No wholly adequate standards have existed until now for checking the accuracy of the photometric scale of modern, high-precision, recording spectrophotometers. A sample of glass has been found which has the characteristics required of such a standard. A densitometer was developed for two commercial spectrophotometers to calibrate these standards. By using this densitometer the absorptivity of the standards was measured with a coefficient of variation approaching 0.1%.


The paper studies the linear vibrating mechanical behaviors of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) with the initial axial stress under the temperature field. The DWCNTs are modeled as double elastic shells coupled together through vdW interaction between inner and outer nanotubes. Based on the model, the relation between the amplitudes and the frequencies of the tubes is achieved. The results show that the initial axial stress could crucially affect the existence of the natural and intertube frequencies. Meanwhile, it is also concluded that the temperature change is significant for natural frequency, but weakly affects intertube frequency and amplitude ratios.


This paper presents a model system TEG-DORC that employs
thermoelectric generator (TEG) as a topping cycle integrated
with a dual-loop organic Rankine bottoming cycle (DORC) to
recover exhaust heat of internal combustion engine (ICE). The
thermodynamic performance of TEG-DORC system is
analyzed based on the first and second law of thermodynamics
when system net output power Wnet, thermal efficiency ηth,
exergy efficiency ηe and volumetric expansion ratio are chosen
as objective functions. The model has many parameters that
affect combined system performance such as TEG scale,
evaporation pressure of high temperature ORC loop (HT loop)
Pevp,HT, condensation temperature of HT loop Tcond,HT. It is
suggested that HT loop has a vital influence on system
performance. The results show that TEG-DORC system can
significantly improve system performance, and system net
output power gets maximum (30.69kW) when Tcond,HT is 370K
and Pevp,HT is 4MPa, accordingly, the absolute effective thermal
efficiency increases by 5.2%. The maximum thermal efficiency
and exergy efficiency are 26.39% and 53.08% respectively.
And applying TEG modules can't promote DORC system
performance as expected.


Congenital heart defects is one of the most common neonatal diseases and has a very low survival rate. The fetal heart is generally smaller and possesses a faster than normal beating rate, thus making medical diagnosis difficult. The efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis of congenital heart disease can be improved by computer-aided diagnostic methods. Optical flow is a robust algorithm for object recognition and motion detection, and has potential in early detection of congenital heart defects. In this paper, an end-to-end deep learning system is proposed for obtaining the optical flow information from 4D fetal cardiac ultrasound images. The optical flow network model is trained by using gradients of image sequences obtained from a virtual data set. Subsequently, the trained model is used to detect the cardiac motion. Experimental results and performance evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed network. Apart from the efficacy of the proposed method, a visualization of the fetal cardiac motion using pseudo-color is provided. It is envisaged that the proposed method can be used in clinical applications requiring automatic detection of congenital fetal heart defects.


This paper compares trends in wage inequality in the U.S. and Germany using an approach developed by MaCurdy and Mroz (1995) to separate age, time, and cohort effects. Between 1979 and 2004, wage inequality increased strongly in both the U.S. and Germany but there were various country specific aspects of this increase. For the U.S., we find faster wage growth since the 1990s at the top (80% quantile) and the bottom (20% quantile) compared to the median of the wage distribution, which is evidence for polarization in the U.S. labor market. In contrast, we find little evidence for wage polarization in Germany. Moreover, we see a large role played by cohort effects in Germany, while we find only small cohort effects in the U.S. Employment trends in both countries are consistent with polarization since the 1990s. We conclude that although there is evidence in both the U.S. and Germany which is consistent with a technology-driven polarization of the labor market, the patterns of trends in wage inequality differ strongly enough that technology effects alone cannot explain the empirical findings.


Design of letters or typography is the core of the design of visual communication. In a world full of infinite information and messages, the design of letters is a must-see, which should even be interesting at first before reading it. Poster art information, as part of the information system, has long been one of the concerns of today's culture makers and today's graphic designers. The poster is one of the first components to attract the audience or its motto, among which the letters and the use of it play a major role in creating visual gravity. The purpose of this research is to investigate the textual structure of posters in Iran in recent decades. The results of the research show that in posters designed in Iran, the line was used only for the transfer of concepts and information and as a mere informant, and the less form of its visual forms was considered with respect to the subject. So that the poster's priority was displayed with the image and the photo, then the letters and its place were determined and in terms of the structure of the writing, the posters of the past are more static and more orderly than today's posters. But the posters have become abundantly complex and crowded in handwritten letters or letters, and letters are considered forms and forms of visual.


I wish to begin this essay with an example. Readers familiar with Alain Badiou's work may notice a difficulty with it. I will address this difficulty at the end. For the moment, at the risk of misleading and mis-representing Badiou's work to those less familiar with it, I politely ask for their indulgence. Here is the example, which takes the form of a statement: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" (2) As is so often the case in "young love", Juliet, who mouths these words alone on her balcony, barely knows Romeo, although the very next day they will be married. Although neither is aware of it yet their passing acquaintance has already triggered a set of consequences which in scope and pure intensity will surpass them both. The outcome will be calamitous for all concerned. But it is also fair to speculate that Love itself, in the wake of this prodigal encounter, is destined never to be quite the same again. I hope this metaphor will serve to illustrate the sizable impact of Alain Badiou's intervention in contemporary philosophy. Given the encroaching and seemingly pernicious backlash against his thinking, no doubt partly motivated by the bad faith of "philosophical" rivalries, (3) hopefully this essay can serve to remind readers of the ongoing and authentically philosophical stakes of Badiou's ontology. I: ALIEN ENCOUNTER In the late 90s and early 2000s, when Badiou first made contact with his Anglophone public, it is no exaggeration to say that the effect was somewhat monstrous. After all, here was a thinker who straddled the French post-War currents of existentialism, Marxism and the philosophy of mathematics; who claimed to have devised the most radical materialism since Lucretius; who declared that "ontology = mathematics"; who drew a direct parallel between his magnum opus Being and Event and Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit and, not content with that, then announced his intention to write a new Science of Logic. Initial encounters with Badiou's remarkable yet highly provocative "alien" (4) philosophy tended to inspire readings such that, in the published work of his first Anglophone disciples, the names of Althusser, Beckett, Deleuze, Lacan, Mao, Marx and Sartre were repeated reference points. Although Badiou's philosophy is unfamiliar enough to resist easy categorisation, clearly it brings with it a formidable intellectual reputation. Today things are different. "Badiou's philosophy" is no longer Badiou's philosophy. Badiou, one might say, has taken leave of his own system. This is perhaps the highest compliment one could pay a living philosopher (who has spawned a "live theory" (5)) whereby the consequences of (his) thinking become absolutely incalculable for thinking. If "Badiou" has become a philosophical signifier then today it's no longer a question of the faithful reception, transmission and assimilation of "his" ideas. Instead it's a matter of philosophical invention, and we shouldn't underestimate the extent to which Badiou's many exacting readers have contributed to it. (6) For this reason there is no need to introduce Badiou's work or chart its evolution. (7) Instead I want to address what I regard as the most urgent philosophical consequences of that work--which of course is ongoing--but which for the sake of brevity I will confine to Being and Event (8) and the books and essays which have followed it. More than any other single work Being and Event, in its radical rethinking of the philosophical mission and status of ontology, purports to change the nature of philosophical practice itself. Let us now consider the title of this essay, "Wherefore art thou philosophy?" which may be a useful way of reflecting on that which philosophy, in Badiou's sense of the word, implies. First and foremost, Badiou's is a philosophical intervention in the sense that it marks a direct assault on the dominant paradigms in contemporary philosophy of post-Kantian relativism and anti-foundationalism. …


Background. The purpose of this study was to generate information from multiethnic, high-risk communities to inform the creation of culturally relevant health promotion intervention for increasing early hospital arrival after stroke. Methods. The study employed a qualitative design, using focus groups with African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic adults in two Chicago community areas. The study relied heavily on stakeholder input in creating the focus group guide, recruiting participants, and interpreting the analysis. Results. Six focus groups gained information from 51 participants, including insights and perspective on participants' stroke experience and knowledge as well as on facilitators and barriers to calling 9-1-1. Qualitative analysis uncovered themes relating to risk factors, symptoms, knowledge of stroke mechanisms, experience of acute stroke, help seeking, stroke education, recovery, treatment, and emotions. Communities were closely aligned in their knowledge of stroke, but had differing ideas around stroke education and dissemination of education. Discussion. This study identified nuances in real-world barriers to receiving acute stroke services in minority and disadvantaged communities in Chicago neighborhoods. Our findings indicated significant amount of variation by race/ethnicity and, in particular, a lack of similarities based on race/ethnic groups in different communities. These findings underscore the importance of working with communities to fully understand the community-level dynamics that occur.


The Dragonfish Nebula has been recently claimed to be powered by a superluminous but elusive OB association. Instead, systematic searches in near-infrared photometric surveys have found many other cluster candidates on this sky region. Among these, the first confirmed young massive cluster was Mercer 30, where Wolf-Rayet stars were found. We perform a new characterization of Mercer 30 with unprecedented accuracy, combining NICMOS/HST and VVV photometric data with multi-epoch ISAAC/VLT H- and K-band spectra. Stellar parameters for most of spectroscopically observed cluster members are found through precise non-LTE atmosphere modeling with the CMFGEN code. Our spectrophotometric study for this cluster yields a new, revised distance of d = (12.4 +- 1.7) kpc and a total of Q = 6.70 x 10^50 Lyman ionizing photons. A cluster age of (4.0 +- 0.8) Myr is found through isochrone fitting, and a total mass of (1.6 +- 0.6) x 10^4 Msol is estimated thanks to our extensive knowledge of the post-main-sequence population. As a consequence, membership of Mercer 30 to the Dragonfish star-forming complex is confirmed, allowing us to use this cluster as a probe for the whole complex, which turns out to be extremely large (400 pc across) and located at the outer edge of the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm (11 kpc from the Galactic Center). The Dragonfish complex hosts 19 young clusters or cluster candidates (including Mercer 30 and a new candidate presented in this work) and an estimated minimum of 9 field Wolf-Rayet stars. The sum of all these contributions accounts for, at least, 73% of the Dragonfish Nebula ionization and leaves little or no room for the alleged superluminous OB association; alternative explanations are discussed.


Throughout many areas of their native range, American shad (Alosa sapidissima) and other Alosine populations are in decline. Though several conditions have influenced these declines, hydropower facilities have had significant negative effects on American shad populations. Hydropower facilities expose ocean-migrating American shad to physical stressors during passage through hydropower facilities, including strike, rapid decompression, and fluid shear. In this laboratory-based study, juvenile American shad were exposed separately to rapid decompression and fluid shear to determine their susceptibility to these stressors and develop dose–response models. These dose–response relationships can help guide the development and/or operation of hydropower turbines and facilities to reduce the negative effects to American shad. Relative to other species, juvenile American shad have a high susceptibility to both rapid decompression and fluid shear. Reducing or preventing exposure to these stressors at hydropower facilities may be a potential method to assist in the effort to restore American shad populations.


In recent years, many new and interesting models of successful online business have been developed, including competitive models such as auctions, where the product price tends to rise, and group-buying, where users cooperate obtaining a dynamic price that tends to go down. We propose the e-fair as a business model for social commerce, where both sellers and buyers are grouped to maximize benefits. e-Fairs extend the group-buying model aggregating demand and supply for price optimization as well as consolidating shipments and optimize withdrawals for guaranteeing additional savings. e-Fairs work upon multiple dimensions: time to aggregate buyers, their geographical distribution, price/quantity curves provided by sellers, and location of withdrawal points. We provide an analytical model for time and spatial optimization and simulate realistic scenarios using both real purchase data from an Italian marketplace and simulated ones. Experimental results demonstrate the potentials offered by e-fairs and show benefits for all the involved actors.


Many traditional dances have witnessed downturn in patronage to occasion academic debates geared towards reviving interest in indigenous performances and live theatres in Nigeria. It is within this context that this article closely look at content issues in Nigerian indigenous dance from a diachronic perspective and observed that the seeming dwindling patronage for certain Nigerian indigenous dances is as a result of the inability of indigenous dance creators and performers to package indigenous dance products to reflect popular tastes in contemporary times. Also, it is observed that content issues in art are indicators that human society is constantly in a state of flux and that as humanity responds to these changing realities; art must do the same to remain relevant to the society within a particular period. Drawing on this, the study concludes that Nigerian indigenous dance space could be enlivened when its contents are at par with dominant societal realities and respond to prevailing societal conditions within the time of its creation while retaining its structures and form as a cultural document for the people. It recommended that the approach, packaging, and performance of indigenous dances from formalist and philosophical aesthetic consciousness will aid in the malleability of traditional dance contents to satisfy changing societal and audience needs.
Keywords: Traditional dance, Indigenous dance art, Nigeria Content issues, Patronage


Background: Differentiating between septic and aseptic meningitis remains a challenge. Procalcitonin (PCT) was suggested by many researchers as a sensitive marker for early diagnosis of septic meningitis but with varying discriminative power. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1), a neutrophil and monocyte receptor, is up-regulated during infection with potential role during sepsis. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of soluble TREM-1 in comparison to PCT and C-reactive protein (CRP) in early diagnosis of septic meningitis and its usefulness to distinguish between septic and aseptic meningitis in children. Study design: Fifty-one children aged 2 to 162 months identified as possible cases of meningitis were included in this case control study. Beside Gram staining, cultures of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and latex agglutination test of CSF, CRP, serum PCT and soluble TREM-1 (sTREM-1) measurement was done on admission, and after 48-72 hours of treatment. Results: Septic meningitis was diagnosed in 16 (44%) of the studied cases. Although patients with septic meningitis had a significant increase in serum sTREM-1 and PCT levels at the time of admission (median, 25.2 ng/ml and 79.1ng/ml, respectively) in comparison with patients with aseptic meningitis (4.6 ng/ml and 0.7 ng/ml, respectively) and control group (4.1 ng/ml and 0.3 ng/ml, respectively) (p < 0.0001), sTREM-1 showed significantly higher sensitivity (93.7%) and specificity (94.3%) in the early prediction of sepsis with an area under the Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve (95% CI) of 0.94 (0.84 - 0.99) at a cutoff value of 12.4 ng/ml. Moreover, sTREM-1 but not PCT or CRP concentration was significantly lower (P=0.007) at admission in patients with poor outcome than in those with good prognosis. Conclusions: Both serum PCT and sTREM-1 are valuable in early distinguishing septic from aseptic meningitis in children but with markedly higher diagnostic discriminatory power for sTREM-1. Moreover, sTREM-1 has a significant value in predicting the prognosis of cases with septic meningitis. Keywords: Soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 – Procalcitonin- C-Reactive Protein - Septic meningitis Egypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2011;9(2):77-86


Today, eavesdropping is becoming a common issue in the rapidly growing digital network and has foreseen the need for secret communication channels embedded in digital media. In this paper, a novel steganography technique designed for Standard Definition Digital Television (SDTV) H.264/AVC encoded video sequences is presented. The algorithm introduced here makes use of the compression properties of the Context Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC) entropy encoder to achieve a low complexity and real-time inserting method. The chosen scheme hides the private message directly in the H.264/AVC bit stream by modifying the AC frequency quantized residual luminance coefficients of intrapredicted I-frames. In order to avoid error propagation in adjacent blocks, an interlaced embedding strategy is applied. Likewise, the steganography technique proposed allows self-detection of the hidden message at the target destination. The code source was implemented by mixing MATLAB 2010 b and Java development environments. Finally, experimental results have been assessed through objective and subjective quality measures and reveal that less visible artifacts are produced with the technique proposed by reaching PSNR values above 40.0 dB and an embedding bit rate average per secret communication channel of 425 bits/sec. This exemplifies that steganography is affordable in digital television.


and Implications A prospective study was conducted to monitor the pig population in Iowa for the emergence of new subtype(s) of swine influenza virus (SIV) other than classic H1N1 subtype. During the study, an apparently new subtype of SIV, H3N2, was isolated in association with severe reproductive and respiratory clinical disease in swine operations in Iowa and southern Minnesota. At the same time, influenza outbreaks of this subtype also were reported in other states such as North Carolina, Illinois, and Texas. To date, the new subtype of SIV has been determined to be widely spread in swine operations throughout Iowa and is expected to coexist with H1N1 subtype in swine populations in the United States. A serological survey on 6-month-old finishing pigs (N=1064) from 129 herds throughout 29 counties in Iowa demonstrated that 64% of the pigs and 92.2% of the herds had serological evidence of exposure to H3N2 SIV as of June, 1999. The isolation of H3N2 subtype SIV in association with severe clinical disease brings a new perspective to the diagnosis and control of swine influenza in this country. New vaccines will be needed for effective control of H3N2 because field reports have indicated no cross protection against H3N2 subtype SIV by vaccines currently available for H1N1 strains. Consequently it is critical for diagnosticians to have rapid and accurate methods for the diagnosis and differentiation of SIV subtypes so that effective control measure can be suggested in timely manner.


GST stands for "goods and services tax" and is subject to an extensive indirect tax on the production, sale and consumption of goods and on national services. It will replace all indirect taxes that are imposed on the goods and services of the central and provincial governments of India. France was the first country to introduce this system in 1954. Almost 140 countries follow this tax system. GST could be the next big tax reform in India. This reform can continue until it has fully evolved. With GST you can lower operating costs by becoming a single market on the entire Indian market. It facilitates the smooth movement of goods by the state and lowers the transaction costs of companies. This research report shows the impact of GST in other areas.


This study is based on the principle that the mathematical anxiety in preservice kindergarten teachers-tobe should be removed and they should be encouraged towards mathematics. It is expected from teachers-to-be who are able to construct this confidence to prepare exercises improving mathematical ideas for their students. This study was carried out with second year students of Preservice Teaching Section, Primary School Teaching Department, Faculty of Education, Uludağ University who taking pre-school mathematics. The study continued for 14 weeks (1 semester). The researcher of this study gave the course. The training was realised as 1 hour of basic mathematics and 2 hours of pre-school mathematics teaching within one week. An attitude test was applied to the pre-service teachers-to-be both the beginning and at the end of training. In addition, several personal questions related with the course were asked to these pre-service-teachers-to be. In this study, it is concluded that pre-service-teachers-to-be have developed positive attitudes and are encouraged towards mathematics and their success to prepare exercises on mathematical subjects, such as classification, ordering, comparison, pairing, numbers, geometric shapes, calculation, measures, space perception, problem-solving and developing creativity, for pre-school kindergarten students has improved.


In some wireless sensor network image processing applications, visual data such as the surveillance imagery or video streaming might contain high commercial value but devalues over time. For such multimedia, the security requirement is usually low or just sufficient to disguise and protect the value of the payload for a short-term period. Multimedia compression is a necessity for these large-sized data and the unification of security and compression properties would greatly increase the practicality of the image processing algorithm. In this paper, we are presenting the image results of using the BWCA (Burrow Wheeler Compression Algorithm) on images with the proposed conditional transposition methodology (keyed transpose) for a short-term visual protection and the results for subjective metric perceptual assessment of the quality and the BWT effects on the images. (6 pages)


Continued success in treatment of asthma and COPD requires development of new formulations, which may alter spray characteristics and atomisation quality of atomiser devices such as pMDI. Fundamental understanding of the underlying physical phenomena and the dynamic nature of pMDI aerosol plumes is essential to maintain pMDI device atomisation quality. In this paper, we describe a simulation of pMDI aerosol generation and plume development using a model of two-phase flow and atomisation of HFA134/ethanol formulation. The model is implemented within a CFD simulation to study the dynamic aerosol development and predict spray velocity and temperature. The CFD result shows plume velocity slows down over a relatively short distance and droplet temperature settles at a steady value of 291 K approximately at a distance of 30 mm from the spray orifice. This means that droplets reach their final size before reaching the exit of the mouthpiece.


Science literacy among US adults is extremely low and interest in science related careers is declining. In an era where environmental challenges pose a significant threat to humanity, it is imperative that the generation of students who grow to inherit this problem be scientifically literate and interested in science issues. By capitalizing on positive science attitudes in primary grades, teachers can alter this trend by developing critical thinking skills and science practices in order to build a foundation of knowledge and skills for subsequent secondary science learning. Picturebooks can provide relevance and context for meaningful science learning; develop visual and text literacy, and present science as an approachable, interesting discipline. This project is intended to explain the benefits and justifications for using picturebooks to promote critical thinking and development of science practices and how to select appropriate books for classroom use. Accompanying this project is an analysis of ten exemplary picturebooks for teaching science. A template is used to evaluate these ten books and explain the qualities that make each book an effective teaching tool. In addition, examples of classroom activities that meet Next Generation Science Standards Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Common Core Informational Literacy Standards are presented. It is intended that this project will serve as a useful resource for educators looking to enrich science learning for students in 3 rd through 5 th grade.


Background High-dose vitamin A influences glucose and lipid profile; however, the possible effects of moderate doses (25,000 IU/d) are conflicting. We aimed to compare the effect of vitamin A supplementation on several anthropometric and biochemical variables between obese and non-obese women. Methods This study was performed on 84 women among whom 56 were obese (body mass index [BMI] 30-35 kg/m2) and 28 were non-obese (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2). Obese women were randomly divided into two groups: one group received 25,000 IU/d retinyl palmitate and another group received placebo. The third group was age-matched non-obese women who received 25,000 IU/d retinyl palmitate. At baseline and four months after intervention, fasting blood glucose (FBG), lipid profile, C-reactive protein (CRP) and liver enzymes were evaluated. Results Baseline concentrations of serum FBG and triglyceride in the obese vitamin A-treated group were significantly higher compared with the other groups (P = 0.004 and 0.007, respectively). A significant increase in serum FBG (P = 0.026), total cholesterol (TC) (P = 0.004) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.016) in the non-obese group and a significant decrease in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P = 0.001) in the obese group was observed. Serum CRP increased significantly in the obese vitamin A-treated group (P = 0.03) and serum aspartate transaminase increased significantly in the obese and non-obese groups after vitamin A supplementation (P = 0.008 and 0.001, respectively). Conclusions Treatment with 25,000 IU/d vitamin A induced a mild elevation in serum lipids, CRP and liver enzymes in obese and non-obese women. Considering the other information about possible side-effects of excess vitamin A, use of vitamin A in this dose and duration should be considered with caution.


Internet of things (IoT) applications require orientation insensitive wireless devices to maintain stable and reliable communication. For those reasons, antennas providing a wide quasi-isotropic and circular polarization (CP) coverage are very attractive. However, achieving a wide quasi-isotropic and CP coverage simultaneously is challenging. In this work, we show that properly designed sloped dipoles on a 3D structure can maximize the CP coverage (theoretically up to 100%) even with equal-phased feed to the dipole elements. We derive the conditions and present the design graphs for the optimum slope angle for the dipole elements on a 3D hexagonal-shaped package to achieve a wide quasi-isotropic and CP coverage simultaneously. Based on the proposed theory, a practical antenna has been designed and fabricated using additive manufacturing. The measured results demonstrate a 7dB-isotropy of 92% and a CP coverage of 85%, which matches well with the predicted results from the theoretical analysis and full-wave simulations.


Abstract Background Female adolescents in urban slums experience a plethora of violence. The inherent health inequalities in the urban slums also present barriers to adolescents' access to support services that can alleviate the impact of violence and bring perpetrators to justice. Health facilities can play key proactive roles in facilitating effective responses to address the problems of violence. This research sought to answer the questions: what support services are available to female adolescents in the event of violence; what are the barriers to accessing these services; and what roles can health workers play in removing these barriers? Methods The study used an ethnographic approach involving 40 in-depth interviews and 9 focus group discussions with female adolescents, 17 in-depth interviews were conducted with health providers and community leaders. The study setting comprised intentionally sampled slum communities in Lagos and Oyo states, southwest Nigeria. Thematic data analysis was conducted to address the study questions. Results Potential support services available to female adolescents in the study setting included the Community Development Association, police, family members, and health facilities. Identified barriers to utilizing available support services included stigmatization, non-formalization of police reports of violence, ambiguous attitudes of health workers to abused adolescents, and unfamiliarity on the part of adolescents. Although resources are available to adolescents in the event of violence, the lack of coordination of services has led to gross inefficiency for intervening. Conclusions To address the inefficiency of services, the health sector is best positioned to ensure synergy among the key stakeholders to reduce stigma and stop abuse experience among adolescent girls. Beyond a reactionary, curative approach, health providers need to play a preventive role through education, advocacy, and coordination of interventions at the community level. Key messages • Health workers at primary health facilities need to support adolescents who experience violence, especially those who using their services. • In addition, health workers are best positioned to create synergy among available support services to alleviate and mitigate the impact of violence on female adolescents in the community.


Simulators are being used for a wide variety of purposes, not least for vehicle simulation as an aid in driver behaviour analysis. Common values to be measured are reaction times such as brake and steer reaction time. One problem with monitored simulator studies is that there are a limited number of test drivers. With only 50-100 test drivers, presented reaction times from the studies are often mean values. From a safety analytic perspective, it would be more interesting to show the entire distribution of values. The unmanned simulator at Universeum gives a large number of test drivers (~40k / year) which makes it possible to investigate entire distributions of values.Another benefit with the unmanned study at Universeum is that drivers tends to act more natural than in a monitored study, where drivers are aware of that they are being observed. On the other hand, the fact that users are not being observed, lead to a lot of questionable data. Drivers are exploring and do not behave as they would in real traffic.The main objective with our thesis project has been to find algorithms to extract trustworthy data from the simulator. It has been proven that there are large amounts of data that can be used for driver behaviour analysis. Methods to calculate common measures used in traffic safety analysis have been developed.An updated simulator software, better adjusted for an unmonitored study, has been developed and installed in the Universeum simulator. Summaries from the different scenarios in the simulatorK2 Summary There are quite few drivers in the K2 scenario where a brake signal has not been registered at all. This is the main issue with the scenario and the explanation to this is that the scenario is very sensitive to the speed kept by the user. Speeding drivers will not experience the situation at all and since so many drivers are speeding, a lot of data is lost. By adapting the speed of the mover to the speed of the driver this problem would be reduced. The sensitivity to speed is also noticeable in the plots as the BRT seems to have very little influence on the results. The BRTs span from ~0.4 seconds to 2 seconds which is in range with other studies. [P1] There are some drivers steering but they are not many enough to draw any valid conclusions.K3 Summary The K3 scenario works much better than the other crossing scenarios, producing measurable data at a much higher rate than the other scenarios. This is probably thanks to the MeetAtPoint function which takes the drivers speed into consideration. The wider acceptance to speeds in the scenario gives better possibilities to analyse the impact of BRT and deceleration on the result. There are some drivers steering but they are too few to present any valid distributions.K5 Summary This scenario gives the least percentage of valid files among the K-scenarios. This is due to the very high urgency in the scenario. This together with the fact that the speed of the mover is not adapted to the speed of the driver allows very few drivers to actually experience the scenario at all. By adapting the speed of the mover to the speed of the driver, drivers will be able to experience the situation at a much higher rate than before. There are very few drivers steering instead of braking. Interesting is that, remembering that there are very few entries to investigate, the steering option has been quite successful in this scenario compared to the other K scenarios.U1 Summary The percentage of valid files from this scenario is at the same level as the other scenarios, i.e. quite low. The reason to the low percentage in this scenario is however not the speed kept. One big loss is the drivers which chooses to overtake the braking lead car and therefore fails to enter the situation as intended. The other problem is the distance between the lead car and the driver. The distance between them as the lead car brakes varies a lot and the BRT´s will therefore also vary. There are almost no drivers that try to steer away from the car instead of braking.U4 Summary The percentage of files where a brake signal has been registered is in level with the other scenarios. One explanation to the few registered brake signals is, as in the U1 scenario, that a lot of drivers choose to overtake the lead car and will therefore not experience the scenario at all. Overall the U4 data and results are questionable. Even when normalising the BRT by TTC no satisfying distributions can be found. The amount of files holding the U4 scenario (1761 or 23 % of all scenario files) are also remarkable high. And apart from the files holding a full scenario, there are a lot of files that holds only U4 start messages without any stop messages. This indicates that the U4 trigger points are trigged even when they are not supposed to. This will be investigated and discussed in chapter 3.1.5. There are a few drivers steering, an option that has proven quite successful in this scenario.M1 Summary The urgency in the scenario is low, which makes it possible for drivers to avoid a collision without steering. The lane position does not play any significant role on the type of reaction, but many drivers have a lane position to the right. A high amount of drivers have an offset which gives them a position more than 0.5 meters out on the road verge. The road verge is 3.2meters wide, which is much wider than in reality. The explanation to the high number of drivers that drives on the road verge can be that the width of the lane (3.2 meters) corresponds to the width of a road with speed limit 70km/h. Drivers may experience the road as narrow at a speed around 90km/h and therefore sometimes choose to drive on the road verge, which looks perfectly fine to drive on. [D] If the verge were less wide and looked less appealing to drive on this behaviour would probably be reduced. In reality the road verge on a road with a speed limit of 90km/h is 50cm. [I5]It was not possible to use the SWRR measure to analyse the driver behaviour. The SWRR is higher on parts of the road where it is more difficult for the driver to follow the road as in long turns. The SWRR increases linear as the speed increases but are too spread to make any conclusions from.M2 Summary The urgency in the scenario is high. It is hard to avoid a collision without steering. The lane position does not play any significant role on the type of reaction, but many drivers have a lane position to the right. It is not a normal behaviour to drive on the road verge and the meeting situation occurs in a left curve and a lane position to the right is not expected as many drivers would like to cut the curve, giving a lane position to the left. Despite the initial lane position, the most common type of reaction is steering right. 3,6% of all drivers are out on the grass (out of road). This can be considered as a high amount and probably depends on the wide road verge and the flat grass area, which looks perfectly fine to drive on. As in the M1 scenario, the wide, fully driveable, road verge is probably the reason to why 78% of the drivers choose to drive a least 50cm out on the road verge as they try to avoid the situation. Another explanation to the high number of drivers that drives on the road verge can be that the width of the lane (3.2m) corresponds to the width of a road with speed limit 70km/h. Drivers may experience the road as narrow at a speed around 90km/h and therefore sometimes choose to drive on the road verge, which looks perfectly fine to drive on. [D]It was not possible to use the SWRR measure to analyse the driver behaviour. The SWRR is higher on parts of the road where it is more difficult for the driver to follow the road as in long turns. The SWRR increases linear as the speed increases but are too spread to make any conclusions from.


The determinants of Hessian matrices of differentiable functions play important roles in many areas in mathematics. In practice it can be difficult to compute the Hessian determinants for functions with many variables. In this article we derive a very simple explicit formula for the Hessian determinants of composite functions of the form: f(x) = F (h1(x1) + · · ·+ hn(xn)). Several applications of the Hessian determinant formula to production functions in microeconomics are also given in this article.


The recent development of human societies has led to major, rapid and often inexorable changes in the environment of most animal species. Over the last decades, a growing number of studies formulated predictions on the modalities of animal adaptation to climate change, questioning how and at what speed animals should adapt to such changes, discussing the levels of risks imposed by changes in the mean and/or variance of temperatures on animal performance, and exploring the underlying roles of phenotypic plasticity and genetic inheritance. These fundamental predictions, however, remain poorly tested using field data. Here, we tested these predictions using a unique continental-scale data set in the European earwig Forficula auricularia L, a univoltine insect introduced in North America one century ago. We conducted a common garden experiment, in which we measured 13 life-history traits in 4158 field-sampled earwigs originating from 19 populations across North America. Our results first demonstrate that in less than 100 generations, this species modified 10 of the 13 measured life-history traits in response to the encountered thermal regimes, defined as a variation of temperatures between seasons or months (here winter-summer and autumn-spring temperatures). We found, however, no response to the overall mean monthly temperatures of the invaded locations. Furthermore, our use of a common garden setup reveals that the observed changes in earwigs' life-history traits are not mere plastic responses to their current environment, but are either due to their genetic background and/or to the environmental conditions they experienced during early life development. Overall, these findings provide continent-scale support to the claims that adaptation to thermal changes occurs quickly, even in insects with long life cycles, and emphasize the importance of thermal regimes over mean population temperatures in climate adaptation.


Because of its high surface area and combination of various functional groups, graphene oxide (GO) is currently one of the most actively studied materials for electroanalytical applications. It is not practical to utilize self-supported GO on its own and thus it is commonly integrated with different supporting carriers. Having a large lateral size, GO can only wrap the particles of the support and thus can significantly reduce the surface area of porous materials. To achieve synergy from the high surface area and polyfunctional nature of GO, and the rigid structure of a porous support, the lateral size of GO must essentially be decreased. Recently reported graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) can fulfil this task. Here we report the successful preparation of an SiO2-GOQDs hybrid, where GOQDs have been incorporated into the mesoporous network of silica. The SiO2-GOQDs emit a strong luminescence with a band maximum at 404 nm. The Raman spectrum of SiO2-GOQDs shows two distinct peaks at 1585 cm−1 (G-peak) and 1372 cm−1 (D-peak), indicating the presence of a graphene ordered basal plane with aromatic sp2-domains and a disordered oxygen-containing structure. Covalent immobilization of GOQDs onto aminosilica via such randomly structured oxygen fragments was proven with the help of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, solid-state cross-polarization magic angle spinning 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. SiO2-GOQDs were used as a modifier of a carbon paste electrode for differential pulse voltammetry determination of two antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim) and two endocrine disruptors (diethylstilbestrol (DES) and estriol (EST)). The modified electrodes demonstrated a significant signal enhancement for EST (370%) and DES (760%), which was explained by a π–π stacking interaction between GOQDs and the aromatic system of the analytes.


The nucleosome is the fundamental building block of the eukaryotic genome, composed of an ∼147 base-pair DNA fragment wrapping around an octameric histone protein core. DNA and histone proteins are targets of enzymatic chemical modifications that serve as signals for gene regulation. These modifications are often referred to as epigenetic modifications that govern gene activities without altering the DNA sequence. Although the term epigenetics initially required inheritability, it now frequently includes noninherited histone modifications associated with gene regulation. Important epigenetic modifications for healthy cell growth and proliferation include DNA methylation, histone acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and SUMOylation (SUMO = Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier). Our research focuses on the biophysical roles of these modifications in altering the structure and structural dynamics of the nucleosome and their implications in gene regulation mechanisms. As the changes are subtle and complex, we employ various single-molecule fluorescence approaches for their investigations. Our investigations revealed that these modifications induce changes in the structure and structural dynamics of the nucleosome and their thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities. We also suggested the implications of these changes in gene regulation mechanisms that are the foci of our current and future research.


Early June, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced an intention to reduce the half million annual hospital readmissions. Between 1998–99 and 2007–2008 the number of emergency readmissions in the UK has risen by 53%, from 359,719 to 546,354 (Penaloza, 2010). The new Health Secretary argues that patients are being discharged too early to free up beds and this in turn undermines patient care. Under the new plans, hospitals would receive funding for the first hospital stay plus treatment for the 30 days post discharge, giving hospitals the responsibility for a patient's health and wellbeing following hospital treatment, not the GPs and primary care trusts (PCTS), as is currently the case.


b-Ca3(PO4)2 (TCP) based cement combined with polyphosphate was investigated. In the bone cement composed of b-TCP, monocalcium monophosphate (MCPM) and calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CSH), effect of the amount of setting agent on workability, setting time, temperature rise and compressive strength was evaluated. The polyphosphate, which was selected as a growth enhancer, could be introduced without affecting the properties of cement. The polyphosphate containing cement was introduced at the calvarial defect in a rabbit. After three months, the defect was covered with newly formed bone, in contrast with the case of polyphosphate free bone cement. These results suggest that the bone cement containing inorganic polyphosphate can be used as effective bone filler with considerable potential of bone regeneration for bony defects.


Radiology department will provide a variety of inpatient and outpatient services. These services use medical imaging such as radiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, and ultrasound. Error in radiology department implies an incorrect interpretation of an imaging study. To improve safety, error-reporting strategies should include identifying errors, admitting mistakes, correcting unsafe conditions, and reporting systems improvements to stakeholders. Reducing errors will improve patient care, may reduce costs and will improve the image of the hospital. To identify reporting errors in CT, MRI and x ray in a tertiary care hospital and assess the role of clinical pharmacist in reducing the reporting errors. In this study patients who were referred to undergo CT scan, MRI and x ray were taken in to the study. Duration of study was 8 months. Patients reports were taken and reporting errors were noted in the respective data collection form reporting errors was identified and analyzed. In the present study very less error reports were identified which shows the regular monitoring of the clinical pharmacist, results in the accurate diagnosis of the patient and accurate treatment plan that reflects the health care practice in a hospital. Error in reports can cause wrong diagnosis and which may result in false treatment plan. So identification of errors in reports by the health care professional (pharmacist) at the basic level before going for final assessment of the condition may improve patient care, reduce healthcare cost and time for re do's. This also creates a new task for the clinical pharmacist.


A fluorimetric method for determination of rubomycin in the blood, milk and urine of humans and animals was developed. After precipitation of proteins from the biological material with 30 per cent trichloracetic acid the antibiotic was recovered from the centrifugate with isoamylic alcohol and the extract was subjected to fluorimetric analysis at gamma-exc-495 and gamma-fi-595 nm.


In the olfactory organ of the squid, Lolliguncula brevis there are five morphological types of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Previous work to characterize odor sensitivity of squid ORNs was performed on only two of the five types in dissociated primary cell cultures. Here, we sought to establish the odorant responsiveness of all five types. We exposed live squid or intact olfactory organs to excitatory odors plus the activity marker, agmatine (AGB), an arginine derivative that enters cells through nonselective cation channels. An antibody against AGB was used to identify odorant‐activated neurons. We were able to determine the ORN types of AGB‐labeled cells based on their location in the epithelium, morphology and immunolabeling by a set of metabolites: arginine, aspartate, glutamate, glycine, and glutathione. Of 389 neurons identified from metabolite‐labeled tissue, 3% were type 1, 32% type 2, 33% type 3, 15% type 4, and 17% type 5. Each ORN type had different odorant specificity with type 3 cells showing the highest percentages of odorant‐stimulated AGB labeling. Type 1 cells were rare and none of the identified type 1 cells responded to the tested odorants, which included glutamate, alanine and AGB. Glutamate is a behaviorally attractive odorant and elicited AGB labeling in types 2 and 3. Glutamate‐activated AGB labeling was significantly reduced in the presence of the adenylate cyclase inhibitor, SQ22536 (80 μM). These data suggest that the five ORN types differ in their relative abundance and odor responsiveness and that the adenylate cyclase pathway is involved in squid olfactory transduction. Anat Rec, 291:763‐774, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A major problem in the investigation of bombings involves placing or connecting the type of explosive used with the suspect. This problem arose in an attempted bombing to ascertain whether or not the mere handling of dynamite would leave deposits of nitrate esters on the hands. The attempted bombing involved multiple sticks of "leaking" or "seeping" dynamite. It was reported that results were positive for nitroglycerine (NG) and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) on the hands, even after three full days had elapsed. The lack of published information on the reliability of the procedure used led to this study.


We consider bursty data communications in code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) cellular networks. The significant fluctuation of the co-channel multi-access interference (MAI) in such systems makes it very challenging to carry out radio resource management. A main goal of this paper is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the temporal correlation structure of the MAI, which plays a crucial role in effective resource allocation. To this end, we take a crosslayer design approach, and characterize the stochastic MAI process while taking into account both the burstiness of data traffic and time varying channel conditions. Our main results reveal that under standard assumptions on ON/OFF traffic flows and fading channels, the MAI process exhibits scale-invariant burstiness and is "self-similar" (with Hurst parameter 1/2 < H < 1), in both the uplink and the downlink cases. The MAI self-similarity indicates that the MAI levels are long-range dependent and therefore there exists a nontrivial predictive MAI structure across multiple time scales. The predictive MAI structure can be utilized for effective interference management through dynamic resource allocation. We illustrate this via a rate control scheme based on the MAI prediction, and our results show that the performance gain is substantial. The exploitation of the MAI temporal correlation structure for resource allocation parallels and complements multiuser detection which utilizes the MAI snapshot structure at the symbol level.


In this paper, we present a high-level functional test methodology for GALS systems. In this new test methodology, the self-timed wrapper of a GALS module is enhanced by a test extension element that provides a unified interface to a centralized test controller. Each test extension element is customized for the locally-synchronous island it is attached to, and is able to decouple the asynchronous communication ports from the locally-synchronous islands in a test mode. The test controller can then issue a series of commands to the test extension elements to initiate data transfers between GALS modules. Testing is achieved by observing these data transfers through the test extension elements. We also introduce a simple design automation solution to customize both the test extension element and the test controller for the GALS system.


National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has just published draft recommendations for the use of omalizumab. These are as follows:

1. Omalizumab is not recommended within its marketing authorisation for treating severe persistent allergic asthma

2. People currently taking omalizumab should be able to continue treatment until they and their clinician consider it appropriate to stop. For children and adolescents, this decision should be made jointly by the clinician, the child or adolescent, and their parents or carers.

Clearly this blanket recommendation does not merely touch the confines of lunacy, but goes well beyond. Those who try to plough through NICE's obfuscatory documents would empathise with God's question to Job: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

However, it is facile solely to blame NICE for these ridiculous proposals; guilt must also be shared by doctors and the industry. The purpose of this annotation is not just to indulge in mere vulgar abuse of NICE, agreeable though this pastime may be, but to try at the 59th minute of the 11th hour to propose a way of salvaging something from the impending wreck. We propose a way forward which, since it will not please everyone, will in the best traditions of family life, annoy everyone hopefully equally.

It is common ground that (a) most patients with asthma can have their disease controlled with properly administered low to moderate doses of inhaled corticosteroids, sometimes supplemented by an …


With a few rare exceptions, genes encoding pentatricopeptide (PPR) proteins are present in all sequenced eukaryotic genomes but absent from prokaryotic and archaeal genomes. The family has greatly expanded in plants, to more than 400 genes in each species. So far, the evidence indicates that PPR proteins are generally involved in regulation of organelle genome expression, in other words they are eukaryotic proteins selected for the control of genomes of prokaryotic origin. PPR proteins are localised in both plastids and mitochondria, and appear to have similar roles in both cases. They have been implicated in almost all stages of gene expression, including messenger RNA (mRNA) transcription, splicing, processing, editing, translation and stability. The most probable hypothesis for explaining these diverse roles is that PPR proteins are sequence-specific RNA-binding adaptors capable of directing effector enzymes to defined sites on mRNAs. Much of the recent interest in the role of PPR proteins in mitochondria has been driven by the discovery that most cytoplasmic male sterility systems comprise fertility restorer genes that are members of this fascinating family.


This study reviewed empirical research conducted in Second Life by educators since Second Life's launch in 2003. The study's purpose was to identify how Second Life is being used in both K-12 and higher education. The methodology, findings, and recommendations of 27 research studies were analyzed. Researchers identified potential problems when using Second Life in education, including issues with the Second Life software and hardware requirements, a steep learning curve, and the possibility of students becoming exposed to distractions or inappropriate content. Researchers discussed potential uses of Second Life including role-play, game and simulation creation, implementation within distance education programs, and the ability to encourage student-centered learning activities. Analysis also revealed several recommendations for educators intending to use Second Life.


A non-disposal undertaking (NDU Agreement) is an agreement to not dispose off shareholding held by the person holding the shares ("NDU Provider/Obliger") in a company, usually a Special Purpose Vehicle ("SPV"). This agreement is usually coupled with a power of attorney appointed on the security trustee. It is a combination of contractual negative and affirmative covenant wherein the Obligers agree not to sell the securities unless the sale is required to discharge dues to the lenders. This Agreement involves a deposit of shares in a new Demat account which is then linked to an Escrow Account. The power to sell is given to a Security Trustee who may exercise the Power of Attorney appointed on it along with this Agreement and appropriate the resultant proceeds towards payment of their dues. The PoA and the escrow account safeguard the lenders against any attempts by the Obliger to breach its promise. Furthermore, this is not like a pledge where a beneficial interest or right of the Lender is created in the subject matter. The need to set up this complex legal framework is to take more than 30% of shares in a company as collateral and yet not attract S. 19(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 ("BR Act, 1949") which mandates that a bank cannot hold more than 30% of shareholding of the total paid-up capital in a company unless it conforms to S.19(1) which is banking business and any activity in promotion thereof.


A Robinson manifold is defined as a Lorentz manifold (M, g) of dimension 2n ? 4 with a bundle N ? ? TM such that the fibres of N are maximal totally null and there holds the integrability condition [Sec N, Sec N] ? Sec N. The real part of N ? is a bundle of null directions tangent to a congruence of null geodesics. This generalizes the notion of a shear-free congruence of null geodesics (SNG) in dimension 4. Under a natural regularity assumption, the set of all these geodesics has the structure of a Cauchy?Riemann manifold of dimension 2n ? 1. Conversely, every such CR manifold lifts to many Robinson manifolds. Three definitions of a CR manifold are described here in considerable detail; they are equivalent under the assumption of real analyticity, but not in the smooth category. The distinctions between these definitions have a bearing on the validity of the Robinson theorem on the existence of null Maxwell fields associated with SNGs. This paper is largely a review intended to recall the major influence that Ivor Robinson exerted on the development of this subject.


Recently, the weld fractures of column-diaphragm joints were reported to disrupt the cyclic loading tests on steel welded beam-to-column connections in Taiwan. This paper analyzes the root cause leading to the weld fractures. To confirm the effects of electro slag welding (ESW), the hardness, toughness and microstructure are investigated for a SN490B steel column-diaphragm joint. The result shows that the ESW process may give the weld a relatively low hardness. In addition, the heat affected zone (HAZ) can absorb much less energy than the parent material. In detail, the 30-mm thick parent material absorbs energy more than 105J, satisfying the code requirement of 27J at 0oC in the Charpy impact tests. However, the welding heat causes the microstructure of HAZ to be notably coarse, reducing the Charpy value to 21 J. To prevent the weld fractures, it is recommended to refine the grain sizes of HAZ, improving the toughness. It is also suggested to develop and use the compatible welding materials.


The Lutheran Pastor Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753–1815) is remembered today as one of the pioneering figures in early American botany, which earned him the posthumous epithet "The American Linnaeus". This study traces Muhlenberg's contributions to American botany by reconstructing his vast transatlantic correspondence network over a period of more than 30 years. Working on the tenets of modern network studies and with information gathered from close to 700 original letters, diaries and publications, the present study places Muhlenberg both within his own web of correspondences and within the botanical discourse of his time. The result is a multi-faceted depiction of contemporary standards, codes and pitfalls of scientific communication in the so-called "Republic of Letters". As Muhlenberg's example shows, the very fabric of this Republic – open exchange of information – had a strong impact on the course and outcome of scientific research itself. This "Network Factor" becomes clearly visible in Muhlenberg's networking strategies, which he developed to protect his original work against the negative effects of the very medium he was working with.


We study the scaling behavior of the entanglement entropy of two-dimensional conformal quantum critical systems, i.e., systems with scale-invariant wave functions. They include two-dimensional generalized quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices and quantum loop models, as well as the quantum Lifshitz model and related gauge theories. We show that under quite general conditions, the entanglement entropy of a large and simply connected subsystem of an infinite system with a smooth boundary has a universal finite contribution, as well as scale-invariant terms for special geometries. The universal finite contribution to the entanglement entropy is computable in terms of the properties of the conformal structure of the wave function of these quantum critical systems. The calculation of the universal term reduces to a problem in boundary conformal field theory


In Europe, the U.S., and Asia, political and market forces seek expanded use of the Internet for voting and election administrative functions. Governmental responses have differed, but commonly governments omit qualified computer security experts from exercising decisive weight in policy decisions. Given its current architecture and engineering, however, the Internet generally provides neither high assurance data security and integrity, nor reliable information transmission protected from denial of service and other attacks. Nevertheless, pressures to expand Internet-based election functions have intensified. This paper explores the foundational questions and features of a governance system that has the capacity to safeguard democratic elections where Internet-facing technologies will be deployed. The paper recommends that each nation include a policy board with appropriate computer and network security expertise, election administrative knowledge, and public accountability and transparency structures that mandate end-to-end auditability. It further recommends that the national regulatory apparatus not rely predominantly on issuance of rules and technical standards to be met, or particular product design. Owing to dynamic cyber threat environments, the board---whose majority should consist of computer and network security professionals---should issue particularized decisions. They should assess whether an election office proposal for using Internet transmissions for a specified election task is prudent in light of all factors relevant to security based on layered defense. Democratic nations should collaborate in alerting one other to election information system threats and attacks, for mutual aid and maximally robust mitigations.


Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer globally. Tobacco consumption and HPV infection, both are the major risk factor for the development of oral cancer and causes mitochondrial dysfunction. Genetic polymorphisms in xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes modify the effect of environmental exposures, thereby playing a significant role in gene–environment interactions and hence contributing to the individual susceptibility to cancer. Here, we have investigated the association of tobacco - betel quid chewing, HPV infection, GSTM1-GSTT1 null genotypes, and tumour stages with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content variation in oral cancer patients. Methodology/Principal Findings The study comprised of 124 cases of OSCC and 140 control subjects to PCR based detection was done for high-risk HPV using a consensus primer and multiplex PCR was done for detection of GSTM1-GSTT1 polymorphism. A comparative ΔCt method was used for determination of mtDNA content. The risk of OSCC increased with the ceased mtDNA copy number (Ptrend = 0.003). The association between mtDNA copy number and OSCC risk was evident among tobacco – betel quid chewers rather than tobacco – betel quid non chewers; the interaction between mtDNA copy number and tobacco – betel quid was significant (P = 0.0005). Significant difference was observed between GSTM1 - GSTT1 null genotypes (P = 0.04, P = 0.001 respectively) and HPV infection (P<0.001) with mtDNA content variation in cases and controls. Positive correlation was found with decrease in mtDNA content with the increase in tumour stages (P<0.001). We are reporting for the first time the association of HPV infection and GSTM1-GSTT1 null genotypes with mtDNA content in OSCC. Conclusion Our results indicate that the mtDNA content in tumour tissues changes with tumour stage and tobacco-betel quid chewing habits while low levels of mtDNA content suggests invasive thereby serving as a biomarker in detection of OSCC.


In this study, I explore the challenges associated with long distance women's road racing. Within the sport of cycling, road race distances for women and men differ greatly. I examine the meanings that these distances have acquired within women's road racing, according to promoters/race organizers, athletes, and governing bodies, as based upon their experiences with well-known and historically significant women's competitions, circa 1950s–1990s. Based upon this research, the three main ways that distance has taken on meaning in women's road racing are as follows: 1) women do not have the stamina, strength or speed to effectively and efficiently race long distances; 2) the length of the race correlates negatively with women's aggressiveness; and 3) races that are too long increase the likelihood that competitors and promoters will have to deal with the issue of women's public urination during the race.


An ideal mixed-flow model was developed for the high-temperature oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide in an afterburner chamber. The extent of the oxidation with flue gas containing oxygen and water vapor was investigated as a function of the relative throughput, gas density, and total reaction rate. Steady-state measurements of CO, O2, CO2, and water concentrations were conducted in a pilot-plant refractory afterburner fitted with a natural gas burner. The total burnout reaction is assumed to be first-order in carbon monoxide and of the orders 0.5 for oxygen and water vapor. The numerical solutions of the model equations outline the potentials and limitations of the performance of a well-mixed afterburner chamber (reactor) under realistic operation conditions.


The Roma have faced overwhelming discrimination throughout their history with Roma children facing particularly egregious discrimination. Roma children are frequently segregated from non-Roma students in schools through Central and Eastern Europe. While not legally institutionalized, the segregation experienced by Roma children is comparable in scope to that experienced by African American children through the 1950s and 1960s. This article looks at the failure of anti-discrimination measures, both at the national and at the EU level, to substantively reduce discrimination against Roma children in education, and argues that critical race theory provides the necessary context for understanding why the European Union and individual EU Member States continue to fail in this respect, despite numerous national and supranational measures aimed specifically at the Roma. The article reviews EU anti-discrimination measures, European case law, and national case law in light of critical race theory, arguing that it is not the measures themselves that are at issue, but, due to systemic discrimination, their enforcement. Three suggestions are offered: first, at a grassroots level, impact litigation needs to be used more widely before national courts to bring attention to the systemic issues and to have a broader impact on social policy. Second, from a top-down perspective, the European Court of Justice and the European Commission need to become more involved in ensuring that the provision of the Race Equality Directive are enforced. Finally, more international pressure needs to be brought to bear upon the European Union regarding the systemic discrimination against the Roma.


Abstract Industrial design as a driver for innovation is increasingly attracting attention throughout different disciplines. In order to switch from the oil-led development model to an innovation-driven economy, Russia attempts to strengthen its manufacturing industry through support policies for engineering and industrial design capabilities. The programme 'Development of engineering activities and industrial design in Russia' is part of the larger initiative for advancing manufacturing and raising its competitiveness which started in 2014. The paper builds on very recent data and interviews with key companies to study the effectiveness of these policies. We point out a series of structural weaknesses of industrial design in Russia in general and find that the industrial design policy in Russia largely remains non-systemic and fragmented.


General introductory statements of research papers commenting on the "increasingly global business environment", "ever more demanding customers", and "rises in complexity" that businesses have to operate in have become the norm in management research. The perception of an increasing pace of change is prevalent in both academia and practice, and this is mirrored in the development of the operations management (OM) field over the last decades (Amoako-Gyampah and Meredith, 1989; Pilkington and Meredith, 2009; Sprague, 2007). OM has evolved from a set of factory-focused questions and techniques (such as inventory management, production scheduling, the development of MRP/ERP systems and later continuous improvement practices such as lean thinking, quality management, and Six Sigma) to more strategic and cross-functional concepts involving the adoption of methodologies and theories from relevant disciplines. These related disciplines include engineering (e.g. systems dynamics and control theory approaches) and management (e.g. strategy-based theories such as the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities), and the integration of functional disciplines like IT, marketing, finance and services more generally. Similarly the scope of the domain has shifted from the consideration of in-factory specific processes to extended production and supply networks, spanning international borders, requiring linkages to be drawn with disciplines such as international business and economic geography that integrate concepts informing the global dispersion of operations.

Such change in pace has fundamental implications for management research. We would argue that the role of academia is to provide insights and guidance to firms, to transcend buzzwords, and distil patterns and develop generic insights – not just to provide contingent perspectives on current affairs. We need to challenge our theory by looking at real problems, and hence by testing our existing constructs in these new settings. Discarding or amending existing theory in the light of a change in the business context is a fundamental means of improving our knowledge. And it is here that we perceive a great opportunity for interdisciplinary studies: being able to analyse an operations problem through two (or more) functional lenses is likely to yield new and different insights than what might be possible from studying such phenomena from one perspective alone.

In this short piece we will comment on the nature of interdisciplinary work, how it is conducted, highlight some of the emerging Operations Management research themes where it can add value, before introducing the papers in this special issue.


Suicide is a serious public health concern that is responsible for almost 1 million deaths each year worldwide. It is commonly an impulsive act by a vulnerable individual. The impulsivity of suicide provides opportunities to reduce the risk of suicide by restricting access to lethal means. In the United States, firearms, particularly handguns, are the most common means of suicide. Despite strong empirical evidence that restriction of access to firearms reduces suicides, access to firearms in the United States is generally subject to few restrictions. Implementation and evaluation of measures such as waiting periods and permit requirements that restrict access to handguns should be a top priority for reducing deaths from impulsive suicide in the United States.


One of the ways to environmentally friendly use coal is an integrated gasification combined cycle. The most common oxidizing agent employed in gasification is oxygen. It is feasible to use air instead of oxygen to reduce the cost of generated electricity. The air gasification downsides can be reduced by using heated air and organizing a staged process. The paper is concerned with a thermodynamic analysis of the MHPS (Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems) air-blown staged gasifier. The analysis relies on an original approach that suggests investigating experimental data on a set of calculated ones. The experimental run nears the thermodynamic optimum, which coincides with the carbon boundary line. Cold gas efficiency can be increased from 78.6 to 81.5% by reducing the equivalence ratio. Thus, the temperature will decrease from 1 200 to 1 100 °C. The experimental run of the MHPS gasifier is not optimal thermodynamically, but it is probably optimal kinetically. The fact is that the rates of heterophase reactions decline near the carbon boundary, which leads to a sharp increase in fuel underburning and a decrease in efficiency. The experimental run is also located close to the region with the maximum thermal efficiency of the process, which is indicative of the high efficiency of converting air heat into chemical energy of producer gas.


Dementia is a global health issue and the effects on caregivers are substantial. The study aimed to examine the associations of burden, coping, self-efficacy with quality of life among family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. Structured interviews were conducted in a convenience sample of 84 family caregivers caring and seeking clinical care for the persons with dementia in an outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Singapore. The outcome measures included the Family Burden Interview Schedule, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale – Brief Version. In general, significant correlations were observed between the quality of life scores with coping strategy and family burden scores, but not between the coping strategy and family burden scores. Compared to demographic factors such as caregiver age and household income, psychosocial factors including family burden, coping strategies, and self-efficacy demonstrated greater association with quality of life in the participants. However, the dynamics of these associations will change with an increasing population of persons with dementia, decreasing nuclear family size, and predicted changes in family living arrangements for the persons with dementia in future. As such, it necessitates continuous study examining the needs and concerns of family caregivers and the relevance of ongoing interventions specific to caregivers of persons with dementia.


Background Genetic signatures may be involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). In addition, such genetic patterns may change overtime upon treatment with anti-TNF biologics. With respect to pharmacogenomics, pre-treatment genomics may predict response or non-response to biological therapy. Objectives In the present study, we wished to determine gene expression changes due to anti-TNF therapy. Furthermore, we wished to study associations between baseline genetic signature and response to TNF blockade. Methods Altogether 23 RA and 17 AS patients were recruited for the study. Among RA patients, 10 received certolizumab pegol (CZP), and 13 etanercept (ETN). All AS patients were treated with ETN. Gene expression analysis using Affymetrix microarray and PrimeView array was performed at baseline and after 2 weeks of treatment. EULAR response criteria were used to differentiate responders (R) from non-responders (NR) after 12 weeks of treatment using GeneSpring software. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was also performed. Changes in gene expression patterns were also determined between baseline and 2 weeks. Results In the CZP-treated RA group, 4 patients were R and 6 were NR. Altogether 453 genes showed significantly differential expression between N and NR. In the RA-ETN group, 10 patients were R, and 3 were NR. Here, 836 genes exerted differential expression. When a CZP- and ETN-treated patients, were pooled, 165 genes separated R from NR. In the AS population, 14 patients were R and 3 were NR. 177 genes differentiated between R and NR. When changes in gene expression patterns from baseline to week 2 were determined, in the RA-CZP, RA-ETN, RA-all and AS groups 370, 79, 24 and 76 genes showed significant changes in expression. Conclusions Using microarray, genetic signatures may differentiate RA patients responding or not responding to anti-TNF therapy. Furthermore, a large set of genes show differential expression before versus 2 weeks after biologic treatment. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Polyploidy is a common phenomenon occurring in a vast number of land plants. Investigations of patterns of inheritance and the origins of plants (i.e., autopolyploidy vs. allopolyploidy) usually involve cytogenetic and molecular studies of chromosome pairing, chromosome mapping, and marker segregation analysis through experimental crosses and progeny tests. Such studies are missing for most wild species, for which artificial crosses are difficult, not feasible, or unaffordable. We report here a Bayesian method to discriminate between alternative inheritance patterns in the two extant, tetraploid species of the monocot genus Borderea (Dioscoreaceae), which does not involve progeny array tests. Our approach is based on the screening of a large number of SSR genotypes, which were obtained from successful amplifications of 17 microsatellite regions in individuals of both B. chouardii and B. pyrenaica. We tested for tetrasomic vs. disomic modes of inheritance, using the Bayes factor test. Assignment of genotypes under both alternatives could be unequivocally done for 14 and 11 of the 17 studied microsatellite regions in B. chouardii and B. pyrenaica, respectively, totaling 9502 analyzed genotypes. The comparison of posterior probabilities for the two competing hypotheses across the surveyed loci clearly favored a disomic inheritance pattern. Linkage tests indicated that none of the studied SSR loci were in linkage disequilibrium, thus representing independent samples of the Borderea genome. These results, along with previous allozyme data, support the allotetraploid origin of this paleoendemic genus and reveal the lowest reported chromosome base number for the family of the yams.


TRANSLOCATION of Down's syndrome usually involves chromosomes in groups D (13-15) and group G (21-22). Although it only accounts for about 3% to 4% of all cases of Down's syndrome and is sporadic in most cases, it is important because it may be inherited from phenotypically normal carriers. The recurrence risk in such families is high. 1 However, there seems to be differences in the risk, depending on who is the carrier of the translocated chromosome. If the mother is a carrier of a D/G translocation chromosome, the chances are a little more than one in three of having a normal child, a little more than one in three of having a phenotypically normal translocation carrier, and between one in three and one in ten of having a child with Down's syndrome. 2 If the father is the D/G translocation carrier, then the risk of a child with Down's syndrome


The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the most dominant institution organizing collegiate and amateur athletics in the United States and potentially the world. The NCAA, founded in 1906, is composed of more than 1,000 schools, organizes competition for 40 sports, and coordinates the athletic competitions of more than 90 championships. As the commercial shown during the men's Division I postseason basketball tournament (March Madness) states, the NCAA organizes competitions for more than 300,000 student athletes, most of which will be going pro in something other than sports.


Background In the past decade, many countries have seen a significant increase in their drug-related mortality rates. In the United States (US), drug-related deaths now outnumber deaths from any other injury cause. To better understand international differences, this study compared drug-related deaths in the US, England/Wales, Scotland and Australia, examining trends, demographic characteristics and differences in the drugs involved. Methods Drug-related deaths were identified using public access data and reports from each country's statistical office. Cases were selected based on ICD–10 underlying cause codes of F11–16, F18–F19 (Drug abuse), X40–X44 (Accidental poisoning), X60–X64 (Intentional self-poisoning), X85 (Assault by drugs) and Y10–14 (Drug poisoning of undetermined intent). Results In 2013, the rate of drug-related deaths in the US (146 per million population) was 1.5 times the rate in Scotland, twice the rate in Australia and more than 3 times the rate in England/Wales. In all countries, rates were higher for males than for females, with the greatest gender difference seen in Scotland. For underlying cause, in all countries, the majority of the deaths were accidental, however in England/Wales a higher percent were intentional (33%), in Australia a higher percent had a mental/behavioural cause (15%) and in Scotland a higher percent were categorised as undetermined intent (17%). In all countries, opioids including morphine, heroin and methadone were implicated in a high percent of the deaths, although drug-specific comparisons were limited due to variation by country in the completeness of the information on specific drugs. Conclusions While similar patterns in drug-related deaths were identified, differences were also seen. The extent to which these differences are true or due to variation in death investigation, reporting and coding is unclear. Further work is needed to enhance the international comparability of mortality data on drug-related deaths.


In 2007, Facebook made a momentous decision to open its platform for independent applications. After that, numerous applications are designed and deployed. From a business perspective, a Facebook application has the characteristics of low development cost and strong word-of-mouth effect, which provide an ideal alternative to traditional advertising format. This paper reveals the diffusion pattern of three leading Facebook applications and concludes that the classic Bass diffusion model can be applied to the diffusion process. Based on Bass model, we further propose a diffusion strategy of advertising using a Facebook application. We find that for a given amount of advertising budget, to achieve a maximum percentage of user installations out of the target population of the application, there exists a unique solution to allocate the budget optimally between activities promoting innovation and imitation effects. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the optimal solution.


The nonuniform emergence of cotton seedlings in the flatland mechanical planting method is a major problem in cotton production areas with crust-forming soil and saline soil and irrigation water. A field study was conducted in central Iran within Isfahan Province to assess the effects of four types of planting equipment and three crust breaking methods on cotton (Varamin cultivar) emergence on a clay loam soil. Four items of planting equipment were used, consisting of: a cotton planter with runner opener and its smooth-crown zero pressure pneumatic press wheels positioned along or away from the seed row; a cotton planter with runner opener and open-center concave steel press wheels; and a grain drill with disk opener and without covering device. Three crust breaking methods were employed, including rolling cultivator, rolling-type crust breaker (two spike-tooth drums in tandem) and no crust breaking. The crust breaking operations were done one week after the first irrigation when the first seedlings had emerged. Final emergence, planting depth, plant height and soil strength were measured.The choice of planting equipment had significant effects on planting depth, final emergence and plant height. The cotton planter with its press wheels positioned along the seed row had the greatest level of seedling emergence in a non-crust breaking treatment. This is because, during the planting operation, the soil was very dry and the press wheels were firming the soil above or around the seed to the degree that enough seed-soil contact was provided and the seeding depth was decreased. In non crust-breaking treatments, the emergence was less than 50%. The difference in emergence for the rolling cultivator and the rollingtype crust breaker was not significant. However, the rolling cultivator could be recommended due to its availability in the region. Results indicated that the grain drill (with acid delinted cotton seed) or alternatively the cotton planter with open-center press wheels (with undelinted seed) could be used with the rolling cultivator as a crust breaker as a mechanized cotton dry flatland planting system in this region.


High productivity and high quality can be achieved in broaching if the process is applied properly. Roughing, semi-finishing and finishing can be performed in one stroke of the tool increasing productivity and reducing set-up time. Furthermore, high quality surface finish can be obtained due to straight motion of the tool. One big disadvantage of broaching is that all process parameters, except cutting speed, are built into broaching tools. Therefore, it is not possible to modify cutting conditions during the process once the tool is manufactured. Improved design of broaching tools needs detailed modeling and analysis of the broaching process. In this thesis, tool optimization method and process models are presented. Cutting forces, tooth stresses, part deflections are modeled and analyzed using cutting models and FEA. The results of the analysis are summarized in analytical forms so that they can be used for different cases although in this thesis turbine disc broaching is considered as the application which is one of the most complex broaching operations. The developed models are implemented into a simulation program and the force, power, tooth stress and part deflection predictions are presented. The broach tool design is improved. Applications of the model for improved tool design are demonstrated by examples.


The standard IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol uses the Binary Exponential Backoff algorithm. The Binary Exponential Backoff makes exponential increments to contention window sizes. This work has studied the effect of choosing a combination between linear, exponential and logarithmic increments to contention windows. Results have shown that choosing the right increment based on network status enhances the data delivery ratio up to 37% compared to the Binary Exponential Backoff, and up to 39 % compared to the Pessimistic Linear Exponential Backoff algorithms for wireless Internet.


The ready-to-eat salad sector, also called fresh-cut or bagged salads, is a fast-growing segment of the fresh-food industry. The dynamism and specialization of this sector, together with the lack of adequate crop rotation, the globalization of the seed market, and climate change, are the main causes of the development of many new diseases that cause severe production losses. Newly detected diseases of the most important crops grown (lettuce, wild and cultivated rocket, lamb's lettuce, chicory, endive, basil, spinach, and Swiss chard) are critically discussed. The management of these diseases represents a formidable challenge, since few fungicides are registered on these minor-use crops. An interesting feature of the ready-to-eat salad sector is that most crops are grown under protection, often in soilless systems, which provide an environment helpful to the implementation of innovative control methods. Current trends in disease management are discussed, with special focus on the most sustainable practices.


In this paper we conduct an in-depth study of the communication costs of programs when run on a typical Symmetric MultiProcessor, the SGI Power Challenge, characterized by powerful off-the-shelf microprocessors communicating through a shared memory via a shared-bus interconnect. Our study is based on an extensive set of experiments designed to assess the relative impact of a number of parameters on the cost of shared memory accesses. We provide evidence that interaction with the memory hierarchy affects communication in such a substantial way that none of the models previously considered in the literature can guarantee a reasonable level of accuracy since they do not take this interaction into account. We then determine two prediction functions that are very accurate predictors of best and worst performance with respect to the memory hierarchy. These functions provide a prediction interval that can be employed to obtain lower and upper bounds on the actual communication cost of an application, and to evaluate the degree of locality of the memory access patterns involved.


For accurate measurements of stress-strain hysteresis loops at strains below 10−3%, a torsional motion monitoring system was modified to incorporate micro-proximitors. A micro-proximitor system with enlarged target arms resulted in about 50 times higher resolution in motion monitoring than previously possible. The four proximitor signals (instead of two) were measured, compared, and averaged to insure that pure torsion of the system was generated and that any bending did not enter the measurement. Ambient noise was controlled by using a low-pass filter and/or a vibration isolation table. With this new system, shear modulus was measured at strains as low as 2 · 10−5%, and hysteretic damping was measured at strains as low as 6 · 10−5%. Below the elastic threshold strain, shear modulus of dry sand measured in the cyclic torsional shear test is independent of strain amplitude. Hysteretic damping exists below the elastic threshold and is independent of strain amplitude, even though the value is quite small.


Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders among people with HIV/AIDS. It causes more disability and greater decrements in health than most other chronic illnesses. Data was collected from April to May, 2013 after obtaining verbal consent from the respondents. Data entry was performed by using SPPSS version 20 and analysis was done using logistic regression and odd ratio. A total of 416 respondents were interviewed and of the 221(53.1%) were female, 385 (92.5%) were orthodox in religion, 184(44.2%) were married and 380(91.3%) were Amhara in ethnicity. 157(37.7%) were completed primary education and 106 (25.5%) were jobless. Monthly income of the respondents was between 401-700 birr for 108(26%). Among 416 participants 38.94% were depressed. Depression was associated with being Female(AOR=2.071(1.077,3.985),30-39years(A OR=2.761(1.165,6.540)), 449years(AOR=3.847(1.489,9.942), 60-69 years (AOR=19.645 (4.020, 95.991), income < 200birr's (AOR=3.917(1.559, 9.845),201-400 birr's (AOR=2.796(1.139, 6.865)), 401-700birr's (AOR=2.590(1.058, 6.340), Stage III HIV/AIDS (AOR=2.317(1.108, 4.848)), Stage IV HIV/AIDS (AOR=8.769(1.928, 39.872), Hospitalized in the past one month was (AOR=15.262(1.463, 159.219) and felt stigmatized were (AOR=3.597(1.861, 6.954). This study summarizes that there is high prevalence of depression on people living with HIV/AIDS. Among them sex, age, low income, HIV/AIDS stages, hospitalized in the past one month, and perceived stigma were significantly associated. Screening programs should focus on being females, low incomes, HIV Stage III and IV, those hospitalized the last one month, and perceived stigma. We recommend health care providers to address depressive disorders for people with HIV/ AIDS comprehensively.


Purpose: To determine the factors influencing the recommendation of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to patients by community pharmacists in Vietnam. Methods: The study was conducted at community pharmacies in Vietnam, from June 10 to October 30, 2017. A final data set for analysis of 422 questionnaires was completed by community pharmacists from four different cities in Vietnam. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine potential factors underlying a set of 20 questions related to the research topic. The association among the obtained factors and between the obtained factors and the pharmacists' demographics were determined by applying the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Using factor analysis the current study identified five factors, accounting for 61.53 % of the variance of the study, including customer, economic, professional, brand, and product. The product factor was found to have the most significant influence on pharmacists' recommendation of all the factors ( p < 0.001). Conclusion: There are five major factors influencing the decision-making process for the selection of OTC medicines by community pharmacists in Vietnam. These findings could be useful for pharmaceutical firms in the adaptation of product development and pharmaceutical marketing. Keywords: Community pharmacist, Over-the-counter medicine, Exploratory factor analysis, Medicine recommendation


Abstract Tritium clean-up systems typically deploy gas processing technologies between stages of palladium-silver (Pd/Ag) diffusers/permeators. The number of diffusers positioned before and after a gas clean-up process to obtain optimal system performance will vary with feed gas inert composition. A simple method to analyze optimal diffuser configuration is presented. The method assumes equilibrium across the Pd/Ag tubes and system flows are limited by diffuser vacuum pump speeds preceding or following the clean-up process. A plot of system feed as a function of inert feed gas composition for various diffuser configuration allows selection of a diffuser configuration for maximum throughput based on feed gas composition.


Ask the Expert provides answers to clinical questions for nurses in practice settings. Where possible, evidence from research is used to support the experts' recommendations.


In this essay I argue that the anti-luminosity argument Timothy Williamson presents in Knowledge and Action runs into problems in trying to establish its conclusion. Anti-luminosity is the position that we sometimes do not know our current mental states, for example I can feel cold and not know that I do. Williamson's argument initially seems plausible; however, it relies on an inadequately supported premise. Williamson needs to assume that the process by which we come to know our current inner states is fallible, but in doing so begs the question. Without assuming a fallible inner sense, the antiluminosity argument looks like just another sorites paradox. Without problematically assuming fallible introspectors the anti-luminosity argument cannot establish its conclusion. One may think that this assumption is justified, but I argue that it is not. There are at least two other positions on the table that avoid a problem Williamson's


Internet services are increasingly abused by malicious scripts that try to mimic human users. Reverse Turing tests are challenges used to differentiate humans from computers. Visual reverse Turing tests use visual challenges, such as distorted character recognition tasks, that are easily solved by humans, while remaining too hard for automatic scripts. We demonstrate that the computational and development cost of a script breaking through some currently deployed visual reverse Turing tests is low, thus making them ineffective in protecting these services. We present two case studies of successful attacks on character-based tests that are currently used to protect two public Web services. Our attacks utilize image processing techniques and also exploit flaws in the test deployment