The present investigation entitled "Studies on effect of pre-soaking treatments on germination, growth and success of soft wood grafting in mango (Mangifera indica L.)" was conducted under net house condition, at Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Latur during 2010-2011.The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design with seven treatments replicated thrice. The experiment framed was intended to assess the influence of different pre-soaking treatments on germination of mango stones and to study the influence of different pre-soaking treatments on growth of seedlings of mango under nursery condition. The experiment consists of six different pre-sowing treatments of stones viz. water soaking, cow urine, cow dung, cow urine + cow dung (1:1), GA3 @ 100 ppm, Potassium nitrate 1 per cent and a control. The results of present investigation clearly showed that, different pre-soaking treatments have got significant effect on stone germination and growth parameters of mango seedlings. The treatment of GA3 at 100 ppm required less number of days (12.53) for initiation of germination, potential germination (44.34), and gave maximum germination percentage (85.67) and recorded maximum (4.05) germination vigour index. The growth attributes like height of seedlings, number of leaves, leaf area and root were also maximum in), GA3 @ 100 ppm treatment.


Marzieh Alikhasi, DDS, MS, is an Associate Professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, School of Dentistry and Director of Postgraduate and International Affairs, Department of Prosthodontics and Implants. She serves as a Board Member of Research Centers of Implant, Dental, and Lasers in dentistry. She received her DDS from Tehran University. She is certified as a specialist in prosthodontics and implantology and completed a residency program in the School of Dentistry of Tehran. Dr. Alikhasi has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in the prosthodontic and implant fields. Her research interest includes implant prosthodontics and has a special interest in accuracy of measurement in prosthodontics.


Background There are several reports of seasonal variation in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), but no reports of seasonal variation in the effect of add-on drugs on blood glucose control in insulin-treated patients. Methods Using data collected from 630 patients in a multicenter study, we compared the amount of change in HbA1c after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of add-on administration of sitagliptin in insulin-treated patients divided into four groups based on the month when sitagliptin was started. Results A significantly larger decrease in HbA1c at 6 months from baseline was observed in the group that started add-on sitagliptin in February to April than in the other three groups. However, the amount of change in HbA1c at 12 months did not differ among the groups. Conclusions The consideration of seasonal variation enables more accurate evaluation of a drug's short-term effect on blood glucose control.


A space channel design approach achieves dynamic meta-holography with high frame rate and large frame number. The hologram is an ideal method for displaying three-dimensional images visible to the naked eye. Metasurfaces consisting of subwavelength structures show great potential in light field manipulation, which is useful for overcoming the drawbacks of common computer-generated holography. However, there are long-existing challenges to achieving dynamic meta-holography in the visible range, such as low frame rate and low frame number. In this work, we demonstrate a design of meta-holography that can achieve 228 different holographic frames and an extremely high frame rate (9523 frames per second) in the visible range. The design is based on a space channel metasurface and a high-speed dynamic structured laser beam modulation module. The space channel consists of silicon nitride nanopillars with a high modulation efficiency. This method can satisfy the needs of a holographic display and be useful in other applications, such as laser fabrication, optical storage, optics communications, and information processing.


The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of internal bleaching on physical proprieties and ultrastructure of the bovine dentin.40 bovine incisors were used, divided in four experimental groups: control group, composed by teeth that did not receive the bleaching agent (G1); teeth submitted to a single internal bleaching session (G2); teeth submitted to two internal bleaching sessions (G3); teeth submitted to three internal bleaching sessions (G4). In each of the sessions, 35 % hydrogen peroxide was applied for 45 minutes on the dentin surface. Tests were performed (microhardness and roughness) and were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post-hoc test (p≤0.05). Electromicrographs were captured for quality analysis. In the analysis of the superficial microhardness of the dentin, the internal bleaching reduced the Knoop microhardness since the first session, being observed statistically significant differences between the experimental groups and the control. The surface roughness gradually increased in the G2, G3 and G4 groups, but only G4 presented a statistically significant difference from the others. The qualitatively evaluated electromicrographs showed damage to the dentin ultrastructure, with areas of erosion and greater involvement of the intertubular when compared to peritubular dentin. Internal bleaching with 35 % hydrogen peroxide caused injuries in bovine dentin from the first treatment session. Both modifications in physical properties and dentin ultrastructure have been identified. These changes were intensified the higher the number of dentin internal bleaching sessions was exposed.


Organised crime is chameleonic in nature. It is transnational, dynamic, overlapped criminal activities and pervasive in nature. In the same way, money laundering is the predicate offence and it is naturally linked to other organised crimes. After the cold war, this nexus culminated during the occurrence of 9/11 in particular which was a lethal combination of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF). This combination is currently being experienced by Pakistan; where various terrorist groups are involved with direct and indirect support of proceeds from drug trafficking, assassination, land grabbing, arms smuggling and various other organised crimes routing through the abusage of financial and non-financial channels and support to terrorism. This has left serious socio-politico and economic consequences in the south Asian region and global as well. The researcher found very limited evidence of money laundering characteristics in the existing research literature on Pakistan. Thus to carry out research work on the subject was need of the hour in Pakistan. This led the researcher to find out root causes and existing weaknesses at the regime's end in countering financial crime and financing of terrorism.


Abstract. In this study, we aim to identify Iron Age tumuli with a probabilistic method, in digital terrain models extracted from airborne LiDAR measurements. Our task was particularly challenging due to the strong and uneven elevation of the ground where tumuli are located. In addition, the area is densely covered by vegetation, mainly by forests, which makes it difficult to create a surface model. The difficulty was exacerbated by the fact that the height and width of tumuli is very diverse but incomparably smaller than the extension of the area. In contrast to the various visualization techniques (openness, local relief model) used since decades for identifying tumuli, our method recognises these features automatically. Our approach is based on a Marked Point Process Model (MPP), which due to its inverse methodology, allows us to detect tumuli with high precision, especially in comparison with bottom-up methods. We quantitatively evaluated the method on six test data sets and we demonstrated its advantages compared to a traditional Hough transform-based method.


Second hand smoking among pregnant mothers imposed a great danger to the fetus. Many complications are coined to many complications, as early as spontaneous abortion to the later developmental problem. Knowledge has been slightly increased on the mechanism of these complications, in particular on placental insufficiency. However, there is no literature on the mechanistic process in second hand smoker. Although torrents of public health warnings, tobacco smoking is still common in many parts around the world. This situation can effect particularly in the case of pregnant women, whose tobacco smoking impairs health risk to the fetus and subsequent child as well as to themselves. This cross-sectional study of paired mother infant deliveries was conducted in Sungai Buloh Hospital. Inclusion criteria included non-smoking pregnant women at term, whose partners were smokers and exposed to cigarette smoking and had no previous medical illness. A questionnaire that indicated demographics and socio-economic data and its exposure among Second Hand Smoker (SHS) was filled up to the mothers prior to deliveries. Placenta cord blood for cotinine was collected immediately after birth and analyzed. The delivered placenta was examined and the findings were noted. Four standardized locations of sampling (1cm each from the insertion of the umbilical cord) were performed, preserved in formalin and transported to the Anatomic Pathology Laboratory for histology processes. Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) slides were prepared and examined by 2 senior pathologists to ascertain any histological findings. Further stain was performed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using Human anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody. For cotinine level, cases showed 16.35 ± 12.84 ng/ml higher than controls which was highly significant (p-value O.001). Pearson's correlation analysis showed significant negative correlation between cord blood cotinine level and the placenta weight (pvalue = <0.001, r = -0.461), baby weight (p-value = <0.001, r = -0.297), head circumference (p-value = O.001, r = -0.501) and baby length (p-value = O.001, r = - 0.374). For IHC, there was a significant differences of the VEGF expression score among these groups (P < 0.001) which was up-regulated in cases group. Pearson's correlation analysis showed significant positive correlation between cotinine level and VEGF expression (p-value = <0.001, r = 0.345). It is possible to postulate the detrimental effect of a mother who are exposed to tobacco smoke via second hand smoking to their offspring at birth.


ABSTRACT Natural snow avalanches have periodically damaged infrastructure and disrupted railroad and highway traffic at the southwestern corner of Glacier National Park, Montana. The 94-year history of these disruptions constitutes an uncommon record of natural avalanches spanning over nine decades and presents a unique opportunity to examine how natural avalanche frequency and minimum extent have varied over time due to climatic or biophysical changes. This study compared the historic record of natural avalanches in one avalanche path with tree-ring evidence of avalanches from 109 cross sections and increment cores collected in the same path. Results from combined historic and tree-ring records yielded 27 avalanche years in the 1910–2003 chronology, with the historic record alone underestimating avalanche years by half. Mean return period was 3.2 years. Interpolated maps allowed for more spatially precise estimates of return periods throughout the runout zone than previous studies. The maps show return periods increase rapidly downslope from 2.3 to 25 years. Avalanche years were associated with positive Snow Water Equivalent anomalies at a nearby snow course. Minimum avalanche extent was highly variable but not associated with snowpack anomalies. Most avalanche years coincided with years in which the mean January–February Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) 3.4 indices were neutral. The findings suggest that changes in Pacific climate patterns that influence snowfall could also alter the frequency of natural snow avalanches and could thus change disturbance patterns in the montane forests of the canyon.


By means of a new optical device developed by Reiner, an "optical implantation" of 6 different bi- and multifocal intraocular lenses (MIOLs) was performed in 20 young healthy subjects, and results were compared with those of a monofocal reference IOL. The following parameters were investigated: distance and near visual acuity, depth of focus and contrast sensitivity. The median of distance visual acuity was 1.0 in all IOLs with the exception of a 7-zone refractive MIOL (0.75). Near acuity without near addition was 1.0 in all MIOL models; through focus curves of all MIOLs showed an increase in depth of focus with a typical two peak course. Contrast sensitivity at high contrasts was reduced for the 7-zone-model, but contrast sensitivity at low contrasts was significantly reduced for all MIOLs, except the 2- and 3-zone refractive models.


In this paper, the transmission of an improper-complex second-order stationary data sequence is considered over a strictly band-limited frequency-selective channel. It is assumed that the transmitter employs linear modulation and that the channel output is corrupted by additive proper-complex cyclostationary noise. Under the average transmit power constraint, the problem of minimizing the mean-squared error at the output of a widely linear receiver is formulated in the time domain to find the optimal transmit and receive waveforms. The optimization problem is converted into a frequency-domain problem by using the vectorized Fourier transform technique and put into the form of a double minimization. First, the widely linear receiver is optimized that requires, unlike the linear receiver design with only one waveform, the design of two receive waveforms. Then, the optimal transmit waveform for the linear modulator is derived by introducing the notion of the impropriety frequency function of a discrete-time random process and by performing a line search combined with an iterative algorithm. The optimal solution shows that both the periodic spectral correlation due to the cyclostationarity and the symmetric spectral correlation about the origin due to the impropriety are well exploited.


This paper presents a version of the household production theory to explain the demand for health. In this study we have explored the factors that influence the demand for medical services and medical expenditures in Taiwan. A negative binomial model was used to study the demand for medical services. We found that the demand for medical services and medical expenditures are related to household composition, household income, family size, occupation of the household head, and living environments. In addition, we found higher usage of medical services on average for those households with medical insurances other than the national health insurance.


The usage of social media has exponentially grown in recent years leaving the users with no limitations on misusing the platforms through abusive contents as deemed fit to them. This exacerbates abusive words exposure to innocent users, especially in social media forums, including children. In an attempt to alleviate the problem of abusive words proliferation on social media, researchers have proposed different methods to help deal with variants of the abusive words; however, obfuscated abusive words detection still poses challenges. A method that utilizes a combination of rule based approach and character percentage matching techniques is proposed to improve the detection rate for obfuscated abusive words. The evaluation results achieved F1 score percentage ratio of 0.97 and accuracy percentage ratio of 0.96 which were above the significance ratio of 0.5. Hence, the proposed approach is highly effective for obfuscated abusive words detection and prevention.
Keywords:     Rule based approach, Character percentage matching techniques, Obfuscated abuse, Abuse detection, Abusive words, Social media


This paper describes the impact that learning about recovery has on mental health carers, exploring the implications of this research for UK social work and beyond. A steering group co-produced a training intervention on recovery that was delivered by the first author and a carer, both with experiences of recovery, to eleven carers. Mainly qualitative data, with supplementary socio-demographic data, were collected to evaluate the impact of this training. Thematic analysis was applied to the data. Findings suggest that being more 'recovery-aware' gives carers increased hope and optimism for the future. Awareness of the impact of caring upon the service user's life helps carers to promote recovery in their relative, and gain confidence in their own expertise-by-caring. Professional care is fundamental to recovery but needs to build on a partnership model. The carers evaluated the training as helpful, and valued its authenticity in being led by trainers with experience of recovery. Carers' expectations of professional practice are highlighted, with different approaches discussed that support effective carer involvement in their relative's care. Recognition of carers' expertise-by-caring demands a new approach to mental health care, with significant implications for British social work practice.


Taut, spare, and compellingly readable, The Good Doctor is a brilliant literary high-wire act short enough to be devoured in one or two sittings. When Laurence Waters arrives at the small rural hospital in a South African homeland where Frank works, Frank is immediately suspicious. Everything about Laurence grates on Frank, from his smoking in their shared room, to his unfamiliar optimism about what the doctors can truly accomplish among the local population--but Laurence seems oblivious, immediately and repeatedly declaring Frank his friend despite the other's indifference. Frank originally came to the hospital to get his bearings after his wife left him for his best friend--but denial of the higher-level post he was promised when he came, and the disillusionment of working at a completely ineffectual hospital (it's always deserted, an entire wing closed off and gradually being looted of any reusable equipment lacks basic supplies), has hardened him into cynical apathy--which makes Laurence's optimism all the more irritating. Laurence starts planning a campaign to "bring the hospital to the people," by running clinics in nearby villages. A group of soldiers have arrived in the village, reportedly looking for holes in the border where smuggling has become rampant. Then Laurence's African-American girlfriend Zanele, who has adopted an African name and dress, and who shares his political idealism (but not much actual intimacy, it seems) comes to visit, and Laurence and Frank host a party. During the flush of drunkenness the tensions between the staff melt away (the Cuban couple estranged by Frank having had an affair with the woman; the strained power relations between Frank and the other doctors and Tehogo, the young black African man who works as the caretaker and unlicensed nurse). But in the aftermath of the party this quickly melts away--especially when Frank goes to return the cassettes Tehogo lent him for the party, and accidentally discovers a cache of looted metal fittings from the hospital in Tehogo's room. Finally, Laurence talks Frank into spending an evening with Zanele while he is on duty--which ends in a bizarre encounter with an apartheid-era local despot and a furtive sexual union with Zanele. Frank is understandably relieved that a few days later an appointment to see his estranged wife to sign divorce papers allows him a chance to get away. When Frank returns, Laurence meets him by telling him everything's changed. Laurence has ignored Frank's wish not to report Tehogo's theft, and in so doing has revealed that Frank was the one who discovered it. The clinic has become a huge public relations coup, raising awareness and goodwill toward the hospital though its capacities are no better than before, and everyone but Frank seems swept up in its success. And a secret Frank has been keeping from Laurence since their first day of friendship--the married poor black woman Frank has been sleeping with off and on for years, sometimes for money--comes to light, in a way, when the woman comes to Laurence at the end of the clinic to tell him she needs an abortion, and that it must be done at her home. Enjoying Laurence's discomfort with this moral dilemma, Frank does not help with the procedure and when he guiltily goes to check on the patient the next night, she and the shack where she lived, where he would go to meet her, are gone. Meanwhile Tehogo has more or less completely stopped coming in to work. Convinced that his affair's husband is somehow linked to the former despot and to a rash of recent robberies because of his white car, Frank tips the colonel leading the group of soldiers--a brutal Afrikaner under whom, as a conscript, Frank had been forced to help torture black informants before the end of apartheid--as to where he thinks the despot's encampment is hiding. Soon after, a soldier turns up with Tehogo, vitally wounded from a gunshot. As Frank tends to the wound obsessively to assuage his guilt at possibly having exposed Tehogo to the colonel, Laurence for once is completely apathetic--whether disgusted at Tehogo for being a thief and complicating his image of human perfectibility, or too distracted by the apparently more noble work of tomorrow's second village health clinic, which seems more than ever to Frank like lip service. Frank volunteers to move Tehogo to the bigger hospital where his life can assuredly be saved, but when he wakes in the morning Tehogo, the soldier guarding him, the bed to which he was handcuffed, and Laurence, who was on night duty, are all gone. Soon the soldiers leave town too, and as the stultifying silence of the pre-Laurence days returns, Frank is left to make some sense of the strange almost-year of the young doctor's presence.


Graph-based learning is a rapidly growing sub-field of machine learning with applications in social networks, citation networks, and bioinformatics. One of the most popular models is graph attention networks. They were introduced to allow a node to aggregate information from features of neighbor nodes in a non-uniform way, in contrast to simple graph convolution which does not distinguish the neighbors of a node. In this paper, we theoretically study the behaviour of graph attention networks. We prove multiple results on the performance of the graph attention mechanism for the problem of node classification for a contextual stochastic block model. Here, the node features are obtained from a mixture of Gaussians and the edges from a stochastic block model. We show that in an"easy"regime, where the distance between the means of the Gaussians is large enough, graph attention is able to distinguish inter-class from intra-class edges. Thus it maintains the weights of important edges and significantly reduces the weights of unimportant edges. Consequently, we show that this implies perfect node classification. In the"hard"regime, we show that every attention mechanism fails to distinguish intra-class from inter-class edges. In addition, we show that graph attention convolution cannot (almost) perfectly classify the nodes even if intra-class edges could be separated from inter-class edges. Beyond perfect node classification, we provide a positive result on graph attention's robustness against structural noise in the graph. In particular, our robustness result implies that graph attention can be strictly better than both the simple graph convolution and the best linear classifier of node features. We evaluate our theoretical results on synthetic and real-world data.


The anharmonic phonon behavior in zirconium hydrides and deuterides, including ϵ-ZrH2, γ-ZrH, and γ-ZrD, has been investigated from aspects of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and lattice dynamics calculations within the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The harmonic model failed to reproduce the spectral features observed in the experimental data, indicating the existence of anharmonicity in those materials and the necessity of further explanations. Here, we present a detailed study on the anharmonicity in zirconium hydrides/deuterides by exploring the 2D potential energy surface of hydrogen/deuterium atoms and solving the corresponding 2D single-particle Schrödinger equation to obtain the eigenfrequencies, which are then convoluted with the instrument resolution. The convoluted INS spectra qualitatively describe the anharmonic peaks in the experimental INS spectra and demonstrate that the anharmonicity originates from the deviations of hydrogen potentials from quadratic behavior in certain directions; the effects are apparent for the higher-order excited vibrational states, but small for the ground and first excited states.


Background The study aimed to identify the impact of non-disclosure of HIV status on the loss to follow-up (LTFU) of patients receiving anti-retroviral therapy. Methodology A historic cohort of HIV patients from 2 major hospitals in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo was followed from 2004 to 2012. LTFU was defined as not taking an ART refill for a period of 3 months or longer since the last attendance, and had not yet been classified as 'dead' or 'transferred-out'. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to determine the probability of LTFU as a function of time as inclusive of the cohort. The log-rank test was used to compare survival curves based on determinants. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to measure predictors of LTFU from the time of treatment induction until December 15th, 2012 (the end-point). Results The median follow-up time was 3.99 years (IQR = 2.33 to 5.59). Seventy percent of patients had shared their HIV status with others (95% CI: 66.3–73.1). The proportion of LTFU was 12% (95%CI: 9.6–14.4). Patients who did not share their HIV status (Adjusted HR 2.28, 95% CI 1.46–2.29), patients who did not live in the city of Goma (Adjusted HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.02–3.77), and those who attained secondary or higher education level (Adjusted HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.02–2.53) had a higher hazard of being LTFU. Conclusion This study shows the relationship between the non–disclosure HIV status and LTFU. Healthcare workers in similar settings should pay more attention to clients who have not disclosed their HIV status, and to those living far from health settings where they receive medication.


Teenagers, especially boys, often engage in deviant behavior and in actions that lead them into conflict with the law. Generally they come from a troubled past, problematic / poor families or divorced parents, and often have early left school and / or are poorly or not educated at all. Throughout this study will be considered the real possibilities of adolescents in conflict with the law and their motivation in education for qualitative participation referring the Reintegration Institute for Minors in Kavaja, as a model institution in Albania, compared to other institutions. It is the responsibility of the institution to provide all the neccessary facilities to the juvenile so they can attend compulsory education. After the end of the school year, juveniles are provided with relevant certificates, equivalent to those provided by schools of  the same level, outside the institution. The purpose of the study concerns the identification of approaches, methods and techniques for promoting a motivational attitude in pursuing the educational process of the adolescents in conflict with the law. This  is a mixed study, qualitative and quantitative. Subjects participating in the study will be: 40 juvenile in conflict with law, aged from 14  to 18 years old, at the Institute of Juvenile Reintegration in Kavaja, who have been  pursuing the educational process for the time period from January to April 2014, with whom semi-structured interviews, free discussions and observations have been conducted, of the interactive behavior of juveniles during the teaching hours in the classroom. Other participating subjects were the multidisciplinary team of this  institute, consisting of psychologists, social workers, teaching specialists, education specialists who monitor the educational process and motivate minors to attend this activity. Another important section of the study is the interviewing of the  five teachers of the 9-year  compulsory education , that is actualy applied at the IRM, Kavaja. The results of the study outline the importance of  the approaches, methods, techniques specific to the individual and social plan that encourage the motivation of the teenager in conflict with the law in  the 9-year  fundamental education process, through their individual improvement and their social skills. Key words: adolescent, conflict with the law, educational process, motivation, teaching techniques.


This thesis comprises two chapters with a focus on volatility estimating, modeling and forecasting using intraday data in the Chinese stock market. The first chapter explores the performance of two types of estimators in volatility prediction: the realized volatility (RV) type and duration-based ones. This is motivated by the theoretical and empirical support for both categories of estimators that are distinct from each other. I use intraday data for 203 component stocks in the CSI 300 index and adopt a combination of volatility models and these two types of estimators to produce 1-, 5- and 22-day ahead forecasts. I show that, although empirically more efficient with US data, the duration-based volatility estimators fail to compete statistically with the traditional RV-type although in a portfolio setting both types of estimators generate similar economic value to a mean-variance investor. A comprehensive simulation exercise is undertaken to rationalize the poorer statistical performance of duration-based estimators.

In the second chapter, I use daily and intraday data to examine the impact of crosssectional return dispersion on volatility forecasting in the Chinese equity market. I adopt traditional GARCH and HAR models and, by augmenting them with return dispersion measures, provide evidence that the return dispersion exhibits substantial information in describing the volatility dynamics by generating significantly lower forecasting errors at market and industry levels. Furthermore, the information content of the return dispersion tends to offer economic gain to a mean-variance utility investor. The findings are robust with respect to alternative volatility proxies and weighting scheme in constructing industry indices.


Objectives:The aim of this study was to independently validate a genomic signature developed both to assess recurrence risk in stage II patients and to assist in treatment decisions. Background:Adjuvant therapy is recommended for high-risk patients with stage II colon cancer, but better tools to assess the patients' prognosis accurately are still required. Methods:Previously, an 18-gene signature had been developed and validated on an independent cohort, using full genome microarrays. In this study, the gene signature was translated and validated as a robust diagnostic test (ColoPrint), using customized 8-pack arrays. In addition, clinical validation of the diagnostic ColoPrint assay was performed on 135 patients who underwent curative resection (R0) for colon cancer stage II in Munich. Fresh-frozen tissue, microsatellite instability status, clinical parameters, and follow-up data for all patients were available. The diagnostic ColoPrint readout was determined blindly from the clinical data. Results:ColoPrint identified most stage II patients (73.3%) as at low risk. The 5-year distant-metastasis free survival was 94.9% for low-risk patients and 80.6% for high-risk patients. In multivariable analysis, ColoPrint was the only significant parameter to predict the development of distant metastasis with a hazard ratio of 4.28 (95% confidence interval, 1.36–13.50; P = 0.013). Clinical risk parameters from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recommendation did not add power to the ColoPrint classification. Technical validation of ColoPrint confirmed stability and reproducibility of the diagnostic platform. Conclusions:ColoPrint is able to predict the development of distant metastasis of patients with stage II colon cancer and facilitates the identification of patients who may be safely managed without chemotherapy.


Background: The notion of 'Media events'— grand occasions, such as contests of politics or sports, charismatic missions, and the rites of passage of the great that are televised as they take place, gathering attention universally and simultaneously (Dayan, 2010)— has been applied in many different contexts. In Media Events, Dayan and Katz (1992) frame the notion as a television genre that interrupts normal flows of broadcasting as well as the daily routines of viewers, commanding attention to a 'ceremonial core'. Sonnevend (2018) argues that Media Events (Dayan & Katz, 1992) has been unfairly labelled a 'television book' perhaps due to the fact that the specific focus on live television limited its application across different types of media. Sonnevend argues that such application can be done without compromising its basic tenets. However, scholars have highlighted the need for revisiting media events in the context of digital media. As Couldry and Hepp (2018) note, "what matters is to know whether and why 'media events' remain a 'live' concept for researching the broadest social and political consequences of media and communications infrastructures and institutions" (p.115). Couldry and Hepp argue that it does remain live, yet they point to the complexity of media events in contexts in which they permeate digital media. Objective: This study conducts a network analysis of the Twitter hashtag #HimToo to initiate development of a notion of networked events as a platform-oriented conception of media events. The study examines whether #HimToo, as a networked event constructed via Twitter uptake, shows a consistent focus (a "centre") across time frames. Methods: Empirical analysis was conducted based on the argument that #HimToo, a relatively shortlived Twitter hashtag which emerged in response to Brett Kavanaugh hearing (Boyle & Rathnayake, 2019), can be seen as a networked event allowed by Twitter affordances. The 'broadcast core' of the event was the live hearing on the 27th of September, 2018. From a strict media events perspective, the live hearing can be seen as a media event in which the broadcast audience does not play a significant role in the construction of the narrative. The hashtag #HimToo was chosen for analysis as it emerged focusing specifically on the Kavanaugh appointment while #MeToo had already sustained for approximately 12 months. The intensity of tweeting was observed and data was gathered covering two periods that showed significant activity level. First, there was a substantial increase in Twitter activity on the day of the hearing. Data collection was started eight days after the broadcast testimony. The API returned a dataset of 112,169 tweets covering the period between 25th of September and 5th of October (T1). As there was a considerable rise in the number of tweets containing #HimToo on the 9th and 10th of April, another sample was obtained for analysis. This second dataset included 250,000 tweets and was obtained on the 12th of December (T2). As the primary emphasis was uptake via retweets, original tweets, @replies, and mentions were removed from analysis. Results: Figure 1 (top) shows a #HimToo retweet network for the first period (T1). This retweet network included 83530 messages (represented by edges) sent by 55562 users (represented by nodes). Partitions within this network were identified by using the community detection algorithm developed by Blondel, Guillaume, Lambiotte, and Lefebvre (2008). A modularity value of 0.521 indicated that the #HimToo retweet network was not highly fragmented. Results also showed that there are 483 communities (clusters) in the network. However, the majority of retweets (51.9% nodes included in the largest component) originated from users taking up tweets sent by the conservative political figure Candace Owens who gathered more than 50% of retweeting activity between 25th of September and 5th of October 2018. Figure 1 (bottom left) shows the partition lead by Candace Owens. As shown in the frequency distribution (Figure 1- bottom right), while Candace Owens attracted more than 50% of users in the network, the rest of the activity was scattered across 482 small clusters.


Context : Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is an important marker for long term assessment of glycaemic state in patients with diabetes. Different methods are used for its measurement. In this study we compared two widely used methods of measuring HbA1c. Aims and Objectives : To compare two widely used method of measuring HbA1c with the view of find which of the method is more accurate, more stable, and more suited for use in this environment. Methods : A total of fifty known diabetic patients attending the diabetic clinic at the University Of Benin Teaching Hospital were recruited for this study. About 3ml of blood was collected from each patient and dispensed into EDTA bottle. The specimens were first analyzed using the boronate affinity chromatographic method, thereafter the specimen was analyzed using the spectrophotometric method. Results : The mean HbA1c value for boronate affinity chromatographic method was found to be higher than that of the spectrophotometric method (9.4%EF%BF%BD0.6% and 9.1%EF%BF%BD0.6%) but this difference was not statistically significant. The same difference was also observed in the mean HbA1c value for both males and females, Conclusion : The boronate chromatographic method which is automated was found to be more reliable, faster and easier to use than the spectrophotometric method.


Cloud services have become increasingly widespread in the past decade due to their ability to reduce the complexity and the cost of managing computers and networks. Cloud applications are run in virtualized environments such as virtual machines and containers to be able to allocate resources in an inexpensive manner. Both of these approaches require effective resource utilization, for which an important enabling technology is live migration, which involves moving a service from one host to another with the minimum possible downtime. Live migration is also required for system maintenance, load balancing, and protecting services from attacks through moving target defense. While migrating a service, the system should not be vulnerable to attacks. In this work, we propose a secure model for efficient live migration of containers. Because the applications are isolated from each other while running in Docker containers, checkpointing method was used to generate required migration data. In our proposed model, we provide security of the migration data using secure authentication, and ensuring all connections between the nodes are protected to provide communication security, making the system protected against migration attacks. The efficiency of the migration system designed based on the proposed model has been proven on stateless and stateful sample applications. Experiments with applications running on the Docker container platform demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves significantly better performance than its virtual machine live migration counterpart.


With the Socratic injunction: "man know thyself"; the West began a formal search for the nature of man. What is man? What is his essence in real life; what exactly makes him what he is? These questions, apart from dividing philosophers in the West into different warring camps, also portray man as incapable of self knowledge; hence man is described as a paradox. This seemingly insoluble problem among Western philosophers is grounded on their conception of reality as static and dichotomised. In Africa with the understanding of reality as one unitary whole, though distinct and yet complementary, penetrating and interacting with each other, the dualism disappears and there is what we call the "harmony of African conceptions". In this article, using comparative analysis, the essence of man is critically examined within a particular African culture, namely, Bantu ontology and with their conception of reality as dynamic, a conception in contradistinction to the Western static conception of reality The conclusion is that a new definition of man emerges, a definition which is one of the essential characteristics of who is an African?


Deep Neural Networks, despite their success in diverse domains, are provably sensitive to small perturbations which cause the models to return erroneous predictions to minor transformations. Recently, it was proposed that this effect can be addressed in the text domain by optimizing for the worst case loss function over all possible word substitutions within the training examples. However, this approach is prone to weighing semantically unlikely word replacements higher, resulting in accuracy loss. In this paper, we study robustness to adversarial perturbations by using differentially private randomized substitutions while training the model. This approach has two immediate advantages: (1) by ensuring that the word replacement likelihood is weighted by its proximity to the original word in a metric space, we circumvent optimizing for worst case guarantees thereby achieve performance gains; and (2) the calibrated randomness results in training a privacy preserving model, while also guaranteeing robustness against adversarial attacks on the model outputs. Our approach uses a novel density-based differentially private mechanism based on truncated Gumbel noise. This ensures training on substitutions of words in dense and sparse regions of a metric space while maintaining semantic similarity for model robustness. Our experiments on two datasets suggest an improvement of up to 10% on the accuracy metrics.


If at any time there should not be a quorum of the Judges of the Supreme Court available to hold or continue any session of the Court, the National Judicial Appointments Commission on a reference made to it by the Chief Justice of India, may with the previous consent of the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned, request in writing the attendance at the sittings of the Court, as an ad hoc Judge, for such period as may be necessary, of a Judge of a High Court duly qualified for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court to be designated by the Chief Justice of India.

It shall be the duty of the Judge who has been so designated, in priority to other duties of his office, to attend the sittings of the Supreme Court at the time and for the period for which his attendance is required, and while so attending he shall have all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges, and shall discharge the duties, of a Judge of the Supreme Court.


Resequencing efforts are uncovering the extent of genetic variation in humans and provide data to study the evolutionary processes shaping our genome. One recurring puzzle has been the abundance of complex mutations comprising multiple near-by base substitutions or insertion-deletions. We devised a generalized mutation model to study the role of template switch events in the origin of mutation clusters. Applied to the human genome, the novel model finds strong evidence for inter-strand template switch events and identifies new types of mutations that create short inversions, some flanked by a pair of inverted repeats. This new, local template switch process can create complex mutation patterns, including secondary structures, and explains apparent high frequencies of compensatory substitutions and multi-nucleotide mutations without invoking positive selection. Many of these complex mutations are polymorphic in humans but their detection with current sequencing methodologies is difficult.


Animal wastes are a valuable soil amendment, but when rates of application exceed crop nitrogen (N) requirements, N can leach into groundwater or be lost to the atmosphere. The prediction of optimum manure application rates, however, is complicated by the mineralization of organic N that accumulates with repeated manure applications over many years. The objective of this study was to determine the N balance in soils receiving long-term, repeated manure applications, as influenced by application rate and moisture regime. A N balance was constructed for a site at Lethbridge, AB, in which various rates of 1- to 2-yr-old manure (up to 180 Mg ha -1 yr -1 ) have been applied annually to irrigated and nonirrigated Chernozemic (Typic Haploboroll) clay loam since 1973. Under nonirrigated conditions, all of the N applied in manure was accounted for by crop uptake, soil organic N (Kjeldahl N), and soil NO 3 -N. Losses of N via leaching or volatilization were small. Under irrigation, however, particularly at higher rates of manure application, appreciable amounts of N were lost by leaching and volatilization. The proportion of manure N mineralized was independent of application rate and irrigation regime. During a period of almost 20 yr, about 56% of the N applied in manure was mineralized. This estimate permits more quantitative estimation of manure application rates that exploit the agronomic value of manure without risk of adverse environmental effects under similar climatic conditions.


An increasing demand for reduced travel times requires the exploitation of the full capacity of existing overhead railway catenary systems. This need has become an issue in Norway, as the majority of existing catenary systems are designed for a maximum speed of 130 km/h. In many regions, plans to reconstruct the railway line do not exist. Therefore, existing catenary sections must be optimized to increase a train's velocity and reduce the total travel time. In this paper, the dynamic response is evaluated in an optimization investigation of an existing soft catenary system. A dynamic investigation that considers finite element models of existing soft railway catenary sections with original tension forces, current tension forces and suggested new tension forces for velocities at and above the design speed is conducted. The dynamic response is quantified by the interpretation of spectral densities and variations in their peak values. Due to more movement at mid-span than at the pole support, the effects from altering the tension forces and increasing the speed can be more accurately described and estimated by considering the dynamic content of the response at mid-span instead of the peak uplift at the pole support. A 23% increase in speed is possible for the system with the best tested new tension force setting, in which only the dynamic response and uplift at the pole support are considered.


This paper develops a threshold-based semantics for the Turkish indirect evidential marker, then shows that this marker's behavior in interrogatives, so-called interrogative flip, follows from the structure of discourse as formulated by models that incorporate speaker commitment. I first establish that the indirect evidential marks information for which a speaker's evidence is at best second-best, given general knowledge about the world. After formalizing this generalization in modal semantic terms, I show that it explains the marker's canonical absence in reports of historical fact, as well as its optional presence in evaluative and mirative expressions. In addressing the problem of interrogative flip, I enhance an existing discourse model with the novel concept of projected discourse commitment.


In this paper, we provide new evidence on the effect of part-time work on postsecondary educational attainment. To do so, we use samples extracted from the French Labor Force Surveys conducted over the years 1992-2002. These samples are restricted to students in initial education following university studies and preparing an Associate, a Bachelor or a Master degree. We estimate probit models with two simultaneous equations accounting for part-time working while studying and for success on the final exam, along with the decision to continue the following year in one of the models. We take the working time into account by drawing in one of the models a distinction between jobs in which more or less than 16 hours are worked per week. We use variations across departements in low-skilled youth unemployment rates and in their interactions with the father's socio-economic status in order to identify the effect of part-time work on educational attainment. Our results suggest a statistically significant and very large detrimental effect of holding a regular part-time job on graduation probability. Still, a complementary analysis shows that working while studying does not have any significant effect on the probability of continuing studies.


Regenerative Medicine, a recent new medical domain, aims to develop new therapies through the stimulation of natural regenerative processes also in human beings. In this field, Erythropoietin (EPO) represents a significant subject of research. Several studies allow the assertion that EPO, in different concentrations, has protective effects mainly on the central nervous system, cardiovascular system and renal tissue. This action is carried out through one of few regenerative activities of human beings: angiogenesis. This mechanism, which involves endothelial stem cells and VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor), has been experimentally demonstrated with Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) and Darbepoetin, a long-acting EPO derivate. Furthermore, the demonstration of a cardiac production of EPO in Fugu rubripes and in Zebrafish has led cardiologists to "discover" Erythropoietin, postulating a hypothetical role in treatment of cardiovascular disease for this hormone. This is some of the experimental evidence which demonstrates that EPO can be in reason considered an important element of research of Regenerative Medicine and put in the network of drugs able to regenerate tissues and organs.


Sir, We previously reported in this journal, the occurrence of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in two sisters during their first pregnancy.' One of these patients had two subsequent pregnancies. Prophylactic low dose aspirin and periodic fresh frozen plasma infusion were administered starting in week 12 of the second pregnancy. This second pregnancy was uneventful with normal delivery of a healthy female baby. The patient also received prophylactic aspirin 100 mg daily without fresh frozen plasma infusion, during the third pregnancy. She did well until the 38th week of pregnancy when thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura relapsed, manifesting as a mild purpuric rash, thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia. Plasma exchange therapy resulted in a quick recovery. Labour was induced shortly after she recovered because pelvic ultrasound indicated possible growth retardation of the baby. She delivered a healthy male baby, although a blood count showed him to have erythrocytosis, indicating possible intrauterine hypoxia. The baby developed physiologic jaundice from which he recovered without complication. This experience suggests the feasbility of pregnancy in patients with previous history of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura; prophylactic aspirin and plasma infusion appear to be beneficial in preventing relapse during pregnancy. FAROUQ ALQADAH Community Medical Center, 950 South Main Street Celina, OH 45822, USA


According to the U.S. EPA, excess sediment is a significant cause of water quality impairment for rivers. The goal of this study was to compare different methods of determining two parameters used to estimate streambank erosion, soil critical shear stress (t c) and soil erodibility (kd) and to determine the impact of those differences on predictions of streambank erosion. At 25 field sites, bank erosion tests were conducted using a submerged jet test device, and soil samples were collected. Critical shear stress was measured using a multi-angle submerged jet test device (JT) and estimated based on Shields' diagram (SD) and empirical relations based on the soil parameters, percent clay (Pc), plasticity index (Iw), particle size (D50) and percent silt-clay (SC). Additionally, using a single set of t c values, the kd measured by the jet test was compared to predictions from two empirical kd relations. Using these parameter values, streambank erosion rates were predicted for a local stream. The jet t c estimates were as much as four orders of magnitude greater than the SD, Pc, and D50 estimates, indicating the SD and empirical methods underestimate t c. The two empirical kd equations produced similar kd values that were generally two orders of magnitude less than the values from the jet test measurements. Erosion predictions followed the same trend as the kd data, with the jet test measurements resulting in higher predictions. Field validation of these methods over a wide range of soil types is recommended to develop methods of estimating kd and t c for fine-grained streambank soils.


Background: Astilbin is a flavonoid phytoconstituent extracted from Chinese herb Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae, a common Chinese food ingredient. Objectives: The present study used astilbin as a model drug to develop food-based nanoemulsified formulations. These formulations were then tested for their possible role in countering Oxaliplatin (OXP) associated oxidative stress. Materials and Methods: Thirty six healthy male BALB/c mice of age 10–12 weeks and weight 25–30 g were included in the present study. The mice were administered OXP through intraperitoneal route in a dose of 8 mg/kg for a period of 4 days. The animals in the control group were administered a 10 ml/kg dose of 5% (w/v) glucose solution. For evaluating the hepatoprotective effect of developed formulations on OXP-induced liver injury, the animals from treatment groups were administered once daily dose of drug loaded formulations 60 min before OXP treatments (200 mg/kg equivalent of formulation, intraperitoneally) for 4 days. Finally, the blood and hepatic tissue samples were obtained for future analysis. Results: We successfully developed non-toxic nanoemulsion systems for astilbin, which comprised of different non-toxic food ingredients of astilbin and evaluated the potential reversing the OXP induced liver injury. The food-based nanoemulsions possessed attractive physical properties and exhibited sufficient stability profile when subjected to freeze-thaw cycles as well as 6-month storage at ambient and cold temperatures. Furthermore, excellent cumulative in vitro drug permeation was reported for the prepared formulations through dialysis membrane bags. We also observed the significant reduction in biomarkers of hepatic oxidative stress, caused by OXP chemotherapy in experimental mice, thereby indicating a marked reversal of liver injury. Conclusion: We concluded that nanoemulsified astilbin can be used as therapeutic agent to counter OXP-associated oxidative stress.


Results are presented from an audit of mental health nurses (MHNs) who
have undertaken training in order to practise as supplementary prescribers
as part of an evaluation of the development of non-medical prescribing
(NMP) across South West Yorkshire Mental Health Trust (SWYMHT).
Quantitative (demographics) and qualitative (open-ended statements)
results derived from a questionnaire survey are analysed and compared to
the national picture. Implications for the governance arrangements which
need to be in place for the further development of non-medical prescribing
in mental health care, both for the Trust and nationally, are suggested.


In 2013, academics from a Scottish university came together with social work managers and practitioners from two local authorities (LAs) in Scotland to run a knowledge exchange (KE) project co-sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and the LAs. The project's aim was an ambitious one: to contribute to culture change in the children and families' departments in the two partner agencies. The project grew out of an earlier KE venture that had explored ways of engaging better with involuntary service users in social work; it thus both anticipated and reflected wider concerns about services for children that were also demonstrated in Munro's Review of Child Protection. The KE project had three components: training for managers, practitioner research projects and critical reflection workshops. Whether, and to what degree, the KE project changed culture is not the focus of this paper, which is written jointly by academic researchers and practitioners. Instead, one element of the KE project, namely the critical reflection workshops, is discussed. Findings provide strong evidence of the pressures currently experienced by children and families' services in the UK public sector. They also indicate how important good relationships are in building meaningful KE.


As a popular method, virtual reality (VR) is still controversial in its effect on the balance function of patients with Parkinson's disease. This systematic review aims to discuss such effects of VR and to compare it with that resulting from traditional therapies. A comprehensive search was conducted for randomized controlled trials published from 2000 to 2020 through the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Library. Fifteen articles were included for the systematic review. An evaluation on their methodological qualities was performed using the PEDro scale, followed by an assessment of their risk of biases in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions for quality assessment. In terms of dynamic balance, the BBS score of the VR group was significantly improved when compared with the control group (SMD = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.31–0.73). However, no significant difference was observed between the two groups on TUG (SMD = −0.26; 95% CI = −0.62–0.1; p = 0.16). Besides, the VR group also showed better results in improving patients' static balance, balance confidence, and quality of life. A funnel plot was created to investigate the effects of each study included in the meta-analysis in order to identify any existing publication bias. This systematic review shows that the application of VR leads to more significant improvement in the balance of patients with Parkinson's disease than having them perform traditional exercises. It can be used as an auxiliary method of rehabilitation.


Microwave radiometers operating at low frequencies are sensitive to surface soil moisture changes. Few studies have been conducted that have involved multifrequency observations at frequencies low enough to measure a significant soil depth and not be attenuated by the vegetation cover. Another previously ignored aspect of microwave observations at low frequencies has been the diurnal variations of the soil moisture and temperature and the impact of these on the brightness temperature. In this investigation, observations were made using a dual frequency radiometer (1.4 and 2.65 GHz) over bare soil, corn and grass for extended periods in 1994. Comparisons of emissivity and volumetric soil moisture at four depths for bare soils showed that there was a clear correspondence between the 2 cm soil moisture and the 2.65 GHz emissivity and between the 5 cm soil moisture and the 1.4 GHz emissivity, which confirms previous studies. Observations during drying and rainfall demonstrate that new and unique information for hydrologic and energy balance studies can be extracted from these data.


This paper summarizes a program of research we have conducted over the past four years. So far, it has produced two published articles, one forthcoming paper, one working paper currently under review at a journal, and three working papers in progress. The research concerns the recovery of market-wide riskneutral probabilities and risk aversion from option prices. The work is built on the idea that risk-neutral probabilities (or their related state-contingent prices) are an amalgam of consensus subjective probabilities and consensus risk aversion. The most significant departure of this work is that it reverses the normal direction of previous research, which typically moves from assumptions governing subjective probabilities and risk aversion, to conclusions about risk-neutral probabilities. Our work is partially motivated by the conspicuous failure of the Black-Scholes formula to explain the prices of index options in the post-1987 crash market. First, we independently estimate risk-neutral probabilities, taking advantage of the now highly liquid index option market. We show that, if the options market is free of general arbitrage opportunities and we can at least initially ignore trading costs, there are quite robust methods for recovering these probabilities. Second, with these probabilities in hand, we use the method of implied binomial trees to recover a consistent stochastic process followed by the underlying asset price. Third, we provide an empirical test of implied trees against alternative option pricing models (including "naïve trader" approaches) by using them to forecast future option smiles. Fourth, we argue that realized historical distributions will be a reliable proxy for certain aspects of the true subjective distributions. We then use these observed aspects together with the option-implied riskneutral probabilities to estimate market-wide risk aversion. September 26, 1997 Mark Rubinstein is the Paul Stephens Professor of Applied Investment Analysis at the University of California at Berkeley, and Jens Jackwerth is currently a visiting assistant professor at the London Business School. Recovering Probabilities from Option Prices 2


Objectives A recent individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis suggested that patients with moderate or severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) benefit from higher positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ventilation strategies. However, thresholds for continuous variables (eg, hypoxaemia) are often arbitrary and linearity assumptions in regression approaches may not hold; the multivariable fractional polynomial interaction (MFPI) approach can address both problems. The objective of this study was to apply the MFPI approach to investigate interactions between four continuous patient baseline variables and higher versus lower PEEP on clinical outcomes. Setting Pooled data from three randomised trials in intensive care identified by a systematic review. Participants 2299 patients with acute lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation. Interventions Higher (N=1136) versus lower PEEP (N=1163) ventilation strategy. Outcome measures Prespecified outcomes included mortality, time to death and time-to-unassisted breathing. We examined the following continuous baseline characteristics as potential effect modifiers using MFPI: PaO2/FiO2 (arterial partial oxygen pressure/ fraction of inspired oxygen), oxygenation index, respiratory system compliance (tidal volume/(inspiratory plateau pressure−PEEP)) and body mass index (BMI). Results We found that for patients with PaO2/FiO2 below 150 mm Hg, but above 100 mm Hg or an oxygenation index above 12 (moderate ARDS), higher PEEP reduces hospital mortality, but the beneficial effect appears to level off for patients with very severe ARDS. Patients with mild ARDS (PaO2/FiO2 above 200 mm Hg or an oxygenation index below 10) do not seem to benefit from higher PEEP and might even be harmed. For patients with a respiratory system compliance above 40 mL/cm H2O or patients with a BMI above 35 kg/m2, we found a trend towards reduced mortality with higher PEEP, but there is very weak statistical confidence in these findings. Conclusions MFPI analyses suggest a nonlinear effect modification of higher PEEP ventilation by PaO2/FiO2 and oxygenation index with reduced mortality for some patients suffering from moderate ARDS. Study registration number CRD42012003129.


In this study, the design of an augmented reality application running on mobile devices is presented. Given the coordinates of various places of interest, the application places these points and the information associated with them on the device screen, utilizing the sensors available on the mobile devices. In particular, since the project is implemented together with Yapi Kredi Bank, the points presented on the screen are the YKB merchant points. In order to have the application working indoors, such as shopping malls, where the GPS is not operating, an RFID reader add-on is also supported. In this paper, the design of the application and the algorithms and the tools for placing the points on the screen are emphasized.


Considerable anecdotal evidence and information from previous studies suggest that auditory function may be influenced by hormones. This thesis reviews in detail the potential role of hormones in modulating the auditory system and in the development of pathological conditions in the auditory system with an emphasis on the effect of the ovarian hormones. Ovarian steroids may influence auditory function directly through their receptors, which have been detected in the auditory system, or indirectly through their effects on the blood supply, the fluid electrolyte balance of the cochlea, and the neurotransmitters of the auditory system. Effects on other parts of the central nervous system connected to the auditory system may also be of importance. The aim of the study was to investigate whether physiological alterations in ovarian hormones in women with normal hearing, during the natural ovarian cycle and assisted conception treatment were associated with changes in auditory function at the cochlear and brain stem level, and whether these variations were not seen in men over a similar period of time. The auditory tests evaluated auditory function from the outer ear to the brainstem in both the afferent and efferent system. Hormone levels were assayed only in the female subjects at the same time as the auditory testing, four times during the ovarian cycle, or three times during the assisted conception treatment. Auditory tests were undertaken in the male subjects once a week for four consecutive weeks to correspond with the ovarian cycle measurements. A number of changes in auditory function were observed during the ovarian cycle and assisted conception treatment, and gender differences were noted. The OAE results may suggest either excitation of the cochlea with higher levels of oestrogen, or suppression of the cochlea with higher level of progesterone. The longer ABR latency following ovarian stimulation and in the follicular phase of the ovarian cycle is consistent with the inhibitory effect of neurosteroids on ABR associated with higher levels of oestrogen. The variation in auditory function were not observed in men.


: An account is given of the identification of penicillamine in human urine by chromatographic and analytical techniques. At that time this observation appeared to be of esoteric interest only. Some years later, working at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory at the Boston City Hospital, it occurred to me that the formula of this compound was ideally suited for use as a copper chelating agent for the treatment of Wilson's disease. The subsequent work leading to the acceptance of penicillamine as an important new therapy and also as to its mode of action is given with illustrations of some key experiments and with reference to the first patient ever treated with this drug.


In a field experiment conducted over two consecutive cropping seasons (1989-91 and 1990-92) at Lucknow, India, autumn sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L. cv. Colk 8001) was fertilized with 0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 kg N ha -1 and planted at (i) 40 000 three-bud setts per hectare in single rows spaced at 90 cm apart (conventional planting); (ii) 80 000 three-bud setts per hectare in single rows spaced at 90 cm apart; and (iii) 80 000 three-bud setts per hectare in paired (double) rows having 30- and 60-cm spacings within and between paired (double) rows, respectively. The double-row planting technique, on an average, minimized the nitrate-N leaching from inter-row spaces, thus increasing recovery of applied N by 15.8% over conventional planting. Consequently, the yield response per kilogram applied N was 369 kg cane from double-row planting compared with 278 kg cane from conventional planting. With increasing losses of nitrate-N due to leaching, recovery of applied N decreased from 72.3 to 30.9%, respectively, when the rates of applied N increased from 75 to 300 kg ha -1 . The yield response also decreased from 443 to 224 kg cane for each kilogram of N applied between these rates.


Clustering is a widespread data analysis and data mining technique in many elds of study such as engineering, medicine, biology and the like. The aim of clustering is to collect data points. In this paper, a Cultural Algorithm (CA) is presented to optimize partition with N objects into K clusters. The CA is one of the eective methods for searching into the problem space in order to nd a near optimal solution. This algorithm has been tested on dierent scale datasets and has been compared with other well-known algorithms in clustering, such as K-means, Genetic Algorithm (GA), Simulated Annealing (SA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The results illustrate that the proposed algorithm has a good prociency in obtaining the desired results.


Faced with intense competition, network service providers, supported by their respective Network Operations Centers (NOCs), must ensure the best possible Quality of Service (QoS) and corresponding Quality of Experience (QoE) for end-users or face the loss of business. QoE represents the perception of quality experienced by end-users of a real-time system, such as VoIP. The QoE challenge becomes significant when real-time applications running on net-centric enterprise systems, driven by methodologies such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), encounter issues that require time-sensitive problem determination and resolution. Optimizing end-user QoE becomes daunting as system complexity grows to span multiple applications and functions across different administrative areas of responsibility. Available tools fall short in their support of enterprise QoE monitoring because they examine only portions of the available data within their respective purview resulting in a fractionalized picture of the true state of the enterprise system. This paper addresses the above limitation by presenting an approach for aggregating observed real-time applications data across the enterprise, thereby permitting timely and effective interpretation and response to real-time application events. This approach uses a proven framework, reference architecture, and QoE metrics categories to produce simulation results for the collection, correlation and analysis of application information on net-centric enterprise systems. Results are presented for several VoIP scenarios including a Denial of Service (DoS) event that causes noticeable applications delay. These results represent measurements for over one billion packets derived from a large- scale simulation running on the UK national supercomputing service, HECToR. The paper concludes by highlighting key benefits to the service provider's business from using this approach.


Further improvements in the low frequency sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors are important for increasing the observable population of astrophysical sources, such as intermediate mass compact black hole binary systems. Improvements in the lower stage mirror and suspension systems will set challenging targets for the required thermal noise performance of the cantilever blade springs, which provide vertical softness and, thus, isolation to the mirror suspension stack. This is required due to the coupling between the vertical and horizontal axes due to the curvature of the Earth. This can be achieved through use of high mechanical Q materials, which are compatible with cryogenic cooling, such as crystalline silicon. However, such materials are brittle, posing further challenges for assembly/jointing and, more generally, for long-term robustness. Here, we report on experimental studies of the breaking strength of silicon at room temperature, via both tensile and 4-point flexural testing; and on the effects of various surface treatments and coatings on durability and strength. Single- and multi-layer DLC (diamond-like carbon) coatings, together with magnetron-sputtered silica and thermally-grown silica, are investigated, as are the effects of substrate preparation and argon plasma pre-treatment. Application of single- or multi-layer DLC coatings can significantly improve the failure stress of silicon flexures, in addition to improved robustness for handling (assessed through abrasion tests). Improvements of up to 80% in tensile strength, a twofold increase in flexural strength, in addition to a 6.4 times reduction in the vertical thermal noise contribution of the suspension stack at 10 Hz are reported (compared to current Advanced LIGO design). The use of silicon blade springs would also significantly reduce potential 'crackling noise' associated with the underlying discrete events associated with plastic deformation in loaded flexures.


A map illustrating the Se content of forage and hay crops in different sections of the Pacific Northwest was prepared, based on analyses of crop samples. The primary criterion used in mapping was to delineate areas where forage and hay crops generally contain insufficient Se to meet requirements of lambs and calves, and thus prevent white muscle disease (WMD) and other Seresponsive diseases. The minimal requirement may vary from 11.03 to 0.10 ppm Se in the diet, depending upon the diet level of vitamin E -and possibly other substances. Under normal livestock management practices, WMD is common when forages and hay contain less than 0.10 ppm Se and the incidence is greater at lower Se levels. The western half of Washington and Oregon and part of northern California comprise an extremely low Se area. The eastern half of Washington, northern Idaho, extreme western Montana, and the northeast corner of Oregon comprise a low Se area. Most of the remaining portion of the Northwest may be considered as variable in Se, with farm-to-farm variations common, but some small areas of adequate Se were found and mapped. Additional index words; white muscle disease, trace elements, animal nutrition, plant composition.


The purpose of Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) is to execute legal procedures such that they promote the social and psychological well-being of the individual involved in a juridical action. TJ may be a facilitating factor in the police interview. Previous studies have shown a relation between a humanitarian interviewing approach and suspects inclination to confess as well as crime victims narrate all what they can remember from a crime event (see e.g., Gudjonsson, 2006; Holmberg 2004; Holmberg & Christianson, 2002; Kebbell et al., 2006; Kebbell et al., 2008). The humanitarian experiences of the people involved in judicial actions seem to promote a therapeutic jurisprudential psychological well-being that might act as a rehabilitating factor. The aim of the present experimental study was to investigate the causal relationship between the humanitarian respectively the dominant interviewing approach and interview outcomes. With interview outcomes mean the memory performance and psychological well-being. The experiment comprised three phases and 127 subjects between 17 and 70 years old participated in these three phases. The first phase was an exposure where the subjects in pairs acted against each other in a computer simulation with a scenario symbolizing a crime event. During the simulation, half of the subjects got the opportunity to steel from the opposite party. A week after the exposure phase, the subjects were interviewed in a humanitarian or a dominant style symbolizing a police interview after a crime event. Sex month later, the subjects were interviewed again in the same manner, symbolizing the interview in the court proceeding. Before the exposure phase, the subject completed Spielberger's stait-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) – trait form and Rammstedt & John's the 10-Item Big Five Inventory. Before after every phase, the participants completed Antonovsky's sense of coherence questionnaire and Spielberger's STAI – the state form. After the interviews the participants also completed a questionnaire that measured whether the interviews were perceived as humanitarian or dominant. Preliminary results, since a part of the interviews has been analyzed, show that acting in the computer simulation affected the subjects' mood. Results indicate that the humanitarian interviewing approach result in a higher memory performance and a higher psychological well-being compared to the dominant interviewing style. The results from the analyzes of the compete sample will be presented and discussed.


Anesthetized cats were hemorrhaged to a mean arterial blood pressure of 40 mm Hg for 120 minutes. Cats given dexamethasone (6 mg/kg, i.v.) at the time of hemorrhage and again (3 mg/kg, i.v.) at the time of reinfusion maintained post-reinfusion arterial blood pressure at a higher level than cats given the steroid vehicle. In addition, dexamethasone treated cats exhibited higher post-reinfusion liver blood flows than vehicle treated hemorrhaged cats. Dexamethasone significantly retarded the rise in plasma cathepsin D and amino-nitrogen activities during hemorrhage, and prevented the accumulation of a myocardial depressant factor (MDF) in the circulating blood. Dexamethasone had no significant effect on isolated cat papillary muscle or aortic strips. It appears that dexamethasone exerts its beneficial effect in hemorrhage shock primarily by stabilizing lysosomal membranes and the subsequent prevention of proteolysis and MDF formation rather than by a direct vasodilator or inotropic effect.


The question of whether or not increased stock market size allows for improved financing conditions for firms in emerging markets is an important one for policy-making. This paper seeks to investigate this issue by analyzing whether increases in market-level liquidity have indeed trickled down to individual firms over the last decade of stock market development in Tunisia, a fast-growing Mediterranean emerging market. We develop time varying liquidity scores for all firms listed in the Tunisian market over the 1997-2009 period and analyze the extent to which market development, firm-level characteristics and risk exposure affect the magnitude and the distribution of liquidity using a set of fixed effect panel regressions. Our results suggest that massive increases in value traded have created market congestion, thereby increasing the costs of trading, in a context of persistently low efficiency and increased international integration. The main implications of this process are (i) market-level development and international integration are not sufficient conditions to ease access to finance for local firms, (ii) further reforms in the Tunisian market should focus on diversifying corporate ownership and improving the disclosure of information, and (iii) international investors seeking diversification in Tunisia should be aware of a significant illiquidity risk.


Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is one of the most used imaging techniques to map brain activity or to obtain clinical information about human cortical vasculature, in both healthy and disease conditions. Nevertheless, BOLD fMRI is an indirect measurement of brain functioning triggered by neurovascular coupling. The origin of the BOLD signal is quite complex, and the signal formation thus depends, among other factors, on the topology of the cortical vasculature and the associated hemodynamic changes. To understand the hemodynamic evolution of the BOLD signal response in humans, it is beneficial to have a computational framework available that virtually resembles the human cortical vasculature, and simulates hemodynamic changes and corresponding MRI signal changes via interactions of intrinsic biophysical and magnetic properties of the tissues. To this end, we have developed a mechanistic computational framework that simulates the hemodynamic fingerprint of the BOLD signal based on a statistically defined, three-dimensional, vascular model that approaches the human cortical vascular architecture. The microvasculature is approximated through a Voronoi tessellation method and the macrovasculature is adapted from two-photon microscopy mice data. Using this computational framework, we simulated hemodynamic changes-cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, and blood oxygen saturation-induced by virtual arterial dilation. Then we computed local magnetic field disturbances generated by the vascular topology and the corresponding blood oxygen saturation changes. This mechanistic computational framework also considers the intrinsic biophysical and magnetic properties of nearby tissue, such as water diffusion and relaxation properties, resulting in a dynamic BOLD signal response. The proposed mechanistic computational framework provides an integrated biophysical model that can offer better insights regarding the spatial and temporal properties of the BOLD signal changes.


: The incubation of hemoglobin solutions without air contacts at room temperature with addition of antibiotics is accompanied by decrease of oxy form and accumulation of desoxy form. The content of methemoglobin changes at a less degree. The increase of the temperature accelerates the process, the acidification of solutions decelerates it.


In the last decade irregular immigration has
emerged as a "security" challenge (in the
language of International Relations
military "threat") in the Mediterranean region
particularly in the central, sub-region1. The designation of this issue as a "security challenge" or "threat" is itself controversial and will be discussed further down.

This paper focuses on the situation in the central
Mediterranean involving mainly four countries
namely Italy, Libya, Malta and Tunisia all of
which have long standing historic links and bilateral relations and participate in the so
called "5+5" Dialogue in the Western
Mediterranean. Two of these Central
Mediterranean countries (Italy, Malta) are
EU member states and Tunisia has a long
standing relationship with the EU [Association
Agreement, Barcelona Process (EMP),
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Union for the
Mediterranean (UfM)] while Libya so far has
no formal relations at all with the EU.

This paper analyses some of the aspects of
migration in the central Mediterranean focusing on the link between the domestic and
international politics of the issue in Italy and
Malta and contrasting the different approaches
taken. For example, although Italy and Malta
both resort to self-help and both try to involve
the EU in helping them tackle the problem,
they do this in a markedly different way: Italy
uses the EU as a supplement to its independent
and bilateral efforts while Malta looks to the
EU as the major solution to the problem.

Lacking the power and influence to deal with the issue, Malta tends to see the problem as
primarily a multilateral issue or one that can
only be tackled in concert with stronger powers
in the region preferably within an EU context.
On the other hand, Italy has been keen in involving the EU but decided to go it alone when this option turned out to be a dead end. In this paper I also try to show the extent (or limitations) to which multilateral initiatives
such as the "5+5" and Euro operation really play a decisive role in incentivizing or facilitating inter-state cooperation or joint solutions. This paper also
refers to the EU acquis, the notion of solidarity
(norms) and the extent to which it is implemented as well as a number of connected
issues.

The subjects of this paper, the Mediterranean Boat People, have been referred to by various
names in the literature, all of which may be
more or less deficient in actually defining them
all. They have been referred to as "illegal" or
"irregular" immigrants, "refugees" in search of
international protection, "migrants at sea" and
"boat people". The use of "boat people"
dispenses with the need of having to define the
various categories of migrants involved and is
thus preferred in this paper.


The zero-bias conductance of quantum dots coupled to ferromagnetic leads is investigated. In the strong-coupling regime, it is found that the conductance is a non-monotonic function of the angle between the magnetisation directions in the two contacts. This behaviour is an effect of the presence of the leads which induces an angle-dependent spin-split of the quantum dot states, and spin-flip transitions between the quantum dot states whenever the magnetisation directions of the leads are non-collinear, which enhances the current density at the chemical potential. In the weak-coupling regime, the system reverts to normal spin valve character.


Purpose: Scintillating fiber type dosimeter was investigated to determine the proton beam range in a short time for the purpose of quality assurance of the patient in the proton therapy. Degradation of output signal in scintillator has to be overcome for applying the scintillating fiber dosimeter on clinical use. One dimensional dosimeter array was tried to measure the range at a time and required characteristics for this application were evaluated. Methods: The dosimetrysystem was composed of commercial scintillating fiber optically coupled with organic based optical fiber. Scintillating light was amplified by photo multiplier tube before being gathered by commercial data acquisitionsystem. Bragg peak and SOBP was measured with scintillating fiber dosimetry. One dimensional scintillating fiber array dosimeter was prepared and Bragg peak and SOBP of proton beam were measured and analyzed. Results: The Bragg peak measured by scintillating fiber dosimetry showed degradation of the output signal in high dose region when comparing with the results of the ionization chamber, which is known as quenching effect of scintillator. Quenching effect could corrected by fitting the measured data to quenching equation. However, it didn't show significant degradation of the signal enough to miss the range within sub‐millimeter for the scintillator smaller than the diameter of 0.5 mm. The SOBP curve also showed good agreement with the ionization chamber results after being modified by considering the quenching effect. It can be applied to construct the scintillator array to measure the depth dose distribution at a time. Conclusions: Scintillating fiber opticdosimetry was suitable for measuring depth dose distribution of proton therapy beam and determining its range. Quenching effect of scintillator was dealt with well within our tolerable range by fitting method. One dimensional scintillating fiber array provided more applicable and faster way for applying it to clinical field.


This review article explores past, present and possible future drivers of change in Karoo social-ecological systems. Biogeographically, the Karoo comprises the arid Succulent Karoo and Nama-Karoo biomes covering significant portions of the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces and a smaller part of the Free State. Despite the Karoo's specific environment and spatial importance nationally (covering some 30% of South Africa), no government structures address its needs holistically. Today it is a politically and economically marginalised region; perceptions of it as a desert easily morph into perceptions of it as deserted and ripe for exploitation for the benefit of external constituencies, whether in the name of astronomy, shale-gas and uranium mining or renewable energy. To manage the Karoo better for present and future generations, it is clearly desirable for social and natural scientists to work collaboratively, yet there is relatively little interdisciplinary work to date. Against this background this review article provides an overview of social and ecological changes historically and in the present, and offers some cautious reflections concerning climate change, changing land use and governance as key drivers affecting trajectories of change into the future.


Introduction: This paper aims to develop a Scientific Information Exchange General Model at Digital Library in Context of Internet of things, which would enable automated and efficient library services. To accomplish its objective, the main classes (Concepts), sub-classes, attributes are identified in order to introduce an appropriate model. Methodology: The approach of this study is basic, exploratory, and developmental and is run through a mixed method consisting of documentary, Delphi, and data modeling methods. The study population in the documentary section includes the study of information resources retrieved in related subjects. The study population in the Delphi section is consist of 15 experts in "Internet of Things" and "digital library" domains. The Data gathering procedure is by applying a semi-structured interview. Appropriate software is applied for the analysis. Results: The findings showed that the 9 main classes of "End user", "librarian", "Microcomputer", "Digital library server", "Automated information services", "Physical resources", "Virtual resources", "Information resources on the digital library server (virtual object)", and "Security" in general model of scientific information exchange are very contributive. In general, 27 sub-classes and 38 attributes are identified for the main classes for this purpose. In this model, how the classes communicate and interact with one another is illustrated to justify this theme. Conclusion: Here it is deduced that focusing on data protection at two levels of user and server in the main class of security is very important. Focusing on information resources metadata in the entity class, and device to device communication in this model is of essence as well. This proposed model is contributive in information networking in Internet of things-based library systems in providing better services to users. Research value: This model has potential in offering a basic proposal as a startup for automated library services.


Water resources numerical models are dependent upon various input hydrologic field data. As models become increasingly complex and model simulation times expand, it is critical to understand the inherent value in using different input datasets available. One important category of model input is precipitation data. For hydrologic models, the precipitation data inputs are perhaps the most critical. Common precipitation model input includes either rain gauge or remotely-sensed data such next-generation radar-based (NEXRAD) data. NEXRAD data provides a higher level of spatial resolution than point rain gauge coverage, but is subject to more extensive data pre and post processing along with additional computational requirements. This study first documents the development and initial calibration of a HEC-HMS model of a subtropical watershed in the Upper St. Johns River Basin in Florida, USA. Then, the study compares calibration performance of the same HEC-HMS model using either rain gauge or NEXRAD precipitation inputs. The results are further discretized by comparing key calibration statistics such as Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency for different spatial scale and at different rainfall return frequencies. The study revealed that at larger spatial scale, the calibration performance of the model was about the same for the two different precipitation datasets while the study showed some benefit of NEXRAD for smaller watersheds. Similarly, the study showed that for smaller return frequency precipitation events, NEXRAD data was superior.


The use of RFID tags in personal items, such as passports, may make it possible to track a person's movements. Even RFID protocols that encrypt their identity may leak enough information to let an attacker trace a tag. In this paper we define strong and weak forms of untraceablility, and illustrate these definitions with a simple example. We formally define these concepts in the applied pi-calculus which in some cases makes it possible to automatically check if an RFID tag running a particular protocol is untraceable.


There are four parts to this thesis: the first chapter analyses the structure of leisure in couples with particular emphasis on joint leisure. We take a structural approach and model the household as a two-stage decision making unit. The findings suggest that couples see joint leisure as a distinct good from private leisure. Specifically when a household decides to have more leisure, almost 40 percent of this increase is allocated to joint leisure as opposed to only 8 to 15 percent allocated to male private leisure. Furthermore, couples prefer to spend leisure together (synchronisation) relative to spending time independently, giving joint leisure the largest weight in the utility function. The findings further suggest that demographics can play a large role in determining the patterns of spousal leisure, with ethnicity and job characteristics being important factors. Finally, when analysing weekend time use patterns, there is evidence to suggest that Saturdays should be distinguished from Sundays as approximately 41 percent more joint leisure is observed on Sundays. The second chapter of the thesis begins our examination of the UK income taxation reform in 1990. The UK went from a system of joint taxation to independent taxation of couples and this reform may have had important implications for households. Across countries, there is a large variation in the income tax treatment of couples. Over the last three decades, many countries have undergone reforms in their tax systems, some have moved from joint to independent taxation, some from independent to joint, while others have begun the practice of allowing couples to choose the system they prefer. This chapter aims to give an overview of the tax treatment of couples and outlines the differences across countries, with particular emphasis on the tax reform in the UK. The third chapter investigates the UK income taxation reform in 1990 and examines how the change from a system of joint to independent taxation of couples has shifted women's relative earning potentials in the household, and how this in turn has led to changes in intra-household assignable clothing expenditures. I apply my method to a sample of UK couples with children and the findings of this chapter show that an exogenous increase in women's income relative to their spouse significantly and substantially increases female clothing expenditure and decreases male clothing expenditure ceteris paribus. However an increase in relative female earnings does not necessarily mean that children will do better relatively. The final outcome may depend on the type of transfer in question. In addition, there is evidence that the final allocations of expenditures on each partner and children may depend significantly on distribution factors such as spousal relative incomes, age gap and educational gap, despite the fact that these variables do not impact on preferences nor on budgets directly. This provides further evidence against the unitary framework in favour of the collective approach and the sharing rule interpretation of how households make decisions in practice. The final chapter of this thesis examines the effects of the tax reform in 1990 with particular emphasis on female labour supply. A method of clarifying the concept of a spouse's individual net income under a joint tax regime is proposed and following the methodology of Blundell et al (2007), the labour supply elasticities for both male and female are estimated. The analysis is extended further to include children in the model and the results show that both the number of children and their age are highly significant for women's labour supply and to a smaller extent also for men. Testing the income pooling hypothesis, the unitary model is not rejected. However, the results strongly reject the hypothesis that distribution factors have no effect on labour supply. The results also suggest that for the group of women affected, the reform generated two opposing effects on their labour supply: a positive effect from an increase in net wage and a negative effect from an increase in bargaining power. On balance, we find that a typical female decreased her labour supply by approximately 2.6 hours per week, yet she still experienced a 22 percent increase in her net income.


As systems become more complex, the potential for security vulnerabilities being introduced increases. If we are to provide assurances about systems we design then we need the means of analysing, managing, and generally making sense of the data that contributes to the design. Unfortunately, despite ongoing research into tools for supporting secure software development, there are few examples of how tools can be used to help build and support design models associated with security and usability. This paper summarises some of our experiences developing and applying CAIRIS: a requirements management tool for usable and secure system design. We describe our motivation for building CAIRIS, summarise how it was built and evaluated, and present our experiences applying it to real world case studies.


This paper describes the development and validation of a finite element model of the SID-IIs beta-prototype dummy using a nonlinear explicit finite element code. The geometry of the SID-IIs dummy is modeled with shell and solid elements from digital scans. The material properties are derived from dynamic tests and the model validation is conducted on component, sub-assembly and full assembly levels. Component level validation of the head/neck, arm, ribs, and lumbar spine is presented. The model validation of the thorax and pelvis sub-assemblies as well as pendulum calibration tests (shoulder, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis) and rigid wall sled tests of the fully assembled dummy mode is also presented. The model response compares favorably with experimental data and provides a reasonable level of confidence in the model biofidelity.