We performed an experiment to determine the amount of light emitted from screens in order to assess the ability of organic light emitting diode screens (OLED) and liquid crystal display (LCD) screens to display the color black. These two competing screen types dominate the digital market, and the capability to exhibit black is one of many factors that should be considered when determining the better of the options. The better a screen can show black, the stronger the contrast of the screen appears to be. The mechanisms that create light within each suggest that OLED screens should be able to show the color black, while LCD screens may not. Therefore, we hypothesized that the light emitted from the LCD screen in this state would be significantly greater than in the OLED. We conducted thirty trials in an environment that eliminated all external light, allowing an accurate recording of emitted light. The results mostly supported our hypothesis: there was a significant increase in light emitted in the LCD screen compared to the OLED when both displayed identical black images at full brightness, though at minimum brightness the LCD performed with negligible difference than OLED.


Dynamic development of invasive cardiology techniques significantly improved diagnostic and therapeutic abilities for patients with coronary artery disease. Functional assessment of coronary artery stenosis by fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement or myocardial perfusion studies, such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), allow detailed characterization of angiographically borderline atherosclerotic lesions in coronary arteries and guidance of therapeutic strategy. We present a case of a 50-year-old male hospitalized repeatedly due to non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarctions (NSTEMI). Combined functional assessment allowed correct diagnosis and optimal treatment.


This paper presents a review of climate variability in the northeast Ethiopian Highlands, particularly Wollo and Tigray, during the last 10000 years (the Holocene) and an analysis of rainfall variability during the historical period. To date little work has been done on climate reconstruction in Tigray and Wollo, however, a number of ongoing studies in the area using palaeosoil analysis, archaeological techniques and lake level reconstruction will help reveal the magnitude of past climate variability in the region. On recent time scales, rainfall over Wollo is characterised by a distinctive bi-modal pattern with Belg rains in April-May preceding the main wet season Krempt, July to September, which is typical of the study region along much of the eastern escarpment. Further north over Tigray the Belg rains are less marked and the main Krempt rains dominate the seasonal pattern. Only three stations in the region, Dessie, Combolcha and Mekele, possess relatively unbroken records back to the 1950s. In all three, 1984 stands out as the driest year on record due to very low rainfall during the Krempt season, whilst 1999's Belg season was the driest on record. Although the succession of dry years between the late 1970s and late 1980s produced the driest decade in the Ethiopian Highlands this century there is no evidence for a long-term trend or change in the region's annual rainfall regime. Rainfall during the 1990s has seen a return to more humid conditions since the dry 1980s. The paper ends with a discussion of the major influences on rainfall variability over the Ethiopian Highlands: the El Nino-Southern Oscillation - El Nino events tend to be associated with lower than average rainfall; Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures play a varying role in different seasons; the strength of the Indian Summer Monsoon; and the frequency of several tropical depressions over the Southwest Indian Ocean. SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science Vol. 23, No. 2 (December 2000), pp. 139-161 Key words/phrases: Climate, El Nino, Ethiopian Highlands, Holocene, rainfall variability


Fast-response and high-sensitivity deep-ultraviolet (DUV) photodetectors with detection wavelength shorter than 320 nm are in high demand due to their potential applications in diverse fields. However, the fabrication processes of DUV detectors based on traditional semiconductor thin films are complicated and costly. Here we report a high-performance DUV photodetector based on graphene quantumdots(GQDs)fabricatedviaafacilesolutionprocess.ThedevicesarecapableofdetectingDUVlight with wavelength as short as 254 nm. With the aid of an asymmetric electrode structure, the device performance could be significantly improved. An on/off ratio of ∼6000 under 254 nm illumination at a relatively weak light intensity of 42 μ Wc m � 2 is achieved. The devices also exhibit excellent stability and reproducibility with a fast response speed. Given the solution-processing capability of the devices and extraordinary properties of GQDs, the use of GQDs will open up unique opportunities for future high-performance, low-cost DUV photodetectors.


To be aimed at the wave, in order to understand the operating personnel in the specific location of beach. A personnel position system based on Internet of Things is designed in this paper. First, account for the wave on the beach, introduced the concept of the middleware of internet of things, the basic activities and characteristics. The system is mainly include satellites, base stations, electronic tags and a variety of terminal equipment. Read the operators body tag code by identifier read, the data transmission to the middleware module. Through process management, then transfer the data to the network layer. The server will analyze and process the data, then get the visual data display platform.


Based on prior theory and research (Ciarrochi & Heaven, 2009; Eagly & Wood, 1999), we hypothesized that the link between empathy and friendship would be moderated by sex: Girls will nominate empathic boys as friends, whereas boys will not tend to nominate empathic girls. We collected measures of empathy, friendship social support, and close friendship nominations in grade 10 across 1,970 students in 16 schools (Mage  = 15.70, SD = .44; males = 993, females = 977). Multilevel models revealed that boys high in cognitive empathy attracted an average of 1.8 more girl friendship nominations than did their low empathy counterparts, whereas empathic girls did not attract a greater number of opposite-sex friends. In addition, the more friendship nominations a boy received from either boys or girls, the more they felt supported by their friends; the number of friendship nominations received by girls, in contrast, had no effect on their felt support by friends. Regardless of the quantity of friendship nominations, empathy was linked to more supportive friendships for both males and females. These results inform a contextual understanding of the role of empathy in selecting and maintaining friendships.


Abstract In this paper, a hybrid time-base (HTB) device for the coherent sampling oscilloscope is presented. The HTB device makes it possible to reduce the uncertainty of determining the time position of the sample in the horizontal channel of the sampling oscilloscope. For its functioning, the proposed HTB device requires that the system-under-test, in addition to the test signal, also has a synchronous reference clock – harmonic oscillation. It should be noted that both the test signal and the harmonic reference clock are sampled simultaneously. The harmonic reference clock is connected to one of the oscilloscope channels and a special algorithm processes the clock samples and adjusts the coherent sampling mode. Two techniques of determining the position of the sample on the time axis are combined in the HTB device – the "trigonometric", when the position is calculated by the arccosine or arcsine formula of the reference clock sampling value, and the interpolation method, according to which the time position of the sample is found by averaging the positions of two adjacent samples, obtained using said "trigonometric" technique. Primary experimental studies have shown that using the HTB device can reduce jitter of the sampling oscilloscope by several times and the drift with constant time distortion components is practically absent in this device.


This is the second of a series of papers dealing with a comprehensive study of superregenerative detection. In the first paper1 the analysis under no-signal condition was given. In this paper, the analysis of superregenerative circuits under signal condition is presented. It is shown that the amplitude to which the oscillation under signal condition builds up, depends fundamentally on the quenching source and the nonlinearity of the tube characteristic. The automatic volume control action, the sensitivity, the selectivity, the stability, and the synchronization with the signal voltage or the semisynchronization (the synchronization with one of the equivalent side bands) of the signal voltage are clearly explained. The existing idea that the effect of the signal is merely to start a free oscillation with an amplitude depending on the signal is erroneous and does not conform with the fact. What actually happens when the signal is present, is that the system must, in general, be in some state of synchronization with the signal frequency or with one of the equivalent side bands. This latter is defined as semisynchronization. In order to have satisfactory reception, the free oscillation is generally suppressed. In general, no previous author has mentioned such synchronization or semisynchronization processes. Numerical examples are given for clarification.


Off-the-shelf models are widely used by computational social science researchers to measure properties of text, such as sentiment.However, without access to source data it is difficult to account for domain shift, which represents a threat to validity. Here, we treat domain adaptation as a modular process that involves separate model producers and model consumers, and show how they can independently cooperate to facilitate more accurate measurements of text. We introduce two lightweight techniques for this scenario, and demonstrate that they reliably increase out-of-domain accuracy on four multi-domain text classification datasets when used with linear and contextual embedding models. We conclude with recommendations for model producers and consumers, and release models and replication code to accompany this paper.


A sensitive method was developed and applied to examine the distribution of K-ras gene mutations in histologically differing areas of lung tissues obtained from lung cancer patients. This method, which combines polymerase chain reaction (PCR), mutation allele enrichment (MAE), and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), allows detection of one K-ras mutant allele present in 10(4) to 10(5) wild-type alleles. It was applied to analyze mutations in codon 12 of the K-ras gene in 43 tissue sites microdissected from paraffin-embedded sections obtained from 8 archival cases of lung cancer, all previously shown to have codon 12 K-ras mutations by direct sequencing. In four cases, mutations were detected only in the tumor, while in the other four cases, the same mutations were also found in tissues adjacent to tumors, using the MAE + DGGE method. No mutations were detected among normal-appearing cells in areas distant from the tumors in any of the cases studied. These findings demonstrate that K-ras mutations can be detected at low frequencies in normal-appearing cells from tissues adjacent to the tumor in some lung cancer cases. In addition, this approach also allowed detection of multiple mutations in colorectal tissues obtained from colorectal cancer patients. Thus, the MAE + DGGE method may be applicable to study of K-ras mutations in premalignant or morphologically suspicious lesions in bronchial mucosa or other types of human cancer.


Background: Suicide has been called the 'silent crisis'. As rates have increased in recent years, it is now the 10 leading cause of death in the United States. Within the state of Kentucky, females die by suicide most often through the use of firearms, differing from the national trend where poisoning is most common. With a drastic increase in firearm suicides has been observed beginning in 2010. The aim of this study is to investigate why Kentucky females who have died by suicide are using firearms most often, as opposed to other methods, and compare those results to other states in order to further understand this trend. Methods: All suicides reported to the National Violent Death Reporting System were eligible for this study. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine which variables, including demographic, personal circumstance, mental health, and suicide-related, were related to firearm suicide. Results: Kentucky females who died by suicide were not receiving mental health treatment, only 36% were diagnosed and 24% in current treatment. Within comparison states, increased mental health diagnosis and treatment was associated with decreased odds of firearm suicides. It was found that females living in rural counties, and those who were depressed or had intimate partner problems/violence in Kentucky were more likely to die by firearm suicide. Conclusion: These results contribute to understanding firearm suicide among females in Kentucky and guides efforts for interventions for at-risk populations and future research. This study specifically highlights mental health care with recommendations to emphasize means reduction counseling as a strategy to eliminate barriers to this care. Advocating for more comprehensive state gun laws and policies is also recommended.


Abstract This study examined the effectiveness of a stress management intervention for sheltered homeless adults with mental illness. Twelve intervention participants received a 6-week, 1-hour psychoeducation group combined with a 20-minute meditation. Eleven matched pairs did not receive intervention and served as controls. At 1 week post study, intervention participants reported a statistically significant reduction in perceived stress (Z= −2.285, p < .02, d= −1.176) compared to controls. No differences were found at 1 week post study between intervention and control participants on reported quality of life. This study provides pilot data on the effectiveness of an occupation-based stress management program for sheltered homeless adults and warrants further study.


Introduction and purpose:The importance of sleep in health and disease from the time of Hippocrates have been considered. Sleep disorders as a cause of suffering and illness at any age is important. That is why this study is to assess sleep quality in elderly city of Ilam. Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 360 elderly city of Ilam two-stage cluster sampling were studied. The instrument used, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which has proven its reliability and validity in different studies. Data analysis software SPSS version 20 and using statistical t-test (for variables group) and ANOVA (for more than two groups of variables) were analyzed. P less-than 0.05 to analyze all variables were considered significant. Findings:The results showed that the mean age of the study, 77/21 ± 5/81 years. More elderly subjects (7/59%), has had poor sleep quality. Between sleep quality with age, sex, marital status, living conditions of elderly people with family history and smoking in the hospital there was a significant correlation (P=0.001). Conclusion: Given that the majority of elderly subjects had poor sleep quality. It is necessary to increase the quality of sleep necessary precautions like preventing smoking and elderly in hospital readmission done. As well as appropriate interventions such as aromatherapy and massage therapy done to improve sleep quality in the elderly.


Objective Dysbiosis of the intestinal fungal community has been observed in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, its potential role in IBD development and prevention remains unclear. Here, we explored the biological effects and molecular mechanisms of intestinal fungi isolated from human faeces on colitis in mice. Design Intestinal fungal strains with differential abundance in IBD were cultivated in human faeces and their effects on various mouse models of experimental colitis were evaluated. In addition, the bioactive metabolites secreted by the target fungus were accurately identified and their pharmacological effects and potential molecular targets were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Results The abundance of Candida spp was significantly higher in patients with IBD. After large-scale human intestinal fungal cultivation and functional analysis, Candida metapsilosis M2006B significantly attenuated various models of experimental colitis in wild-type, antibiotic-treated, germ-free, and IL10-/- mice by activating farnesoid X receptor (FXR). Among the seven acyclic sesquiterpenoids (F1–F7) identified as major secondary metabolites of M2006B, F4 and F5 attenuated colitis in mice by acting as novel FXR agonists. The therapeutic effects of M2006B and its metabolites on colitis via specific FXR activation were confirmed in Fxr -/- mice. Conclusion This study revealed that C. metapsilosis M2006B significantly attenuated colitis in mice and identified two acyclic sesquiterpenoids (F4 and F5) as major active metabolites of M2006B. Notably, these metabolites were able to effectively treat experimental colitis by selectively activating FXR. Together, this study demonstrates that M2006B could be a beneficial intestinal fungus for treating and preventing IBD.


This article is largely prompted by the two recently promulgated regulations governing takeovers in China. The goal of this article is to critically examine the legal takeover regime in China and to put forward proposals for reform. To outline the discussion, Part II describes the stock market, the takeover law, and the takeover activities in China. Two legislative goals, namely contestability of takeovers and shareholder protection, are set out in Part III. Under these principles, Part IV and Part V explore the issues of tender offer and anti takeover defenses, respectively. Specifically, Part IV focuses on information disclosure and other major rules relating to takeovers. It appears that these rules are in line with the international norm and acceptably workable in the context of China. Furthermore, Part V explores the serious problems that are associated with anti-takeover defenses. China's law seems to be both over inclusive and under inclusive in this respect. After an in depth comparative analysis of the legal regimes in the U.S., UK, and Australia, it is apparent that those regimes are not suitable for China's local conditions. Lastly, this article proposes a regime in which shareholders could veto the use of takeover defenses ex post, while requiring that certain defensive measures be decided ex ante. This proposal could well suit China's needs because it not only gives shareholders sufficient protection, but also preserves necessary flexibility for management to efficiently respond to truly undesirable tender offers.


Purpose: A new algorithm, Acuros® XB Advanced Dose Calculation, has been introduced by Varian Medical Systems in the Eclipse planning system for photondose calculation in external beam radiotherapy. Acuros XB is based on the solution of the linear Boltzmann transport equation (LBTE). In this study we perform a clinical evaluation of the Acuros XB by comparison to other known and tested treatment planning systems and dose calculation algorithms. Methods: Twenty (n=20) patients previously planned with the Pinnacle ver.9.0 treatment planning system and calculated using the collapsed cone convolution superposition algorithm, were recalculated using the Eclipse ver. 10.0 with the Acuros XB dose calculation algorithm. A mixture of treatment sites were chosen, including brain,lung,liver, and pelvis. The metrics chosen for the evaluation were DVH, absolute dose difference, and profiles along the axial, sagital and coronal planes at the isocenter Results: Good agreement was observed between the dose calculations with Acuros and the ones from Pinnacle using the CCCS algorithm. Differences were mostly detected in inhomogeneous media. Maximum differences of 2.5% were observed for lung patients, while, smaller differences were detected for pelvic, brain, and abdominal cases. Conclusions: The new dose calculation algorithm Acuros XB available in Eclipse ver. 10 is in very good agreement with the widely tested and accepted CCCS dose calculation algorithm. More extensive testing of the algorithm might be necessary in order to further evaluate the accuracy of the calculations.


Community Operational Research: OR and Systems Thinking for Community Development sets out the current concerns of Community Operational Research (Community OR for short) and explores new possibilities for its continued development. Leading Community OR writers, with international reputations in operational research and systems thinking, have contributed chapters that illuminate different aspects of Community OR theory and practice. There is a focus on the value of systems approaches, and other significant perspectives are also represented. The result is a rich mix of theories, methodologies and case studies that will be a significant resource for both practitioners and academics engaged in community development.


Resource consumption often increases with greater consumer biodiversity. This could result either from complementarity among consumers or the inclusion of particular key species, and it is often difficult to differentiate between these two mechanisms. We exploited a simple plant mutation (reduced production of surface waxes) to alter foraging within a community of aphid predators, and thus perhaps shift the nature of resulting predator diversity effects. We found that greater predator species richness dramatically increased prey suppression and plant biomass only on mutant, reduced-wax pea plants (Pisum sativum). On pea plants from a sister line with wild type, waxier plant surfaces, predator species richness did not influence predators' impacts on herbivores or plants. Thus, a change in plant surface structure acted to turn on, or off, the cascading effects of predator diversity. Greater predator richness encouraged higher densities of true predators but did not lead to greater reproduction by a parasitoid, Aphidius ervi; fecundity of each natural enemy species was similar for the two plant types. Behavioral observations indicated that although A. ervi was less likely to forage within species-rich predator communities, low-wax plants mitigated this interference by encouraging generally greater A. ervi foraging and thus high rates of aphid dislodgement (aphids dropped from plants to escape A. ervi, but not the other predators). Thus, only species-rich, low-wax plants simultaneously encouraged strong species-specific effects of A. ervi, and strong complementarity among the other predator species. In summary, our study provides evidence that diversity effects in predator assemblages are sensitive to habitat characteristics. Further, we show that a simple plant morphological trait, controlled by a single gene mutation, can dramatically alter the cascading effects of predator species richness on herbivores and plants.


Latitudinal changes in the euphausiid assemblages were compared to the morphological structure (size and compactness) of the sound scattering layer (SSL) during ten 24-h surveys made in October 1994 along the west coast of Baja California, Mexico. During October, upwelling was found in the northern area from Punta Eugenia (28°N) to Ensenada (30°N) dominated by temperate species from the California Current System. In the southern sector of the peninsula, a northward movement of tropical waters transports a tropical zooplankton assemblage near Bahia Magdalena (24°N). The aggregation and the dispersion of the whole SSL (plankton and nekton) were investigated using a single beam vertical echosounder, Simrad EY-200, working at 200 kHz and the Hydro Acoustic Data Acquisition System (HADAS) that estimates patch variables of density and compactness. The size and shape of the SSL were obtained from the echogram visualization. The euphausiid species composition was obtained using an Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl, bongo nets, and opening-closing nets. At Ensenada and Punta Eugenia, an area inhabited by a temperate euphausiid assemblage, large and dense SSLs were recorded over the continental shelf (mean sizes were 10-km and 7-km long with mean compactness of 15% and 19%). These regions were dominated by the neritic species Nyctiphanes simplex and the temperate species Nematoscelis difficilis, Euphausia pacifica , and Thysanoessa spinifera . In the southern area, a tropical euphausiid assemblage, dominated by Euphausia eximia, E tenera , and E. distinguenda , inhabits smaller and dispersed SSLs (mean size 5-km long and 11% compactness) located in the offshore area. The euphausiid biomass of the most abundant species indicated, N. simplex and N. difficilis , had their highest standing stock in the north (393 and 643 mg C 1000 m -3 ), with E. eximia in the southern area (186 mg C 1000 m-3). Euphausiid assemblage development in different biological environments, is evidenced by SSL morphology along the west coast of Baja California during autumn, is caused by strong latitudinal changes in physical oceanography that affect the biological interactions in each region.


Adding capacitors to an electric power system provides well known benefits, including power factor correction, voltage support and increase of active power transfer capacity. However, the capacitor banks modify the harmonic voltages and currents in the network and give rise to current and voltage transients, stressing switching devices and sensitive loads. The first part of the paper describes measurements and studies performed before the installation of 2 x 50 MVAr capacitor banks in a 500-132 kV substation, in the Argentinian Transmission System. By measurements of harmonics content in voltage and current, the IITREE performed some studies to quantify the harmonic voltage in the 132 kV busbar and the harmonic voltages and currents in the capacitors to prevent excessive overload. Switching transients were also studied. The studies carried out with the electromagnetic transients program (EMTP) are presented. The second part of the paper deals with measurements performed after the installation of the 2 x 50 MVAr capacitor banks. These measurements were carried out to verify the harmonic levels in the busbar and in the capacitor bank, and to obtain the current and voltage switching transients. The results of measurements are compared to the ones obtained by studies and simulations.


When nanofibers could be made last century, its filtration potential was expected in a lot of professional fields, such as building industry, medical industry and Environmental protection industry. In the present study, in order to prove and explain its performances, nanofibrous membrane with given thickness was electrospun with 8% PVA solution on conventional cotton scaffold. Then by means of special air filtration test system, the filtration performances between PVA nanofibrous membrane and conventional fibrous filters were confirmed and compared. Besides, the filtration efficiencies of particles distribution 0.3-5um were attained, and at the same time, another important parameter, pressure-drops, could be observed, too. Through data analysis, the differences of filtration performances were verified. Despite the fact that nanofibrous membrane had higher pressure-drops, its filtration efficiency could reach startlingly 99% for some given particles. In succession, SEM was used to observe the particles distribution in filter, and the different filtration mechanisms were analyzed and discussed with SEMS images. Furthermore, we found that the direct inception and the inertial impact improved nanofiber filtration efficiency, while too small diameter of nanofiber induced higher pressure-drops. In general, nanofibers have huge value in air filtration application.


The development of integrated watershed management has become an important issue among the most urgent priorities. For a well developed watershed management system, it is crucial to generalize the information from policy drivers as well as natural and social scientists. Our work mainly focuses on development of watershed management strategies in framework of multidiscipline and multi-stakeholder decision making process. In order to integrate information at multiple levels of applied process, the adaptive approaches are particularly studied. Some important integration strategies for watershed management are further discussed in the last part. Based on the available projects, it can be concluded that a well enhanced integration of watershed management will obtain remarkable economic, social and ecological benefits.


It will be argued in this paper that the problematic of social cohesion is also one of socio-ecological cohesion whereby the urbanisation of nature and its socio-environmentally enabling and disabling conditions are key processes. By viewing the contradictions of the urbanisation process as intrinsically socio-ecological ones, the terrain of social cohesion is shifted both epistemologically and politically. The paper critically examines three contemporary schools of thought that consider in different ways the relationship between cities, social cohesion and the environment. It begins with a critical examination of the notion of urban sustainability. The paper will then move on to consider two approaches that emphasise issues of (in)equality and (in)justice in the urban environment, those of environmental justice and urban political ecology. The final part of the paper pinpoints four areas of research that urban researchers must examine if we are to understand more fully—and act more politically on—the nexus between cities, social cohesion and the environment.


RhoA signaling prevents the neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells by inhibiting both the production and secretion of the BMP antagonist Noggin. Halting neural differentiation with RhoA Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are important for maintaining the pluripotency and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Spontaneous differentiation of ESCs into neurons involves the production of Noggin, a secreted protein that inhibits BMP signaling. The GTPase RhoA maintains ESC pluripotency by preventing neural differentiation. Yang et al. found that the RhoA-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor Syx prevented neural differentiation of murine ESCs (mESCs) by limiting both the abundance of Noggin and its secretion. Thus, regulation of secretion, as well as production of differentiation-promoting factors, provides multiple layers of control over stem cell fate. Spontaneous neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells is induced by Noggin-mediated inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) signaling. RhoA is a guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) that regulates cytoskeletal dynamics and gene expression, both of which control stem cell fate. We found that disruption of Syx, a gene encoding a RhoA-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor, accelerated retinoic acid–induced neural differentiation in murine embryonic stem cells aggregated into embryoid bodies. Cells from Syx+/+ and Syx−/− embryoid bodies had different abundances of proteins implicated in stem cell pluripotency. The differentiation-promoting proteins Noggin and RARγ (a retinoic acid receptor) were more abundant in cells of Syx−/− embryoid bodies, whereas the differentiation-suppressing proteins SIRT1 (a protein deacetylase) and the phosphorylated form of SMAD1 (the active form of this transcription factor) were more abundant in cells of Syx+/+ embryoid bodies. These differences were blocked by the overexpression of constitutively active RhoA, indicating that the abundance of these proteins was maintained, at least in part, by RhoA activity. The peripheral stress fibers in cells from Syx−/− embryoid bodies were thinner than those in Syx+/+ cells. Furthermore, less Noggin and fewer vesicles containing Rab3d, a GTPase that mediates Noggin trafficking, were detected in cells from Syx−/− embryoid bodies, which could result from increased Noggin exocytosis. These results suggested that, in addition to inhibiting Noggin transcription, RhoA activity in wild-type murine embryonic stem cells also prevented neural differentiation by limiting Noggin secretion.


We consider a single stage multi-product manufacturing facility producing a large number of end-products for delivery within a service constraint for the customer lead-time. The manufac- turing facility is modeled as a multi-product, multi-priority queuing system. In order to reduce inventory costs, an e±cient priority allocation between items consists in producing some items according to a Make-To-Stock (MTS) policy and others according to a Make-To-Order (MTO) policy depending on their features (costs, required lead-time, demand rates). We propose a general optimization procedure that gives a near-optimal °ow control (MTO or MTS) to as- sociate with each product and the corresponding near-optimal priority strategy. We illustrate e±ciency of our procedure via several examples and by a numerical analysis. In addition, we show numerically that a small number of priority classes is su±cient to obtain near-optimal performances.


The largest portion of Alabama`s rapidly growing poultry industry is geographically concentrated in the Sand Mountain region of northern Alabama. The result is that large amounts of waste are applied to relatively small areas of agricultural soils. A study was conducted to determine the effects of long-term broiler waste (litter) application on environmentally related soil conditions in the region. The region has an average annual rainfall of 1325 mm, which is evenly distributed throughout the year, a thermic temperature regime, and soils in the region are of the Ultisol order. In each of four major broiler-producing counties, three pairs of sites consisting of long-term (15-28 yr) littered and nonlittered fields on matching soil series and maintained under perennial tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) were sampled. Soil cores were taken to 3 m or lithic contact and depth-incremented samples (0-15, 15-30, and each subsequent 30-cm interval) were analyzed for organic C, total N, NO{sub 3}-N, pH, electrical conductivity, and acid-extractable P, K, Ca, Mg, Co, and Zn. Litter application increased organic C and total N to depths of 15 and 30 cm, respectively, as compared with nonlittered soils, whereas pH was 0.5 units higher to a depth of 60 cm undermore » littered soils. Significant accumulation of NO{sub 3}N was found in littered soils to or near bedrock. Extractable P concentrations in littered soils were more than six times greater than in nonlittered soils to a depth of 60 cm. Elevated levels of extractable K, Ca, and Mg to depths greater than 60 cm also were found as a result of long-term litter use. Extractable Cu and Zn had accumulated in littered soils to a depth of 45 cm. These findings indicate that long-term land application of broiler litter, at present rates, has altered soil chemical conditions and has created a potential for adverse environmental impacts in the Sand Mountain region of Alabama. 43 refs., 6 figs., 3 tabs.« less


Purpose – There is explosive gas in many disaster environments. The conventional search and rescue robots are not allowed to work in these environments, since they may cause explosion. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of the serpentine omnitread robot HITSR-I for working in these areas. Design/methodology/approach – HITSR-I consists of four segments, and each segment is equipped with crawlers in the four directions. It can be operated even under the situation of sideslip without any recovering actions. There are pressed CO2 containers and the pressurized control system inside the robot, and the shells of the robot are a fully sealed up structure. They can maintain the inside pressure higher than the outside. The robot can release the communication relay node to extend the communicating area, so it can search a large area even amid rubble. Findings – HITSR-I was developed with the capability of climbing over 400 mm high obstacles. The maximum travel distance was 315 m. The pressurized system could enable the robot to work in Zones 1 and 2. Originality/value – Design and development of a serpentine robot which can work in hazardous areas containing explosive gas. It can travel for a long distance in ruins by releasing the communication relay nodes.


During winter, along the east coast of India, the near-surface flow is characterized by the southward-flowing East India Coastal Current (EICC) which bends around Sri Lanka and enters into the south-eastern Arabian Sea (AS). This current carries cooler, low-salinity waters from the head Bay of Bengal (BoB) into the south-eastern AS. But due to a lack of any direct in situ measurements, it is not clear whether any part of this current that flows through the Indo-Sri Lanka Channel (ISLC) is significant. An attempt is made in this study to look for any observational evidence for the southward flow of cooler, low salinity waters through the ISLC during winter. In the absence of direct in situ measurements on the observed currents in the non-navigable shallow ISLC, the observed high resolution, advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) sea surface temperature (SST), and sea-viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWiFS) chlorophyll-a and historic sea surface salinity (SSS) data are utilized as tracers to track any southward water flow through the Pamban Pass and Adam's Bridge in the ISLC. The analysis suggests that both the non-navigable shallow Pamban Pass and the Adam's Bridge in the ISLC act as barriers and limit the southward flow of cooler, low salinity waters into the Gulf of Mannar in the south during winter.


Ethnic segregation continues to be a persistent feature of Western European cities (e.g. Jivraj & Khan, 2015; Lymperopoulou & Finney, 2017; Zwiers et al., 2018a). Ethnic segregation is often understood as the result of a lack of socio-spatial assimilation and is thought to have hampering effects on social integration, mobility, and interethnic contact, thereby posing a threat to inclusive diverse societies (Kaplan & Douzet, 2011; Monkkonen & Zhang, 2013; Van Ham & Tammaru 2016). In 2016, the four largest ethnic groups in the Netherlands – Moroccans, Turks, Surinamese, and Antilleans – comprised 7.6% of the total population (Statistics Netherlands, 2017). This relatively small share of the population tends to be overrepresented in particular (deprived) neighborhoods where they comprise half of the population (Zwiers et al., 2018a). Patterns of ethnic segregation of these four ethnic groups have remained relatively stable in the Netherlands over the past few decades (Zwiers et al., 2018a). Ethnic segregation is often viewed as the result of a process of assimilation that develops over the course of generations (Peach, 1996). As the first generation tends to concentrate in particular neighborhoods after recent immigration, the second generation generally shows more spatial dispersal and movement to more mixed neighborhoods (e.g. Massey, 1985). Indeed, many studies confirm that second generation immigrants show more spatial mobility into non-concentration neighborhoods as a result of socioeconomic assimilation (e.g. Bolt & Van Kempen, 2010a; South et al., 2005). However, these findings only apply to a small share of immigrants, as most immigrants continue to lag behind in educational and labor market outcomes compared to the native population (Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016; Statistics Netherlands, 2016b). It has been argued that this lack of socioeconomic assimilation inhibits their socio-spatial mobility, explaining the persistence of ethnic concentration neighborhoods in the Netherlands (Bolt & Van Kempen 2010a).
In the Dutch context, this idea of gradual social and economic assimilation over the course of generations is implicitly captured in the official definition of ethnicity (Kooiman et al., 2012). In the Netherlands, an individual is considered to be an ethnic minority when he/she has at least one parent abroad, distinguishing between those born abroad themselves (first generation) and those born in the Netherlands (second generation) (Statistics Netherlands, 2016a). According to this definition, third generation immigrants who are born in the Netherlands and whose parents are both born in the Netherlands, but with one or more grandparents from an immigrant background, are defined as native Dutch (Statistics Netherlands, 2016c). Behind this definition of ethnic group membership lies the assumption that third generation immigrants are socially, economically, and culturally integrated into Dutch society. According to the spatial assimilation hypothesis, this would be reflected in spatial integration as well, meaning that the third generation would predominantly live in non-concentration and more ethnically mixed neighborhoods, leading to decreasing levels of ethnic segregation. However, to date, there are no studies that have analyzed the socio-spatial behavior and outcomes of third generation immigrants in the Netherlands.
The official definition of ethnicity also has important empirical consequences. Because third generation individuals are not included as minority group members in the definition of ethnicity, they tend to 'disappear' in official statistics (cf. Kesler & Schwartzman, 2015). As a result, it is unclear how the residential mobility behavior of third generation immigrants will affect ethnic segregation. When second generation immigrants have children, the share of immigrants in a neighborhood will decrease as these children are officially defined as native Dutch. In addition, when third generation immigrants move into ethnic concentration neighborhoods, statistically, this would be interpreted as an inflow native Dutch, decreasing the share of immigrants in a neighborhood. Third generation immigrants might, however, still be very different from the native Dutch population in cultural, social, and economic terms. Neighborhoods with high shares of third generation immigrants might be considered as ethnically diverse - or even ethnic concentration - neighborhoods by other residents, thereby affecting the neighborhood preferences and/or residential mobility behavior of other ethnic groups (cf. Schelling, 1971). Processes of 'White flight' or 'White avoidance' in response to the residential mobility behavior of third generation immigrants might have additional effects on ethnic segregation (Crowder & South, 2008; South & Crowder, 1998).
The main aim of the present study is to explore the extent to which the definition of ethnicity influences conclusions about ethnic segregation by focusing on the residential patterns of third generation immigrants in the 31 largest Dutch cities between 1999 and 2013. The analysis consists of two parts: first, aggregate statistics of the share of third generation immigrants in different types of neighborhoods are analyzed which shows that ethnic concentration neighborhoods will most likely see the largest increase in the share of third generation immigrants over time. Second, I focused on third generation home-leavers and their spatial mobility behavior which contributes to our understanding of intergenerational processes of socio-spatial assimilation. My findings show that third generation immigrants continue to be overrepresented in ethnic concentration neighborhoods which raises questions about the assumed unidirectional process of socio-spatial assimilation. Ethnic segregation seems to be the continuing trend among third generation immigrants. The official definition of ethnicity in the Netherlands, which assumes socio-spatial assimilation, seems to mask the persistent intergenerational continuity of ethnic segregation.


OBJECTIVE
Very few controlled trials have evaluated targeted treatment methods for childhood selective mutism (SM); the availability of evidence-based services remains limited. This study is the first controlled trial to evaluate an intensive group behavioral treatment (IGBT) for children with SM.

METHOD
Twenty-nine children with SM (5-9 years; 76% female; 35% ethnic minority) were randomized to immediate SM 5-day IGBT or to a 4-week waitlist with psychoeducational resources (WLP), and were assessed at Week 4 and again 8 weeks into the following school year.

RESULTS
IGBT was associated with high satisfaction and low perceived barriers to treatment participation. At Week 4, 50% of the immediate IGBT condition and 0% of the WLP condition were classified as "clinical responders." Further, Time × Condition interactions were significant for social anxiety severity, verbal behavior in social situations, and global functioning (but not for SM severity, verbal behavior in home settings, or overall anxiety). School-year follow-up assessments revealed significant improvements across all outcomes. Eight weeks into the following school year, 46% of IGBT-treated children were free of an SM diagnosis. In addition, teachers in the post-IGBT school year rated less school impairment and more classroom verbal behavior relative to teachers in the pre-IGBT school year.

CONCLUSIONS
Findings provide the first empirical support for the efficacy and acceptability of IGBT for SM. Further study is needed to examine mechanisms of IGBT response, and other effective SM treatment methods, in order to clarify which treatment formats work best for which affected children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


In the present issue, Jang et al. investigated whether psychological factors such as perceived stress and depression are associated with weight gain among Korean adults using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2016. The study participants consisted of 3,163 individuals (1,278 men and 1,885 women) aged 19–64 years who had no diseases that might affect weight change. In their study, weight gain was significantly associated with perceived stress (odds ratio, 1.271; 95% confidence interval, 1.012–1.597) in women, but was not significantly associated with any psychological factors in men. This finding suggests that there is a gender difference in the relationship between weight gain and perceived stress. It should be explained why weight gain is more stressful for women. Obesity is a multifactorial disease that is influenced by genetic, behavioral, environmental, and sociocultural factors. While obesity prevalence has continued to rise over the past decades among Korean men (age-standardized prevalence of obesity: 25.1% in 1998, 42.8% in 2018), it has been reported to have plateaued among Korean women (age-standardized prevalence of obesity: 26.2% in 1998, 25.5% in 2018). The gender disparity in obesity prevalence has been widening among Korean adults. Although Korean men and women live in the same obesogenic environment, Korean women may be disproportionately under intense socio-cultural pressure not to be overweight. Accordingly, Korean women are more likely to overestimate their body weight than Korean men, which leads to weight control attempts. In Korean society, a significant number of underweight women try to lose or maintain their body weight for better appearance. Obese individuals encounter weight-based prejudice and discrimination in various aspects of their daily lives, including employment, income, education, interpersonal relationships, health care, and media. Korean society is known to have an extremely high level of weight-based bias. Marini et al. reported that Koreans had the strongest preference for thin people over overweight people among all citizens of 71 nations. Women are more likely to experience weight-based discrimination compared to men. Sarlio-Lähteenkorva and Lahelma reported that obesity was associated with unemployment, low income, and lack of close friends in Finnish women but was not problematic for Finnish men. In a society where weight stigma is pervasive, overweight women are expected to obtain lower occupational attainment and lower earnings than those of thin women. It is noteworthy that women's wages begin to decrease at weights much lower than conventional thresholds for overweight or obesity. Therefore, even thin women stress about weight gain. In a society where slender bodies are recognized as good and overweight bodies as evil, weight stigma is prevalent and weight bias is internalized. Since the social norms regarding ideal body weight are stringent for women, maintaining a socially acceptable body size is more stressful for women. A multidisciplinary group of international experts developed a joint consensus statement with recommendations to eliminate weight bias. The Korean Society for the Study of Obesity also endorsed the statement. They stated that some public health campaigns stigmatize obese individuals to motivate behavioral change and encourage them to lose their body weight, but these strategies may increase weight-based discrimination and lead to unwanted effects such as exercise avoidance, consumption of unhealthy foods, increased sedentary behaviors, and increased weight gain. Therefore, these stigmatizing approaches to promote anti-obesity bias should


During the past two decades, studies describing the chemistry and biology of PAF have been extensive. This potent phosphoacylglycerol exhibits a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological effects in various cells and tissues. PAF acts, through specific receptors and a variety of signal transduction systems, to elicit diverse biochemical responses. Several important future directions can be enumerated for the characterization of PAF receptors and their attendant signalling mechanisms. The recent cloning and sequence analysis of the gene for the PAF receptor will allow a number of important experimental approaches for characterizing the structure and analysing the function of the various domains of the receptor. Using molecular genetic and immunological technologies, questions relating to whether there is receptor heterogeneity, the precise mechanism(s) for the regulation of the PAF receptor, and the molecular details of the signalling mechanisms in which the PAF receptor is involved can be explored. Another area of major significance is the examination of the relationship between the signalling response(s) evoked by PAF binding to its receptor and signalling mechanisms activated by a myriad of other mediators, cytokines and growth factors. A very exciting recent development in which PAF receptors undoubtedly play a role is in the regulation of the function of various cellular adhesion molecules. Finally, there remain many incompletely characterized physiological and pathophysiological situations in which PAF and its receptor play a crucial signalling role. Our laboratory has been active in the elucidation of several tissue responses in which PAF exhibits major autocoid signalling responses, e.g. hepatic injury and inflammation, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and cerebral stimulation and/or trauma. As new experimental strategies are developed for characterizing the fine structure of the molecular mechanisms involved in tissue injury and inflammation, the essential role of PAF as a primary signalling molecule will be affirmed. Doubtless the next 20 years of experimental activity will be even more interesting and productive than the past two decades.


The objective of this study is to investigate the microbial community and its characteristics changes aroused by the ratios of COD/SO42- in the acidogenic-phase reactor of two-phase anaerobic process. A continuous-flow lab-scale test was conducted in an acidogenic sulfate-reducing reactor with molasses wastewater as sole organic carbon source and sodium sulfate as the electron acceptor. The experimental results showed that Acetic-acid Type Microbial Metabolism resulted in the formation of An Acetic-acid Type Climax Community. The change of the COD/SO42- ratio caused an ecological succession from a stable climax community at moderate and high COD/SO42- ratios to a sub-stable climax community at a lower COD/SO42- ratio. But Acetic-acid Type Microbial Metabolism kept unchanged during this course, which indicated the stability of Acetic-acid Type Climax Community. The Acetic-acid Type Microbial Metabolism and Acetic-acid Type Climax Community were of typical characteristics in the acidogenic sulfate-reducing reactor.


An afforestation for project mitigating against land degradation was implemented on Kilimanjaro highlands, as a result of the community need assessment conducted
in Kibosho West ward September, 2010. The data were collected through focus group discussion, interviews, questionnaires, survey, secondary data reviews and
observation. Results indicate that land degradation was brought by deforestation. To address the issue of deforestation, goal and objectives were set through involving stakeholders. Implementation was conducted following the needs assessment which indicated what interventions to undertake to achieve the intended goals and objectives. Through socio-economic survey two strategies to tackling the problemwere identified, the first was the awareness creation and capacity building for community members and Village leaders and second was tree seedlings production and tree planting by community members. During project implementations training on tree nursery operation at grass root level was conducted. Implementation results
show that tree nurseries groups were formed and a number of tree nurseries increased from 1 to 44 with a total of 151,000 tree seedlings. It was recommended that the Moshi Rural District Council to establish sustained afforestation
programmes.


Interactive submodular set cover is an interactive variant of submodular set cover over a hypothesis class of submodular functions, where the goal is to satisfy all sufficiently plausible submodular functions to a target threshold using as few (cost-weighted) actions as possible. It models settings where there is uncertainty regarding which submodular function to optimize. In this paper, we propose a new extension, which we call smooth interactive submodular set cover, that allows the target threshold to vary depending on the plausibility of each hypothesis. We present the first algorithm for this more general setting with theoretical guarantees on optimality. We further show how to extend our approach to deal with real-valued functions, which yields new theoretical results for real-valued submodular set cover for both the interactive and non-interactive settings.


This paper is part of a series of works aiming to study the efficiency of EU policies in the countries of the South Mediterranean under the MEDRESET project. It provides a bottom-up assessment of European policies made by different stakeholders operating in the fields of water and agriculture in Morocco. The study is based on a qualitative methodology combining literature review, content analysis and around fifty semi-structured interviews. The paper highlights the local stakeholders' perception of national and international policies in the fields of water and agriculture. It outlines the different issues as presented by the stakeholders in their diversity as well as the perception of the EU's role and the possible ways to improve the EU's approach towards Morocco in terms of assistance and trade policies.


For the past few years, training robots to enable them to learn various manipulative skills using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has arisen wide attention. However, large search space, low sample quality, and difficulties in network convergence pose great challenges to robot training. This paper deals with assembly-oriented robot grasping training and proposes a DRL algorithm with a new mechanism, namely, policy guidance mechanism (PGM). PGM can effectively transform useless or low-quality samples to useful or high-quality ones. Based on the improved Deep Q Network algorithm, an end-to-end policy model that takes images as input and outputs actions is established. Through continuous interactions with the environment, robots are able to learn how to optimally grasp objects according to the location of maximum Q value. A number of experiments for different scenarios using simulations and physical robots are conducted. Results indicate that the proposed DRL algorithm with PGM is effective in increasing the success rate of robot grasping, and moreover, is robust to changes of environment and objects.


Nanotechnology is occurring simultaneously in almost every field with strong interdisciplinary applications which have unique and important characteristics for potential novel and high performance devices. Quantum dots grown by epitaxial self-assembly via Stranski- Krastanov growth mode have many favorable properties for infrared sensing. Because of their very small size and three-dimensional confinement, the electronic energy levels are quantized and discrete. These quantum effects lead to a unique property, "phonon bottleneck", which might enable the high operating temperature of infrared sensing which usually requires cryogenic cooling. Here we report a focal plane array (FPA) based on an epitaxial self-assembled quantum dot infrared detector (QDIP). The device structure containing self-assembled In0.68Ga0.32As quantum dots with a density around 3×1010 cm-2 was grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD). Using different structures, we successfully developed QDIPs with a peak photoresponse around 5 μm and 9 μm. High peak detectivities were achieved at 77 K from both QDIPs. By stacking both device structures, we demonstrated a two-color QDIP whose peak detection wavelength could be tuned from 5 μm to 9 μm by changing the bias. 256×256 detector arrays based on 5 μm and 9 μm-QDIPs were fabricated with standard photolithography, dry etching and hybridization to a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC). We demonstrated thermal imaging from our FPAs based on QDIPs.


Temporal dynamics and speaker characteristics are two important features of speech that distinguish speech from noise. In this paper, we propose a method to maximally extract these two features of speech for speech enhancement. We demonstrate that this can reduce the requirement for prior information about the noise, which can be difficult to estimate for fast-varying noise. Given noisy speech, the new approach estimates clean speech by recognizing long segments of the clean speech as whole units. In the recognition, clean speech sentences, taken from a speech corpus, are used as examples. Matching segments are identified between the noisy sentence and the corpus sentences. The estimate is formed by using the longest matching segments found in the corpus sentences. Longer speech segments as whole units contain more distinct dynamics and richer speaker characteristics, and can be identified more accurately from noise than shorter speech segments. Therefore, estimation based on the longest recognized segments increases the noise immunity and hence the estimation accuracy. The new approach consists of a statistical model to represent up to sentence-long temporal dynamics in the corpus speech, and an algorithm to identify the longest matching segments between the noisy sentence and the corpus sentences. The algorithm is made more robust to noise uncertainty by introducing missing-feature based noise compensation into the corpus sentences. Experiments have been conducted on the TIMIT database for speech enhancement from various types of nonstationary noise including song, music, and crosstalk speech. The new approach has shown improved performance over conventional enhancement algorithms in both objective and subjective evaluations.


The conventional clustering algorithms in data mining like k-means algorithm have difficulties in handling the challenges posed by the collection of natural data which is often vague and uncertain. The modeling of imprecise and qualitative knowledge, as well as handling of uncertainty at various stages is possible through the use of fuzzy sets. Fuzzy logic is capable of supporting to a reasonable extent, human type reasoning in natural form by allowing partial membership for data items in fuzzy subsets. Integration of fuzzy logic in data mining has become a powerful tool in handling natural data. In this paper we introduce the concept of fuzzy clustering and also the benefits of incorporating fuzzy logic in data mining. Finally this paper provides a comparative analysis of two fuzzy clustering algorithms namely fuzzy c-means algorithm and adaptive fuzzy clustering algorithm.


The post main sequence expansion of stars is investigated by means of a simple composite configuration: an isothermal He-core (allowing for non-relativistic electron degeneracy) is surrounded by a H-envelope of constant density (polytrope n = 0). Solving the equations of hydrostatic equilibrium for fixed values of total mass and temperature at the interface a one dimensional sequence of models is obtained with the mass of the core as parameter. As soon as the main part of the core becomes fully degenerate, the model stars expand rapidly. This behaviour is in good agreement with that of models obtained by numerical simulations. The expansion is caused by an intermediate non-degenerate layer of large extension (but of very small mass content) just below the interface. It shifts the envelope to larger distances from the center and thus reduces the gravitational pull on it due to the highly contracted part of the core. Without this layer the thermal forces of the envelope – determined by the hydrogen burning temperatures at the interface – would be much too small to balance gravity. Such a loosely bound envelope extends to the large radii in question. Hence, the model suggests the fixed temperature required by hydrogen burning to be the ultimate reason for the post main sequence expansion.


In early 2019, several important members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) submitted noteworthy proposals in a realm of international commerce that has evolved faster than rules to govern it: e-commerce or digital trade. While countries agree on less controversial subjects like banning unsolicited commercial electronic messages, the three leading WTO members—China, the European Union, and the United States—have big differences in their approaches to more challenging issues: data flows, data localization, privacy invasions by data collectors, transfer of source code, imposition of customs duties and internet taxes, and internet censorship. Their differing viewpoints lead Hufbauer and Lu to conclude that the prospect of reaching a high-level WTO e-commerce agreement is not promising. To reach an agreement, either most of the contentious issues must be dropped or the number of participating countries must be sharply reduced. A WTO accord, even of low ambition, would have value if only to establish basic digital norms on matters such as banning unsolicited commercial messages and protecting online consumers from fraudulent practices. A more ambitious accord covering the controversial issues should be negotiated in bilateral and/or plurilateral/regional pacts rather than in the WTO.


In the summer of 2017, the third and final spacecraft of the 3rd generation of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Complex 41 on the Eastern Test Range. Finishing final testing and integration in the first quarter of 2018, the TDRS-M communication and navigation satellite completes a constellation that began service in the early 1980s. The 3rd generation of spacecraft, TDRS-K, L, and M, not only provided beneficial systems engineering lessons in handling anomalous Radio Frequency and Doppler interference as well as integrating new spacecraft into an aging ground support infrastructure, but also supplies NASA with a valuable test bed for new operational concepts and technologies useful in defining the future architecture of the NASA Space Network. This paper presents an overview of the TDRS-K, L, and M missions, including transfer orbit, Level 5 bus and payload testing, and finally NASA-led Level 6 testing, which includes active TDRS System (TDRSS) users. Highlights include relevant testing results, commissioning challenges, and lessons learned. The final discussion includes a brief overview of future NASA communication and navigation technologies and network architectures.


ABSTRACT The cobas human papillomavirus (HPV) test, approved by the FDA in April 2011, is a fully automated assay for the detection of 14 high-risk (hr) HPV genotypes from cervical specimens collected in liquid-based cytology medium using real-time PCR amplification of the L1 gene and TaqMan probes. Results are simultaneously reported as positive or negative for the pooled 12 oncogenic HPV types (HPV31, -33, -35, -39, -45, -51, -52, -56, -58, -59, -66, and -68) from channel 1, with HPV16 and HPV18 genotypes read individually from channels 2 and 3. A fourth channel detects the human β-globin gene as a control for sample adequacy and assay inhibition. To optimize clinical sensitivity and specificity, cutoff values (cycle thresholds [CT ]) were established for each channel based on the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 (CIN2) or greater (≥CIN2). For women aged ≥21 years with cytology results indicating atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US), CT values provided a sensitivity of 90% (95% confidence interval [CI], 81.5% to 94.8%) for the detection of ≥CIN2 and a specificity of 70.5% (95% CI, 68.1% to 72.7%). The analytic sensitivity (limit of detection) ranged from 150 to 2,400 copies/ml, depending on genotype. The analytic specificity, evaluated by comparing the HPV result with a combined comparator of Sanger sequencing and the Qiagen digene HC2 high-risk HPV DNA test (hc2), demonstrated overall positive agreement of 96.3% for 14 hrHPV types in women with ASC-US cytology results who were aged ≥21 years and 86.1% in women with NLIM (negative for intraepithelial neoplasia or malignancy) cytology who were aged ≥30 years. These and other performance validation studies demonstrate that the cobas HPV test is a fully automated and clinically validated robust test.


The United Kingdom (UK) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched new guidance for the engineering industry, aimed at reducing health risks from metalworking fluids (MWFs). It was the culmination of many years of work on this subject. In the early 1990s the UK occupational exposure standard (OES) for oil mist was 5 mg/m 3 8-hr TWA and 10 mg/m 3 STEL. This was only applicable to highly refined mineral oil mists and there was no exposure limit for water-mix MWFs. HSE therefore undertook to review the existing exposure limit for neat mineral oil mists and consider developing one for water-mix MWFs. This led to the development of new air sampling methods, a comprehensive survey and a new good practice guidance in the place of statutory exposure limits. This new good practice guidance has been endorsed and launched with the help of relevant industry suppliers, employer and employee associations. The guidance builds on the philosophy of tackling health risks as a holistic approach, for example, not just tackling mist control through the use of ventilation, but also fluid selection, fluid delivery, fluid management etc. Tools, such as laminated task sheets, are provided to make it user-friendly. It also demonstrates the business benefits from this approach, that managing MWFs effectively can reduce the incidence of ill health, reduce fluid and disposal costs, increase tool life and improve machining performance.


In recent years, political scientists have made extensive use of spatial econometric models to test a wide range of theories. In a review of spatial papers, we find that a majority of these studies use the spatial autoregressive (SAR) model. Although this is a powerful method that reveals inferences about diffusion processes, it is also highly restrictive and makes assumptions that often are not appropriate given the expressed theories. We contend that spatial-X (SLX) models are a better reflection of typical theories about spatial processes. Our simulations demonstrate that SLX models consistently retrieve the direct and indirect effects of covariates when the true data-generating process reflects other spatial processes. SAR models, however, tend to find phantom higher-order effects that are not present in the data. We further demonstrate how SLX models reveal heterogeneity in patterns of spatial dependence in countries' defense burdens that SAR models cannot discover.


A three-dimensional microprobe, which is capable of measuring the forces exerting on the probing pin in all directions, is presented. The microprobe is fabricated on stainless steel and is covered by two sets of piezoelectric transducers. One of the transducers drives the probe, and the other senses the dynamic response to identify the contact between the pin and obstacles. A theoretical model is carried out to investigate the transition of the microprobe between contact and non-contact states. Accordingly, a bifurcation diagram is established to provide a design reference for the optimization of driving frequency. A finite element simulation is also carried out for the complete design optimization. Indeed, the fabricated microprobe can be used for the coordinate measurement of the high-aspect-ratio micro-structures


The author describes a web-based system that has decreased paper-work and protocol approval time, while making protocols available for viewing by the research community.


Although academic work reflects on the roles of women's groups (WG) in British unions, research on their impacts is scant. This study employs survey, interview and documentary evidence to evaluate the meaning of WG effects for progress towards union goals. It draws in particular on specific findings relating to WG – union relations in the public and civil services. While the monitoring of WG effects is limited, taken collectively, the data sources indicate that WGs have helped to advance a range of union aims. Some have also imbued or challenged certain union goals with particular equality approaches and/or have enlarged their union's goal repertoire. WGs adopt conventional and less orthodox strategies in these pursuits. Implications for union and WG relations, theory and research are discussed.


The formalism of Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) is being increasingly applied to probabilistic modelling and decision problems in a widening variety of fields. This method provides the advantages of a formal probabilistic model, presented in an easily assimilated visual form, together with the ready availability of efficient computational methods and tools for exploring model consequences. Here we formulate one BBN model of a part of the safety assessment task for computer and software based nuclear systems important to safety. Our model is developed from the perspective of an independent safety assessor who is presented with the task of evaluating evidence from disparate sources: the requirement specification and verification documentation of the system licensee and of the system manufacturer; the previous reputation of the various participants in the design process; knowledge of commercial pressures;information about tools and resources used; and many other sources. Based on these multiple sources of evidence, the independent assessor is ultimately obliged to make a decision as to whether or not the system should be licensed for operation within a particular nuclear plant environment. Our BBN model is a contribution towards a formal model of this decision problem. We restrict attention to a part of this problem: the safety analysis of the Computer System Specification documentation. As with other BBN applications we see this modelling activity as having several potential benefits. It employs a rigorous formalism as a focus for examination, discussion, and criticism of arguments about safety. It obliges the modeller to be very explicit about assumptions concerning probabilistic dependencies, correlations, and causal relationships. It allows sensitivity analyses to be carried out. Ultimately we envisage this BBN, or some later development of it, forming part of a larger model, which might well take the form of a larger BBN model, covering all sources of evidence about pre-operational life-cycle stages. This could provide an integrated model of all aspects of the task of the independent assessor, leading up to the final judgement about system safety in a particular context. We expect to offer some results of this further work later in the DeVa project.


With the recent discovery of traumatic brain injuries developing in retired professional football players, this study seeks to explore players' perceptions of their careers in the sport, and how this may reflect notions of personal health over the long-term. Current and former football players, athletic staff, and other members of the football community were interviewed with the goal of learning about the full trajectory of a football career. Using grounded metaphorical analysis to examine the interview data, our study found the use of metaphor by participants to be integral in players' descriptions of their careers. Participants likened aspects of their careers to enduring a war, having a religious experience, and being part of a family unit. Long-term, post-career health implications are discussed in relation to players' conceiving of their experiences through these metaphors, along with limitations of the study and directions for future research.


Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) is a new sensing framework that empowers normal mobile devices to participate in sensing tasks. The key challenge that degrades the performance of MCS is selfish mobile users who conserve the resources (e.g., CPU, battery, and bandwidth) of their devices. Thus, we introduce energy harvesting (EH) as rewards into MCS, and thus provide more possibilities to improve the quality of service (QoS) of the system. In this paper, we propose a game theoretic approach for achieving sustainable and higher quality sensing task execution in MCS. The proposed solution is implemented as a two-stage game. The first stage of the game is the system reward game, in which the system is the leader, who allocates the task and reward, and the mobile devices are the followers who execute the tasks. The second stage of the game is called the participant decision-making game, in which we consider both the network channel condition and participant's abilities. We analyze the features of the second stage of the game and show that the game admits a Nash equilibrium (NE). Based on the NE of the second stage of the game, the system can admit a Stackelberg equilibrium, at which the utility is maximized. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mechanism can achieve a better QoS and prolong the system lifetime while also providing a proper incentive mechanism for MCS.


Purpose. Our study aimed to assess a possible correlation between NOD2 Arg702Trp (rs2066844) polymorphism and gastric cancer risk in a Romanian population. Material/Methods. A total of 322 subjects (72 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and 250 healthy controls) were included. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood leukocytes and NOD2 Arg702Trp polymorphism was genotyped by Real-Time PCR using specific TaqMan probes. Results. No statistically significant difference was observed between gastric cancer patients and controls when we compared one genotype with other genotype (the CC genotype serves as reference) (OR 0.45, 95% CI: 0.10 - 2.05) or when we compared allele frequencies (the C allele serves as reference) (OR 0.46, 95% CI: 0.11 - 2.04). We examined separately the association of this polymorphism with tumor site and histologic type and no correlation was found. Conclusion. NOD2 Arg702Trp polymorphism is not associated with gastric cancer risk and further investigations are needed to elucidate the contribution of NOD2 gene in gastric carcinogenesis.


Badlands consisting of barren slope surfaces, sharp ridges, and v-shaped gullies are widely formed in Plio-Pleistocene mudstone in southwest Taiwan due to rapid weathering and erosion near the slope surface. The mudstone, which formed in the syn-collisional Plio-Pleistocene foreland sequence, has high density with a void ratio as low as 0.2 and has pore water chemistry similar to the seawater. In this area under the humid, subtropical climate with distinct dry and rainy seasons, since the mudstone slope surfaces are eroded as high as 9 cm/y in average in the rainy season, paved roads such as national express way are frequently damaged by slope failure hazards. To understand the mechanism of rapid erosion, we monitored water content and salinity near the slope surface and found that salt water migrates from the depth to the surface during the dry season, and salt precipitated on crack surfaces. After the dry season, rainfalls in the early rainy season dilutes the salinity, and closes desiccation cracks, consequently slowing the downward migration of water near the slope surface. The wetting of dry rocks and dilution of pore water near the slope surfaces deteriorates the rock and disperses rock-forming grains. The deteriorated surfaces are eroded during subsequent rain in the late rainy season. After the erosion, migration of salt water from the depths to the surfaces occurs again during the subsequent dry season.


In this paper, we quantify the benefits of employing relay station in large-coverage cognitive radio systems which opportunistically access the licensed spectrum of some small-coverage primary systems scattered inside. Through analytical study, we show that even a simple decode-and-forward (SDF) relay, which can hold only one packet, offers significant pathloss gain in terms of the spatial transmission opportunities and link reliability. However, such scheme fails to capture the spatial-temporal burstiness of the primary activities, that is, when either the source-relay (SR) link or relay-destination (RD) link is blocked by the primary activities, the cognitive spectrum access has to stop. To overcome this obstacle, we further propose buffered decode-and-forward (BDF) protocol. By exploiting the infinitely long buffer at the relay, the blockage time on either SR or RD link is saved for cognitive spectrum access. The buffer gain is shown analytically to improve the stability region and average end-to-end delay performance of the cognitive relay system.


In this paper, we implement Neural Ordinary Differential Equations in a Variational Autoencoder setting for generative time series modeling. An object-oriented approach to the code was taken to allow for easier development and research and all code used in the paper can be found here: https://github.com/simonmoesorensen/neural-ode-project The results were initially recreated and the reconstructions compared to a baseline Long-Short Term Memory AutoEncoder. The model was then extended with a LSTM encoder and challenged by more complex data consisting of time series in the form of spring oscillations. The model showed promise, and was able to reconstruct true trajectories for all complexities of data with a smaller RMSE than the baseline model. However, it was able to capture the dynamic behavior of the time series for known data in the decoder but was not able to produce extrapolations following the true trajectory very well for any of the complexities of spring data. A final experiment was carried out where the model was also presented with 68 days of solar power production data, and was able to reconstruct just as well as the baseline, even when very little data is available. Finally, the models training time was compared to the baseline. It was found that for small amounts of data the NODE method was significantly slower at training than the baseline, while for larger amounts of data the NODE method would be equal or faster at training. The paper is ended with a future work section which describes the many natural extensions to the work presented in this paper, with examples being investigating further the importance of input data, including extrapolation in the baseline model or testing more specific model setups.


Background: Assessment of gestational age (GA) based on the last date of menstrual period is often inaccurate. Scores to predict GA of newborns are difficult to use particularly by health workers. An accurate, easy to use the method of assessing GA, particularly in low birth weight (LBW) babies, is needed to detect and link premature newborns to the appropriate level of care. Objectives: The objectives were (1) to develop a "simplified GA score" (SGAS) by selecting items from 3 standard GA scores that significantly predict the GA as measured by the best obstetric estimate (BOE), (2) to validate the accuracy of SGAS against the BOE, (3) to compare the accuracy of SGAS to assess the GA as compared to the accuracy of GA assessment by the New Ballard Score (NBS), and (4) to assess inter rater agreement of SGAS as compared to that of NBS. Materials and Methods: Both the development and validation studies were cross-sectional studies. In the development study, two neonatology residents trained in the use of the 3 scores assessed LBW (<2,500 g) newborns within 24 h of birth. The residents were blinded to each other's assessment and the BOE (GA obtained from last menstrual period [LMP] and confirmed by ultrasound (USG) to be within 2 weeks of the GA ascertained by LMP). Items significantly predictive of GA in multiple regressions were included in the SGAS. In the validation study, two different neonatology residents trained in the use of SGAS assessed the same LBW newborns within 24 h of birth, blinded to each other's assessment and the BOE. Results: In 171 LBW newborns enrolled in the development study, 4 items (Skin, breast, genitals, and posture) were selected for the SGAS. The prevalence of very preterm (<32 weeks) was similar to the actual prevalence. Agreement between the two ratters for SGAS (Cohen's kappa 0.825) was better than that for the NBS (Cohen's kappa 0.709). SGAS had higher positive predictive value for <32 weeks and for ≥32 weeks to ≤35 weeks as compared to the NBS. Conclusions: SGAS is a promising scale for assessment of GA. It needs further validation by public health nurses and community health workers of low resource settings.


This document describes the methodology that has emerged from a series of workshops we have facilitated over several years. These workshops brought together practitioners from a wide range of fields and engaged them in intense conversations about issues regarding technology and education. Such conversations are rooted in participants' personal experiences, driven by the problems they have overcome, and aimed at collaborative articulation of their design knowledge; knowledge of how to get things done. We call these workshops Collaborative Reflection Workshops. Our process goes beyond a single workshop. Over the years, we have identified a structure of three consecutive workshops; a Design Narratives Workshop, a Pattern Mining Workshop and a Design scenarios Workshop. Together, these form what we call the Participatory Patterns Workshops framework. If you are about to participate in such a workshop, this document will tell you what to expect and how to maximise your benefits from the event. If you would like to run such a workshop (or series of workshops) yourself, this document should give you a good starting point for their design. You will still need to adapt the framework for your own needs and circumstances, and we will be happy to assist you in doing that. Everything presented here is a reflection of work in progress. If you find this document useful, please check for new versions. If you find some mistakes or gaps, please let us know. If you run a workshop, please share your experience and insight with us.


In order to determine the overall molecular heterogeneity of echoviruses (EVs) we performed a genetic analysis of the prototype strains. Nucleotide and derived amino acid sequences from different genomic regions (5'UTR, capsid protein-coding and 3D polymerase genes) were used for molecular comparisons. On the basis of a comparison of partial amino acid sequences from the capsid protein VP2, all the sequenced EVs excluding EV22 and EV23 form a single cluster which is genetically homogeneous. All previously sequenced coxsackie B viruses (CBVs) and coxsackievirus A9 also belong to this same genetic cluster. Similar results were obtained when the 5'UTR or 3D polymerase gene sequences were used in comparisons. When amino acid sequences of the major capsid proteins of EV1 and EV16 were compared to those of previously sequenced enteroviruses, the length of the loops connecting the beta-sheets appeared to be relatively constant in the EV/CBV cluster. It can be concluded that EVs and CBVs have diverged relatively late in evolution.


A bipartite quantum interaction corresponds to the most general quantum interaction that can occur between two quantum systems in the presence of a bath. In this work, we determine bounds on the capacities of bipartite interactions for entanglement generation and secret-key agreement between two quantum systems. Our upper bound on the entanglement generation capacity of a bipartite quantum interaction is given by a quantity called the bidirectional max-Rains information. Our upper bound on the secret-key-agreement capacity of a bipartite quantum interaction is given by a related quantity called the bidirectional max-relative entropy of entanglement. We also derive tighter upper bounds on the capacities of bipartite interactions obeying certain symmetries. Observing that reading of a memory device is a particular kind of bipartite quantum interaction, we leverage our bounds from the bidirectional setting to deliver bounds on the capacity of a task that we introduce, called private reading of a wiretap memory cell. Given a set of point-to-point quantum wiretap channels, the goal of private reading is for an encoder to form codewords from these channels, in order to establish a secret key with a party who controls one input and one output of the channels, while a passive eavesdropper has access to one output of the channels. We derive both lower and upper bounds on the private reading capacities of a wiretap memory cell. We then extend these results to determine achievable rates for the generation of entanglement between two distant parties who have coherent access to a controlled point-to-point channel, which is a particular kind of bipartite interaction.


The effect of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide-38 (PACAP-38), and PACAP-27 on the release of serotonin (5-HT) into the intestinal lumen and the portal circulation was studied by using in vivo isolated vascularly and luminally perfused rat duodenum. 5-HT levels were determined by HPLC. VIP, PACAP-38, and PACAP-27 reduced the luminal release of 5-HT but did not affect the vascular release of 5-HT. The inhibitory effect caused by VIP, PACAP-38, and PACAP-27 was not affected by either atropine, hexamethonium, TTX, or TTX plus ACh, but it was completely antagonized by the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor N G-nitro-l-arginine (l-NNA). The VIP receptor antagonist VIP-(10-28) blocked the effects of VIP, PACAP-38, and PACAP-27. These results suggest that VIP and PACAP exert a direct inhibitory effect on the luminal release of 5-HT from the enterochromaffin (EC) cells via a common receptor site on the EC cells and that this effect is mediated by NO but not by cholinergic pathways. A single injection of TTX, atropine, or hexamethonium reduced the luminal release of 5-HT, whereas a single injection of VIP-(10-28) stimulated the luminal release of 5-HT and this effect was antagonized by atropine, hexamethonium, or TTX. These results suggest that EC cells may receive the direct innervation of cholinergic neurons as well as VIP and/or PACAP neurons, with the former exerting a tonic stimulatory influence and the latter exerting a tonic inhibitory influence on 5-HT release into the intestinal lumen.


Bronchial responsiveness to acetaldehyde, a main factor in alcohol-induced bronchoconstriction, and methacholine were compared between 10 subjects with alcohol-induced bronchoconstriction and 16 asthmatic subjects without alcohol sensitivity. In the alcohol-sensitive group, the geometric mean (geometric SEM (GSEM)) of the provocative concentration of methacholine (PC20,meth) and acetaldehyde (PC20,acet) causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second were 0.947 mg x mL(-1) (GSEM 0.139) and 21.0 mg x mL(-1) (GSEM 0.112), respectively, which were not significantly different from those in the nonalcohol-sensitive group, which were 0.634 mg x mL(-1) (GSEM 0.115) and 31.7 mg x mL(-1) (GSEM 0.077), respectively. The ratio of airway responsiveness to acetaldehyde relative to methacholine (log PC20,acet/PC20,meth) was 1.345+/-0.093 (mean+/-SEM) in the alcohol-sensitive group, which was significantly different from the value of 1.699+/-0.059 in the nonalcohol-sensitive group (p=0.0025). A significant correlation was observed between PC20,meth and PC20,acet in both the alcohol-sensitive group (r=-0.742, p=0.0115) and nonsensitive group (r=0.882, p<0.0001). In conclusion, the airways of asthmatic subjects with alcohol-induced bronchoconstriction have a selective hyperresponsiveness to acetaldehyde.


Since the year 1977, role modeling has been continuously investigated as promising paradigm to model complex, dynamic systems. However, this research had almost no influence on the design of todays increasingly complex and context-sensitive software systems. The reason for that is twofold. First, most modeling languages focused either on the behavioral, relational or context-dependent nature of roles rather than combining them. Second, there is a lack of tool support for the design, validation, and generation of role-based software systems. In particular, there exists no graphical role modeling editor supporting the three natures as well as the various proposed constraints. To overcome this deficiency, we introduce the Full-fledged Role Modeling Editor (FRaMED), a graphical modeling editor embracing all natures of roles and modeling constraints featuring generators for a formal representation and source code of a role-based programming language. To show its applicability for the development of role-based software systems, an example from the banking domain is employed.


A range of crystalline garnet multilayer structures have been fabricated via multi-beam, multi-target PLD in conjunction with a system of mechanical shutters. Structures grown consisted of alternating Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) and Gd3Sc2Ga3O12 (GSGG) layers on Y3Al5O12 (YAG) substrates, with both simple and chirped designs. Distinct layers are observed where layer thickness is around 2 nm or greater, although some layering may also be present at a sub-unit cell level. These structures demonstrate the viability of the shutter technique as a quick, simple fabrication method for a variety of optical multilayer structures.


Institutions of higher education serve as models for excellence in education. They also have an added responsibility in providing guidance to the community for social upliftment and environmental sustainability. The present study conducted in the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) examines the students' perception on the importance of sustainability to the campus. One hundred sixty-five students participated in the survey. The survey focuses on three broad categories, namely environmental, educational and research, and management factors. Environmental factors are more significant compared to management factors. Education and research is given less importance compared to environmental and management factors. Findings provide a useful extension to both the management and administrative strategies in decision-making process to improve the sustainability of the campus.


Tembawang forest has the natural resource that used to fulfill the requirement of live society. The aims of this research are to the types of non timber forest product that are extracted by local people in the tembawang area, the amount of revenue in the use of non-timber forest product from tembawang, and to know the factors influence the local people earnings in extractive tembawang. This study used a survey method with interview technique using questionnaires. Sampling of respondents was taken purposive, (purposive sampling). The member of respondents are 50 families in the 3 sub villages of Sempang Ampin, Saba€™u, and Batu Pati. The results of this reseach slowed that types of non timber forest product that area extracted are durian, cempedak, keranji, jengkol, kelampai, tampoi, langsat, mangosteen, rambutan, rambai, canary, laugh, petai forest, pehengan, sour of maram, duku, former, acid pauh, sour of kanis, saumang (rambutan), coconut, former / kalimantan, and goods. Besides fruits there is also firewood, bamboo, rebung, for the crop of medicinize like earth dowel, sirih forest, and mengkudu. While the type whic is used as income durian, cempedak, jengkol, and keranji. The are fruits of average of earnings from these fruits is Rp.10.849.860 per family per year, with the highest earnings equal to Rp. 83.254000 per family per year, and the lowest equal to Rp. 779.000 per family per year. The coefficient ditermination is 0,237 means the change of farmer earnings in extracting of forest tembawang that equal to 23,7% is influenced by wide of tembawang area the member of type is influenced the wide area of tembawang, the member of family member working in tembawang, the member of work-hours, and products collected. The regression equation is : Y = 160.951 + 9.724X1 - 045X2 €" 12.514X3 €" 488X4 + 10.238X5
Keyword : forest, income, people, tembawang, utilizing.
Keyword : forest, income, people, tembawang, utilizing.


There is no doubt that corruption in Turkey has a continuing and pervasive presence, with less evidence that it is diminishing and more evidence that corruption continues to be embedded in the political and administrative structures. On the other hand, it is also clear that Turkey has substantial legal and institutional means to address corruption. Part of the reason that they do not appear to have significantly impacted on corruption may be the countervailing influences of enduring cultural traditions within the public sector and among citizens. The article, in taking an overview of the articles in the Issue, emphasizes the role of awareness and training in ethics for both citizens and public officials as a central and integral aspect of any continuing reform agenda.


: Factographic data are submitted on research potential of the system of health services of Ukraine. An analysis has been performed of the structure of such a potential together with features of its constituents. Attention is drawn to solution of scientific tasks related to basic research problems, the medical science priorities in particular. The analysis of the scientific investigations conducted is accompanied by a demonstration of most weighty results such as those related to working out of health protection-oriented decisions, recommendations on innovative technologies to master new ways for administering treatments and prophylaxis of diseases as well as to theoretical scientific achievements, etc. Weak spots in the organization and conduction of scientific quests in the branch are analyzed, an attempt is made to argue for the causes of this phenomenon. Particular attention is given to deficits in financing of medical science and to low effectiveness of search for extra-budget resources. The authors form ways toward improving the state of medical science in the system of public health services.


Using a novel regulatory dataset of fully identified derivatives transactions, this paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of the structure of the euro area interest rate swap (IRS) market after the start of the mandatory clearing obligation. Our dataset contains 1.7 million bilateral IRS transactions of banks and non-banks. Our key results are as follows: 1) The euro area IRS market is highly standardised and concentrated around the group of the G16 Dealers but also around a significant group of core "intermediaries"(and major CCPs). 2) Banks are active in all segments of the IRS euro market, whereas non-banks are often specialised. 3) When using relative net exposures as a proxy for the "flow of risk" in the IRS market, we find that risk absorption takes place in the core as well as the periphery of the network but in absolute terms the risk absorption is largely at the core. 4) Among the Basel III capital and liquidity ratios, the leverage ratio plays a key role in determining a bank's IRS trading activity.