Offshore wind energy is set to make an increasing presence in a number of European countries in the coming years. Developments potentially add to increasing pressures upon inshore fisheries, which raise questions about the compatibility of the two types of economic activity. We examine the potential ecological effects of the development of offshore windfarms upon fishery resources. We also study the direct effects upon fishing activity and techniques, by focussing on those effects occurring at each stage of a windfarm's development. Consideration is then given to how fisheries issues and industry concerns are represented and accounted for in national planning system decision making, drawing on early experience in the UK. In order to improve impact prediction, there is a need for further research to develop understanding of environmental and ecological affects upon fisheries, principally noise and vibration and electromagnetic field effects. However, of particular importance for the fishing industry is better understanding of the effects of installations on the range of fishing techniques undertaken. This would feed into judgements on restricting fishing activity for safety reasons, and assist in determining the socio-economic impact of developments on fishing communities so that the location of developments can be planned appropriately to maximise their compatibility with fisheries. Fishing groups should be involved in pre-development decision making as much as possible in order to build trust and maximise the scope for reconciling conflicting issues to the benefit of both wind energy developers and the fishing industry.


Some DHCP options carry unique identifiers. These identifiers can
enable device tracking even if the device administrator takes care of
randomizing other potential identifications like link-layer addresses
or IPv6 addresses. The anonymity profiles are designed for clients
that wish to remain anonymous to the visited network. The profiles
provide guidelines on the composition of DHCP or DHCPv6 messages,
designed to minimize disclosure of identifying information.


Despite significant success in developing more efficient automated planning algorithms there is a need to widen the scope of the technology to bring it to a wider user community. In this paper we bring together two strands of research both attempting to address the problem of widening the take up of planning technologies. The first strand of research tries to widen the scope by increasing the expressiveness of the representation languages. The second tries to address the problem by enriching and structuring domain modelling languages to support knowledge engineering and to provide rich tool sets to support the creation of domain models. This paper describes ongoing work in developing PDDL+ to more adequately model planning domains where the duration of actions plays a significant role in the planning problem. We have constructed a prototype plan authoring tool to allow the exploration of domains captured in the underlying PDDL+ model of durative actions. The plan authoring tools has been integrated into our GIPO environment [5] and forms both a plan visualisation tool and a plan construction tool.


The number and volume of meat and poultry recalls has increased substantially in recent years. This is likely due to regulatory emphasis on foodborne illness resulting in an increased frequency of testing for pathogens. We use an equilibrium-displacement model to examine the effects of recall costs on the beef, pork, and poultry industries. Results suggest that higher recall costs may have actually increased producer surplus to the broiler industry because of consumer substitution among products and that most losses resulting from recalls are accruing to the beef and pork industries.


Theories of media and democracy, entailing concepts like the `public sphere' and `civil society', have been extensively used in western societies. In contrast, analysis of the role of Africa's media in democratization has been patchy and lacking in theoretical foundation. By reworking some of the theorization that is born of societies with rather different media conditions to Africa, some useful insights can be gained about the processes on this continent, particularly in southern Africa. In particular, such re-engineered theory can help provide an analysis of contemporary issues regarding media freedom, the growth of private media, the contests around government-controlled media, and broadcast deregulation in Africa. In addition, such reworked theory helps contextualize the gender character of southern Africa's media and the significance of the Internet for democracy on the continent.


Risk identification and risk estimation are important stages of any risk management process. Existing research in Supply chain risk management has mainly focused on these two stages whereas risk evaluation has not been fully explored which is an equally significant stage involving evaluation of different risk mitigation strategies. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a method of evaluating different mitigation strategies through cost and benefit analysis. The proposed method introduces a unique concept of integrating cost and relative impact of different combinations of mitigation strategies within a network setting of interconnected risk triggers, risk factors and risk mitigation strategies. We have applied our method on a case study that was conducted in an aerospace supply chain. Our approach is useful in identifying an optimal combination of mitigation strategies against a given budget constraint. Furthermore, the model can also be used for determining such strategies in relation to a given level of risk exposure. We have incorporated NoisyOR function within the Bayesian Network model in order to reduce the complexity involved in eliciting a huge number of conditional probability values.


Uniform design was adopted, and two factors, i.e., frozen at different time postmortem with six levels, thawing at different thawing rate with three levels, were considered. Water holding capacity under pressure (WHC), thawing loss (TL) and production rate (PR) were measured to study the different effects of the two factors considered. The results showed: All the two factors considered had significant effects on WHC, TL and PR, and the effects of the two factors on them were nonlinear, there were interactions between the two factors considered. The optimization calculation showed that the later the frozen time postmortem and the smaller the thawing rate was, the higher the production rate of Chinese sausage was.


The creep behaviour of the solid solution strengthened nickel-based superalloy Haynes 230 has been investigated under constant load and temperature conditions on as received, after conventional solution treatment, and on overaged conditions. The experimental results have shown a very strong dependence of the creep curve shape with the applied stress/temperature: in the tests performed at high stresses/low temperatures, the primary/decelerating stage takes an important portion of the creep curve. At these test conditions, the accelerating creep is mainly caused by the increase of the applied stress with the strain as it happens in constant load creep tests. In the tests performed at low stresses/high temperatures, the primary stage is very small and the following accelerating creep is characterized by different accelerating creep stages. The analysis of the creep curves on the as received and overaged alloys, has shown that a large portion of the accelerating creep at low stresses/high temperatures is caused by microstructural instability.


We study the structural properties of large scale collaboration in online communities of innovation and the role that position in the community plays in determining knowledge contribution. Contrary to previous research, we argue for a more local perspective when examining online collaboration. We demonstrate that a member's centrality and spanning within his/her local neighborhood is a better predictor of contribution than global centrality and spanning within the whole community. We contribute both theoretically and methodologically to research on large scale collaboration. On the theoretical front, a local view of position implies a more confined and local organization of work in online communities than previously thought. From a methodological perspective, evaluating the local structure of large networks involves radically different algorithms that have only recently become feasible with the increase of processing power.


Objective To compare the outcomes of manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) and phacoemulsification performed by ophthalmology trainees. Design Retrospective cohort design. Setting Tertiary eye care centre. Participants A total of 1029 subjects underwent cataract surgeries with MSICS technique or phacoemulsification by trainees during one quarter (July–September 2007). Only 484 (47%) subjects were males. Surgeries which were primarily large incision extracapsular or intracapsular cataract extraction and performed on patients less than 20 years of age were excluded. Outcome measures The postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) along with the rates and types of complications were compared between both the groups. Results A total of 1029 surgeries were performed by 22 resident surgeons. In all, 522 (50.7%) were done using MSICS technique and 507 (49.2%) were done by phacoemulsification. Those in the MSICS group were significantly older (age >70 years; 5.7% vs 3.4%; p<0.001) and had worse preoperative visual acuity (visual acuity <6/60; 69.3% vs 40.4%; p<0.001). Postoperatively, the number of patients having BCVA≥6/12 was similar in both the groups (84.3% vs 88%; p=0.09). The complication rates were higher in MSICS group (15.1% vs 7.1%, p<0.001). Most common risk factor for poor outcome (postoperative BCVA<6/60) in both the groups was presence of associated ocular pathologies (OR 7.4 95% CI 3.4 to 16.4) and having a complications (OR 5.7 95% CI 3.0 to 10.8). Conclusions Although the complication rate was higher in the MSICS group, there was no difference in BCVA in both the groups.


When a celestial source of radio waves is scanned with an aerial beam which is much longer than the source in one direction but suitably narrow in the other, the transformation from the true distribution to the measured value is referred to as strip integration. It is here treated as a special case of two-dimensional aerial smoothing in which the aerial beam is allowed to spin about its centre as it moves about the sky. It is shown that the resolution obtainable is set by the cross-sectional profile of the strip beam in the narrow dimension. Thus, when the strip reduces to a line, the resolution is complete and full reconstruction of the true distribution is possible; but scans must be made in all directions. In the general case it is shown that there is a principal solution, and that a finite number of scans suffices to determine it. A method is presented for reconstructing the principal solution from the observed data.


The language varieties examined in this study are Zambian Chicewa, Chinsenga and Chingoni (abbreviated as Ce, Ns and Ng respectively throughout the thesis). The three varieties are here referred to collectively as Zambian Chinyanja. The question to be addressed is that of internal classification, to establish, how close or how different these varieties are. Particular emphasis is placed on their tonal relationships, which is a topic usually neglected in dialect studies. The model adopted for the study is that of Autosegmental Phonology originated in 1976 by Goldsmith and - with particular relevance for Bantu tonology - developed in Clements and Goldsmith (1984), a work which included contributions from a number of people working in this field. (For example: Hyman and Byarushengo, Kisseberth, Laughren, Massamba and Odden). It is found that Autosegmental Phonology has advantages over linear models of Phonology such as the traditional Generative Phonology generally so far adopted by dialectologists Such as Brown (1972), Newton (1972), and Van Vliet (1981). In contrast to linear models, Autosegmental Phonology treats tone separately from the segmental elements that bear it. This allows the model to handle tonal variation more adequately. Furthermore, the traditional models of Generative Phonology were found to be too abstract and unconstrained. In particular, in Generative Dialectology, underlying forms which were constructed tended to be so abstract that they were really historical forms having no direct justification from the contemporary systems, of the individual dialects. In this study, synchrony and diachrony are sharply distinguished in terms of the Alternation Condition (Kiparsky 1968). Although the thesis is mainly concerned with tonal variation, it includes a lexicostatistical analysis and an overview of the Phonology and Morphology of the varieties. On the basis of these preliminary analyses only, three varieties of Zambian Chinyanja would need to be recognized. Examination of tonal data, on the other hand, reveals that there are five varieties, viz; Ce1, Ce2, Ns1, Ng and Ns2. Moreover, it has been established that Ns1 and Ng are tonally identical although this is not the case when lexicostatistics are considered. The overview of the morphology is a necessary inclusion. Firstly, throughout the tonal analysis, there is substantial reference to Phonological and Morphological processes. Secondly, the description of the morphology includes accounts of Ns and Ng, which, in contrast to Ce, have not previously received any scholarly attention. It is concluded that it is significant In dialect studies of some languages to include tonal variation, for on the basis of vocabulary correspondences and other segmental information alone, the classification of language varieties or dialects may be overly simplistic.


As the 2020 campaign unfolded, with a mix of extraordinary embellishments and outright falsehoods, President Trump's attacks on the integrity of the U.S. electoral system grew louder and more frequent. Trump-aligned Republican candidates have since advanced similar false claims in their own campaigns in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Scholars, election officials, and even fellow Republican leaders have voiced concerns that Trump's rhetoric represents a profound threat to the well-being of U.S. democracy. To investigate the capacity for fact-checking efforts to repair the damage incurred by election-related misinformation, in the weeks before the 2020 election, we fielded a survey experiment on a nationally representative sample to test whether exposure to fact-checks of Trump's false claims increased participants' confidence in the integrity of the U.S. election and affected their voting behavior. Although our pre-registered analysis offered no evidence that corrections affect voting behavior, our findings do show that exposure to these fact-checks can increase confidence in the integrity of the 2020 U.S. election. However, the effects varied significantly by partisanship, with these changes concentrated among Democrats and Independents.


This doctoral project is the first comprehensive study of plays about Christian martyrdom on the French stage from 1596 to 1675.1 have compiled a corpus of such tragedies (Appendix). In Chapter One, I argue that such plays should be treated as a characteristic tragic sub-genre, distinct from other forms of religious plays. I also examine the background to the appearance of the martyr-play, in particular the exaltation of martyrdom in both Protestant and Catholic communities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as other artistic representations of the martyr-hero. Religious literature has often been studied in the light of theological controversy. Since a martyr-play deals with an individual resisting lawful authority, I have concentrated on looking at plays from a political aspect: the depiction of revolt. Accordingly, at the end of Chapter One, I consider how the French king was widely portrayed under the traits of a Roman emperor in popular iconography, demonstrating that this allegory was so widespread, that an audience viewing an emperor on stage would see a link with their own monarch. In Chapters Two, Three and Four, I examine the extant tragedies from the period, with a particular emphasis on how authors treat the question of obedience and the martyr's struggle. Writers with court connections mellow and neutralise the martyr's refusal to obey, notably Comeille and Rotrou. Other dramatists emphasise and highlight the element of individual conscience, particularly La Serre and Desfontaines. The martyr-play peaks during the 1640s and early 1650s, that is to say during a time of civil war, and I believe that the play was a vehicle through which authors could express their discontent with contemporary authority, or even use the example of the martyr as a deterrent to active revolt (Gaspard Olivier is the most striking case).In Chapter Five, I explore the inherent ambivalence of the martyr, and look at the tragedies from the perspective of suicide and the portrayal of gender. I conclude that the martyr is always an ambiguous model, and that this is reflected in the French stage portrayals.


Abrasion performance is an important performance parameter of polycrystalline diamond compact. This paper focuses on the research for test method of PDC abrasion performance. With the improvement method, the abrasion performance of PDC with five typical macroscopic interface structure such as planar structure, v-groove, u-groove, ring groove, ring claw-tooth are tested at normal temperature and after heating, With SEM, we study on its mechanism of abrasion performance due to different macroscopic interfaces structure, analyze the reason why PDC abrasion performance is different with the changing of PDC macroscopic interface structure. The research result shows that the temperature influenced the wear property and the anti-impact property of PDC obviously. In the same technological conditions, the interfacial structure of the PDC layer and WC-Co substrate has little influence on the abrasion performance, and the diamond and grains can sinter better, causing the excellent abrasion performance of PDC.


A series elastic actuator (SEA) is a promising actuation method in force control applications that intelligently interacts with environments. The SEA is characterized by a spring placed between a load and an actuator, which is an electric motor in most cases. Since the spring plays the role of a transducer between position (i.e., the spring deflection) and force, it is able to control the output force (torque) precisely by utilizing typical position control methods. However, the force control performance of the SEA is considered to have limitations due to its elasticity, and thus, to be inferior to rigid actuators in terms of bandwidth. This paper proposes that the force control performance of the SEA can be improved by exploiting the dynamic model of the SEA. To this end, the SEA is modeled and analyzed utilizing the two-mass dynamic model, which is a well-known and widely accepted model of the flexible system. The disturbance observer and feedforward controller are introduced as the model-based control algorithms for the SEA to achieve the high-precision force control. In addition to high-bandwidth force control, the proposed controller can address the robust stability and performance against model parameter variance and exogenous disturbances. For the analytic and quantitative assessment of the proposed force control system, the dynamic characteristics of an SEA under various control algorithms are analyzed, and the experimental results are provided for an actual SEA system in this paper.


Background. Recently accumulated evidence has demonstrated that bright-light therapy in combination with antidepressants is effective in patients with non-seasonal major depression. Whether bright light has a sustained effect after discontinuation is, however, poorly investigated. Method. In this double-blind randomized study we report the results from a 4-week follow-up period in patients with major non-seasonal depression who had been treated for 5 weeks with sertraline combined with bright-light therapy or sertraline combined with dim-light therapy. At the beginning of the follow-up period the light therapy was stopped while sertraline treatment continued for 4 weeks. Results. Depression scores decreased substantially in both groups, resulting in high response and remission rates in both groups after 9 weeks of treatment. The difference in depression scores at week 5, favouring the bright-light-treated group, disappeared gradually in the 4-week follow-up period, resulting in similar end-point scores. Conclusions. Bright light did not have a sustained effect after discontinuation. The offset of effect was complete after 4 weeks.


Section 525(a) of the Bankruptcy Code prevents government entities from discriminating against debtors based on the debtor's bankruptcy filing. This Article analyzes how this provision is applied to healthcare providers who file for bankruptcy. Some commentators have expressed concerns that because of Section 525, the federal government is unable to deny a bankrupt provider a new Medicare provider agreement due to the debtor's failure to pay debts discharged during bankruptcy. This Article, however, argues that Section 525 does not apply to a provider agreements because it is not a "license, permit, charter, franchise, or other similar grant" as defined by the statute. Therefore, the author concludes that debtor healthcare providers should not be allowed back into the Medicare program without first paying their statutorily required debts.


The extent of the effect of cellular crowding and cosolutes on the functioning of proteins and cells is manifold and includes the stabilization of the biomolecular systems, the excluded volume effect, and the modulation of molecular dynamics. Simultaneously, it is becoming increasingly clear how important it is to take the environment into account if we are to shed light on biological function under various external conditions. Many biosystems thrive under extreme conditions, including the deep sea and subseafloor crust, and can take advantage of some of the effects of crowding. These relationships have been studied in recent years using various biophysical techniques, including neutron and X-ray scattering, calorimetry, FTIR, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. Combining knowledge of the structure and conformational dynamics of biomolecules under extreme conditions, such as temperature, high hydrostatic pressure, and high salinity, we highlight the importance of considering all results in the context of the environment. Here we discuss crowding and cosolute effects on proteins, nucleic acids, membranes, and live cells and explain how it is possible to experimentally separate crowding-induced effects from other influences. Such findings will contribute to a better understanding of the homeoviscous adaptation of organisms and the limits of life in general.


Both sepsis and treatment of cancer with chemotherapy are known to cause neurologic dysfunction. The primary defects seen in both groups of patients are neuropathy and encephalopathy; the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Analysis of preclinical models of these disparate conditions reveal similar defects in ion channel function contributing to peripheral neuropathy. The defects in ion channel function extend to the central nervous system where lower motoneurons are affected. In motoneurons the defect involves ion channels responsible for subthreshold currents that convert steady depolarization into repetitive firing. The inability to correctly translate depolarization into steady, repetitive firing has profound effects on motor function, and could be an important contributor to weakness and fatigue experienced by both groups of patients. The possibility that disruption of function, either instead of, or in addition to neurodegeneration, may underlie weakness and fatigue leads to a novel approach to therapy. Activation of serotonin (5HT) receptors in a rat model of sepsis restores the normal balance of subthreshold currents and normal motoneuron firing. If an imbalance of subthreshold currents also occurs in other central nervous system neurons, it could contribute to encephalopathy. We hypothesize that pharmacologically restoring the proper balance of subthreshold currents might provide effective therapy for both neuropathy and encephalopathy in patients recovering from sepsis or treatment with chemotherapy.


'Does He Take Sugar?' is a long running BBC radio programme describing the plight of the handicapped who are ignored frequently and whose worth is often doubted. By analogy in the study of immunoglobulins, and many other proteins, scant attention has been given to the oligosaccharides that are actually an integral part of them. Glycosylation of proteins is widespread in eukaryotes, yet practically absent in prokaryotes. This is perhaps unsurprising in view of the fact that the major function of glycoprotein molecules lies in recognition of intercellular signals. Such recognition can involve membrane bound proteins on cell surfaces-for example the selectins, which mediate the attachment of leucocytes to endothelial cells, permitting their extravasation.' The oligosaccharide binding domains of these molecules are homologous and essential for their function. Alternatively, glycoprotein signals may operate over long distances. The gonadotrophins and thyroid stimulating hormone are all glycoproteins. If these hormones are deglycosylated, biological activity is reduced and clearance rate increased.2 In the immune system, major histocompatibility complex antigens, T cell receptors, and immunoglobulins have all been shown to be glycosylated.3 ' Some divalent antibodies become monovalent after glycosylation, as a result of blockage of one of the antigen binding sites by oligosaccharide.5 Effector functions are influenced by Fc linked oligosaccharide. Thus binding to macrophage Fc receptor and complement C 1q in vitro are reduced when sugars are enzymatically removed from IgG molecules.6 The increasing interest in the subject of glycoimmunology is reflected in the three meetings on the subject that have taken place in the past six years. The introduction of the journals Glycobiology and Glycosylation and Disease also reflects the greater awareness of glycosylation research. It is 10 years since the first detailed analysis of the variation in oligosaccharide structures attached to serum IgG was published.7 Human IgG is mainly glycosylated with N-linked carbohydrates, and glycosylation of the Fc region occurs at asparagine 297, on which two opposing biantennary arms of oligosaccharide protrude and interact. Figure 1 depicts a space filling model of this arrangement. The study, published in 1985, followed an earlier, much smaller study8 and showed that serum IgG from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and, to a lesser extent, osteoarthritis had an increased number of oligosaccharide structures in which the outer arms lacked galactose and terminated in N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc). These agalactosyl oligosaccharides was generally referred to as Gal(O). With hindsight it was easy to see that an important difference between those patients with RA and osteoarthritis reported to have increased Gal(O) was the older age of those with osteoarthritis. In a subsequent study9 of 151 normal healthy individuals (both men and women) varying in age from one to 70 years, it was demonstrated that the relative incidence of agalactosyl IgG was indeed age dependent. It has now been established that at birth most IgG is fully glycosylated, though during the first year of life about 50% of the IgG produced is agalactosylated. From one to approximately 15 years of age, the proportion decreases to around 15-20%; it remains virtually constant up to the age of 40, but then increases steadily. These observations have been confirmed using both a complex biochemical method and a lectin binding assay.'0 This latter assay takes advantage of the fact that different lectins bind selectively to different sugars. This method also offers


Introduction Behçet disease is a chronic vasculitis that generally affects young adults in the most productive period of their life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate patients' work productivity and daily activity impairment, and their relationship with disease activity and quality of life. Method In this study, 55 patients with Behçet disease who are currently working and 50 healthy controls were included. To evaluate quality of life, a 36-item short form health survey was used. For the evaluation of Behçet disease activity and work productivity, the Behçet Disease Current Activity Form and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire were used, respectively. Quality of life and work productivity between patients and healthy controls were compared. Results Scores of all domains of the health survey were significantly worse in patients with Behçet disease (range, p = 0.006 to p < 0.001). The mean Work Productivity and Activity Impairment absenteeism, presenteeism and activity impairment scores were higher in patients with Behçet disease (p = 0.005, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). There was a significant correlation between Behçet Disease Current Activity Form score and absenteeism (r = 0.32, p = 0.016). Moreover, there was significant correlation between Work Productivity and Activity Impairment and most domains of the health survey (range, r = −0.27 to –0.64, range, p = 0.047 to p < 0.001). Conclusion Our results showed remarkable impairment in work productivity and health-related quality of life in Behçet disease. There is a strong correlation between work productivity and quality of life. To improve work productivity, more effective therapeutic approaches and improvements in working conditions should be provided.


ABSTRACT We design a new specification of Okun's model that takes the following features into account: estimation of the relation in first differences, the possible lagged effect of GDP dynamics on unemployment changes, the persistence of unemployment rate dynamics, the possible different values of Okun coefficients under recession (with respect to periods of increases in GDP), the existence of cross-country institutional and structural differences (i.e. country-specific Okun coefficients), the additional effect on unemployment caused by large adverse shocks such as financial crises. A distinctive feature of this article is its consideration of a large set of countries for which we find differentiated Okun coefficients. Moreover, we focus in particular on the distinction between developed and developing countries, and on the additional impact of financial crises. From an econometric point of view, the model developed belongs in the family of linear mixed-effects models. The estimation method uses an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Our results confirm the general validity of 'Okun's law'; they show the Okun coefficient differences between high- and low-income countries; and they evidence an additional impact of some types of financial crisis on the unemployment dynamics of developed economies.


Introduction
When surveys are conducted especially for hidden populations, data is rarely collected using random sampling which is the ideal way to collect representative data. However, it is common practice to analyse this data as if it was collected through random sampling
ignoring the sampling design. We sought to determine the effects of including weights in the analysis of survey data collected through non-probabilistic sampling methods.
Broad objective
To assess the effects of weighting on risk taking behaviours associated with STIs
among female sex workers (FSW) and long distance truck drivers (LDTD) in Beitbridge using weighted and unweighted logistic regression models.
Methods
Both inverse probability weighted and unweighted forward selection multivariate logistic modelling techniques were used to determine significant risk taking behaviours
associated with STIs in FSW and LDTD. Final models compared magnitude of the difference between odds ratios, the selection of final variables, standard errors,statistical significance of selected variables and the overall fit of the models to determine whether or not we believed weighted models were more appropriate for the analysis of the survey data for FSW and LDTD.
Results
For risk taking behaviours associated with STIs, inclusion of weights resulted in an
increase in the odds ratios, a decrease in the standard errors and narrowing of theconfidence intervals for the parameters in the weighted model for FSW. In the
weighted model for LDTD, the odds ratios were higher than in the unweighted model
and the confidence intervals were slightly narrow. However, the standard errors were
higher in the weighted models.
Conclusion Based on the results, we concluded that weighting in the regression analysis of survey data collected using non probabilistic sampling methods helps to improve the precision of the regression estimates; hence weighted models should be used.


Police departments regularly conduct public opinion surveys to measure attitudes towards the police. The results of these surveys can be used to shape and evaluate policing policy and practice. Yet the extant evidence base is hampered when people use different methods and when there is no common data standard. In this paper we present a set of 13 core national indicators that can be used by police services across Canada to ensure measurement quality and draw proper comparisons between regions and over time. Having identified a set of 50 survey questions through an expert consultation process, we field those items on a quota sample of 2,527 Canadians. Our analysis of the survey data has three stages. First, we use confirmatory factor analysis to assess scale properties. Second, we use substitution analysis to identify 13 single indicators that 'best stand in' for each scale. Third, we use the set of 50 and the sub-set of 13 measures to test procedural justice theory for the first time in the Canadian context. Overall, those commissioning and managing public attitudes surveys can use the 13 core indicators as a conceptually-rich and empirically-validated tool through which to understand local survey data in the context of other municipal, provincial, territorial and national contexts.


Abstract Large worldwide use of chemicals has caused great concern about their possible adverse effects on human health, flora and fauna. Increased production of new chemicals has also increased demand for their risk assessment. Traditionally, results from animal tests have been used to assess toxicity of chemicals. However, such methods are ethically questionable since they involve killing and causing suffering of the test animals. Therefore, new in silico methods are being sought to replace the traditional in vivo and in vitro testing methods. In this article we report on one method that can be used to build robust models for the prediction of compounds' properties from their chemical structure. The method has been developed by combining a genetic algorithm, a counter-propagation artificial neural network and cross-validation. It has been tested using existing data on toxicity to fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas). The results show that the method may give reliable results for chemicals belonging to the applicability domain of the developed models. Therefore, it can aid the risk assessment of chemicals and consequently reduce demand for animal tests.


Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment has been proven to decrease neuroinflammation in rats. This study aimed to determine the potential mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory effects of HBO treatment on burn-induced neuroinflammation in rats. Thirty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned to the following six groups (n = 6 per group): (1) sham burn with sham HBO treatment; (2) sham burn with HBO treatment; (3) burn with one-week sham HBO treatment; (4) burn with two-week sham HBO treatment; (5) burn with one-week HBO treatment; and (6) burn with two-week HBO treatment. SD rats that received third-degree burn injury were used as a full-thickness burn injury model. Subsequently, we analyzed the expression of proteins involved in the galectin-3 (Gal-3)-dependent Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) pathway through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, and Western blotting. A behavior test was also conducted, which revealed that HBO treatment significantly suppressed mechanical hypersensitivity in the burn with HBO treatment group compared to the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). ELISA results showed that tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) levels in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and the skin significantly decreased in the burn with HBO treatment group compared with the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). Western blotting results demonstrated that HBO treatment significantly reduced the expression of Gal-3 and TLR-4 in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in the burn with HBO treatment group compared with the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). IHC analysis showed that the expression of Gal-3, TLR-4, CD68 and CD45 in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord was significantly lower in the burn with HBO treatment group than in the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05), and the expression of CD68 and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the right hind paw skin was significantly lower. The expression of vimentin and fibroblast growth factor in the right hind paw skin was significantly higher after HBO treatment (p < 0.05). This study proved that early HBO treatment relieves neuropathic pain, inhibits the Gal-3-dependent TLR-4 pathway, and suppresses microglia and macrophage activation in a rat model.


Previous research has demonstrated the importance of installed base size effects, in which content released on a platform with a larger installed base tends to generate greater sales. We further examine the role of the installed base by considering the impact of installed base composition on content sales. We specifically investigate the roles of the platform product lifecycle and the consumer lifecycle. We examine differences in content sales resulting from an installed base that is comprised of platform "innovators" versus one that contains more late adopters. Additionally, we consider the role of consumer lifecycles on content sales and compare the impact of an installed base consisting of a large number of new platform users to one consisting of pre-existing platform users. Using sales data from the video game market, we find strong evidence to support the existence of significant platform and consumer lifecycle effects. We find that earlier and newer platform adopters purchase more content than later and pre-existing adopters. These results underline the importance of considering installed base composition when releasing new content.


Objectives: The aim was to observe the immune stress in rats with Severe Acute Pancreatitis (SAP) and diminish by emodin.
Methods: Rats were divided into four groups: sham operation group (SO), SAP model group (SAP), emodin treatment group (ET), and two times dose emodin treatment group (HT). Samples of blood, terminal ileum and lung were harvested on 6 h, 12 h, 18 h and 24 h for examination. Serum amylase, and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB 1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma-γ (PPAR-γ) in terminal ileum and lung was determined.
Results: The values for emodin treated showed distinctly treatment effect, with lower levels of serum amylase, HMGB 1 and COX-2 on 12, 18 and 24 h and higher levels of PPAR-γ in the ET and HT groups compared with the SAP group on four time-points. The levels of detection indicators in the ET group were quite different from the HT group, with higher levels of serum amylase, HMGB 1 and COX-2 on 12, 18 and 24 h and lower expression of PPAR-γ on each time points.
Conclusions: Emodin can diminish immune stress in rats with SAP. The strategy of two times may be a better therapeutic effect.


INTRODUCTION
Non-hematopoietic stem cells may be a source of paracrine and structural regeneration for brain damaged by acute ischemic stroke. In this study, we investigated correlations of CD34-, CD34/CXCR4-, and CXCR4-positive peripheral blood CD45-negative stem cells with the neurological and functional status of 34 acute stroke patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Blood was sampled and assessed by flow cytometry on days 1, 2, 4, and 6 after stroke onset. Parallel to blood sampling and after 3 and 6 months, patients were assessed with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, Barthel Index, Scandinavian Stroke Scale, and modified Rankin Scale. Blood was also sampled in 15 control subjects matched for age and sex, without history of previous stroke.

RESULTS
We observed very low levels of the observed stem cells resident in peripheral blood. Higher baseline numbers of all 3 stem cell types correlated with better neurological or functional status on admission. Additionally, higher increases in CD34- and CD34/CXCR4-positive stem cell number and lower increase in CXCR4-positive cells correlated with initially worse neurological status. However, increased CD34- and CD34/CXCR4-positive cell induction in patients correlated with better functional/neurological status after the 6-month follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS
We report that the number and dynamic changes in levels of non-hematopoietic CD34-, CD34/CXCR4-, and CXCR4-positive stem cells tend to correlate with acute stroke patients' neurologic and functional status.


In order to examine health information given in television and radio broadcasts popular with young adults (15‐ to 24‐year‐olds) in the United Kingdom, three terrestrial television channels and six radio stations were surveyed over eight weeks, using methodology described previously. One hundred and eighty‐seven health items were found during 54 hours of television and 58 hours of radio broadcasting. Television commonly included health information within programme storylines and advertisements; radio included advertisements and news items. Descriptions of disease treatment and states were the most common subjects on television, but radio also covered substance misuse and sexual health issues. The central nervous system was the most prevalent therapeutic area. Ninety‐two television items (56.8 per cent) and 15 radio items (60.0 per cent) referred to a specific drug or medicine. The drug properties most often described were indication and formulation. Side effects were more likely to be reported on the radio, and hazards were a major issue within items about substance misuse. As with the first part of this study, which reported on health information given in the press (p180), references to contacting any professional sources for further information were rare, and certainly do not lead young consumers to expect to be questioned about the appropriateness of products when subsequently purchasing them. This study challenges community pharmacy to reconsider how it best continues to discharge its consumer protection role in an era of increasing consumer empowerment.


We have theoretically studied the domain pinning effect from the internal bias field generated by aligned dipolar defects. By ordering defect dipoles along the polarization direction, the experimentally observed 'hard' properties in ferroelectric materials, including shifted polarization–electric field (P–E) loops, biased strain-electric field (S–E) loops, suppressed piezoelectric and dielectric responses in sufficiently poled and aged ferroelectric system, can be well described by our model. As expected, the P–E loops and S–E loops become more asymmetric with the increase of defect concentration. The local domain evolution around dipolar defects under an electric field shows the physical process for the domain pinning effect, i.e. the difficulty of domain switching due to the presence of defect dipoles. Finally, the domain memory effect during heating/cooling cycle is simulated. Interestingly, domain configuration can be memorized when a ferroelectric system with dipolar defects goes through the ferro-para-ferro phase transition cycle, and the simulated time steps of domain recovery are strongly correlated with the defect dipole concentration. All theoretical results from our model are consistent with the experimental results. We can conclude that the local interaction between dipole defects and domains is the main mechanism of ferroelectric hardening.


It is noted that the propagation properties of overhead three-phase cables are usually analyzed assuming that the pipe conductor establishes a perfect shielding between the inner conductor set and any outer conductor, i.e. the power cable is assumed to be an isolated system. The influence of a lossy ground plane in the neighborhood of the cable is examined in the present work. The propagation parameters for both approaches are compared, and significant differences are found to exist, in the zero mode, at low working frequencies. Relative errors up to 60% have been determined in the attenuation, velocity, and surge impedance. A physical interpretation of these results is presented. It is based on the imperfect screening action of the pipe which allows the magnetic field to spread outside the cable and penetrate the imperfect soil, giving rise to a higher series inductance and a smaller series resistance. >


An ultra-low-power LC quadrature VCO (QVCO) is presented. It is designed in a single-poly seven-metal 65 nm CMOS process. To minimize power dissipation an inductor with a high LQ product of 188 nH at 2.4 GHz, and a self-resonant frequency (fo) of 3.8 GHz, was designed. According to SpectreRF simulations the power dissipation is below 250 ¿W at a 0.6V supply. At this supply the simulated tuning range and phase noise at 1 MHz offset are 10.4% (2.34-2.59 GHz) and -113.4 dBc/Hz respectively. The phase noise figure of merit (FoM) is better than 187 dB at all supply voltages of interest, which is competitive to other state-of-the-art QVCOs.


Governments and policy-makers are increasingly faced with the trade-off of protecting their tax revenue bases while maintaining their international competitiveness. This is exemplified by the international trend of jurisdictions reducing their headline corporate tax rates, which is often justified on the basis that these cuts will lead to improved efficiency and integrity outcomes. This article explores whether it is more efficient to implement corporate tax cuts or an alternative reform such as an economic rent tax which may better achieve the tax policy goals of efficiency and integrity. In doing so, this article bridges the gap between applied legal research, economic theory and practical optimisation modelling. Specifically, this research presents a simulation analysis of the behavioural responses of a tax-minimising multinational enterprise to both existing and proposed tax regimes and compares efficiency and integrity outcomes upon implementing corporate tax cuts. This is complemented by a legal comparative analysis featuring case studies of an economic rent tax; namely, the Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE) as introduced in Belgium and Italy. These case studies will focus on the political hurdles to implementing and sustaining these reforms, which will highlight key lessons learnt from the implementation of the ACE in practice.


Ni-PTFE/SiO2 composite coatings were prepared by jet electrodeposition. The influences of the particles contents and jet velocity on the properties of the composite coatings were studied. The morphology and microstructure of the coatings were observed on an S-2700 scanning electron microscopy. HX-1 microhardness tester was used to determine the hardness of the coatings. The deposition rate were determined by means of the coatings thickness. The adhesion strength was measured using a scratch tester. Wear resistance tests were performed using a pin-on-disc tribometer with the sample placed horizontally on a turning table. The corrosion behavior of the coatings immersed in 10% H2SO4 solution was analyzed using anodic polarization curve measurement. It was shown that the microhardness of the coatings increased with the increase of SiO2 content, while the addition of PTFE in the coatings resulted in better corrosion-resistant property. Enhancing the jet velocity made the coating compacter. Ni-PTFE-SiO2 composite coatings demonstrated superior wear resistance to Ni-PTFE or Ni-SiO2 coatings under the experimental conditions.


Pneumonia is a life-threatening infectious disease affecting one or both lungs in humans commonly caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pneumonia. The present study aimed to examine the risk factors for death due to pneumonia in young children. One or more in three deaths in Asia is caused due to pneumonia as reported by World Health Organization (WHO). Chest X-Rays which are used to diagnose pneumonia need expert radiotherapists for evaluation. Thus, developing an automatic system for detecting pneumonia would be beneficial and it can save lots of peoples life and help stopping and curing and controll for treating the disease without any delay particularly in remote areas. Due to the success of deep learning algorithms in analyzing medical images, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have gained much attention for disease classification. In addition, features learned by pre-trained CNN models on large-scale datasets are much useful in image classification tasks. In this work, we appraise the functionality of pre-trained CNN models utilized as feature-extractors followed by different classifiers for the classification of abnormal and normal chest X-Rays. We analytically determine the optimal CNN model for the purpose. Statistical results obtained demonstrates that pretrained CNN models employed along with supervised classifier algorithms can be very beneficial in analyzing chest X-ray images, specifically to detect Pneumonia Keywords— Pneumonia, x-ray, rural area, CNN


Probabilistic models for natural hazards generally aim at describing the probabilistic characteristics of the underlying physical phenomena associated with the natural hazard events. Thereby, the degree of the detail and requirements to the probabilistic models should be associated with their applications, i.e. types of risk management and more generally decision situations. Seen in this light, most of the existing typhoon models seem to be developed for assessing wind hazards for the purpose to facilitate structural design in regard to wind loads and assessing insured portfolio losses. Whereas these are some of the most relevant applications of the typhoon models, there are other relevant decision situations where the typhoon model can potentially be useful. The presented typhoon model is developed with the scope of applying a broader range of decision situations. Such decision situations include: near-real-time decision making for the evacuation of people and shut-down of engineered facilities in the face of emerging typhoon events; adaptation of building codes in regard to wind loads to the possible increaseof wind hazards that might be caused by the global climate change.


Existing research indicates that resilience is related to a person's ability to cope with stress. However, there is no empirical evidence to support the existence of such a relationship for undergraduates. The current research examined this association by administering a detailed questionnaire to students at two similar universities at four points during their first fourteen months of university and interviewing a sub-sample at the end of that period. Five hundred and seventy eight undergraduates participated in the study' The results showed that, across the measure period, undergraduates experienced stressors that were predominantly due to daily annoyances and the difficulties of choosing among equally important alternatives in the university environment. They used a mixture of problemfocused coping strategies and self-regulated coping behaviours, but they constantly avoided all emotion-focused coping strategies, except the one of turning to religion for solutions to their problems. There was no association between their coping efforts and their psychological well-being, and between their resilience and their success in courses at the first attempt. First-time achievers, however, sought more information, advice and material assistance from others in order to cope with their stressors' It was concluded that undergraduates repeatedly experience stress due to annoyances and conflicts, that they cope with stress avoiding most emotion-focused coping strategies, signifying that they feel their stressors are amenable to change, that their psychological well-being is not related to how they cope with university stressors, and that their self-esteem and optimism are not related to their coping. However, their lower perceived control is associated with their seeking of advice and support from others, a coping strategy that is consequently associated with their success in courses at the first attempt. Such information will allow universities to be more proactive in the provision of appropriate support information given to the undergraduate.


Loot boxes are a feature in video games where players can acquire virtual goods like weapons, characters, or aesthetic alterations to enhance their gaming experience. Players can earn loot boxes through normal gameplay or purchase them with legal tender. The type and rarity of the rewards are commonly determined by a random number generator, ensuring that the success of acquiring a specific good is based on luck rather than skill. Due to the elements of consideration (wager), luck, and reward in loot box mechanisms mirroring those found in traditional gambling devices, some legislators view loot boxes as a form of unregulated gambling. This is bolstered by findings that show how excessive and prolonged gaming can encourage the same psychological responses found in problem gambling. Advocates of the gaming industry argue that loot boxes function less like gambling devices and more like legal forms of "gambling per se," similar to the distribution of rare cards in packs of baseball cards. Video game developers have exacerbated the issue by implementing policies that manipulate players into making more in-game purchases. Even if these mechanisms do not comfortably fit within the legal definition of gambling, profit-based loot boxes should be regulated, considering the damaging psychological effects they have on the end users, many of whom tend to be young children.


This research presents a model of Integrated Academic Practice that allows the three aspects of the academic portfolio; Research, Education and External Engagement to work in harmony in Design education. It highlights the reciprocal values that benefit Academia, Students and Partners in project-based knowledge co-creation and sharing.

The research has been conducted through case-study review of a decade of activity conducted in undergraduate and postgraduate Design and Multidisciplinary Innovation programmes at one design-renowned UK University where up to 80% of the curriculum is delivered through collaborative projects with external partners.

It suggests that project-based activity with external partners can offer a situation that promotes high-quality, pedagogically sound, 'authentic' learning whilst offering a research site from which to gather data and in which to validate new knowledge. In order to achieve this, the author's recommend that projects are established with clear purpose in mind. The research demonstrates how each of the stakeholders (students, academia and external partners) can benefit from this integrated way of working.

The paper concludes by proposing the conditions necessary to make Integrated Academic Practice work in Design Higher Education.


Abstract Dravet syndrome is a severe form of epilepsy and also is called severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI). It appears during the first year of life with frequent febrile seizures, fever related seizures, which is rare beyond the age of 5 years. Children with SMEI typically experience poor development of language, motor skills, hyperactivity, and difficulty in making relationship. Thirty to eighty percent of patients with Dravet syndrome, which is known as classical form of SMEI, suffer from defects in a gene involved in proper function of brain cells. The patient is a 3-years-old girl presenting with a sudden epileptic seizure. She had 2-year history of severe myoclonic epilepsy and developmental delay that was diagnosed as Dravet syndrome. A novel missense substitution in sodium channel alpha subunit type 1 was detected and the novelty of substitution confirmed by molecular analysis in healthy family members as well as control group. As an early diagnosis, the clinical screening procedure used by pediatricians as well as a sodium channel alpha subunit type 1 mutation analysis could help to predict Dravet syndrome before 1 year of age, so the pediatricians could be able to manage clinical work-up properly.


Abstract Background Despite the events that occurred at the 2013 Boston Marathon (Boston, Massachusetts USA), there are currently no evidence-based guidelines or published data regarding medical and disaster preparedness of marathon races in the United States. Purpose To determine the current state of medical disaster preparedness of marathons in the US and to identify potential areas for improvement. Methods A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted from January through May of 2014. The questionnaire was distributed to race directors of US road and trail marathons, as identified by a comprehensive internet database. Results One hundred twenty-three questionnaires were available for analysis (19% usable response rate). Marathon races from all major regions of the US were represented. Runner medical information was not listed on race bibs in 53% of races. Only 45% of races held group training and planning sessions prior to race day. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were immediately available on 50% of courses, and medications such as albuterol (30%), oxygen (33%), and IV fluids (34%) were available less frequently. Regarding medical emergencies, 55% of races did not have protocols for the assessment of dehydration, asthma, chest pain, syncope, or exercise-induced cramping. With regard to disaster preparedness, 50% of races did not have protocols for the management of disasters, and 21% did not provide security personnel at start/finish lines, aid stations, road crossings, and drop bag locations. Conclusions Areas for improvement in the preparedness of US marathons were identified, such as including printed medical information on race bibs, increasing pre-race training and planning sessions for volunteers, ensuring the immediate availability of certain emergency equipment and medications, and developing written protocols for specific emergencies and disasters. GlickJ RixeJA SpurkelandN BradyJ SilvisM OlympiaRP. Medical and disaster preparedness of US marathons. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(4):1–7.


On Demand Multicast Routing Protocol (ODMRP) is a popular solution designed for ad hoc networks with mobile hosts. Its efficiency, simplicity, and robustness to mobility render it one of the most widely used multicast routing protocols in Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANET). In ODMRP, there is no input rate control for upper layer traffic. So, it's possible that high dense traffic flow causes congestion in networks. In this work, an enhancement to ODMRP is proposed referred to as fuzzy logic based Rate Control ODMRP (FRC-ODMRP). FRC-ODMRP attempts to adapt the arrival rate from upper layers to the state in the network by using feedback information from receivers of the multicast group. Accordingly, source comes up with a decision whether to increase or decrease its transmission rate based on information collected from the receivers. In this research, delay and packet delivery ratio reconsidered as indicators of congestion in addition to number of received packets. Simulation results demonstrate that FRC-ODMRP achieves significant performance improvements in comparison to conventional ODMRP and QoS-ODMRP. Indeed, it efficiently handles simultaneous traffic flows such that no one could dominate available bandwidth of networks.


Providing statistical quality-of-service guarantees introduces conflicting requirements for both deterministic traffic models to isolate and police users and statistical multiplexing to efficiently utilize and share network resources. We address this issue by introducing two schemes for providing statistical services to deterministically policed sources: (1) adversarial mode resource allocation in which we bound the stochastic envelopes of policed streams and provide a statistical service for adversarial or worst case sources and (2) non-adversarial mode allocation in which we approximate the stochastic envelopes of policed, but non-worst-case streams in order to exploit a further statistical multiplexing gain in the typical case. Our key technique is to study the problem within the domain of deterministic and stochastic traffic envelopes, which allows us to explicitly consider sources with rate variations over multiple time scales, obtain results for any deterministic traffic model, and apply accurate admission control tests for buffered priority schedulers. We evaluate the scheme's performance with experiments using traces of compressed video and show that substantial statistical multiplexing gains are achieved.


An inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC), pholipeptin (1), was purified from the culture broth of Pseudomonas sp. by solvent extraction and column chromatography. Acid hydrolysis of 1 gave Leu, Ile, Ser, Thr, and Asp moieties. Although 1 was a peptide compound, fragmentation by mild hydrolysis was not accomplished under any conditions. So, we performed the structure elucidation using various 2D NMR techniques. In the NMR studies, the addition of a small amount of trifluoroacetic acid gave relatively sharp and resolved signals, such that the structure of this novel cyclic lipodepsipeptide consisting of 11 amino acids and a 3-hydroxydecanoic acid moiety could be determined. Chirality of the constituent amino acids was analyzed by chiral HPLC, but two Asp residues could not be distinguished because they were contained as a racemic mixture. Finally, their chiralities were determined by NMR analysis of (13)C-labeled 1 into which [L-(13)C]Asp had been biosynthetically incorporated.


The alleged failings of low-income neighborhoods attracts a great deal of academic and political scrutiny and research. However, the realities of localized spaces—such as family home front doors, bedrooms, street corners, and local schools—have not received nearly as much attention. With In Their Place, Stephen Crossley highlights how these spaces are represented from afar by politicians who exaggerate stories for political gain and how these fabrications actively manipulate media coverage of these British individuals and communities. A devastating critique of the Conservative government's approach to tackling inequality, In Their Place will reorient those interested in human geography away from the large scale transnational policies back to the physical spaces that show the realities of life for Britain's low-income neighborhoods.


The RUN (Reduction to UNiprocessor) [18, 19, 13] algorithm was first described by Regnier, et al. as a novel and elegant solution to real-time multiprocessor scheduling. The first practical implementation of RUN [3] created by Compagnin, et. al., both verified the simulation results and showed that it can be efficiently implemented on top of standard operating system primitives. While RUN is now the proven best solution for scheduling fixed rate tasks on multiprocessors, it can also be applied to other resources. This technical report briefly describes RUN and how it could be used in any situation involving an array of multiple resources where some form of preemptions and migrations are allowed (although must be minimized). It also describes how buffers can be sanity checked in a system where a RUN-scheduled resource is consuming data from another RUN-scheduled resource.


The Service Oriented Architecture is boosting a fast move from developing applications as stand-alone systems, to developing applications as composition of autonomous and heterogeneous services. Service compositions are required to adapt dynamically to changing workloads, scenarios and objectives, and to achieve a certain Quality of Service (QoS). Guaranteeing such requirements is not a trivial task, since run-time variability makes the process of devising service compositions challenging for software designers. In this paper, we exploit the QoS analysis at run time to support software design, highlighting service compositions where QoS predictions are not reliable enough. To this end, we propose a QoS-based feedback framework that makes use of design-time and run-time knowledge to manage QoS data over time, and support software architect while devising a service composition that best fits QoS requirements. We illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach on a case study from the e-health domain.


Abstract.Nordström B, Einhorn N, Silfverswärd C, Sjövall K, Tryggvason K, Auer G. Laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain as an invasivity marker for uni- and multifocal lesions in the lower anogenital tract.During recent decades it has become apparent that there are two types of vulvar disease: the classic type found in elderly women with unicentric and unifocal lesions, and the type found in younger women, in which precancerous and invasive changes develop in the anogenital lower tract in a multicentric and multifocal fashion, often over a long period of observation.The laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain is an extracellular protein that is a component of the basement membrane. Recently its expression has been recognized as a marker in cervical cancer that permits identification of invasive capacity.The aim of our study was to determine if laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain antibody can act as a sensitivity marker of invasive capacity in precancerous and invasive carcinoma in women with uni- and multifocal changes in the anogenital tract. The result showed that all patients in the older group of women with invasive carcinoma of the vulva had moderate to high positive expression of the laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain. In the group of younger patients with multifocal precancerous changes observed over long periods, most of the patients with vulva intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) 3 showed laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain positivity already in the precancerous changes, and all of them developed invasivity during the period of observation. Normal epithelium without atypia was mostly negative or of low immunoreactivity of laminin-5. In conclusion, positive laminin-5 &ggr; 2 chain expression seems to indicate the invasiveness potential of precancerous lesions and is also expressed in all investigated invasive carcinomas of the anogenital tract.


The aim of this study was to describe the time patterns of wheezing in both asthmatic and nonasthmatic children during the first 36 months of life, and to determine whether there are asthma-related breakpoints in the incidence of wheezing. Data from a historical cohort of children followed from birth to 6 years (SLAM cohort) were used. Wheezing episodes until 36 months and asthma at 6 years were both recorded by a doctor. Monthly mean incidence rate of wheezing and rate ratio were calculated. Joinpoint regression models were built to identify breakpoints in the risk of wheeze. Complete information was available for 3739 children. Wheezing in the first 36 months was more frequent in asthmatic than in nonasthmatic children (rate ratio 2.62, 95% CI 1.81–3.78). Differences were appreciable within the first months and increased steadily thereafter because of a persistently high rate in asthmatic children. No breakpoint in the rate ratio could be identified. Asthmatic children exhibited a one-phase curve of incidence and nonasthmatic children exhibited a two-phase curve. However, children with allergic asthma also displayed a two-phase curve. There is no identifiable breakpoint during the first 36 months of life at which the incidence of wheezing in asthmatic children begins to stand out. Increased wheezing in asthmatic children from birth; different progression patterns for allergic and nonallergic asthma http://ow.ly/lo9Yk


Palmitic Acid esters of Hydroxy Stearic Acids (PAHSAs) are endogenous lipids with antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. We found that PAHSAs protect against T1D by attenuating autoimmune responses and by direct effects on islets. We aimed to determine the mechanisms by which PAHSAs directly promote β-cell survival. Daily oral gavage of PAHSAs in NOD mice starting at 4 or 13 weeks of age delays T1D onset and reduces T1D incidence from 82-90% of mice with vehicle to 35-40% of mice receiving PAHSAs. PAHSA treatment reduces leukocyte infiltration into islets by 50% and reduces T cell activation. PAHSA-treated mice had greater β-cell area relative to total islet area (vehicle 60±7 vs. PAHSA 77±1). PAHSAs enhance β-cell proliferation in NOD mice 5 fold vs. vehicle. PAHSA-treated NOD mice pancreata have lower ER stress markers, CHOP and XBP-1 (vehicle 68±12 vs. PAHSA 42±3), and higher insulin (vehicle 12±2 vs. PAHSA 17±1) immunostaining intensities per β-cell area. PAHSAs attenuate thapsigargin-induced PARP cleavage by 55% in human islets, and JNK1/2 phosphorylation by 40% in MIN6 cells. Also, PAHSAs attenuate apoptotic and necrotic β-cell death under cytokine stress and increase β-cell viability by 34% and proliferation by 31% (p Conclusion: In addition to attenuating immune responses, PAHSAs delay the onset and reduce T1D incidence in NOD mice through direct effects. PAHSAs directly reduce cytokine-induced β-cell death and increase cell proliferation in autoimmune diabetes through mechanisms involving ER stress reduction. This appears to be mediated in part by GLP-1R and not by GPR40. Disclosure I. Syed: None. M. Fernandez Rubin de Celis: None. J.F. Mohan: None. P.M. Moraes-Vieria: None. A. Vijayakumar: None. A.T. Nelson: None. D. Siegel: None. A. Saghatelian: None. D. Mathis: None. B. Kahn: Advisory Panel; Self; Alterna Therapeutics, Inc., American Diabetes Association, Harrington Discovery Institute, Janssen Research & Development. Consultant; Self; Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Research Support; Self; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Funding National Institutes of Health (R01DK43051, P30DK57521 to B.K.), (R01DK106210 to B.K., A.S.), (K01DK118041 to I.S.); JPB Foundation (to B.K., D.M.); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to M.F.R.)


A regional study of the Burgan formation has been carried out over the North Kuwait Fields to understand the variation in depositional environment, oil occurrence and control of trapping mechanism on the quality of oil. The Burgan Formation in North Kuwait comprises fluvial, deltaic and marine sediments deposited during the Lower Albian period in response to global changes in sea level. There is a systematic gradation of depositional environments in Burgan during this period. Oil entrapment in this formation shows regional variation. Both stratigraphic and structural controls on oil accumulation are dominant in the region. The oil quality becomes heavier towards North and has a strong structural control. Significant volume of inplace oil has been estimated during this study which would be pursued for commercial exploitation of this deep heavy oil reservoir.
 Burgan clastic sedimentation over Shuaiba carbonates was initiated by a regional fall in sealevel and establishment of a deltaic setting. Reservoir facies include mouth bars and distributary channels along with non-reservoir facies of interdistributary bay and shallow marine environments. After a significant hiatus, the braided channel systems with massive amalgamated sand bodies were established in response to significant fall in seal level. Subsequently a significant marker in form of a marine and shoreface sand with associated marine shale was deposited with a rise in sea level. Estuarine channels and bay shales were deposited above this surface. The upper part of Lower Burgan has transgressive sand bodies. The Middle Burgan is dominated by marine shale and shoreface sand deposits in response to further rise in sea level. The Upper part of Burgan is mainly comprising estuarine channel sands and interdistributary bay deposits. In a regional context, the sedimentation pattern shows increasing marine influence to East-Northeast directions.
 The oil quality in Burgan is intricately related to the structure and trapping mechanisms. A post Mishrif time tilt in structure has resulted in a deeper relict oil water contact in Lower Burgan towards West of Sabiriyah. In the area towards North of Raudhatain structure, the fluid contact shows significant tilt towards North with a rising structure. The doubly plunging anticlines of Raudhatain and Sabiriyah structures have lighter oil in Burgan formation in a structural trap. Further north of Raudhatain, the oil is heavy although there is lateral reservoir continuity. Significant faults have been mapped in this area. The structure is shallower towards North with progressively deeper fluid contact in Lower Burgan. Origin of heavy oil appears be due to significant spilling of lighter oil along faults and upstructure migration due to structural tilting and transtensional deformation.
 Significant accumulation of heavy oil has been established in Basal Burgan, Lower Burgan and Upper Burgan Formations. Heavy oil inflow in form of testing and sampling is seen in 12 wells. Aggressive plans are in place to map the oil quality and to formulate a long term exploitation strategy.


Data on the occurrence of species are widely used to inform the design of reserve networks. These data contain commission errors (when a species is mistakenly thought to be present) and omission errors (when a species is mistakenly thought to be absent), and the rates of the two types of error are inversely related. Point locality data can minimize commission errors, but those obtained from museum collections are generally sparse, suffer from substantial spatial bias and contain large omission errors. Geographic ranges generate large commission errors because they assume homogenous species distributions. Predicted distribution data make explicit inferences on species occurrence and their commission and omission errors depend on model structure, on the omission of variables that determine species distribution and on data resolution. Omission errors lead to identifying networks of areas for conservation action that are smaller than required and centred on known species occurrences, thus affecting the comprehensiveness, representativeness and efficiency of selected areas. Commission errors lead to selecting areas not relevant to conservation, thus affecting the representativeness and adequacy of reserve networks. Conservation plans should include an estimation of commission and omission errors in underlying species data and explicitly use this information to influence conservation planning outcomes.


Developers of cloud-scale applications face a difficult decision of which kind of storage to use, summarised by the CAP theorem. Currently the choice is between classical CP databases, which provide strong guarantees but are slow, expensive, and unavailable under partition, and NoSQL-style AP databases, which are fast and available, but too hard to program against. We present an alternative: Cure provides the highest level of guarantees that remains compatible with availability. These guarantees include: causal consistency (no ordering anomalies), atomicity (consistent multi-key updates), and support for high-level data types (developer friendly API) with safe resolution of concurrent updates (guaranteeing convergence). These guarantees minimise the anomalies caused by parallelism and distribution, thus facilitating the development of applications. This paper presents the protocols for highly available transactions, and an experimental evaluation showing that Cure is able to achieve scalability similar to eventually-consistent NoSQL databases, while providing stronger guarantees.


Project X is a multi-megawatt proton facility being developed to support intensity frontier research in elementary particle physics, with possible applications to nuclear physics and nuclear energy research, at Fermilab. The centerpiece of this program is a superconducting Hlinac that will support world leading programs in long baseline neutrino experimentation and the study of rare processes. Based on technology shared with the International Linear Collider (ILC), Project X will provide multi-MW beams at 60-120 GeV from the Main Injector, simultaneous with very high intensity beams at lower energies. Project X will also support development of a Muon Collider as a future facility at the energy frontier.


This study assessed the potential of probiotic and antimicrobial activity of strains isolated from an indigenous fish sauce in Malaysia. A total of 150 isolates were evaluated for their resistance toward low pH and bile salts as well as the production of inhibitory substances against four selected foodborne pathogens namely Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Lactobacillus plantarum (LP1, LP2), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC3), Candida glabrata (CG2), Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (LL2) and Staphylococcus arlettae (SA) strains showed resistance to low pH and bile salt at various concentrations. The LP1(86.3%), LP2 (86.2%), LL2 (84.4%) and CG2 (79.7%) strains exhibited higher survival rates than SA (66.7%) strain at extremely low pH concentration (pH 1.5) compared to other tested strains; while most of the strains tolerate bile salt at low concentrations (0.3%) which mimic the human small intestine environment. The growth rate of the tested strains decreased in proportion to the increase of bile salt concentrations. All the strains elicited different levels of antimicrobial activities against selected pathogens. Only the LP1, SC3 and SA strains showed greater inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. The result suggested that LP1, LP2, SC3, CG2, LL2 and SA were technologically interesting and could be developed as starter cultures for the manufacturing of novel functional fermented foods.


With the well-known advantages of additive manufacturing methods such as three-dimensional (3D) printing in drug delivery, it is disappointing that only one product has been successful in achieving regulatory approval in the past few years. Further research and development is required in this area to introduce more 3D printed products into the market. Our study investigates the potential of fixed dose combination solid dispersion drug products generated via 3D printing. Two model drugs—fluorescein sodium (FS) and 5-aminosalicyclic acid (5-ASA)—were impregnated onto a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) filament, and the influence of solvent choice in optimal drug loading as well as other influences such as the physicochemical and mechanical properties of the resultant filaments were investigated prior to development of the resultant drug products. Key outcomes of this work included the improvement of filament drug loading by one- to threefold due to solvent choice on the basis of its polarity and the generation of a 3D-printed product confirmed to be a solid dispersion fixed dose combination with the two model drugs exhibiting favourable in vitro dissolution characteristics.


Some researchers have been convinced that welfare developments in East Asia, especially Japan and Korea, can be fitted into the existing three worlds of welfare model, while others have insisted that existing welfare regime theories are not able to explain East Asian welfare regimes. This article assumes that we need to go beyond both of these traditional explanations. In the welfare state research fields, welfare regime approaches tend to focus on specific contextual conditions and cross-national differences. As a result, they tend to overemphasize history at the expense of theory. This article tries to combine deductive causal modeling with an institutional–historical context by identifying the contingent rent political game model and deducing important characteristics of East Asian welfare regime from this model. This model opens out the possibility of change in East Asian welfare regimes following the processes of democratization and globalization. Details of this are given in the conclusion.


BZLF1 repression of transcription from the Epstein-Barr virus BC-R2 promoter (Cp) was shown to require a glucocorticoid response element in cis and glucocorticoids in trans. The mechanism of the repression is indirect and involves up regulation of the cellular c-fos proto-oncogene. Glucocorticoids maintain Epstein-Barr virus latency, and removal of glucocorticoids from the cell culture medium results in activation of the productive cycle. This inverse regulation of the expression of latent and productive cycle genes contributes to the switch between virus latency and the productive cycle. Glucocorticoid control of BC-R2 might also provide a mechanism for EBNA promoter switching during early infection and in development of the restricted latent pattern of gene expression.


This work deals with dedicated mailing and e-mail campaign to targeted art related media & organizations. Ulla von Brandenburg is one of the most innovative German artists working today. She masterfully plays with our conceived notions of reality and artifice in multi layered works that utilize film, drawing, installation, painting, and performance. This magnificently illustrated volume documents Brandenburg's latest works and reflects upon the imaginative loops and recurring themes that characterize her work. It also includes insightful and revealing essays by Declan Long and Beatrix Ruf, as well as an interview between the artist and Rachel Thomas, a senior curator and Head of Exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.


In this paper we present a real-time object detection in the warehouse, to predict collision arising from moving forklifts andraising alarm when necessary. There are many research using YOLO for real-time object detection like detecting person or cars for Advanced Driver Assistance System(ADAS). There are many cargoes in the warehouse. Employees need to collect them and deliver to other place. When the employees are driving the forklift with many cargoes or big shipments that may block there vision to see objects in front of them. The employee driving the forklift might not see cargoes stored at the corner while turning, causing accident. The system will identify objects in real-time, received through surveillance camera set at a height from where it can clearly capture required frames to predict collision. If the camera predict that there will be an imminent collision, it will sound the alarm.


The typical changes of hemostasis indicators in different periods of gestation are described. The analysis of blood plasma in pregnant women with menace of miscarriage and compromised anamnestic record on spontaneous or attempted abortion was made. The valid hypercoagulation deviations are detected. They are manifested in the decrease of international normalized ratio indicators and index of activated partial thromboplastin time, the increase of level of soluble fibrin-monomeric complex against the background of mild hyperfibrinogenemia and decrease of activity of plasminogen, antihtrombin III and protein C. The lupousus anticoagulant and Leiden mutation occurred more often. The evidence of changes differed depending of presence of complications in the anamnesis and current menace of miscarriage. The established thrombofilic shifts can play certain pathogenic role in development of noncarrying of pregnancy.


Au/brush-Zn heterojunction nanowires were synthesized by using the Anodic Alumina Membrane (AAM) template combine with DC electrodeposition. As-prepared Au/brush-Zn nanowires were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer (EDS). Secondary growth mechanism is proposed for the formation of Zn brush structure. The Au/brush-Zn nanowires exhibit a strong absorption in a broad range of wavelength especially between 200 and 360nm, which may be ascribed to the transition of the electrons from the d band to the s, p conduction band near the Fermi surface and the transition from valence bands to conduction bands for Zn brush associated with enhancement of Au.


The most common use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is in the lower layers of a pavement structure, where it has been proven as a valid substitute for virgin materials. The use of RAP in surface mixes is more limited, since a major concern is that the high-RAP mixes may not perform as well as traditional mixes. To reduce risks or compromised performance, the use of RAP has commonly been controlled by specifications that limit the allowed amount of recycled material in the mixes. However, the ability to include greater quantities of RAP in the surface mix while maintaining a satisfying field performance would result in potential cost savings for the agencies and environmental savings for the public. The main purpose of this research was to produce highly recycled surface mixes capable of performing well in the field, verify the performance-based design procedure, and analyze the results. To produce the mixes, a balanced mix design (BMD) methodology was used and a comparison with traditional mixes, prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Virginia Department of Transportation's volumetric mix design, was performed. Through the BMD procedure, which featured the indirect tensile cracking test for evaluating cracking resistance and the Asphalt Pavement Analyzer (APA) for evaluating rutting resistance, it was possible to obtain a highly recycled mix (45% RAP) capable of achieving a better overall laboratory performance than traditional mixes designed using volumetric constraints while resulting in a reduction in production cost.


Objectives
Although testicular cancer (TC) is the most common tumor in young men in Western countries, there is no official cancer detection/screening program for young men in Germany. The most important TC detection tool is self-examination of the testis. Hypothetically medical students may have a diagnosis lead time and detection superiority. This study was designed to analyze whether medical students have a possible knowledge advantage over students of other faculties concerning TC and to compare male and female cancer screening demeanor and mentality.

Methods
Male and female students of various faculties at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Germany were invited to participate in this internet-based anonymous questionnaire with questions about TC awareness/knowledge, testicular (self) examination, and cancer screening behavior.

Results
In total 1,049 students (329 medical and 716 non-medical students) completed the questionnaire. In general, medical students had a significantly higher TC knowledge, especially in the more advanced stages of their medical studies (year 3-6). About 50% of medical students had knowledge of TC whereas only 21.3% of non-medical students knew about the disease (p < 0.01). In addition, medical students conducted scrotal examinations more frequently (34.7%) than non-medical students (18.8%).

Conclusion
The knowledge about TC is low among students. In general, medical students are more aware of TC and perform more frequent testicular examinations compared to non-medical students. Female TC knowledge rises in the clinical part of studies to the same level as their male counterparts, with the result of more testicular partner examinations.


Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is a surgical procedure utilizing occlusive membranes for providing space maintenance and enabling selective repopulation of the damaged area. While this technique is effective in regenerating bone, bacterial infiltration occurs frequently and can compromise the regenerative outcome. In this study, the authors describe the development and characterization of a GBR membrane made of medical grade polycaprolactone (mPCL) electrospun fibers with antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties. This is achieved by the immobilization of the antibiotic azithromycin into the membrane via a solvent evaporation technique leading to a sustained release of the drug over 14 d. In vitro testing shows that this controlled release of azithromycin is proficient at inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus for 14 d. Implantation of azithromycin loaded mPCL membrane in a rodent calvarial defect induces macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype after one week and results in significantly more bone regeneration eight weeks post‐surgery. The results suggest that this antibacterial membrane should be effective at preventing infection and also impacts on the macrophage polarization enhancing bone regeneration. The drug loading technique developed in this study is simple, effective with a strong potential for clinical translation and can be applied to different types of scaffolds and implants for applications in craniofacial and orthopedics applications.


IgG, IgA and IgM levels were studied in 187 homozygous β-thalassemic patients and compared with age-matched normal control subjects. The not yet transfused and the polytransfused nonsplenectomized patients showed a significant increase of all Ig classes. The polytransfused splenectomized patients showed a significant increase only of IgG and IgA. The splenectomized patients, when compared to the nonsplenectomized ones, showed a significant increase of IgG, of IgA in the elder ones and a significant reduction of IgM. High ASLO and ASFLO titers were found especially in the splenectomized patients. The high Ig levels in younger not yet transfused patients, with little iron storage and normal hepatic enzyme values, demonstrate that transfusion therapy and liver damage do not play a main role in hypergammaglobulinemia. The absence of antimitochondrial, anticonnective tissue and homogeneous antinuclear antibodies seems to exclude a deficient suppressor mechanism. The hemocatheteric 'overworking' of RES may reduce the antigen clearance with a consequent increase of antibody response. Splenectomy, by removing a consistent part of RES, enhances the phenomenon.


This paper introduces a new asymptotic regime for simplifying stochastic models having nonstationary effects, such as those that arise in the presence of time-of-day effects. This regime describes an operating environment within which the arrival process to a service system has an arrival intensity that is fluctuating rapidly. We show that such a service system is well approximated by the corresponding model in which the arrival process is Poisson with a constant arrival rate. In addition to the basic weak convergence theorem, we also establish a first order correction for the distribution of the cumulative number of arrivals over [0, t], as well as the number-in-system process for an infinite-server queue fed by an arrival process having a rapidly changing arrival rate. This new asymptotic regime provides a second regime within which non-stationary stochastic models can be reasonably approximated by a process with stationary dynamics, thereby complementing the previously studied setting within which rates vary slowly in time.


: A male child aged six years presented with a swelling in neck and hypertension. He was diagnosed to have and operated for Carotid body paraganglioma with Coexistent pheochromocytoma. Hypertension persisted even after excision of both the tumours which could be controlled with anti-hypertensive agents. The case is discussed with review of literature.


Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) power is a crucial parameter in coverage planning of today's UMTS networks that implement both HSDPA and R99 services. Adopting a non-uniform allocation of cell CPICH power and minimizing its amount necessary for coverage, the resulting power saving significantly improves HSDPA performance. At the same time, it is vital to have the desired level R99 soft handover, which is heavily influenced by CPICH. In this paper, we demonstrate how large scale optimization can deal with both tasks. Our approach focuses on enhancing cell-edge HSDPA data rate, subject to requirements of CPICH coverage and the level of R99 soft(-er) handover. We present a solution algorithm that optimizes CPICH allocation for HSDPA performance, and, in parallel, offers accurate control of R99 soft handover. Experimental results for large and realistic network planning scenarios demonstrate the benefit of our optimization approach.


The Errant's Lodge forms part of the Open City (Ciudad Abierta) founded by the staff and students of the University of Valparaíso in 1970 (see the review of The Road That is Not a Road and the Open City Ritoque, Chile on p. 92 of this issue). This paper outlines the project's origins; the 'alternative' programme to which the design responds; the climatic and environmental considerations; the construction; and its relationship to research and teaching. The project, which is still in progress, is partly funded by a Chilean government research grant.


Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) is a disease that affects the production of Arabica coffee. Its management is essential to improve the production, income and livelihood of household Arabica coffee farmers. This paper develops a simple methodology to calculate the economic costs, gross returns and net economic gains of CLR management by adopters of chemical controls at the national, state and district levels in India. Chemical controls are distinguished by application of recommended and non-recommended combinations and spray schedules of Bordeaux mixture and Systemic fungicides. The methodology is implemented by using a newly collected sample survey data of 575 household Arabica coffee farmers in the traditional coffee growing regions (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and comprising more than 90 per cent of small farmers. In general, empirical results offer evidence for higher gross returns and positive net economic gains for all adopters of chemical controls with remarkable inter-state and inter-district variations. Though total cost shows remarkable variations between chemical controls and across regions, the composition of total cost shows higher chemical input cost than labour cost for all chemical controls and in all regions. These results have implications for design of a public promotional policy of CLR management by chemical controls for small farmers on empirical economic grounds. Subject to the comparability of CLR by chemical controls, the methodology, empirical results and policy implications are applicable and relevant for other coffee growing and developing countries of Asia and Africa.


In civil aviation, an increasing awareness of the importance of environmental protection can be noticed. Amongst others, a better environmental protection could be achieved by giving it a higher weighting in the multi objective design optimization of future aircraft as civil aircraft are nowadays mainly designed for lowest operating costs. To be able to include the environmental protection in the design evaluation, the Environmental Impact (EI) of an aircraft has to be known which could be achieved by integrating a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into conceptual aircraft design. This paper aims at presenting a first step towards the integration of LCA into conceptual aircraft design. The EI of various contributors being part of the life cycle of an aircraft are analyzed using simplified and transparent calculations. It is shown that processes occurring once in the life-cycle of an entire aircraft fleet have a minor influence on the EI as their impact is distributed over all passenger-kilometers traveled by the whole fleet. Processes occurring each flight have the highest contribution to the EI of an aircraft as their impact is only distributed over the passenger-kilometers of a single flight. An evaluation of the EI using the World ReCiPe H/A method shows that fossil fuel depletion has the highest percentage with around 47 % of the total EI, followed by climate change with an impact of around 44 %. The results of the presented simplified analysis are compared to the results of the few other existing LCA results of aircraft. It is shown that the simple approach of this paper already is in quite a good agreement with the results of other LCAs. It can be concluded that the presented approach can already be used for a simple, first calculation of the EI of an aircraft. The integration of LCA into conceptual aircraft design will allow to assess and influence the EI of future aircraft over the entire life cycle early in the design process.


We present in this paper experimental and simulation results on the propagation of IEMI disturbances along a commercial power network mockup. Two different numerical tools were used in this study: CST Cable Studio and the CRIPTE code. The presented results show that an accurate modeling of the propagation along real cabling scenarios requires a very high degree of knowledge of the simulated topology. Furthermore, it is shown that uncertainties in the input geometrical and electrical parameters may significantly impact the accuracy of simulated results.


This study examines 300 college students in Iran and China. It clarifies that students from China have more positive attitudes toward counseling than those from Iran using a quantitative survey with well-established existing scales in the literature. The regression tests show different indictors for college students' attitudes toward mental health counseling in these two developing countries. Anticipated risk has been found as the most negative and powerful predictor of attitudes toward counseling in Iran. Stigma has been found as the most negative and powerful predictor of attitudes toward counseling in China. Implications have been discussed for educational departments and governments to advocate positive evaluations on mental health counseling services.