The smart choice of polyoxometalates (POMs) and the design of POM@carbon-based composites are promising tools for producing active electrocatalysts for both the oxygen reduction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reactions (OER). Hence, herein, we report the preparation, characterization and application of three composites based on doped, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT_N6) and three different POMs (Na12[(FeOH2)2Fe2(As2W15O56)2]·54H2O, Na12[(NiOH2)2Ni2(As2W15O56)2]·54H2O and Na14[(FeOH2)2Ni2(As2W15O56)2]·55H2O) as ORR and OER electrocatalysts in alkaline medium (pH = 13). Overall, the three POM@MWCNT_N6 composites showed good ORR performance with onset potentials between 0.80 and 0.81 V vs. RHE and diffusion-limiting current densities ranging from −3.19 to −3.66 mA cm−2. Fe4@MWCNT_N6 and Fe2Ni2@MWCNT_N6 also showed good stability after 12 h (84% and 80% of initial current). The number of electrons transferred per O2 molecule was close to three, suggesting a mixed regime. Moreover, the Fe2Ni2@MWCNT_N6 presented remarkable OER performance with an overpotential of 0.36 V vs. RHE (for j = 10 mA cm−2), a jmax close to 135 mA cm−2 and fast kinetics with a Tafel slope of 45 mV dec−1. More importantly, this electrocatalyst outperformed not only most POM@carbon-based composites reported so far but also the state-of-the-art RuO2 electrocatalyst. Thus, this work represents a step forward towards bifunctional electrocatalysts using less expensive materials.


Over time extension education is supply-driven with little or no consultation with the community members, participants, clients or partners whom the innovation and other related empowerment activities is intended. The linear model of community empowerment of top-down approach has been the dominant process of holistic sustainable development in Nigeria, resulting in failed processes towards ensuring self-dependence economically, socially, psychologically and politically. Recently, community driven development (CDD) have come to be considered as most appropriate towards sustainable community empowerment. Utilization of these techniques by the extension educators was found to have increases the community members' knowledge and ability to make their own choices and decisions on each and every developmental program and projects. Community members assumed a central role and become key players in activities that will affect their lives such as: needs assessment, planning, implementation, supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of projects. This paper examined the roles of extension education towards community empowerment in Nigeria: issues, challenges, and prospects. These issues and challenges include political system, gender, population, funding, training, and re-training, competencies, and manpower. The paper also recommends government proactive measure in terms of legislation, funding and more employment and also the communities to form self-help groups as a way of empowering themselves internally in collaboration with the extension workers working with them.


In this paper, we consider the problem of exploring an unknown environment with a team of robots to detect and disarm mines. The goal is to minimize the overall exploration time and to disarm all mines in a landscape. We present two approaches for the coordination of robots. An indirect communication, stigmergy, inspired to biology is used to help robots to cover the overall area in a minimum time. In this way the robot simultaneously explore different regions of their environment. Moreover, a new coordination protocol called Ant-based Task and Robot Coordination (ATRC) is proposed to recruit robots and disarm mines in a minimum amount of time. This approach has been implemented and tested extensively in a simulation environment. The results showed the best convergence time of proposal in term of space discovery in comparison with a well-known algorithm such as the Vertex Ant Walk (VAW). Moreover the effectiveness of proposed protocol is evaluated varying network parameters in the simulation.


The use of a neural network (NN) as a feedforward control element to compensate for nonlinear system uncertainties has been investigated for over a decade. Typical NN-based controllers yield uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) stability results due to residual functional reconstruction inaccuracies and an inability to compensate for some system disturbances. Several researchers have proposed discontinuous feedback controllers (e.g., variable structure or sliding mode controllers) to reject the residual errors and yield asymptotic results. The research in this paper describes how a recently developed continuous robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) feedback term can be incorporated with a NN-based feedforward term to achieve semi-global asymptotic tracking. To achieve this result, the typical stability analysis for the RISE method is modified to enable the incorporation of the NN-based feedforward terms, and a projection algorithm is developed to guarantee bounded NN weight estimates.


Inspired by the story of Pornpet Meuansri, a land rights activist, who was brutally killed on the way back home from her farm leaving behind her 400 petitions, diaries, letters, news clippings, court documents and other archival records, my thesis aims to answer the central questions of "Can the subaltern write? And how do we begin to read their writing?" These questions are then addressed within the combined frameworks of postcolonial geography and feminist research practice specifically focusing on auto/biography and the innovative approaches of revelatory reading and engaging women's archives and women's life narratives intersubjectively. In this regard, Trinh Thi Minh-ha's idea of "territorialised knowledge" as well as Luce Irigaray's notion of "approaching the other as other" and Spivak's question "Can the subaltern speak?" are applied to Pornpet's work in an effort to create a more inclusive postcolonial geographical knowledge which reflects more in-depth race and class specificities. As a result, the thesis elaborates upon three significant areas of original contribution to the disciplines of postcolonial feminist geography and archives studies: theoretical, methodological and epistemological. Firstly and theoretically, this study advances postcolonial feminist scholarship by applying the concept of 'colonialism within', a missing piece not touched upon by postcolonial feminist thinkers. Moreover, the study shifts the current discursive debates on postcolonial archives studies to 'subalternity into crisis' in that, at least in Pornpet's case, she attempts to be heard and understood on her own terms in an effort to overcome her own subalternity. In this regard, the thesis asserts that overcoming subalternity is not possible without also having the dominants unlearn their privilege, and therefore overcome the internalised structured hearing of the dominant discourses that silence and marginalise the subaltern. Therefore, this thesis explores this possibility through Irigaray's work on 'listening' and intersubjective dialogue. Secondly and methodologically, the thesis critically and creatively applies the feminist innovative approach of 'revelatory reading' to assess the subaltern's archives by developing Irigaray's notion of "approaching the [sexuate and racial] other as the other" and applying it to the reading of texts of (deceased) others, specifically, the texts of a subaltern (-ity into crisis), in creative ways, eg reading 'becoming', reading 'silence' and reading 'listening', respectively. Thirdly and epistemologically, a radical interpretation of the concept of de-bureaucratisation or a grassroots woman's critique of mainstream Thai feminist scholarship is applied through the framework of Buddhism and the utilisation of multiple forms of inscription. This results in not only interrupting the homogenising effects of "Women and Development" and mainstream feminist discourse in Thailand, but it also brings the often ignored issue of patriarchal state 'violence' (through writing) against (men and) women to the forefront. Above all, a study on writing from women's personal experience in the context of oppressive public structures not only reveals the hidden space of the internal colonial bureaucratic system but also offers the tools to challenge the centralised state organisation's patriarchal structure. In this regard, a feminist critique that establishes both a body of knowledge built up from missing perspectives and that is directed by the need for a more just and equitable society will enrich the lives of (both) women (and men) and other "subalterns".


Mashup is one of the technologies which are very popular. It is a kind of new applications based on Web. It could organize the sounds, pictures and texts well, filter the Spam, making the reading clearer and more comfortable. Implementation of PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) is important to reduce one's loss due to information asymmetry. The abilities of obtain, evaluation, management and express capacity could be improved greatly. This article introduces the definition and significance of Personal Knowledge Management, present what is Mashup and RSS, and the advantages, tools and typical application of Mashup. Last, we select Yahoo Pipes to make a personal news browsing tool with which you could simplify the operation, get together information on different sites to make it convenient to read the news spread all over all the news sites. You may find that it is so simply to get the information.


The donation of organs and tissues is accepted in our society as a normal process; thus it frequently happens that when, in the face of imminent death, we inform the family of the severity of the patient in an intensive care unit, they offer us the organs and/or tissues before they are even asked. That is to say that in our milieu the degree of awareness and generosity is very high. As a sort of magic figure, three historic events occurred at the end of 2005: on the one hand, Spain exceeded the figure of 35 donations per million – a world record; on the other hand, we obtained the lowest figure of family refusals in history, that is, we are now below 16 per million, which is also a magic figure that is unique in the world; and, besides, we exceeded the figure of 1,500 donations in one year.
The experience of 30 years of donations and transplantations has enabled us to optimise methods and protocols and to efficiently distribute functions on the basis of specialisation. The Hospital of Navarra preferentially takes charge of the extraction of organs; the Virgen del Camino Hospital collects tissues; and the University Clinic of Navarra carries out the surgical process of the transplantion.
In this article we present data on the different transplants, making continuous reference to the figures produced between the years 1995 and 2005; we refer to previous figures and we make a comparison with the rest of Spain and the world.


All the financial practitioners are working in incomplete markets full of unhedgeable risk-factors. Making the situation worse, they are only equipped with the imperfect information on the relevant processes. In addition to the market risk, fund and insurance managers have to be prepared for sudden and possibly contagious changes in the investment flows from their clients so that they can avoid the over- as well as under-hedging. In this work, the prices of securities, the occurrences of insured events and (possibly a network of) the investment flows are used to infer their drifts and intensities by a stochastic filtering technique. We utilize the inferred information to provide the optimal hedging strategy based on the mean-variance (or quadratic) risk criterion. A BSDE approach allows a systematic derivation of the optimal strategy, which is shown to be implementable by a set of simple ODEs and the standard Monte Carlo simulation. The presented framework may also be useful for manufactures and energy firms to install an efficient overlay of dynamic hedging by financial derivatives to minimize the costs.


We analyse posts on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) as a means to understand how translators feel about machine translation (MT). A quantitative analysis of more than 13,000 tweets shows that negative perceptions outweigh positive ones by a ratio of 3:1 overall, and 5:1 in tweets relating MT to human translation. Our study indicates a disconnect between translation and research communities, and we outline three suggestions to bridge this gap: (i) identifying and reporting patterns rather than isolated errors, (ii) participating in evaluation campaigns, and (iii) engaging in cross-disciplinary discourse. Rather than pointing out each other's deficiencies, we call for computer scientists, translation scholars, and professional translators to advance translation technology by acting in concert.


Urban Politics in Early Modern Europe is an important survey of the complex relationships between urban politics and regional and national politics in Europe from 1500 to 1789. In an era when the national state was far less developed than today, crucial decisions about economic, religious and social policy were often settled at the municipal level. Cities were frequently the scenes of sudden tensions or bitter conflicts between ordinary citizens and the urban elite, and the threat of civic unrest often underlay the political dynamics of early modern cities. With vivid descriptions of events in cities in central Europe, England, France, Italy and Spain, this book outlines the forms of political interaction in the early modern city. Urban Politics in Early Modern Europe takes a fascinating comparative approach to the nature of conflict and conflict resolution in early modern communities throughout Europe.


The Peruvian biodiversity management requires that stakeholders are linked to take advantage of commercial opportunities fulfilling with regulations that facilitate their sustainability. Worldwide, the brown macroalgae commercialization is evolving satisfactorily, which is reflected in the increase of its exports. In Peru, the brown macroalgae activity has a social and cultural importance, as it is done by artisanal fishermen and their families, who depend totally or partially on these resources. However, the increase in demand has had a strong impact on the marine biomass which generated continuous concern of local authorities, sector entities and other stakeholders. Therefore, we are looking to integrate initiatives among stakeholders to generate governance. This article analyzes the linkages networks between the previously mentioned actors and concludes that the average link density level is 37.89%. The main actors that can mediate to strengthen these links are the Peruvian Sea Institute and the Ministry of Production, in a joint effort with the local governments and the environmental police. The latter would allow the use of this important resource with a sustainable development framework. Keywords: Brown Macroalgae, Biocommerce, Artisan Fishermen, sustainable governance, sustainable development


The first part of the article is a polemic with the Polish version of postcolonialism, which adopted the name post-dependence. The author criticizes mimicking the romantic code, abstractness, operating essentialist oppositions which, in the modern meaning of culture processes, are regarded as anachronistic. The second part discusses the works of Mariusz Wilk, who is a voluntary immigrant in Russia, and his writing is treated as a model of sovereign reflection.


Summary 1. A principal goal of protected-area networks is to maintain viable populations of as many species as possible, particularly those that are vulnerable to environmental change outside reserves. Ideally, one wants to be able to protect all biodiversity when selecting priority areas for conservation. 2. Using the area-prioritization algorithm ZONATION, we identified the locations where UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species of mammals, birds, herptiles, butterflies and plants occur in concentrated populations with high connectivity. Both these features are likely to be correlated with population persistence. The analyses were successful in maintaining a high proportion of the connectivity of narrow-range species, and large total amounts of the connectivity of wider-range species over 10% of the land surface of Great Britain. 3. Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP ‐ high priority) species of one taxonomic group were not particularly good surrogates (indicators) for BAP species of other taxonomic groups. Hence, maintaining population concentrations of one taxonomic group did not guarantee doing likewise for other taxa. 4. Species with narrow geographic ranges were most effective at predicting conservation success for other species, probably because they represent the range of environmental conditions required by other species. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study identifies landscape-scale priority areas for conservation of priority species from several taxonomic groups, using the Zonation software. 'Indicator groups' were only partially successful as predictors of priority areas for other taxonomic groups, and therefore, the identification of priority areas for biodiversity conservation should include information from all taxonomic groups available. Larger areas should be protected to account for species not included in the analyses. Conservation solutions based on data for many different species, and particularly those species with narrowly defined ranges, appear to be most effective at protecting other rare taxa.


Petri Nets is a powerful mathematical modeling tool for system description and analysis, with which we can describe the relationship among entities efficiently. The present thesis puts forward the modeling of the distributed computer network - DNMPN and DNMPNTO based on Petri Nets. DNMPN implements the basic function of distributed computer network, and DNMPNTO modifies DNMPN's repetitive forward problem. Thus, it is efficiently helpful to optimize the unit traffic of the network,save the net work resource and improve the efficiency of the network system.


The Turkish DAG 4-m telescope is currently through the final design stage. It is to be located on a 3170 m mountain top in Eastern Anatolia. The telescope will be a state-of-the art device, alt-az mount with active primary and adjustable secondary and tertiary mirrors. Its optics design is specially aimed at being compatible with advance adaptive optics instrumentation. The ultimate performance of such a telescope results of multiple concurrent effects from many different components and active functions of the complex system. The paper presents a comprehensive integrated (end-to-end) model of the telescope, comprising in one computational sequence all structural, electrodynamics and oactive optics performance that produce the image quality at the focal plane. The model is entirely programmed in Matlab/Simulink and comprises a finite element model of structure and mirrors, dynamics modal reduction, deformation analyses of structural and optical elements, active optics feedback control in the Zernike modal space.


Background Previous studies on the prognostic value of clinical and MRI parameters for the time to return to play (TTRTP) in acute hamstring injuries showed only limited to moderate evidence for the various investigated parameters. Some studies had multiple methodological limitations, including retrospective designs and the use of univariate analysis only. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of clinical and MRI parameters for TTRTP using multivariate analysis. Methods 28 clinical and MRI parameters were prospectively investigated for an association with TTRTP in 80 non-professional athletes with MRI positive hamstring injuries undergoing a standardised rehabilitation programme. The association between possible prognostic parameters and TTRTP was assessed with a multivariate linear regression model. Parameters that had a p value <0.2 on univariate testing were included in this model. Results 74 athletes were available for analysis. A total of nine variables met the criteria for the multivariate analysis: intensity of sports, level of sports, self-predicted TTRTP by the athlete, length of discomfort on palpation, deficit in passive straight leg raise, pain score on isometric knee flexion, isometric knee flexion strength deficit and distance of the proximal pole of the MRI hyperintensity to the tuber ischiadicum. Of these, only self-predicted TTRTP by the athlete and a passive straight leg raise deficit remained significantly associated with TTRTP after stepwise logistic regression. Conclusions The clinical parameters self-predicted TTRTP and passive straight leg raise deficit are independently associated with the TTRTP. MRI parameters in grade 1 and 2 hamstring injuries, as described in the literature, are not associated with TTRTP. For clinical practice, prognosis of the TTRTP in these injuries should better be based on clinical parameters.


Complex product design is a knowledge-intensive process that involves various aspects of technical knowledge and experience. This paper contends that the conventional Product Data Management (PDM) system has some inherent limitations due to its original intention to manage processes and results, not to manage and reuse knowledge. Therefore, to overcome the shortage that knowledge cannot be discovered and reused effectively in PDM systems, a "Domain Ontology - Index Knowledge – Data Resource" (OKD) three-layer mapping model is proposed to organize DK. The key idea behind our approach is a flexible ontology-based schema that domain ontology is used as semantic model and index knowledge as data indexing to enable the capture and reuse of problem-solving knowledge to improve PDM's performance. Finally, conclusion is made.


By the mid-1700s, Attercliffe had a developed into a major industrial centre, specialising in steelmaking, and distinct from the town of Sheffield. It also had its own coalfield, which included the Barnsley Coal, valued for its steel-melting coke. The first 'engine-drained' coal pit at Attercliffe opened in 1747, close to the River Don and the Sheffield road. It was succeeded by a sequence of further collieries, each following the crop of the Barnsley Coal progressively eastwards towards Orgreave. Development of underground workings by separate, competing partnerships was uncoordinated, and all the collieries faced a constant struggle with inflowing water, including leakage between properties through failed barriers. Nine Newcomen-type pumping engines were eventually erected in this small coalfield during the remainder of the eighteenth century, two of which were also fitted with flywheels for coal-winding. A further four engines, of presumed Newcomen-type, were also erected for winding only. Four of the pumping engines were designed by John Curr, including the Greenland engine, which is described in detail in his book. He also designed and manufactured one of the winding engines.


Information distillation aims to extract the most useful pieces of information related to a given query from massive, possibly multilingual, audio and textual document sources. One critical component in a distillation engine is detecting sentences to be extracted from each relevant document. In this paper, we present a statistical sentence extraction approach for distillation. Basically, we frame this tack as a classification problem, where each candidate sentence in documents is classified as a relevant to the query or not. These documents may be textual or audio format and in a number of languages. For audio documents, we use both manual and automatic transcriptions, for non-English documents, we use automatic translations. In this work, we use AdaBoost, a discriminative classification method with both lexical and semantic features. The results indicate 11%-13% relative improvement over a baseline keyword-spotting-based approach. We also show the robustness of our method on the audio subset of the document sources using manual and automatic transcriptions.


BACKGROUND
Determinations of plasma 99mTc-HEPIDA clearance (ClPl) have been performed in some centres for 30 years to assess liver parenchyma damage, mostly for monitoring of organ performance in the course of various diseases. The main disadvantage of such a procedure rests with the fact that elimination of the compound from the system occurs not only via the liver and gall ducts, but also via the urinary route; the contribution of the latter compound being quite variable. This circumstance may lead to false assessment of liver parenchyma performance. A method has been developed therefore for assessment of specific hepatic clearance of 99mTc-HEPIDA (Cl(Hp)). Using this method it was demonstrated that results of Cl(Hp) correlated better with independently assessed degrees of liver impairment than did the values of ClPl.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
To delineate ranges of Cl(Hp) that would provide valuable clinical information 134 individuals were studied, of whom 48 served as healthy controls and 86 had varying degrees of livers function impairment, resulting from various chronic diseases affecting the organs functional capacity. The latter was assessed on the basis of a series of commonly used biochemical indicators.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
For delineation of meaningful ranges of 99mTc-HEPIDA specific hepatic clearance ROC curve method was used. The following results were obtained: Cl(Hp) >or= 150 ml min(-1) 1.72 m(-2)--excludes with high probability presence of substantial liver parenchyma damage; Cl(Hp) <or= 120 ml min(-1) 1.72m(-2)--indicates a substantial impairment of liver function (damage). Values of Cl(Hp) <or= 90 ml min(-1) 1.72 m(-2) are highly specific for serious liver damage, of intensity typical for cirrhosis of the organ.


In this article the free vibrations of the bottom plate of an otherwise rigid circular cylindrical tank filled with liquid are studied, considering only the bulging modes (when the amplitude of the plate displacement is predominant with respect to that of the free surface). The tank axis is vertical, thus the free liquid surface is orthogonal to the tank axis. The liquid is assumed to be inviscid, and the contribution of the free surface waves to the dynamic pressure on the free liquid surface is neglected. Wet and dry mode shapes of the plate are assumed to be the same, so that the natural frequencies are obtained by using the nondimensionalized added virtual mass incremental (NA VMI) factors and the modal properties of dry plates. This simplifies computations compared to other existing theoretical approaches. NAVMI factors express the nondimensionalized ratio between the reference kinetic energy of the liquid and that of the plate and have the advantage that, due to their nondimensional form, they can be computed once and for all. Numerical results for simply supported and clamped bottom plates, as well as for supported plates with an elastic moment edge constraint are given. For more accurate results, and to exceed the limits of the assumed modes approach, the Rayleigh-Ritz method is applied and results are compared to those obtained by using the NAVMI factors and other existing methods in the literature.


ABSTRACT This special issue brings together a mix of early-career, mid, and senior scholars to critically examine current realities of, and boldly imagine future possibilities for, STEM education in the lives of racially minoritized children in the United States. Given the implicit and sometimes explicit aspirations of STEM education to be a counteracting force against racialized injustice, how do students and communities of color experience and make sense of STEM reforms/initiatives? By examining a broad range of STEM contexts including mathematics, computer science, science and environmental science education, and through a diversity of methodological approaches, this special issue aims to contribute to a scholarly conversation about how racialized power intersects with the larger themes and foci of STEM education. In our introduction, we both highlight broad themes of the issue, and offer possible directions for future research at the intersections of race, power, and STEM.


Neurological lesions due to alcohol most frequently affect the peripheral nervous system. Alcoholic myopathy or the combination of alcoholic neuropathy and myopathy are less frequent. The features of these disorders are discussed in detail. To support the clinical diagnosis of alcoholic neuropathy and/or myopathy various criterions corresponding to their clinical relevance are set up. It is suggested that a clear diagnosis ordinarily points to alcohol endangering or even to alcohol addiction and it therefore is incompatible with administering a driving license.


The original formulation of Bayesian estimation applied to multiple species (BEAMS) showed how to use a data set contaminated by points of multiple underlying types to perform unbiased parameter estimation. An example is cosmological parameter estimation from a photometric supernova sample contaminated by unknown Type Ibc and II supernovae. Where other methods require data cuts to increase purity, BEAMS uses all of the data points in conjunction with their probabilities of being each type. Here we extend the BEAMS formalism to allow for correlations between the data and the type probabilities of the objects as can occur in realistic cases. We show with simple simulations that this extension can be crucial, providing a 50 per cent reduction in parameter estimation variance when such correlations do exist. We then go on to perform tests to quantify the importance of the type probabilities, one of which illustrates the effect of biasing the probabilities in various ways. Finally, a general presentation of the selection bias problem is given, and discussed in the context of future photometric supernova surveys and BEAMS, which lead to specific recommendations for future supernova surveys.


The B'ezier simplex fitting is a novel data modeling technique which utilizes geometric structures of data to approximate the Pareto set of multi-objective optimization problems. There are two fitting methods based on different sampling strategies. The inductive skeleton fitting employs a stratified subsampling from skeletons of a simplex, whereas the all-at-once fitting uses a non-stratified sampling which treats a simplex as a single object. In this paper, we analyze the asymptotic risks of those B'ezier simplex fitting methods and derive the optimal subsample ratio for the inductive skeleton fitting. It is shown that the inductive skeleton fitting with the optimal ratio has a smaller risk when the degree of a B'ezier simplex is less than three. Those results are verified numerically under small to moderate sample sizes. In addition, we provide two complementary applications of our theory: a generalized location problem and a multi-objective hyper-parameter tuning of the group lasso. The former can be represented by a B'ezier simplex of degree two where the inductive skeleton fitting outperforms. The latter can be represented by a B'ezier simplex of degree three where the all-at-once fitting gets an advantage.


Fuzzy duplicate detection is an integral part of data cleansing. It consists of finding a set of duplicate records, correctly identifying the original or most representative record and removing the rest. The rate of Internet usage, and data availability and collectability is increasing so we get more and more access to data. A lot of this data is collected from, and entered by humans and this causes noise in the data from typing mistakes, spelling discrepancies, varying schemas, abbreviations, and more. Because of this data cleansing and approximate duplicate detection is now more important than ever. In fuzzy matching records are usually compared by measuring the edit distance between two records. This leads to problems with large data sets where there is a lot of record comparisons to be made so previous solutions have found ways to cut down on the amount of records to be compared. This is often done by creating a key which records are then sorted on with the intention of placing similar records near each other. There are several downsides to this, for example you need to sort and search through potentially large amounts of data several times to catch duplicate data accurately. This project differs in that it presents an approach to the problem which takes advantage of a multiple instruction stream, multiple data stream (MIMD) architecture called a Pattern Matching Chip (PMC), which allows large amounts of parallel character comparisons. This will allow you to do fuzzy matching against the entire data set very quickly, removing the need for clustering and re-arranging of the data which can often lead to omitted duplicates (false negatives). The main point of this paper will be to test the viability of this approach for duplicate detection, examining the performance, potential and scalability of the approach.


In this thesis we consider the barge handling problem, which is about the alignment of barge and terminal operations in a port. Complicating factor in tackling this problem is that centralized planning is not acceptable for the parties concerned.

In our research we explore an alternative: distributed planning. We develop a Multi-Agent system (MAS) consisting of barge operator agents and terminal operator agents. We propose a specific interaction protocol based on service-time profiles through which barge and terminal operators are able to improve their planning.

To evaluate the performance of our MAS we conduct simulation studies. In this way we get insight in the performance of the system as a whole as the result of the interactions of barge and terminal operators. Additionally, we compare the performance with an off-line benchmark, resembling central coordination.

Our findings are promising. Our interaction protocol supports an efficient negotiation between barge and terminal operators. Our MAS allows for real-time alignment of barge and terminal operations such that the overall system performance is well within the range of central planning performance. Moreover, our MAS suppresses the propagation of disruptions, making the operations of barges and terminals more reliable.

Experiences with the management game that we designed to explain our solution to practitioners, are encouraging and indicate that our MAS may be acceptable for barge and terminal operators and implementable in practice.

Throughout the thesis we took the Port of Rotterdam as our source of inspiration, although our model is applicable to general multi-terminal, multi-barge settings. Generally we conclude that our Multi-Agent system is a promising solution for the barge handling problem and can result in a significant improvement in practice.


The development of rapid and specific diagnostic test to identify individuals infected with malaria is important to control severe public health impact of this disease.This study evaluated the ability of rapid malaria diagnostic test (BIOTEC Malaria P.v/P.f rapid device) to detect Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria during out break in Chabahar province of Sistan and Balouchestan in Iran. Whole blood samples were obtained from 250 suspected malaria patients. Results from these kit were compared to the reading obtained from 100 fields of Giemsa-stained thick smear blood film.This test is rapid (15 min) for malaria detection. The device is coated with monoclonal antibodies against P. falciparum histidine rich protein-2 (PfHRP2) and enzyme parasite lactate dehydrogenase isomer of P. vivax (PLDH) . A total of 55% samples (138 of 250) were positive by blood films, while 54% samples (136 of 250) were positive by malaria P.v/P.f rapid device. The blood film indicated that 81% (112 of 138) of patients were positive for P.vivax and 19% (26 of 138) of patients were positive for P. falciparum . The malaria P.v/P.f rapid device showed that 79.6% (110 of 138) were positive for P.vivax and 1.4% (2 of 138) were negative. 19% (26 of 138) were positive for P. falciparum . These results demonstrated that the malaria P.v/P.f rapid device had sensitivity of 98.5% and specificity of 100% when compared to traditional blood films. The malaria P.v/P.f rapid device showed an excellent correlation with traditional blood films in identification of both P. vivax and P. falciparum malaria. At present for diagnosis of malaria in endemic area, this kit is rather expensive when compared to microscopy. Neverthless, it is very useful for remote areas where the necessary facilities for microscopic examination are not accessible.


This paper describes the application of genetic programming to delay-time algorithms for anti-air missiles equipped with proximity fuzes. Current algorithms for determining the delay-time before the detonation of a missile warhead rely on human effort and experience and are, in general, deficient. We show that by applying genetic programming, an evolutionary optimization technique, determination of the timing can be automated and made near-optimal. A simulation study is discussed.


Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas both feature highly complex structures of narrative embedding. This thesis examines the use of narrative levels in these two novels, considering how the purposes and effects of embedding change and how attention to the structure of this literary device transforms readings of these texts. Cloud Atlas features six distinct and seemingly stand-alone embedded narratives. The relationship between them is complicated both by competing structural models and by clashes of continuity between fact and fiction. Mitchell's novel draws attention to the role of storytelling in the creation of history and human identity. House of Leaves embeds an invented film within a novel masquerading as film criticism, with edits and commentary provided by a further narrator. The disparate parts, narratorial unreliability, and multiple acts of remediation serve to undermine the elaborate narrative hierarchy Danielewski creates. This instability foregrounds the subjectivity of the relationship between reader and text and the embedding narrator functions as a model for the active reader who both interprets and recreates. In both novels the differently styled narratives and structures of embedding facilitate an exploration of the permutations of fact and fiction and, by transgressing the norms of this literary device, they bring into focus the assumptions that exist around it.


What is commonly called "pre-school" is increasingly being viewed as the most significant of all stages in the education of children. Historically, young children below public school age have been primarily the responsibility of their parents as far as nurturance and personal guidance are concerned. However, the demands of modern life have so intensified that the normal home, school and community influences are no longer adequate to assist children. Despite many studies carried out on guidance and counseling in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, not much is known on what happens at the pre-school level. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence the provisions of guidance and counseling services by pre-school teachers in Kasarani Division and also to determine the support given by school administration to teachercounselors. The objectives of the study were to examine factors that influence the provision of guidance and counseling services by pre-school teachers such as pre-school teachers' training, experience, level of education, teacher-pupil ratio and type of school management. The dependent variable was exemplified by pre-school teachers' provision of guidance and counseling while pre-school teachers' training, experience, level of education, type of school management and teacher-pupil ratio exemplified the independent variables. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Questionnaires were administered to the pre-school teachers while interview schedules were used to collect more information from the administrators and deputy head teachers. The target population was all pre-school teachers and all administrators and deputy head teachers in Kasarani division. Stratified random sampling was used to select the schools and simple random sampling was used to select 74 pre-school teachers while purposive sampling was used to select 56 managers and deputy head teachers. Reliability of the instruments was determined by the use of test-retest method while the validity of the research instruments was determined by conducting a pilot study. Data collected was coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and was presented in form of tables, charts and graphs. Thematic analysis was used to present qualitative data. The study found out that the administrators support to guidance and counseling is inadequate and this is coupled with challenges such as heavy workload, lack of resource materials, lack of support from parents, inadequate time, limited knowledge due to lack of training which make guidance and counseling not to achieve its intended purpose in pre-school. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended provision of skills through training and in-service courses, support from parents, the school administration and the Ministry of Education. Guidance and counseling is a continuous process hence the teacher requires ample time with the child.


We looked at the management of postnatal readmissions to ascertain strategies that can improve outcomes and decrease hospital stay. 60 patients were identified retrospectively over a period of 12 months, from the postnatal wards admission records, triage records and clinical incident forms at Southern General Hospital, Glasgow. For 30/60 women (50%) the final diagnosis was infection (caesarean section wound, genital tract, urinary tract or mastitis), 10/60 women were diagnosed with uncontrolled hypertension and the rest of 20 women were investigated for suspicion of: thrombotic events, retained products of conception, urinary retention, constipation, cardiomyopathy. Four patients admitted with a diagnosis of infection returned to theatre for episiotomy repair and evacuation of retained products of conception. 23 women received intravenous antibiotics on admission, 9 had blood cultures performed and only 8 (27%) had a documented microbiology specialist opinion. The average hospital inpatient stay for this group, since delivery and including readmission, was 6.3 days. One woman diagnosed with poorly controlled hypertension was readmitted twice and stayed in hospital in total for 15 days. Five women were reviewed only by a junior doctor, one diagnosed with uncontrolled hypertension. The average hospital stay for hypertensive patients was 7.2 days. The cost per patient of inpatient stay for one day was £825. Genital tract infection and poorly controlled hypertension were the most common diagnoses. Prompt senior review and clearly documented management plans may decrease hospital stay.


Radiocarbon Date List XI contains an annotated listing of 178 AMS radiocarbon dates on samples from marine (169 samples) and lake (9 samples) sediment cores. Marine sediment cores, from which the samples for dating were taken, were collected on the Greenland Shelf, Baffin Bay, and the Eastern Canadian Arctic shelf. About 80% of the marine samples for dating were collected on the SW to N Icelandic shelf. The lake sediment cores were collected in northwestern Iceland. For dating of the marine samples, we submitted molluscs (117 samples), benthic and planktic foraminifera (45 samples), plant macrofauna (3 samples), and one serpulid worm. For dating of the lake cores, we submitted wood (8 samples) and one peat sample. The Conventional Radiocarbon Ages range from 294±9114C yr BP to 34,600±640 14C yr BP. The dates have been used to address a variety of research questions. The dates constrain the timing of high northern latitude late Quaternary environmental fluctuations, which include glacier extent, sea level history, isostatic rebound, sediment input, and ocean circulation. The dates also allowed assessment of the accuracy of commonly used reservoir correction. The samples were submitted by INSTAAR and affiliated researchers.


One of the most apparent effects of climate-change is sea-level rise. Analyses of mean sea elevation and topography can produce maps of shoreline changes, but the climatic fluctuations and structural operations superimposed on the sea-level rise create dynamic and temporal effects. In order to study scenarios related to sea-level rise in south Florida, we propose the use of currently developed dynamic models of surface-water/ground-water flow to simulate varying levels of mean tidal-level increase with tidal and atmospheric fluctuations. The changes in inundation hydroperiod, salinity in urban and natural areas, and aquifer salinity intrusion can all be simulated in the Flow and Transport in a Linked Overland/Aquifer Density-Dependent System (FTLOADDS) model. Due to the model capability for simulating dynamic events for a multi-year timescale, the simulations will provide more information than map-based approaches. FTLOADDS is a combination of two pre-existing codes, namely, the SWIFT2D two-dimensional hydrodynamic surface-water model code and the SEAWAT three-dimensional ground-water model code (Langevin and others, 2005). SWIFT2D computes vertically-integrated flow by solving the St. Venant equations in two dimensions. Additionally, SWIFT2D computes reactive constituent transport, density variations effects, drying and rewetting of periodically inundated areas, and hydraulic structures (Schaffranek 2004). SEAWAT is a combination of the commonly used ground-water model code MODFLOW and the solute-transport code MT3DMS (Guo and Langevin 2002). FTLOADDS therefore has the ability to simulate salinity transport in two dimensions for surface water and three dimensions for ground water. SWIFT2D and SEAWAT operate independently within FTLOADDS, with the exception of the leakage and salinity fluxes passed between the surface water and ground water. FTLOADDS has been enhanced to represent heat-transport in the surface water linked to evapotranspiration effects (Swain and Decker, 2008). Applications of FTLOADDS to southern Florida coastal areas provide a comprehensive framework for predicting hydrologic changes (Swain and others, 2003). Applications in the area include: 1) The Tides and Inflows in the Mangrove Everglades (TIME) application in the Everglades National Park area (Wang and others, 2007); 2) The Ten-Thousand Islands (TTI) application between Everglades National Park and Naples; and 3) The Biscayne application from Biscayne Bay inland to the L-31N levee. The model-domain locations are shown in figure 1. The TIME application is used to evaluate CERP restoration scenarios by using output from the SFWMD regional 2x2 model and the TTI application yield information on manatee habitats. The TIME and Biscayne applications have been combined to produce the BIscayne/South-East Coastal Transport (BISECT) application. This tool has been used to develop a series of hindcast and futurecast simulations that can be used to examine landscape and topography changes, sea-level rise effects, precipitation changes, and ternperature changes. The modeling application to the Ten Thousand Islands (TTI) area required a smaller-scale application to the Port of the Islands marina that can represent vertical stratification in salinity and temperature. The Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) was applied for this purpose and used boundary conditions from the TTI model to represent existing and restoration conditions. The implementation of heat-transport in a wetland environment requires a number of heat-budget parameters that have not been well defined for the South Florida environment such as soil heat storage and albedo. Physical experiments are required to define these factors and improve the numerical model.


Low temperature pumpability is an important requirement for engine lubricants. It ensures that sufficient oil reaches the parts of the engine requiring wear protection on engine startup. Until recently, most industry emphasis has been on the low temperature pumpability of the fresh oil. However, the oil can undergo a number of changes during its lifetime in the engine which adversely affect low temperature pumpability. Industry stakeholders are now expressing concerns about the potential risk of engine failures due to deterioration of low temperature pumpability of oils during their life cycle in the engine. Concerns have also been raised over the last few years that the move to Group III base stocks, while improving many of the properties of oil formulations, may also impact their retained low temperature pumpability. The increasing use of biodiesel, particularly when coupled with extended oil drain intervals, has also been shown to impact low temperature pumpability performance of some oils. This paper addresses the effect of emerging trends in lubricants and fuels as well as of the lubricant service cycle and extended drain intervals on retained low temperature pumpability. We first determine the level of ageing of the lubricant in typical field applications as well as in service cycles that tend to lead to low temperature pumpability failure. We show that the loss of low temperature pumpability in the field can be due to a number of different mechanisms, and we explore the contribution of each of these ageing routes to the low temperature pumpability of the lubricant. We show that by carefully matching ageing parameters to those seen in the field we can not only replicate field ageing conditions but also low temperature pumpability behavior.


In the recent years, social networks have become an integral part of our lives. Their outgrowth has resulted in opportunities for interesting data mining problems, such as interest or friendship recommendations. A global ontology over the interests specified by the users of a social network is essential for accurate recommendations. The focus of this work is on engineering such an interest ontology. In particular, given that the resulting ontology is meant to be used for data mining applications to social network problems, we explore only hierarchical ontologies. We propose, evaluate and compare three approaches to engineer an interest hierarchy. The proposed approaches make use of two popular knowledge bases, Wikipedia and Directory Mozilla, to extract interest definitions and/or relationships between interests. More precisely, the first approach uses Wikipedia to find interest definitions, the latent semantic analysis technique to measure the similarity between interests based on their definitions, and an agglomerative clustering algorithm to group similar interests into higher level concepts. The second approach uses the Wikipedia Category Graph to extract relationships between interests. Similarly, the third approach uses Directory Mozilla to extract relationships between interests. Our results indicate that the third approach, although the simplest, is the most effective for building an ontology over user interests. We use the ontology produced by the third approach to construct interest based features. These features are further used to learn classifiers for the friendship prediction task. The results show the usefulness of the ontology with respect to the results obtained in absence of the ontology.


The author studied the steady-state kinetics of cooxidation of 4-aminoantipyrine (AAP) with phenol and its derivatives--alpha-naphthol, o- and m-acetylaminophenols--by horseradish peroxidase and its conjugate with human immunoglobulins IgG (HRP-IgG). When phenol and AAP were used as peroxidase substrates, anti-human IgG antibodies stimulated the HPR-IgG enzyme activity in the presence of excess H2O2. A homogeneous enzyme immunoassay of human IgG was developed on the basis of this stimulating effect. The kinetics of the interactions between immunological reagents was studied. In the presence of 3% polyethylene glycol 6000, a complete antibody-antigen interaction proceeds at 37 degrees for 15-20 min. The sensitivity of the enzyme immunoassay is 350 ng/ml IgG, and the dynamic detection range is 0.35-15.0 mg/ml.


Cryptosystems based on rank metric codes have been considered as an alternative to McEliece cryptosystems due to the relative difficulty of solving the rank syndrome decoding problem. Generic attacks have recently seen several improvements, notably in the work of Gaborit et al., who give an improved algorithm using linearized polynomials which yields a polynomial time algorithm for certain parameters. On the structural side, many of the proposals for cryptosystems based on Gabidulin codes have proven to be weak, following an attack by Overbeck in 2001. Of the Gabidulin based systems managing to resist Overbeck's attack, several were recently broken by Horlemann-Trautmann et al. using an attack based on finding the elements of rank one in some extended code. In this paper, we extend the polynomial time algorithm of Gaborit using the same underlying idea as Horlemann-Trautmann et al., and then demonstrate how codes with implicit structural weakness may be exploited, even if the explicit structure is not determined. We use this attack to break a Gabidulin code based cryptosystem which has so far resisted structural attacks.


OBJECTIVE: To establish whether changes of lung transfer for carbon monoxide (TLCO) are related to the phase of IgA nephropathy. METHODS: Respiratory function was tested in 12 children with IgA nephropathy assessed by percutaneous renal biopsy. This was done during acute exacerbations or haematuria-free phases of the disease. RESULTS: TLCO was low in 12/13 measurements made in the haematuric phase of IgA nephropathy or during the month following gross haematuria (mean TLCO 64% of expected values). Lung volumes and blood gas values were normal and only minor radiological signs of interstial lung involvement were observed in 11/12 patients. When respiratory tests were performed more than three months after gross haematuria, TLCO was low in 4/9 patients, with no relation to the significance of residual proteinuria or severity of findings at renal biopsy. There was a significant difference between tests performed when haematuria was present or recent and those performed more than three months after an episode of gross haematuria (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The decrease of TLCO in the acute phases of the disease is probably related to alterations of the lung alveolarcapillary membrane by immune complexes containing IgA. This non-invasive technique, easy to perform and repeat, could be of value in the diagnosis of IgA nephropathy in haematuric children.


Temozolomide (TMZ) is an oral alkylating agent used for the treatment of high-grade gliomas. Acquired chemoresistance is a severe limitation to this therapy with more than 90% of recurrent gliomas showing no response to a second cycle of chemotherapy. Efforts to better understand the underlying mechanisms of acquired chemoresistance to TMZ and potential strategies to overcome chemoresistance are, therefore, critically needed. TMZ methylates nuclear DNA and induces cell death; however, the impact on mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) and mitochondrial bioenergetics is not known. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that TMZ-mediated alterations in mtDNA and respiratory function contribute to TMZ-dependent acquired chemoresistance. Using an in vitro model of TMZ-mediated acquired chemoresistance, we report 1) a decrease in mtDNA copy number and the presence of large heteroplasmic mtDNA deletions in TMZ-resistant glioma cells, 2) remodeling of the entire electron transport chain with significant decreases of complexes I and V and increases of complexes II/III and IV, and 3) pharmacologic and genetic manipulation of cytochrome c oxidase, which restores sensitivity to TMZ-dependent apoptosis in resistant glioma cells. Importantly, human primary and recurrent pairs of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) biopsies as well as primary and TMZ-resistant GBM xenograft lines exhibit similar remodeling of the ETC. Overall these results suggest that TMZ-dependent acquired chemoresistance may be due to a mitochondrial adaptive response to TMZ genotoxic stress with a major contribution from cytochrome c oxidase. Thus, abrogation of this adaptive response may reverse chemoresistance and restore sensitivity to TMZ, providing a strategy for improved therapeutic outcomes in GBM patients.


Ultrahigh-resolution 3D (UHR3D) seismic systems employing a dense array of short streamers represent a significant advancement in the field of marine seismic data acquisition and are an appropriate choice for many near-surface survey applications. Data comparisons between conventional 3D, reprocessed 3D, high-resolution 2D, and UHR3D seismic data illustrate the benefits of a UHR3D acquisition strategy. Results from a recent study of seeps imaged in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) suggest that UHR3D data can serve as a comprehensive data source for some near-surface geophysical characterizations, satisfying many of the needs often addressed by integrating multiple separate types of survey data.


The subcellular distribution of nine glycosidases were studied in fractions of homogenized human polymorphonuclear leucocytes (neutrophils) obtained by isopycnic centrifugation through linear sucrose density gradients. The substrates were 4-methylumbelliferyl glycosides. All nine glycosides were hydrolysed by enzymes in neutrophil cytosol fractions, and by enzymes in at least one granule population. alpha-Glucosidase activity sedimented in sucrose density gradients to a point (p = 1.180 g/ml) just above the specific granules, possibly the 'tertiary' granule population. The peak corresponding to alpha-glucosidase did not co-sediment with, but considerably overlapped, the peak corresponding to lactoferrin, a marker for specific granules (p = 1.187 g/ml). alpha-Galactosidase activity was found primarily in heavy azurophil granules (p = 1.222 g/ml). alpha-Mannosidase activity was found primarily in light azurophil granules (p = 1.206 g/ml), following the distribution of myeloperoxidase, the commonly used azurophil granule marker. beta-Glucosidase activity was concentrated in mitochondrial fractions (p = 1.160 g/ml). All other glycosidases presented complex distributions, with activities not restricted to one granule class. Granule-associated glycosidase activities were increased 2--38 times when measured in the presence of 0.05% Triton X-100, indicating latency of the enzymes within granules.


We propose a new semisupervised learning algorithm, referred to as patch distribution compatible semisupervised dimension reduction, for face and human gait recognition. Each image (a face image or an average human silhouette image) is first represented as a set of local patch features and it is further characterized as the corresponding patch distribution feature, which can be expressed as an image-specific Gaussian mixture model (GMM) adapted from the universal background model. Assuming that the individual components of the image-specific GMMs from all the training images reside on a submanifold, we assign a component-level prediction label matrix to each individual GMM component and introduce a new regularizer based on a set of local submanifold smoothness assumptions in our objective function. We also constrain each component-level prediction label matrix to be consistent with the image-level prediction label matrix , as well as enforce to be close to the given labels for the labeled samples. We further use a linear regression function to provide embeddings for the training data and the unseen test data. Inspired by the recent work flexible manifold embedding, we additionally integrate the regression residue in our objective function to measure the mismatch between and , such that our method can better cope with the data sampled from a nonlinear manifold. Finally, the optimal solutions of the component-level prediction label matrix , the image-level prediction label matrix , the projection matrix , and the bias term b can be simultaneously obtained. Comprehensive experiments on three benchmark face databases CMU PIE, FERET, and AR as well as the USF HumanID gait database clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm over other state-of-the-art semisupervised dimension reduction methods.


The manufacturing industry of today is constantly challenged with new requirements that have to be fulfilled in order to stay competitive on both the short term and the longer term. These new requirements can trigger the need to develop the technology in production. With technology development come uncertainties which can be reduced by integrating new knowledge in the organisation. The overall purpose of this paper is to explain empirically how knowledge integration can be managed in order to reduce the uncertainty of manufacturing technology development while balancing resources towards the short-term production needs. The findings of the current research highlight collaboration, specialist competence and a systematic approach considering the setting, which needs to be managed when conducting manufacturing technology development during full production.


Those forms of behaviour in which cats use their claws are reviewed. Forms of undesirable use of the claws and possible solutions to this problem are discussed. An inquiry among veterinary practitioners showed that nearly fifty per cent of these practitioners refused to declaw cats on principle. Approximately seventy-five per cent of the veterinarians taking part in the inquiry advocated that the Royal Netherlands Veterinary Association should state its position with regard to declawing. It is concluded by the present author that declawing is unacceptable for ethical and ethological reasons.


In order to study the friction contact effect between cable and membrane in cable-membrane structures, a tensioned cable-membrane FE model which has a stable cable (valley cable) is created with FEA software ANSYS. The friction contact between the valley cable and membrane surface is simulated by contact elements in ANSYS, and the effect of friction contact surface is considered by the introduction of friction coefficients. Three different design valley cable forces (15kN, 20kN and 25kN) are considered in form-finding and static analysis, and valley cable force losses are analyzed. Results show that valley cable force loss due to friction contact should be considered obviously when design valley cable force is relatively small.


Designers of chip multiprocessors will increasingly be called upon to optimize for a combination of design metrics under a variety of design constraints. The adoption of chip multiprocessors has also led to a shift in design metrics toward aggregate throughput and away from single thread latency. We examine the compromises between latency and throughput under various power, thermal, area, and bandwidth constraints to quantify the latency penalties of a purely throughput optimized design. We consider a large chip multiprocessor design space that includes core count, core complexity (pipeline dimensions, in-order versus out-of-order execution), and cache hierarchy sizes. We demonstrate an approach to effectively assess trade-offs given a comprehensive core model, a set of optimization criteria, and a set of design constraints. We perform a number of case studies to evaluate these trade-offs, exposing significant single thread latency penalties when optimizing solely for throughput and neglecting other measures of performance. As single thread latency continues to be one of several design metrics, any choice to compromise latency should be well understood before implementation. Collectively, our results suggest single thread latency is still a design metric of importance given that optimizing throughput alone will significantly compromise latency. Furthermore, the case for simple, in-order cores should be taken with caution given this balanced view of performance.


Cancer prognosis was mainly done by imaging and biopsy with histological analysis of solid tumours. Identifying tumour margins and staging of the tumour are critical for choosing appropriate treatments so that the risk of reoccurrence could be minimized. Imaging modalities have their strengths and limitations. Hence multimodality imaging that takes advantage of strengths from two or more imaging techniques may serve improved diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring abilities. Radiolabelled small molecules have been used as contrast agents to detect tumour for prognosticating therapeutic interventions. However, these probes lack tissue specificity and stability for optimal usage. Quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescent probes for optical imaging, which are capable of tunable optical properties, ability to target tumours when their surface-functionalized with high stability. Recently, a wide application of biocompatible surface-functionalized QDs is evidenced as multimodal imaging probes. However, their pathway to clinical translation is not yet fully explored. In this review, different biocompatible functionalized nanoprobes, their in-vivo application in animal model followed by their future possible clinical applications, recent developments of optical fluorescence imaging probes and its integration with other imaging modalities such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and ultrasonography (US) are discussed.


Administration of low-dose heparin by jet injection is regarded as most suitable for both patient and staff. The present study deals with the comparison of plasma heparin levels and various coagulation parameters after s.c. and jet injection (K3-pistol Sandoz) of 5000 IU calcium heparin in 0.2 ml and 5000 IU sodium heparin + 0.5 mg dihydroergo tamin (DHE) in 0.7 ml. The injection sites were upper arm, abdcmen or upper leg. Estimations were performed in 10 healthy volunteers each receiving 12 different injections. Heparin level profiles (chromogenic substrate S-2222), AT III activity (S-2238) and concentration (Mancini technique), antifactor Xa (S-2222), antiheparin activity (S-2222), an tiplasmin (S-2251), TT, aPTT and TEG r+k were measured. There was a positive and significant correlation between postinjection heparin levels and body weight, preinjection "endogenous heparin", AT III activity and concentration, and a negative correlation to the antiheparin activity found before injection. Heparin levels were slightly higher after heparin/DHE than after heparin alone, but the diffe rences were not significant. 30 min after jet injection heparin levels were slightly higher than after s.c. injec tion, while after 1 hr they were similar. After 2 to 3 hrs the highest levels were found, being significantly higher after s.c. injection. After 4 and 6 hrs there were no dif ferences between s.c. and jet injection. TT, aPTT and TEG showed similar behavior patterns. The values were indepen dant of the injection site, upper arm or abdomen with both s.c. and jet injection. They were lower, however, if hepa rin jet injection was done in the upper leg. Thus, the pretreatment measurement of AT endogenous heparin and antiheparin activity with chromogenic substra tes helpful in the management of an inividualized heparin prophylaxis. After heparin jet injection, heparin kinetic to be considered: a more rapid initial followed by lower peak heparin levels. The upper leg can not be recommended as injection site for heparin jet injection. biphasic 3-5 minutes subsequent exponential-like decay. suggest a profound effect of heparin on plate let aggregation in whole blood, which is markedly different in males and females. The explanation for the sex differ ence is not known.


Objective:Immobilization and subsequent weakness are consequences of critical illness. Despite the theoretical advantages of physical therapy to address this problem, it has not been shown that physical therapy initiated in the intensive care unit offers benefit. Design and Setting:Prospective cohort study in a university medical intensive care unit that assessed whether a mobility protocol increased the proportion of intensive care unit patients receiving physical therapy vs. usual care. Patients:Medical intensive care unit patients with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation on admission: Protocol, n = 165; Usual Care, n = 165. Interventions:An intensive care unit Mobility Team (critical care nurse, nursing assistant, physical therapist) initiated the protocol within 48 hrs of mechanical ventilation. Measurements and Main Results:The primary outcome was the proportion of patients receiving physical therapy in patients surviving to hospital discharge. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. Outcome data are reflective of survivors. More Protocol patients received at least one physical therapy session than did Usual Care (80% vs. 47%, p ≤ .001). Protocol patients were out of bed earlier (5 vs. 11 days, p ≤ .001), had therapy initiated more frequently in the intensive care unit (91% vs. 13%, p ≤ .001), and had similar low complication rates compared with Usual Care. For Protocol patients, intensive care unit length of stay was 5.5 vs. 6.9 days for Usual Care (p = .025); hospital length of stay for Protocol patients was 11.2 vs. 14.5 days for Usual Care (p = .006) (intensive care unit/hospital length of stay adjusted for body mass index, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, vasopressor). There were no untoward events during an intensive care unit Mobility session and no cost difference (survivors + nonsurvivors) between the two arms, including Mobility Team costs. Conclusions:A Mobility Team using a mobility protocol initiated earlier physical therapy that was feasible, safe, did not increase costs, and was associated with decreased intensive care unit and hospital length of stay in survivors who received physical therapy during intensive care unit treatment compared with patients who received usual care.


Background: Vitamins not only play a pivotal role in maintaining homeostasis of the body, but also have complex impacts on the occurrence and progression of tumors. However, the effects of vitamins on glioma and the underlying mechanism have not been fully elucidated. Methods: Vitamin -related genes were extracted from the Molecular Signature Database v7.1 (MSigDB). The overlapping overall survival (OS)-related genes in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA), and GSE16011 cohorts screened out by univariate COX regression analysis were utilized to construct a risk model based on the TCGA cohort via random survival forest analysis and multivariate COX regression analysis. The powerful prognostic predictive potential of the vitamin-related risk signature was verified by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis in the three datasets. The ssGSEA method of the GSVA package was used for functional enrichment and immune cell component analyses. ESTIMATE score analysis was used for auxiliary analysis of glioma immune characteristics. A nomogram was constructed and assessed based on the TCGA dataset.Results: The vitamin-related six-gene (POSTN, IRX5, EEF2, RAB27A, MDM2, and ENO1) risk signature constructed based on the TCGA dataset accurately predicted the outcomes of glioma patients and credibly distinguished between different levels and molecular subtypes of glioma in the TCGA, CGGA, and GSE16011 cohorts. Gliomas with high risk scores exhibited high immune scores, low tumor purity, and immunosuppressive features. The nomogram constructed by combining the vitamin-related risk signature and clinicopathological factors precisely predicted the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of glioma patients.Conclusions: Our study revealed that the vitamin-related six-gene risk signature, as an independent prognostic factor, could accurately distinguish the grade, molecular subtype, and immune characteristics of glioma.


Legal thought in this country has always focused on the rules rather than on the persons affected by the rules. Persons and Masks of the Law restores the balance by taking a person-centered view of the law. The author shows how even great jurists have chosen the masks of the law over persons, his surprising examples being Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Benjamin Cardozo, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.--four of the greatest lawyers of the United States. Noonan discusses how the concept of property, applied to a person, is a perfect mask since no trace of human identity remains. An auction of slaves in Virginia, the takeover of a banana plantation in Costa Rica, and an accident on the Long Island railroad are the famous cases involving these four legal giants. The stories of the litigations at three different periods of our history provide and new and powerful analyses of American law. This book, breaking through the formalism in which jurisprudence is enshrined, offers a new vision of law and represents a call for reform in the education and even behavior of lawyers.


In this paper homomorphic cryptosystems are designed for the first time over any finite group. Applying Barrington's construction we produce for any boolean circuit of the logarithmic depth its encrypted simulation of a polynomial size over an appropriate finitely generated group. 1 Homomorphic cryptography over groups 1.1. Definitions and results. An important problem of modern cryptography concerns secret public-key computations in algebraic structures. There is a lot of public-key cryptosystems using groups (see e. and also Subsection 1.3) but only a few of them have a homomorphic property in the sense of the following definition (cf. [11]). Definition 1.1 Let H be a finite nonidentity group, G a finitely generated group and f : G → H an epimorphism. Suppose that R is a right transversal of ker(f) in G, A is a set and P : A → G is a mapping such that im(P) = ker(f). A triple S = (A, P, R) is called a homomorphic cryptosystem over H with respect to f , if the following conditions are satisfied for a certain integer N ≥ 1 (called the size of S):


OBJECTIVE
The objective of our study was to evaluate the incidence of ovarian mal-descent in patients with and in those without müllerian duct anomalies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Multiplanar MRI examinations of patients with (n = 65) and those without (n = 64) congenital uterine anomalies were evaluated for ovarian size, position, follicle count, and associated renal anomalies. Patients who were pregnant, had known prior pelvic surgery, or had large uterine leiomyomas were excluded. Two criteria were used to determine ovarian malposition: Was the upper pole of the ovary above the pelvic brim, as defined by the pubic symphysis-sacral promontory line, or was the upper pole of the ovary at or above the iliac artery bifurcation?

RESULTS
The müllerian duct anomalies identified in the study group included hypoplasia, unicornuate, didelphys, bicornuate, and septate uterus. Ovarian maldescent was identified in 12 of 65 women with uterine anomalies (17%) as compared with two of 64 women with normal uterine anatomy (3%) using the criterion of the ovarian pole being above the iliac bifurcation. Among the women with müllerian duct anomalies, only three of 29 with septate uterus (10%) had ovarian maldescent compared with the remaining nine of 36 women with other anomalies (25%). Ovarian size did not vary significantly between the two groups. Follicle count was increased in women with müllerian duct anomalies. Renal anomalies were present in 16 of 65 patients, five of whom had concomitant ovarian maldescent.

CONCLUSION
The incidence of ovarian maldescent is increased in patients with müllerian duct anomalies, with the highest association seen in those with didelphys, unicornuate, or bicornuate uterus.


Control of HVAC systems is critical to building energy efficiency and indoor environment. Almost all control systems require real-time measurements. However, the measurements inherently contain errors that inevitably impact the outputs of control systems. Therefore, it is of great interest to analyze the impacts of the measurement sensitivity and uncertainty on the control of HVAC systems. This article presents a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis method for HVAC optimal control strategies. The critical measurements in a control strategy are identified by using sensitivity analysis. The uncertainty analysis provides information for further risk analysis. A modified exponentially weighted moving average filter is developed and adopted to reduce the uncertainty of control strategies. The sensitivity and uncertainty analysis is conducted on demand-controlled ventilation strategies for multi-zone office buildings. Improvements of the control strategies based on the analysis results are also conducted. Results demonstrate the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are effective in evaluating control strategies. The accuracy of the control strategy is significantly improved, and the uncertainty is reduced.


In this work, significant modification of the microstructure of a rolled Ti-45Al-5Nb (at.%) alloy has been achieved by a two-step heat treatment. A combination of high cooling rates for the first step of the treatments with a subsequent annealing at high temperatures, results in refined microstructures where substantial discontinuous coarsening seems to play an important role for the grain refinement. In order to fully understand the transformation mechanisms responsible for such a refinement, Electron Back Scattered Diffraction (EBSD) technique has been extensively used. In particular, a study of orientation relationships between the phases which are present in the transformed microstructures, was performed by this technique. Besides discontinuous coarsening process, the obtained results also suggest that a modified discontinuous coarsening mechanism is operative, in order to justify the formation of novel microstructures, whose development could not be explained by the classical discontinuous coarsening.


Butt-fusion welding is the main technology to join high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic pipes, which are widely used in transport the water, gas and corrosive liquid. Investigation shows that one of the failure modes of HDPE pipe is the crack slowly grows across the thick direction and leads to failure at last, so that it is very important to study the resistance to crack initiation of HDPE pipe and its butt-fusion welded joint. In this study, the elastic-plastic fracture mechanics parameter, crack opening displacement (COD) is used to describe the fracture initiation behaviors for the HDPE materials and its butt-fusion welded joints. The resistance to initiation fracture of HDPE pipe materials and butt-fusion welded joints were investigated at different temperature by using multiple specimen resistance curve method and silicon-rubber replica method. The results show that saturation initial crack COD- δis of HDPE pipe materials and butt-fusion welded joints decreases with the decreasing temperature. The δis of butt-fusion welded joints is lower than that of HDPE pipe materials. Investigation also proved that the silicon-rubber replica method is more suitable for HDPE engineering material than the multiple specimen method. At the same time the statistic distribution of the δis of HDPE butt-fusion welded joint was conducted. The results show that the value of the δis has the statistic variance inherently. The optimum fitting distribution of COD is Weibull distribution with three parameters.


We introduce a formal framework for specifying, detecting, and generating spatial patterns in reaction diffusion networks. Our approach is based on a novel spatial superposition logic, whose semantics is defined over the quad-tree representation of a partitioned image. We demonstrate how to use rule-based classifiers to efficiently learn spatial superposition logic formulas for several types of patterns from positive and negative examples. We implement pattern detection as a model-checking algorithm and we show that it achieves very good results on test data sets which are different from the training sets. We provide a quantitative semantics for our logic and we develop computational framework where our quantitative model-checking algorithm works in synergy with a particle swarm optimization technique to synthesize the parameters leading to the formation of desired patterns in reaction diffusion networks.


Invasive species often dramatically change native species communities by directly and indirectly out-competing native species. We studied the direct interference abilities of the invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus VAN LOON, BOOMSMA & ANDRASFALVY, 1990, by performing one-to-one aggression tests of L. neglectus workers towards three native Lasius ant species that occur at the edge of a L. neglectus supercolony in Seva, Spain. Our results show that L. neglectus is highly aggressive against all three native Lasius species tested (L. grandis FOREL, 1909, L. emarginatus (OLIVIER, 1792), and L. cinereus SEIFERT, 1992), expressed as a higher attack rate of L. neglectus and behavioural dominance throughout the aggressive encounters. Attacks of L. neglectus were performed fastest and most frequent against L. grandis, and also the highest antennation frequencies were observed in encounters between these two species. This could be due to the largest difference in body size, or due to a greater overlap in ecological niche between L. neglectus and L. grandis compared to the other two native species. There was only weak support for L. neglectus workers from the periphery of the supercolony to be more aggressive relative to workers from the centre, even though the former encounter native ant species on a daily basis at the edge of the supercolony.


To determine whether an anabolic steroid had any benefit in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis 47 patients entered a parallel group study. Twenty four received nandrolone decanoate 50 mg intramuscularly every third week for two years and 23 patients received no anabolic steroids. Other therapy was unaltered. Patients attended for clinical and biochemical assessments as well as the objective assessments of elementary body composition by in vivo neutron activation analysis and measurement of the mineral content of the distal femur by single photon absorptiometry on five occasions. A modest clinical deterioration (except for grip strength) was seen in both groups. No significant changes in calcium or alkaline phosphatase were seen. There was no significant change in total body calcium, total body phosphorus, body weight, or bone index/bone width measurements in either group. Significant increases occurred in total body nitrogen, total body potassium, haemoglobin, and packed cell volume (by six months) in the group treated with nandrolone decanoate. Comparison of 10 patients in the group treated with nandrolone decanoate also receiving oral steroid therapy with 14 patients in this group not receiving oral steroid therapy showed no significant differences. The main side effect of nandrolone decanoate was hoarseness. No radiological changes were seen. Nandrolone decanoate, in a dose that produces a significant anabolic effect, has no demonstrable action on bone metabolism in rheumatoid arthritis but may improve the chronic anaemia by six months.


On the one hand, the dissipated heat of a thermodynamic work extraction process upper bounds the non-predictive information, which the associated system encodes about its environment. Thus, emergent information processing capabilities can be understood from the perspective of a pressure towards high thermodynamic efficiency. On the other hand, the second law of thermodynamics plays a crucial role in the emergence of complex, self-organising dissipative structures. Such structures are thermodynamically favoured, because they can dissipate free energy reservoirs, which would not be accessible otherwise. Thereby, they allow a closed system to move from one meta-stable state to another meta-stable state of higher entropy. This paper will argue, that these two views are not contradictory, but that their combination allows to understand the transition from simple self-organising dissipative structures to complex information processing systems. If the efficiency required by a dissipative structure to harvest enough work from the channeled flow of free energy to maintain its own structure is high, there is a drive for this system to be predictive. Still, the existence of this dissipative system is thermodynamically favoured, compared to a situation without any dissipative structure. Due to the emergence of a hierarchy of dissipative systems, which by themselves are non-equilibrium structures that can be dissipated, such a drive develops naturally, as one ascends in this hierarchy further and further away from the initial driving disequilibrium.


Abstract In this study the resistivity effect of laboratory-produced S2Cl2 as an additive in Portland cement PC 32.5 which was hydrated at the water/cement ratio of 0.5 and room temperature against sulfate attack in the curing solution of 0.35M sodium sulfate was investigated. Hydrated cement products were determined by using X Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Thermogravimetry—Differential Thermal Analyses (TG-DTA) techniques. The additive substance, S2Cl2 in Portland cement, was used 5 and 10 percent by weight. The highest compressive strength value was found as 36.7 MPa in case of hydrated cement PC 32.5, samples containing 5% S2Cl2 (additive) after curing time of 28%21 days.


We present a discontinuous finite element method for the Kirchhoff plate model with membrane stresses. The method is based on P2‐approximations on simplices for the out‐of‐plane deformations, using C0‐continuous approximations. We derive a posteriori error estimates for linear functionals of the error and give some numerical examples. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Expansive soils experience volumetric changes due to water content changes. These volumetric changes cause swell and shrink movement in soils, which in turn will inflict severe damage to structures built above them. A Proper understanding of how the expansive soil behaves during the wetting/drying process is essential for assessing the mitigation action of expansive soil hazard and design suitable foundation. The structures that build above expansive soil bed are susceptible to heave and to withstand swell pressure, thus the swell pressure must be considered in the design. This study focuses on swelling properties of two expansive clay from Ngawi, East Java and Wates, Yogyakarta. Laboratory test on disturbed samples is used to identified and to measured swelling properties. A series of swelling test was performed under constant soil dry density. The influence of initial water content and surcharge pressure on swelling properties (i.e swell percent and swell pressure) of compacted samples were investigated. The swelling properties test used ASTM standard 4546-03 method B. It was found that the lower initial water content the higher the swell percent, but the swell pressure seems not to be affected by initial water content. At the same initial water content, swell percent decrease with the increase of surcharge pressure, but swell pressure remains unchanged.


For the global development community, 2015 is a pivotal year. Under United Nations leadership, multilateral organizations, national governments, international and national nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and other civil society sectors are working to optimize progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline. Simultaneously, the development community is in the midst of a global dialogue about what types of goals should succeed the MDGs post2015. A growing segment of the global early childhood community is proposing a new goal for the post-2015 agenda:


The supramolecular organization of dye molecules in one-dimensional zeolite channel systems leads to materials with intriguing properties that can be exploited for a variety of applications. Two concepts are presented outlining how zeolite-based hybrid host-guest compounds can be employed in solar energy conversion devices. The first concept describes light-harvesting and sensitization, while the second concept focuses on luminescent solar concentrators.


Audio event recognition, the human-like ability to identify and relate sounds from audio, is a nascent problem in machine perception. Comparable problems such as object detection in images have reaped enormous benefits from comprehensive datasets - principally ImageNet. This paper describes the creation of Audio Set, a large-scale dataset of manually-annotated audio events that endeavors to bridge the gap in data availability between image and audio research. Using a carefully structured hierarchical ontology of 632 audio classes guided by the literature and manual curation, we collect data from human labelers to probe the presence of specific audio classes in 10 second segments of YouTube videos. Segments are proposed for labeling using searches based on metadata, context (e.g., links), and content analysis. The result is a dataset of unprecedented breadth and size that will, we hope, substantially stimulate the development of high-performance audio event recognizers.


Background : ED is negatively associated with men ' s sexual function capacity, emotional, intimate relationship and particularly psychological well-being. The purpose of this study was to synthesize qualitative fi ndings which explain the experiences of men with diabetes who have erectile dysfunction. Methodology : A meta-synthesis was performed. A search for qualitative studies published in English from 2010 to 2020 was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Science Direct databases. The main key words included: experience, men/male patient, erectile dysfunction, diabetes, diabetic erectile dysfunction, and qualitative research. Inductive and interpretative technique was used to analyze and synthesize fi ndings from qualitative studies and reviewed by another reviewer. Seven qualitative studies were included in this review. Results : The experiences of living with erectile dysfunction among men with diabetes were presented in fi ve themes: 1) Personal sexual values, 2) Lack of understanding of causes, 3) Breaking manhood and husband ' s role, 4) Recovering masculinity, and 5) Negative experiences and needs in care. Conclusion : Men interpret erectile dysfunction as a threat to their masculinity and can have deleterious impact on their relationships and self-esteem. Health care providers should provide information on the connection between sexual problem and diabetes. Screening for erectile dysfunction and its risk factor should be routine in diabetes. Health care providers should ask men with diabetes about their sexual health and give them the opportunity to express their concern.


Fabrication of efficient colorful flexible polymer tandem solar cells remains a challenge. In this work, we report the use of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as the top transparent electrode in tandem solar cells that in the meantime acts as an optical coating for light engineering. Modification of the thickness of the transfer-printed PEDOT:PSS allows tailoring the reflectance spectra and yields colorful polymer solar cells with easy processability. Compared to the strategies of adopting optical microcavities and photonic crystals, the use of PEDOT:PSS also offers the important advantage of excellent mechanical flexibility that enables the fabrication of flexible colorful solar cells. The fabricated colorful flexible polymer tandem solar cells with polymer electrodes display power conversion efficiency (PCE) values from 7.23% to 8.34% depending on the yielded color of the cells, which are among the highest values for reported colorful polymer solar cells.


This study investigated the effect of external carbon source and bed turnover rate on biological denitrification in the pilot-scale IPNR (Ilshin Phosphorus and Nitrate Removal) process. IPNR process is an up-flow reactor filled with Si-media which removes phosphorus physically and nitrate nitrogen biologically using secondary effluent from sewage treatment plant. Phosphorus (PO4-P) was removed using HFO (Hydrous ferric oxide) by adsorption as well as nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) was transformed to nitrogen gas (N2) by denitrifying bacteria using external carbon source in the same reactor. Methanol was used as an external carbon source for denitrification with various dosing concentration and Si-media bed turnover rate was varied from 6.4 ~ 7.75 day-1. The concentrations of PO4-P and NO3-N in the secondary effluent were from 0.1 to 1.75 mg/L and from 1.1 to 31.9 mg/L, respectively. The results demonstrated that high amount of NO3-N removed from 31.9 to 1.2 mg/L, at the same time PO4-P removed from 1.75 to 0.41mg/L using secondary effluent. Denitrification was found more stable with 6.4 bed turnover/day and 130% over dosing of theoretical methanol dose for denitrification.


Objectives The genetic background of rheumatoid arthritis–interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) has been evaluated in Europeans, but little knowledge has been obtained in non-Europeans. This study aimed to elucidate genome-wide risk of RA-ILD in non-Europeans. Methods We performed an initial genome-wide association study (GWAS) of RA-ILD in the Japanese population. By conducting the meta-analysis of the three GWAS datasets of the RA cohorts and biobank of Japanese, our study included 358 RA-ILD cases and 4550 RA subjects without ILD. We then conducted the stratified analysis of the effect of the GWAS risk allele in each CT image pattern. Results We identified one novel RA-ILD risk locus at 7p21 that satisfied the genome-wide significance threshold (rs12702634 at RPA3-UMAD1, OR=2.04, 95% CI 1.59 to 2.60, p=1.5×10−8). Subsequent stratified analysis based on the CT image patterns demonstrated that the effect size of the RA-ILD risk allele (rs12702634-C) was large with the UIP pattern (OR=1.86, 95% CI 0.97 to 3.58, p=0.062) and the probable UIP pattern (OR=2.26, 95% CI 1.36 to 3.73, p=0.0015). Conclusion We revealed one novel genetic association with RA-ILD in Japanese. The RA-ILD risk of the identified variant at RPA3-UMAD1 was relatively high in the CT image patterns related to fibrosis. Our study should contribute to elucidation of the complicated aetiology of RA-ILD.


This work focuses on the development of an autonomous multi-robot strategy to explore unknown underwater environments by collecting data about water properties and the existence of obstacles. Unknown underwater spaces are hostile environments whose exploration is often a complex, high-risk undertaking. The use of human divers or manned vehicles for these scenarios involves significant risk and enormous overheads. The systems currently employed for such tasks usually rely on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), which are controlled by a human operator. The problems associated with this approach include the considerable costs of hiring a highly trained operator, the required presence of a manned vehicle in close proximity to the ROV, and the lag in communication often experienced between the operator and the ROV. This work proposes the use of autonomous robots, as opposed to human divers, which would enable costs to be substantially reduced. Likewise, a distributed swarm approach would allow the environment to be explored more rapidly and more efficiently than when using a single robot. The swarm strategy described in this work is based on Robotic Darwinian Particle Swarm Optimization (RDPSO), which was initially designed for planar robotic ground applications. This is the first study to generalize the RPSO algorithm for 3D applications, focusing on underwater robotics with the aim of providing a higher exploration speed and improved robustness to individual failures when compared to traditional single ROV approaches.


Well‐collimated short pulse wave packets, also termed pulsed beams (PB), provide new options for local forward and inverse probing of targets or of a propagation environment. The spatial‐temporal resolution achieved under the PB excitation conditions furnishes an unambiguous measure of where the ''physical'' signal resides, in contrast to frequency‐domain procedures that must rely on more intricate phase discrimination. In this paper, PB forward and inverse modeling is applied to scattering by three‐dimensional weak (Born‐type) inhomogeneities with finite support in an otherwise homogeneous background fluid. By performing space–time and wave number–frequency analysis and synthesis in a phase space setting, conventional slant‐stack tomography is pushed to its ultimate localization by PB pre‐ and post‐processing. The implications of this scenario with respect to resolution and related issues are discussed. It is shown that this strategy reduces the inversion of the illuminated space‐time scattering cell to a pseudo‐one‐dimensional problem determined by the orientation of the incident and scattered beam axes. Illustrative examples are included.


An experimental study is reported on convective boiling heat transfer for HFC134a, HCFC22, CFC114 and CFC12 inside a horizontal smooth tube. The test evaporator is of the double-tube type in which the heating water flows in the outer annulus, and the local heat transfer coefficients are measured for both counter and parallel flow. Based on the supposition of Chen that the total heat flux q is represented as the sum of forced convective contribution qcv and nucleate boiling contribution qnb, a general correlation is developed for the data in the annular flow regime. The mean deviation between the calculated and measured heat transfer coefficients is 12.2% for the present experimental data and 9.5% for available data collected from previous research. According to the proposed correlation, nucleate boiling is not suppressed even in the high-quality region in the case of counter flow, while two-phase forced convection has been recognized as predominant in the high-quality region with uniform heat flux conditions.