I. Bibliography of the Trimerellids. The important group of shells forming the subject-matter of this memoir is, comparatively speaking, of recent acquisition in palæontology; for, though two of its species were made known in 1853, under the designations of Obolus Davidsoni and O. transversus*, it is only of late years that a beginning was made towards gaining a correct view of its remarkable internal features. So little understood were the interiors of these species at first, that they were confidently, but erroneously, referred to the genus Obolus by one of the present writers. Billings did not escape the same error when he described his Obolus canadensis†. The next stage, one decidedly in advance, was gained by Billings, who, finding some Canadian specimens with a singular interior, was led to institute a new genus for them under the name Trimerella-observing, at the same time, that it "is allied to Obolus, but from which it differes in the possession of longitudinal septa"‡. He erred again, however, in describing anaother species of the present family under the name Obolus galtensis§ In 1867, Lindströ published an important paper, describing some specimens found in the Island of Gotland as far back as 1859, and which he had no hesiation in referring to the genus Trimerella of Billings, throwing at the same time further light on the internal sturcture of the group. He also referred to some specimens of the so-termed Obolus Davidsoni which had been discovered in the same island.* for the first time, in


Soon after the introduction of antipsychotic drugs into clinical practice, these agents were observed to be capable of producing not only acute extrapyramidal ("parkinsonian") side effects, but also later occurring abnormal involuntary movements that came to be called tardive dyskinesia. Since antipsychotic drugs are used in a variety of conditions that include psychotic features, studies have attempted to determine whether specific diagnostic subgroups may experience different degrees of vulnerability to drug-induced movement disorders. This issue is important not only to inform clinical practice, but also to provide clues to pathophysiology. A number of studies suggest that patients with affective disorders are at greater risk for developing tardive dyskinesia (controlling, to the extent possible, for other relevant variables such as age, sex, length of treatment). Encouraging preliminary data with new antipsychotic drugs such as olanzapine suggest that the risk of tardive dyskinesia associated with long-term antipsychotic drug use may be substantially reduced. This would go a long way toward improving the benefit-to-risk ratio of antipsychotic drug treatment, particularly in patients with affective disorders.


The emerging Chinese venture capital industry is a market filled with opportunities and challenges for foreign venture capitalists. The purpose of this study is to help foreign venture capitalists identify the investment opportunities and challenges from institutional perspective in China and exploit the influencing institutional factors before entering into Chinese venture market. This descriptive, explanatory and qualitative study accesses information exacted from interviews with 5 venture capitalists at different foreign venture-based companies in Shanghai. In order to have comprehensive and holistic understanding of topic, the author chooses institutional theory and investing theory as two main ground theories to explore. Besides, the previous study in terms of development of foreign venture capital investments in China as well as foregone work done by Fung et al.,(2008) and Walker & Pukthuanthong (2007) provide the perceived cognition from institutional perspective. With respondents from interviews, the author figures out there exists considerable debates towards regulatory system as it can be both favorable and baffling respects for foreign venture capitalists. Chinese government has recently relaxed certain restrictions and facilitates the inflow of foreign venture capital investment into China, whereas the company law and their enforcement are still weak. Moreover, information asymmetries also give rise to insufficient protection along with inadequate legal resources to foreign venture capitalists when they fund the firms. Meanwhile, shortage of professional managers would create great opportunity for foreign venture capitalists as foreign venture capitalists are experience, and resourceful in networks or operation in their home countries. This would benefit SMEs at their trial stage. The most different but important aspect needs considering is the guanxi between firms they fund and managers on the board as well as with government. It takes times to develop and requires foreign venture capitalists offering equivalent benefits to those parties who aims to build close relationship. Therefore, in line with Chinese culture and establish broad networks help the foreign venture capitalists overcome this potential challenges. In this research, all the respects related to institutional perspective are illustrated. However, it still requires more data and time to explore other potential opportunities and investigate potential challenges in the future.


Boreholes have intersected the interval hosting the Pyroxenite Marker at the base of the Upper Main zone on the farm Moorddrift in the northern Bushveld Complex. The concentrations of the major and compatible trace elements in the rocks are in the range of other Pyroxenite Marker intervals elsewhere in the Bushveld Complex (MgO up to 22 wt %, Cr up to 300 ppm). Over a stratigraphic height of some 300 m the interval is characterized by a broad, but irregular reversal in Mg number and Cr/V, analogous to stratigraphically equivalent horizons elsewhere in the Bushveld Complex. The rocks have distinctly higher concentrations in incompatible trace elements, particularly large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE), than other Main zone rocks and thus appear to contain an elevated crustal component. The interval hosts several thick (meters to 10s of meters), but mostly relatively low grade and laterally discontinuous PGE reefs that have been delineated over a strike length of ca 1 km. PGE contents locally reach approximately 16 ppm Pt+Pd+Au in rocks containing up to approximately 4 to 5 percent sulfides. The PGE tenors of most sulfides are >100 ppm, Pt/Pd ratios are above unity, and Pd/Ir is >200. Based on well-defined positive correlations between Pt and Pd with Ir we interpret the mineralization as being largely of primary magmatic origin.

Most previous models interpreted the Pyroxenite Marker to have formed from a major replenishment to the Bushveld magma chamber with relatively primitive magma. The new magma would have been emplaced on top of an approximately 4-km-thick cumulate package consisting of the ultramafic-mafic Lower and Critical zones and the lower to central portions of the gabronoritic Main zone. Here, we propose that the Upper Main zone including the Pyroxenite Marker did not result from a magma replenishment. Instead, it crystallized from the S-saturated residual magma of the upper Critical zone cumulates and originally directly overlaid the latter. The approximately 1-to 2-km-thick lower-central Main zone package formed from a crystal-charged magma emplaced at a relatively late stage in the solidification history of the Bushveld chamber, between the largely consolidated Upper Critical and Upper Main zones. We envisage that the emplacement of this large magma batch resulted in subsidence of the center of the layered suite, perhaps in response to the evacuation of a putative lower staging chamber from which the Bushveld Complex was fed. Semiconsolidated portions of the cumulate package sagged and slumped toward the center of the Complex, and the flowing crystal mushes underwent mechanical unmixing of light, relatively buoyant plagioclase from denser pyroxenes, oxides, and sulfides. This resulted in the formation of an interlayered sequence of relatively melanocratic sulfide-enriched with relatively leucocratic sulfide-poor layers. reef formation is thus partly the result of cumulate reorganization in response to the emplacement of the Main zone magma.


Multicarrier modulation has the advantage of robustness to multipath, so long as the delay spread of the multipath is less than the guard interval between successive transmitted blocks. However, it has the disadvantage of sensitivity to a carrier frequency offset (CFO), which disrupts the orthogonality of the subcarriers. If a CFO is present, it must be estimated and then corrected. In addition, if the channel delay spread exceeds the guard interval, this must be accounted for as well, usually by a channel shortening equalizer. Hitherto, CFO estimation and channel shortening have been addressed individually. However, this leads to a circular set of assumptions, since standard CFO estimators perform poorly when the channel is longer than the guard interval, and standard channel shorteners assume that CFO estimation has already been perfectly performed. In this paper, we investigate a blind, adaptive method for jointly performing CFO estimation and channel shortening


Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been used to determine the surface energy of chemically modified surfaces at a local scale. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to graft the AFM tip with the same chemical functional groups as our analysed surface. Two different chemical functionalities were used: hydrophilic and hydrophobic. The grafting of tip is well developed in the literature [1-5], it consists in depositing a layer of titanium from 3 to 4 nm followed by a 30 nm layer of Au. The thickness of this layer deposited on the tip is of the same order of magnitude than the radius of the AFM tip. On the other hand, the deposition of Ti increases the gold surface roughness. To avoid the use of Ti and to decrease the thickness of the gold layer, we developed a new way of grafting by using organic molecules such as the (3 mercaptopropyl)-triethoxysilane (MPS) as coupling agent [6]. Then we checked this way of grafting and finally we carried out Deflection-Distance curves (DD) with grafted tips in static mode by using AFM. Calibration of the various parts of the apparatus [7] and especially of the cantilever (spring constant and radius) was primordial to reach quantitative data. Finally, by applying a suitable theory of contact [8,9], we were able to determine the surface energy of our system.


Purpose Transverse sinus stenosis is commonly seen in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIHT). It is not clear whether it is the cause or the result of IIHT. Stenting for IIHT has been done in several prior series. Our goal was to evaluate the clinical and imaging follow up results of patients with IIHT that underwent stenting for this condition at our Centre. Materials and Methods We reviewed the clinical, venographic and follow up imaging and imaging data in patients who underwent elective transverse sinus stenting during the period from 2011 to 2016. Results Seven patients with IIHT were identified, of which one had associated dural AVF and hence was excluded from the study. The mean lumbar CSF opening pressure recorded was 370 mm of H20. At venography, the mean pressure gradient across the dominant transverse sinus stenosis was 17 mm of Hg (range of 10–23 mm of Hg). The pressure gradient immediately after stenting in all of those measured was negligible. Following stenting, headache improved in 3 of the 6 cases, with persistent headache in 2, of which one had persistent baseline migraine. One patient had complete relief of their headache. All cases showed no papilledema on follow up. Follow up imaging with CT venography showed that the stents remained widely patent. Follow-up in clinic was done for a mean period of 35.5 months (range 4 months to 65 months). Follow up with CT venography was done for a mean of 10.3 months (range 2 months to 36 months). Time to stenting was done with a mean of 4.6 months (2 months to 9 months). Conclusion Venous sinus stenting is a safe procedure. It helps to relieve papilledema in all cases with significant improvement of headaches in most cases. Disclosures J. Kovoor: None. J. Tejada: None. K. Riley: None. R. Shastri: None.


Background An integrated audit tool was developed for five chronic diseases, namely diabetes, hypertension, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and epilepsy. Annual audits have been done in the Western Cape Metro district since 2009. The year 2012 was the first year that all six districts in South Africa's Western Cape Province participated in the audit process. Aim To determine whether clinical audits improve chronic disease care in health districts over time. Setting Western Cape Province, South Africa. Methods Internal audits were conducted of primary healthcare facility processes and equipment availability as well as a folder review of 10 folders per chronic condition per facility. Random systematic sampling was used to select the 10 folders for the folder review. Combined data for all facilities gave a provincial overview and allowed for comparison between districts. Analysis was done comparing districts that have been participating in the audit process from 2009 to 2010 ('2012 old') to districts that started auditing recently ('2012 new'). Results The number of facilities audited has steadily increased from 29 in 2009 to 129 in 2012. Improvements between different years have been modest, and the overall provincial average seemed worse in 2012 compared to 2011. However, there was an improvement in the '2012 old' districts compared to the '2012 new' districts for both the facility audit and the folder review, including for eight clinical indicators, with '2012 new' districts being less likely to record clinical processes (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.21–0.31). Conclusion These findings are an indication of the value of audits to improve care processes over the long term. It is hoped that this improvement will lead to improved patient outcomes.


Background Heavy alcohol drinking is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), although the mechanisms underlying this are not well understood. Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with changes in many blood biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk. There are however few studies of the impact of harmful and hazardous drinking on CVD biomarkers. We conducted a study in Russia to explore the association between levels of heavy alcohol consumption on biomarkers of cardiac damage. Methods The Know Your Heart study recruited and medically examined a random sample of 2354 participants from the general population of Arkhangelsk city (NW Russia) plus 271 participants from the Regional Psychiatric hospital alcohol treatment facility with a primary diagnosis of alcohol problems. Measurements were made of (i) high sensitivity Troponin T (hsTroponinT), a marker of cardiac damage, (ii) N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-Pro-BNP), a marker cardiac wall stretch, and (iii) high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of systemic inflammation. Their concentrations were compared between the patients from the alcohol treatment facility and the general population sample divided according to levels of harmful/hazardous drinking. The associations between heavy alcohol use and log-transformed biomarkers were estimated using multivariate linear regression models adjusted for directed acyclic graphs specified minimal sufficient set of confounders: age, sex, smoking and education. Results Those in the alcohol treatment facility had the highest levels of all three biomarkers relative to non-hazardous drinkers in the general population: hsTroponinT was elevated by 10.3% (95%CI: 3.7%, 17.4%), NT-Pro-BNP - by 46.7% (95%CI: 26.8%, 69.8%), hsCRP - by 69.2% (95%CI: 43%, 100%). NT-Pro-BNP was also elevated, but to a smaller degree, for harmful drinkers in the general population – by 31.5% (95%CI: 3.4, 67.2). A trend test across categories of drinkers was significant for NT-Pro-BNP and hsCRP with concentration of biomarkers going up with higher levels of alcohol exposure (p<0.001). Conclusion The key finding is that NT-Pro-BNP was raised in both patients in the alcohol treatment facility and among harmful drinkers in the general population. This biomarker of pathological wall stress is a predictor of CVD events. This consistent finding in the two groups supports the hypothesis that heavy alcohol drinking has an adverse effect on cardiac structure and function and may thus lead to increased risk of CVD. However, the importance for CVD of the marked elevation of hsCRP in the alcohol treatment group is less clear.


Technical and administrative snags have slowed the debut of the first purely electronic physics journal, which was designed to take advantage of the convenience and cost savings of purely electronic submissions, refereeing, and publishing. Now 6 months late, it may never see daylight. But the prospect of this radical new journal has prompted changes among traditional physics publications, accelerating their own efforts to go online and rethink their futures.


Objectives: This study was carried out to identify plans to activate home visit oral care services by dental hygienists in Long-term care insurance. Methods: In-depth interviews were carried out with 21 Long-term Home Care Center Managers as target. A total of 21 (27%) Home Care Centers were selected through convenience sampling among 78 Home Care Centers that are located in Won-ju city. The Managers were presented with questions and answered in 20-30 minutes in accordance with the interview instructions. The interview results were analyzed through content analysis, and their experiences and perceptions were classified into two themes and categorized again into four components. Results: The Home Care Center Managers suggested that dental hygienists should activate home-visit oral hygiene services. It is necessary to improve the management process and awareness of the elderly. Conclusions: To activate oral hygiene services, it is necessary to improve the service guideline and enhance the efficiency of the service process. This should be acceptable both to the elderly who need the services and the dental hygienists who provide them.


'Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities' (CBDR-RC) is a core principle in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) used to operationalize equity, but it could be defined in many ways. To date, the bulk of attention has been on the first part of this principle – CBDR – because of the importance of addressing responsibility. However, we propose that a more robust notion of RC is possible, useful and timely as countries are currently articulating their first Nationally Determined Contributions, a process that is expected to ratchet up over time under the new regime. We combine Sen and Nussbaum's notion of a 'capabilities approach' with the framework provided by the UNFCCC to identify five sub-elements of RC and propose metrics for each of them. These sub-elements are human development, economic capacity, resilience to climate impacts, governance capacity, and technical and innovation capacity. We are not proposing replacing discussions of responsibility with those of capabilities. Responsibility remains central to the climate equity discussion. However, differentiation based on responsibility alone may not be adequate to address climate impacts or human development needs, both of which are central to climate equity. Providing countries with a robust approach for articulating RC enhances the overall ability for the principle of CBDR-RC to address the trio of climate equity challenges posed by unequal climate impacts, development status, and responsibility. Moreover, including a more robust notion of capabilities in the operationalization of equity may identify additional means for supporting specific domestic climate policies able to address core development needs in the context of increased carbon constraints and climate impacts.


The major selection of high school students is not only determined on the basis of academic ability but also supported by the interest factor. Students who study a science which suit their characteristics would feel excited when learning the sciences as well as having much influence in academic achievement positively. The purpose of this study is to optimize the process of major selection on the level of senior high school. The model used in the system of decision support was Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) by the method of Simple Additive Weighting (SAW). SAW method is selected for this decision support system because this method determines weights for each attribute, then it is followed by ranking process that will select the best alternative from a number of alternatives.The technique of Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) has the role to accommodate the presence of uncertainty in decision making by providing the value of structured preferences. Research results with FMADM SAW method had the value of accuracy which suits the students' interest as much as 60%, whereas the accuracy obtained in accordance with the reality of majors is as much as 90%. Keywords— FMADM, SAW, Major Selection


As an enlargement of conventional diagnostic methods the cell spectrum of bronchoscopically obtained bronchoalveolar lavage was investigated in 10 patients with progressive systemic scleroderma. Two cases showed marked lymphocytosis, one increased numbers of granulocytes, two patients had marginally increased percentages of inflammatory cells. Four of these patients were in a progressive active phase of scleroderma with humoral inflammation signs and round cell infiltrates of the skin. In contrast, the lavage cell picture of the other five patients was unremarkable. One of these had advanced pulmonary fibrosis, however without signs of progression. The results show that the lavage cell pattern reflects the acute phase with cellular inflammation of lung parenchyma disease such as occurs in progressive systemic scleroderma. Staging of pulmonary organ manifestation in progressive systemic scleroderma can be markedly improved by low-risk bronchoalveolar lavage.


The pore structure of soil plays a decisive role in its engineering properties. In order to investigate the consolidation effect and pore distribution characteristic of saliniferous dredger fill after vacuum preloading, the indoor simulation experiments of vacuum preloading were carried out in two boxes, after vacuum preloading, the dredger fill was tested for its physicochemical and mechanical properties. Simultaneously, the mercury intrusion porosimetry was performed to obtain distribution of pore characteristic parameters, and analyzed its pore diameter distribution of dredger fill after vacuum preloading and the consolidation effect in the perspective of micro and macro. The research showed that the total pore volume and porosity of the No.1 box is lower than the No.2 box, and its bearing capacity and consolidation effect are much higher. When the dredger fill locates at the same distance from drainage plate, the deeper the dredger fill is buried, the smaller the porosity is, the better the bearing capacity and consolidation effect are. The pore of dredger fill in No.1 box is based mainly on meso pore, while the one in No.2 box is based mainly on meso pore and macro pore.


Within the framework of the universal algebra of the electromagnetic field, the impact of globally neutral configurations of external charges on the field is analyzed. External charges are not affected by the field, but they induce localized automorphisms of the universal algebra. Gauss's law implies that these automorphisms cannot be implemented by unitary operators involving only the electromagnetic field, they are outer automorphisms. The missing degrees of freedom can be incorporated in an enlargement of the universal algebra, which can concretely be represented by exponential functions of gauge fields and an abelian algebra describing the external charges. In this manner, gauge fields manifest themselves in the framework of gauge invariant observables. The action of the automorphisms on the vacuum state gives rise to representations of the electromagnetic field with vanishing global charge, which are locally disjoint from the vacuum representation. This feature disappears in the enlarged universal algebra of the electromagnetic field. The energy content of the states is well defined in both cases and bounded from below. The passage from these globally neutral states to charged states and the determination of their energy content are also being discussed.


The goal of this study was to examine salivary factors and formation of dental plaque in elderly subjects who were institutionalized and to relate these factors to general health and medication use. This cross-sectional study consisted of 50 elderly individuals who were institutionalized and 25 healthy young volunteers who served as a reference group. For each subject, salivary flow rates, salivary pH, and buffering capacity were assessed. Baseline Plaque Index and Plaque Formation Rate Index were used as a measure of oral hygiene. Information on each patient's general health and medication use was acquired from the institution. An evaluation of the results of this study suggests that salivary protective qualities and dental plaque levels in the elderly subjects who were institutionalized were worse than in healthy young individuals. An association between the general health of the elderly and salivary flow rate was found.


The dominant role of CaV2 voltage-gated calcium channels for driving neurotransmitter release is broadly conserved. Given the overlapping functional properties of CaV2 and CaV1 channels, and less so CaV3 channels, it is unclear why there have not been major shifts toward dependence on other CaV channels for synaptic transmission. Here, we provide a structural and functional profile of the CaV2 channel cloned from the early-diverging animal Trichoplax adhaerens, which lacks a nervous system but possesses single gene homologues for CaV1–CaV3 channels. Remarkably, the highly divergent channel possesses similar features as human CaV2.1 and other CaV2 channels, including high voltage–activated currents that are larger in external Ba2+ than in Ca2+; voltage-dependent kinetics of activation, inactivation, and deactivation; and bimodal recovery from inactivation. Altogether, the functional profile of Trichoplax CaV2 suggests that the core features of presynaptic CaV2 channels were established early during animal evolution, after CaV1 and CaV2 channels emerged via proposed gene duplication from an ancestral CaV1/2 type channel. The Trichoplax channel was relatively insensitive to mammalian CaV2 channel blockers ω-agatoxin-IVA and ω-conotoxin-GVIA and to metal cation blockers Cd2+ and Ni2+. Also absent was the capacity for voltage-dependent G-protein inhibition by co-expressed Trichoplax Gβγ subunits, which nevertheless inhibited the human CaV2.1 channel, suggesting that this modulatory capacity evolved via changes in channel sequence/structure, and not G proteins. Last, the Trichoplax channel was immunolocalized in cells that express an endomorphin-like peptide implicated in cell signaling and locomotive behavior and other likely secretory cells, suggesting contributions to regulated exocytosis.


In the Multi-Agent Path Finding problem (MAPF), we are given a map and a set of agents with distinct source and goal locations. The task is to compute a path for each agent from its initial location to its goal location without conflicting with other agents. MAPF solvers can be divided into classes based on their purpose. One of these classes is the class of online MAPF algorithms, in which the search for paths is interleaved with the actual physical moves of the agents. A prominent algorithm in this class is the Windowed Hierarchical Cooperative A* algorithm (WHCA*) where paths are planned for each agent individually and cooperation is obtained using a reservation table. A number of extensions for WHCA* already exist. In this paper we propose a general approach for the baseline WHCA* algorithm which is orthogonal to all other existing extensions. We improve WHCA* by introducing the Conflict Oriented (CO) principle for focusing the agent coordination around conflicts. In addition, we provide a conflict-oriented prioritization mechanism that intelligently chooses which agent should act next. Experimental results demonstrate the advantage of our approach over WHCA*.


It is my great pleasure to briefly report on some of Wendelin Werner's research accomplishments that have led to his being awarded a Fields Medal at this International Congress of Mathematicians of 2006. There are a number of aspects of Werner's work that add to my pleasure in this event. One is that he was trained as a probabilist, receiving his Ph.D. in 1993 under the supervision of Jean-François Le Gall in Paris with a dissertation concerning planar Brownian Motion – which, as we shall see, plays a major role in his later work as well. Until now, Probability Theory had not been represented among Fields Medals and so I am enormously pleased to be here to witness a change in that history. I myself was originally trained, not in Probability Theory, but in Mathematical Physics. Werner's work, together with his collaborators such as Greg Lawler, Oded Schramm and Stas Smirnov, involves applications of Probablity and Conformal Mapping Theory to fundamental issues in Statistical Physics, as we shall discuss. A second source of pleasure is my belief that this, together with other work of recent years, represents a watershed in the interaction between Mathematics and Physics generally. Namely, mathematicians such as Werner are not only providing rigorous proofs of already existing claims in the Physics literature, but beyond that are providing quite new conceptual understanding of basic phenomena – in this case, a direct geometric picture of the intrinsically random structure of physical systems at their critical points (at least in two dimensions). One simple but important example is percolation – see Figure 1. Permit me a somewhat more personal remark as director of the Courant Institute for the past four years. We have a scientific viewpoint, as did our predecessor institute in Göttingen – namely, that an important goal should be the elimination of artificial distinctions between the Mathematical Sciences and their applications in other Sciences – I believe Wendelin Werner's work brilliantly lives up to that philosophy. Yet a third source of pleasure concerns the collaborative nature of much ofWerner's work. Beautiful and productive mathematics can be the result of many different personal workstyles. But the highly interactive style, of which Werner, together with Lawler, Schramm and his other collaborators, is a leading exemplar, appeals to many of us as simultaneously good for the soul while leading to work stronger than the sum of its parts. It is a promising sign to see Fields Medals awarded for this style of work.


Transgelins, including transgelin-1 (T-1), transgelin-2 (T-2), and transgelin-3 (T-3), are a family of actin-binding proteins (ABPs) that can alter the structure and morphology of the cytoskeleton. These proteins function by regulating migration, proliferation and apoptosis in many different cancers. Several studies have shown that in various types of tumor cells, including colorectal cancer (CRC) cells, and in the tumor microenvironment, the expression and biological effects of transgelins are diverse and may transform during tumor progression. Previous researches have demonstrated that transgelin levels are positively correlated with metastasis in CRC, and down-regulating their expression can inhibit this process. In advanced disease, T-1 is a tumor activator with increasing expression, and T-2 expression increases with the progression of CRC. Finally, T-3 is only expressed in neurons and is not associated with CRC. This evidence suggests that T-1 and T-2 are potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for CRC metastasis.


Dye-sensitized solar cells based on Zn-doped TiO2 thin film prepared by the hydrothermal method show a photovoltaic efficiency of 7.68%, which is higher than that of the undoped TiO2 thin film (6.16%). The Zn-doped films exhibit an elevated electron Fermi level,which may enhance band bending to lower the density of empty trap states.Because of this Zn-doping,the consequent Dsscs can alleviate the decay of light to electric energy conversion efficiency due to light intensity reduction. Intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopic analysis reveals that enhanced transport of photogenerated electrons as a result of the trap density minimization is responsible for the high photovoltaic performance.


Fructosamine and protein (total and fractionated) were measured in the serum of 170 normal children, ages two weeks to 15 years. The mean fructosamine concentration was 2.12 mmol/L, 5% lower than the mean value observed for adults. We observed no sex-related difference in fructosamine values, but saw a pronounced age dependency of reference values. For children younger than three years, the mean concentration of fructosamine was 15% lower than in adults, but glycated protein concentrations increased with age, reaching essentially adult values by age six years. Expressing fructosamine concentrations per gram of serum total protein or of albumin weakened the influence of age, but did not eliminate it completely. We report reference intervals for fructosamine concentrations in children's sera.


The measurement of cost and efficiency in physical distribution has been a subject of serious debate in marketing literature, particularly the concern for high costs and the need for improvements on the methods and processes of operations. What to be measured and how these are measured remain difficult in physical distribution tasks or functions. A survey design was used, and the population of study was some selected manufacturing firms in south east Nigeria, that are directly involved with finished goods distribution. Data collection was by questionnaire and interview. The data presentation was by simple percentages. The findings were that costs and efficiency in physical distribution were never really measured, appropriated as percentages of stock value and also by estimation. Physical distribution costs is a priority that must be fully established, the methods used properly documented and measures taken to control the costs.


In recent years, multimedia forensics has received rapidly growing attention. One challenging problem of multimedia forensics is source camera identification, the goal of which is to identify the source of a multimedia object, such as digital image and video. Sensor pattern noises, produced by imaging sensors, have been proved to be an effective way for source camera identification. Precisely speaking, the conventional SPN-based source camera identification.has two application models: verification and identification. In the past decade, significant progress has been achieved in the tasks of SPN-based source camera verification and identification. However, there are still many cases requiring solutions beyond the capabilities of the current methods. In this thesis, we considered and addressed two commonly seen but less studied problems.

The first problem is the source camera verification with reference SPNs corrupted by scene details. The most significant limitation of using SPN for source camera identification.is that SPN can be seriously contaminated by scene details. Most existing methods consider the contaminations from scene details only occur in query images but not in reference images. To address this issue, we propose a measurement based on the combination of local image entropy and brightness so as to evaluate the quality of SPN contained by different image blocks. Based on this measurement, a context adaptive reference SPN estimator is proposed to address the problem that reference images are contaminated by scene details.

The second problem that we considered relates to the high computational complexity of using SPN in source camera identification., which is caused by the high dimensionality of SPN. In order to improve identification.efficiency without degrading accuracy, we propose an effective feature extraction algorithm based on the concept of PCA denoising to extract a small set of components from the original noise residual, which tends to carry most of the information of the true SPN signal. To further improve the performance of this framework, two enhancement methods are introduced. The first enhancement method is proposed to take the advantage of the label information of the reference images so as to better separate different classes and further reduce the dimensionality. Secondly, we propose an extension based on Candid Covariance-free Incremental PCA to incrementally update the feature extractor according to the received images so that there is no need to re-conduct training every time when a new image is added to the database. Moreover, an ensemble method based on the random subspace method and majority voting is proposed in the context of source camera identification.to tackle the performance degradation of PCA-based feature extraction method due to the corruption by unwanted interferences in the training set.

The proposed algorithms are evaluated on the challenging Dresden image database and experimental results confirmed their effectiveness.


This study evaluates the differences in preoperative and postoperative health-related quality of life of the patients following heart surgery and observed the factors that influence quality of life changes. This prospective observational study involved two parameters from the SF-36 questionnaire before and one year after heart surgery in a single surgeon's practice. At the baseline assessment of the study observed 140 patients, predominantly were male in both study groups. The mean age was 56.8 ± 4.2 years, 64.7 ± 7.4 years in Group of patients age ≤ 60 years and age >60 year's respectively. In elderly aged group, patients have greater risk of co-morbidity, operative complications, and low preoperative as well as postoperative quality of life score. There was an overall improvement in all majority health domains of the SF-36 questionnaire among study population. Statistical results from Logistic multivariate analysis demonstrates a greater value of preoperative mental component summary scores (p=0.08), and physical component summary scores (p=0.01) as potential risk factors for non-improvement following heart surgery. Although, elderly patients (age >60 year's) with greater operative risk have low preoperative quality of life score, but demonstrate an equal improvement in most of the health domains following heart surgery as like as younger study population.


Robotic assistance through telepresence technology is an emerging area in aiding the visually impaired. By integrating the robotic perception of a remote environment and transferring it to a human user through haptic environmental feedback, the disabled user can increase one's capability to interact with remote environments through the telepresence robot. This paper presents a framework that integrates visual perception from heterogeneous vision sensors and enables real-time interactive haptic representation of the real world through a mobile manipulation robotic system. Specifically, a set of multi-disciplinary algorithms such as stereovision processes, three-dimensional map building algorithms, and virtual-proxy haptic rendering processes are integrated into a unified framework to accomplish the goal of real-world haptic exploration successfully. Results of our framework in an indoor environment are displayed, and its performances are analyzed. Quantitative results are provided along with qualitative results through a set of human subject testing. Our future work includes real-time haptic fusion of multi-modal environmental perception and more extensive human subject testing in a prolonged experimental design.


Introduction: Presence of scattered gamma photons in the projection data of Tc-99m Myocardial SPECT degrades the image quality. Thus, the efficacy of SPECT in patient studies is hampered. This work is aimed at enhancing the image quality and accuracy in measurement of cold defect size by pre-filtering of scattered gamma photons with physical filter.
Material and method: GE Infinia II gamma camera with LEHR collimator was used. A flat sheet of Aluminum 0.1 mm thick, 55 cm x 44 cm sized was mounted on the outer surface of collimator. Carlson's phantom with cardiac insert simulating the left ventricle was scanned. A polystyrene cold defect (9.8 mm x 9.8 mm x 9.8 mm) was placed at the anterior side of the myocardial wall. Water was filled into myocardial wall chamber; Tc-99m with concentration of 3.9μCi/ml was injected. It was inserted into the cylindrical tank after water was filled. Tc-99m radioactivity with 1.1μCi/ml concentration as background was administered. The chamber was positioned according to the orientation of human heart. Energy window (20%) centred at 140 keV was adjusted. Data were registered into a 128x128 matrix with sixty projections with and without physical filter opting step-and-shoot acquisition extended in a 180o arc from 45˚ right anterior oblique to 45˚ left posterior oblique. Filtered back projection method was used for image reconstruction by selecting Butterworth filter of order 10 and cut-off frequency 0.40/cm. Chang's attenuation correction was applied.
Results: Cold defect size measurement and image contour analysis of short axis views show significant improvement (p<0.05) in the accuracy in defect size and image quality with physical filter. Our study demonstrates that this technique is effective in removing scattered gamma photons from SPECT projection data.
Conclusion: Physical filter technique may be implemented in Tc-99m myocardial SPECT clinical studies. Yet still, further studies are required with different phantoms which mimic the human heart closely.


Model ACF joints between glass and flexible substrates were fabricated under various bonding conditions in order to achieve various curing states of adhesive binder. The 90° peel strength of the joints was evaluated under various test speed conditions. During the peel tests, an anchoring effect that is effective to increase the peel strength can be induced by an interdigitated Cu electrode pattern on the flexible substrates. In addition, the mechanical behaviors of the adhesive binder are influential to the peel strength of the joints. The peel strength of the joints tends to decrease with decreasing the test speed due to stress relaxation by the adhesive binder. By using the test speed dependency, the effect of visco-elastic deformation behavior on the peel strength can be characterized separately from the interfacial factors. The evolution behavior of polymer structure in the adhesive binder during the bonding process is also deduced based on the test speed dependency of peel strength.


Electronic coupling of two or more resonances via the electron scattering continuum is investigated. The effect of this coupling as a function of the resonance curves and autoionization widths is investigated, and the conditions for the maximum effect are determined. The theory is applied to two physical problems, the product state distribution produced by the dissociative recombination of electrons with HeH+ and a one-dimensional model for ion-pair production resulting from electron collisions with H+3. It is found that the coupling does not affect the product state distribution in HeH+ but produces a significant effect in the H+3 model.


Entity alignment (EA) is the task of identifying the entities that refer to the same real-world object but are located in different knowledge graphs (KGs). For entities to be aligned, existing EA solutions treat them separately and generate alignment results as ranked lists of entities on the other side. Nevertheless, this decision-making paradigm fails to take into account the interdependence among entities. Although some recent efforts mitigate this issue by imposing the 1-to-1 constraint on the alignment process, they still cannot adequately model the underlying interdependence and the results tend to be sub-optimal. To fill in this gap, in this work, we delve into the dynamics of the decision-making process, and offer a reinforcement learning (RL)–based model to align entities collectively. Under the RL framework, we devise the coherence and exclusiveness constraints to characterize the interdependence and restrict collective alignment. Additionally, to generate more precise inputs to the RL framework, we employ representative features to capture different aspects of the similarity between entities in heterogeneous KGs, which are integrated by an adaptive feature fusion strategy. Our proposal is evaluated on both cross-lingual and mono-lingual EA benchmarks and compared against state-of-the-art solutions. The empirical results verify its effectiveness and superiority.


This article uses Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental model of adolescent stages of moral growth (developmental) to examine Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and how character development might affect adolescent and adult readers' understandings of adolescence (social construction). It argues that young adult books like Asher's reduce the adolescent experience to a series of decisions made by overly exuberant and hormone-ridden brains, and that, therefore, they are ineffective, and even irresponsible, in portraying adolescent life. YA novels make incredible contributions to the cultural construction of adolescent, and examining those contributions is a crucial part of understanding why adolescents hold their current position in society and how that position is constructed.


This paper describes a proof of concept design, development, and implementation for an interactive children's science museum exhibit that uses a TUI (tangible user interface) with a hemispheric surface. The goal of the exhibit is to assist younger students in better understanding the principles of geodesic dome construction developed by R. Buckminster Fuller. Using touch interaction, triangular elements can be selected, moved, and placed to construct geodesic dome patterns. Interacting with these elements on a surface that more closely matches the form of the geodesic dome, children can learn how the proper placement of pieces will lead to the creation a geodesic dome structure without needing to understand the advanced mathematical theories supporting the construction methods.


Platelets have assumed a role in the development of focal cerebral ischemia by virtue of their participation in thromboemboli that may initiate stroke symptoms. Platelets are one component of the blood-vascular axis responsible for preventing hemorrhage. Activated platelets initiate hemostatic plug formation and provide a scaffolding for coagulation activation. Platelets are activated by a number of stimuli, such as exposure of the vascular subendothelium, fibrin deposition, and abnormal surfaces, e.g., atheromata. A number of observations, including the appearance of platelet thrombi on atheromata in situ, indicate that platelet physiology is relevant to stroke. In addition, certain antiplatelet agents (e.g., aspirin) significantly reduce the incidence of ischemic stroke after initial transient ischemic attacks. Aspirin, the combination of aspirin and dipyridamole, and ticlopidine have all been shown to be useful in reducing the frequency of secondary stroke events. Clopidogrel has been shown to reduce the frequency of secondary vascular ischemic events when stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral arterial disease are considered together. Unfortunately, all antithrombotic agents carry a potential risk for inducing symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage during ischemic stroke. The mechanism by which this may happen with antiplatelet agents has not yet been determined. As in other areas of stroke treatment, it is the balance between efficacy in reduction of symptomatic thrombotic events and the risk for hemorrhage that will define benefit.


The Parrot's Voice and the Partridge's Feathers: The Languaging of Animals and Animal Language in Early Indian Texts Andrea Lorene Gutierrez, MA The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Joel Brereton Co-supervisor: Martha Selby Language about animals and the way writers "language" animals reveal a great deal about how humans model themselves, animals, and human-animal relations; pre-modern Indian literature is no different. The early poets and story writers of India transposed humans with animals and vice versa, usually via speaking birds. Sanskrit grammarians explored the question of what defines human and animal through the lens of speech, including bird speech. Recent research in the areas of animal studies and new materialism aids our understanding of these early literary forms and historical discussions from the subcontinent. I explore a number of Sanskrit and Pāli texts from literary, religious, and commentarial traditions in order to develop a new assessment of agency enacted through animal voice and speech. I posit that a "Brahmin-bird entanglement" has been existent since the Vedic period in texts and recitation practices and that Brahmins identified with and entangled their traditions with birds, accounting for bird names for ascetic practices, hymns, and Vedic lineages. Sometimes texts envisioned birds as retainers of Brahmanical iv traditions; at other times, entanglements between human and bird show how authors defined and differentiated religious identity. I propose a re-interpretation of authorship that challenges pre-existing ideas about the recitation tradition and creative acts of speech. Using evidence from epic, Puranic, and Buddhist literature along with grammatical debates and the early Sanskrit novel, I illuminate ideas concerning subjectivity, narration, and voice that were present in early Indian texts.


This paper explores how the Capability Approach (CA) can inform a critical analysis of child protection policy, with particular reference to poverty, parenting and maltreatment. The CA, originally developed by the Nobel-Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, is an approach that has been used widely in a range of disciplines and policy domains. Here, we outline the CA and examine how it can inform our understanding of the impact of the current policies on families living in poverty and especially those involved in the child protection system. The CA offers a multidimensional framework that incorporates both individual and social causes into analysis. Drawing upon the CA, we argue that there is both a moral and legal imperative to rethink current child welfare policy in relation to families living in poverty. We suggest that the CA offers a framework for the development of more humane and socially just social work practice.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing concern worldwide, affecting 25% of the global population. NAFLD is a multifactorial disease with a broad spectrum of pathology includes steatosis, which gradually progresses to a more severe condition such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, and eventually leads to hepatic cancer. Several risk factors, including exposure to environmental toxicants, are involved in the development and progression of NAFLD. Environmental factors may promote the development and progression of NAFLD by various biological alterations, including mitochondrial dysfunction, reactive oxygen species production, nuclear receptors dysregulation, and interference in inflammatory and immune-mediated signaling. Moreover, environmental contaminants can influence immune responses by impairing the immune system's components and, ultimately, disease susceptibility. Flame retardants (FRs) are anthropogenic chemicals or mixtures that are being used to inhibit or delay the spread of fire. FRs have been employed in several household and outdoor products; therefore, human exposure is unavoidable. In this review, we summarized the potential mechanisms of FRs-associated immune and inflammatory signaling and their possible contribution to the development and progression of NAFLD, with an emphasis on FRs-mediated interferon signaling. Knowledge gaps are identified, and emerging pharmacotherapeutic molecules targeting the immune and inflammatory signaling for NAFLD are also discussed.


Background:The prediction of neurologic outcome is a fundamental concern in the resuscitation of patients with severe brain injury. Objective:To provide an evidence-based update on neurologic prognosis following traumatic brain injury and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after cardiac arrest. Data Source:Search of the PubMed database and manual review of bibliographies from selected articles to identify original data relating to prognostic methods and outcome prediction models in patients with neurologic trauma or hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Data Synthesis and Conclusion:Articles were scrutinized regarding study design, population evaluated, interventions, outcomes, and limitations. Outcome prediction in severe brain injury is reliant on features of the neurologic examination, anatomical and physiological changes identified with CT and MRI, abnormalities detected with electroencephalography and evoked potentials, and physiological and biochemical derangements at both the brain and systemic levels. Use of such information in univariable association studies generally lacks specificity in classifying neurologic outcome. Furthermore, the accuracy of established prognostic classifiers may be affected by the introduction of outcome-modifying interventions, such as therapeutic hypothermia following cardiac arrest. Although greater specificity may be achieved with scoring systems derived from multivariable models, they generally fail to predict outcome with sufficient accuracy to be meaningful at the single patient level. Discriminative models which integrate knowledge of genetic determinants and biologic processes governing both injury and repair and account for the effects of resuscitative and rehabilitative care are needed.


† International accounting standards tend to converge, as do auditing, enforcement, and corporate governance, whereas trading of equity shares remains essentially national. The book provides a thorough analysis of what information investors really need, how financial accounting systems developed and their current requirements in major commercial countries, and examines current issues, particularly the benefits and costs a single or multiple accounting standards, the bases for accounting standards, and limitations to accounting disclosure in financial statements.


Current crack sealant specifications utilize a simple empirical bond test [ASTM D5329, "Standard Test Methods for Sealants and Fillers, Hot-Applied, for Joints and Cracks in Asphaltic and Portland Cement Concrete Pavements"] to measure a sealant's ability to adhere to concrete briquettes. However, no correlation exists between the results of this standard test and a sealant's field performance. To bridge the gap between sealants' fundamental properties and field performance, performance-based guidelines for the selection of hot-poured crack sealants have been developed. This paper proposes a new test procedure to help assess the capability of sealants to adhere to the sides of cracks in pavement. The proposed crack sealant adhesion direct tensile (CSADT) test procedure calls for the use of a direct tensile tester with modifications to the end pieces and the specimen holder. Sealant is confined between two aluminum pieces, which will move apart at 0.05 mm/s until failure occurs. Failure load and the displacement at failure are recorded and then used to assess the sealant's adhesion capability. A crack created on one side of the assembly during specimen preparation determines the initial failure location and ensures that the failure occurs at the interface and not within the sealant. The specimen preparation is designed to simulate sealant installation, and experimental conditions have been developed to represent crack openings during pavement contraction in cold weather. The repeatability of the suggested procedure was acceptable with an average coefficient of variation of 10.9 %. No significant difference existed between two operators or between two test setups.


he existence of planetary systems around other stars is one of the most hotly debated issues in modern-day astronomy. A clue to such systems is the presence of disks of dust particles and gas out of which planets are thought to coagulate. In this paper we present the first submillimetre images of the dust around the nearby stars Beta Pictoris, Fomalhaut and Vega. In each case, the dust extent is comparable to the size of the Kuiper belt in the Solar System. For Beta Pictoris the dust emission closely follows that seen in optical images. In the case of Fomalhaut the dust distribution displays a central cavity approximately the size of our planetary system, and the image can be interpreted as an edge-on torus, within which planetary formation has begun. The results for Vega are the most challenging to current theories of planetary formation, and show a peak of the dust emission offset from the star. These results will be discussed more fully in the display paper.


Recent work has offered competing explanations for the long-term evolution of corporate political action in the United States. In one, scholars have theorized that long-term structural changes in the American political and economic landscape may have radically transformed inter-corporate network structures and changed the political orientation of corporate elites. In another, a small group of corporate elites continues to dominate government policy by advocating for class-wide interests through occupying key positions in government and policy planning groups. We offer new evidence of patterns in and predictors of political strategies among the nation's elite corporate directors. We utilize an original dataset (the Longitudinal Elite Contributor Database) linked with registries of corporate directors and their board memberships. We ask: (1) has the political activity, unity, or pragmatism of the corporate elite declined since 1982; and (2) are individuals who direct multiple firms more pragmatic in their political action? Evidence suggests that corporate elites are more politically active and unified, and continue to exercise pragmatic political strategies vis-à-vis their campaign donations. Using random- and fixed-effects models, we present evidence to suggest that becoming a member of the inner circle has a significant moderating effect on elite political behavior. We offer an alternative mechanism of elite coordination that may help explain the continued political cohesion of the corporate elite.


According to the design demands of the steer-by-wire system, a PIlDm controller based on fractional calculus was proposed. Aligning controller and steering controller were respectively designed to achieve the aligning and steering function of the front wheel steering module, which can ensure the robust of the steer-by-wire system during the special ranges of frequency. The five design parameters of fractional PIlDm controller were achieved by optimization method. Oustaloup method was used to approximate the fractional PIlDm controller and simulation model was achieved, which can be used in Matlab/Simulink. Computational simulations of the control system were carried out and simulation results showed the effectiveness of the control method to improve the robust of the steering-by-wire system.


Changed conditions in manufacturing industries' business strategies, i.e. intentions to earn more revenue from service provision, motivate the introduction of rough and sketchy prototypes as part of the learning and collaboration activities. This paper presents and compares changed conditions between traditional and novel in general, but particularly exemplifies the importance of prototyping in such a new setting. This is done, not only to inspire CogInfoCom research, but also to contribute to the use of prototyping and learning in modern product development. The paper's objective is to discuss how prototyping can benefit radical thinking and learning for innovation.


ABSTRACT
The molecular signaling pathway linked to hyper-trophy of the anti-gravity/postural soleus muscle af-ter mechanical overloading has not been identified. Using Western blot and immunohistochemical analy-ses, we investigated whether the amounts of NFATc3, GSK-3?, NFATc1, and neonatal MHC change in the mechanically overloaded soleus muscle after cyc-losporine A (CsA) treatment. Adult male ICR mice were subjected to a surgical ablation of the gas-trocnemius muscle and treated with either CsA (25 mg/Kg) or vehicle once daily. They were sacrificed at 2, 4, 7, 10, and 14 days post-injury. Mechanical over-loading resulted in a significant increase in the wet weight and the cross-sectional area of slow and fast fibers of the soleus muscle in placebo-treated mice but not CsA-treated mice. After 4 days of mechanical overloading, we observed a similar co-localization of neonatal MHC and NFATc3 in several myotubes of both mice. The placebo-treated mice possessed larger myotubes with neonatal MHC than CsA-treated mice. At 7 days, mechanical overloading induced marked expression of neonatal MHC in myotubes and/or myofibers. Such neonatal MHC-positive fibers emerged less often in the hypertrophied soleus mus-cle subjected to treatment with CsA. CsA treatment did not significantly change the amount of GSK-3? protein in the soleus muscle. The modulation of growth in neonatal MHC-positive myofibers by CsA treatment may inhibit the hypertrophic process in the soleus muscle after mechanical overloading.


CASUISTICAL CONNECTIONS FROM DUNTON TO DEFOE John E. Fossum Department of English Master of English This master's thesis is primarily concerned with the philosophical conditions of late seventeenthand early eighteenth-century England that encouraged the emergence of periodical literature and perpetuated the birth of the novel. While most connections between periodical literature and the novel are made on how the former created the readership that ensured the latter's success, I focus on how the epistemology unique to the advent of empirical science together with the growing prominence of casuistic thought created a space in which periodical literature could emerge and the early novel could flourish. I investigate the underlying assertion of a particular philosophical amalgam that I call casuisticempiricism. Such philosophies encouraged the Renaissance trend that devalued letter-of-thelaw thinking, which led ultimately to a significant epistemological transformation in seventeenth-century England. Recognizing the immensity of this epistemological shift, I focus on the early seventeenth-century practice of casuistry as an outgrowth fueled by seventeenth-century natural philosophy. By investigating the poetry and prose of John Donne, I emphasize the pervasive threads of casuistic thought that found parallels in empirical epistemology. I proceed in a linear fashion by following the evolution and growing pervasiveness of casuistic culture into its period of culmination marked by the birth of the Athenian Gazette. Readers' prominent attraction to the periodical is shown to run on a parallel with the incipient empiricism. Indeed, the two prominent lines of thought (empiricism and casuistry) form a dynamic binary where each feeds off of and is fed by the other, culminating in a unique epistemology that aided the emergence of the early novel. Extending this discussion of periodical literature's casuistical qualities into Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, I investigate how Defoe's ties to casuistry are reflected in and perpetuated by Crusoe, illustrating how the novel becomes a medium for resolving cases of conscience. The novel as a genre is shown to be more than just a close relative of the periodical, both genres being spurred into prominence by some of the more salient features attendant to casuistic-empirical philosophy. The novel becomes finally a type of culminating product of a unique casuistic-empirical practice that accounts for the full range of experiences involved in reaching justified conclusions.


Welcome to the first issue of Acupuncture in Medicine of 2017, which begins with two interesting review articles. The first, which is also incidentally this month's editor's choice article, is a conventional systematic review and meta-analysis that comes courtesy of the integrative medical research group at Stanford University who, together with colleagues in China, set out to evaluate the potential role of acupuncture for the management of post-stroke hiccups. Although ultimately limited by the methodological quality of a relatively small number of included trials, their findings indicate that acupuncture may help induce the cessation of hiccups when used as an adjunct to pharmacological therapy including baclofen, sodium valproate, anisodamine hydrobromide and atropine. Though no definite conclusions could be drawn, their tentative findings are encouraging and contribute to an ever-growing literature on multi-modal treatment approaches to stroke rehabilitation, where acupuncture may induce a number of positive effects. 2 The second review, by Clark et al. takes a rather different form, presenting a critical interpretive synthesis that effectively "brainstorms" the entire topic of acupuncture for plantar heel pain beyond simple assessment of effectiveness, which was previously addressed by the authors' earlier (conventional) systematic review on the same subject, which appeared in the pages of this journal in 2012. This new paper offers numerous novel insights and highlights the diversity of acupuncture practice; its fascinating methodology can no doubt be extrapolated to many other domains of acupuncture. These reviews are followed by two secondary analyses of published randomised controlled trials (RCTs). MacPherson et al. extend the follow-up period of their high quality RCT of acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome, published in BMC Gastroenterology back in 2012, out to 24 months, in order to explore the longer-term (likely non-specific) effects of the acupuncture intervention and the associated interaction with the practitioner. Although no sustained effect of acupuncture was observed at the new two-year time point, their updated mathematical model further highlighted the beneficial effects seen at the original study's time points, commensurate with the findings of the authors' original report. This is followed by another analysis by Yeung et al. examining potential factors that might predict the response to acupuncture amongst RCT participants with insomnia; the authors report that higher educational levels are associated with greater therapeutic benefit.Following these secondary analyses, we have two excellent surveys. Firstly, Mayor and Bovey present the findings of what is arguably the largest-ever international survey of acupuncture practitioners on the topic of electroacupuncture (EA) and reveal interesting patterns of EA use with respect to practitioner demographics, professional background and geographical distribution. Secondly, Lee et al. explore and confirm a potential relationship between the use of acupuncture and the phenomenon of "pain catastrophising" (the tendency to exaggerate and misinterpret the experience of pain) in breast cancer survivors. Elsewhere in this issue you will find a new basic science report in a rodent model of Alzheimer's disease exploring the contribution of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ, which sheds further light on the potential mechanisms of action underlying the effects of acupuncture in this condition, thus extending the findings of other recent preclinical studies on this topic. 4 This is followed by two other rodent experiments highlighting the critical role of the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus in mediating the beneficial effects of EA on reproductive function following ovariectomy, and the role of N-methyl-D-asparate (NMDA) receptors in mediating the effect of EA on pain in fibromyalgia, a condition for which verum acupuncture has recently been demonstrated to outperform sham. We end with a case series of myofascial trigger point dry needling in patients affected by both sleep bruxism and temporomandibular disorders.


Identifying meaningful signal buried in noise is a problem of interest arising in diverse scenarios of data-driven modeling. We present here a theoretical framework for exploiting intrinsic geometry in data that resists noise corruption, and might be identifiable under severe obfuscation. Our approach is based on uncovering a valid complete inner product on the space of ergodic stationary finite valued processes, providing the latter with the structure of a Hilbert space on the real field. This rigorous construction, based on non-standard generalizations of the notions of sum and scalar multiplication of finite dimensional probability vectors, allows us to meaningfully talk about "angles" between data streams and data sources, and, make precise the notion of orthogonal stochastic processes. In particular, the relative angles appear to be preserved, and identifiable, under severe noise, and will be developed in future as the underlying principle for robust classification, clustering and unsupervised featurization algorithms.


Emergency management systems deal with the dynamic processing of data, where response teams must continuously adapt to the changing conditions at the scene of the emergency. Response teams must make critical decisions in highly demanding situations using large volumes of sensor data. Mobile devices have limited processing, storage, and battery resources; therefore, the sensed data from the scene of the emergency must be transmitted and processed quickly using the best available networks and clouds. Mobile cloud computing (MCC) is expected to play a critical role in the computation and storage offloading of sensor data to the best available clouds. However, applications running on mobile devices using clouds and heterogeneous access networks such as Wi-Fi and 3G are prone to unpredictable cloud workloads, network congestion, and handoffs. This article presents M2C2, a system for mobility management in MCC, that supports mechanisms for multihoming, cloud and network probing, and cloud and network selection. Through a prototype implementation and experiments, the authors show that M2C2 supports mobility efficiently in MCC scenarios such as emergency management.


Cancer patients have a 1 in 200 risk of a venous thromboembolic event, which is five times higher than the general population. Low molecular weight heparins are used in the treatment of venous thrombo-embolism but a patient weight calculation is required to determine the correct dose. Incorrect weight estimations can lead to serious adverse effects. In general hospices do not have ways of accurately assessing patient weight. Recent guidance from the National Patient Safety Agency has specified guidelines on treatment. Aim To assess hospice compliance with recommendations from the NPSA. To initiate appropriate changes in clinical practice relating to prescribing of LMWH. Method Retrospective audit of clinical records of patients who were on treatment for venous thrombo-embolic disease. Results ▶ 5/6 patients with venous thrombo-embolic disease were anticoagulated ▶ 0 patients were weighed prior to treatment ▶ Limited use of biochemical screening prior to treatment ▶ Incomplete documentation/communication to other healthcare professionals. Conclusion ▶ If weighing equipment not available other methods of assessing patient weight are required ▶ Essential information should be documented and communicated when patient care transferred to another setting ▶ Discussion of the pros and cons of anticoagulation should be part of routine care for all patients. ▶ Need for education for all hospice staff ▶ Review of documentation used ▶ Need for reaudit within 6 months.


As network science and technology continues to gain popularity, it becomes imperative to develop procedures to examine emergent network domains, as well as classical networks, to help ensure their overall optimization. Advanced Methods for Complex Network Analysis features the latest research on the algorithms and analysis measures being employed in the field of network science. Highlighting the application of graph models, advanced computation, and analytical procedures, this publication is a pivotal resource for students, faculty, industry practitioners, and business professionals interested in theoretical concepts and current developments in network domains.


Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder with an unknown etiology. Some recent studies report the presence of a microscopic inflammation in people with IBS. This micro-inflammation can be due to an alteration in the pattern of recognition receptors especially in Toll-like receptors (TLRs). In this systematic review, we reviewed an evaluated existing studies related to TLRs and their changes in patients with IBS. Materials and Methods: Three science citation index databases including Web of Science, Pubmed and Embase were searched for related keywords from September 2000 to September 2018. There was no language restriction. Two reviewers screened and extracted data independently. Results: A total of 178 records were retrieved and eight eligible studies (265 patients) were included for data extraction and analysis. The results showed that, compared with the healthy group, the expression of some of the TLRs such as TLR2, TLR3, TLR4 and TLR5 increased whereas the expression of some others including TLR7 and TLR8 decreased significantly. Conclusion:  Alteration of TLRs in patients with IBS can be due to changes in microbiota causing a micro-inflammation. This alteration can have a potential role in pathophysiology of IBS.


The authors radioimmunoassayed cyclic nucleotide concentrations in plasma and biopsied muscles of muscular dystrophy and muscles of chicken embryo. c-AMP concentrations in plasma were significantly lowered in Duchenne-type muscular dystrophy and this lowered degree was correlated with the stage of progression. Plasma c-GMP levels were also depressed in Duchenne-type dystrophy. In biopsied muscles, c-AMP concentrations per milligram of non-collagen protein were within normal limits. Therefore, the decrease of plasma c-AMP concentrations might be an expression of total metabolic changes rather than a pathologic process of the muscle itself. As for the dystrophic chicken embryo, both c-AMP and GMP concentrations were decreasing in the pectoral muscles in parallel with the advancement of hatching stages.


Understanding the genomic signatures of population differentiation is fundamental to obtain a comprehensive view of the evolutionary process of organisms. Grass carp is one of the most important fish species in the world due to its significant value in aquaculture and world-wide vegetation biocontrol. However, little is known about the contemporary population structure and also the genetic basis of adaptation to a wide range of latitudinal environments. Using 43310 SNPs generated by genotyping by sequencing in 197 grass carps from nine populations, we examined the patterns of population differentiation, historical introduction and evidence of local selection. The overall genetic differentiation across all native populations was unexpectedly low. Nevertheless, these native populations were clearly differentiated into three genetic clusters, corresponding to the Yangtze River, the Pearl River and the Heilongjiang River System, respectively. Populations in Malaysia, India and Nepal, with the earliest introduction records, most likely have an origin from the Pearl River System. Using conceptually different approaches, 451 loci were detected under potential local selection, among which 84 were annotated to have a gene feature. 19.0% of the genes under putative selection were involved in immune responses, while 42.9% of the annotated loci showed a signature of latitudinal variation. This study provides valuable information for application of genomic tools in addressing questions concerning population differentiation that was influenced by both neutral and adaptive forces, as well as human activities.


Author(s): Mallin, David Joseph | Advisor(s): Taborek, Peter | Abstract: The work presented in this thesis represents two research projects which, simply put, both explore the hydrodynamics of fluids flowing along a solid boundary. In practice, the two experiments take place under the extremes of their very different conditions: one taking place at room temperature, but on a nanoscopic scale at many times ambient pressure and the other visible to the naked eye, but over a range of low pressures and at temperatures colder than outer space. The first project probes the no-slip boundary condition with the direct measurements of the smallest pressure-driven water flow through single nanotubes. The no-slip boundary condition is tested by performing room-temperature water flow experiments in both bare silica hydrophilic nanotubes and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coated hydrophobic nanotubes, in order to resolve conflict in current literature. Flow rates of water through hydrophilic and hydrophobic single pipes with diameters ranging from 10 $\mu$m to 200 nm have been measured. A method of coating the pipes with a hydrophobic polymer roughly 2 nm thick was developed and the hydrophobic nature of the pipes after treatment was verified. The exact diameters of the tubes were measured using a gaseous flow impedance test, imaged directly via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), or measured through atomic force microscopy (AFM). The flow rates through both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic pipes agree with theory for viscous Poiseuille flow and are effectively indistinguishable from each other.The second research project presents the first observation of the spreading of normal and superfluid helium drops from 1.0-5.2$^\circ$K. Optical and interferometric measurements were taken from both side and below points of view within a custom designed and fabricated cryostat. Images were taken at both high-speed and low-speed to observe different spreading regimes for the drops. High speed measurements showed initial spreading speeds that follow the $r\propto t^{1/2}$ power law determined by inertia-capillary balance and show a weak viscosity dependence. The long-term measurements showed anomalously flat drop profiles and a defined contact line that persist for up to 15 minutes despite the completely wetting nature of liquid helium and the existence of a $\approx$40 nm standing film. The observed long-term spreading power law of $r\propto t^{1/7}$ was greater than those predicted by scaling solutions in lubrication theory for normal drops, and demonstrate the first experimental evidence of spreading controlled by contact line dissipation mechanisms. Superfluid drops had lifetimes too short to observe long-term spreading. The short supeerfluid drop lifetime is thought to be caused by superfluid outflow through the liquid film which covers the substrate. Several other phenomena were observed, but not rigorously studied, including apparent Leidenfrost at low $\Delta T$ and critical opalescence.


This thesis investigates the chemistry of 25 ascidian species collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa with a concerted focus on metal accumulation by these ascidians and the possible interaction of these metals with ascidian metabolites. Chapter 2 details the screening techniques employed to establish the presence of nitrogenous metabolites (1H15N HMBC), hyper-accumulated metal ions (ICP-MS) and potential metal ion/ ascidian metabolite complexes (LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS). Unfortunately, exhaustive attempts to detect intact metal ion/ascidian metabolite complexes through the use of liquid chromatography with parallel inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ICPMS/ESI-MS) were unsuccessful. However, the LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS data obtained for the crude organic extracts of six of the Algoa Bay ascidian species, Distaplia skoogi, Aplidium monile, Aplidium sp., Didemnum sp., Leptoclindines sp. and Polycitor sp. enabled identification of a number of ten halogenated metabolites, namely the indoles 2.282.30, and the tyramine and tyrosine derivatives (2.31-2.33, 2.41, 2.43, 2.44 and 2.46), within the ascidian extracts. This study confirmed that LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS is a powerful tool for the dereplication of halogenated metabolites in complex mixtures especially where these compounds are present in very small amounts. This study is also the first report of these compounds (eight of which are known) in African ascidians. Compounds 2.32 and 2.46 have not been reported before from a marine source. Compounds 2.28-2.30 and 2.33 were present in sufficient amounts in the respective ascidian extracts to allow their isolation and structure elucidation using standard spectroscopic techniques Chapter 3 explores the ability of ascidians to accumulate a wide range of metal ions at concentrations which are often orders of magnitude higher than those of the surrounding sea water. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the total ion concentrations of 24 metals in 25 Algoa Bay ascidian species. To the best of our knowledge this is the largest and most extensive investigation of metal concentrations in a group of different ascidians occurring in the same area. Hypotheisizing that the metal ion concentrations for each ascidian specimen screened may represent a unique fingerprint for each specimen principal component analysis (PCA) was used in an attempt to establish whether there were spatial, temporal or phylogenetic relationships associated with the metal concentration fingerprints of the ascidians that formed part of this study. The PCA results showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between ascidian metal ion concentrations and either the collection year or the collection site of the ascidians. However, species from the family Didemnidae provided the clearest statistical evidence supporting a phylogenetic relationship between these ascidians and their hyperaccumulated metal ion profiles. Furthermore, these results suggested that ascidian species are indeed actively concentrating metal ions from the surrounding sea water and are not simply sinks for passively accumulated metal ions. Interestingly, the concentration of vanadium in the set of iii ascidians studied did not appear to correlate with any of the other metals accumulated by these ascidians suggesting that there is possibly a unique method employed for the accumulation of vanadium by ascidians. Chapter 4 investigated this possibility further after the nucleosides 4.10, 4.11, 4.13, 4.15, 4.17 and 4.40 were isolated from the vanadium accumulating ascidian Aplidium monile. Studies into the interactions between nucleosides and vanadyl are unfortunately rare and usually qualitative in nature with limited information provided about the stability or structures of the complexes formed. The vanadyl accumulating aplousobranch ascidians e.g. Aplidium monile dominated our study of Algoa Bay ascidians therefore providing us with the rationale to investigate the relatively little studied binding ability and stability of vandyl-nucleoside complexes. Potentiometric studies were conducted to determine the stability constants of complexes formed between the oxovanadium ion vanadyl (VO2+) and the commercially available nucleosides 4.10-4.14. The data afforded by this analysis clearly confirmed the complexity of the vanadyl/nucleoside complexation and suggested that guanosine (4.12) formed the most stable complex with oxovanadium ions. We were also able to establish a third protonation constant for the hydroxyl moiety in 4.12 with a logK 8.87 which has not been previously reported. Finally, Chapter 5 revisited the cytoxicity two Algoa Bay ascidians, Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense the extracts from which produced promising bioactivity results in previous studies against oesophageal cancer cells. The HP-20 fractionated extracts of Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense proved to be similalrly cytotoxic to breast cancer cells. With the exception for the 100% acetone(aq)fractions the NMR data for both species suggested that most active non polar fractions were dominated by what appeared to be structurally unremarkable fatty acid glycerides and as such were not pursued further. Purification of the 100% acetone(aq)fraction of A. marinense resulted in the isolation of a styrene trimer, 5.1, common to both ascidian extracts. The NMR simulation software WIN-DAISY was employed to confirm the structure of 5.1. Attempts to establish if 5.1 was an isolation artefact or a product of marine pollution


Professor Patrick Messerlin gave the 2007 Richard Snape Lecture, "Economic and Regulatory Reforms in Europe: Past Experiences and Future Challenges", at the Productivity Commission's office in Melbourne, on 30 October 2007.Patrick Messerlin is Professor of Economics at the Institute d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, the most prestigious French academic institution specializing in public policy. He is the Director of the Groupe d'Economie Mondiale (GEM) - an independent research unit seeking to improve French and European public policies in a global world.Professor Messerlin has previously held a variety of positions and consulting roles including at the World Bank and the WTO. He is a specialiast in international trade and policy. His current research interests include WTO issues, liberalisation in services and associated regulatory reforms. His latest books include 'Europe After the "No" Votes' and 'Measuring the Costs of Protection in the European Community'.


[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Arvest Bank pays three employees to do nothing fish all week. Of course, they're not casting for largemouth baas. The three troll websites and the social mesh scene for mentions about Arvest, and for communications by Arvest employees that, perhaps, ought best be kept off the web. "And when they catch a fish, it's normally a big one," says Tammy Kee, Arvest senior vice-president and group compliance director. Arvest, an $11 billion-assets bank headquartered in Fayetteville, Ark., doesn't kid around. Fish caught online The bank's "anglers" look not just for external parties' badmouthing or worse of Arvest, but also for postings on social media sites or other web formats by Arrest employees that are inappropriate, embarrassing to the bank, or explicitly barred by the company's social media policy. A blatant example, Kee told bankers at ABA's recent Regulatory Compliance Conference, was "One Hot Party Girl." This mortgage lender was promoting loan rates through her Facebook page. Her page update promised, "I can guarantee you a mortgage loan rate at 5.25% email me at firstname.lastname@example.com or my home onehotpartygirl@hotmail." (These are not the real addresses.) "Party Girl" crossed the line in multiple ways, beyond a questionable internet handle. Her marketing message lacked disclosures triggered by wording and data, potentially exposing Arvest to regulatory issues. And her Facebook page was decorated by a shot of herself in a bikini. "'A small bikini,' I might add," said Kee. Normally, an Arvest employee who went that far afield of the company's employee social media policy would be at risk of losing their jobs. "We have fired people, and we will fire people" who violate policy, said Kee. "Many of our people are young, and cool, and aggressive," said Kee, "and they are on commission and they are open to anything that is out there" to advance their business goals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kee said that her bank once thought it didn't need a social media policy. Now, it has one and she urged listeners to adopt one. The bikini banker has since been put on a short leash, and knows that Kee is watching. The only reason she wasn't fired is because, lacking a policy when she made her move on Facebook, there wasn't anything explicit she could be held in violation of. Now, employees must sign the policy to signify that they have read it and agree to abide by it. "The policy comes into play when you have a problem," said Kee, "and, believe me, you will have a problem." Kee added that the periodic need to terminate violators resonates. "When the employees see people get fired over this," she said, "the news spreads like wildfire." Setting boundaries The company's policy establishes some boundaries, and one is that once an employee puts the bank's name, a bank email address, or a bank phone number into a social media communication, "they belong to me," said Kee. That means whatever they do must meet the rules and must be in compliance, if they are allowed to continue. Some banks attempt to rein in employee social media participation--due to concerns over the risks or simply because they want their full attention on their job-by blocking access to social media sites on bank computers. …


In this paper, we propose a soft value modification (SVM) algorithm, based on which we further propose a new low-complexity iterative decoding technique for the conventional serial concatenated coding system which consists of Reed-Solomon (RS) code and Trellis coded Modulation (TCM) scheme with an interleaver in between. In our decoding technique, the RS decoder is based on Berlekamp-Massey (BM) algorithm, and the TCM decoder is based on Viterbi (VB) algorithm. After each iteration, the data bits and the err-flag information generated from the output of RS decoder can be fed back to the input of VB decoder as reference information, which combined with the SVM algorithm helps the VB decoder to decide whether and how to modify the corresponding soft values from the channel output. This modification approach makes the soft value more reliable than the previous version and, thus, increases the VB and RS decoder's correction capacity. Extensive simulation results in different systems highlight the proposed scheme's coding gain over the conventional two-stage decoding algorithm. Finally, a low-complexity architecture for hardware implementation of this novel iterative decoding technique is suggested, and the comparison with the pipeline architecture found in the literature shows the advantages of our proposal.


The study documents how people living in poor urban communities in Guatemala perceive violence. Specifically, it identifies the categories of violence affecting poor communities, the costs of different types of violence, the effects on violence on social capital, the interventions employed by people to deal with violence, and the causes and effects of social exclusion. The study develops a violence-capital-exclusion nexus which is an analytical framework linking different types of violence both to society's capital and to the exclusion of its poor population. To incorporate the rarely heard voices of the poor, the study uses participatory urban appraisal methodology, which emphasizes local knowledge and enables local people to analyze the problems they face and identify their own solutions. Local-level recommendations for reducing violence can be summed up in terms of six priorities: Rebuild trust in the police and judicial system. Attack the problem of alcoholism. Reduce society's tolerance for intrafamily violence. Prevent the spread of drug consumption. Transform maras (violent youth gangs) from perverse to productive social organizations. Develop mechanisms to build sustainable community-based membership organizations.


In order to solve the problem with the new environment of fast growth of audio resources on the Internet, we have presented a syllable-based approach which is capable of retrieving Mandarin voice records using queries of unconstrained speech. However, the performance achieved by this previously proposed approach is still not satisfactory, and one of the reason is that very often the information provided by the speech query for the request subject may not be sufficient. We present approaches based the relevance feedback technique to improving the performance of the previous research. The proposed approaches include a relevance measure adjustment scheme using a relevance table for the voice database, a query expansion scheme to generate a new query including the feedback information, and a combination of these two schemes. Extensive preliminary experiments were performed and demonstrated.


Abstract This article takes advantage of three new big historical datasets to identify four salient features of the Chinese academe during the Republic of China. First, it was highly international in terms of training. Second, the proportion of female students was unexpectedly large. Third, there was a heavy emphasis on STEM subjects. Finally, the social and spatial origins of China's university students and university faculty members changed from a national population of civil servant families to business and professional families largely from Jiangnan and the Pearl River Delta. The datasets are the China University Student Dataset – Republic of China, which includes almost half of all students to graduate from a Chinese university during the first half of the 20th century; the China University Student Dataset – Overseas, which includes the vast majority of all Chinese students to graduate from a North American, European or Japanese university during this same period; and the China University Employee Dataset, which includes almost all university faculty members in China, 1941–1950.


The thesis is about class relations, gender relations, and the relations
between these analytically separable systems of social differentiation.
A method of articulation is developed which focusses particular
attention on the complexities of the connections between class and
gender relations. It is argued that these complexities are constituted
in the coherencies, incoherencies, contradictions, tensions and
ambiguities between and within these categories of relations. These are
explored within the production and education contexts, as well as in the
context of the relationship between these two sets of social
institutions. Basically this method explores the moving, informing and
shaping of the structures of class and of gender relations by each
other.
The method of articulation, proposed in the thesis, is based on a
structuration process approach. Analysis centres, in the first
instance, on the differences and similarities between substantive
expressions of gender relations and between substantive expressions of
class relations. Analysis then proceeds to examining the pattern in
which certain forms of gender, and certain forms of class,
subordination/superordination, coincide. In other words, analysis
explores a distinctive category of relations, constituted by emergent
patterns at points of interconstitution of these analytically separable
sets of relations. In short, this method analyses the structures of
class and of gender relations as working on and through each other.
This is conceptualized as structural agency. Connections between
structural agency and human agency are explored as a component of the
articulation of class and gender relations.
The empirical focus of the thesis is a specific sphere of 'women's work
and education'. That is, inter-connections between class relations and
gender relations are explored by using the proposed method of
articulation to analyse reproduction of secretarial labour power within
education and the mechanisms which connect this vocational education
with secretarial production. Secondary source data on secretarial labour processes are re-analysed through the method of articulation
developed in the thesis. A major source of original data on secretarial
education is a comparative case study of relevant courses in two sharply
contrasting colleges. This case study compares in detail the
institutional structures, cultures and processes of an elite private
secretarial college with the procedures adopted in equivalent courses in
a state college of further education.
Articulation analysis of secretarial education indicates that both class
and gender relations are reproduced in this sphere of vocational
education. The perspective developed in this study suggests that
challenges and confrontations, by secretarial teachers, students and
workers, in respect of the class and gender constraints which they
experience, contribute towards reproduction of these systems of social
inequalities. As such, this study engages with those existing
conceptual frameworks, and those analyses of the reproduction of
secretarial labour power, which suggest that reproduction of class and
gender relations is exclusively or primarily a feature of the
acquiescence and accommodation, of relevant constraints on action, on
the part of women students, teachers and workers in gender specific
areas of education and work.


Networks of ultra-low-power nodes capable of sensing, computation, and wireless communication have applications in medicine, science, industrial automation, and security. Reducing power consumption requires the development of system-on-chip implementations that must provide both energy efficiency and adequate performance to meet the demands of the long deployment lifetimes and bursts of computation that characterize wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. Therefore, this work argues that designers should evaluate the design in terms of average power for an entire workload, including active and idle periods, not just the metric of energy-per-instruction.