mice. The results indicate that: (a) carrier-specific enhancement is obligatory for stimulation of primary precursor cells and increases both the size and number of detectable foci derived from secondary precursors. (b) This carrier-specific enhancement is most apparent in the stimulation of precursors of high-affinity antibody producer cells. (c) The antibody produced by primary foci, like that of secondary foci, appears homogeneous. (d) The frequency of clonal precursors in normal spleens is 38% that in spleens from mice 4–8 months after immunization, and the number of such precursors in normal spleens can be reduced fivefold by specific suppression of donor mice with soluble antigen. (e) The average of association constants of primary monofocal antibodies, like that of primary serum antibody produced in carrier-primed mice, is less than 10-fold lower than that of secondary clonal or serum antibody. (f) The affinity of primary monofocal antibodies shows a slight dependence on stimulating antigen concentration; however, a minimum threshold affinity consonant with stimulation is apparent. (g) Free hapten inhibits antigenic stimulation of primary precursor cells at a much lower concentration than is required for the inhibition of secondary precursors. These results are interpreted as indicating that (a) primary stimulation, like secondary stimulation, results from the selective stimulation by antigen of a population of cells differing from one another in their potential antibody product but each having only a single such product; (b) the antigen receptors of primary cells interact with antigen as if they are monovalent while receptors of secondary cells evidence multivalence; (c) antigenic stimulation appears to require both a relatively high affinity of receptors for bound antigen and an interlinking of receptors through such antigen; stimulation is thus seen as resulting from a stabilization of receptors within antigen-receptor aggregates to the cell surface; (d) T-cells appear to serve both in cross-linking antigens and in amplifying the size of stimulated clones.


***--------------------------------------------------Abstract: Social Media Platforms involve not millions but billions of users around the globe. Interactions on these easily available social media sites like Twitter have a huge impact on people. Nowadays, there is undesirable negative impact for daily life. These hugely used major platforms of communication have now become a great source of dispersing unwanted data and irrelevant information, Twitter being one of the most extravagant social media platform in our times, the topmost popular microblogging services is now used as a weapon to share unethical, unreasonable amount of opinions, media. In this proposed work the dishonouring comments, tweets towards people are categorized into 9 types. The tweets are further classifies into one of these types or non-shaming tweets towards people. Observation says out of the multitude of taking an interested clients who posts remarks on a specific occasion, lions share are probably going to modify the person in question. Moreover, it is not the non-shaming devotee who checks the increment quicker but of shaming in twitter.


Alkaptonuria (AKU) is a rare disorder of autosomal recessive inheritance. It is caused by a mutation in a gene that results in the accumulation of homogentisic acid (HGA). Characteristically, the excess HGA means sufferers pass dark urine, which upon standing turns black. This is a feature present from birth. Over time patients develop other manifestations of AKU, due to deposition of HGA in collagenous tissues, namely ochronosis and ochronotic osteoarthropathy. Although this condition does not reduce life expectancy, it significantly affects quality of life. The natural history of this condition is becoming better understood, despite gaps in knowledge. Clinical assessment of the condition has also improved along with the development of a potentially disease-modifying therapy. Furthermore, recent developments in AKU research have led to new understanding of the disease, and further study of the AKU arthropathy has the potential to influence therapy in the management of osteoarthritis.


This paper assesses the performance of dual header pulse interval modulation (DH-PIM) over indoor optical wireless systems. DH-PIM being anisochronous scheme offers a built-in symbol synchronization capability. Theoretical and simulation results demonstrate that DH-PIM offers shorter symbol length, improved transmission rate and bandwidth requirement and a comparable power spectral density profile compared with digital pulse interval modulation (DPIM) and pulse position modulation (PPM) schemes.It is shown that DH-PIM2, with wider pulse duration is the preferred option when the available channel bandwidth is limited and higher optical power is tolerable. Whereas DH-PIM1, with narrower pulse width, exhibits comparable power requirements but a marginally higher bandwidth compared with DPIM, and is also more bandwidth efficient than PPM at the cost of increased power requirement. However, at higher bit resolutions, i.e. Mg7, DH-PIM1 is both bandwidth and power efficient compared with PPM. Error rate analysis show that DH-PIM offers improved packet error rate compared with on-off-keying (OOK) and DPIM, but marginally inferior as compared with PPM. The power requirement and penalty due to intersymbol interference for non-dispersive and dispersive channels is analysed and the results show that for given parameters, DH-PIM requires marginally higher optical power compared with PPM and DPIM, but it supports the same bit rate at much less bandwidth requirement. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


For individual countries, variable trade barriers can be used to reduce the volatility of domestic relative to world prices. If this is done by countries accounting for a large share of the market, its effect is offset by increases in world price volatility. This study shows the nature of the resulting collective action problem, with the policy being ineffective on average in stabilizing domestic prices while increasing the volatility of the income transfers from terms-of-trade changes. A simple approach to assessing the contribution of insulation to the price increases is developed and used with new estimates of agricultural distortions to assess its contribution to the price spikes in 1972-74 and 2006-08 for rice and wheat. The analysis suggests that 45 percent of the increase in rice prices in 2006-08, and 30 percent of the increase in wheat prices, was due to insulating behavior. One sign of progress since 1972-74 was a substantial reduction in the extent of price-insulating behavior by the industrial countries. This provides little stabilizing benefit in the rice market because countries not classifying themselves at the World Trade Organization as developing account for only 3 percent of world rice consumption. But it does offer some benefit for the wheat market where non-developing countries account for 27 percent of consumption.


Abstract
In a previous study we demonstrated that Plasmodium knowlesi-infected red cells have decreased deformability and suggested that this abnormality may be important in the pathophysiology of malaria. The present rheologic study was performed in monkeys infected by Plasmodium coatneyi in order to assess further the role of abnormal red cell deformability in the pathogenesis of disease. P. coatneyi is much more similar to P. falciparum than is P. knowlesi. Red cells infected by trophozoites and schizonts showed an increase of viscosity when suspended in Ringer's solution, caused increased resistance to flow through pores, 5 µ in diameter, in the polycarbonate sieve and were excluded from rouleaux formed in plasma. Ring forms produced less rheologic abnormality in the red cell than the more mature stages. These studies indicate that red cells infected by mature parasites of P. coatneyi have decreased deformability to the same extent as we observed in P. knowlesi. The possible relationship between the decreased deformability of infected red cells and cerebral malaria is discussed.


ABSTRACT This study explored whether personal attitudes toward drug users are associated with professional approaches and whether the association between personal and professional attitudes varies across different mental health professions. Participants (N = 347) included medical (psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses) and other (clinical psychologists and social workers) mental health professions from all 13 mental health centers in Israel. They completed questionnaires aimed to assess familiarity with medical usage of hallucinogenic drugs, personal attitudes toward recreational drug users and willingness to use five hallucinogens in research of clinical practice. Hypotheses were tested using multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM). Psychiatrists reported the highest levels of familiarity with and willingness to use all types of hallucinogenic drugs, as compared to other mental health professionals. Psychiatrists held the strongest belief in the potential utility of hallucinogenic drugs; yet, their personal attitudes toward drug users affected negatively their willingness to try hallucinogenic drugs in clinical practice. This was the only significant association that was found. Future research and treatment programs should address the topic of hallucinogenic drug therapy, and specifically the need to separate between individual beliefs and professional clinical decision-making.


Although much attention has been paid to describing the distribution of oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) concentrations, establishing robust relationships between DMS concentrations and biological, physical, and chemical variables is still challenging. Previous studies have proposed semiempirical parameterizations by combining multiple physical and biogeochemical parameters to better understand and reproduce the global distribution of sea surface DMS. However, none of these parameterization schemes could reconcile regionally elevated DMS peaks found in high‐resolution DMS measurements made in the western subarctic Pacific. Here we found that DMS concentrations are highly correlated with the net community production, a parameter that integrates biological activity over time. We anticipate that this relationship may be exportable to other regions with high primary productivity, such as the Southern Ocean or upwelling regions, and can be used as an important parameterization scheme, combined with solar radiation dose relationship.


Text of the banquet address by Mr. Sauer that highlighted the annual meeting of the
California Council of Geography Teachers held on May 4, 1968, at California State College,
Hayward. At this annual meeting, formal action was taken that led to the organization's change of
name to the California Council of Geographic Education. Mr. Sauer, Emeritus Professor of
Geography, University of California, Berkeley, was introduced by the C.C.G.T. President for
1967-68, Dr. William L. Thomas, Jr., who subsequently edited the text for publication.


Hypoglycemic and other effects of tolbutamide, chlorpropamide and placebo administration have been studied in 121 ketoacidosis-resistant diabetic males selected from an initial group of 3,493 patients in eleven Veterans Administration hospitals. A randomized double-blind technic of drug administration was employed. The effects of the drugs on fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels were determined and analyzed statistically. The administration of placebo produced a satisfactory fall in FBS levels in 26 per cent of the patients when used as the initial medication. Tolbutamide was successful in 60 per cent of the trials and chlorpropamide in 83 per cent. When a patient failed to respond to one sulfonylurea drug, he was tried on the other. Under these circumstances, chlorpropamide was more often effective than tolbutamide. Its greater effectiveness was further confirmed by the fact that, compared to tolbutamide, fewer patients required the maximal dosage of chlorpropamide. Primary drug failure with each of these sulfonylurea drugs was 16 per cent. There was no correlation between response and either pretreatment FBS levels or blood drug levels. Blood drug levels were higher for chlorpropamide than for tolbutamide at all levels of dosage. Toxic reactions occurred in less than 3 per cent of the patients, all on chlorpropamide. Secondary failures occurred in less than 10 per cent of the patients. Both of the sulfonylurea drugs studied are effective hypoglycemic agents. The hypoglycemic effect of placebo in one-fourth of the trials necessitates its inclusion in any study of the effectiveness of a therapeutic agent.


Objectives: The objectives of this study were active case detection, provision of multidrug treatment in primary health care settings and evaluation of the accuracy of the clinical system of classification that was adopted by the Leprosy Control Program of Sudan.
Design: The whole population of two villages in a remote area in eastern Sudan were examined initially and then followed up for three years in this prospective study. Patients from the surrounding villages, who were self reporting were also included in the study.
Setting: The study was conducted in a primary health care setting, which was the only available form of health care facility in the study area.
Subjects: Communal consent was obtained following explanation and discussion with the Sheikhs. The population of the two villages were interviewed and examined clinically with particular reference to skin lesions. Informed consents to participate in the study were obtained from individuals with skin lesions.
Interventions: Skin biopsies were taken under local anaesthesia and aseptic conditions from suspicious lesions. Multi-drug therapy regimen (MDT) was given to those with proven disease.
Out come measures: Response was measured by improvement in skin lesions and sensations every six months.
Results: Compliance was around 90 %. According to the clinical classification 68.4% and 31.6% of the patients were multi-bacillary and pauci-bacillary respectively. There was 100 % agreement between the clinical classification and Ridley & Jopling classification where all Tuberculoid (TT) patients were correctly diagnosed as pauci-bacillary and borderline Lepromatous (BL) and Lepromatous (LL) patients were correctly diagnosed as multibacillary. Seventy BT patients were misclassified as multi-bacillary disease.
Conclusions: The clinical classification is adequate for the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy patients in remote areas of eastern Sudan.
Sudanese Journal of Dermatology Vol. 3(2) 2005: 73-79


Visualisation plays a critical role in the teaching and learning of mathematics word problems. It is an essential tool for enabling learners to create meaningful mental pictures necessary for solving mathematical problems. Appropriate visualisation requires good reading skills, English proficiency and an understanding of mathematical vocabulary, language and structure. Although visualisation plays such a critical role, teachers often do not pay attention to linguistic factors when teaching mathematics word problems, thus making it difficult for learners to visualise and solve mathematics word problems. This background positions the study to explore teachers' perspectives on the linguistic factors that affect the visualisation of mathematics word problems and to identify appropriate solutions to these. Using a single-case exploratory study, the perspectives of six mathematics teachers were elicited through focus group discussions and reflection sessions. The data collected were analysed through thematic analysis techniques. The findings indicate strategies to address the lack of reading skills, including understanding mathematical language and the structure and ambiguities of mathematics word problems.


Stars rarely form in isolation. Nearly half of the stars in the Milky Way have a companion, and this fraction increases in star-forming regions. However, why some dense cores and filaments form bound pairs while others form single stars remains unclear. We present a set of three-dimensional, gravo-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of turbulent star-forming clouds, aimed at understanding the formation and evolution of multiple-star systems formed through large-scale (≳103 au) turbulent fragmentation. We investigate three global magnetic field strengths, with global mass-to-flux ratios of μϕ = 2, 8, and 32. The initial separations of protostars in multiples depend on the global magnetic field strength, with stronger magnetic fields (e.g., μϕ = 2) suppressing fragmentation on smaller scales. The overall multiplicity fraction (MF) is between 0.4 and 0.6 for our strong and intermediate magnetic field strengths, which is in agreement with observations. The weak field case has a lower fraction. The MF is relatively constant throughout the simulations, even though stellar densities increase as collapse continues. While the MF rarely exceeds 60% in all three simulations, over 80% of all protostars are part of a binary system at some point. We additionally find that the distribution of binary spin misalignment angles is consistent with a randomized distribution. In all three simulations, several binaries originate with wide separations and dynamically evolve to ≲102 au separations. We show that a simple model of mass accretion and dynamical friction with the gas can explain this orbital evolution.


Cancer Biology
Cancer cell metastasis is not random. Breast cancer, for example, tends to metastasize to bone. To explore what underlies this selectivity, Jeon et al. took an engineering approach: They built in vitro microfluidic models that allowed them to compare how different tissue microenvironments affect the ability of breast cancer cells to exit blood vessels (extravasate) and enter surrounding tissue. They found that a bone-mimicking microenvironment was particularly potent in inducing extravasation. Adding the nucleoside adenosine to the system, which binds to breast cancer cells, reduced their extravasation, suggesting that this model might be a valuable way to screen for drugs that block metastasis.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 , 214 (2015).


Preservation of samples requiring cold-chain storage is an often unavoidable challenge especially when doing laboratory work outside the western world. Samples are a precious commodity and it is imperative to maintain their viability. One method for collection and storage of samples in a liquid form (blood, saliva, serum) at room temperature is on filter paper cards like the Cellabs Tropbio Filter Paper Blood Collection Disks™. Methods and protocols exist for the use and recovery of whole blood from filter paper discs. This protocol describes the wash and recovery of DNA extracted from whole blood using the Qiagen DNeasy Extraction kit and dried on filter paper, re-suspended after several months of room temperature storage and use in conventional PCR. This protocol was used to suspend DNA extracted from the wholeblood of Dogs in Cairo, Egypt. The DNA was extracted using the Qiagen DNEasy Extraction Kit and placed on Cellabs Tropbio Filter Paper Blood Collection Disks™ (filter paper). The DNA dried on the filter paper overnight and was stored in plastic self-closure baggies for several months before being washed off and used in Conventional PCR. The use case described here is of a dog who was PCR positive for Babesia spp. using a sample of whole blood washed from the filter paper as well as dried DNA from filter paper.


In 1988, Myanmar started pursuing an open door policy and released its economy from closed-door policy to market-orientation. The foreign direct investment started flowing into the country, and the foreign trade rapidly increased. Unfortunately, market liberalisation was short-lived because Myanmar being imposed an economic sanction by Western countries in the late 1990s. In subsequent years, multinational firms substantially pulled out their investments from Myanmar market.

This study seeks to investigate the patterns of foreign divestment and its impact on Myanmar economy. The primary objective of this research is to formulate the systematic analysis of the impact of foreign divestment on economic growth of Myanmar. Firstly, this study reviews the determinants that influence divestment in Myanmar. Secondly, patterns of divestment are analysed based on the firm-level characteristics. Finally, an empirical model is estimated to analyse the impact of divestment on economic growth by employing Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach (ARDL) by covering the annual data from 1990-2013. The test confirms that there is a cointegration between foreign divestment and real GDP. The results shows foreign divestment has a negative impact in economic growth of Myanmar in both short and long run. This study also finds that the human capital was negatively significant in the context of Myanmar while explaining its relationship with economic growth. These findings embrace practical implications for policy makers, investors and government.


The Sixth Joint Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and Other Societies on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice Guidelines have been published in 2016: greater emphasis has been placed on a population-based approach, on disease-specific interventions and on female-specific conditions, younger individuals and ethnic minorities. The ESC guidelines underscore that a lifetime approach to cardiovascular risk is important as both risk and prevention are dynamic and continuous. The guidelines can assist healthcare professionals, patients, and are valuable for the healthcare system but implementation of secondary cardiovascular disease prevention is far from optimal. Although there is no single way to ensure the use of guidelines in practice, multifaceted interventions based on known barriers are most appropriate. Essential components for implementation are: (a) taking action; (b) strengthening capacity; (c) evaluating impact; (d) advancing policy; and (e) engaging in regional and global partnerships. The strategy depends on a balanced investment in all available intervention approaches, from policy and environmental changes designed to prevent risk factors to assurance of quality care for individuals with cardiovascular disease. Our greatest challenges represent our greatest opportunities.


Invasive perennial species are frequently a barrier to native plant establishment in fertile sedge meadow wetland restorations. Amending soils with high carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) materials may deplete nitrogen (N) and limit the establishment of invasive species, although the effectiveness of such amendments at depleting soil N in restored wetlands is largely unknown. Therefore we incorporated four high C:N materials (cedar, white pine, and red oak sawdust, as well as sucrose) into the soils of nonvegetated plots in a restored sedge meadow wetland and measured soil ammonium-N and nitrate- N in relation to nonamended control plots over a 25-week period. All amendments depleted nitrate-N concentrations equivalently (67%–100%), although both the timing and the duration of this depletion varied among amendments. White pine sawdust was most effective, depleting nitrate-N for the entire 25 weeks. Sawdust from red oak and cedar depleted nitrate-N after 5 and 13 weeks, respectively. Lowered nitrate-N concentrations then persisted for the remaining 20 weeks in the red oak treatments, while the effects of cedar were short-lived (8 weeks). Sucrose depleted nitrate-N for 13 weeks. No amendment depleted ammonium-N concentrations, although cedar sawdust caused initial ammonium-N concentrations to increase by 300%–700%. Based on our findings, white pine sawdust will be more likely to deplete N effectively during the establishment of sedge meadow wetlands. It is unknown, however, if this depletion will suppress invasive perennials long enough to allow desired native species to establish a closed canopy and take up nitrogen, thereby limiting the chances of future invasions.


Learning by designing is generally considered as the most effective way to learn among engineers. Engineering learners may not be able to fully understand without additional explanations accompanied with some visualization. On the subject of construction technology, learners need to visualize materials and assembling of all components for a structural element. This paper presents the development and designing of an innovative timber-glass composite material. Structural elements such as beams, columns or shear walls made of timber-glass composite material can be included in the load-bearing system of the buildings. The main aim of this paper is to present conceptual examples of using load bearing timber-glass composite structural elements for practical application in buildings intended to enhance creative and innovative capabilities of engineering learners. Potential architectural design applications called "pilot projects" throughout will provide insights into the practicality and applicability of the developed composite systems in creating different design and application solutions. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the projects is also discussed.


In the present paper, a kind of Mo-Ti system functionally graded material with a continuous change of composition was formed via particle settling method at first, and then it was desified by hot-press under 1473K-30MPa-1h. Finally, by using an axisymmetric finite element method, the fabricated thermal stresses in a disk-shaped Mo-Ti FGM were calculated. The results showed that the thermal stresses changed continuously with the smooth variation of graded composition. The residual tensile stresses in the Mo-Ti FGM with a continuously changed composition were located in the medial region of graded layer and the radial compressive stresses distributed in the Mo- and Ti-rich sides. The calculated maximum residual tensile stresses in the Mo-Ti FGM were much lower than the bending strength of Mo-Ti alloys, which demonstrated that during fabrication no damages occurred in the Mo-Ti FGM with continuously graded composition.


Over the past few years, technological procedures have been developed for utilizing stem cells in transplantation medicine. Human embryonic stem (ES) cells can produce an unlimited number of differentiated cells and are, therefore, considered a potential source of cellular material for use in transplantation medicine. However, serious clinical problems can arise when uncontrolled cell proliferation occurs following transplantation. To avoid these potential problems, we genetically engineered human ES cell lines to express the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV‐tk) gene. Expression of the HSV‐tk protein renders the ES cells sensitive to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‐approved drug ganciclovir, inducing destruction of HSV‐tk+ cells at ganciclovir concentrations that are nonlethal to other cell types. The reversion rate of engineered cells was low even under prolonged selection with ganciclovir. The HSV‐tk+ clones retained a normal karyotype and the ability to differentiate to cells from all three germ layers. Most importantly, tumors that arose in mice following subcutaneous injection of HSV‐tk+ human ES cells could be ablated in vivo by administration of ganciclovir. By utilizing these cell lines, safety levels can be improved in transplantations involving tissues derived from human ES cells.


ABSTRACT Background: Sleep problems are common amongst people who use alcohol and other drugs, but treatment options are limited. This paper explores how people in residential treatment for alcohol and other drug problems perceived and described 'non-problematic' sleep to provide insights that might inform sleep interventions for this population. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 28 residents (19 women, 9 men; ages 24–83 years) in two residential drug and alcohol treatment centres in England during 2014/15. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Accounts of non-problematic sleep were then analysed inductively. Results: Non-problematic sleep comprised three linked components: i. personal sleep patterns and routines; ii. sleep perceptions; and iii. sleep metacognitions. Some participants reported they slept well; others described their sleep as problematic but improving. Participants believed that sleep improved naturally with residential treatment and abstinence, but perceptions of 'good' sleep varied greatly. Participants used a range of metacognitive strategies (e.g. downgrading the importance of sleep; adapting their sleeping patterns; and focusing on sleep quality alongside sleep quantity) to manage sleep problems and render them non-problematic. Conclusions: Metacognitive strategies that focus on changing perceptions of sleep can potentially inform sleep interventions for people with a history of alcohol and other drug use.


Pleuroparenchymal fibro-elastosis (PPFE) is a rare idiopathic interstitial pneumonia. Secondary forms of PPFE may occur in patients following lung- or bone marrow transplantation. Here we report a middle-aged woman who presented with dyspnea and cough. She had been working as a cleaning woman in an agriculture company and logistic firm. Chest HRCT was highly suggestive for PPFE. Histopathological examination of a surgical biopsy showed a pattern of PPFE with airway-centered fibro-elastosis, constrictive bronchiolitis and birefringent particles in the pathological areas only. Using transmission electron microscopy with X-ray diffraction (TEM/EDX) these particles were identified as quartz and silicates, both components generally found in soil. The present case illustrates that secondary PPFE may result from agricultural dust exposure and stresses the need for a careful workup of the occupational history.


Although cloud seeding is a commonly used and plausible method for rainfall enhancement, its practical efficacy has not been established for seeding of convective clouds with hygroscopic materials. Other methods of rainfall enhancement are viewed as much less plausible. Thus, although increased electrical charge has been shown to enhance precipitation in cloud chamber experiments, exactly how ionisation of clouds can increase rainfall in the open atmosphere remains conjectural. A trial of the efficacy of ionisation for rainfall enhancement in the Hajar Mountains of Oman was carried out over 2013–2018. This paper provides some background to this non‐mainstream approach to increasing rainfall, showing how statistical modelling of rainfall data might be used to nudge rainfall enhancement via ionisation towards a more scientifically acceptable status. Analysis of the data collected in the trial shows that ionisation led to a statistically significant enhancement in positive rainfall in gauges located up to 70 km downwind of the ionisers. A headline analysis specified prior to commencement of the trial resulted in an estimate of 16.23% enhancement relative to rainfall that would have fallen without any ionisation, while a more sophisticated after the event analysis increased this estimate to 17.64%.


The objective of this paper is to present the study and analysis of the energy saving improvement for the natural gas liquids (NGLs) indirect fractionation plant sequence by using driving force method. To perform the study and analysis, the energy efficient distillation columns (EEDCs) sequence methodology is developed. Basically, the methodology consists of four hierarchical steps; Step 1: Existing Sequence Energy Analysis, Step 2: Optimal Sequence Determination, Step 3: Optimal Sequence Energy Analysis, and Step 4: Energy Comparison. The capability of this methodology is tested in designing an optimal energy efficient indirect sequence of NGLs fractionation unit. The results show that the maximum of 46 % energy reduction was able to achieve by changing the sequence suggested by the driving force method. It can be concluded that, the sequence determined by the driving force method is able to reduce energy used for a NGLs fractionation. All of this findings show that the methodology is able to design energy efficient for NGLs fractionation sequence in an easy, practical and systematic manner.


The familiar cascade measures are sequences of random positive measures obtained on [0, 1] via b-adic independent cascades. To generalize them, this paper allows the random weights invoked in the cascades to take real or complex values. This yields sequences of random functions whose possible strong or weak limits are natural candidates for modeling multifractal phenomena. Their asymptotic behavior is investigated, yielding a sufficient condition for almost sure uniform convergence to nontrivial statistically self-similar limits. Is the limit function a monofractal function in multifractal time? General sufficient conditions are given under which such is the case, as well as examples for which no natural time change can be used. In most cases when the sufficient condition for convergence does not hold, we show that either the limit is 0 or the sequence diverges almost surely. In the later case, a functional central limit theorem holds, under some conditions. It provides a natural normalization making the sequence converge in law to a standard Brownian motion in multifractal time.


Compounds made of transition metal ions on a triangular lattice may have orbitally degenerate eg states. This is the case for LiNiO2 and NaNiO2 : the Ni3+ ions are in a low-spin state, leaving the last electron of the d-shell in the eg orbitals. In order to understand the magnetic behavior of such systems, we investigate a spin-orbital effective hamiltonian. Using exact diagonalization algorithms of finite clusters and variational approaches we have investigated the phase diagram as a function of the hopping integrals between eg orbitals and of the magnitude of the Hund's rule coupling. We show the existence of intermediate phases lying between a ferromagnetic state and the SU(4)-symmetric point. In particular we show that different types of spin arrangements can be realized ranging from dimer coverings to antiferromagnetic chains or 2D structures. In order to have a better characterization of the dimer-covering phase corresponding to LiNiO2, we derived an effective quantum dimer model adapted to the Kugel-Khomskii model we started with. The relevant terms for this quantum dimer hamiltonian are kinetic ones. A systematic investigation of this model has been carried out with exact diagonalizations and quantum Monte-Carlo. We show that a competition between two kinetic terms can lead to a resonating valence bond (RVB) state for a finite range of parameters. On the basis of the available experiments we argue that this RVB phase gives a correct description of LiNiO2. Another phase that lies nearby in parameter space, ferro-orbitally ordered, has been investigated by spin-wave calculations. The magnetization curves of NaNi02 showed the caracteristic feature of a spin-flop transition. We show that we can reproduce such a behavior in the frame of a spin-orbital model.


Complaints against medical practitioners are of interest to all the stakeholders in health care who are concerned with quality assurance and its definition, implementation and monitoring. New South Wales,Australia, has recently made statutory provision for independent structures of complaint investigation and resolution, including revised disciplinary proceedings to protect the public interest and regulate the conduct of the state's medical profession. This article discusses the new mechanisms and recent experience of them. They are intended to offer independence and an integrated and comprehensive system of grievance procedures but there remains a need for disciplinary procedures that afford lay control over the regulation of medical conduct.


In the online Steiner tree problem, the input is a set of vertices that appear one-by-one, and we have to maintain a Steiner tree on the current set of vertices. The cost of the tree is the total length of edges in the tree, and we want this cost to be close to the cost of the optimal Steiner tree at all points in time. If we are allowed to only add edges, a tight bound of Θ(logn) on the competitiveness has been known for two decades. Recently it was shown that if we can add one new edge and make one edge swap upon every vertex arrival, we can still maintain a constant-competitive tree online. But what if the set of vertices sees both additions and deletions? Again, we would like to obtain a low-cost Steiner tree with as few edge changes as possible. The original paper of Imase and Waxman (SIAM J. Disc. Math, 4(3):369–384, 1991 ) had also considered this model, and it gave an algorithm that made at most O(n) edge changes for the first n requests, and maintained a constant-competitive tree online. In this paper we improve on these results: • We give an online algorithm that maintains a Steiner tree under only deletions: we start off with a set of vertices, and at each time one of the vertices is removed from this set—our Steiner tree no longer has to span this vertex. We give an algorithm that changes only a constant number of edges upon each request, and maintains a constant-competitive tree at all times. Our algorithm uses the primal-dual framework and a global charging argument to carefully make these constant number of changes. • We also give an algorithm that maintains a Steiner tree in the fully-dynamic model (where each request either adds or deletes a vertex). Our algorithm for this setting makes a constant number of changes per request in an amortized sense.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Aneurysm growth has been related to higher rupture risk. A better understanding of the characteristics related to growth may assist in the treatment decisions of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. This study aimed to identify morphologic and hemodynamic characteristics associated with aneurysm growth and to determine whether these characteristics deviate further from those of stable aneurysms after growth. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 81 stable and 56 growing aneurysms. 3D vascular models were segmented on CTA, MRA, or 3D rotational angiographic images. With these models, we performed computational fluid dynamics simulations. Morphologic (size, size ratios, and shape) and hemodynamic (inflow, vorticity, shear stress, oscillatory shear index, flow instability) characteristics were automatically calculated. We compared the characteristics between aneurysms that were stable and those that had grown at baseline and final imaging. The significance level after Bonferroni correction was P < .002. RESULTS: At baseline, no significant differences between aneurysms that were stable and those that had grown were detected (P > .002). Significant differences between aneurysms that were stable and those that had grown were seen at the final imaging for shear rate, aneurysm velocity, vorticity, and mean wall shear stress (P < .002). The latter was 11.5 (interquartile range, 5.4–18.8 dyne/cm2) compared with 17.5 (interquartile range, 11.2–29.9 dyne/cm2) in stable aneurysms (P = .001). Additionally, a trend toward lower area weighted average Gaussian curvature in aneurysms that had grown was observed with a median of 6.0 (interquartile range, 3.2–10.7 cm−2) compared with 10.4 (interquartile range, 5.0–21.2 cm−2) in stable aneurysms (P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: Morphologic and hemodynamic characteristics at baseline were not associated with aneurysm growth in our population. After growth, almost all indices increase toward values associated with higher rupture risks. Therefore, we stress the importance of longitudinal imaging and repeat risk assessment in unruptured aneurysms.


The settlement and housing of refugees is high on the agenda in most European countries. This article develops a theoretical perspective on the housing provision of newly arrived migrants and applies it on the national discourses on settlement policies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The theoretical discussion focuses on the ambivalence between choice and need in housing policy, and between promoting demos and ethnos in integration policy. The empirical analysis takes its departure in these tensions and investigates the national discourses in terms of three potential arguments for restricting autonomy in the housing market precisely for newly arrived migrants: the legal status, resource and neighbourhood arguments. This frame of analysis makes it possible to interpret and understand the surprisingly strong differences in settlement policies between the three countries. We argue that our theoretical approach and analytical framework should be relevant for understanding national political discourses on settlement policy more generally.


This overview highlights some of the key issues involved in performing and interpreting hypothesis tests. We describe the general approach taken in performing a hypothesis test with a focus on how to state the null and alternative hypothesis, and why two-sided tests are usually more appropriate than one-sided tests. We describe best practice techniques in performing and presenting the results of hypothesis tests. We recommend that, alongside any p-values, authors should also present estimates of the size of any treatment effects and their confidence intervals. Furthermore, they should specify the exact p-value rather than using terms such as 'NS' or the commonly used asterix notation. We discuss other pitfalls that are encountered at the analysis stage such as the use of repeated observations on individuals, the use of multiple tests on the data and the erroneous use of parametric tests when data are not normally distributed and vice versa. We highlight these points using two different examples: one looking at the use of compression stockings for preventing the occurrence of DVT on long-haul flights and a second hypothetical study comparing laser versus surgery techniques for the removal of varicose veins.


Most strawberry plants have white flowers and red fruit. We developed a new strawberry selection with pink flowers and white fruit, and named it G23. Basic phenotypic data were recorded over years of observation and experimentation with the flower crown diameter, petal color, and rate of fruit set, as well as fruit skin color, flesh color, seed color and attachment status, fruit weight and shape, soluble solids contents, and firmness. We found that G23 bloomed with a stable pink flower and produced white fruit consistently with a relatively high fruit-set rate compared with its female parent, 'Pink Panda'. G23 displayed high resistance to Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) and anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.). It is also tolerant of high temperatures (up to 40 °C) and long-term drought. The asexual propagation ability of G23 is high, with ∼60 to 100 stolon ramets formed during the summer. In summary, this new pink-flowered and white-fruited strawberry germplasm is suitable for ornamental use, as a result of its remarkable flowering and fruiting characteristics. In addition, it provides opportunities for innovative strawberry germplasm for future breeding.


1. The effect of intrathecal injection of the selective serotonin (5-HT)1B/1D receptor agonist CGS-12066B maleate (825 nmol) was assessed on stretch-evoked clasp knife inhibition of hindlimb ankle extensor muscle reflex force in precollicular decerebrate cats in which neural transmission in dorsolateral spinal pathways was blocked bilaterally by focal cooling. 2. During cold block, ramp and hold stretches of the medial gastrocnemius muscle (MG) evoked only a brief reflex excitation that was followed by powerful, long-lasting inhibition (the clasp knife reflex). Both the amplitudes of peak force evoked by the ramp and sustained force output during the last 500 ms of the hold phase of the stretch were depressed by > 50%. 3. Reflex force output during the hold portion of stretch was significantly improved on postdrug cold block trials, although peak force remained depressed. CGS-12066B did not significantly alter stretch-evoked force output in decerebrate cats when spinal cord neural transmission was unimpaired. 4. These data suggest that selective 5-HT1B/1D agonists may be of therapeutic usefulness in the treatment of reflex disorders arising from partial spinal cord injury.


AIMS
Statin treatment did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in haemodialysis patients in the 4D and AURORA trials. Post hoc analyses in the 4D study suggested that high cholesterol absorption was associated with increased cardiovascular risk and that atorvastatin would reduce cardiovascular risk in haemodialysis patients with low cholesterol absorption but not in those with high cholesterol absorption.

METHODS AND RESULTS
AURORA is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-centre trial in haemodialysis patients. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either rosuvastatin, 10 mg daily, or a matching placebo. There was a follow-up for cardiovascular death with a median duration of 3.9 years. The cholestanol and lathosterol to cholesterol ratios were used to estimate cholesterol absorption and synthesis, respectively. Measurement of non-cholesterol sterols was available in 2332 participants of the 2733 patients included in the primary analysis of the AURORA study. A total of 598 participants died from cardiovascular diseases. The 3rd vs. the 1st tertile of the cholestanol-to-cholesterol ratio was significantly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death [hazard ratio, HR (95% confidence interval, CI) = 1.36 (1.11-1.65)] in univariate (P = 0.002) and multivariate models (P = 0.034). In contrast, the 3rd vs. the 1st tertile of the lathosterol-to-cholesterol ratio was significantly associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular death [HR (95% CI) = 0.81 (0.67-0.99)] in univariate (P = 0.041) and multivariate (P = 0.019) models. There was no significant interaction between the cholestanol and lathosterol to cholesterol tertiles and treatment group in predicting cardiovascular death.

CONCLUSION
The present data from the AURORA study confirm that high cholesterol absorption is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in haemodialysis patients. Assessment of the individual cholesterol absorption rate to guide initiation of statin treatment is not supported by the findings in the AURORA study.


Over the course of the past decade, a variety of randomized algorithms have been proposed for computing approximate least-squares (LS) solutions in large-scale settings. A longstanding practical issue is that, for any given input, the user rarely knows the actual error of an approximate solution (relative to the exact solution). Likewise, it is difficult for the user to know precisely how much computation is needed to achieve the desired error tolerance. Consequently, the user often appeals to worst-case error bounds that tend to offer only qualitative guidance. As a more practical alternative, we propose a bootstrap method to compute a posteriori error estimates for randomized LS algorithms. These estimates permit the user to numerically assess the error of a given solution, and to predict how much work is needed to improve a "preliminary" solution. In addition, we provide theoretical consistency results for the method, which are the first such results in this context (to the best of our knowledge). From a practical standpoint, the method also has considerable flexibility, insofar as it can be applied to several popular sketching algorithms, as well as a variety of error metrics. Moreover, the extra step of error estimation does not add much cost to an underlying sketching algorithm. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the method with empirical results.


A patch clamp study was performed to determine the ionic mechanisms underlying the muscarinic excitation of rat adrenal chromaffin cells. Burst-like, single-channel currents with brief openings were recorded during cell-attached or cell-free patch recording when the pipette solution contained high K+ media (70-140 mM), and the currents were recorded at potentials near the resting membrane potential. The amplitude and frequency of channel openings were dependent on the membrane potential and the K+ concentration of the external medium. Moreover, the single-channel currents observed with high K+ outside the membrane during inside-out recording were suppressed by the addition of a K+ channel blocker, tetraethylammonium, inside the membrane. These results suggest that the single K+ currents recorded in the present study had properties similar to those of the resting or muscarine-activated K+ currents in atrioventricular cells of the rabbit heart. During cell-attached patch recording with the high K+ medium in the recording pipette, muscarine at concentrations of 10(-5) to 10(-4) M dose dependently decreased the frequency of the channel openings but did not affect the current-voltage relationship or the time constants of open and close time histograms. These results indicate that muscarinic-induced suppression of K+ currents is caused by a decrease in the number of active K+ channels at the resting membrane potential.


5G networks are expected to support various applications with diverse requirements in terms of latency, data rates and traffic volume. Cloud–RAN and densely deployed small cells are two of the tools at disposal of Mobile Network Operators to cope with such challenges. In order to mitigate the fronthaul requirements imposed by the Cloud–RAN architecture, several functional splits, each characterized by a different demarcation point between the centralized and the distributed units, have emerged. However, the selection of the appropriate centralization level (i.e., the functional split) still remains a challenging task, since a number of parameters have to be considered in order to make such a decision. In this paper, a virtual network embedding (VNE) algorithm is proposed to flexibly select the appropriate functional split for each small cell. The VNE is formulated as an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem whose objective is to jointly minimize the inter–cell interference and the fronthaul bandwidth utilization by dynamically selecting the appropriate functional split. Specifically, dynamic and static ILP–based algorithms are proposed. Finally, dynamic and static VNE heuristics are proposed to address the scalability problem of the ILP–based algorithms in case of dense and ultra–dense mobile networks.


Signs and symptoms of malabsorption after surgical procedures can be subtle and recognized late. This article reviews some of the more common surgical procedures potentially associated with malabsorption and suggests techniques of nutrition intervention. Early recognition, and preferably preventative care, should result in improved patient outcome.


Abstract Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for movement disorders such as in Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET). Adjusting the stimulation parameters, however, is a labour-intensive process and often requires several patient visits. Physicians prefer objective tools to improve (or maintain) the performance in DBS. Wearable motion sensors (WMS) are able to detect some manifestations of pathological signs, such as tremor in PD. However, the interpretation of sensor data is often highly technical and methods to visualise tremor data of patients undergoing DBS in a clinical setting are lacking. This work aims to visualise the dynamics of tremor responses to DBS parameter changes with WMS while patients performing clinical hand movements. To this end, we attended DBS programming sessions of two patients with the aim to visualise certain aspects of the clinical examination. PD tremor and ET were effectively quantified by acceleration amplitude and frequency. Tremor dynamics were analysed and visualised based on setpoints, movement transitions and stability aspects. These methods have not yet been employed and examples demonstrate how tremor dynamics can be visualised with simple analysis techniques. We therefore provide a base for future research work on visualisation tools in order to assist clinicians who frequently encounter patients for DBS therapy. This could lead to benefits in terms of enhanced evaluation of treatment efficacy in the future.


In this thesis, it has been designed, constructed and tested an integrated measurement system for performing electric field strength measurements in the far-field, mounted on a drone, known as multicopters. The system uses a small portable spectrum analyzer with a single board computer (SBC) that handles data from the flight controller on the drone and controls the measurements. The method used to solve the project is an experimental approach, a prototype was created to solve the problem. The system is tested and constructed for the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) frequency band at 174-240 MHz, using a target frequency of 221.208 MHz. The antennas selected for the measurements were two common DAB antennas for vehicles, one mounted on the roof with a magnetic base and one mounted on the windshield at the driver side. The measurement results show that there is some inaccuracy due to a low position logging rate of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver on the drone. The results are used in Matlab to represent the radiation patterns of the antennas in both the azimuth and elevation plane, but with the use of interpolation to define the most likely form of the radiation diagram. It is also possible to see from the results where the directivity of the antennas is pointing. The results show that the logging of the positions should be improved to create a better resolution of the radiation patterns. It should also be developed a program in Matlab that can display the radiation patterns in three-dimensional graphs, in this way creating a better picture of the coverage of the antennas. Also, to make the system more versatile, it should be tested for other types of antennas and with other frequencies, so it can be explored if the system is durable for all types of antenna measurements.


A system with many nodes accessing a common receiver is considered. The forward channel is a time-slotted collision-type common radio channel. Due to a nonreliable forward channel, the receiver may misinterpret the actual event of a slot. For instance, an idle or a success slot can be interpreted as a conflict and a conflict or a success slot can be interpreted as an idle slot. The former kind of error is called a noise error, while the latter is called an erasure. Splitting multiple-access algorithms are introduced that can handle erasures as well as noise errors. A remarkable feature of the algorithms is that they ensure that, under stable operation, all packets are eventually successfully transmitted, including the erased packets (those packets that were involved in an erasure). The property that is exploited in devising these algorithms is that nodes whose packets were erased can detect that situation as they transmit and acknowledge that the slot was idle. Consequently, they can either retransmit immediately or wait until some agreed point in time (such as the end of a collision resolution interval) and then transmit. The performances of the proposed algorithms are evaluated according to the maximal throughput they can support for Poisson arrival process. The performance degradation due to erasures and noise errors is quantified.


Since the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the fishing and hunting rights of the Mi'kmaq nation in 1985 and 1990, the government has failed to accommodate these in appropriate and effective resource management frameworks. In Unama'ki/Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the subsistence harvest of lobster and moose by Mi'kmaq has therefore caused cross-cultural conflict and ecological concerns. Since 2006, the Lobster Management Plan (Unama'kik Jakejue'ka'timk) and the Moose Management Plan are being developed under Mi'kmaq leadership to manage the Mi'kmaq harvest communally. These innovative management initiatives will serve as case studies for this thesis to explore how Mi'kmaq negotiate the political ecology of co-management in Nova Scotia and effectively assert Mi'kmaq rights to resource harvest and selfgovernance. Most notably, the management plans employ cultural principles of sustainability and pro-active approaches to cross-cultural communication. This research shows how Mi'kmaq communities have developed resource management capacities and frameworks that can also inspire the self-government aspirations of other aboriginal nations in Canada. Mi'kmaq strategies and experience suggests that aboriginal leadership and cultural principles are integral to the meaningful implementation of aboriginal resource rights. Semi-structured interviews with Mi'kmaq and governmental resource managers illustrated diverse discourses of aboriginal resource rights, ecological knowledge and sustainability. Aiming to represent research insights appropriately, this thesis follows the decolonization agenda of aboriginal methodologies and features reflective discussions of the author's positionality within the Mi'kmaq research community. This also allows for a review of how the author came to terms with conflicting discourses and aboriginal ontologies of ecological knowledge, as well as the requirements for decolonizing research. Supporting reflective insights, a framework of anthropological political ecology and poststructuralist arguments for ontological diversity explain the validity of aboriginal perspectives on ecological knowledge and resource rights, which is the premise of decolonization paradigms. A review of engaging with aboriginal culture both in theory and practice concludes that the practical experience is essential for an appreciation of aboriginal perspectives and thus integral to cross-cultural communication and co-management relationships.


LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017 ("Collaboration in Agricultural Librarianship and Information Work," edited by Sarah C. Williams and Christine D'Arpa), pp. 448–466. © 2017 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois Abstract Librarian liaisons to the agricultural sciences offer many traditional services, such as teaching classes, purchasing materials, managing collections, and providing guidance on scholarly communication issues. Data management and data literacy instruction are two emerging service opportunities for agricultural librarians to develop new roles and work with researchers to set standards and meet data management needs within the disciplinary context. Taking advantage of these opportunities will require new skills, shifts in attitudes, and increased interaction with the students and faculty to understand their needs and provide timely and appropriate services. This paper proposes creating new strategies, expectations, and opportunities for agricultural librarianship by constructing a new model based on the informationist. The informationist, developed in medical librarianship, offers a model for creating highly engaged liaison services. Within a medical context the informationist is an extension of the traditional model of librarian engagement in which an information professional is embedded within clinical and research settings. Librarians can have an impact outside of the traditional library contexts by developing new skills and strategies for librarians working in the agricultural sciences. The informationist model also provides the opportunity to act as a direct collaborator in the creation of new methodologies in the field, such as systematic reviews.


Effective use of robots in unstructured environments requires that they have sufficient autonomy and agility to execute task-level commands successfully. A challenging example of such a robot is a bipedal walking machine. Such a robot should be able to walk to a particular location within a particular time, while observing foot placement constraints, and avoiding a fall, if this is physically possible. Although stable walking machines have been built, the problem of task-level control, where the tasks have stringent state-space and temporal requirements, and where significant disturbances may occur, has not been studied extensively.
This thesis addresses this problem through three objectives. The first is to devise a plan specification where task requirements are expressed in a qualitative form that provides for execution flexibility. The second is to develop a task-level executive that accepts such a plan, and outputs a sequence of control actions that result in successful plan execution. The third is to provide this executive with disturbance handling ability.
Development of such an executive is challenging because the biped is highly nonlinear and has limited actuation due to its limited base of support. We address these challenges with three key innovations. To address the nonlinearity, we develop a dynamic virtual model controller to linearize the biped, and thus, provide an abstracted biped that is easier to control. The controller is model-based, but uses a sliding control technique to compensate for model inaccuracy. To address the under-actuation, our system generates flow tubes, which define valid operating regions in the abstracted biped. The flow tubes represent sets of state trajectories that take into account dynamic limitations due to under-actuation, and also satisfy plan requirements. The executive keeps trajectories in the flow tubes by adjusting a small number of control parameters for key state variables in the abstracted biped, such as center of mass. Additionally, our system uses a novel strategy that employs angular momentum to enhance translational controllability of the system's center of mass.
We evaluate our approach using a high-fidelity biped simulation. Tests include walking with foot-placement constraints, kicking a soccer ball, and disturbance recovery. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)


This thesis presents two approaches to identifying computational properties of networks of neurons. The first of these involves a bottom-up approach through detailed modelling of neuronal properties, while the second is a top-down approach using principal component analysis that quantifies the behaviour of neurons in complex networks from measurements. An object-oriented modelling tool has been developed that is fast, flexible, and easy to use. A graphical user interface allows the user to manipulate neurons, synapses, and currents visually on the screen during prototyping. Subsequently, a systematic study of the model can be processed in batch mode, for example to tune it to a particular behaviour. Small invertebrate neuronal circuits have been considered where the neuronal outputs can be related to the behaviour of the animal. The fundamental problem faced by experimental neurobiologists is that only one state variable per neuron is readily accessible, i.e. the membrane potential at the cell body. A neuron contains a vast number of state variables, but these are generally all hidden. The modelling tool enables one to "record" from hidden state variables and to manipulate inaccessible parameters of the real neurons. The tool has been evaluated through an investigation involving a leech heart model. Significant findings include non-spiking oscillations, and the modelling has suggested further experimental work involving the real system. The modelling tool provided close to real-time performance in this application which indicates its potential for its interactive use in an experimental environment, including dynamic voltage-clamp. The top-down approach uses principal component analysis to quantify a trace of neuronal activity during a time interval. During this interval, the feedback loops within the neuron and through the neuronal network will affect the output of the neuron. Thus, the resulting measure of the neuronal output will indirectly include the states of "hidden" compartments away from the cell soma and other inaccessible state variables, like channel states. Although the technique offer no promise for tracing these hidden state variables, it will enable us to include them in quantifying the outputs of a neuron. Further, the technique serves as an "objective critic" that display the largest sources of variance over the data set. Therefore, one avoids testing successively and explicitly through a large set of possible features. This also makes the measure low-dimensional and easy to analyse further. Application of the Karhunen-Loeve transform to the crayfish swimmeret showed that the principal components represented features like spike count, burst width, burst concentration, and burst latency. The burst latency proved to be significantly modulated. Principal component analysis was also performed on the membrane potential after having removed the action potentials with a low pass filter. The membrane potential deviations did not correlate with those of the spikes from the same neuron. This demonstrates the point that the membrane potential at the cell body does not solely determine the spiking pattern, but other (unobservable) state variables influence the spiking dynamics. Recently developed imaging techniques show possibilities in terms of measuring the spatial distribution of the membrane potential and ion concentrations throughout a cell, as well as the temporal interaction between these state variables. These imaging techniques are of potential value for validating theoretical models of a more complex kind for the study of which the object-oriented modelling tool could be readily applied. This work has shown that the Karhunen-Loeve transform can be used to quantify the relative coupling strength between two outputs. The coupling strength is estimated at the level of behaviour and relative to normal background activity in the system. This compares to the absolute estimate that at the level of individual synapses measures the coupling strength between two cells. The techniques above enables the effective coupling between two cells to be measured, where the coupling may occur through several pathways and through several cells. These results suggest that the long range intersegmental coupling is not much weaker than short range intrasegmental coupling and that the coupling performs phase locking only.


Passing the Project Management Institute's Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification examination won't be easy, but you'll boost your chances for success when you consult this study guide. Vivek Vaishampayan, an information technology expert who holds several certifications, including the PMI-ACP designation, introduces you to the exam process, Agile Project Management principles, and dozens of knowledge and skill areas that you must master to succeed in the field. You'll also get: handy tips for taking the exam; sample exam questions with answers; chapter summaries to review key concepts. Current references to Agile concepts are explained throughout the book in a simple manner so you'll be better equipped to pass the test. Just as important, you'll find tips throughout the book that will help you succeed after you pass the test. This latest entry to Certification Prep handbooks explicitly follows the PMI's ACP Certification Examination content outline and addresses each topic to the exact the level PMI-ACP test takers need. The PMI-ACP certification is an important facet of a practitioner's development, so improve your chances of advancing your career with the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Study Guide.


We investigate the effects of four-fermion interactions on the phase diagram of strongly interacting theories for any representation as function of the number of colors and flavors. We show that the conformal window, for any representation, shrinks with respect to the case in which the four-fermion interactions are neglected. The anomalous dimension of the mass increases beyond the unity value at the lower boundary of the new conformal window. We plot the new phase diagram which can be used, together with the information about the anomalous dimension, to propose ideal models of walking technicolor. We discover that when the extended technicolor sector, responsible for giving masses to the standard model fermions, is sufficiently strongly coupled the technicolor theory, in isolation, must have an infrared fixed point for the full model to be phenomenologically viable. Using the new phase diagram we show that the simplest one family and minimal walking technicolor models are the archetypes of models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking. Our predictions can be verified via first principle lattice simulations.


Between the middle and late Miocene, the Central Alps of Switzerland and northern Italy underwent a major phase of lateral crustal growth as recorded by the formation of the southern Alps and the Jura fold-and-thrust belt. This period of dominantly outward-directed deformation differs from the late Oligocene and early Miocene deformation style, which was characterized mainly by rapid vertical exhumation. Sediment budgets from circum-Alpine sedimentary basins indicate a decrease in the erosional efficiency in the Alpine hinterland several million years before lateral orogen growth was initiated, and decreasing magnitudes of sediment discharge thereafter. This decrease in erosional efficiency of the hinterland coincides approximately with widespread exposure of the crystalline core in the Alpine hinterland as indicated by clast types in conglomerates of synorogenic deposits, and with a contemporaneous increase in the continental influence in the paleoclimate, as suggested by the fossiliferous plant record. We suggest that the observed decrease in erosional efficiency caused gravitational forces to increase relative to tectonic forces driving the orogenesis, which led to a transition from dominantly vertical to horizontally directed extrusion. The data thus can be interpreted to indicate an active link between surface erosion and orogenic evolution.


Background: Adolescence is considered as a period of increased demand of physiological needs including macro and micro nutrients. The requirement of some minerals as such iron and zinc are of top important elements involved in the physical and mental growth and development of adolescents. Low intake of iron rich food and excessive blood loss in menstruation are main reasons of iron deficiency anaemia in adolescent girls. Objective: a) To calculate the haemoglobin Hb level of adolescent girls in relation to their dietary habits. b) To compare Hb level in early and late adolescent girls. Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Settings: Three schools and two colleges of Shahdara region Lahore Pakistan. Duration: Six months from April to October 2017. Methodology: Cross-sectional descriptive study in which 262 adolescent girls were selected by stratified random sampling. The data was collected through food frequency questionnaire. Chi square test was used to find the association between food intake frequency and Hb level. Results: From sample of 262 adolescents 31.2% girls have BMI less than 5TH percentile and 27.6% were found obese.31.2 adolescents were found anemic. Association was found between Hb level and intake of meat, beef, beef liver, legumes, nuts, black beans, dark chocolates, green vegetables, fruits, chapatti and iron supplements. Conclusion: The results identified the decrease intake of potential nutrients, low level of income, less education level of mothers and large number of family contributing to anemia in adolescent girls.