Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is employed to investigate the vibration of an Euler beam resting on an elastic foundation. The beam is assumed to have variable stiffness along its length. HPM is an easy-to-use and very efficient technique for the solution of linear or nonlinear problems. HPM produces analytical approximate expression which is continuous in the solution domain. This work assures that HPM is a promising method for the vibration analysis of the variable stiffness Euler beams on elastic foundation. Different case problems have been solved by using the technique, and solutions have been compared with those available in the literature.


A History of the education of the Shudra Untouchables before and under the British Rule in India. (Circ; 2000 B.C. to 1947 A. D.) The Shudra Untouchables are descendents of the Aboriginal Dasyu, natives of India who inhabited and ruled over the country before the Aryan invasion about 2000 B.C. The Aryans, ancestors of the Hindus, defeated them and made them dasas (slaves). Under the Hindu caste system, the Aboriginal Dasa natives were given the name of Shudras. The Aryan Hindus excluded the Dasa Shudras from all social and educational privileges of their society. The Aryan Hindu priests laid down severe laws in their religious books for the social and educational segregation of the Shudras in all ages to come. Such penal laws were filling the ears and cutting the tongue of a Shudra if he tried to overhear or utter a syllable from their scriptures. These sanctions have been followed by the Hindus till the present day. (Section I - Ch.I). The rise of Budhism promised social and educational equality to the Shudras who therefore joined the new cult in millions for its benefits. (Ch.II)The Educational System in the post Budhist period - a period of the revival of Hinduism, was again unfavourable to the social and educational advance of the Shudras. (Ch.III).Under the Mohammedans and later under the British, the priestly Hindus won the favour of the rulers and kept their social order, which was antagonistic to the Shudras, intact. Whatever money was allotted by the British for educational purposes, was all diverted to Hindu learning and culture. (Chs.III & IV).The Hindu Congress, founded in 1885, followed a political programme rather than the social programme which would have been useful for the Untouchables. Its programme suggests the Hindu-ising of the Untouchables rather than their education. (Ch.VI) The Hindu public, following Congress, have also opposed the education of the Untouchables. (Ch.VII). Some of the causes of the denial of education advanced from generation to generation, have been that the Untouchables were racially inferior; and had no tradition or aptitude for learning; and (today) that they lack intelligence and are unclean etc. These allegations are without logical justification. (Ch.VIII).During the Mohammedan rule, the Muslim kings, on the whole, recognised the equality of the Shudras. Hence the Shudras embraced Islam through the agency of mosque schools. (Section II -Ch.I).The greatest service during this period for the elevation of the Shudras was through Sufi saints. (Ch.II).During the British period the Christian missions intensified their efforts for the uplift of the Untouchables. The missionaries are the real pioneers of the education of the Depressed Classes in India. Their service is unique in the history of mankind. (Section III - Chs.I and II). But if they had limited their work to the Untouchables, there would now be no Untouchables in India. (Ch.III). The work of the British Government in opening its schools to the Shudra Untouchables is also unparalleled. Their period will remain memorable among civilized nations for this work. (Section IV - Ch.I).But Britain could do still more if it chose to do so. (Ch.II).In an independent India, the advance of the education of the Shudra Untouchables can be achieved (a) by the Untouchables remaining an independent block (b) by the adoption of a universal system of education by the Government in power. (Section V).


Identifying sections is one of the critical components of understanding medical information from unstructured clinical notes and developing assistive technologies for clinical note-writing tasks. Most state-of-the-art text classification systems require thousands of in-domain text data to achieve high performance. However, collecting in-domain and recent clinical note data with section labels is challenging given the high level of privacy and sensitivity. The present paper proposes an algorithmic way to improve the task transferability of meta-learning-based text classification in order to address the issue of low-resource target data. Specifically, we explore how to make the best use of the source dataset and propose a unique task transferability measure named Normalized Negative Conditional Entropy (NNCE). Leveraging the NNCE, we develop strategies for selecting clinical categories and sections from source task data to boost cross-domain meta-learning accuracy. Experimental results show that our task selection strategies improve section classification accuracy significantly compared to meta-learning algorithms.


Abstract Through the detection of surface deformation in response to water movement, recent satellite studies have demonstrated the existence of subglacial lakes in Antarctica that fill and drain on timescales of months to years. These studies, however, were confined to specific regions of the ice sheet. Here we present the first comprehensive study of these 'active' lakes for the Antarctic ice sheet north of 86° S, based on 4.5 years (2003–08) of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data. Our analysis has detected 124 lakes that were active during this period, and we estimate volume changes for each lake. The ICESat-detected lakes are prevalent in coastal Antarctica, and are present under most of the largest ice-stream catchments. Lakes sometimes appear to transfer water from one to another, but also often exchange water with distributed sources undetectable by ICESat, suggesting that the lakes may provide water to or withdraw water from the hydrologic systems that lubricate glacier flow. Thus, these reservoirs may contribute pulses of water to produce rapid temporal changes in glacier speeds, but also may withdraw water at other times to slow flow.


Motivation: There is great interest to understand the impact of rare variants in human diseases using large sequence datasets. In deep sequences datasets of >10,000 samples, ∼10% of the variant sites are observed to be multi-allelic. Many of the multi-allelic variants have been shown to be functional and disease relevant. Proper analysis of multi-allelic variants is critical to the success of a sequencing study, but existing methods do not properly handle multi-allelic variants and can produce highly misleading association results. Results: We propose novel methods to encode multi-allelic sites, conduct single variant and gene-level association analyses, and perform meta-analysis for multi-allelic variants. We evaluated these methods through extensive simulations and the study of a large meta-analysis of ∼18,000 samples on the cigarettes-per-day phenotype. We showed that our joint modeling approach provided an unbiased estimate of genetic effects, greatly improved the power of single variant association tests, and enhanced gene-level tests over existing approaches. Availability: Software packages implementing these methods are available at (https://github.com/zhanxw/rvtests http://genome.sph.umich.edu/wiki/RareMETAL). Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com


Between 1988 and 1991, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection status was evaluated in 1,160 cats examined at an oncology referral and general practice in Los Angeles, California. Twenty-nine (2.5%) cats were FIV positive. Neoplasia was present in 18 of the 29 (62%) cats. Sampling for neoplasia was intentionally biased in the oncology referral group. However, 33% (6/18) of FIV-infected cats with neoplasia originated from the general practice. Three neoplastic processes were observed; myeloproliferative disease (MPD; 5/18), lymphoma (LSA; 5/18), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; 7/18). One cat had LSA and SCC. Extranodal sites of LSA were common (66%) in FIV-infected cats. Sites of LSA were submandibular and mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, kidneys, periorbital area, and diffuse (heart, pancreas, bladder). Sites of SCC were sublingual (n = 2), nasal planum (n = 3), nasal planum and eyelids (n = 1), and mandible (n = 2). Feline leukemia virus co-infection was observed in 17% (5/29) of FIV-infected cats. The FIV-infected cats with MPD were young (range, 8 months to 13 years; median, 4 years) and had short survival duration (2, 6, 21, 134, 249 days) even in response to aggressive treatment. The FIV-infected cats with LSA were older (median age, 8 years; range, 4 to 14 years) and survived 60 days if untreated. Cats administered chemotherapy survived 39, 45, 217, and 243 days; the latter 2 cats had partial remission of 2 months' duration. Older FIV-infected cats had SCC (median age, 12 years; remission range, 7 to 16 years) because of more frequent association of both diseases in older cats with outdoor environment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Vietnam is currently undertaking deeper trade liberalization, both by reducing tariffs and introducing reforms in other trade-related areas. In this paper, the impact of Vietnam's trade reforms on its economic welfare and sectoral adjustments are assessed using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. We consider the effects of goods and services trade liberalization, an increase in foreign direct investment inflows, a reduction in administrative and technical barriers to trade, and a reduction in trade and transport margins. When all effects are combined, Vietnam's economic welfare is projected to increase by 8.4 per cent in 2020 compared to the baseline. Many manufacturing sectors would expand, whereas agricultural, minerals and fuel sectors would contract. The output expansion is most significant in the textiles and wearing apparel sector.


Using Lagrangian simulations, based on circulation models over three different hydroclimatic periods in the last 45 years in the North Atlantic Ocean, the trans-Atlantic migration of the European eel Anguilla anguilla leptocephali was simulated via the passive drift of particles released in the spawning area. Three different behaviours were modelled: drifting at fixed depth, undergoing a vertical migration or choosing the fastest currents. Simulations included mortality hypotheses to estimate a realistic mean migration duration and relative survival of A. anguilla larvae. The mean migration duration was estimated as 21 months and the mortality rate as 3.8 per year, i.e. < 0.2% of A. anguilla larvae may typically survive the trans-Atlantic migration.


ELECTROCHEMICALLY REACTIVE MEMBRANES FOR EFFICIENT BIOMASS RECOVERY, POLLUTANT DEGRADATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION by Likun Hua Micropollution in natural waters such as rivers and groundwater aquifers is a widespread problem that prevents these potentially potable sources from being used as drinking water. In the United States, approximately two-thirds of the over 1,200 most serious hazardous waste sites in the nation are contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a potentially carcinogenic compound. Other emerging and environmentally persistent organic micropollutants include polyromantic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphate flame retardants, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Membrane filtration is one of the most efficient separation processes widely used for water treatment and pollutant removal. However, traditional membrane separations suffer from membrane fouling due to either the formation of a cake layer of biomass or more commonly due to organic matter adsorption onto the membrane surface. Moreover, some trace level organic micropollutants are not effectively removed particularly in microfiltration processes, where pore sizes are not small enough to capture small molecular weight organics. This study demonstrated an innovative and multifunctional reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) that acts as both a filter and a reactive anode. REM filtration has significant mitigation of membrane surface and efficient degradation of water contaminant fouling through electrochemical oxidation powered by anodic polarization under a DC current. This research demonstrate: (1) the use of the Ti4O7 REM to separate and oxidize potentially pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., algal cells and bacteria) in aqueous suspension with evidence of cell damage and removal; (2) Evaluation of the performance of REMs for the removal of antibiotic compound (sulfamethoxazole) and 1,4-dioxane; (3) fouling mitigation and development of antifouling strategies via DC current applications and anode/cathode switch; (4) Radical formation mechanisms under DC currents in the REM filtration system. Overall, this project aims to demonstrate next generation reactive membrane filtration systems with high pollutant rejection or removal efficiencies toward water contaminants on electrochemical oxidation reactions on REM surfaces. ELECTROCHEMICALLY REACTIVE MEMBRANES FOR EFFICIENT BIOMASS RECOVERY, POLLUTANT DEGRADATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION


After years of reduced Government funding, high student-to-staff ratios are a now a reality in many Australian universities, alongside an increasingly casualised workforce and a growing reliance on technology enhanced teaching. At the same time, the Australian Government has set ambitious new targets in the attainment rate for bachelor degrees by 2025, which promises to lead to a further rapid expansion of the sector post 2012. In this context, the assurance of teaching quality in large enrollment courses, which are taught across multiple campuses and in various modes, poses significant challenges for course coordinators. Thus, the requirement to become an effective manager of a teaching team, which often has a high proportion of casual and contract staff, is one example of the changing nature of academic work in an increasingly complex higher education landscape. This case study explores a course coordinator's approach to the collegial development and management of an effective teaching team in a large enrollment undergraduate Business Studies course. The aim was to improve the student learning experience and outcomes through effective teamwork and by developing a shared understanding amongst the team members of best practice in teaching and assessment.


Success in the pharmaceutical industry is plagued by high rates of late-stage attrition because of unanticipated pre-clinical and clinical toxicity. In order to improve success rates, it is necessary to consider potential on- and off-target-mediated toxicity at an earlier stage in product development to shift attrition upstream in the process. This will help to avoid resource-intensive development activities, such as pre-clinical toxicology and human clinical studies, on compounds that are ultimately destined to fail. Large-scale gene expression profiling technologies, such as toxicogenomics, have the potential to diagnose and predict certain safety liabilities using in vitro and in vivo models. When used appropriately in the early stages of lead optimization and pre-clinical drug testing, it has the potential to improve compound selection at an earlier stage of drug discovery and thus decrease the probability of late-stage attrition. A more thorough understanding of a drug's mechanism of action and toxicity is also expected to improve human risk assessment and help define appropriate screening strategies to avoid toxicophores in subsequent iterations of drug discovery. This chapter will focus on the application of systems toxicology using toxicogenomics in drug discovery for the early safety assessment of small molecule therapeutics.

Keywords:

discovery toxicology;
drug discovery;
in vitro;
in vivo;
lead optimization;
microarray;
toxicity prediction;
toxicogenomics


The promotion of a healthy lifestyle and objective necessity stimulate a significant growth in demand for organic products around the world. Despite the relevance, demand, and a large number of theoretical and applied research, the opportunities and resource potential of the Russian Federation in this area of agribusiness have not yet been fully identified. As part of our research, was formed interdisciplinary fundamental platform for developing the theory of organic food market. As a result, we determined the elements of scientific methodology (theories, principles, factors, methods) of its functioning, which allowed justifying the potential capacity of the consumer market of organic food in Russia. The calculation was made taking into account dietary intake of food that meet the present-day requirements of healthy nutrition, heterogeneity of consumer preferences, price gap for the staple conventional and organic products in retail and price variance for the latter. Our research is addressed to the world business community operating in the organic food market and industry research institutions.


Intra-tooth stable isotope analysis of dentine provides a more sensitive means to examine infant and childhood life history in the past than conventional cross-sectional analyses that rely on age-at-death. In addition, reconstructions of early diet and life history using an intra-tooth approach circumvent potential problems associated with mortality bias, which may operate strongly during infancy and childhood. We present new intra-tooth stable carbon and nitrogen isotope profiles in dentine collagen of early forming permanent teeth in a sample of adults from the Medieval Nubian site of Kulubnarti. We interpret the profiles in terms of weaning behavior and dietary history, and we compare profiles generated from first molars and canines to explore the degree to which these tooth types correspond. We then compare the profiles to the occurrence of linear enamel hypoplasia to assess the relationship between the timing of the weaning process and stress events. Finally, we compare the longitudinal profiles to cross-sectional stable isotope data obtained from rib collagen to investigate how life histories might differ between those that survived into adulthood and those that did not. Results suggest that canine and first molar profiles are in broad agreement, that hypoplastic stress events occurred during rather than before or after the weaning process in our sample, and that survivors appear to have weaned earlier than the average non-survivor. We suggest that this approach may be useful for addressing the effects of selective mortality on reconstructions of early life history and the relationship between early life history and morbidity.


In this paper we build upon previous work on external economies in manufacturing [Caballero and Lyons (1989, 1990)] by providing new evidence helpful for discriminating between different types of externalities. We investigate four-digit level input-output relationships and find that, over shorter horizons, the linkage between an industry and its customers is the most important factor in the transmission of externalities. This suggests that transactions externalities accruing primarily to the seller, and/or activity-driven demand externalities are significant for explaining the short-run behavior of measured total factor productivity. Over longer horizons. on the other hand, it is the activity level of suppliers that is more important. This suggests that external effects are also operating through intermediate goods linkages.


The Supreme Court has interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act as strongly favoring the enforcement of arbitration agreements. An issue that the Supreme Court has not yet addressed – and on which state and federal courts are split – is the enforceability of employment arbitration agreements signed by minors. This article argues that arbitration agreements in minors' employment contracts should be voidable, with three exceptions: when (1) the arbitration agreement (or container employment agreement) is signed by the minor's guardian on the minor's behalf, (2) the minor is emancipated, and (3) the minor is suing to enforce the employment contract.


We make a detailed study of matter density perturbations in both metric and Palatini formalisms. Considering general theories whose Lagrangian density is a general function, $f(R)$, of the Ricci scalar $R$, we derive the equation of matter density perturbations in each case, in a number of gauges, including comoving, longitudinal and uniform density gauges. We show that for viable $f(R)$ models that satisfy cosmological and local gravity constraints (LGC), matter perturbation equations derived under a subhorizon approximation are valid even for super-Hubble scales provided the oscillating mode (scalaron) does not dominate over the matter-induced mode. Such approximate equations are especially reliable in the Palatini formalism because of the absence of scalarons. Using these equations we make a comparative study of the behavior of matter density perturbations as well as gravitational potentials for a number of classes of $f(R)$ theories. In the metric formalism the quantity $m=R{f}_{,RR}/{f}_{,R}$ that characterizes the deviation from the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model is constrained to be very small during a matter era in order to ensure compatibility with LGC, but the models in which $m$ grows to the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ around the present epoch can be allowed. These models also suffer from an additional fine-tuning due to the presence of scalaron oscillating modes which are absent in the Palatini case. In Palatini formalism LGC and background cosmological constraints provide only weak bounds on $|m|$ by constraining it to be smaller than $\ensuremath{\sim}0.1$. This is in contrast to matter density perturbations which, on galactic scales, place far more stringent constraints on the present deviation parameter $m$ of the order of $|m|\ensuremath{\lesssim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}--{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$. This is due to the peculiar evolution of matter perturbations in the Palatini case, which exhibits a rapid growth or a damped oscillation depending on the sign of $m$.


Economies that are more open to trade and foreign direct investment face greater competitive pressure than closed ones. Globalization critics are concerned that this pressure induces countries to lower labor standards in order to remain competitive and retain or attract foreign investment. Defenders of globalization counter that countries that are more closely integrated into global markets are likely to have higher rather than lower standards. This article tests the effect of globalization on a specific labor right, which forms part of what are commonly regarded as core or fundamental labor standards. Employing a new measure of free association and collective bargaining rights, we find that countries that are more open to trade have fewer rights violations than more closed ones. This effect holds in a global sample as well as in a developing country sub-sample and holds also when potential feedback effects are controlled via instrumental variable regression. The extent of an economy's 'penetration' by foreign direct investment has no statistically significant impact. Globalization might not be beneficial for outcome-related labor standards, but it is likely to promote the process-related standard of a right to free association and collective bargaining.


Polyphenols were extracted from olive cake and then concentrated at 50, 75, and 100°C by the evaporation of extract. Antioxidant activity of total polyphenols in olive cake extract decreased while the concentration of total polyphenols increased during the evaporation of extract at 100°C, but concentration of polyphenols slightly increased while antioxidant activity did not change at 75°C. These results showed that antioxidant activity is not related and estimated with the amount of total polyphenols. Reaction rate for the loss of polyphenols is found zero order at 50 and 75°C with r2 of 0.99 and at 100°C with r2 of 0.85. Low r2 value at 100°C requires the consideration of a different kinetic model to predict the losses of polyhenols at a high temperature of 100°C.


The concept of job-related well-being is developed based on theories of the self and the life course, and well-being and meaning of work literatures. Job-related well-being is the contribution of the job to well-being through enjoyment of the job by the individual (hedonic job-related well-being) and fulfillment of the purposes of the job for the individual (eudaimonic job-related well-being). Although it is an individual attitude, extant conceptualizations of job satisfaction are limited within the boundaries of the workplace, essentially leaving out meaning of jobs, and therefore represent a partial conceptualization of hedonic job-related well-being. Fulfillment of job purpose comprises six facets: self-expression, development and growth, role in society, financial subsistence and thriving, impact on family as self-defined, and impact on life construction. Implications of job-related well-being for research related to general well-being, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, engagement, presenteeism, retention, and performance behaviors, as well as implications for practice, are discussed.


The paper summarises an experimental investigation into the resistance and wash waves of high speed displacement
monohulls and catamarans in shallow water. Measurements of total resistance, running trim, sinkage and multiple longitudinal wave cuts were carried out for three round bilge hulls derived from the NPL series and one from Series 64. Parametric changes included length/displacement ratios of 7.4, 8.5 and 9.5, and hull separation/length ratios of 0.2, 0.4 and infinity. The tests were carried out in two depths of shallow water over a length Froude Number range of 0.25 to 1.0 and a depth Froude Number range of 0.5 to 3.0. The wave resistance was derived using wave pattern analysis and the principal particulars of the generated wave system are presented as maximum wave height, period, distribution of energy and direction of wave propagation. The results of the investigation provide a better understanding of the performance of high speed displacement monohulls and catamarans in shallow water, including the influences of speed, water depth, hull separation and length/displacement ratio. The data derived are very suitable for design applications and for the validation of theoretical analyses of ship wave resistance and wash waves.


Faculty members in urban universities face both special challenges and unique opportunities. Greater respect for urban universities produces greater expectations, and, inevitably, greater stress from both within and without, and this makes the cultivation of faculty resources more important than ever. By widening and deepening professional preparation, developing models that make faculty careers more flexible, recognizing and rewarding differential faculty contributions, promoting more leadership in place, and developing more sophisticated knowledge about human learning, professional development programs are poised to play a more important and powerful role than ever before.


First published in 1990, the critically acclaimed Encyclopedia of Popular Music is the largest project ever undertaken on the subject. This authoritative biographical encyclopedia of rock, pop, and jazz artists covers popular music from 1900 to the present, including folk, blues, world music, rock, heavy metal, techno, reggae, and hip hop. Entries cover popular music genres, trends, styles, record labels, venues, and music Festivals. Key dates, biographies, and further reading are provided for artists covered, along with complete discographies that include record labels, release dates, and a 5-star album rating system. From Whitesnake to White Stripes, R.E.M. to Blink-182, and from The Jazz Singer to Jerry Springer - The Opera, Now in its fourth edition, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music has something informative and clever to say about everyones favourite group or artist.


Abstract. Analyses of microbial communities from six water-flooding petroleum reservoirs at temperatures from 21 to 63 °C by 16S rRNA gene clone libraries indicates the presence of physiologically diverse and temperature-dependent microorganisms in these subterrestrial ecosystems. In samples originating from high-temperature petroleum reservoirs, most of the archaeal sequences belong to thermophiles affiliated with members of the genera Thermococcus, Methanothermobacter and the order Thermoplasmatales, whereas bacterial sequences predominantly belong to the phyla Firmicutes, Thermotogae and Thermodesulfobacteria. In contrast to high-temperature petroleum reservoirs, microorganisms belonging to the Proteobacteria, Methanobacteriales and Methanomicrobiales were the most encountered in samples collected from low-temperature petroleum reservoirs. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that temperature, mineralization, ionic type as well as volatile fatty acids showed correlation with the microbial community structures, in particular members of the Firmicutes and the genus Methanothermobacter showed positive correlation with temperature and the concentration of acetate. Overall, these data indicate the large occurrence of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in petroleum reservoirs and imply that acetate metabolism via syntrophic oxidation may represent the main methanogenic pathway in high-temperature petroleum reservoirs.


In this paper, we design an efficient method of simulating wireless networks that use CSMA/CA-based protocols in the MAC layer. In the method, a stochastic model to estimate the CSMA/CA frame transmission delay is naturally incorporated into the conventional fully event-based model. The stochastic model can simplify the interactions between a frame transmitter and its surrounding nodes, which alleviates the event scheduling overhead in simulation. The important feature is that the stochastic model can be applied in "per-node" and "time" basis, i.e. we may simulate the behavior of some intended nodes precisely while the others are simplified by the stochastic mode to save computational resources. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach to coexistence of the stochastic and event-based models in wireless multi-hop network simulation. We have implemented this scheme in a commercial network simulator and conducted several experiments. From the results, it is confirmed that the proposed method could perform simulation of frame transmission much faster than the fully event-based simulation achieving the same accuracy as the conventional model.


Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are vulnerable to intentional or unintentional Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) sources. Since GNSS is used in numerous critical services, it is of interest to accurately localise and track the RFI source to take further actions. This paper explores the possibility of implementing the Particle Filter for localising a moving GNSS RFI source using Angle of Arrival (AOA) and Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) observations. The performance of the Particle Filter and the Single Propagation Unscented Kalman Filter (SPUKF) are compared in this context in terms of estimation accuracy, the standard deviation in error and the processing time.


This paper focuses on coordination of multi-agent systems with agents having holonomic nonlinear dynamics and uncertain system parameters. An indirect adaptive control scheme composed of a parameter estimator and a feedback-linearization based control law is designed based on the certainty equivalence principle. (i) Simple linear and (ii) sliding mode control structures are used in the outer control loop. The controllers successfully satisfy the objectives of formation maintenance and trajectory tracking. Simulation results for a sample two-dimensional formation are presented, demonstrating the performance of the proposed control scheme.


Dynamical networks with time delays can pose a considerable challenge for mathematical analysis. Here, we extend the approach of generalized modeling to investigate the stability of large networks of delay-coupled delay oscillators. When the local dynamical stability of the network is plotted as a function of the two delays then a pattern of tongues is revealed. Exploiting a link between structure and dynamics, we identify conditions under which perturbations of the topology have a strong impact on the stability. If these critical regions are avoided the local stability of large random networks can be well approximated analytically.


Aims: This study aimed to investigate the effects of online Vinyasa Yoga (VY) and Taijifit™ (12 weeks) in informal caregivers (≥18 years of age). Methods: Twenty-nine participants were randomized to two groups: VY (n = 16, 55.87 ± 12.31 years) or Taijifit™ (n = 13, 55.07 ± 12.65 years). Main Outcome Measures: Prior to and following the study, assessments were made for muscle strength (1-RM leg press, chest press, and handgrip), muscle endurance (leg press and chest press; maximal number of repetitions performed to fatigue at 80% and 70% baseline 1-RM, respectively), abdominal endurance (maximum number of consecutive curl-ups to fatigue), tasks of functionality (dynamic balance and walking speed), and flexibility (sit and reach). Results: There was a significant increase over time for muscle strength, muscle endurance, tasks of functionality, and flexibility (P = 0.001). The VY group experienced a greater improvement in chest press endurance (VY: pre 19.25 ± 5.90, post 28.06 ± 7.60 reps; Taijifit™ pre 15.69 ± 4.49, post 21.07 ± 5.85 reps; P = 0.019) and abdominal endurance (VY: pre 37.12 ± 31.26, post 68.43 ± 55.07 reps; Taijifit™ pre 19.23 ± 19.00, post 32.07 ± 20.87 reps; P = 0.034) compared to the Taijifit™ group. Conclusions: VY and Taijifit™ are effective for improving muscle strength and endurance, tasks of functionality, and flexibility in informal caregivers. VY led to greater gains in chest press endurance and abdominal curl-ups.


While there is substantial literature on the adoption of IT innovations based on utility computing, there is a dearth of studies on cloud computing adoption by business organizations. Given that cloud computing adoption has been steadily increasing in Kenya, this study aim to investigate the determinants of cloud computing adoption from an institutional perspective. The relationship between institutional pressures and cloud computing adoption was evaluated and tested using structural equation modelling (PLS SEM). A firm level cross sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 93 firms in the financial, manufacturing, and ICT sectors. The results indicate that coercive and normative pressures have a significant positive relationship with cloud computing adoption. The hypothesis that mimetic pressures have a relationship with cloud computing adoption was not supported. A major implication of this study is that professional and standards bodies do influence technology adoption through normative pressures.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the chemopreventive effect of curcumin on DMH induced colorectal carcinogenesis and the underlining mechanism.

METHODS
Totally 40 Wistar rats were divided into the model group and the curcumin group by random digit table, 20 in each group. Meanwhile, a normal control group was set up (n =10). A colorectal cancer model was induced by subcutaneously injecting 20 mg/kg DMH. The tumor incidence and the inhibition rate were calculated. The effect of curcumin on the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) in rat colon mucosal tissues was observed using immunohistochemistry and Western blot. HT 29 cell line were cultured and divided into a control group, the curcumin + GW9662 (2-chloro-5-nitro-N-4-phenylbenzamide) intervention group, and the curcumin group. The inhibition of different concentrations curcumin on HT29 cell line was detected using MTT. The expression of curcumin on PPARy was also detected using Western blot.

RESULTS
The tumor incidence was 80. 00% (12/15 cases) in the model group, obviously higher than that of the curcumin group (58. 82%, 10/17 cases, P <0. 05). The inhibition rate of curcumin on DMH induced colorected carcinoma reached 26. 46%. Compared with the normal control group, the expression of PPARγ protein was significantly increased in the curcumin group and the model group (P <0. 01). Compared with the model group at the same time point, the expression of PPARy protein was significantly enhanced in the curcumin group (P <0. 05). MTT analysis showed that curcumin could inhibit the proliferation of in vitro HT 29 cells in dose and time dependent manners. The expression of PPARy protein was significantly increased in the GW9662 group and the curcumin group, showing statistical difference when compared with the normal control group (P <0. 01). Compared with the GW9662 group, the expression of PPARγ protein was significantly increased in the curcumin group (P <0. 01).

CONCLUSION
Curcumin could inhibit DMH-induced rat colorectal carcinogenesis and the growth of in vitro cultured HT 29 cell line, which might be achieved by activating PPARy signal transduction pathway.


Abstract Geosphere-biosphere interactions are ubiquitous features of the Earth surface, yet the development of interactions between newly exposed lithologic surfaces and colonizing plants during primary succession after glaciation are lacking temporal detail. To assess the nature, rate, and magnitude of vegetation influence on parent material and sediment delivery, we analyzed ecosystem and geochemical proxies from lacustrine sediment cores at a grassland site and a forested site in the northern United States. Over time, terrigenous inputs declined at both sites, with increasing amounts of organic inputs toward present. The similarities between sites were striking given that the grassland sequence began in the Early Holocene, and the forested sequence began after the last glacial maximum. Multiple mechanisms of chemical weathering, hydrologic transport, and changes in source material potentially contribute to this pattern. Although there were strong links between vegetation composition and nitrogen cycling at each site, it appears that changes in forest type, or from oak woodland to grassland, did not exert a large influence on elemental (K, Ti, Si, Ca, Fe, Mn, and S) abundance in the sedimentary sequences. Rather, other factors in the catchment-lake system determined the temporal sequence of elemental abundance.

https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/08b574d3-64ac-458b-a3f1-cf03dbe0d43b/1/Influences of vegetation on late quaternary ecosystem development - 2019 - McLauchlan Lascu Mellicant Scharping Williams.pdf


Various complications contribute to the risk of resection for aneurysms of the abdominal aorta. Of these, significant ischemia of a portion of the colon has occurred often enough to warrant separate consideration. Four patients, comprising about 1% of Mayo Clinic experience, have died during the postoperative period as a direct result of this complication. This problem was anticipated at the advent of resectional therapy for abdominal aneurysms, but it became evident from practical experience that the inferior mesenteric artery could usually be divided close to the aorta with impunity; indeed, it was already occluded in many patients. Also, the adoption of the procedure of high ligation of the inferior mesenteric artery in resection for malignant lesions of the descending colon has provided a vote of confidence in the collateral arterial blood supply of this portion of the bowel.1Excellent investigations such as that of Griffiths2have added more


BACKGROUND
The evidence of an association of lactation with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer among women has been limited and inconsistent. The effect of lactation appears to be confined to premenopausal women with a history of long lactation, but most studies of this relation have been limited in statistical power. We conducted a multicenter, population-based, case-control study with a sample large enough for us to describe more precisely the association between lactation and the risk of breast cancer.

METHODS
Patients less than 75 years old who had breast cancer were identified from statewide tumor registries in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. Controls were randomly selected from lists of licensed drivers if the case subjects were less than 65 years old, and from lists of Medicare beneficiaries if they were 65 through 74 years old. Information on lactation, reproductive history, and family and medical history was obtained by means of telephone interviews. After the exclusion of nulliparous women, 5878 case subjects and 8216 controls remained for analysis.

RESULTS
After adjustment for parity, age at first delivery, and other risk factors for breast cancer, lactation was associated with a slight reduction in the risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women, as compared with the risk among women who were parous but had never lactated (relative risk, 0.78; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.66 to 0.91); the relative risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women who had lactated, as compared with those who had not, was 1.04 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.95 to 1.14). With an increasing cumulative duration of lactation, there was a decreasing risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women (P for trend < 0.001) but not among postmenopausal, parous women (P for trend = 0.51). A younger age at first lactation was significantly associated with a reduction in the risk of premenopausal breast cancer (P for trend = 0.003). As compared with parous women who did not lactate, the relative risk of breast cancer among women who first lactated at less than 20 years of age and breast-fed their infants for a total of six months was 0.54 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.36 to 0.82).

CONCLUSIONS
There is a reduction in the risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women who have lactated. No reduction in the risk of breast cancer occurred among postmenopausal women with a history of lactation.


Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand, is an invasive insect species in eastern North America that was accidentally introduced from southern Japan. It is the single most important pest of hemlocks in eastern North America and has a severe impact on the two susceptible species: eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere (Pinales: Pinaceae) and Carolina hemlock, Tsuga caroliniana Engelmann (Pinales: Pinaceae). Since the first report of hemlock woolly adelgid in Virginia in 1951, it has been slowly but steadily increasing its range. Recent establishments outside the contiguous range in Michigan and Nova Scotia have also occurred. At the stand level, hemlock trees are being replaced by hardwood trees in eastern North America, impacting some critical ecosystem processes. Several institutions are actively researching ways to protect the existing hemlock stands from further damage and to restore the ecosystems impacted by their loss. Although several control options for hemlock woolly adelgid have been developed, none are completely effective on their own, so a combination of all available control strategies is being used in an effort to save the existing hemlock stands. High-value hemlocks are being protected using chemicals, while a suite of predators is being released in forested areas. However, biological control has not provided immediate protection for heavily infested trees, so options for restoring hemlocks (hybrids with Asian species and punitively resistant stock) and finding viable replacements are being evaluated.


A novel methodology is presented for the investigation of performance and optimization strategies for multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks. The powerful analytical approach is based on two newly defined abstractions: the "deferral set" and the "equivalent competitor" which provide the basis for efficient and elegant models for competitive access and routing in ad hoc networks. Fundamental capacity analysis is facilitated by applying these concepts to detailed models of node behavior. This paper presents theoretical analysis of mean channel throughput and service times during back-logged periods. The results are validated via discrete event simulation (DES).


This article discusses the development and implementation of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, which was adopted in September 2004. Following a review of the contextual issues of international teacher migration, the challenges of teacher recruitment are discussed. Key features of the Protocol are highlighted and discussed with regard to the current task of implementation. A comparison is made between recruitment before and after the adoption of the Protocol, focusing on the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the article highlights challenges and opportunities for Protocol implementation and areas for further research.


Riverine benthic communities play a crucial role in trophic relationships by providing major sources of energy to economically and ecologically important fishes. With the declining production of the Lake Victoria fisheries, the importance of surrounding rivers as sources of fish will continuously increase. There is therefore need to refocus the management of the riverine ecosystems in order to improve their fisheries production, particularly concerning their natural fish food production. Understanding the benthic invertebrate community dynamics and their responses to newly introduced management interventions such as weirs is key towards improving the riverine fisheries production. This study therefore aimed at assessing the benthic invertebrate composition, diversity and density in two small Lake Victoria Basin rivers (River Awach-seme and Kisian) before and after weir installation in order to establish the possible impacts of such management interventions on the benthic invertebrate community. Prior to weir installation, three sampling sites were selected along each river, representing the upper reaches (KS1 and AS1; KS- River Kisian, AS-River Awach-seme), middle (KS2 and AS2) and lower reaches (KS3 and AS3). Pre-weir sampling was carried fortnightly between August and October 2009 while post-weir sampling was carried out monthly between December 2009 and July 2010. Quantitative benthic invertebrates were sampled using a Hess sampler (100 μm). During every sampling, measurements of flow rate, water depth, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, silicates, nitrates, phosphates and totals dissolved solutes were taken. Results showed that the two rivers to have similar physical and chemical characteristics, except for conductivity and silicates that differed significantly. Physico-chemical parameters, including dissolved oxygen, nitrates and turbidity, however differed significantly (p<0.05) among sites within Kisian River. Installation of weirs had insignificant impact on the physico-chemical parameters except nitrates that decreased significantly at both rivers while turbidity decreasing only at Kisian River Site KS2. Benthic invertebrate community at all sites was largely dominated by chironomidae before and after weir installation followed by the Ephemeroptera, particularly the genus Baetis sp. 26 genera were obtained at River Awach-seme while 23 at River Kisian before weir installation, 25 and 17 were obtained after weir installation respectively. Macroinvertebrate densities were significantly higher at Awach-seme. Density increased steadily during pre-weir period in both rivers, but declined though not significantly after weir installation. There were no significant differences in density among sites at any of the two rivers.
Macroinvertebrate Diversity (H') did not differ significantly among sites and within rivers before and after weir installation. PCA analysis showed TDS and conductivity to be closely related to macroinvertebrate densities. Mean water depth at upper Awach-seme showed a significant negative correlation with density. Other parameters were not significantly related to density. Most physical and chemical variables as well as benthic invertebrate density and diversity were observed to be unaltered by weir installation. These results did not support the hypothesis that weirs induce an improvement in the quality of in-stream habitats and change in benthic invertebrate communities. This research therefore provides baseline data for further action.


This article shows that the relationship between favorable equity market valuations and subsequent equity market returns depends on the extent to which the reasons for such valuations are likely to be observable to investors. The authors use the Implied Equity Risk Premium (ERP) to measure whether the U.S. equity market is favorably valued, and a macroeconomic model to explain the level of ERP and allow a determination of whether valuations are consistent with observable data. The model for explaining ERPs considers factors such as interest rates, GDP growth, analysts' longterm growth forecasts, and investors' preference for equities with high asset value relative to investors' preference for equities with high future growth opportunities. When the reasons for the favorable valuations are likely to be known to investors, such as when the negative macroeconomic data consistent with current ERP levels are already public information, higher ERPs are predictive of higher future stock market returns in the long term. However, when the reasons for the favorable valuations are not as likely to be known to investors, higher ERPs are predictive of lower stock market returns in the short term. The rationale is that investor concerns that lead to higher ERPs are more likely to be fully priced when those concerns reflect data that are publicly available, setting the stage for higher future returns. The relevant implication for investors is that valuation is not a sufficient signal for increasing equity allocations. Rather, even if valuation appears attractive, investors should wait to increase equity allocations until the valuation level can be explained by observable data.


Large solar power satellite (SPS) systems that might provide base load power into terrestrial markets were examined extensively in the 1970s by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Following a hiatus of about 15 years, the subject of space solar power (SSP) was reexamined by NASA from 1995-1997 in the "fresh look" study, and during 1998 in an SSP "concept definition study". As a result of these efforts, during 1999-2000, NASA has been conducting the SSP Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program. The goal of the SERT activity has been to conduct preliminary strategic technology research and development to enable large, multi-megawatt SSP systems and wireless power transmission (WPT) for government missions and commercial markets (in-space and terrestrial). In pursuing that goal, the SERT: (1) refined and modeled systems approaches for the utilization of SSP concepts and technologies, ranging from the near-term (e.g., for space science, exploration and commercial space applications) to the far-term (e.g., SSP for terrestrial markets), including systems concepts, architectures, technology, infrastructure (e.g. transportation), and economics; (2) conducted technology research, development and demonstration activities to produce "proof-of-concept" validation of critical SSP elements for both nearer and farther-term applications; and (3) engendered the beginnings of partnerships (nationally and internationally) that could be expanded, as appropriate, to pursue later SSP technology and applications. Through these efforts, the SERT should allow better informed future decisions regarding further SSP and related technology research and development investments by both NASA and prospective partners, and guide further definition of technology roadmaps - including performance objectives, resources and schedules, as well as "multi-purpose" applications (e.g., commerce, science, and government). This paper presents preliminary results from the SERT effort at a summary level, including the study approach, SPS concepts, applications findings, and concludes with a revised assessment of the prospects for solar power satellites using SSP technologies and systems.


Many species possess an endogenous circadian clock to synchronize internal physiology with an oscillating external environment. In plants, the circadian clock coordinates growth, metabolism and development over daily and seasonal time scales. Many proteins in the circadian network form oscillating complexes that temporally regulate myriad processes, including signal transduction, transcription, protein degradation and post-translational modification. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a tripartite complex composed of EARLY FLOWERING 4 (ELF4), EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3), and LUX ARRHYTHMO (LUX), named the evening complex, modulates daily rhythms in gene expression and growth through transcriptional regulation. However, little is known about the physical interactions that connect the circadian system to other pathways. We used affinity purification and mass spectrometry (AP-MS) methods to identify proteins that associate with the evening complex in A. thaliana. New connections within the circadian network as well as to light signaling pathways were identified, including linkages between the evening complex, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1 (TOC1), TIME FOR COFFEE (TIC), all phytochromes and TANDEM ZINC KNUCKLE/PLUS3 (TZP). Coupling genetic mutation with affinity purifications tested the roles of phytochrome B (phyB), EARLY FLOWERING 4, and EARLY FLOWERING 3 as nodes connecting the evening complex to clock and light signaling pathways. These experiments establish a hierarchical association between pathways and indicate direct and indirect interactions. Specifically, the results suggested that EARLY FLOWERING 3 and phytochrome B act as hubs connecting the clock and red light signaling pathways. Finally, we characterized a clade of associated nuclear kinases that regulate circadian rhythms, growth, and flowering in A. thaliana. Coupling mass spectrometry and genetics is a powerful method to rapidly and directly identify novel components and connections within and between complex signaling pathways.


In many countries, there continue to be conflicting opinions and mechanisms regarding the appropriateness of treatment and/or punishment for mentally ill individuals who commit crimes. The general population is concerned with public safety and often finds it difficult to accept the possibility that a mentally ill individual who commits a crime can be hospitalized and eventually discharged, sometimes after a relatively short time. In most countries the options of incarceration and hospitalization are available in concert. In some, incarceration occurs before hospitalization. In others, hospitalization is first, followed by a prison term. An additional option could be "treatment years." The court would determine the number of years of treatment required, according to the crime. This dilemma has no unequivocal solution. The goal is to reach a balance between the right of the patient to treatment and the responsibility of the courts to ensure public safety.


Occupational value with predefined items scale is an originally 26-item Swedish tool used to assess values people find in their everyday doings. The present study validated this scale on a Turkish sample and described the values that Turks perceived in their daily doings. The participants included a convenience sample of 446 adults with mean age 26 (SD=7.3). Initial item analysis followed by principal component analysis (Promax) and internal reliability analyses of the components were conducted. Statistics yielded a 19-item solution distributed across four factors. The Cronbach's alpha was .86, indicating good reliability. Confirming the earlier applications of the scale in the European and the American samples, factors related to recuperation, goal direction and social interaction emerged. Additionally, there appeared another occupational value subfactor, conservation, which did not show up in the Swedish and the American data analyses.


Carbon sequestration in planted forests provides an immediately available, low cost option to address the greenhouse impacts of coal mining and coal utilisation in a carbon constrained world. In addition, planted forests also offer the opportunity to address other environmental issues, particularly salinity and loss of biodiversity. Given salinity is characteristically associated with agriculture in the 500 to 700 mm rainfall belt, then where such forests can also produce commercial timber products, they offer the additional opportunity to establish new, diversified rural employment in both timber growing and processing. In the majority of Australian catchments affected by salinity, where rainfall is generally less than the 700 mm limit to conventional forestry, and where groundwater reserves are often saline, the objective of achieving economically viable forestry production presents a significant challenge. In 1996, Saltgrow commenced a collaborative breeding program to combine the salt and stress tolerance of E camaldulensis, with the growth rate, stem form and wood properties of the commercial species, E grandis and E globulus. This program aimed to produce trees with the potential for commercial rehabilitation of saline landscapes. Results covering a range of site conditions from Saltgrow's network of over 100 trials around Australia are presented. The opportunity for commercial plantations integrated with agriculture in low to medium rainfall areas to address salinity and sustainability will be discussed. In addition, the significant potential for partnerships between land-rich, cash-poor farmers, catchment management authorities seeking to invest in public good projects that enhance environmental sustainability, and major carbon producing industries with either mandated or voluntary requirements to curtail net emissions will also be discussed.


We report advances in the power conversion efficiencies of vertical-cavity top-surface-emitting lasers defined by proton implantation. Efficiencies as high as 13.4% and 15.8% have been obtained for single-mode and multimode operation, respectively. Scaling issues are addressed including the size dependence of threshold current, series resistance, lasing output power, and power conversion efficiency. We find that devices between 15 /spl mu/m and 25 /spl mu/m diameters show the highest power conversion efficiency due to the threshold current not scaling with the conductance and output power. Device geometries with contact apertures both equal to and less than (overlapping) the active region diameter were investigated.<<ETX>>


Abstract Seven separate samples of hydrous ringwoodite with compositions ranging from Fo100 to Fo89 and hydrogen contents from 0.2 to 1.1 wt% were synthesized in the 5000 ton multi-anvil press at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut. Synthesis conditions ranged from 18 to 22 GPa and 1400 to 1500 °C. The crystals were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, IR and Mössbauer spectroscopy, and by analytical and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The crystals are optically isotropic, and the Fe-bearing samples are deep blue in color. Mössbauer spectroscopy and ELNE spectroscopy applied to the Fe-bearing samples indicates about 10% of the iron is in the ferric state. High-resolution TEM examination of one of the Fe-bearing samples indicates that the crystals are homogeneous and free of significant inclusions or exsolution features. Infrared spectra show a broad absorption band extending from about 2500 to 3600 cm-1 with maxima ranging from 3105 for the pure magnesian samples to 3150 cm-1 for the Fo89 samples. The crystal structures of the seven ringwoodite samples were refined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Refinement of cation site occupancies indicates full occupancy of the tetrahedral site for all samples, whereas the occupancy of the octahedral site appears to decrease systematically with H content. The principal hydration mechanism involves octahedral cation vacancies. The IR spectra are consistent with protonation of the short O-O approach on the tetrahedral edge, which would imply partial Mg-Si disorder.


Polychromatic statistical reconstruction algorithms have very high computational demands due to the difficulty of the optimization problems and the large number of spectrum bins. We want to develop a more practical algorithm that has a simpler optimization problem, a faster numerical solver, and requires only a small amount of prior knowledge. In this paper, a modified optimization problem for polychromatic statistical reconstruction algorithms is proposed. The modified optimization problem utilizes the idea of determining scanned materials based on a first pass FBP reconstruction to fix the ratios between photoelectric and Compton scattering components of all image pixels. The reconstruction of a density image is easy to solve by a separable quadratic surrogate algorithm that is also applicable to the multi-material case. In addition, a spectrum binning method is introduced so that the full spectrum information is not required. The energy bins sizes and attenuations are optimized based on the true spectrum and object. With these approximations, the expected line integral values using only a few energy bins are very closed to the true polychromatic values. Thus both the problem size and computational demand caused by the large number of energy bins that are typically used to model a full spectrum are reduced. Simulation showed that three energy bins using the generalized spectrum binning method could provide an accurate approximation of the polychromatic X-ray signals. The average absolute error of the logarithmic detector signal is less than 0.003 for a 120 kVp spectrum. The proposed modified optimization problem and spectrum binning approach can effectively suppress beam hardening artifacts while providing low noise images.


We present the results of the first dedicated observation of the young X-ray pulsar SXP 1062 in the broad X-ray energy band obtained during its 2019 outburst with the NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observatories. The analysis of the pulse-phase averaged and phase-resolved spectra in the energy band from 0.5 to 70 keV did not reveal any evidence for the presence of a cyclotron line. The spin period of the pulsar was found to have decreased to 979.48 ± 0.06 s implying a ∼10% reduction compared to the last measured period during the monitoring campaign conducted about five years ago, and is puzzling considering that the system apparently has not shown major outbursts ever since. The switch of the pulsar to the spin-up regime supports the common assumption that torques acting on the accreting neutron star are nearly balanced and thus SXP 1062 likely also spins with a period close to the equilibrium value for this system. The current monitoring of the source also revealed a sharp drop in its soft X-ray flux right after the outburst, which is in drastic contrast to the behavior during the previous outburst when the pulsar remained observable for years with only a minor flux decrease after the end of the outburst. This unexpected off state of the source lasted for at most 20 days after which SXP 1062 returned to the level observed during previous campaigns. We discuss this and other findings in context of the modern models of accretion onto strongly magnetized neutron stars.


Dynamical and physical features of a long range transported dust event originating in China affecting Korea early March 2008 are examined using an integrative multi-sensor and multi-algorithm approach. Aerosol loadings and their size mode were analyzed over both ocean and land surfaces using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD), employing standard dark target (DT) and deep blue  (DB) algorithms, and the Angstrom exponent (AE). Anthropogenic absorbing aerosols and smoke were found to be significant over the Indochina Peninsula, the Philippines and southern China, while a mixture of dust and pollution were predominant over central to northern China, as identified by the AE analysis and the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) spherecitiy and plume height. Remarkable aerosol absorptions in both the near ultraviolet (UV) and the visible were spread over central, central western and northern China, probably due to aerosol mixtures including desert dust and industrial pollution as well as smoke from biomass burning  as evidenced from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Long range transport is validated as dust storm reached up to 4–5 km vertically and a mixed cloud layer was identified over the Yellow Sea as disclosed by the vertical structure of dust aerosols as well as observed aerosols subtypes from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). The real time detection and monitoring of the dust outbreak and its subsequent evolution are available through the infrared optical depth index (IODI), developed from the MTSAT-1R geostationary satellite imager.


PURPOSE
The accuracy of motion prediction, utilized to overcome the system latency of motion management radiotherapy systems, is hampered by irregularities present in the patients' respiratory pattern. Audiovisual (AV) biofeedback has been shown to reduce respiratory irregularities. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that AV biofeedback improves the accuracy of motion prediction.

METHODS
An AV biofeedback system combined with real-time respiratory data acquisition and MR images were implemented in this project. One-dimensional respiratory data from (1) the abdominal wall (30 Hz) and (2) the thoracic diaphragm (5 Hz) were obtained from 15 healthy human subjects across 30 studies. The subjects were required to breathe with and without the guidance of AV biofeedback during each study. The obtained respiratory signals were then implemented in a kernel density estimation prediction algorithm. For each of the 30 studies, five different prediction times ranging from 50 to 1400 ms were tested (150 predictions performed). Prediction error was quantified as the root mean square error (RMSE); the RMSE was calculated from the difference between the real and predicted respiratory data. The statistical significance of the prediction results was determined by the Student's t-test.

RESULTS
Prediction accuracy was considerably improved by the implementation of AV biofeedback. Of the 150 respiratory predictions performed, prediction accuracy was improved 69% (103/150) of the time for abdominal wall data, and 78% (117/150) of the time for diaphragm data. The average reduction in RMSE due to AV biofeedback over unguided respiration was 26% (p < 0.001) and 29% (p < 0.001) for abdominal wall and diaphragm respiratory motion, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
This study was the first to demonstrate that the reduction of respiratory irregularities due to the implementation of AV biofeedback improves prediction accuracy. This would result in increased efficiency of motion management techniques affected by system latencies used in radiotherapy.


Establishing eye contact is the fundamental key to begin any interaction between human-human and robot-human. Two approaches are available to develop an eye contact mechanism for robot-human interaction, such as simplex and duplex. The two most critical tasks: gaze crossing and gaze awareness, are prerequisite to implementing an active eye contact mechanism in any approach. However, most past robot-human interaction studies implemented a gaze crossing function to develop eye contact in the simplex mode where a robot holds for the human to initiate the communication. However, implementing gaze crossing alone is inadequate to create an active eye contact episode; the gaze awareness function also essential to achieve. This paper aims to develop a mechanism of duplex eye contact for robot-human inter-communication satisfying both functions. This work proposes a conceptual model of a duplex eye contact mechanism considering two cases: human initiative (where the human starts communication with the robot) and robot initiative (where the robot starts the communication with the participant) to achieve a duplex eye contact mechanism. Moreover, a simple robotic system is developed consisting of four software constituents: face detection module, gaze detection and tracking module, gaze awareness module, and robot response and control module to implement the conceptual model of duplex eye contact. Several preliminary experiments are performed to extract necessary cues for designing the duplex eye contact mechanism's behavioural protocol and present their results to show the usefulness of extracted cues. Moreover, the robotic framework results in a scenario (e.g., reading the book) with the proposed duplex eye contact mechanism are presented. The results show that the proposed scheme achieved 92% and 86% accuracy for human initiative case and robot initiative case, respectively in making eye contact.


In the race for a viable alternative source of power for internal combustion engines, automotive polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) continues to be one of the leading commercially viable options. This is due to their lack CO2 emission, high efficiency and adaptability. However, factors inhibiting effective commercialization of PEMFC includes low power density, reliability at sub-zero temperature and prohibitive cost of production. The cost of catalyst is being reduced by increasing the activity and reducing the loading from 0.4 mgPt/cm2 to below 0.1 mgPt/cm2. This results in nominal operational mass transport losses at the diffusion media/catalyst layer interface. It is anticipated that subzero losses will be exacerbated due to limited reactant diffusivity and proton conductivity.This research attempts to investigate the mass transport mechanisms of dilute oxygen at the interface between the cathode catalyst layer and the diffusion media of a PEMFC at sub-zero conditions. At -20°C isothermal water fill tests will be performed to assess the water fill capacity of the cathode catalyst layer and the related O2 concentration dependent voltages and hydration dependent ionic conductivity. The interfacial losses at the interface of the ultra-thin film catalyst layers of a PEMFC will be determined by altering the diffusivity with the carrier gas. By varying the diluents (i.e. N2, He, and Ar), we wish to establish the relationship between different carrier gasses and diffusivity of O2 at the gas diffusion layer.


Studies have been made by means of sedimentation in the ultracentrifuge, and by diffusion and electrophoresis, to determine the molecular weights and homogeneity of the tuberculin protein and polysaccharide molecules as found in their natural state in the unchanged filtrates from culture media after growth of tubercle bacilli. These results have been compared with data obtained on fractions isolated by chemical procedures from them or from old tuberculin. By means of electrophoresis in the Tiselius apparatus it was possible to separate the protein from the polysaccharide, as these two fractions occur naturally in the original culture medium filtrates of acid-fast bacilli. The protein from the bovine strain of bacillus proved to be homogeneous in sedimentation (S 20 = 1.6), diffusion (D 20 = 12.0) and electrophoresis, with a molecular weight of about 10,000. The tuberculin polysaccharide isolated in electrophoresis appeared to be practically the same in sedimentation and in precipitin reaction as the polysaccharide isolated by chemical procedure. The latter proved to be homogeneous in sedimentation (S 20 = 1.6) and diffusion (D 20 = 11.0) with a molecular weight of about 9000. A practically homogeneous protein was isolated from the culture filtrate of the human tubercle bacillus H 37 by fractional ammonium sulfate precipitation, with a molecular weight of 32,000 (S 20 = 3.3; D 20 = 8.2). It was electrochemically homogeneous, with an isoelectric point at pH 4.3 and an isoionic point at pH 4.7. It could be dried or frozen with no loss in homogeneity. It was highly antigenic in the precipitin reaction and produced the anaphylactic type of local skin reaction in tuberculous guinea pigs, in contrast to the true tuberculin type of reaction caused by a purified PPD fraction. Furthermore death resulted in tuberculous guinea pigs from intracutaneous injection of exceptionally small amounts. A protein with molecular weight of about 17,000 was isolated from the filtrate from cultures of the timothy bacillus. The nucleic acid originally occurring in old tuberculin (OT) seems to be responsible for the high electrochemical mobility observed. From OT and the PPD made from it, potent but non-antigenic molecules of 16,000 and 9000 weight and with a low content of nucleic acid were isolated. With increase in size these deviated much from the normal compact spherical shape, and aggregation was evident from the tendency toward gel formation. The smallest molecule (9000) was homogeneous (S 20 = 1.0; D 20 = 10.0) and had lost some tuberculin potency.


The influence of the interfacial friction on the continuous rheo-forming microstructures of magnesium alloy. The effects of interfacial friction on the microstructure evolution in magnesium alloy were investigated. It was shown that strong shear stress and internal friction occur inside the melt under the interfacial friction. In roller-shoe chamber, the growth direction of dendrites growing along the normal direction of the roller near the roller-shoe is changed under shear stress and melt resistance force. when the degree between dendrite and normal direction of roller is about 45 degree, the dendrites can be stablized and grow easily along this direction. Under an appropriate pouring temperature, with the increase of pouring temperature, there is enough room for the grains near the roller-shoe to grow, the grains are not easy to collide mutually, so the dendrites form. In roller-shoe chamber, coarse dendrites near the roller become gradually refined when they grow into the mushy region. Moreover, because dynamic friction force and shear stress of roller are stronger at the exit of the chamber, dendrites fracture and fracture layer or cracks appears. The microstructures consist of mainly rosette and spherical grains on the central position.


ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore what the concept of interdisciplinarity can bring to our developing understanding of education as a field of enquiry. We shall draw upon some recent writing on the disciplines of education in order to explore the potentially negative consequences of the way in which the disciplines are institutionalised and territorialised. We also assign some prominence to a personal account of an eminent anthropologist's perambulations through a disciplinary landscape in order to put forward an initial, tentative view of interdisciplinary endeavour. Nietzsche's essay 'Schopenhauer as educator' and the distinction between measurable time (chronos) and lived time (kairos) are the vehicles through which the authors explore the nature of intellectual inquiry. They also consider the implications of the prevalence of spatial and cartographic metaphors in scholarship in this area of enquiry, and reflect on the contrasting notions of habitation and occupation. They put forward the view that the key to understanding the role of the disciplines of education is in exploring the reciprocal relations between the lives of academics and the institutions of the disciplines (books, articles, reports, societies, journals, conferences, networks), between personal narrative and grand narrative, and in attempting to reconcile full-bodied being and the ghostly life of 'pure knowledge'.


Simulated annealing (SA) is an effective general heuristic method for solving many combinatorial optimization problems. This paper deals with the two problems in SA. One is the long computational time of the numerical annealings, and the solution to it is the parallel processing of SA. The other one is the determination of the appropriate temperature schedule in SA, and the solution to it is the introduction of an adaptive mechanism for changing the temperature. The multiple SA processes are performed in multiple processors, and the temperatures in the SA processes are determined by a genetic algorithms. The proposed method is applied to solve many TSPs (Traveling Salesman Problems), and it is found that the method is very effective and useful.


The doubly robust (DR) estimator, which consists of two nuisance parameters, the conditional mean outcome and the logging policy (the probability of choosing an action), is crucial in causal inference. This paper proposes a DR estimator for dependent samples obtained from adaptive experiments. To obtain an asymptotically normal semiparametric estimator from dependent samples with non-Donsker nuisance estimators, we propose adaptive-fitting as a variant of sample-splitting. We also report an empirical paradox that our proposed DR estimator tends to show better performances compared to other estimators utilizing the true logging policy. While a similar phenomenon is known for estimators with i.i.d. samples, traditional explanations based on asymptotic efficiency cannot elucidate our case with dependent samples. We confirm this hypothesis through simulation studies2.


Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and adenocarcinoma is its most common histological subtype. Clinical and molecular evidence indicates that lung adenocarcinoma is a heterogeneous disease, which has important implications for treatment. Here we performed genome-scale DNA methylation profiling using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 platform on 59 matched lung adenocarcinoma/non-tumor lung pairs, with genome-scale verification on an independent set of tissues. We identified 766 genes showing altered DNA methylation between tumors and non-tumor lung. By integrating DNA methylation and mRNA expression data, we identified 164 hypermethylated genes showing concurrent down-regulation, and 57 hypomethylated genes showing increased expression. Integrated pathways analysis indicates that these genes are involved in cell differentiation, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, RAS and WNT signaling pathways, and cell cycle regulation, among others. Comparison of DNA methylation profiles between lung adenocarcinomas of current and never-smokers showed modest differences, identifying only LGALS4 as significantly hypermethylated and down-regulated in smokers. LGALS4, encoding a galactoside-binding protein involved in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions, was recently shown to be a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer. Unsupervised analysis of the DNA methylation data identified two tumor subgroups, one of which showed increased DNA methylation and was significantly associated with KRAS mutation and to a lesser extent, with smoking. Our analysis lays the groundwork for further molecular studies of lung adenocarcinoma by identifying novel epigenetically deregulated genes potentially involved in lung adenocarcinoma development/progression, and by describing an epigenetic subgroup of lung adenocarcinoma associated with characteristic molecular alterations.


Most current bird-inspired flapping wing air vehicles (FWAVs) use a single actuator to flap both wings. This approach couples and synchronizes the motions of the wings while providing a variable flapping rate at a constant amplitude or angle. Independent wing control has the potential to provide a greater flight envelope. Driving the wings independently requires the use of at least two actuators with position and velocity control. Integration of two actuators in a flying platform significantly increases the weight and hence makes it challenging to achieve flight. We used our successful previous designs with synchronized wing flapping as a starting point for creating a new design. The added weight of an additional actuator required us to increase the wing size used in the previous designs to generate additional lift. For the design reported in this paper, we took inspiration from the Common Raven and developed requirements for wings of our platform based on this inspiration. Our design process began by selecting actuators that can drive the raven-sized wing independently to provide two degrees of freedom over the wings. We concurrently optimized wing design and flapping frequency to generate the highest possible lift and operate near the maximum power operating point for the selected motors. The design utilized 3D printed parts to minimize part count and weight while providing a strong fuselage. The platform reported in this paper, known as Robo Raven, was the first demonstration of a bird-inspired platform doing outdoor aerobatics using independently actuated and controlled wings. This platform successfully performed dives, flips, and buttonhook turns demonstrating the capability afforded by the new design.


The authors review several of the previous electromagnetic and electrothermal launch concepts and discuss the critical related technologies which are essential for the development of practical Earth-to-space launch systems. Selected missions and their requirements are discussed. Launcher concepts are briefly examined, and specific examples are given to demonstrate significant recent progress in hypervelocity atmospheric transit and hardening of launch vehicle components to withstand higher launch accelerators by several orders of magnitude. It is noted that these recent advances have significant impact on the payload which can be placed in orbit and have a major influence on the onboard propulsion requirements for orbit insertion. Based on technical achievements in all the critical supporting technologies, it is concluded that it is now feasible to demonstrate a credible electromagnet Earth-to-space launch system. >


The functioning of the media as a public watchdog and as a neutral forum for society's different perspectives is a model that is seen as vital in modern democracies. However, in societies with major social rifts these functions may conflict with one another and alter the media's role. This work contributes to the theoretical discussion of the role of the media, through a study of the media in religious–secular conflict in Turkey and Israel. In recent years, religious parties' electoral gains have challenged secular communities' hold on the countries' decision-making institutions. With the increase in religious–secular political tensions, the media on both sides have taken a central role, highlighting perceived dangers presented by the other side. As the media come to function as the vanguard of the opposing sides, the impact is twofold: loss of an important public watchdog and a deepening of societal rifts.


Rats given N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists were tested in the radial maze in spatial working memory (WM) and reference memory (RM) tasks. Female rats given (+)-10,11-dihydro-5-methyl-5H-dibenzo [a,d] cycloheptene-5,10 imine (MK-801; 0.0625 mg/kg ip) before daily testing in an 8-arm WM task were impaired even after 70 days. Control rats learned quickly, were assigned to a group given MK-801 or saline, and were trained to avoid 4 of the 8 arms. MK-801 impaired this reversal learning but did not affect WM performance. Male rats were trained on an 8-arm WM task for 19 days and then given intracranial aminophosphonovaleric acid (APV; 33 mM), which impaired both WM and motor behavior. Male rats were trained for 65 days to enter 4 of 8 arms and then given intracranial APV (20 or 30 mM). WM and RM were normal in the familiar environment but were both impaired in an unfamiliar environment. Results suggest that the mnemonic effects of NMDA antagonists depend on environmental familiarity, dose, and training duration.


We present results of a search for continuously-emitted gravitational radiation, directed at the brightest low-mass X-ray binary, Scorpius X-1. Our semi-coherent analysis covers 10 days of LIGO S5 data ranging from 50-550 Hz, and performs an incoherent sum of coherent $\mathcal{F}$-statistic power distributed amongst frequency-modulated orbital sidebands. All candidates not removed at the veto stage were found to be consistent with noise at a 1% false alarm rate. We present Bayesian 95% confidence upper limits on gravitational-wave strain amplitude using two different prior distributions: a standard one, with no a priori assumptions about the orientation of Scorpius X-1; and an angle-restricted one, using a prior derived from electromagnetic observations. Median strain upper limits of 1.3e-24 and 8e-25 are reported at 150 Hz for the standard and angle-restricted searches respectively. This proof of principle analysis was limited to a short observation time by unknown effects of accretion on the intrinsic spin frequency of the neutron star, but improves upon previous upper limits by factors of ~1.4 for the standard, and 2.3 for the angle-restricted search at the sensitive region of the detector.


As contemporary organizations and their environments become increasingly complex, turbulent and uncertain, leaders will inevitably face more contradictory challenges and tensions. It becomes one of the key indicators of leadership effectiveness that how leaders integrate internal and external resources and manage contradictions and crises under complex and uncertain environments.Combining Chinese Yin-Yang philosophy with Western leadership theory, scholars put forward the concept of paradoxical leadership. Paradoxical leadership describes the new leader behaviors that are seemingly competing, yet interrelated, to meet competing workplace demands simultaneously and over time. Rather than being "either-or" contingency-based action, paradoxical leadership reflects a "both-and" strategy that behaviorally accepts and integrates contradictory demands based on Chinese traditional philosophy of Yin-Yang. Using the "both-and" strategy, paradoxical leadership highlights the opportunities for effectively managing competing demands by acceptance and integration of contradictions, which has become one of the hot topics in leadership research.The existing literature has made some progress, but there are few systematic review studies. The present paper systematically reviews previous studies on paradoxical leadership. Firstly, it introduces the concept origin, connotation and measurement of paradoxical leadership, and distinguishes paradoxical leadership from contingent leadership and ambidextrous leadership. Secondly, it systematically analyzes and summarizes the antecedents, outcome variables and influence mechanisms of paradoxical leadership based on previous empirical studies, and then constructs an integrated analysis framework. Thirdly, it points out the limitations of the existing research. We find that previous studies mostly focus on the effect of paradoxical leadership in the Eastern context, and pay little attention to its antecedents and effect in the Western context, and there are also some inconsistent conclusions. Finally, based on the shortcomings of the existing research, this paper puts forward some future research directions, including concept and measurement improvement, developing and integrating other combinations of leadership aspects by paradox lens, exploring how paradoxical leadership forms from the perspectives of sense-making and social culture, extending paradoxical leadership research in the Western context and cross-cultural studies, and using multiple research design.The contributions of this paper are to clarify the latest progress of paradoxical leadership research, to provide the limitations of the existing research and possible future research directions, and to provide an important reference for promoting the research and practice of paradoxical leadership in the Eastern and Western contexts. The last but the most important is to make researchers and managers pay more attention to Chinese traditional philosophy thought in management research and practice.


Background The five BRICS (Brazil, Russian, Indian, China and South Africa) countries bear a significant proportion of the world's global cancer burden. Aim The aim of this paper is to map the scientific landscape related to colorectal cancer (CRC) research published related to South Africa (SA) and Brazil (BRA). Methods We used the bibliometric analysis technique to identify and map the scientific publications on CRC related to SA and BRA. We identified the document type, authors, research organisations, countries, funding sources, most relevant journals, research areas, citation reference counts, journal impact factor (IF) and open access designations in CRC scientific landscape for both countries. We analysed publications from January 2000 to August 2020 as indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection, most covering scientific medical related research and used descriptive statistical data analysis to synthesise the data. Findings During the period 2000–2020, there were 80 and 176 peer-reviewed publications on CRC related to SA and BRA, respectively. The majority were original research articles. Sixty-six percent identified had a primary (first) author affiliated to SA research institution and 87% had primary author affiliated to the BRA research institution. Overall, 275 authors published CRC related to SA and 1,025 authors published CRC related to BRA. The leading research organisation in SA was the University of Witwatersrand (Wits, 26%) and was the University of Sao Paulo (23%) for in BRA. The publications, related to both countries, mostly focused on oncology. The South African Medical Journal (10%) produced the most articles for SA with IF = 1.285; and the Value in Health (7%) for BRA with IF = 1.736. The median cited reference count was 32 for SA publications and 34 for BRA publications. There were 49% and 39% of publications without any open access designations for SA and BRA, respectively. Conclusions Mapping CRC scientific publications highlighted potential benefits of developing an informed CRC national research plan in each country to promote concerted effort to better understand the risk factors, treatment and advocate for funding as stimulus for increased CRC research outputs that can inform policy development and influence practice to help reduce and control the CRC burden in both countries.


The archives profession has, in recent years, exerted considerable effort to become more welcoming and inclusive to diverse archival professionals. Many of these efforts have focused intensively on recruiting a diverse workforce. In this article, the authors propose a new approach through which to create and sustain inclusive archival work environments: caregiving. National research has shown that caregiving responsibilities affect women more than their male counterparts, and within these gender divides there are aspects of caregiving that impact individuals of different racial and cultural backgrounds unequally. The issue of navigating the demands of caregiving, work responsibilities, and professional engagement must be discussed openly and with the goal of mitigating the long-term consequences on caregivers' health, career advancement, and financial stability. As professionals who care for archival collections, the additional demands and central importance of caregiving for loved ones incur measurable impact on archival careers. If the archival profession desires to be truly inclusive, then the issues surrounding the related factors of development opportunities, wages, and affordable care need to be confronted. This article aims to provide context for the argument that supporting caregiving responsibilities during archival employment is a crucial component of creating a wholly inclusive profession. The authors provide a literature review across disciplines, outline factors that directly influence archivists who are caregivers, and identify areas for further research.


The corrosion test for magnesia-carbon refractory, MgO-C, with dense layer has been carried out by a rotating cylinder method at 1673 K. The specimen, which was a cylinder of 25 mm diameter and 25mm height, was rotated in molten slag at 50 rpm. The chemical composition of slag was CaO-SiO2-FeO-MgO-CaF2. The corrosion rate was determined by the variation of radius of the cylindrical specimen against corrosion time. The decrease of radius was obtained by a calculation of dissolved MgO into the slag. In addition, the diameter of the specimen was measured with a slide calipers after the corrosion test. The cylindrical specimen was heated to form a dense layer before the corrosion test. The corrosion rate of the MgO-C refractory with dense layer was slower than that of the MgO-C refractory without dense layer. The oxidized layer, where the dense layer formed, dissolved at much the same rate as the MgO brick. The dense layer probably obstructed contact between slag and carbon in the matrix, and then oxidation of C by slag did not take place. Formation of the dense layer was effective to inhibit corrosion of MgO-C refractory by molten slag.


Although primary dystonia is defined by its characteristic motor manifestations, non-motor signs and symptoms have increasingly been recognized in this disorder. Recent neuroimaging studies have related the motor features of primary dystonia to connectivity changes in cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways. It is not known, however, whether the non-motor manifestations of the disorder are associated with similar circuit abnormalities. To explore this possibility, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study primary dystonia and healthy volunteer subjects while they performed a motion perception task in which elliptical target trajectories were visually tracked on a computer screen. Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of healthy subjects performing this task have revealed selective activation of motor regions during the perception of 'natural' versus 'unnatural' motion (defined respectively as trajectories with kinematic properties that either comply with or violate the two-thirds power law of motion). Several regions with significant connectivity changes in primary dystonia were situated in proximity to normal motion perception pathways, suggesting that abnormalities of these circuits may also be present in this disorder. To determine whether activation responses to natural versus unnatural motion in primary dystonia differ from normal, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study 10 DYT1 dystonia and 10 healthy control subjects at rest and during the perception of 'natural' and 'unnatural' motion. Both groups exhibited significant activation changes across perceptual conditions in the cerebellum, pons, and subthalamic nucleus. The two groups differed, however, in their responses to 'natural' versus 'unnatural' motion in these regions. In healthy subjects, regional activation was greater during the perception of natural (versus unnatural) motion (P < 0.05). By contrast, in DYT1 dystonia subjects, activation was relatively greater during the perception of unnatural (versus natural) motion (P < 0.01). To explore the microstructural basis for these functional changes, the regions with significant interaction effects (i.e. those with group differences in activation across perceptual conditions) were used as seeds for tractographic analysis of diffusion tensor imaging scans acquired in the same subjects. Fibre pathways specifically connecting each of the significant functional magnetic resonance imaging clusters to the cerebellum were reconstructed. Of the various reconstructed pathways that were analysed, the ponto-cerebellar projection alone differed between groups, with reduced fibre integrity in dystonia (P < 0.001). In aggregate, the findings suggest that the normal pattern of brain activation in response to motion perception is disrupted in DYT1 dystonia. Thus, it is unlikely that the circuit changes that underlie this disorder are limited to primary sensorimotor pathways.


Abstract : Increased awareness of the potential for adverse mission impact on deployments, recent experience on such deployments, and Air Force and Major Command interest establish the need for an integrated hazardous materials and waste management system for contingency environments. This research was focused toward establishing a basis for developing such a system. An intensive literature review was accomplished to justify the necessity of the research, characterize the contingency environment, review legal and regulatory requirements, review proper hazardous substance handling and processing procedures, and review existing and new material resources which may be employed in such a system. Further literature review led to the development of a rigorous design methodology for producing such a basis. Employment of the methodology in characterizing the problem, generating and screening alternatives, and grouping of surviving alternatives led to the establishment of a basis for future specification of a hazardous materials and waste management system for contingency deployments. A final recommendation to the Air Force was made which included the coordinated adoption of the management system by Air Staff representatives of the various functional components of a deploying wing. The staffing support of these functions at the Air Staff, Major Command, and support agency level could then take the recommended practical implementation measures, which were generated from the management system basis.