The problem of ground vibration generation by accelerating and braking road vehicles is considered theoretically for vehicles accelerating (decelerating) with a constant acceleration a from rest to a constant speed, or braking to a stop from a constant speed. According to the low-frequency approximation considered, an accelerating or braking vehicle of mass M is modelled as a point horizontal traction force Fx = aM applied to the ground and moving along with the vehicle. Frequency spectra of the vertical component of the ground vibration velocity are investigated as functions of acceleration, final (initial) speed of the vehicle, ground attenuation, Poisson ratio, and radiation angle Θ relative to the direction of the vehicle movement. It is shown that, in contrast to vehicles travelling on uneven roads, the ground vibrations generated by accelerating and braking vehicles are characterised by directivity patterns V(Θ), which show, in particular, that there is no radiation in the directions perpendicular to the direction of vehicle movement.


An efficient musculoskeletal system depends on the precise assembly and coordinated growth and function of muscles, skeleton and tendons. However, the mechanisms that drive integrated musculoskeletal development and coordinated growth and differentiation of each of these tissues are still being uncovered. Epigenetic modifiers have emerged as critical regulators of cell fate differentiation, but so far almost nothing is known about their roles in tendon biology. Previous studies have shown that epigenetic modifications driven by Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a major histone methyltransferase, have significant roles in vertebrate development including skeletal patterning and bone formation. We now find that targeting Ezh2 through the limb mesenchyme also has significant effects on tendon and muscle patterning, likely reflecting the essential roles of early mesenchymal cues mediated by Ezh2 for coordinated patterning and development of all tissues of the musculoskeletal system. Conversely, loss of Ezh2 in the tendon cells did not disrupt overall tendon structure or collagen organization suggesting that tendon differentiation and maturation are independent of Ezh2 signaling.


ObjectiveThis project evaluated and compared two ESSENCE syndromic surveillance definitions for emergency department (ED) visits related to injuries associated with falls in icy weather using 2016-2017 data from two hospitals in Douglas County, Nebraska. The project determined the validity of the syndromic surveillance definition as applied to chief complaint and triage notes and compared the chief complaint data alone to chief complaint plus triage notes definitions to find the most reliable definition for ED visits resulting from fall-related injuries.IntroductionIcy weather events increase the risk for injury from falls on untreated or inadequately treated surfaces. These events often result in ED visits, which represents a significant public health and economic impact1.The goal of this project was to start the process toward an evaluation of the public health impact and the economic impact of falls associated to icy weather in Douglas County, NE for the ultimate purpose of designing and implementing injury prevention related public health protection measures. Additionally, the validated definition will be used by NE DHHS Occupational Health Surveillance Program to identify work related ice-related fall injuries that were covered by workers compensation. To achieve the goal, the first step was to identify a valid and reliable syndromic surveillance. Specifically, this project looked at the applicability of the ESSENCE syndromic surveillance definitions related to injuries associated with falls. Two syndromic surveillance definitions were compared, one that includes triage note and chief complaint search terms, and another that only includes chief complaint. The hypothesis was that the ESSENCE syndromic surveillance definition that includes triage note and chief complaint search terms, rather than the syndromic surveillance definition that only includes chief complaint, would be more effective at identifying ED visits resulting from fall-related injuries.MethodsThis project included 751 EDs visits from two hospitals located in Douglas County Nebraska, during ice events on December 16-18, 2016, January 10-12, 2017, and January 15-18, 2017.Two ESSENCE syndromic surveillance definitions, "Chief Complaint or Triage Note" and "Chief Complaint Only," were used to identify fall-related ED visits from two participating EDs in Douglas County, NE. In the chief complaint and the triage note fields, the keywords selected were: fall, fell, or slip. In that the ESSENCE time series analysis indicated the increase in the number of falls were associated with ice events from baseline, an assumption was made that the increase was a result of the weather. Then, the Syndromic Surveillance Event Detection of Nebraska database was used to find the patient and visit identification numbers. These two identification numbers were used to identify the EHRs needed for a gold standard review. Chart data was used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the two syndromic surveillance definitions for the detection of falls on the study dates. This analysis was used to find the sensitivity, specificity and predictive value.ResultsThe sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for the "Chief Complaint Only" definition yielded 71.7%, 100%, and 100% respectively. The "Chief Complaint or Triage Note" definition results were 90.9%, 98.8%, and 95.5% for these analyses. Negative predictive value for both definitions was 97.5%.ConclusionsThe sensitivity indicates both definitions are unlikely to give false positives, and the positive predictive value indicates both definitions successfully identify most of the true positives found in the visits. However, the "Chief Complaint Only" definition resulted in a minimally higher specificity and positive predictive value. Therefore, the results indicate that although both definitions have similar specificity and positive predictive value, the "Chief Complaint or Triage Note" definition is more likely than the "Chief Complaint Only" definition to correctly identify ED visits related to falls in icy weather.References1. Beynon C, Wyke S, Jarman I, Robinson M, Mason J, Murphy K, Bellis MA, Perkins C. The cost of emergency hospital admissions for falls on snow and ice in England during winter 2009/10: a cross sectional analysis. Environmental Health 2011;10(60).


Abstract In the Pan-African belt of the Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, crystallized melt inclusions (nano-granitoids) occur in garnet from ultramafic granulites. The granulites contain the peak assemblage pargasite+garnet+clinopyroxene with rare relict orthopyroxene and biotite, and retrograde symplectites at contacts between garnet and amphibole. Garnet contains two generations of melt inclusions. Type 1 inclusions, interpreted as primary, are isolated, <10 μm in size, and generally have negative crystal shapes. They contain kokchetavite, kumdykolite, and phlogopite, with quartz and zoisite as minor phases, and undevitrified glass was identified in one inclusion. Type 2 inclusions are <30 μm in size, secondary, and contain amphibole, feldspars, and zoisite. Type 2 inclusions appear to be the crystallization products of a melt that coexisted with an immiscible CO2-rich fluid. The nanogranitoids were re-homogenized after heating in a piston-cylinder in a series of four experiments to investigate their composition. The conditions ranged between 900 and 950 °C at 1.5–2.4 GPa. Type 1 inclusions are trachytic and ultrapotassic, whereas type 2 melts are dacitic to rhyolitic. Thermodynamic modeling of the ultramafic composition in the MnNCKFMASHTO system shows that anatexis occurred at the end of the prograde P-T path, between the solidus (at ca. 860 °C–1.4 GPa) and the peak conditions (at ca. 960 °C–1.7 GPa). The model melt composition is felsic and similar to that of type 1 inclusions, particularly when the melting degree is low (<1 mol%), close to the solidus. However the modeling fails to reproduce the highly potassic signature of the melt and its low H2O content. The combination of petrology, melt inclusion study, and thermodynamic modeling supports the interpretation that melt was produced by anatexis of the ultramafic boudins near peak P-T conditions, and that type 1 inclusions contain the anatectic melt that was present during garnet growth. The felsic, ultrapotassic composition of the primary anatectic melts is compatible with low melting degrees in the presence of biotite and amphibole as reactants.


Deficiencies in basic ecological information on uncommon and endangered elasmobranch fishes impair the assessment of their ecological role in marine ecosystems. In this study, we examined the feeding ecology (diet composition and trophic level) and trophic relationships of 22 elasmobranchs (2 Carcharhiniformes, 1 Hexanchiformes, 1 Lamniformes, 3 Myliobatiformes, 6 Rajiformes, 6 Squaliformes and 3 Torpediniformes) present in the western Mediterranean Sea. To obtain a comprehensive view of the feeding ecology of these species, we combined different approaches: stable isotope analyses (delta C-13 and delta N-15 values), stomach content analyses and published sources. Our results revealed differences in feeding strategies among elasmobranch groups: skates (Rajiformes) mainly consume crustaceans; sharks (Carcharhiniformes, Hexanchiformes, Squaliformes and Lamniformes) prefer mixed diets composed of cephalopods, crustaceans and fishes; electric rays (Torpediniformes) feed mostly on fishes; and the diet of stingrays (Myliobatiformes) varies between species. Sharks and electric rays show higher trophic positions than skates, and the former occupy similar positions to other apex predators. Skates are more similar to other mesopredator fishes. These new findings offer essential information on the ecological role of several elasmobranchs in the western Mediterranean Sea and provide useful data for managers for future conservation strategies.


The security aspects of public sector information systems are important as the respective systems are often part of critical infrastructures or deal with personal or sensitive data. A set of 53 Greek public sector organizations were investigated by means of a structured questionnaire concerning important aspects of information systems security. We present the relevant theoretical background, the methodology of our research, and an analysis of the obtained results. Greek public sector organizations have only a basic level of information system security awareness. Most care about digital data confidentiality; however, only a small percentage have developed a systematic, complete, and integrated approach towards the security of their information system, including internal audit procedures. The importance of proper training and generally the importance of the human factor for achieving high levels of information systems security is often underestimated.


Nutrition-dependent growth of sexual traits is a major contributor to phenotypic diversity, and a large body of research documents insulin signalling as a major regulator of nutritional plasticity. However, findings across studies raise the possibility that the role of individual components within the insulin signalling pathway diverges in function among traits and taxa. Here, we use RNAi-mediated transcript depletion in the gazelle dung beetle to investigate the functions of forkhead box O (Foxo) and two paralogs of the insulin receptor (InR1 and InR2) in shaping nutritional plasticity in polyphenic male head horns, exaggerated fore legs, and weakly nutrition-responsive genitalia. Our functional genetic manipulations led to three main findings: FoxoRNAi reduced the length of exaggerated head horns in large males, while neither InR1 nor InR2 knock-downs resulted in measurable horn phenotypes. These results are similar to those documented previously for another dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus), but in stark contrast to findings in rhinoceros beetles. Secondly, knockdown of Foxo, InR1, and InR2 led to an increase in the intercept or slope of the scaling relationship of genitalia size. These findings are in contrast even to results documented previously for O. taurus. Lastly, while FoxoRNAi reduces male forelegs in D. gazella and O. taurus, the effects of InR1 and InR2 knockdowns diverged across dung beetle species. Our results add to the growing body of literature indicating that despite insulin signalling's conserved role as a regulator of nutritional plasticity, the functions of its components may diversify among traits and species, potentially fuelling the evolution of scaling relationships.


This paper introduces useful concept of the present day scenario, power is a major need for human life. There is a need to develop non- conventional sources for power generation due to the reason that our conventional sources of power are getting scarcer by the day. This paper emphasizes on the idea that the kinetic energy getting wasted while vehicles move can be utilized to generate power by using a special arrangement of Spring/Piston Assembly with Water Tank. This generated power can be used for general purpose applications like streetlights, traffic signals. In addition, we could also have solar panels, which would satisfy our power needs, when there is no vehicular movement.


Background: The emergence of COVID-19 so far and in the immediate future has brought significant uncertainties that negatively impact institutions and individuals in developing and planning their activities worldwide. The uncertainty of the effectiveness of vaccines has forced the authorities to adopt different protocols, the most relevant of which is the isolation of people through quarantine to avoid contagion, drastically affecting our way of life. For this reason, it is crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of quarantines.

Objective: To analyze the spread of the disease in Chile according to the quarantines decreed by the sanitary authority.

Methods: Inferential study to estimate the trend changes in COVID-19 cases and their basic and instantaneous reproduction numbers, which allows us to evaluate the decreed measures and establish vaccination policies.

Results: According to the data obtained until 03 March 2021 of confirmed COVID-19 cases disaggregated at a regional level in Chile, we observe a heterogeneous spread in most Chilean regions. When incorporating the dynamic quarantines decreed, effectiveness is detected in most regions, except in some few of them.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that we are unable to identify the measures in the step-by-step protocols partly responsible for non-compliance with quarantines. However, our specific findings that can be extrapolated to daily practice and enlighten the ways of other countries are as follows. On the one hand, a measure that has been effective in curbing the spread of the disease is the strict early quarantine as detected in some Chilean regions. Therefore, indexes are needed to measure the mobility of citizens. On the other hand, as time passes without stopping infections, quarantines lose effectiveness even if the estimated instantaneous reproduction number is small and stable. In addition, other factors can cause this number to not be within the expected ranges which must be further studied. Also, we have estimated the basic reproduction number whose value confirms the suitability of the pandemic declaration.


The past three decades have seen dramatic improvements made in computer and networking technologies. But display resolution, an important aspect of modern information systems, has lagged behind. Previous efforts in scaling up display resolution have relied on special-purpose hardware for building both the physical displays and the computer systems that drive the displays. The prohibitively high cost of these efforts limited the scalability of the systems as well as their market adoption. This dissertation describes a Display Wall architecture that uses projector tiling and PC clustering to achieve scalable resolution and at the same time render 2D and 3D graphics scenes as fast as or even faster than a fast PC graphics system with a traditional display. Unlike previous approaches that relied on custom-made hardware, this architecture results in low cost per pixel by simply leveraging commodity components such as projection devices, personal computers, graphics accelerators, and off-the-shelf system-area networks. Yet many challenging problems arise when we cluster PCs and tile projector together. The most notable ones are how to build efficient communication transport within the PC cluster, how to coordinate many PCs to display smooth motion graphics, and how to tile projectors without visible seams. This dissertation focuses on three research issues in building a tiled, cluster-based display wall: seamless tiling, efficient cluster communication, and runtime environments for a cluster-based scalable display. For each issue, a novel algorithm is described and its effectiveness evaluated with empirical results.


Abstract. Chemistry-climate models (CCMs) are commonly used to simulate the past and future development of Earth's ozone layer. The fully coupled chemistry schemes calculate the chemical production and destruction of ozone interactively and ozone is transported by the simulated atmospheric flow. Due to the complexity of the processes acting on ozone it is not straightforward to disentangle the influence of individual processes on the temporal development of ozone concentrations. A method is introduced here that quantifies the influence of chemistry and transport on ozone concentration changes and that is easily implemented in CCMs and chemistry-transport models (CTMs). In this method, ozone tendencies (i.e. the time rate of change of ozone) are partitioned into a contribution from ozone production and destruction (chemistry) and a contribution from transport of ozone (dynamics). The influence of transport on ozone in a specific region is further divided into export of ozone out of that region and import of ozone from elsewhere into that region. For this purpose, a diagnostic is used that disaggregates the ozone mixing ratio field into 9 separate fields according to in which of 9 predefined regions of the atmosphere the ozone originated. With this diagnostic the ozone mass fluxes between these regions are obtained. Furthermore, this method is used here to attribute long-term changes in ozone to chemistry and transport. The relative change in ozone from one period to another that is due to changes in production or destruction rates, or due to changes in import or export of ozone, are quantified. As such, the diagnostics introduced here can be used to attribute changes in ozone on monthly, interannual and long-term time-scales to the responsible mechanisms. Results from a CCM simulation are shown here as examples, with the main focus of the paper being on introducing the method.


Background— Aortic stenosis (AS) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are frequent comorbidities in aging populations. In heart failure, DM worsens diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, thereby adversely affecting symptoms and prognosis. Effects of DM on diastolic LV function were therefore assessed in aortic stenosis, and underlying myocardial mechanisms were identified. Methods and Results— Patients referred for aortic valve replacement were subdivided into patients with AS and no DM (AS; n=46) and patients with AS and DM (AS-DM; n=16). Preoperative Doppler echocardiography and hemodynamics were implemented with perioperative LV biopsies. Histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry quantified myocardial collagen volume fraction and myocardial advanced glycation end product deposition. Isolated cardiomyocytes were stretched to 2.2-&mgr;m sarcomere length to measure resting tension (Fpassive). Expression and phosphorylation of titin isoforms were analyzed with gel electrophoresis with ProQ Diamond and SYPRO Ruby stains. Reduced LV end-diastolic distensibility in AS-DM was evident from higher LV end-diastolic pressure (21±1 mm Hg for AS versus 28±4 mm Hg for AS-DM; P=0.04) at comparable LV end-diastolic volume index and attributed to higher myocardial collagen volume fraction (AS, 12.9±1.1% versus AS-DM, 18.2±2.6%; P<0.001), more advanced glycation end product deposition in arterioles, venules, and capillaries (AS, 14.4±2.1 score per 1 mm2 versus AS-DM, 31.4±6.1 score per 1 mm2; P=0.03), and higher Fpassive (AS, 3.5±1.7 kN/m2 versus AS-DM, 5.1±0.7 kN/m2; P=0.04). Significant hypophosphorylation of the stiff N2B titin isoform in AS-DM explained the higher Fpassive and normalization of Fpassive after in vitro treatment with protein kinase A. Conclusions— Worse diastolic LV dysfunction in AS-DM predisposes to heart failure and results from more myocardial fibrosis, more intramyocardial vascular advanced glycation end product deposition, and higher cardiomyocyte Fpassive, which was related to hypophosphorylation of the N2B titin isoform.


To investigate how overexpression of p27KIP1, a downstream effector of TGF-beta and a universal cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor could influence the malignant phenotype of malignant human brain tumor cells, an adenovirus vector system was used to transfer the human p27KIP1 gene (Adp27KIP1) into the human astrocytoma cell line, U-373MG. Inhibition of CDK activity in Adp27KIP1-infected cells was indicated by inhibition of [3H]thymidine incorporation, an increase in cell doubling time and by cell cycle arrest in G1. Notably, ectopic overexpression of p27KIP1 was associated with a marked decrease in the accumulation of aneuploid cells. Diminished malignant potential of Adp27KIP1-infected cells was manifested by the loss of anchorage-independent growth in soft agar and by the inability to induce tumorgenesis in a xenograft model. These studies suggest that p27KIP1 is a tumor suppressor gene and supports the use of Adp27KIP1 for gene therapy of human brain tumors.


In the examination by scanning electron microscopy of hair and polyester fabric that had been shot with a 9-mm pistol at muzzle-to-target distances from 10 to 70 cm, it was discovered that part of the gunshot residue (GSR) deposited on the target is molten at impact. Impact of these molten GSR particles results in flattening, splattering, or some modification of the otherwise spherical form. In the case of hair, microtopography and the probable rapid movement of the hair in the muzzle blast influence the form of GSR. A sample of hair shot within 30 cm often results in GSR finding its way under hair scales. The detection of these form-modified GSR particles on fabric or on (and under) scales of hair indicates a close-proximity shot.


3rd ARENA Conference: An Astronomical Observatory at CONCORDIA (Dome C, Antarctica)L. Spinoglio and N. Epchtein (eds)EAS Publications Series, 40 (2010) 399-404QUBIC, a bolometric interferometer to measure the B-modes of the CMBJ.-C. Hamilton and R. CharlassierLaboratoire APC, Universite Paris Diderot, Paris 7, CNRS, IN2P3, 10 rue Alice Domon et Leonie Duquet, 75205 Paris, France The quest for the B-modes in the CMB polarization is one of the main challenges of modern cosmology as it would allow to give sharp constraints on the inflationary period.One of the main challenges of B modes detection is the treatment of systematic errors. Comparison of observations subject to different systematics is crucial. Interferometers offer such an alternative to imagers. However, to obtain the required sensitivity, a very large number of baselines is needed, which is extremely difficult to achieve with heterodyne interferometry. Bolometric interferometry copes with this problem using a new technique: the interference pattern produced by a few hundred horns is imaged on a bolometer array, and a time modulation of phase shifts insures the separation of visibilities while coherently adding redundant ones. The QUBIC collaboration proposes to build such an instrument.


Introduction : Subjective experience means subtle, not yet psychotic abnormalities of experience that might be present during remitted phase and also in prodromal phase of schizophrenia and might be accurately efficient in identifying individual at risk of eminent psychosis. Most studies on the subjective experiences have been conducted in schizophrenia and to a lesser extent in affective disorders.Only few studies have compared subjective experience of patients with bipolar disorder with the patients with schizophrenia, and the results were inconsistent. These subjective experiences may be related to distorted cognitive functions in these patients. Cognitive deficits are a major contributor to the functional and social impairment suffered by these patients and have been noted to have more of an impact on the daily lifeand overall quality of life of these patients. Objective : The current study aims at comparing the subjective experience in schizophrenia and bipolar patients, in order to elucidate the difference between the two groups and this study was further extended to measure the effect of subjective experiences on one's occupational and social functioning. Method : The study was conducted on 30 euthymic bipolar patients and 30 remitted schizophrenic patients diagnosed as per ICD-10. The patients were rated for on Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ-24) and Symptoms check list 90 revised (SCL90-R) to assess subjective symptoms. Work and social adjustment scale, functional status questionnaire and WHO-QOL BREF were administered one by one on the patient. Results : Diagnosis of schizophrenia was associated with elevated score on FCQ as compared to bipolar disorders mainly in the areas of perception, thought, language and motility as well as total FCQ scores. FCQ scores correlated negatively with scores on functional status questionnaire, positively with work and social adjustment scale and negatively with all the domains of WHOQOL BREF except environment/financial resources. Conclusion : These findings, in conjunction with those from other, methodologically similar studies, suggest that certain anomalies of subjective experience aggregate significantly in schizophrenia when compared with bipolar disorders and adversely affected their functioning and quality of life Keywords : subjective symptoms, euthymic bipolar disorder, remitted schizophrenia


With significant climate change predicted in Africa over the next century, this chapter explores a key question: how will rural water supplies in Africa be affected ? Approximately 550 million people in Africa live in rural communities and are reliant on water resources within walking distance of their community for drinking water. Less than half have access to improved sources (generally large diameter wells, springs or boreholes equipped with hand pumps); the majority rely on unimproved sources, such as open water and shallow wells. Major climate modelling uncertainties, combined with rapid socio-economic change, make predicting the future state of African water resources difficult; an appropriate response to climate change is to assume much greater uncertainty in climate and intensification of past climate variability. Based on this assumption the following should be considered:Those relying on unimproved water sources (300 million in rural Africa) are likely to be most affected by climate change because unimproved sources often use highly vulnerable water resources.Improved rural water supplies in Africa are overwhelmingly dependent on groundwater, due to the unreliability of other sources.Climate change is unlikely to lead to a continent-wide failure of improved rural water sources that access deeper groundwater (generally over 20 metres below ground surface) through boreholes or deep wells. This is because groundwater-based domestic supply requires little recharge, and the groundwater resources at depth will generally be of sufficient storage capacity to remain a secure water resource. However, a significant minority of people could be affected if the frequency and length of drought increases – particularly those in areas with limited groundwater storage.In most areas, the key determinants of water security will continue to be driven by access to water rather than absolute water availability. Extending access, and ensuring that targeting and technology decisions are informed by an understanding of groundwater conditions, will become increasingly important.Accelerating groundwater development for irrigation could increase food production, raise farm incomes and reduce overall vulnerability. However, ad hoc development could threaten domestic supplies and, in some areas, lead to groundwater depletion.Although climate change will undoubtedly be important in determining future water security, other drivers (such as population growth and rising food demands) are likely to provide greater pressure on rural water supplies.


This article seeks to interrogate aspects of assessment practices in musical theatre. Practices in the training of musical theatre students are rarely a source for reflection, and this project sought to unveil some of the processes of learning, teaching and assessment in a new musical theatre degree. The larger project on which this article is based sought to develop and evaluate assessment protocols that assisted in facilitating practices with a stronger alignment with the professional realities of musical theatre. The data for this research consists of perceptions of students and their lecturers in relation to the implementation of a continuous assessment regime in a musical theatre degree in Australia. The assessment process is designed to provide students with regular commentary about their progress. In addition to end-of-semester exams, weekly marks are awarded for approximately twenty sub-activities within the broad areas of acting, dance, performance project, singing and speech. In addition, this means of assessment is located within a degree structure that employs a sliding scale across three years: students are assessed through formative assessment in the early years, and summative in the later years of the degree. Through individual interviews with staff and students, the efficacy of this assessment process was documented. Staff members who worked with students in the programme were interviewed to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach. Students were interviewed to determine whether they believed it assisted them in both their learning and in achieving goals during and beyond the degree. An action research cycle was initiated and the findings demonstrate a relative degree of agreement between expectations of participants in the course and the proposed outcomes at the end of the degree. These findings, combined with artefacts from the programme and previously reported student perceptions, are presented as a model that may provide the potential for replication in other training programmes that seek to prepare students for the realities of a career in the creative and performing arts.


Background: Anaplastic variant of DLBCL is a morphological variant of DLBCL (NOS) characterized by presence of large to very large round, oval or polygonal cells with bizarre pleomorphic nuclei that may resemble Reed –Sternberg cells and tumor cells of anaplastic large cell lymphoma(ALCL), thereby rendering them diagnostically challenging. Case Presentation: A 36 year old male presented with rapidly growing swelling measuring about 10x8 cm in upper lateral half of left pectoral region extending upto axilla, associated with fever and pain radiating to left arm since one month. Clinical diagnosis was suggestive of soft tissue sarcoma. CT scan revealed a large heterogeneously enhancing soft tissue mass in left axilla and anterolateral chest wall with internal necrotic areas and encasement of blood vessels. Fine needle aspiration cytology as well as excisional biopsy from left pectoral mass was done and revealed similar cytomorphological features. There was presence of large round, oval to polygonal bizarre cells with moderate amount of eosinophilic cytoplasm, marked nuclear pleomorphism and irregular nuclear membrane. Many of these cells showed embryoid nucleus and wreath like arrangement of nuclei. The presence of these neoplastic cells posed a morphological dilemma. However, immunohistochemistry turned out to be of utmost utility and helped to make the correct diagnosis of Anaplastic variant of DLBCL. Conclusion: Because of high degree of nuclear anaplasia posing diagnostic difficulties, accurate clinical approach, morphological assessment and immunohistochemical correlation is the precise and recommended method to achieve the correct diagnosis.


Text embeddings are commonly evaluated on a small set of datasets from a single task not covering their possible applications to other tasks. It is unclear whether state-of-the-art embeddings on semantic textual similarity (STS) can be equally well applied to other tasks like clustering or reranking. This makes progress in the field difficult to track, as various models are constantly being proposed without proper evaluation. To solve this problem, we introduce the Massive Text Embedding Benchmark (MTEB). MTEB spans 8 embedding tasks covering a total of 58 datasets and 112 languages. Through the benchmarking of 33 models on MTEB, we establish the most comprehensive benchmark of text embeddings todate. We find that no particular text embedding method dominates across all tasks. This suggests that the field has yet to converge on a universal text embedding method and scale it up sufficiently to provide state-of-theart results on all embedding tasks. MTEB comes with open-source code and a public leaderboard at https://github.com/embeddings-benchmark/mteb.


The present article examines the Corpus Leidense, the group of eight
Ciceronian treatises among which the De natura deorum was also transmitted, focusing
on its archetype. The second and longer section contains the first complete list of
the 174 identified manuscripts of De natura deorum, with 57 new items added to the 117
already listed by Pease in 1955. The items have been divided into three groups: the first
contains the antiquiores, with minimal information; the second contains the remaining
witnesses listed by Pease, on which additional data are reported; the third group presents
the manuscripts that do not appear in any previous list.


Introduction: Finding out homogeneous watersheds based on their flood potential mechanisms, is needed for conducting regional flood frequency analysis. Similarity of watersheds based on flood potential severity depends on many factors such as physiographic and meteorological features of the watershed, geographical location and geological features. These criteria although are sound ones, they suffer from this concept that there is no attention to hydrological losses of runoff into the soil. As a result, current literature lacks for considering geological features into delineating homogeneous regions. The primary contribution of this paper is to include one geological criterion on flood regionalization. In a previous study we made a homogeneous classification for Khorasan Province of Iran without taking into consideration of infiltration features of the region. So, by taking geological features there may provide a sound comparison to regionalization issue.
Materials and Methods: To find out the effect of geological feature on delineation of homogeneous regions, 73 hydrometric stations at North-East of Iran with arid and semi-arid climate covering an average of 29 years of record length were considered. Initially, all data were normalized. Watersheds were clustered in homogeneous regions adopting Fuzzy c-mean algorithm and two different scenarios, considering and not considering a criterion for geological feature. Three validation criteria for fuzzy clustering, Kwon, Xie-Beni, and Fukuyama-Sugeno, were used to learn the optimum cluster numbers. Homogeneity approval was done based on linear moment's algorithm for both methods. We adopted 4 common distributions of three parameter log-Normal, generalized Pareto, generalized extreme value, and generalized logistic. Index flood was correlated to physiographic and geographic data for all regions separately. To model index flood, we considered different parameters of geographical and physiological features of all watersheds. These features should be easily-determined, as far as practical issues are concerned. Cumulative distribution functions for all regions were chosen through goodness of fit tests of Z and Kolmogorov-Smirnov.
Results and Discussion: Watersheds were clustered to 6 homogenous regions adopting Fuzzy c-mean algorithm, in which fuzziness parameter was 1.9, under the two different scenarios, considering and not considering a criterion for geological feature. Homogeneity was approved based on linear moment's algorithm for both methods, although one discordant station with the lowest data was found. For the case with inclusion of genealogic feature, 3-parameter lognormal distribution was selected for all regions, which is a highly practical result. On the other hand, for not considering this feature there were no unique distribution for all regions, which fails for practical usages. As far as index flood estimation is concerned, a logarithmic model with 4 variables of average watershed slope, average altitude, watershed area, and the longest river of the watershed was found the best predicting equation to model average flood discharge. Determination coefficient for one of the regions was low. For this region, however, we merged this region to other regions so that reasonable determination coefficient was found; the resulting equation was used only for that specific region, however. By comparing the distributions of stations and also two evaluation statistics of median relative error and predicted discharge to estimated discharge ration corresponding to 5 different return periods (5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 years). Both perspectives showed acceptable results, and including geological feature was effective for flood frequency studies. With considering the geological feature for regionalization, Besides, Log normal 3 parameters distribution was found appropriate for all of the regions. From this point of view, geological feature was useful. Median of relative error was lower for small return periods and gradually increased as return period was increased. Median of relative error was between 0.21 to 00.45 percentages for the first method, while for the second method it varied between 0.21 to 0.49 percentages. These errors are quite smaller than those reported in literature under the same climatic region of arid and semi-arid. The probable reason may due to the fact that we made a satisfactory regionalization via fuzzy logic algorithm., We considered another mathematical criterion of "predicted discharge to the observed discharge". The optimum range for this criterion is between 0.5 and 2. While under-estimation and over-estimation are found if this criterion is lower than 0.5 and higher than 2, respectively. Based on this premise, 75 to 95 percentages of stations were categorized as good estimation under the first method of analysis. On the other hand, 78 to 97 percentages of stations were considered good for the second approach.


What does globalisation really mean? If we were to evaluate the concept of globalisation in terms of the frequency of its use we would conclude that it refers to a concrete and unquestionable reality. However, this conclusion is far from adequate.  Indeed, globalisation is a very controversial concept that has originated diverse political and academic debates. Held et al (1999), for example, in establishing a now classic trilateral typology, have distinguished between authors who assume an optimistic, sceptical or critical vision in order to understand and explain the potential impact of globalisation on the Nation-State, as well as other dimensions. Starting from this typology as a framework for analysis, this paper re-examines the specific debate on the impact of globalisation upon one of the more traditionally exclusive spheres of the nation-state: fiscal policies. It concludes that if regulated according to 'economic invariable laws',  far from being an inevitably  constraining phenomenon, globalisation is better understood if it is observed as an economic political process (historically determined), as insistently emphasized by classic political economy.


Cobalamin deficiency is an important health problem. The major non-hematological symptoms of hypocobalaminemia are nervous system disorders, but the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have not yet been fully explained. Increasing scientific evidence is stressing the pivotal role of astrocyte dysfunction in the pathogenesis of a wide range of neurological disorders. In light of the above, the aim of this study was to develop an in vitro model of cobalamin deficiency by optimizing the conditions of astrocyte culture in the presence of vitamin B12 antagonist, and then the model was used for multidirectional analysis of astrocyte homeostasis using image cytometry, immunoenzymatic and colorimetric assays, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our results indicated that long-term incubation of normal human astrocytes with hydroxycobalamin(c-lactam) causes an increase of extracellular homocysteine level, a reduction of cell proliferation, and an accumulation of cells in the G2/M cell cycle phase. Moreover, we observed dramatic activation of caspases and an increase of catalase activity. Interestingly, we excluded extensive apoptosis and oxidative stress. The study provided significant evidence for astrocyte homeostasis disturbance under hypocobalaminemia, thus indicating an important element of the molecular mechanism of nervous system diseases related to vitamin B12 deficiency.


Purpose: The current study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a semester-long anti-food waste campaign regarding university student diners' food waste behaviors. Originality/Value: Food waste and specifically post-consumer food waste has become one of the most critical concerns in recent years. Post-consumer food waste has also become a major concern and area of interest on U.S. college and university campuses, as numerous administrators have started considering the impact of waste within their dining operations. However, there have been limited examples of how to successfully cut down on food waste that is produced by students. Therefore, this study offers insight into how compiling baseline numbers for food that is wasted on campus and actively engaging and informing students of their impacts, can successfully help decrease the amount of waste that is produced on a university campus. Relevance to the Topic: Food waste on college and university campuses has become increasingly important to administrators and foodservice providers due to environmental and fiscal concerns. Finding ways to successfully decrease the amount of food that is wasted has the potential to both save money and improve regional waste management systems. However, to cut down on the amount of waste produced by students, they must first be made aware of their personal impact, and the overall goals of the university. Thus, by obtaining information regarding the amount of food that is wasted in a given week, and developing an anti-food waste campaign, administrators and foodservice providers may be able to recognize a decrease in postconsumer food waste on their campuses. Design/Methodology/Approach: Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, the current study assessed the effect that a semester-long anti-food waste campaign had on student diners' food waste behaviors. The project was conducted over lunch hours (11:30-1:30) and dinner hours (5-7) during the first and last full weeks of classes during the Fall 2016 semester. Key Findings: Overall post-consumer food waste decreased by almost 10% regarding the two weeks that were tested, this despite an increase of nearly 2400 diners in the second week. Implications for Practice: Results indicate that by actively engaging university students, and increasing awareness of food waste on campus, foodservice operators can potentially decrease the amount of food that is wasted, thus increasing sustainability efforts and lowering the overall negative impact on the global environment.


ESTABLISHMENT of safe, prolonged extracorporeal circulation and the advent of suitable prosthetic valves have allowed surgeons to operate upon patients with multiple valvular deformities. Due to the increased duration of the operative procedure and additional trauma, the mortality of multiple valve insertion would appear to be incremental with each valve replaced. In review of our own cases, however, this has not been found. The late mortality indicates a need for conscientious involvement by physicians in the long-term care of such patients. Material Preoperative evaluation of all patients with multivalvular disease consists of chest x-ray films, electrocardiograms, routine laboratory studies, and cardiac catheterization. Occasionally the clinical signs of valve malfunction are sufficiently overt that cardiac catheterization is not deemed essential. Angiography is rarely used as an aid in establishment of the diagnosis. All patients are operated upon with the use of mild general body hypothermia (32 to 34 C) and rotating


As recent literature has demonstrated how classifiers often carry unintended biases toward some subgroups, deploying machine learned models to users demands careful consideration of the social consequences. How should we address this problem in a real-world system? How should we balance core performance and fairness metrics? In this paper, we introduce a MinDiff framework for regularizing classifiers toward different fairness metrics and analyze a technique with kernel-based statistical dependency tests. We run a thorough study on an academic dataset to compare the Pareto frontier achieved by different regularization approaches, and apply our kernel-based method to two large-scale industrial systems demonstrating real-world improvements.


PURPOSE
To determine whether a hyperintense layer adjacent to the lateral ventricle on T2-weighted MR images represents the optic radiation.

METHODS
We reviewed 11 brain specimens from patients with nonneurologic diseases and MR images from 43 healthy volunteers. The MR images in a patient with cerebral infarction involving the lateral geniculate body were also reviewed to evaluate wallerian degeneration of the optic radiation.

RESULTS
The external sagittal stratum, composed of the optic radiation, showed a pale layer in specimens stained by Bodian's method. On high-power microscopic views of the specimens, the axons of the external sagittal stratum were large and separated by wide translucent spaces. In the volunteers, the external sagittal stratum appeared hyperintense on T2-weighted MR images and hypointense on T1-weighted images. The MR images in a patient with cerebral infarction showed hyperintensity within the layer corresponding to the external sagittal stratum.

CONCLUSIONS
The hyperintense layer on T2-weighted images represents the external sagittal stratum, or optic radiation. The signal intensity of the external sagittal stratum reflects histologic characteristics of low axonal density.


Background: Recent evidence indicates that gene variants related to carotenoid metabolism play a role in the uptake of macular pigments lutein (L) and zeaxanthine (Z). Moreover, these pigments are proposed to reduce the risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This study provides the initial examination of the relationship between the gene variants related to carotenoid metabolism, macular pigment optical density (MPOD) and their combined expression in healthy humans and patients with AMD.

Participants and Methods: Forty-four participants were enrolled from a general population and a private practice including 20 healthy participants and 24 patients with advanced (neovascular) AMD. Participants were genotyped for the three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) upstream from BCMO1, rs11645428, rs6420424 and rs6564851 that have been shown to either up or down regulate beta-carotene conversion efficiency in the plasma. MPOD was determined by heterochromatic flicker photometry.

Results: Healthy participants with the rs11645428 GG genotype, rs6420424 AA genotype and rs6564851 GG genotype all had on average significantly lower MPOD compared to those with the other genotypes (p < 0.01 for all three comparisons). When combining BCMO1 genotypes reported to have "high" (rs11645428 AA/rs6420424 GG/rs6564851 TT) and "low" (rs11645428 GG/rs6420424 AA/rs6564851 GG) beta-carotene conversion efficiency, we demonstrate clear differences in MPOD values (p<0.01). In patients with AMD there were no significant differences in MPOD for any of the three BCMO1 gene variants.

Conclusion: In healthy participants MPOD levels can be related to high and low beta-carotene conversion BCMO1 genotypes. Such relationships were not found in patients with advanced neovascular AMD, indicative of additional processes influencing carotenoid uptake, possibly related to other AMD susceptibility genes. Our findings indicate that specific BCMO1 SNPs should be determined when assessing the effects of carotenoid supplementation on macular pigment and that their expression may be influenced by retinal disease.


: Open fractures require emergency treatment. Adequate debridement and copious irrigation are essential in their management. The parenteral administration of antibiotics should be started immediately. If the wound is closed primarily, the antibiotics are discontinued after three days. If the wound is closed secondarily, the antibiotics are continued for another three days after this procedure. Most open fractures should be treated without the use of internal fixation techniques. However, we believe that there are reasons for employing immediate internal fixation, particularly in polytraumatized patients and others sustaining type III open fractures, to facilitate care of the soft tissue. When immediate internal fixation techniques are used in open fractures, the wound must not be closed primarily.


Natural colorants, which impart a vivid color to food and add additional health benefits, are favored over synthetic colorants; however, their applications are limited by their low solubility in water and low stability. Here, we develop a versatile microfluidic strategy to incorporate natural colorants in shellac nanoparticles with controlled physicochemical properties. The rapid mixing in the microfluidic channels ensures that the mixing time is shorter than the aggregation time, thus providing control over the co-precipitation of the colorant and the polymer. By introducing molecular interactions, colorant nanoaggregates are efficiently embedded in the polymer matrix, forming hierarchical colorant-loaded nanoparticles. The colorant-loaded nanoparticles dispersed in water are transparent and stable over a wide pH range and their polymer matrix also provides a favorable microenvironment that greatly improves the shelf life of the colorants. The improved solubility, stability and bioavailability of the natural colorants suggest that shellac nanoparticles are ideal carriers and the stable, transparent dispersions of biocompatible colorant-loaded nanoparticles in water are well-suited for the development of functional foods, such as natural color drinks.


Processing of optical images of bone has been a topic of considerable interest in the past and continues to be so. Image processing can be used in medicine in order to improve the image visualization to detect diseases, and to compute properties such as area for abnormal cells. Several studies of bone images have been conducted using several methods including segmentation and image enhancement. The aim of this paper is to generate a standalone automated code for segmenting colored optical microscope images in order to show the microstructure of a cortical bone as a multi-phase (here 4 phases) composite: Lamella (matrix), Haversian canals, osteoblast lamella boundaries (freshly generated lamella lining), and lacunae (containing living cells).For this purpose, we investigate the use of MATLAB, which contains image-processing toolboxes with many analytical capabilities that have been advertised to be useful for many applications including biological systems. In this work, such capabilities are utilized in image processing of the microstructure of bovine cortical bone, which is generally accepted as proxy for human bone. Two specimens of the cortical regions of a bovine femur bones were imaged using Olympus optical microscope. One of the specimens was treated with the Masson's trichrome staining treatment and the other with the Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) treatment. The images from the microscope were captured using a DP12 camera.Furthermore, MATLAB results are contrasted against Stream®, a commercially available software package procured along with the Olympus optical microscope. Via color-coding to facilitate the bone microstructure identification, the image analysis results were compared after computing the areas of each of the 4 constituent microstructural phases. Areas of each phase were calculated and comparisons made between the results obtained from the Stream® software and those obtained from MATLAB. The relative error was found to be quite small (<1%), which proves that MATLAB may be an effective software for medical image processing and may be the tool of choice for standalone applications.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Abstract Purpose: To cross-culturally translate the Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale into Italian and to evaluate its psychometric properties in patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: The Italian version of Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale was developed in accordance with international standards and subsequently administered to 232 Italian adults with multiple sclerosis. The following psychometric properties were analyzed: internal consistency through Cronbach's α and item-to-total correlation, dimensionality with factor analysis, and convergent and criterion validity through hypotheses-testing, comparing the Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale with other outcome measures (Fatigue Severity Scale, Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life, Modified Ashworth Scale, Barthel Index, and Expanded Disability Status Scale) and analyzing related constructs. Finally, we correlated the MSSS-88 subscales with each other. Results: The final Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale version was well-understood by all subjects. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α ≥0.90). Factor analysis revealed that each subscale was unidimensional. Convergent and criterion validity were supported by acceptable correlations with other disease-specific questionnaires, according to the a priori expectations. Conclusions: The final Italian Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale version showed robust psychometric properties. Therefore, it can be recommended as an assessment tool for clinical and research use to evaluate spasticity in Italian patients with multiple sclerosis. Implications for rehabilitation The Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale was developed to measure patients' perception of the impact of spasticity on life of subjects with multiple sclerosis. In a sample of Italian subjects with multiple sclerosis, the Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity Scale revealed good internal consistency and convergent and criterion validity. Factor analysis demonstrated that each subscale was unidimensional. Each subscale can be used to assess the impact of spasticity in Italian patients with multiple sclerosis.


The emergence of the pandemic has demonstrated the necessity of point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostic platforms that encompass an end-to-end system (from sample fluid to diagnostic information) with the ability to allow rapid analysis on the spot. While POC sensing technologies have been demonstrated in miniaturize chip-scale platforms [1–5], the bottlenecks in enabling end-to-end low-cost handheld platforms have often been bio-sample handling, filtering, mixing with re-agents that are critical to the robustness of the assay chemistry and sensing sensitivity/specificity. These processes are typically carried out either manually or by employing complex pneumatic flow control with multiple bulky syringe pumps, which have been a severe limitation to enable end-to-end biosensing systems (Fig. 18.2.1). While electrically driven droplets, molecular and cell manipulation techniques, such as electro-wetting, electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis, have been demonstrated in singular systems before [1], they do not have the ability to process bulk bio-sample fluids that is required for POC devices. In this paper, we present a scalable approach that merges the functionalities of sample processing and cellular/bio-molecular sensing in a single system and eliminates any pneumatic pumping mechanisms by exploiting CMOS-based electrically driven electro-kinetic flow of bulk fluids. We demonstrate, for the first time, a CMOS-microfluidic system that is capable of 1) pumping bulk electrolyte fluid with AC electro-osmosis, 2) cell manipulation and separation with dielectrophoresis (DEP), 3) label-free biomolecular and cell sensing, classification with dedicated 16-element impedance spectroscopy receivers. While we demonstrate these kernel functionalities in a multichip module/microfluidic interface (Fig. 18.2.1), the overall architecture, fluidics and sensing components can be massively scaled up for various POC applications due to elimination of pressure-driven flows (Fig. 18.2.1).


There are many potential sources of human and measurement errors in RF calibration. This paper examines five common error sources associated with connectors, cables, and accessories such as adapters, splitters and couplers, their choice, use, maintenance and application of correction factors and uncertainty contributions.


Abstract Although the brittle material in analogue models is characterized by a linear Navier-Coulomb behaviour and rate-independent deformation, the geometry and style of deformation in accretionary wedges is sensitive to shortening velocity. In this study we have constructed a series of analogue models with various shortening velocities in order to study the influence of shortening velocity on the geometry and kinematics of accretionary wedges. Model results illustrate how shortening velocity has an important influence on the geometry and kinematics of the resulting wedge. In general, for models having similar bulk shortening, the accretionary wedges with higher velocities of shortening are roughly steeper, higher and longer, as well as having larger critical wedge angles and height. It accommodates a number of foreland-vergent thrusts, larger fault spacing and displacement rates than those of low- to medium-velocity shortening, which indicates a weak velocity-dependence in geometry of the wedge. Moreover, models with a high velocity of shortening undergo larger amounts of volumetric strain and total layer-parallel shortening than models with low- to medium-velocity shortening. The former accommodate a greater development of back thrusts and asymmetric structures; a backwards-to-forwards style of wedge growth therefore occurs in the frontal zone under high-velocity shortening.


In several accounts, Paul Otlet has been portrayed as the forgotten forefather of the World Wide Web. Several information historians see in his index card system and UDC system a precursor of current hypertext systems and communication networks. Although several of the current characteristics of the Web may indeed be traced back in history, such comparisons easily fall in the trap of making teleological bridges. Instead, this paper compares the importance of the network metaphor in Otlet's theory with two other metaphors: the tree of knowledge and the universe of knowledge. Otlet used the notion of 'network' only to describe the necessary infrastructure of a communication network between documentation centres and libraries. The word network was used in the sense of transport network, and the comparison was often made with railway networks. As to what concerns the semantic world of knowledge - or what Otlet called the 'universe of knowledge' - the traditional 'tree of knowledge' rather than the network, served as the structural model. The fact that Otlet believed in the model of the tree rather than the network for the future organisation of knowledge, marks an important point in the history of knowledge organisation. The difference between the tree and the network lies in the definition of unity. Otlet reacted against the crisis of a disappearing unity by restoring that unity. He believed in the unity of the sciences and the possibility to control that unity through the scientific community and its institutions.


A neonatal rat metatarsal organ culture model has been employed to study the anabolic effects of Sonic/Indian hedgehog and BMP-4. In this culture system, a significant increase in endochondral ossification is measured by an increase in length of mineralized bone, after daily treatment for 7 days with Sonic hedgehog protein (Shh-N). Previous evidence indicated that PTH related protein (PTHrP) is a critical target of hedgehog function in endochondral ossification. Using a PTHrP blocking antibody, it is shown that hedgehog mediates this activity via pathways other than through PTHrP. A dose-related increase in endochondral ossification is observed when metatarsals are treated with 25 ng/ml recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4). However, this activity is not evident at higher doses of BMP-4 (200 ng/ml). High doses of BMP-4 resulted in increased expression of noggin messenger RNA and cotreatment of noggin and Shh-N resulted in reversal of the anabolic action of Shh-N. This observation suggests that BMP-4 signaling can influence the Shh-N mediated increase in endochondral ossification. Finally, we show that the Shh-N and BMP-4 mediated increase in endochondral ossification is reversed by treatment with antisense oligonucleotides targeted against Cbfa1. Thus, this report identifies Shh-N as an inducer of endochondral ossification that mediates its effect via BMP-4 and Cbfa1-dependent pathways.


The problem of the modern artist is not intrinsically different from that of the artist of any age. While men of science seek to break the physical bounds in which our world is confined to seek new life in the seemingly infinite reaches of space, the artist will seek to find his own window looking up on the infinite. This piercing through the dark is not a matter for consideration of the artist alone. His must be the gift of light to all mankind. Yet, in his search for truth and beauty, the artist is confronted with a number of problems which make necessary a wide variety of choices and decisions on his part. One of the most important of these decisions is the choice of a medium in which to clothe his ideas. This choice will in turn depend on several factors. One of the most pertinent of these is the artist's own temperament and method of working. The choice of watercolor as a medium was, on my part, at first a matter of expedience; it seemed best suited to the conditions under which I should have to perform as a student of art. But almost with the first brushful of color, the challenge of watercolor as an expressive medium became apparent. After that experience there was no turning back. To use watercolor effectively as an expressive medium I have found that, performance is necessary preliminary to the actual painting. This includes much sketching, planning, and thinking. The conceptual idea of the picture I am about to paint lives with me, and I with it in a sort of communion. Finally there comes a day and an h our when the vision can begin to take shape on the paper. I say begin, because the idea does not often emerge clearly at the first painting. The search may lead to another and better idea, or the first vision may be lost in the clutter, to be vaguely visible, only to be clarified later. The subject may be something near at hand: white roses, a weed, a bit of grass, or the city on a rainy night. The subject may be compounded of many experiences such as the daily mystery of the setting sun. What is pictured is not so much what has been seen as what has been conceived. A painting of a tree does not merely represent a tree; it more nearly represents all trees and the elements of birth and growth, of conflict and conquest, of life and death which are present in all creation, and especially in the life of man. After all preparations have been made, the actual painting of the picture becomes a matter of instantaneous decisions in which quick brush strokes are applied to the paper. Indeed, it is this urgency of execution which constitutes the real challenge of using watercolor as an expressive medium. Even if preliminary sketching on the paper has been done, there is a host of decisions to be made in the flick of an eye as the work progresses. This necessity points up an unending quest. When there is no longer any impetus to search, when the artist's technique has congealed into a formula, when he thinks he has produced the perfect picture, then it is time for the painter to look within himself. His life as an artist has come to an end.


Autonomous agent architectures are design methodologies—collections of knowledge and strategies which are applied to the problem of creating situated intelligence. This article attempts to integrate this knowledge across several architectural traditions, paying particular attention to features which have tended to be selected under the pressure of extensive use in real-world systems. We determine that the following strategies provide significant assistance in the design of autonomous intelligent agents: (i) modularity, which simplifies both design and control; (ii) hierarchically organized action selection, which focusses attention and provides prioritization when different modules conflict; and (iii) parallel environment monitoring which allows a system to be responsive and opportunistic by allowing attention to shift and priorities to be re-evaluated. We offer a review of four architectural paradigms: behaviour-based AI; two- and three-layered systems; belief, desire and intention architectures (particularly PRS); and Soar/ACT-R. By documenting trends within each of these communities towards establishing the components above, we argue that this convergent evolution is strong evidence for the components' utility. We then use this information to recommend specific strategies for researchers working under each paradigm to further exploit the knowledge and experience of the field as a whole.


Peroxynitrite (ONOO-) plays important roles in the regulation of many physiological and pathological processes, and an increase in its levels is related to numerous diseases. Thus, accurate detection of ONOO- in physiological conditions is imperative for elucidating its functions. However, studies on high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) fluorescence imaging of ONOO-in vivo for its detection are currently lacking. Thus, a novel NIR xanthene fluorescence probe (NOF2) for the endogenous detection of ONOO- is designed and synthesized. The fluorescence of the NOF2 probe is pre-quenched by the hydroxyl protection group of diphenyl phosphinate. Additionally, the NOF2 probe exhibits good selectivity and sensitivity for ONOO- with a low detection limit of 0.40 μM. Importantly, the NOF2 probe displays good performances for the detection of endogenous ONOO- not only in living cells but also in a mouse inflammation model. This demonstrates its great potential for applications involving the detection of ONOO- both in vitro and in vivo to explore the roles of ONOO- in different physiological systems.


Interpretations of the work of French post-structuralist Jacques Derrida continue to undergo displacement, transformation, and appropriation in American academies. This is due, in part, to the intellectual atmosphere of American academies in the 1960s and 70s, but also, to the precarious nature of the translation of his work. This article examines the effects of multilingualism and wordplay on the aesthetic and poetic experience of Derrida's texts. The linguistic and semantic complexity of his philosophical poetics generates a resistance to the text that continues to evoke philosophic questions concerning the nature of language in a polyphonic narrative.


Driven by the unprecedented availability of data, machine learning has become a pervasive and transformative technology across industry and science. Its importance to marine science has been codified as one goal of the UN Ocean Decade. While increasing amounts of, for example, acoustic marine data are collected for research and monitoring purposes, and machine learning methods can achieve automatic processing and analysis of acoustic data, they require large training datasets annotated or labelled by experts. Consequently, addressing the relative scarcity of labelled data is, besides increasing data analysis and processing capacities, one of the main thrust areas. One approach to address label scarcity is the expert-in-the-loop approach which allows analysis of limited and unbalanced data efficiently. Its advantages are demonstrated with our novel deep learning-based expert-in-the-loop framework for automatic detection of turbulent wake signatures in echo sounder data. Using machine learning algorithms, such as the one presented in this study, greatly increases the capacity to analyse large amounts of acoustic data. It would be a first step in realising the full potential of the increasing amount of acoustic data in marine sciences.


Online examination (E-assessment) is an increasingly important component of online courses, and student authentication is widely seen as one of the major concerns for online examinations. Due to the inherent anonymity of being online, compared to taking an examination in a classroom environment, students may attempt to artificially boost their scores in online examination. This may occur by having another individual take the exam for them, which a typical user/password authentication scheme cannot detect. This research aims to investigate authentication challenges to online examinations, review benefits, constraints of existing authentication traits, and discuss alternative techniques. This will lead to the use of a profile based authentication framework (PBAF) together with user-id and password for the authentication of students during online examinations. The proposed –solution will utilize profile based challenge questions, user-id and password, which will be verified by development of PBAF in a virtual learning environment. The sample size will be obtained from a group of E-learning University students. Descriptive method of research will be used in order to develop better understanding of finding out what is happening, to seek new insight, to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light with the use of questionnaires. Data will be analyzed through descriptive statistics where graphs, pie charts, frequency distribution tables and histograms will be used, factor analysis will be employed. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will also be used as software to analyze data. As a result of this research e-assessment will be deemed more secure in terms of the authentication process.


Background Thymidylate synthase and hypoxia inducible factor-1α play a central role in the control of tumor progression. In the present study, we investigated the effect of three DNA polymorphisms within the thymidylate synthase gene and two within hypoxia inducible factor-1α on the prognosis of pancreatic cancer. Patients and methods A retrospective study was performed in 59 patients diagnosed with invasive ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and 159 healthy volunteers. The studied DNA polymorphisms were a variable tandem repeat of 28 bp (rs45445694), a G/C single nucleotide polymorphism (rs34743033), and a deletion of 6 bp (ins1494del 6bp; rs34489327) within the thymidylate synthase gene and C1772T and G1790A single nucleotide polymorphisms within hypoxia inducible factor-1α (rs11549465 and rs11549467, respectively). Variable tandem repeats were determined by specific polymerase chain reaction, whereas thymidylate synthase single nucleotide polymorphism G/C, ins1494del 6pb, and hypoxia inducible factor-1α polymorphisms were identified by polymerase chain reaction and RFLP. Thymidylate synthase and hypoxia inducible factor-1α genotype distributions in patients and healthy volunteers were determined. The impact of the polymorphisms on clinico-pathological variables, including survival, was also studied. Results The frequency of carriers of the variant del6bp allele was significantly higher among patients (70.0% vs 51.0% of healthy donors, P = 0.02); 42% of male patients were homozygous 2R/2R vs 13.6% of females (P = 0.03), but differences regarding gender were not observed among healthy volunteers. Concerning hypoxia inducible factor-1α C1772T and G1790A single nucleotide polymorphisms, the rates of variant T/T and A/A homozygous genotypes were significantly elevated among patients (18.6% vs 5.3%, P = 0.001, and 5.1% vs none, P = 0.021 respectively). Conclusions In our study, the variant del14946bp allele within the thymidylate synthase gene, and TT and AA genotypes of C1772T and G1790A hypoxia inducible factor-1α single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. The 2R/2R genotype of variable tandem repeat thymidylate synthase polymorphism might be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer in males.


The Deep Cryogenic Treatment(DCT) process of W4Mo3Cr4VSi HSS was studied by orthogonal experiment method. The paper analysed the effect of various DCT process parameters on mechanical properties and observed microstructure before and after DCT treatment by the SEM. The results show that the effect of soaking temperature on the properties of drill is the first factor, the soaking time is second and the cooling rate is third. DCT enhances the transformation of austenite to martensite, and distributable carbide particles are precipitated from martensite. Therefore DCT increase hardness and enhance wear resistance of twist drill.


Red mud emerges as the major waste material during production of alumina from bauxite by the Bayer's process. It comprises of oxides of iron, titanium, aluminium and silica along with some other minor constituents. The present investigation explores the coating potential of this industrial waste. It envisages the processing and characterization of a series of plasma sprayed coatings made with red mud and red mud pre-mixed with different proportions of fly ash and powders of aluminium and carbon. These materials do not belong to the so called "plasma sprayable" category. They have been deposited on aluminium, copper, mild steel and stainless steel substrates by atmospheric plasma spraying. The coatings are characterized to evaluate their potential as wear resistant coatings. Micro-structural characterization of the coatings has been carried out using scanning electron microscopy, x -ray diffraction and image analysis technique. It is found that red mud is eminently coatable. The coating...


SIR Pablo Rodriguez del Pozo concludes that 'relying entirely on voluntary donors at present means tolerating shortages of blood and plasma' (1). Yet he earlier admitted that 'The allvolunteer model can, by and large, satisfy the need for whole blood' (2). So 'relying entirely on voluntary donors' does not mean tolerating a shortage of blood. But he claims it does mean tolerating a shortage of plasma. He then leaps to the conclusion that the only way to end the 'shortage of plasma' is to cease relying on voluntary donors and introduce payment for plasma. But of course this is not the only way to increase the provision of plasma. Any plasma shortage can be reduced by increasing the giving of plasma through plasmapheresis a process which does not take to 'up to two hours' as del Pozo claims: it takes me about 50 minutes in the West End Donor Centre in Margaret Street. Also, as he acknowledges, the methods of later separating plasma from whole blood can be made more efficient. Greater encouragement of giving and improved efficiency of collection will increase the provision of plasma. So it is quite unnecessary to offer incentives or to import plasma. Further, del Pozo claims that 'decreasing demand is currently unfeasible'. But reducing the number of unnecessary operations performed would obviously reduce the need for blood supplies. A US Senate Committee reported in 1975 that 2-4 million unnecessary operations were performed in the USA every year, causing 12,000 deaths and wasting $4 billion. This is largely a result of the pernicious fee-for-surgery system. Much spinal surgery, in the USA especially, has resulted in 'catastrophic' failures, according to Gordon Waddell (3). C A Faeger and S R Friedberg in 1980 studied 105 cases of failed spinal surgery: in 68 per cent of these patients surgery was not indicated, yet disc excision was performed without adequate evidence of disc hemiation. They concluded that disc excision was not an acceptable treatment for back pain alone (4). An editorial in The Lancet concluded that 60 per cent of back operations were unnecessary (5). It is often well worth trying less drastic treatments, such as manipulation, before resorting to spinal surgery: 'Fifty per cent of patients with lateral entrapment were markedly improved and as a result did not require operation' (6). Other unnecessary operations included hysterectomies in the 1970s in the USA 500,000 were performed every year, of which only 20 per cent were clinically fully justified (7), radical mastectomies a very large number of which are unnecessary (8), and appendectomies 75 per cent of appendixes removed in Germany were found to be normal (9). So we can both provide more plasma and reduce the need for it, within the current all-volunteer system. In Britain we have a model system, based on volunteers and with very rigorous screening procedures: it is well planned and well organised. Commercial pressures would inevitably compromise both the high clinical standards and the effectiveness of the planning: del Pozo himself refers to the 'health dangers associated with cash blood', and it is well known that you cannot plan effectively in the anarchy of the marketplace. Del Pozo's proposal would, if implemented, wreck our blood-collection system. Why should we destroy a system which is fair, moral and effective?


The first time I was introduced to the concept of research ethics was when I started my work as a research assistant at the Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University (ICPH-BZU). I was fascinated by the concept and tried to read as much as I could. While reading the different guidelines and regulations, I felt they were prepared to be implemented in an ideal world without taking into account the local context. With time, the international institutions realised that "one size does not fit all." Recently, context and topic specific guidelines have emerged.


We have measured critical-current densities in micro- and nanometer wide thin-film NbN bridges. These bridges show significant changes in the temperature dependence of the critical-current density depending on the strip width. Taking into account the boundary conditions at the strip edges we can qualitatively describe our data applying a geometric edge-barrier model. We conclude that sub-µm wide bridges remain free of single vortices in ambient magnetic fields and at currents up to the depairing critical-current density. This also means that NbN meanders of superconducting single photon detectors should be free of single vortices under normal operating conditions.


Two methods for the analysis of the acoustic transmission of the respiratory system are presented. Continuous speech utterance is used as acoustic stimulation. The transmitted acoustic signal is recorded from various sites over the chest wall. The autoregressive (AR) method analyzes the power spectral density function of the transmitted sound, which depends heavily on the microphone assembly and the utterance. The method was applied to a screening problem and was tested on a small database that consisted of 19 normal and five abnormal patients. Using the first five AR coefficients and the prediction error of an AR(10) model as discriminating features the system screens all abnormals. An autoregressive moving average (ARMA) method that eliminates the dependence on microphone and utterances is proposed. In this method, the generalized least squares identification algorithm is used to estimate the ARMA transfer function of the respiratory system. The normal transfer function demonstrates a peak at the range of 130-250 Hz and sharp decrease in gain for higher frequencies. A pulmonary fibrotic patient demonstrated a peak at the same frequency range, a much higher gain in the high-frequency range, with an additional peak at about 700 Hz. It is concluded that speech-stimulated chest analysis systems have the potential of yielding important clinical information.<<ETX>>


The swimming of a rigid phoretic particle in an isotropic fluid is studied numerically as a function of the dimensionless solute emission rate (or Péclet number Pe). The particle sets into motion at a critical Pe. Whereas the particle trajectory is straight at a small enough Pe, it is found that it loses its stability at a critical Pe in favor of a meandering motion. When Pe is increased further, the particle meanders at a short scale but its trajectory wraps into a circle at a larger scale. Increasing even further, Pe causes the swimmer to escape momentarily the circular trajectory in favor of chaotic motion, which lasts for a certain time, before regaining a circular trajectory, and so on. The chaotic bursts become more and more frequent as Pe increases, until the trajectory becomes fully chaotic, via the intermittency scenario. The statistics of the trajectory is found to be of the run-and-tumble-like nature at a short enough time and of diffusive nature at a long time without any source of noise.


Initial experience using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the chest is reported for 10 normal controls and 90 patients with a variety of thoracic pathologic conditions. MR is capable of imaging thoracic disease in the mediastinum and hili with greater inherent contrast than computed tomography because of the low- intensity signal produced by rapidly flowing blood and the tracheobronchial tree versus the high-intensity signal produced by me- diastinal fat on images with short TE/TR times. Mediastinal and hilar adenopathy is readily apparent in MR images in the trans- verse, sagittal, or coronal planes. The mediastinal vasculature especially lends itself to MR imaging. The pulmonary parenchyma is difficult to image because of the effects of respiratory motion and long scan times (5-20 minutes). Cardiac and respiratory gating improve image quality, but at the expense of lengthening scan times. The final role that MR will have in thoracic imaging remains to be determined.


To the Editor.— Greene et al 1 report a patient with sickle cell anemia who died of fulminant pneumococcal bacteremia and had watery diarrhea as a symptom. We recently saw a patient without sickle cell anemia but with apparent hyposplenia and pneumococcal sepsis who was initially seen with severe diarrhea. Report of a Case.— A 54-year-old black woman was admitted to the hospital with a two-day history of fever, shaking chills, nausea, and vomiting. She reported severe profuse diarrhea, with bowel movements occurring almost every hour. Her history was notable only for hypertension that was treated with thiazide diuretics. At time of admission, her temperature was 39.4°C; blood pressure, 116/60 mm Hg; pulse, 100 beats per minute; and respirations, 20/min. She was obese, lethargic, and disoriented. The neck was supple and neurological examination was nonfocal. Scattered coarse rhonchi were heard throughout her lungs and there were no heart murmurs. Results


Variants in transcriptional activator Gli Kruppel Family Member 3 (GLI3) have been reported to be associated with several phenotypes including Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (MIM #175700), Pallister‐Hall syndrome (PHS) (MIM #146510), postaxial polydactyly types A1 (PAPA1) and B (PAPB) (MIM #174200), and preaxial polydactyly type 4 (MIM #174700). All these disorders follow an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. Hypothalamic hamartomas (MIM 241800) is associated with somatic variants in GLI3. We report a related couple with parents having PAPA1 and PAPB, who had a fetus with a phenotype most compatible with PHS. Molecular analyses demonstrated homozygosity for a pathogenic GLI3 variant (c.1927C > T; p. Arg643*) in the fetus and heterozygosity in the parents. The genetic analysis in this family demonstrates that heterozygosity and homozygosity for the same GLI3 variant can cause a different phenotype. Furthermore, the occurrence of Pallister‐Hall‐like syndrome in a homozygous patient should be taken into account in genetic counseling of families with PAPA1/PAPB.


How the basal ganglia contribute to the execution of learned motor skills has been thoroughly investigated. The two dominant models that have emerged posit roles for the basal ganglia in action selection and in the modulation of movement vigor. Here we test these models in rats trained to execute highly stereotyped and idiosyncratic task-specific motor sequences. Recordings and manipulations of neural activity in the striatum were not well explained by either model, and suggested that the basal ganglia, in particular its sensorimotor arm, are crucial for controlling the detailed kinematic structure of the learned behaviors. Importantly, the neural representations in the striatum, and the control functions they subserve, did not depend on the motor cortex. Taken together, these results extend our understanding of basal ganglia function, by suggesting that they can control and modulate lower-level subcortical motor circuits on a moment-by-moment basis to generate stereotyped learned motor sequences.


Abstract. Dynamic global vegetation models are a common tool to assess the effect of
climate and land use change on vegetation. Though most applications of
dynamic global vegetation models use plant functional types, some also
simulate species occurrences. While the current development aims to include
more processes, e.g. the nitrogen cycle, the models still typically assume
an ample seed supply allowing all species to establish once the climate
conditions are suitable. Pollen studies have shown that a number of plant
species lag behind in occupying climatological suitable areas (e.g. after a
change in the climate) as they need to arrive at and establish in the newly
suitable areas. Previous attempts to implement migration in dynamic
vegetation models have allowed for the simulation of either only small areas or have
been implemented as a post-process, not allowing for feedbacks within the
vegetation. Here we present two novel methods simulating migrating and
interacting tree species which have the potential to be used for simulations
of large areas. Both distribute seeds between grid cells, leading to
individual establishment. The first method uses an approach based on fast
Fourier transforms, while in the second approach we iteratively shift the
seed production matrix and disperse seeds with a given probability. While
the former method is computationally faster, it does not allow for
modification of the seed dispersal kernel parameters with respect to terrain
features, which the latter method allows. We evaluate the increase in computational demand of both methods. Since
dispersal acts at a scale no larger than 1 km, all dispersal simulations
need to be performed at maximum at that scale. However, with the currently
available computational power it is not feasible to simulate the local
vegetation dynamics of a large area at that scale. We present an option to
decrease the required computational costs through a reduction in the number of grid cells
for which the local dynamics are simulated only along migration transects.
Evaluation of species patterns and migration speeds shows that
simulating along transects reduces migration speed, and both methods
applied on the transects produce reasonable results. Furthermore, using
the migration transects, both methods are sufficiently computationally
efficient to allow for large-scale DGVM simulations with migration.


The paper presents an application according the reliability and remining life assessment of the reactor (coxing box) from a petrochemical plant, after failure in welding joint of plated shell from W1.5423 (16Mo5) steel with 25 mm thickness, plated with W1.4002 stainless steel with 3 mm thickness. The reactor failure it has associated with initial flaws from welding process, which have accelerated remaining life exhaustion. The assessment made in two steps. It has used VII section of ASME code specifications and iRiS-Thermo expert system for preliminary remaining life assessment. Concomitantly, it was performed the experimental creep and thermal fatigue testing. The program results have defined creep and thermal fatigue exhaustion and its remaining life at common creep-fatigue action, in condition of safety exploitation. It was emphasized the possibility of use an extra 40,000 hours of rehabilitated reactor in the safety condition of normal parameters.


Multi carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) combines the CDMA and OFDM technologies together and potentially offers the advantages of both the technologies. In frequency selective channel, the sub-carrier experiences different amplitude and phase. In frequency domain spreading, the frequency diversity is employed but the best of different sub-carrier conditions are not fully exploited. In MC-CDMA the performance of the system is improved by adaptively loading sub-carriers in accordance with the varying channel conditions. This paper is focused on selecting the best sub-carrier and transmitting the data through that sub carrier by adaptive bit loading algorithm.. Using a fixed modulation technique for the system, the system would have to be built for such a standard which would take care of the worstcase scenario of the channel to offer an acceptable bit error rate (BER). To achieve robust and spectrally efficient communication overmultipath fading channels, adaptive modulation is used which adapts the transmission scheme to the current channel characteristics. Taking advantage of the time-varying nature of wireless channels, the adaptive modulation scheme varies the transmission power, data rate (constellation size), coding and modulation schemes, or any combination of these parameters according to the state of the channel . If the channel can be estimated then the transmitter can adapt to the current conditions by varying the modulation type while maintaining a constant BER. This is typically done by making a channel estimate at the receiver and transmitting this estimate back to the transmitter. Thus, the adaptive technique will have a higher data throughput when the channel conditions are favorable and will reduce the throughput as the channel worsens. In other words, the principle of adaptive modulation consists of allocating many bits to carriers with a high SNR, whereas on carriers with low SNR only a few or no bits at all are transmitted.In this paper water filling algorithm is used to select the best sub-carrier,over the existing subcarriers. The adaptive control technologies, also known as the Intelligent Radio Transmission Technologies, for wireless communication include adaptive equalizer; transmit power control and adaptive modulation.


This report summarizes the findings of the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) mackerel research cruise from 1 to 20 of October 2012. Two chartered fishing vessels, M/V "Brennholm" and M/V "Christina E" covered areas in the northern part of the North Sea and west of the British Isles with the overall aim to estimate spatial distribution and abundance of mackerel by means of echo sounder and pelagic trawling. In addition, herring distribution and abundance were also estimated by means of acoustics and pelagic trawl sampling. Systematic CTD casts were conducted by both vessels during the survey period, as well as collection of sea surface temperatures (SST) from weekly satellite information. The SST during the survey period was close to the long-term average for the survey area. Temperature at 10 m depth ranged from 8.5 to 13.5°C, with coldest water in the north, while temperature at 50 and 100 m depth showed cold water stretching from the south in the areas surrounding the Norwegian trench. The highest mackerel concentrations were found south-east of Shetland and in the northernmost areas of the North Sea. Vertical and horizontal distribution, behavior and abundance of mackerel were to a large extent different compared to what we expected and compared to previous established knowledge from both the fishing fleet and scientific surveys in similar areas and periods. In contrast to a general deep distribution in dense schools observed previously at this time of the year, mackerel were also found swimming close to the surface in small and loose aggregations. Total abundance of NEA mackerel within the covered area was estimated to 1.144 million tons. Total abundance of herring was estimated acoustically to be 2.934 million tons. The estimated mackerel abundance was significantly lower than expected, probably due to low availability to echosounder and sonar detection as well as considerable concentrations of mackerel distributed outside the covered area during the survey period. Most of the pelagic trawl samples with the new Multpelt 832 sampling trawl were taken in surface waters. Trawl samples west of 2°W were dominated with 0-group mackerel and had a wide distribution. Toktrapport/Havforskningsinstituttet/ISSN 1503-6294/Nr. 4 – 2012


Given a binary classification task, a ranker is an algorithm that can sort a set of instances from highest to lowest expectation that the instance is positive. In contrast to a classifier, a ranker does not output class predictions - although it can be turned into a classifier with help of an additional procedure to split the ranked list into two. A straightforward way to compute rankings is to train a scoring classifier to assign numerical scores to instances, for example the pre- dicted odds that an instance is positive. However, rankings can be computed with- out scores, as we demonstrate in this paper. We propose a lexicographic ranker, LexRank, whose rankings are derived not from scores, but from a simple rank- ing of attribute values obtained from the training data. Although various metrics can be used, we show that by using the odds ratio to rank the attribute values we obtain a ranker that is conceptually close to the naive Bayes classifier, in the sense that for every instance of LexRank there exists an instance of naive Bayes that achieves the same ranking. However, the reverse is not true, which means that LexRank is more biased than naive Bayes. We systematically develop the relationships and differences between classification, ranking, and probability es- timation, which leads to a novel connection between the Brier score and ROC curves. Combining LexRank with isotonic regression, which derives probabil- ity estimates from the ROC convex hull, results in the lexicographic probability estimator LexProb.


Cognitive barriers to participation in actual HIV vaccine trials have not been previously comprehensively reviewed. In this review article, barriers in actual early phase, phase 2B, and phase 3 HIV vaccine trials are quantified and categorized, and compared between the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and the non-OECD countries. Participation rates were standardized to allow for comparisons. In both the OECD and the non-OECD countries, barriers included subjective norms and discrimination, vaccine safety concerns, and logistical concerns. More actual HIV vaccine trials can incorporate questions about and quantify barriers to participation, and this may aid future recruitment strategies.


During the years 1996 through 1998 the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) and the Global Oscillations at Low Frequency (GOLF) experiments on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission have provided unique and nearly uninterrupted sequences of helioseismic observations. This paper describes the analysis carried out on power spectra from 759 days of calibrated disk-averaged velocity signals provided by these two experiments. The period investigated in this work is from 1996 May 25 to 1998 June 22. We report the results of frequency determination of low-degree (l ≤ 3) acoustic modes in the frequency range between 1.4 mHz and 3.7 mHz. Rotational splittings are also measured for nonradial modes up to 3.0 mHz. The power spectrum estimation of the signals is performed using classical Fourier analysis and the line-profile parameters of the modes are determined by means of a maximum likelihood method. All parameters have been estimated using both symmetrical and asymmetrical line profile-fitting formula. The line asymmetry parameter of all modes with frequency higher than 2.0 mHz is systematically negative and independent of l. This result is consistent with the fact that both MDI and GOLF data sets investigated in this paper are predominantly velocity signals, in agreement with previous results. A comparison of the results between the symmetric and asymmetric fits shows that there is a systematic shift in the frequencies for modes above 2.0 mHz. Below this frequency, the line width of the modes is very small and the time base of the data does not provide enough statistics to reveal an asymmetry. In general, the results show that frequency and rotational splitting values obtained from both the MDI and GOLF signals are in excellent agreement, and no significant differences exist between the two data sets within the accuracy of the measurements. Our results are consistent with a uniform rotation of the solar core at the rate of about 435 nHz and show only very small deviations of the core structure from the standard solar model.