One of the major challenges in action generation for robotics and in the
understanding of human motor control is to learn the "building blocks of move-
ment generation," or more precisely, motor primitives. Recently, Ijspeert et al.
[1, 2] suggested a novel framework how to use nonlinear dynamical systems as
motor primitives. While a lot of progress has been made in teaching these mo-
tor primitives using supervised or imitation learning, the self-improvement by
interaction of the system with the environment remains a challenging problem.
In this poster, we evaluate different reinforcement learning approaches can be
used in order to improve the performance of motor primitives. For pursuing this
goal, we highlight the difficulties with current reinforcement learning methods,
and line out how these lead to a novel algorithm which is based on natural policy
gradients [3]. We compare this algorithm to previous reinforcement learning
algorithms in the context of dynamic motor primitive learning, and show that
it outperforms these by at least an order of magnitude.
We demonstrate the efficiency of the resulting reinforcement learning method
for creating complex behaviors for automous robotics. The studied behaviors
will include both discrete, finite tasks such as baseball swings, as well as complex
rhythmic patterns as they occur in biped locomotion.


Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation process is basically based on the physics background of space plasma. The basic principle is the Faradays Law of electromagnetic induction. In this device plasma (Ionized gas) is the working fluid similar to the mechanism that happening in the magnetosphere of our earth's atmosphere. Except here the process is controlled and we increase the fluid density and pressure to get maximum efficiency in the generating power. Most problems come from the low conductivity feature in the gas at high temperature. High temperature gaseous conductor at high velocity is passed through a powerful magnetic field and a current is generated and extracted by placing electrodes at suitable position in the gas stream, and hence the thermal energy of gas is directly converted in to electrical energy. In this paper the process involved in MHD power generation will be discussed in detail along with the simplified analysis of MDH system and recent developments in magnetohydrodynamics and their related issues.


Recent developments in molecular biology have led to the massive discovery of new marker candidates for the prediction of patient survival. To evaluate the predictive value of these markers, statistical tools for measuring the performance of survival models are needed. We consider estimators of discrimination measures, which are a popular approach to evaluate survival predictions in biomarker studies. Estimators of discrimination measures are usually based on regularity assumptions such as the proportional hazards assumption. Based on two sets of molecular data and a simulation study, we show that violations of the regularity assumptions may lead to over-optimistic estimates of prediction accuracy and may therefore result in biased conclusions regarding the clinical utility of new biomarkers. In particular, we demonstrate that biased medical decision making is possible even if statistical checks indicate that all regularity assumptions are satisfied.


How do cells ensure everything is set for cell division before they start the process? Piccirillo et al. demonstrate that a checkpoint in budding.... The Rlm1 transcription factor is a target of the cell wall integrity pathway. We report that an rlm1Δ mutant grown on a nonfermentable carbon source at low osmolarity forms cell groups in which a mother cell is surrounded by smaller "satellite-daughter" cells. Mother cells in these groups progressed through repeated rounds of cell division with normal rates of bud growth and genetic stability; however, these cells underwent precocious START relative to wild-type mothers. Thus, once activated, Rlm1 delays the transition from G1 to S, a mechanism we term the cell wall/START (CW/START) checkpoint. The rlm1Δ satellite-cell phenotype is suppressed by deletion of either SLT2, which encodes the kinase that activates Rlm1, or SWI4, which is also activated by Slt2; suggesting that Slt2 can have opposing roles in regulating the START transition. Consistent with an Rlm1-dependent CW/START checkpoint, rlm1Δ satellite daughters were unable to grow or divide further even after transfer to rich medium, but UV irradiation in G1 could partially rescue rlm1Δ satellite daughters in the next division. Indeed, after cytokinesis, these satellite daughters shrank rapidly, displayed amorphous actin staining, and became more permeable. As a working hypothesis, we propose that duplication of an "actin-organizing center" in late G1 may be required both to progress through START and to reestablish the actin cytoskeleton in daughter cells.


Diffuse pollution of nutrients and pesticides from agricultural areas is increasingly recognised as a major problem in water management. Ecotechnological measures as constructed wetlands and riparian buffer zones clearly have an important role in the reduction of diffuse pollution by removing and modifying pollutants from agricultural runoff. However the processes that account for the pollution retention capacity are diverse and the performance of buffer zones along climatic gradients and under varying hydrological regimes is largely unknown.
This study was conducted to determine the influence of N-loading rate, vegetation and hydrologic regime on the mechanisms of nitrogen removal in riparian zones along a climatic gradient.The research was performed in several locations across Europe within the framework of a joint research project (NItrogen COntrol by LAndscape Structures in agricultural environments). Partners in this project were researchers from The Netherlands, France, England, Spain, Switserland, Romania and Poland.
In the European buffer zones, denitrification was identified as the dominant process of N removal, denitrification is however also considered as a major source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Higher rates of N2O emissions found in the Dutch forested buffer zone were associated with higher nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. We conclude that N transformation by N-loaded buffer zones results in a significant increase of greenhouse gas emission. Until now, only the beneficial function of wetlands on water quality improvement has received a lot of attention. To perform a full assessment, however, we have to evaluate the precise consequences of both forms of environmental pollution to determine the environmental risks.
Overall, no significant effect of climate has been observed in measurements of N removal efficiency in a range of European sites. However, N transformation proceses rates were strongly related to water table level. Three consistent water table thresholds were identified. When water table levels are within -10 cm of the soil surface, ammonification prevailed and ammonium accumulated in the topsoil. Average groundwater tables between -10 and -30 cm favor denitrification and therefore reduce the nitrogen availability in soils. At sites with water table levels below -30 cm, nitrate is the main end product as a result of high net nitrification.
Tracing the groundwater flow paths in the Dutch riparian zones revealed that dilution of agricultural runoff with groundwater from a deeper aquifer caused a significant decrease in nitrate concentrations which could cause an over-estimation of the N-removal capacity of upto 60%. Besides the dilution both Dutch riparian zones were capable of reducing nitrate in subsurface runoff by biological N removal, the grassland riparian zone as a whole removed about 63% of the incoming nitrate load whereas in the more heavily loaded forested zone clear symptoms of saturation were visible and only 38% of the incoming nitrate load was removed.
Riparian zones are highly valuable landscape elements from the perspective of water quality improvement and landscape connectivity, however in N-loaded systems a certain risk of N2O emission remains inevitable, still we support the general belief that riparian buffer need to be protected, restored or re-established.


Background and Objectives Recent studies have examined the structure-function relationship of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This study aimed to identify and rank HDL-associated proteins involved in several biological function of HDL. Methods HDLs isolated from 48 participants were analyzed. Cholesterol efflux capacity, effect of HDL on nitric oxide production, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expression were assessed. The relative abundance of identified proteins in the highest vs. lowest quartile was expressed using the normalized spectral abundance factor ratio. Results After adjustment by multiple testing, six proteins, thyroxine-binding globulin, alpha-1B-glycoprotein, plasma serine protease inhibitor, vitronectin, angiotensinogen, and serum amyloid A-4, were more abundant (relative abundance ratio ≥2) in HDLs with the highest cholesterol efflux capacity. In contrast, three proteins, complement C4-A, alpha-2-macroglobulin, and immunoglobulin mu chain C region, were less abundant (relative abundance ratio <0.5). In terms of nitric oxide production and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expression, no proteins showed abundance ratios ≥2 or <0.5 after adjustment. Proteins correlated with the functional parameters of HDL belonged to diverse biological categories. Conclusions In summary, this study ranked proteins showing higher or lower abundance in HDLs with high functional capacities and newly identified multiple proteins linked to cholesterol efflux capacity.


Six schools were randomly assigned to a multilevel bullying intervention or a control condition. Children in Grades 3-6 (N=1,023) completed pre- and posttest surveys of behaviors and beliefs and were rated by teachers. Observers coded playground behavior of a random subsample (n=544). Hierarchical analyses of changes in playground behavior revealed declines in bullying and argumentative behavior among intervention-group children relative to control-group children, increases in agreeable interactions, and a trend toward reduced destructive bystander behavior. Those in the intervention group reported enhanced bystander responsibility, greater perceived adult responsiveness, and less acceptance of bullying/aggression than those in the control group. Self-reported aggression did not differ between the groups. Implications for future research on the development and prevention of bullying are discussed.


Abstract 3-(5-(1H-imidazol-1-yl) pent-1-en-1-yl)-9-ethyl-9H-carbazole called as compound 1 was synthesized and characterized by proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H- and 13C- NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic methods. Density Functional Theory/Becke, 3-parameter (DFT/B3LYP), for compound 1 were performed with 6-311++G(d,p) method. Optimized geometry, frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO; highest occupied molecular orbital; LUMO: lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), IR and NMR parameters of compound 1 were obtained. The evaluations reveal that the calculation results support the experimental results. In addition, the antimicrobial (a microwell dilution method) and antioxidant activities (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of compound 1 were evaluated. According to the results obtained, it showed higher antimicrobial activity (Minimal inhibition concentration (MIC): 78.12 µg/mL) against B. subtilis subsp. Spizizenii. Morever, molecular docking studies were carried out to investigate the interactions of an antimicrobial agent on some important enzymes played important roles in nucleic acid (Deoxyribo nucleic acid (DNA) synthesis, cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, and metabolism etc. The compound 1 was strongly bound to tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase enzyme (binding energy: −11.18 and Ki: 6.37 nM) and Beta-Ketoacyl-Acp Synthase III enzyme (binding energy: −10.29 and Ki: 28.47 nM). Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma


Time complexity is a challenge for learning machines. In this paper, a fast training and efficient linear learning machine is presented. Starting from a simple linear classifier, a new one is proposed based on an improvement on the first one. The machine obtained is characterized by a weight vector that can be processed immediately without any complex calculus or optimization step, which allows for considerable training time savings. A geometric interpretation of the proposed method is given. Experiments show that this classifier is competitive to other state of the art linear learning methods such as support vector machines and kernel Fisher discriminant


Author(s): Derenzo, S; Essig, R; Massari, A; Soto, A; Yu, TT | Abstract: © 2017 American Physical Society. We suggest a novel experimental concept for detecting MeV-to-GeV-mass dark matter, in which the dark matter scatters off electrons in a scintillating target and produces a signal of one or a few photons. New large-area photodetectors are needed to measure the photon signal with negligible dark counts, which could be constructed from transition edge sensor (TES) or microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) technology. Alternatively, detecting two photons in coincidence may allow the use of conventional photodetectors like photomultiplier tubes. We describe why scintillators may have distinct advantages over other experiments searching for a low ionization signal from sub-GeV dark matter, as there are fewer potential sources of spurious backgrounds. We discuss various target choices, but focus on calculating the expected dark matter-electron scattering rates in three scintillating crystals: sodium iodide (NaI), cesium iodide (CsI), and gallium arsenide (GaAs). Among these, GaAs has the lowest band gap (1.52 eV) compared to NaI (5.9 eV) or CsI (6.4 eV), which in principle allows it to probe dark matter masses as low as ∼0.5 MeV, compared to ∼1.5 MeV with NaI or CsI. We compare these scattering rates with those expected in silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge). The proposed experimental concept presents an important complementary path to existing efforts, and its potential advantages may make it the most sensitive direct-detection probe of dark matter down to MeV masses.


The effects of growth conditions on the chemistry, structure, electrical leakage, dielectric response, and ferroelectric behavior of Ba1−xTiOy thin films are explored. Although single-phase, coherently-strained films are produced in all cases, small variations in the laser fluence during pulsed-laser deposition growth result in films with chemistries ranging from BaTiO3 to Ba0.93TiO2.87. As the laser fluence increases, the films become more barium deficient and the out-of-plane lattice parameter expands (as much as 5.4% beyond the expected value for Ba0.93TiO2.87 films). Stoichiometric BaTiO3 films are found to be three orders of magnitude more conducting than Ba0.93TiO2.87 films and the barium-deficient films exhibit smaller low-field permittivity, lower loss tangents, and higher dielectric maximum temperatures. Although large polarization is observed in all cases, large built-in potentials (shifted loops) and hysteresis-loop pinching are present in barium-deficient films – suggesting the presence of defect dipoles. The effects of these defect dipoles on ferroelectric hysteresis are studied using first-order reversal curves. Temperature-dependent current–voltage and deep-level transient spectroscopy studies reveal at least two defect states, which grow in concentration with increasing deficiency of both barium and oxygen, at ∼0.4 eV and ∼1.2 eV above the valence band edge, which are attributed to defect–dipole complexes and defect states, respectively. The defect states can also be removed via ex post facto processing. Such work to understand and control defects in this important material could provide a pathway to enable better control over its properties and highlight new avenues to manipulate functions in these complex materials.


Educators need to create an informed scientifically aware citizenry, especially in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, where public health measures have focused on increasing adoption of safe behaviors for reducing the transmission of COVID-19. Non-major science students make up an important, yet understudied, part of our public, given that they constitute tomorrow's voters, workers, consumers, and policy-makers. Expecting that non-majors may benefit from a module connecting COVID-19 to community education, we implemented a novel E-service-learning module in light of the transition from an in-person course to an online platform. Our 4-week module included expert-led lectures, assigned digital infographics about COVID-19 safety precautions, and a required post-reflection assignment summarizing their learning gains. Out of 112 enrolled students, 87 consented to have their reflections analyzed and 8 students chose to participate in additional one-on-one online interviews. In an effort to determine which parts of our module garnered the most student commentary, we grouped post-reflection and interview data into four categories: service-learning infographic, servicelearning guest lectures, information on COVID-19, and the broader implications of COVID-19. While 13% of students explicitly referenced infographics in their reflections, a far greater proportion (37%) explicitly referenced learning gains related to the expert-led lectures. Based on these findings, we encourage other educators to continue to explore the impact of E-service-learning content and assignments to help maximize learning in an online classroom environment during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.


This article has two integrated objectives: (i) to identify the representation of health in the 2030 Agenda from health-related indicators implemented by international and national institutions; and (ii) to compare the potential of platforms for monitoring Brazilian health commitments in the SDGs. It is argued that there are still important controversies brought about by the greater complexity of the 2030 Agenda, particularly in the operationalization of health-related indicators, whose determinants permeate many other objectives and goals. Finally, even though the picture of the country currently available on national and international platforms is already broad, improvements are required for more effective monitoring and evaluation of Brazilian commitments in the SDGs, with greater disaggregation and stratification of indicators in the population.


Given the limited number of pediatric-specific palliative care programs, palliative care providers of all disciplines may be called on to care for infants, children, and adolescents with serious illness. This article provides a review of the unique components of pediatric palliative care, including key roles within an interdisciplinary team, pediatric developmental considerations, use of medical technology and complexities of symptom management in children with serious illness, hospice utilization, as well as pointers for discussions with families regarding a patient's quality of life and goals of care.


All biological calcium phosphates form in various neutral aqueous solutions containing [CaCl2] = 1 or 3 mM, [MgCl2] = 0-9 mM, [Na2HPO4] = 0.1-90 mM and NaCl (total 300 mosM) kept quiescently at 37 degrees C for 21 days. In all solutions containing 1 mM Ca and in solutions with [Ca] = 3 mM and [PO4] less than 10 mM, heterogeneous nucleation of octa-calcium phosphate (for Mg/Ca less than or equal to 1) or brushite (for Mg/Ca greater than 1) was observed; the former transforming to apatite with time. In contrast, homogeneous nucleation of an unstable amorphous calcium magnesium phosphate occurred in solutions with [Ca] = 3 mM and [PO4] greater than or equal to 10 mM, transforming to apatite, to brushite, and to whitlockite (and newberyite) depending on Mg/Ca and [PO4] values.


THE distribution of pressure over an aerofoil is often required for rib tests and for obtaining the loadings for flaps and ailerons. The experimental data on the subject is scanty and for some of the newer sections no tests have as yet been published. A method of obtaining the pressure distribution over an aerofoil analytically is described in N.A.C.A. Report No. 452, "General Potential Theory of Arbitrary Wing Sections" by T. Theodorsen and I. E. Garrick; this method gives the pressure distribution on upper and lower surfaces and is applicable to both thin and thick sections. Earlier methods advanced by Munk and Glauert were only applicable to thin sections and as they worked in terms of the mean camber, only gave the mean pressure.


The aim of this paper is to show how the concepts of agency, capability, and functioning can be aligned in a way that put in evidence the centrality of individual agency. Usually, discussion about the capabilities approach focuses on the limitations and flaws of the theory; here it will be argued that even with limitations and possible problems the capabilities approach could mean a significant paradigm shift for how we think and make Law and public policies. The method used will to analyze some of the principal texts about the subject and to discuss new elements and perspectives that could be brought to bear on the topic. In the end, the article points to a broader way to use the principles and theory of the capabilities approach to describe and analyze legal theory.


We surveyed 87 sites in 16 counties across Minnesota to assess the occurrence of eight special concern jumping spider species at protected natural areas, typically containing remnants of prairie plant communities. Overall, 526 jumping spiders were collected, primarily by sweep netting, including at least 19 species previously collected in MN and four of the species of special concern (Marpissa grata (Gertsch, 1936), Paradamoetas fontana (Levi, 1951), Pelegrina arizonensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1901), and Sassacus papenhoei Peckham & Peckham, 1895). None of these species exceeded 5% of the total identified catch. Three jumping spiders were represented by only a single specimen (Habronattus viridipes (Hentz, 1846), S. papenhoei, and Sitticus palustris (Peckham & Peckham, 1883). Two species were very common, comprising 63% of the total identified catch: Pelagrina insignis (Banks, 1892) and Phidippus clarus Keyserling, 1884. Significant range extensions are reported for M. grata and Marpissa pikei (Peckham & Peckham, 1901). Special concern species that were not collected may not have been present or may have been missed due to sampling protocols (methods, seasonal timing, or site selection). This study is the first to use a geopositioning system (GPS) for a spider survey in the state, which facilitated establishment of relocatable sample sites within target areas. At many sites, sampling effort and areal coverage was substantially increased from earlier reconnasance work. These established sites introduce a more systematic approach to aquiring census data and can now be used to monitor spider populations over time. Although results from any one study in one portion of a season should be interpreted cautiously, we found good correspondence between our data and previous accounts of spider abundance and habitat associations (most by B. Cutler). Areas of high conservation value for listed special concern jumping spiders appear to include Stearns, Swift, Washington, and Winona Cos., including a high diversity site (Lake Elmo County Nature Reserve) not presently designated as a State Natural Area or managed by The Nature Conservancy. We suggest continued field work at known sites in search of the four uncollected special concern species and for monitoring jumping spider populations at specific high-interest sites. We also suggest that such information be placed within a larger, landscape context by adding survey data from new sites on public lands that may not presently be managed for invertebrate conservation. In particular, large gaps in species range maps should be explored, as well as the northern tier of counties that remains unsampled to date.


Helminth parasites induce a strong Th2 response, characterized by high levels of IgE and elevated signature cytokines such as IL‐5. As many global deworming programmes are underway, there is concern that this might lead to emergence of Th1‐mediated pathologies when the counterbalancing helminth‐induced Th2 response is absent. Therefore, we assessed the effect of deworming on Th2‐mediated responses in a household‐clustered randomized controlled trial in Indonesia. Total plasma IgE and whole‐blood IL‐5 responses to mitogen phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) were measured in 1494 and 682 subjects, respectively, at baseline, 9 and 21 months after three‐monthly single‐dose treatment with albendazole or placebo. Anthelmintic treatment did not result in complete removal of helminth infections in the community. However, treatment significantly decreased IgE levels in albendazole‐ compared to placebo‐treated subjects. IL‐5 responses to PHA were not significantly affected by anthelmintic treatment and tended to increase in albendazole‐treated subjects, indicating that intensive treatment of helminth parasites has different outcomes on B‐cell (IgE levels) and T‐cell (IL‐5) responses. The data shows that 2 years of deworming can have differential effects on responses typified as Th2‐mediated, which needs to be taken into account when examining the impact of helminths on noncommunicable diseases.


This study has investigated the psychological effects of perceived and actual independence from and over the environment, i.e., control, as measured by the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and the Personal Mental Health Data Form for Older People on the elderly individual. The independent variable was subjects selected form three major groups of elderly persons with varying degrees of independence form the environment: (1) Institutionalized, (2) Noninstitutionalized, but dependent upon some social agency or family for support, and (3) Totally independent. The groupings were made upon the objective criteria of source of income and permanent residence. The accuracy of these groupings in relation to "perceived independence" were measured by the Tiffany Experienced Control Scale (EC). Results on this scale confirmed the accuracy of the groupings. Persons in Group I invariably perceived themselves as having less control over and more control form their environments than person in Groups II and III. Significant differences at the .05 level were found eighty-eight percent of the variables tested on the EC Scale using an analysis of variance procedure. Differences between Group II and Group II were less clear and non-significant in most cases. It was further found that increasing environmental dependence and feelings of loss of control results in some manifestation of a variety of clinical symptoms which in turn support commonly held stereotypes about the elderly. An analysis of variance procedure performed on twelve subscales of the MMPI resulted in six significant differences between Groups I and Groups II and III. The mean profile for Group I also showed more phasicality and was more elevated, though still within the defined normal limits. Differences were not apparent between Groups II and III. With the exception of a few significant differences form an analysis of variance procedure on the performance section of the WAIS which were probably due to physical limitations of Group I persons, the WAIS did not appear to differentiate between the three Groups. No significant difference in overall intelligence was found the Personal Mental Health Data Form indicated that there were perceived differences in functioning and life histories and patterns in the three groups of persons over sixty. Persons who had the most independence exhibited life patterns more free of debilitating social, biological, and psychological circumstances. Overall, it was concluded that although a great deal more specific research needs to be done using this type of group differentiation, there is no overt reason for the popularly held stereotypes that psychological, sociological, and/or biological "deterioration" is the "norm" in the aging process. It was indicated, however, that persons who were allowed to maintain the psychological, sociological, and /or biological circumstances that proceeded age sixty, after the age of sixty were the least likely to experience this "deterioration".


SUMMARY The modes of transmission of hepatitis C virus are parenteral, sexual and maternal-fetal. It affects 3% of the population worldwide. Currently, vertical infection is the main way of virus spreading. Most children are clinically asymptomatic, but progression of liver disease has been described. The positivity of antibodies against hepatitis C virus does not discriminate between active and resolved infection, so determination of serum HCV-RNA is necessary. The combination of peginterferon and ribavirin appears to be the most effective treatment. Future challenges are the development of new drugs and a vaccine.


The thrust of the study was to examine the relationship among achievement motivation, self-esteem, locus of control and academic performance of university students in a Nigerian University. The purpose was to determine the extent university student\'s academic performance was influenced by these criterion variables. One thousand, three hundred and thirty-five male and female university students from seven faculties participated in the study. They were selected by stratified cum simple random sampling techniques. Results from multiple regression analysis revealed that clearly the subjective independent variables did not predict objective measure of the students\' academic performance. Psycho-sociological evidences abound that lack of achievement motivation and low self-esteem, creates in students lack of interest to strive for high academic performances, and zeal to contribute positively and efficiently to national development. The Nigerian Journal Of Guidance And Counselling Vol. 7 (1) 2000: pp. 130-141


Grasping hidden patterns and unknown correlations of big data quickly and precisely is required in our time. Developing methodology for big data is the focus of big data analysis. Methods do not need to be expensive but meaningful and easy to implement. This paper proposes a mode-based fast pattern grasping method and mode-based fully parametric regression for big data analysis. By taking more than a decade of the 'Health Survey for England' data as an example, we apply the method to uncover the dependency of a response variable on other factors. The dependency relation can be used to check the effect of covariances on the pattern and make pattern or trend prediction easily and quickly.


We study the information leakage to a guessing adversary in zero-error source coding. The source coding problem is defined by a confusion graph capturing the distinguishability between source symbols. The information leakage is measured by the ratio of the adversary's successful guessing probability after and before eavesdropping the codeword, maximized over all possible source distributions. Such measurement under the basic adversarial model where the adversary makes a single guess and the guess is regarded successful if and only if the estimator sequence equals to the true source sequence is known as the maximum min-entropy leakage or the maximal leakage in the literature. We develop a single-letter characterization of the optimal normalized leakage under the basic adversarial model, together with an optimum-achieving memoryless stochastic mapping scheme. An interesting observation is that the optimal normalized leakage is equal to the optimal compression rate with fixed-length source codes, both of which can be simultaneously achieved by some deterministic coding schemes. We then extend the leakage measurement to generalized adversarial models where the adversary makes multiple guesses and allows a certain level of distortion, for which we derive single-letter lower and upper bounds.


Vaccine development involves time-consuming and expensive evaluation of candidate vaccines in animal models. As mediators of both innate and adaptive immune responses dendritic cells (DCs) are considered to be highly important for vaccine performance. Here we evaluated how far the response of DCs to a vaccine in vitro is in line with the immune response the vaccine evokes in vivo. To this end, we investigated the response of murine bone marrow-derived DCs to whole inactivated virus (WIV) and subunit (SU) influenza vaccine preparations. These vaccine preparations were chosen because they differ in the immune response they evoke in mice with WIV being superior to SU vaccine through induction of higher virus-neutralizing antibody titers and a more favorable Th1-skewed response phenotype. Stimulation of DCs with WIV, but not SU vaccine, resulted in a cytokine response that was comparable to that of DCs stimulated with live virus. Similarly, the gene expression profiles of DCs treated with WIV or live virus were similar and differed from that of SU vaccine-treated DCs. More specifically, exposure of DCs to WIV resulted in differential expression of genes in known antiviral pathways, whereas SU vaccine did not. The stronger antiviral and more Th1-related response of DCs to WIV as compared to SU vaccine correlates well with the superior immune response found in mice. These results indicate that in vitro stimulation of DCs with novel vaccine candidates combined with the assessment of multiple parameters, including gene signatures, may be a valuable tool for the selection of vaccine candidates.


Introduction: The habit of areca nut chewing impinges on the daily lives of about one-tenth of the world's population. Areca nut is used in many forms ranging from raw to commercial varieties. The consumption of areca nut is found to have important effects on salivary glands leading to an altered salivary flow rate and pH of saliva. Areca nut consumption is significantly associated with the development of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). OSF in the early stages is characterized by an increased salivation and advanced stages by an increased dryness of the oral mucosa. Aims and Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the histopathological tissue changes in the rat submandibular salivary glands subjected to various forms of areca nut (raw, roasted, and boiled), pan masala extracts, and pure arecoline solution over a period of 36-week. Materials and Methods: 3-4 months old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly selected and divided into six groups - Control, raw areca nut, boiled areca nut, roasted areca nut, pan masala, and pure arecoline groups; treated with the respective solutions. The control group was treated with distilled water. Rats were sacrificed randomly at an interval of every 6 weeks and submandibular glands dissected out and assessed for any histological changes. Results: Significant histological changes were observed in the rat submandibular tissues including fusion and dilatation of acini and ducts with pooling of the salivary secretions in the initial weeks of treatment and degenerative changes in the later weeks. Among all the groups, the pure arecoline treated group showed significant and early degenerative changes in comparison to the other groups. Conclusion:Chronic consumption of areca nut in various forms leads to deleterious effects on the salivary gland histology leading to degeneration of acini and ductal structures. This degenerative effect leads to an overall decreased salivary output reflecting as dryness of mucosa in the advanced stages of OSF and probably to a decreased local immunity and hence an increased propensity for malignant transformation in the later stages of OSF.


Abstract The effect of hemoglobin from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) on formation of volatile compounds in washed cod model system was studied by GC analysis during chilled storage. Pro-oxidative effect of cod hemoglobin compared to char hemoglobin was observed as higher initial levels of hexanal, cis-4-heptenal and 2,4-heptadienal contributing to higher rancid odor sensory scores. This was in agreement with TBARS and changes in color indicating faster initial oxidation catalyzed by cod hemoglobin. The aldehydes appeared to decline towards the end of the storage time in agreement with TBARS; however, levels of 2,4-heptadienal were considerably higher after 4 days of storage in the arctic char hemoglobin catalyzed system.


In this talk I will present a model for cell deformation and cell movement that couples the mechanical and biochemical properties of the cortical network of actin _laments with its concentration. Actin is a polymer that can exist either in _lamentous form (F-actin) or in monometric form (G-actin) (Chen et al., in Trends Biochem Sci 25:19-23, 2000) and the _lamentous form is arranged in a paired helix of two proto_laments (Ananthakrishnan et al., in Recent Res Devel Biophys 5:39-69, 2006). By assuming that cell deformations are a result of the cortical actin dynamics in the cell cytoskeleton, we consider a continuum math- ematical model that couples the mechanics of the network of actin _laments with its biochemical dynamics. Numerical treatment of the model is carried out using the moving grid _nite element method (Madzvamuse et al., in J Com- put Phys 190:478-500, 2003). Furthermore, by assuming slow deformations of the cell, we use linear stability theory to validate the numerical simulation re- sults close to bifurcation points. Far from bifurcation points, we show that the mathematical model is able to describe the complex cell deformations typically observed in experimental results. Our numerical results illustrate cell expansion, cell contraction, cell translation and cell relocation as well as cell protrusions in agreement with experimental observations. In all these results, the contrac- tile tonicity formed by the association of actin _laments to the myosin II motor proteins is identi_ed as a key bifurcation parameter. Cell migration plays a crit- ical and pivotal role in a variety of biological and biomedical disease processes and is important for emerging areas of biotechnology which focus on cellular transplantation and the manufacture of arti_cial tissues and surfaces, as well as for the development of new therapeutic strategies for controlling invasive tumor cells.


ABSTRACT The following article deals with the possibility of discovering several parameters of the picture when using Google Maps images, e.g. time and date of taking the image. This is possible with all pictures in which buildings, trees, poles ('objects') can be seen with their shadows. In some cases, one can find – with a bit of luck – an aircraft shortly before landing or shortly after take-off at a big and busy airport. If one detects such a situation, the question arises whether it is possible to estimate reasonably the actual height over the ground of the aircraft. The answer is 'yes', and we will show several possibilities; in one of them, the concept of three-dimensional similarity will play an important role.


Semiarid sedimentary plains occupied by dry forest ecosystems often display low groundwater recharge rates and accumulation of salts in the soil profile. The transformation of these natural systems to rain‐fed agriculture has led to raising water tables and a slow, but steady, process of groundwater and soil salinization in vast areas of Australia. In the semiarid plains of Chaco (central South America), unprecedented deforestation rates are taken place. Based on deep soil sampling (0–6 m) in seven paired stands under natural dry forest, rain‐fed agriculture and pasture, with different age of clearance (>30 years, 20 and 3 years) in Salta, Argentina, we provide evidence of groundwater recharge increase and onset of salt mobilization in areas where forests were replaced by annual croplands. Soils with higher water and lower chloride content are evidence of deep percolation and salt leaching. In Salta, stands subject to 30 years of rain‐fed cultivation had profiles with 30–46% higher moisture content and 94% lower chloride stocks compared to dry forest (0.05 ± 0.04 kg/m2 versus 0.77 ± 0.4 kg/m2). Estimates of groundwater recharge based on the displacement of chloride peaks suggested values of 27–87 mm yr−1 for agricultural soybean stands, and 10.4 mm yr−1 for pastures. While hydrological shifts in the regional groundwater system are poorly monitored and understood, our findings show that it is potentially sensitive to land use changes and to salinization processes.


Breeding efficiency as expressed by the 30-60 days non-return percentage by one and two inseminations per heat was compared. Sows and gilts in a good heat (heat detection by stockmen) received only one insemination per heat, whereas females with a moderate/weal heat received two inseminations with an interval of approx. 24 hours, provided they were still in heat at the 2nd visit. The results have been set out in the tables I and II. A total of 89.1 and 90.8 percent non-returns by one and two inseminations per heat have been obtained (table I). The difference of 1.7 percentage units in favour of two inseminations is significant, (P less than 0.001). A variation within technicians of percentage of one insemination per heat from 10-97 was found, table II. 11 technicians had significant better results with two inseminations, one technician with one insemination, and by the rest of technicians no significant differences were found between one and two inseminations per heat. It is concluded that: 1) By effective heat detection, the breeding efficiency which can be obtained by one insemination per heat, is only two percentage lower than the breeding efficiency obtained by two inseminations per heat. 2) This loss in breeding efficiency is probably compensated by the economical advantage of one insemination per heat.


Cirques form and evolve as glaciers attack the bed and subaerial processes dismantle the surrounding walls. Collectively, these processes—which can make a cirque longer, or deeper, or both—profoundly influence near-divide regions of glaciated mountains and yet are rarely studied in a systematic way. Toward this end, we developed a theoretical framework for the sediment budget of a cirque that includes sediment sources, transport pathways, and storage elements. We quantified each component of the sediment budget using field measurements and remote-sensing data of a glaciated alpine cirque in British Columbia, Canada. The cirque has a plan-view area of 1.64 km 2 and relief of ∼780 m. Our budget values, which correspond to a period of substantial glacier retreat, are based on measurements reflecting time intervals ranging from 1 yr to 80 yr. We report errors as a range (enclosed in parentheses), analogous to 95% confidence bounds. On average, 1640 (250–7950) metric tons of rock are released by the headwall each year; nearly 90% of this debris leaves the wall as small rockfalls or in snow avalanches. Our field observations indicated that snow avalanches originating as cornice failures are currently the most important transport process on the headwall. We estimated the mass of debris transported annually by the glacier to the foreland using (1) the volume and age of the foreland ground moraine and (2) the product of rock mass per unit volume of ice and glacier velocity. Over the past several decades, the glacier delivered 6440 (1180–14930) tons/yr to the foreland via forward ice motion and margin retreat (mostly in subglacial till or sediment-rich basal layers). Less than 3% of the glacierborne sediment flux traveled as supraglacial debris (170 [50–320] tons/yr). At present, sediment evacuation from the cirque occurs in a single meltwater stream. We monitored water discharge and suspended sediment concentration in this stream between 29 June and 28 August 2007. By season's end, 650 (80–1860) tons of sediment had passed our gauging station (equivalent to an erosion rate of 0.2 [0.03–0.70] mm/yr, when averaged over the glacier bed). Approximately one third of the total annual streamborne sediment transport occurred over a 2 d period during the first major melt event of the year. Using our budget relations and flux magnitudes, we estimate the glacier is removing between 1240 and 2470 tons of rock from its bed per year, a rate equivalent to 0.5–0.9 mm/yr of erosion glacierwide. The headwall, by comparison, is being worn away horizontally at ∼1.2 (0.2–5.9) mm/yr. Thus, our results suggest that the headwall is retreating at rates roughly equivalent to vertical incision by the glacier. Our sediment budget results demonstrate that the wide variety of sediment sources and transport processes active in cirques necessitates a holistic view of cirque formation, one that most morphometric, range-scale, and glacial erosion analyses ignore.


The trend towards improving building airtightness to save energy has increased the incidence of poor indoor air quality and associated problems, such as condensation on windows, mould, rot and fungus on window frames. Mechanical ventilation/heat recovery systems, combined with heat pumps, offer a means of significantly improving indoor air quality, as well as providing energy efficient heating and cooling required in buildings.

This thesis is concerned with the development of a novel mechanical ventilation heat recovery/heat pump system for the domestic market. Several prototypes have been developed to provide mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. These systems utilise an annular array of revolving heat pipes which simultaneously transfer heat and impel air. The devices, therefore, act as fans as well as heat exchangers. The heat pipes have wire finned extended surfaces to enhance the heat transfer and fan effect. The systems use environmentally friendly refrigerants with no ozone depletion potential and very low global warming potential. A hybrid system was developed which incorporated a heat pump to provide winter heating and summer cooling.

Tests were carried out on different prototype designs. The type of tinning, the working fluid charge and the number and geometry of heat pipes was varied. The prototypes provide up to 1000m3/hr airflow, have a maximum static pressure of 220Pa and have heat exchanger efficiencies of up to 65%. At an operating supply rate of 200m3/hr and static pressure 100Pa, the best performing prototype has a heat exchanger efficiency of 53%. The heat pump system used the hydrocarbon isobutane as the refrigerant. Heating COPs of up to 5 were measured. Typically the system can heat air from 0°C to 26°C at 200m3/hr with a whole system COP of 2.

The contribution to knowledge from this research work is the development of a novel MVHR system and a novel MVHR heat pump system and the establishment of the performances of these systems.


The experiences gathered during the past 30 years support the operational use of irrigation scheduling based on frequent multi-spectral image data. Currently, the operational use of dense time series of multispectral imagery at high spatial resolution makes monitoring of crop biophysical parameters feasible, capturing crop water use across the growing season, with suitable temporal and spatial resolutions. These achievements, and the availability of accurate forecasting of meteorological data, allow for precise predictions of crop water requirements with unprecedented spatial resolution. This information is greatly appreciated by the end users, i.e. professional farmers or decision-makers, and can be provided in an easy-to-use manner and in near-real-time by using the improvements achieved in web-GIS methodologies. This paper reviews the most operational and explored methods based on optical remote sensing for the assessment of crop water requirements, identifying strengths and weaknesses and proposing alternatives to advance towards full operational application of this methodology. In addition, we provide a general overview of the tools which facilitates co-creation and collaboration with stakeholders, paying special attention to these approaches based on web-GIS tools.


This paper is concerned with the general theory of wave propagation in layered biaxially anisotropic media. Details are presented for the calculation of the induced waves that are due to an arbitrarily polarized and obliquely incident wave impinging on a three-layer structure. The total numbers of partial waves with their respective phase velocities, direction of phase propagation, and polarization are determined by the use of the Fresnel equation and Snell's law applied to each layer. The vector amplitudes of the partial waves are found by proper matching of the field components at the interfaces. The expressions thus found are shown to reduce to known results for a uniaxial three-layer structure. An extension of this theory to an arbitrary number of layers is also presented.


This dissertation applies current thinking in cognitive science to elements of the actor's process of preparing and performing a role. Findings in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and linguistics radically challenge the dualistic concepts that have dominated acting theory since the early twentieth century, and suggest more holistic models of the actor's cognitive and expressive activities. Chapter 1 suggests how a vocabulary for nonverbal communication (nvc) drawn from social psychology can be used to analyze and describe actors' communicative behavior. Chapter 2 examines the relationship of thought, language and gesture by considering Lakoff and Johnson's (L & J) analysis of how conceptual thought is metaphorically shaped by the body's experiences in the physical world. This assessment is combined with David McNeill's theory that gestures are key ingredients in an "imagery-language dialectic" that fuels both speech and thought. Elements of both analyses are applied to Jacques Lecoq's actor training exercises. Chapter 3 investigates the actor's concepts of self and of character. This is supported by L & J's analysis of the metaphorical construction of self and of different selves, a description of the connectionist view of mind, Merlin Donald's proposition that mimesis is central to cognition, and Fauconnier and Turner's theory of conceptual blending. Aspects of Michael Chekhov's approach to character are considered in the light of theses findings and theories. Chapter 4 addresses the actor's sense of identification with a character. I refer to work on proprioception, LeDoux's exploration of the neural foundations of self, and Gallese and others' work on "mirror mechanisms" in the brain that provide an experiential dimension to action and emotion understanding. I suggest that these findings validate the effectiveness of Stanislavski's Method of Physical Actions. Chapter 5 describes the findings of Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux and psychologist Paul Ekman on emotion, and applies them to exercises created by Stanislavski, Strasberg, Jerzy Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq, and Susana Bloch. The Conclusion proposes a model of the theatrical act, and suggests ways in which actor training can be remodeled in the light of the information described.


Abstract δ-Al(OD)3 powders were synthesized from Al(OD)3 bayerite at 4 GPa and 523 K using a cubic press apparatus. Neutron powder diffraction analyses of δ-Al(OD)3 at ambient conditions revealed that the crystals are orthorhombic with space group P212121, not Pnma as reported previously based on X-ray diffraction data. The P212121 δ-Al(OH)3 structure contains seven independent atoms in the asymmetric unit, including one Al, three O, and three H atoms. The initial lattice parameters and the atomic positions of both Al and O were taken from previous X-ray structural analyses of the Pnma structure, while the positions of H were determined in the present study using ab initio calculations to (1) give the least energy among trial structural models for P212121 δ-Al(OH)3, (2) accurately reproduce the measured lattice parameters of δ-Al(OD)3, and (3) show reasonable energetic relations between the Al(OH)3 polymorphs; namely, gibbsite is stable at ambient pressure, δ-Al(OH)3 has the lowest enthalpy at pressure greater than 1.1 GPa, and both bayerite and η-Al(OH)3 are metastable over the entire pressure range. Furthermore, we found that the structure of δ-Al(OH)3 obtained from ab initio calculations is in good agreement with that derived from a Rietveld refinement of δ-Al(OD)3, based on the present powder neutron diffraction data. The δ-Al(OH)3 structure possesses one relatively long and two short O-H···O hydrogen bonds. Ab initio calculations also reveal that δ-Al(OH)3 with space group P212121 transforms to another high-pressure polymorph with space group Pnma at around 67 GPa, and that the two short hydrogen bonds in δ-Al(OH)3 become both symmetric through the P212121 to Pnma transformation, in which the protons are located at the midpoints of the O···O hydrogen bonds.


The Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem (DCOP) is a powerful formalism for multiagent coordination problems, including planning and scheduling. This paper presents modifications to a polynomial-space branch-and-bound based algorithm, called NCBB, for solving DCOP, that make the algorithm any-space. This enables a continuous tradeoff between O(bp) space, O(bp) time complexity and O(p + bp) space and O(bHp) time, where p is variables domain size, H is Depth-First Search (DFS) traversal depth of constraint graph, b is the branching factor of DFS tree, and w is the context width of the tree. This flexibility allows one to apply NCBB to areas, where the limited amount of available memory prevents one from using more efficient exponential space algorithms. Sensor networks is an example of such domain. We demonstrate both theoretically and empirically that caching does not lead to an increase in complexity even under assumption that all cache lookups fail. We also show experimentally that the use of cahing leads to significant speedups of problem solving.


The negotiation on time organisation, in French companies or administrations, towards the new legal limit of 35 hours per week, once finished, what type of effects
on work organisation may be observed? It is the question which we examine here,
making the assumption of a historical convergence between two movements: the
reduction of the working time, on one side, and the erosion of collective work, on
the other. The global negotiation has been carried out, in the administrations (case
which we study here), without any creation of employment. Thus a variety of microsolutions have been implemented to cope with the situation. However by reviewing
those various arrangements one striking element has appeared: the abandoned parts
of work almost always related to collective work. Either collective work was rationalised and reduced to a minimum, or the amount of time devoted to this type of work
was the most reduced, or the reorganisation caused by this time reduction led to less
stable and more transitory teams. It should be underlined, in addition, that, in many
cases, this reduction was accompanied by a significant transformation of the forms
of co-operation. The co-operation often became more formal and more abstract.
Moreover, the work intensification which one can observe resulted also from this
dynamics of reduction and abstraction of collective work.


In this work, we evaluate the exposure of Italian regions to the risk associated with the spread of COVID-19 through a two-step value chain approach. First, we estimate the degree of participation of Italian regions in a plurality of value chains linked to consumption, investment and exports. We distinguish between value chains aimed at satisfying essential needs and supply chains activated by needs characterized by a lower level of necessity in line with the restriction measures implemented by the Italian government. Second, we investigate the different levels of contagion risk associated with each value chain and the possibility of reducing it through remote working. An exercise on policy measures implemented by the Italian government during Fall 2020 completes the paper. We find that regions are affected differently by lockdown policies because of their high heterogeneity in the degree of embeddedness within different value chains and because their sectoral contributions to each of them. As a result, Italian regions are associated with very diverse potentials for mitigating contagion risk via remote working practices. Finally, we find evidence that economic and contagion risks positively correlate in non essential value chains, while they are negatively associated in the production of medium-necessity and essential goods and services. In turn, strong lockdowns induce substantially different trade-offs across regions, depending on how regions participate to value chains.


This study attempts to analyse how and why Kadare reuses myths in his novels Chronicle in Stone, The Bearer of ill Tidings – Islamo nox, Agamemnon's Daughter and Beauty Pageant for Men in the Accursed Mountains. I will be arguing that the reused myths in these novels predominantly convey a message about Albania at the time during which Kadare wrote the novels. It will be argued that the novels are used to critique the period of Communism and the period immediately after the collapse of Communism, even when they are set in different time periods, and it is through a use of myths and archetypes that Kadare manages this. It was necessary for Kadare to write his criticism of aspects of communist society through the use of the myths, in order for him to escape the censorship of the Communist Party, which required all literary works to conform to socialist realism, and to present a particular ideological view. This idea will be analysed predominantly in the discussions around Chronicle in Stone, The Bearer of ill Tidings – Islamo nox and Agamemnon's Daughter. On the other hand, Beauty Pageant for Men in the Accursed Mountains was written in the post-Communist period, though Kadare still felt it necessary to investigate the transitional society in Albania through the use of mythical aspects as metaphors.


The synthesis and characterization of carboxyl-functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION)-attached cationic porphyrins with different positive charges (porphyrin@SPION) are described as pH-sensitive, multifunctional photosensitization. These nanospheres exhibit excellent targeted cell accumulation under external magnetic field and outstanding cell photocytotoxicity in weak acidic solution, which is the pH for most tumors. The dicationic porphyrin@SPION has the smartest pH-responding release and lowest half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values after visible light irradiation against HeLa cells. Moreover, the delivery safety of these porphyrin@SPION nanospheres was considered by investigating their behaviors in human plasma during the delivery process. The results elucidate that these nanospheres have no significant deleterious influence on the frame conformation of protein in their delivery process and thus are relatively safe in the drug delivery process. Our study demonstrates that the combination of targeted magnetic-loading drug design methodology with the PDT potential of cationic porphyrins may be a very useful strategy to develop novel tumor-oriented multifunctional anticancer therapeutics.


This report describes an approach to explaining the basic genetics of sickle-cell disease to patients and their families in an uncomplicated yet sufficiently informative way. The areas covered include: the cause of the disease, its pathophysiology, and the importance of genetic counselling.


We discuss a class of Dark Matter (DM) models that, although inherently strongly coupled, appear weakly coupled at small-energy and fulfill the WIMP miracle, generating a sizable relic abundance through the standard freeze-out mechanism. Such models are based on approximate global symmetries that forbid relevant interactions; fundamental principles, like unitarity, restrict these symmetries to a small class, in such a way that the leading interactions between DM and the Standard Model are captured by effective operators up to dimension-8. The underlying strong coupling implies that these interactions become much larger at high-energy and represent an interesting novel target for LHC missing-energy searches.


Energy consumption increases with intensity of human activities. People consume energy for movement and other activities and the more fossil-fuel based energy used, the more carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. Since carbon dioxide is the major element of the greenhouse gases (GHG), this phenomenon has a serious implication for global warming and consequent climate change—a scenario that calls for sustainable development. This research considers the emission of CO2 from energy use within the campus of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Two major sources of energy consumption were identified, namely: electricity and transport. The emission for electricity was estimated based on electricity meter reading and the conversion rate in accordance with the stand-ardized conversion factors for fuel mix of the purchased electric energy as given by PTM (Pusat Tenaga Malaysia), while the associated CO2 emission for transport was estimated based on the number of miles driven (VMT—Vehicle Miles Travel) within the campus, emissions produced per litre of gasoline, and fuel economy of vehicles plying the campus in line with the Code of Federal Regulations USEPA and consistent with the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines. It was observed that high CO2 emission resulted from electricity energy consumption, and the highest emission in the transport sector was produced by commuting vehicles while emission from service delivery for cooling, lighting and other equipment was similar to national average.


This paper proposes a holistic approach that addresses both the message mapping in memory banks and the pipeline-related data hazards in low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoders. We consider a layered hardware architecture using single read/single write port memory banks. The throughput of such an architecture is limited by memory access conflicts, due to improper message mapping in the memory banks, and by pipeline data hazards, due to delayed update effect. We solve these issues by: 1) a residue-based layered scheduling that reduces the pipeline related hazards and 2) off-line algorithms for optimizing the message mapping in memory banks and the message read access scheduling. Our estimates for different LDPC codes indicate that the hardware usage efficiency of our layered decoder is improved by 3%–49% when only the off-line algorithms are employed and by 16%–57% when both the residue-based layered architecture and the off-line algorithms are used.


In order to obtain the Lower Muscle Strength Feature for Elite Speed Skaters in High Speed Gliding, this paper applied video analysis and isokinetic testing methods to conduct kinematic and kinetics dates. Contrasting to the kinematics dates, torques were computed by the Newton interpolation polynomial, which are simulated as the actual moments during gliding. According to the experimental results, the sLower Muscle Strength Feature is unique and correct.The larger of the velocity, the less moments produced from the hip, knee and ankle muscular, which will do harm to the power output.


Maths anxiety is common and refers to feelings of anxiety, fear and other negative emotions and thoughts in individuals when confronted with mathematical tasks or numerical information. Self-report measures of maths anxiety have been created, but the majority are in English and are not culturally relevant to all countries. This study aimed to translate and validate existing measures for future use in Hebrew-speaking adult populations. The Mathematics Anxiety Scale - UK (MAS-UK) was translated to Hebrew and adult participants completed it alongside the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale - Revised (MARS-R) and a general anxiety measure. Factor structures were explored for both the translated MAS-UK and a Hebrew version of the MARS-R, as well as being checked for reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. Results from a final sample of 213 participants, indicated the shortened, Hebrew version of the MAS-UK and the MARS-R are internally consistent and suitable for use in future maths anxiety research in adult Israeli populations. Findings regarding sex differences in maths anxiety are also discussed.


The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will face the challenge of efficiently selecting interesting candidate events in pp collisions at 14 TeV centre-of-mass energy, whilst rejecting the enormous number of background events. The High-Level-Trigger (HLT second level trigger and Event Filter), which is a software based trigger will need to reduce the first level trigger output rate of kHz to Hz written out to mass storage. In this paper an overview of the steering mechanism of the HLT is given. The HLT Steering is responsible for the scheduling of algorithms and for the global event trigger decision evaluation. The concept of step-wise and seeded selection strategy implemented by the steering will be presented. Integration of large number of trigger menus and sophisticated physics selection strategies will also be discussed. The electron and photon menus will be described to demonstrate that the trigger is well adapted for the physics program at the LHC.


The provision of education to international students in Australia is increasingly important tothe higher education sector as well as other industry sectors including tourism. Althoughprevious studies have identified the contributions of international students to tourism, thereare limited studies investigating leisure travel behaviour based on student nationality andsegments within nationalities. As the first stage of a broader study, this research by way ofopen-ended interviews, investigates the propensity of Chinese university students to travelwithin Australia. By way of qualitative data analysis the findings reveal a number ofparadoxes which need to be addressed in further research to better understand the attitudesand behaviours of Chinese students towards travel for leisure purposes whilst in Australia.


The insecurity of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm continues to wreak havoc in consumer and critical infrastructure realms. Several challenges impede addressing IoT security at large, including, the lack of IoT-centric data that can be collected, analyzed and correlated, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of such devices and their widespread deployments in Internet-wide environments. To this end, this paper explores macroscopic, passive empirical data to shed light on this evolving threat phenomena. This not only aims at classifying and inferring Internet-scale compromised IoT devices by solely observing such one-way network traffic, but also endeavors to uncover, track and report on orchestrated "in the wild" IoT botnets. Initially, to prepare the effective utilization of such data, a novel probabilistic model is designed and developed to cleanse such traffic from noise samples (i.e., misconfiguration traffic). Subsequently, several shallow and deep learning models are evaluated to ultimately design and develop a multi-window convolution neural network trained on active and passive measurements to accurately identify compromised IoT devices. Consequently, to infer orchestrated and unsolicited activities that have been generated by well-coordinated IoT botnets, hierarchical agglomerative clustering is deployed by scrutinizing a set of innovative and efficient network feature sets. By analyzing 3.6 TB of recent darknet traffic, the proposed approach uncovers a momentous 440,000 compromised IoT devices and generates evidence-based artifacts related to 350 IoT botnets. While some of these detected botnets refer to previously documented campaigns such as the Hide and Seek, Hajime and Fbot, other events illustrate evolving threats such as those with cryptojacking capabilities and those that are targeting industrial control system communication and control services.


The study of regionalism has long been an important element of scholarly work in both Canada and the United States. This point is made clear by James Bickerton's observation that regionalism is a pervasive feature of Canadian society and politics" (1999, 209) and Daniel Elazar's assertion that the study of regionalism and political culture in the United States is meaningful because the very expression of social, economic, and political differences along geographic lines is considered to he "part and parcel of American political life" (1998, xix). And while it is true that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to definitively locate regions as cultural or political spaces (Bickerton 1999, 218), it is also true--as noted by Carlos Schwantes--that at some point those studying regionalism must decide where to draw the boundaries (1996, 2). In fact, Schwantes (in establishing the perimeter of the regional boundaries for his interpretive history of the Pacific Northwest) provides the guidelines for choosing such borders: A region can best be defined by discontinuities that mark its borders and by the geographical, political, economic, social, and cultural bonds that give it some sense of internal unity or community (1996, 2). It is most certainly these very characteristics that Joel Garreau (1981) had in mind when he cast the Mountain West--a place west of the plains, inland from the Pacific Ocean, and dominated by the Rocky Mountains--as one of his Nine Nations of North America.(1) He describes the Mountain West as a region blessed with a "spirit-lifting physical endowment," and as a repository for the "values, ideas, memories, and vistas that date back to the frontier" (1981, 302-303). Moreover, he characterizes the Mountain West as having a deeply engrained anti-eastern sentiment that easily transcends the 49th parallel. The province of Alberta and the state of Idaho lie within the Mountain West region of North America as defined above, and hence, should share a number of cultural, social, and political similarities that bind them together. At first glance, however, those bonds do not seem readily apparent. Alberta and Idaho lie in different countries with different historical and institutional contexts, different bases of economic stability, and different forms of government. The peoples of Alberta and Idaho remain basically ignorant of each other in almost all aspects of life. Most Idahoans, just like most other Americans, do not concern themselves with Canadians in general or Albertans in particular. Most Albertans, while paying much more attention to the United States than do Idahoans to Canada, do not pay any meaningful attention to Idaho. However, there are signs that the ambivalence that Albertans and Idahoans show toward each other may be lessening. Driven by the realities of competing in an ever changing global economy, the governments of Alberta and Idaho have recently discovered (some would say rediscovered) the presence of the other, and have begun to forge stronger cross-border ties. The culmination of this renewed interest occurred in May 2000 when, during a forty-member trade mission to Edmonton and Calgary led by Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne, Alberta and Idaho signed a cooperation agreement establishing an ongoing task force to manage bilateral relations and advance mutual opportunities. Spurred on by the already substantial trade links between Alberta and Idaho--in the year 2000, Alberta's exports to Idaho were over $252 million, and Idaho's exports to Alberta were over $143 million--Kempthorne and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein agreed to reinvigorate relations in such areas as agriculture, forestry, transportation, trade, technology, education, tourism, and the environment (Warbis 2000, D1). Despite these intergovernmental (and cross-border) efforts, the fact remains that the peoples of Alberta and Idaho--including their governmental leaders--know little about the other's history or political culture. …


Early replicative intermediates of lambda dv plasmid were prepared by an in vitro replication system in the presence of 2',3'-dideoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate, an inhibitor of DNA chain elongation. Short-chain DNAs produced from regions near the replication origin were purified from the intermediates. A fraction of the DNAs was covalently linked to primer RNA. The transition sites from primer RNA to DNA synthesis were mapped along the nucleotide sequence of the genome, by eliminating the RNA by alkaline hydrolysis and labeling the freshly exposed 5' ends of DNA with 32P. The transition sites were found to be located on both sides of the ori region, which includes four 19-base-pair repeats where one of the lambda specific initiator proteins, O, binds. No transition arose within the ori region. The transition sites are multiple on both sides of the ori region and are clustered in one of the two strands in such a way that DNA syntheses from the two sides converge. The frequency of the "leftward" DNA synthesis is several times higher than that of "rightward" synthesis, reflecting the asymmetric bidirectional replication of lambda dv DNA.


The hierarchical Tucker format is a storage-efficient scheme to approximate and represent tensors of possibly high order. This article presents a Matlab toolbox, along with the underlying methodology and algorithms, which provides a convenient way to work with this format. The toolbox not only allows for the efficient storage and manipulation of tensors in hierarchical Tucker format but also offers a set of tools for the development of higher-level algorithms. Several examples for the use of the toolbox are given.


Globalisation, alongside with the growth in trade and wealth has influenced the considerable development of consumer law over the last 50 years. In some countries, consumer rights have been embraced at the highest Constitutional level. For instance, in Brazil, consumer protection has been given a constitutional value. This constitutional value has been reinforced by the approach taken by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil with regard to that nation's Consumer Code (CDC). In spite of the existence of a specific federal agency with its own rules to govern civil aviation, the services rendered by airline companies are also subject to the Consumer Code.  For an obscure reason, and even though logic would favor application of the Montreal Convention, Brazilian judges prefer to apply the Brazilian Consumer Code to international air service, in cases involving consumers. The conflict between the Montreal Convention and the CDC is limited to one area, which is one of the most important areas regulated by the Convention, namely the civil responsibility of the carrier. This paper demonstrates that the inclusion of consumer rights as Constitutional rights does not improve the standard of consumer protection but instead put a heavy burden on airlines and in the case of the CDC even creates legal uncertainty.


—This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic model of grid-connected combined heat and power system (CHP) that can effectively simulate the thermoelectric interaction and examine the impact of the CHP on the power grid. Based on the theorems of mass balance and energy balance, this paper studies and analyses the principles and dynamic characteristics of the main CHP components, including gas internal combustion engine, synchronous generator, waste heat exchanger, water storage tank, exhaust-heat boiler, and gas fired boiler. Then, the nonlinear time domain models for each component are built against input and output parameters in order to facilitate the study of CHP operation under various conditions. Subsequently, a simulation method that can deal with the coupling of all models with different time constants is proposed. Finally, dynamic simulation analysis of the developed CHP model is carried out on the MATLAB/Simulink. Extensive demonstration results show that the developed models are accurate to represent the thermoelectric interactions in the gird-connected CHP and capture the impact of this gird-connected CHPs on the power grid. This study is particularly beneficial to the design of new control strategies for CHPs to maximise its efficiency and stability value to the grid.


Pesticide spray is essential for pest control, crop production and protection. However, the direct contact of these pesticides with humans may cause cancer, complication in the respiratory system and neurological disorders. This problem is more severe in developing countries as each year more than 100 thousand death cases are reported by World Health Organization. This work presents a modification approach of Quadcopter into a UAV, in such a way that it can fly in manual as well as autopilot mode and can spray on agricultural lands using its ground control station. In this work, a stable system is developed for aerial distribution of pesticides as well as fertilizer to reduce human contact with pesticides. The system consists of; a) a remotecontrolled UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which is controlled from ground through a flight controller and b) a spraying system which is manually triggered by RF controlled circuit. The reliability of the proposed framework is evaluated on a test area of around 1000m. The pumping rate of sprayer system is adjusted to 40 mL/min with PWM at 45% duty cycle. From results it can be concluded that the integration of UAV with the spray system results in a spraying mechanism which is very efficient and hazard-free for crop pest management in the small field area.


The main objective of this paper is to problematize writings on vehicles in an Iranian context. Previous studies have indicated that vehicle stickers can be employed to express emotions and social status, political views, ideology and identity, and religious beliefs. However, very little has been done on this discursive practice in Iran. This study is the result of the content analysis of 122 vehicle writings collected from April 2011 to March 2012. This paper will draw on six of the most frequent themes: religion, humor, playing pessimism, didactic expressions, ethnic-geographic identification, and love. Employing Bourdieu's conceptual frameworks of "habitus," "field," and "doxa," and Heath and Street's social practice perspective on literacy, it will be argued that vehicle writings in this study can be regarded as situated literacy practices reflecting the dominant undisputed discourses in the context, but at the same time displaying the dynamic interplay of power relations, the relationship of cultural structures and individual customized versions of those structures in vehicle writings.


This study aims to investigate the influence of the current direction on the energy production of a tidal turbines array. It is based on a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation of the flow where the turbines are represented with actuator disks. The case study consists of modelling the energy extraction of a small array of turbines (staggered and aligned layouts) placed in the Raz Blanchard (Alderney Race, France). The simulations are performed with hydrodynamic data (current magnitude and direction) representative of a mean tide, with several resistance forces and ambient turbulence intensities. The influence of the current direction on the energy production is highlighted by comparing the simulations forced with the real current direction with those in which the angle of incidence between the incoming flow and the turbine's axis is "switched off" (bi-directional flow). When the flow is aligned with the turbines' axis (misalignment "switched off"), the staggered layout produces more than the aligned arrangement. Comparison of the two types of simulations (misalignment switched off or not) shows that the misalignment of the flow around a predominant direction reduces the energy produced by the staggered layout and increases the production of the aligned layout. Furthermore, it suggests that the mean energy produced per machine is almost the same for both layouts. Higher turbulence intensity reduces the positive effect of the directional spreading on the aligned layout production and limits the negative effect on the staggered layout production.


This article discusses the lack of a reservation tax base upon which tribes can use to fund government services. Federal, state, and local governments have a tax base upon which to draw but federal Indian law has developed in such a manner to substantially eliminate a tax base for Indian tribal governments. The tribes' only option is to raise revenue in other ways, particularly economic development. But there are significant difficulties with establishing a predictable revenue stream through tribally owned businesses. First, tribal governments must overcome structural hurdles to financing that non-Indian local governments do not have to face. Second, non-Indian business owners object to tribal government's so-called ability to market their tax exemptions. Third, there is underway a significant backlash against Indian gaming. Fourth, tribal governments are not for-profit corporations and may be restricted in their abilities to cut unprofitable businesses and otherwise operate profitable businesses. Fifth, there are fundamental philosophical, legal, and political problems for tribal governments operating businesses on the reservation. While there are possible remedies for this situation, such as the so-called "Hicks fix," a more plausible solution would involve relatively minor changes to the Tribal Tax Status Act or a minor change in the way courts view tribal businesses - as non-profit organizations rather than for-profit companies.


For electronic commerce enterprises that outsource information technology, the awareness of value creation and outsourcing satisfaction is behind management interference in normal transactions. This study developed an integrated model form the views of social theory to understand how factors influence value creation and satisfaction of outsourcing between information technology outsourcing vendors and electronic commerce enterprises. There are six factors impact value creation and in turn, value creation influences outsourcing satisfaction. We argued that electronic commerce enterprises are able to increase their value creation through information technology outsourcing, beyond which social planning, stakeholder integration, social planning, social positioning, environment scanning, and customer participation may affect value creation and outsourcing satisfaction. This study also assumed corporate social responsibility affects social planning, and stakeholder integration affects social positioning. Finally, the research results show that all the antecedent factors have significantly important effects on value creation and value creation also significantly affects outsourcing satisfaction.


PURPOSE
To review recent data on treatment of Guillain-Barré syndrome, especially indications of plasma exchange.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Guillain-Barré syndrome is the most common cause of acute flaccid paralysis. The current mortality is 5%, sever motor sequelae persist after 1 year in 10% of cases. Multidisciplinary teams are required to treat these patients, trained to all specific treatments. Oral and intravenous steroids have proven ineffective. Two large randomized clinical trials comparing plasma exchange (PE) with no treatment have shown a short-term and a 1-year benefit. Appropriate number of exchanges and indications are now more precisely known. In mild form (walking possible), patients should receive two PEs. A further two exchanges should be done in case of deterioration or in advanced forms (loss of walking ability, mechanical ventilation). More exchanges are not beneficial. Recently two new randomized trials have produced evidence that intravenous immune globulin (IVIg) (0.4 g/kg/d for 5 days) were as effective as five PEs in advanced forms. The combination of PE with IVIg did not confer a significant advantage, while increasing cost and risks.

CONCLUSION
The combination of PE with IVIg did not confer, in advanced forms, the choice between PE and IVIg depends of the contra-indications of each treatment.


The basalts and rhyolites of the Keweenawan of Minnesota have been invaded by the huge mass of the Duluth gabbro as well as by a great number of smaller sills, dikes, and irregular intrusives, mainly diabase. Close to the contact the flows are generally altered to fine granoblastic rocks which may not differ radically from the originals in mineral and chemical composition but are easily recognized by their texture. In the basalts the tendency is clearly to form a mineralogically simple rock consisting of plagioclase, pyroxene, and magnetite-ilmenite. The rhyolites tend to form a granular aggregate of acidic feldspar and quartz with minor amounts of other minerals. Dehydration is the important chemical process in the development of the hornfels, but above the gabbro hydrothermal conditions at places may have prevented the formation of hornfels. The characteristics of the metamorphism here described are peculiar to the effect of basic intrusives which in general form anhydrous minerals and a rock with granular texture with little sign of stress effects.


In work main principles of construction of natural language understanding systems and intellectual search machines are certain. The analysis of existing theories and models is lead. The complex approach to the decision of the given problem on the base of hybrid model of text information representation and processing is offered. The mechanism of contextual knowledge allocation and organization principle of intellectual search on the base of the offered model is resulted.


The necessity of routine endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) after positive intraoperative cholangiogram (IOC) during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is not well defined. We aimed to examine the incidence of positive IOC among patients who undergo IOC during cholecystectomy and the rate of subsequent ERCP stone extraction. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was reviewed for all patients undergoing cholecystectomy with IOC from 2002 to 2012. Patients were then analyzed for ERCP and stone extraction. A total of 73,508 patients who underwent cholecystectomy with IOC for a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis and found to have a bile duct stone were identified. Of these patients, 5915 underwent subsequent ERCP. In the patients that underwent subsequent ERCP, 1478 had a documented stone extraction during ERCP. The rate of stone extraction in the ERCP subset is 25 per cent, which is 2 per cent of all patients who had a positive IOC. The rate of stone extraction after positive IOC is low. Positive IOC may not warrant a routine postoperative ERCP. Our results suggest that clinical monitoring of patients with positive IOC is reasonable, as the majority of patients with a positive IOC ultimately have no stone extraction.


This article combines a tutorial on state-of-art tensor decomposition as it relates to big data analytics, with original research on parallel and distributed computation of low-rank decomposition for big tensors, and a concise primer on Hadoop-MapReduce. A novel architecture for parallel and distributed computation of low-rank tensor decomposition that is especially well-suited for big tensors is proposed. The new architecture is based on parallel processing of a set of randomly compressed, reduced-size 'replicas' of the big tensor. Each replica is independently decomposed, and the results are joined via a master linear equation per tensor mode. The approach enables massive parallelism with guaranteed identifiability properties: if the big tensor is indeed of low rank and the system parameters are appropriately chosen, then the rank-one factors of the big tensor will indeed be recovered from the analysis of the reduced-size replicas. Furthermore, the architecture affords memory / storage and complexity gains of order IJ F for a big tensor of size I × J × K of rank F with F ≤ I ≤ J ≤ K. No sparsity is required in the tensor or the underlying latent factors, although such sparsity can be exploited to improve memory, storage and computational savings.


Thorax injury is one of main causes of serious injury in frontal collisions, especially for elderly car occupants. The anthropometric test device (ATD) THOR‐M provides chest deflection measurements at multiple locations, to assess the risk of thorax injury. For this purpose e, risk functions are needed that relate the potential criteria based on multipoint chest deflection measurement to in jury risk. Different thorax injury criteria and risk functions for THOR have been proposed [2‐3]. The criteria and functions are based on the traditional approach to developing injury risk functions using matched ATD and PMHS tests by relating the injury (number of fractures) to injury criteria. Regarding these studies, some limitations have been identified, in particular concerning the loading conditions of the data used (mainly 3‐point‐belt loading, high loading severity, out‐of‐date ATD versions. To extend the data set and overcome these limitations, a new approach for improved thorax injury criteria was applied within the EC‐funded project SENIORS. The new approach is based on matched frontal impact sled computer simulations with a model representing the latest THOR‐M ATD version, and matching simulations with a human body model (HBM) representing an elderly car occupant.


Cognitive radio technology necessitates accurate and timely sensing of primary users' activity on the chosen set of channels. The simplest selection procedure is a simple random choice of channels to be sensed, but the impact of sensing errors with respect to primary user activity or inactivity differs considerably. In order to improve sensing accuracy and increase the likelihood of finding channels which are free from primary user activity, the selection procedure is modified by assigning different sensing probabilities to active and inactive channels. The paper presents a probabilistic analysis of this policy and investigates the range of values in which the modulation of sensing probability is capable of maintaining an accurate view of the status of the working channel set. We also present a modification of the probability modulation algorithm that allows for even greater reduction of sensing error in a limited range of the duty cycle of primary users' activity. Finally, we give some guidelines as to the optimum application ranges for the original and modified algorithm, respectively.


A 70-year-old Caucasian gentleman presented with decreased vision in the left eye and a subtle whitish macular plaque in the left eye and pigment mottling bilaterally. Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) revealed left macular hypoperfusion. Systemic evaluation was negative for infectious or inflammatory disorder. A diagnosis of persistent placoid maculopathy was made and systemic immunosuppression was initiated. A marked improvement in macular perfusion was noted on ICGA and OCTA following 1 week of immunosuppression, providing additional evidence of an inflammatory rather than ischemic etiology.


The aims of this research were to explore mental health nurses' knowledge and experience of vicarious traumatization (VT). Literature linking mental health nursing and VT is sparse. VT is an enduring trauma that affects those who engage empathically across time and with different patients. Mental health nurses form ongoing therapeutic relationships with patients to foster healing. This empathic engagement leaves nurses vulnerable to VT. This project is qualitatively designed using narrative enquiry with in-depth, semistructured interviews of mental health nurses. Data gathered was thematically analysed and four main themes identified: the impact of VT; self-knowledge/self-awareness; self-care; and burnout. Participants in this study felt unprepared for the negative impact of mental health nursing and learned of VT 'on the job'. My recommendations include education on identifying VT, and self-care, including clinical supervision, to ameliorate the effects of VT. Further research is needed to explore the links between VT and mental health nursing.


Caz+-adenosine triphosphatase from sarcoplasmic reticulum has been delipidated by gel filtration through a Sephadex G-200 column equilibrated with buffer containing cholate. The delipidated Ca*+-adenosine triphosphatase had negligible adenosine triphosphatase activity, but up to 50% of the ATPase activity was restored when the delipidated enzyme was recombined with phospholipids. It was shown with the delipidated preparation that the phosphorylation of the enzyme by either ATP or P, was entirely dependent on phospholipids. Among the purified phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine reactivated the adenosine triphosphatase activity better than phosphatidylethanolamine. Vesicles capable of translocating Ca2+ were reconstituted from delipidated Ca2+ -adenosine triphosphatase and phosphatidylethanolamine, but not with phosphatidylcholine alone. We conclude that the firmly bound phospholipids which are purified together with the adenosine triphosphatase protein are not essential for the pump since they can be substituted by phosphatidylethanolamine isolated from soybeans.


In this paper, the free vibration analysis of thin rectangular plate with dowels on nonlinear elastic foundation is investigated. The load transfer on dowels is modeled as vertical springs, whose stiffness depends on the dowel properties and the dowel-plate interaction. Based on Hamilton variation principle, the nonlinear governing equations of thin rectangular plate with discontinuities on nonlinear elastic foundation are established, and the suitable expressions of trial functions satisfying all boundary conditions are proposed. Then, the equations are solved by using Galerkin method and harmonic balance method. The numerical simulation reveals the effects of the dowel parameters and the other ones of the system on free vibration behaves of the disconnected thin rectangular plate.


This PhD thesis focuses on single crystal X-ray diffraction data quality, the handling of systematic errors during data collection and the appropriate modelling of experimental charge density distributions. The development of new methods as well as the adaption of already known concepts to these topics will also be addressed in detail. A large part of the investigations underlying this thesis was related to the proper handling of systematic errors in X-ray diffraction experiments. Moreover, the possibility of development of empirical corrections and the subsequent adaptation were of general interest.
Special attention was put on the understanding of the solid-state fluorescence of 9,10-bis(diphenylthiophosphoryl)anthracene, its co-crystals and polymorphs. Here, the investigation of intermolecular attractions following a combined approach using high resolution X-ray data as well as computational models and, in cooperation, solid-state NMR. In the regard of charge densities, comprehensive combined X-ray/neutron multipole model refinements were carried out and the concept of cross-validation was adopted to this investigative field of science.


BACKGROUND
Academic medical centers (AMCs) have a constrained resident work force. Many AMCs have increased the use of nonresident service hospitalists to manage continued growth in clinical volume. To optimize their time in the hospital, it is important to understand hospitalists' work flow.

DESIGN
We performed a time-motion study of hospitalists carrying the admission pager throughout the 3 types of shifts we have at our hospital (day shift, swing shift, and night shift).

SETTING
Tertiary academic medical center in the Midwest.

RESULTS
Hospitalists spend about 15% of their time on direct patient care, and two-thirds of their time on indirect patient care. Of the indirect activities, communication and documentation dominate. Travel demands make up over 7% of a hospitalists' time. There are spikes in indirect patient care, followed closely by spikes in direct patient care, at shift changes.

CONCLUSIONS
At our AMC, indirect patient care activities accounted for the majority of the admitting hospitalists' time spent in the hospital, with documentation and communication dominating this time. Travel takes a significant fraction of hospitalists' time. There is also a cyclical nature to activities performed throughout the day, which can cause patient delays and impose variability on support services. There is a need for both service-specific and systemic improvements for AMCs to efficiently manage further growth in their inpatient volume.


Compounds mimicking the enzyme nitrogenase represent promising alternative routes to the current Haber-Bosch industrial synthesis of ammonia from molecular hydrogen and nitrogen. In this work, we investigated the full catalytic cycle of one of such compounds, Mo(HIPTN3N) (with HIPT = hexaisopropylterphenyl), by means of DFT calculations. Our results suggest these large ligands to exert mainly a steric influence on the structural properties of the catalyst. In addition, we provided a structural and electronic characterization of the putative reaction intermediates along with a picture of the electronic mechanism of molecular nitrogen N-N bond breaking. A large discrepancy was observed between calculated and experimental reaction free energies, suggesting that in the present case the predictability of DFT reaction energies is limited. Investigation of explicit solvation of specific catalytic intermediates as well as of the protonation and reducing agents reveal the crucial role played by the solvent molecules (benzene and heptane) particularly for protonation steps. Furthermore, the analysis of several DFT functionals indicates that these have to be carefully chosen in order to reproduce the energetic profile of reduction steps. This study shows how DFT calculations may be a powerful tool to describe structural and electronic properties of the intermediates of the catalytic cycle, yet, due to the complexity of the system, reaction energies cannot be easily reproduced without a careful choice of the solvation model and the exchange-correlation functional.