The global incidence of fatty liver disease (FLD) has eclipsed nearly every other hepatic pathology, largely due to the obesity epidemic. Steatosis is the first requisite step in progression to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis, the more severe forms of FLD. Lifestyle changes remain the most effective treatment for FLD; however, waistlines continue to expand in parallel with a booming weight-loss industry, indicating that lifestyle changes are both difficult to achieve and ineffective for many patients. Thus, targets for therapeutic intervention are sought. A study in this issue of Hepatology 1 suggests a novel pathway that contributes to steatosis, opening new avenues for designing drugs to alleviate FLD.

Many investigators studying hepatic injury have focused on the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). High levels of ROS can result in severe cell dysfunction or death. Some studies suggest that ROS can cause FLD, while many others focus on the consequence of ROS once FLD has formed. Promising results from clinical trials using antioxidants in patients with nonalcoholic2 and alcoholic3 FLD (i.e., nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [NAFLD] and alcoholic liver disease [ALD], respectively) support the theory that ROS can cause steatosis as well as the hepatic injury associated with FLD. The work by Nussbaum et al.1 in this issue of Hepatology challenges this theory by demonstrating a paradoxic role for ROS in FLD: instead of contributing to the pathogenesis of FLD, low (i.e., homeostatic) levels of ROS appear to prevent steatosis and addition of antioxidants promotes steatosis. Moreover, they uncover a previously unrecognized link between purine metabolism, ROS, and regulation of lipid droplet formation and utilization in hepatocytes.

This study benefited from the use of zebrafish, a small vertebrate with high reproductive capacity and a fully sequenced genome that shows high conservation with humans.4 The larval liver has a cellular composition comparable to mammals, and their hepatocytes can synthesize, store, and metabolize lipids. Thus, zebrafish, like mammals, get FLD.5 These attributes make zebrafish the only vertebrate amenable to forward genetic screening, which provides an unbiased approach to identify novel genes involved in FLD. Additionally, zebrafish larvae are transparent, providing an unparalleled view inside of the growing organism. The authors capitalize on this feature to develop a novel means to measure steatosis. Confocal imaging of the liver sections of larvae, where the contours of the hepatocytes are outlined with green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a fluorescent dye that labels the lipid droplets, allows quantification of cells containing lipid droplets as well as the number of droplets per cell, and also generates exquisite 3D images, rendering this pathology at subcellular resolution.

The mechanisms of steatosis can be simplistically viewed as an imbalance in four processes: excessive lipid synthesis or import, or reduced lipid utilization or export. Reverse genetic approaches, whereby a gene of interest is selected, specifically targeted, and the effect on hepatic lipid accumulation is evaluated, have provided a detailed understanding of how the core machinery of the lipid metabolism is regulated in hepatocytes, and how these processes are disrupted in FLD. While this approach is highly valuable, it does not facilitate discovery of entirely novel processes that impact lipid metabolism in hepatocytes.

Enter zebrafish—a large-scale forward genetic screen in zebrafish was carried out to identify mutants with liver defects,6 and the current study identifies one of these mutants to develop steatosis by 7 days postfertilization. The first unexpected result demonstrates that a mutation in the gene encoding guanosine 5′-monophosphate (GMP) synthetase (gmps), a key enzyme in purine metabolism, leads to steatosis. De novo nucleotide synthesis is a major hepatocyte function and is stimulated in response to insulin; however, the link between the purine synthesis and the hepatic lipid metabolism had not been described previously. This study dissects the complex pathway outlined in Fig. 1, whereby a loss of GMP reduces Rac1 activity and homeostatic ROS production, which then lead to a reduction of carboxylesterase (ces3; also called triglyceride hydrolase [tgh]) that cleaves triglycerides stored in hepatocytes as lipid droplets.

Fig. 1

Homeostatic levels of ROS are maintained by GMP levels and are required to prevent steatosis in zebrafish larvae. This simplified schematic illustrates how de novo purine synthesis is linked to hepatic lipid metabolism as revealed by the s850 mutation ...

Their second novel finding shows that loss of Rac1 blocks production of homeostatic ROS. Rac1 is a small GTPase best studied in the context of cytoskeletal rearrangements in response to signaling from cell surface receptors. A recent study suggested that Rac1 activation could induce the JNK pathway, a major player in hepatic injury, as JNK activation could lead to apoptosis in hepatocytes7 and cause steatosis. 8 This tenuous connection may provide a mechanistic link between Rac1 activation and steatosis. Interestingly, an alternative possibility is provided by the discovery that gmps mutation reduces Rac1 activity and that both pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of Rac1 in wild-type zebrafish larvae is sufficient to induce steatosis.1 These findings implicate GMP as a novel regulator of Rac1 activity and suggest that Rac1 activation prevents FLD. Whether JNK plays a part in this pathway remains an outstanding question.

The third and the most surprising finding is that homeostatic ROS prevent steatosis. Cells possess elaborate, potent antioxidant mechanisms to protect against cellular damage caused by excessive ROS. The DNA and protein adducts as well as organelle damage that are characteristic of oxidative stress occur when ROS levels overwhelm the cellular antioxidant defense system. However, a growing body of literature indicates that at low (i.e., homeostatic) levels, ROS serve as an important signaling molecule in processes as diverse as cell proliferation, metabolism, differentiation, survival, antiinflammatory responses, iron homeostasis, and DNA repair.9 Nussbaum et al. add regulation of lipid droplets to this list by reporting that low levels of H2O2 prevent steatosis in gmps mutants, and that antioxidant supplementation to wild-type larvae reduces homeostatic ROS and induces steatosis. Whether modulating homeostatic ROS in humans by antioxidant treatment affects steatosis has yet to be evaluated.

How does disrupting the GMP-Rac1 axis contribute to lipid accumulation in hepatocytes? Tantalizing evidence of deregulation of lipid droplet hydrolysis as a mechanism for steatosis is proposed by their finding that ces3 was downregulated in larvae deficient for the GMP synthesis-Rac1 axis. Moreover, simply treating larvae with a low dose of H2O2 restores ces3 expression in gmps mutants. This contrasts with a recent study using mice deficient for Ces3/Tgh, which had a marked decrease in steatosis in both fasted and fed states. Pharmacologic inhibition of Tgh reduced lipid turnover in primary human hepatocytes,10 suggesting that Ces3 reduction could alternatively reduce or increase lipid droplet formation in different contexts. It will be interesting to delineate whether Tgh/Ces3 regulation is a genuine and conserved factor that prevents steatosis across species.

This work highlights a number of intriguing issues that may inform clinical practice. For instance, there are substantial data that support the use of antioxidants to reduce liver injury in FLD patients. However, it is possible that antioxidants also suppress the generation of homeostatic levels of ROS, which may reduce tgh/ces3 expression and, as a consequence, prevent hydrolysis of lipid droplets, leading to steatosis. Also, given that GMP appears an important factor in regulating lipid droplet formation, it is exciting to speculate that supplementation of this nucleotide may serve to suppress this pathway in patients. Finally, this work provides an illustrative example of how using unbiased screening, and unconventional models, can generate surprising and novel ideas that advance our understanding of FLD and provide new areas to exploit for therapeutic intervention.


LDV measurements are reported of the flow-field associated with a single row of radially injected jets penetrating a core-tube flow. Emphasis is placed on the influence of small feed-annulus height on jet entry conditions and resulting trajectories and mixing patterns. Conditions of unstable jet behaviour, with strong vortex patterns in the jet holes, were observed for small annulus heights and high annulus velocities. Most measurements were however taken under stable conditions to allow the data to be used in a CFD validation exercise. Significant differences in the strength of backflow generated at jet impingement and in the turbulence field in the immediate hole vicinity were observed for different annulus height/core diameter ratios. These were accompanied by jet trajectory and annulus flow structure changes. Measurements of all 3 mean velocity components and associated normal stresses enabled the data to be utilised to assess a 3D CFD calculation incorporating a k-e turbulence closure. The strength of forward and back flow generated at impingement was accurately predicted when the QUICK discretisation scheme was used. However, the size of upstream vortex was overpredicted. As expected using an eddy viscosity model the turbulence field at jet impingement and in the hole vicinity was not correctly reproduced. The turbulence generation in the flow approaching the hole was greatly overestimated by the turbulence model used.Copyright © 1992 by ASME


An improved segmentation Fuzzy C-Means algorithm (FCM) is proposed for the image recognition of transmission line insulators. In this paper, the improved Wiener filter algorithm is firstly used to filtrate and recover image in pre-processing. Then, the insulator image is segmented based on the improved algorithm FCM. Finally, the contour of insulator is labelled by using connected component labelling algorithm. Experimental results have shown that the improved Wiener filtering algorithm may effectively filter and recover the images; furthermore, the improved FCM image segmentation algorithm may accurately segment insulators from the image.


Among the different strategies aimed at protecting products from counterfeiting, hidden security patterns are used by manufacturers to mark their products in a unique way. However, most anticounterfeiting patterns bear the risk of being reproduced by an unauthorized party who has gained knowledge of the exact technique and process parameters. In this paper, we use optical trap assisted nanopatterning to create unique security markings by taking advantage of statistical fluctuations when generating nanoscale features within the pattern. We image the patterns by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy and propose a three-level examination process that allows for an efficient yet highly secure authentication.


Attribute based person image generation is a problem which considers generating realistic person images using attributes like pose, gender, clothes, whether a bag is present or not etc. and it has wide variety of applications on computer vision. Realization of that generation process is quite difficult due to several reasons such as foreground/background, partial occlusion, stance of a person, camera angle and distance, complex relationships between attributes, unbalanced and poor quality data etc. Synthetic images are generated in related works which have worked on relatively easier datasets using less attributes with more complex models for more specific purposes. In this work, a more controversial goal was set up and a model named DCGAN-C is developed based on conditional generative adversarial networks and it can produce sythetic person images with both multi-class and multi-labels. Consequently, both quantitative and qualitative experiments were performed on the PA-100K dataset and the performance of the model was demonstrated.


We consider the experimental data for difference, Δρc(r), between the charge density distributions of the isotones 206Pb - 205Tl, deduced by analysis of elastic electron scattering measurements and corresponds to the shell model 3s1/2 proton orbit. We investigate the effects of two-body short-range correlations. This is done by: (a) Determining the corresponding single particle potential (mean-field), employing a novel method, directly from the single particle proton density and its first and second derivatives. We also carried out least-square fits to parametrized single particle potentials; (b) Determining the short-range correlations effect by employing the Jastrow correlated many-body wave function to derive a correlation factor for the single particle density distribution. The 3s1/2 wave functions of the determined potentials reproduce fairly well the experimental data within the quoted errors. The calculated charge density difference, Δρc(r), obtained with the inclusion of the short-range correlation effect does not reproduce the experimental data.


Mixing and heat flux rates collected in the Eurasian Basin north of Svalbard during the N-ICE2015 drift expedition are presented. The observations cover the deep Nansen Basin, the Svalbard continental slope, and the shallow Yermak Plateau from winter to summer. Mean quiescent winter heat flux values in the Nansen Basin are 2 W m−2 at the ice-ocean interface, 3 W m−2 in the pycnocline, and 1 W m−2 below the pycnocline. Large heat fluxes exceeding 300 W m−2 are observed in the late spring close to the surface over the Yermak Plateau. The data consisting of 588 microstructure profiles and 50 days of high-resolution under-ice turbulence measurements are used to quantify the impact of several forcing factors on turbulent dissipation and heat flux rates. Wind forcing increases turbulent dissipation seven times in the upper 50 m, and doubles heat fluxes at the ice-ocean interface. The presence of warm Atlantic Water close to the surface increases the temperature gradient in the water column, leading to enhanced heat flux rates within the pycnocline. Steep topography consistently enhances dissipation rates by a factor of four and episodically increases heat flux at depth. It is, however, the combination of storms and shallow Atlantic Water that leads to the highest heat flux rates observed: ice-ocean interface heat fluxes average 100 W m−2 during peak events and are associated with rapid basal sea ice melt, reaching 25 cm/d.


This paper builds on the literature that shows policy often plays a key role in housing cycles. Using the cointegration approach which focuses on the supply and demand dynamics of the housing market, and with explicit consideration of housing price expectations proxied by the price-earning ratio in financial markets, this paper identifies two cointegrating relations: a long run demand-side relation that involves housing property price, interest rate, price expectation and income; and a supply-side relation that involves private housing completion, property price, interest rate, and building and land costs. Based on Hong Kong data from 1990 a£ai§ 2012, which covers big cycles in the housing market, this paper suggests that policies to augment or restrain housing supply in the attempt to stabilize housing prices have been counterproductive.


Swap spreads, the interest rate differentials between the fixed rates on fixed-for-floating swap contracts and the yeilds-to-maturity on maturity-matched government bonds, define a market for one of the most actively transacted securities in the global fixed-income arena. A large universe of fixed-income securities including corporate bonds and mortgaged-back securities use interest rate swap spreads as a key benchmark for pricing and hedging. Swap spreads have received renewed attention since the Fall of 1998 when their volatile movements contributed in a significant way to the financial turmoil that led the US Fed to cut short-term interest rates by 75 basis points. In this paper we present new insights on how to analyze term structure of interest swap spreads. Specificaly, we focus on the determinants of swap spreads and show how quantities such as the spread


Landscape architects are often required to produce graphics that serve both as a presentation of data and as an exploration of design and process. These images are used to not only show what a landscape will look like when constructed, but also to understand how the composite parts of the landscape, both tangible and intangible, interact with each other. There is a lack of understanding about how to best compose these images so that they perform both aspects equally well. This project examines one aspect of this challenge: the presentation of analytic information in landscape architectural images, specifically, in landscape architectural maps. This project proposes a framework for analyzing, categorizing, and contextualizing the basic visual methods that landscape architects use to communicate analytic information in maps. Edward Tufte's Principles of Analytic Design are used as a basis for this analytic framework, in order to 1) better understand the visual characteristics and techniques that maps use to present analytical information, 2) break down analytic representation techniques into their component parts so that they can potentially be applied to other landscape architectural image typologies, and 3) create a visual language to better discuss the component parts that make up landscape architectural images. This analysis is structured around two map sets consisting of maps made by landscape architects Ian McHarg and James Corner. The results of this analysis are a set of identified analytic representational techniques used to communicate analytic content in landscape architectural maps, discussed and explored through both narrative and visual description.


Modvion is a company that develop 150m tall wind turbine towers made out of modules of Engineered Wood Products (EWP), specifically Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). One
of the big challenges in their design is the joining of the modules, which is the focus of this thesis. The joint design was given from the beginning along with physical test data from tensile tests performed at Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). In this thesis a Finite
Element (FE)-model of the joint was created, with the aim to replicate the response obtained from the physical tensile tests using simulations. The main goal was to use the FE-model in order to describe the inner mechanics of the joint. The joining of two LVL panels is made with Loctite CR 421 Purbond and a perforated steel plate. The joint and its materials are studied using physical testing and the commercial softwares ANSA as pre-processor, Abaqus Unified FEA as solver, and META as postprocessor. The material parameters for the wood given by data sheets provided by the manufacturer are compared to physical test data. Remaining material parameters and
simulation parameters are calibrated through material validation and parameter studies. Finally a small study was performed on whether the joint can be improved by making modifications to the perforated steel plate. The effects of these modifications were studied in order to find the critical areas of the joint.
The obtained results show that the number of holes in the steel plate are critical for the performance of the joint when it comes to its tensile strength. This is because the holes enables the glue to create adhesive anchors that facilitates the stress transfer from the
glue to the steel. Since the steel plate is the component of the joint that can withstand the highest amount of loading, the efficiency of the stress transfer is crucial in order to prevent the glue from breaking entirely at relatively small loads, which would result in a
lower ultimate tensile strength of the joint.
Although, some insecurities remains in the implementation of the FE-model, the results in this thesis can be used as a foundation for future research on this topic.


To facilitate improved in vivo culture of entomopathogenic nematodes, production of both insect hosts and nematodes should be optimized for maximum fitness, quality, and cost efficiency. In previous studies, we developed an improved diet for Tenebrio molitor, a host that is used for in vivo nematode production, and we demonstrated that single insect diet components (e.g., lipids and proteins) can have a positive or negative impact on entomopathogenic nematode fitness and quality. In this study, we tested components of our improved T. molitor diet (lipids, cholesterol, and a salt [MnSO4]) alone and in combination for effects on host susceptibility and reproductive capacity of Heterorhabditis indica and Steinernema carpocapsae. Our results indicated that moderate levels of lipids (10%) increased host susceptibility to S. carpocapsae but did not affect H. indica, whereas cholesterol and MnSO4 increased host susceptibility to H. indica but not S. carpocapsae. The combined T. molitor diet (improved for increased insect growth) increased host susceptibility to S. carpocapsae and had a neutral effect on H. indica; interactions among single diet ingredients were observed. No effects of insect host diet were detected on the reproductive capacity of either nematode species in T. molitor. Subsequently, progeny infective juveniles, derived from nematodes grown in T. molitor that were fed diets with varying nutritive components were tested for virulence to and reproduction capacity in the target pest Diaprepes abbreviatus. The progeny nematodes produced from differing T. molitor diet treatments did not differ in virulence except H. indica derived from a diet that lacked cholesterol or MnS04 (but contained lipids) did not cause significant D. abbreviatus suppression relative to the water control. We conclude that the improved insect host diet is compatible with production of H. indica and S. carpocapsae, and increases host susceptibility in S. carpocapsae. Furthermore, in a general sense, our results indicate host diets can be optimized for improved in vivo entomopathogenic nematode production efficiency. This is the first report of an insect diet that was optimized for both host and entomopathogenic nematode production. Additionally, our study indicates that host diet may impact broader aspects of entomopathogenic nematode ecology and pest control efficacy.


Purpose: Characterize the safety and tolerability of lifitegrast ophthalmic solution 5.0% for the treatment of dry eye disease. Methods: Pooled data from five randomized controlled trials were analyzed. Key inclusion criteria were adults with dry eye disease (Schirmer tear test score ⩾1 and ⩽10 mm, eye dryness score ⩾40 (visual analog scale 0–100), corneal staining score ⩾2.0 (0–4 scale)). Participants were randomized to lifitegrast ophthalmic solution 5.0% or placebo twice daily for 84 or 360 days. Treatment-emergent adverse events and drop comfort scores were assessed. Results: Overall, 2464 participants (lifitegrast, n = 1287; placebo, n = 1177) were included. Ocular treatment-emergent adverse events occurring in >5% in either group were instillation site irritation (lifitegrast, 15.2%; placebo, 2.8%), instillation site reaction (lifitegrast, 12.3%; placebo, 2.3%), and instillation site pain (lifitegrast, 9.8%; placebo, 2.1%); the most common (> 5%) nonocular treatment-emergent adverse event was dysgeusia (lifitegrast, 14.5%; placebo, 0.3%). The majority of treatment-emergent adverse events were mild to moderate in severity. Discontinuation due to treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 7.0% (lifitegrast) versus 2.6% (placebo) of participants (ocular: 5.5% vs 1.5%; nonocular: 1.9% vs 1.1%). Drop comfort scores with lifitegrast improved within 3 min of instillation and the score at 3 min improved across visits (12-week trials (both eyes, day 84 vs 0): 2.0 vs 3.3; SONATA (day 360 vs 0): right eye, 1.2 vs 1.7; left eye, 1.2 vs 1.8). Conclusion: Lifitegrast ophthalmic solution 5.0% appeared to be safe and well tolerated for the treatment of dry eye disease. Drop comfort with lifitegrast improved within 3 min of instillation.


A number of promising approaches have been investigated for controlling multiple adaptive optics elements in space-based wide field-of-view telescopes. However, the individual control algorithms, and sensing and control components have never been evaluated against one another in simulation or hardware. The Air Force is undertaking an inhouse program in the RADC Optical Systems Engineering Laboratory called OPTECAL for "OPtical TEstbed for Control ALgorithms". The OPTECAL program will combine extensive analyses with hardware tests using a state-of-the-art platform to validate this control, with emphasis on the algorithms. Individual control and sensing components and algorithms, as well as integrated control system approaches, will be evaluated on the platform. An effort was recently completed to identify the key parameters the platform should address and to provide a preliminary testbed design incorporating these parameters. The design completion and construction of the OPTECAL platform will begin late in 1984 and delivery is expected in early 1986. Preliminary control simulations and experiments are now underway at RADC in preparation for the future OPTECAL studies. Initial milestones include the establishment of a basic adaptive optics test setup, a proof-of-concept deconvolution experiment, development of an optical modeling capability, and studies evaluating "deconvolution" techniques, phase retrieval approaches, and the effects of actuator transfer function uncertainties in wide field-of-view optics control. Later milestones include fully traceable experiments on the OPTECAL platform to optimize the integrated control system performance.


The purpose of this study was to compare proactive and retroactive inhibition and the retention r ate between the slow and the fast learner. The slow and fast learners were defined by their placement in remedial and honor classes in U.S.D. #347. The following hypotheses were tested in a paired associate manner: 1. the effects of proactive inhibition would be greater for the slow learner than the effects of retroactive inhibition. 2. The effects of retroactive inhibition would be greater for the fast learner than the effects of proactive inhibition. 3. When allowed sufficient, but equal, time for learning a task, the slow learner will recall more learned material than the fast learner. Paired associates of numerals and CVC trigrams were used as the learning and inhibiting tasks. These were projected on a screen to thirty randomly selected subjects of remedial and honor students in an elementary grade summer school. These subjects were separated into three groups, one group being exposed to proactive inhibition, one to retroactive inhibition, and one group serving as a control group. An analysis of variance was used to make the statistical analysis. None of the hypotheses were validated but there were indications that the cause may in part be due to the fact that the design left motivation uncontrolled.


A grid interactive photovoltaic generation system is developed in this work. A boost converter forms the initial stage and is used to obtain the maximum power from the PV array. It is controlled using an incremental conductance (INC) based algorithm. The second stage is a voltage source converter (VSC), which interfaces the PV system to the grid. A recurrent neurocontrol based algorithm is used to generate the switching pulses for the VSC. The solar energy conversion system (SECS) has the capabilities of harmonics reduction, reactive power compensation, unity power factor operation and grid currents balancing. The proposed system is validated under various operating conditions using simulation as well as experimental results.


Abstract Despite the fact that drinking and music often share a space, the relationship between alcohol-related misbehaviour and live music has received little academic attention. Music has been demonstrated to influence drinking behaviour and entertainers have been observed influencing ('soft-policing') drunken misbehaviour by audiences. However, to date research has not given voice to those providing this musical entertainment. Are they aware of the effects they have on audiences' drinking behaviour and does this impact on performances? Our qualitative research fills this lacuna by drawing on the experiences of gigging entertainers to explore how they deal with intoxicated audiences. Interviews conducted as part of this research highlighted a lack of preparation on the part of performers for dealing with disorderly crowds and/or the unwanted attentions of drunken individuals; they usually have to learn appropriate responses 'on the job'. Success as a gigging entertainer was felt to be only partly founded upon artistic merit, with an ability to engage the (often inebriated) public being equally important. Although none had received formal training in alcohol issues as musicians, some utilised people skills (e.g. conflict resolution techniques) acquired via other employment. The authors ask if there is a place for training in alcohol-related issues to be offered by or integrated into music curriculums.


Background In November 2000, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidance on the use of Zanamivir for high-risk patients with in? uenza. The Department of Health introduced patient group directions in August 2000 in order to allow primary care organisations to permit nurses and pharmacists to supply certain medications, such as emergency contraception,under deA½ ned circumstances without a general practitioner (GP) prescription.Aims To report on the implementation of patient group directions for Zanamivir, in particular their utilisation, feasibility and acceptability, and to derive recommendations for the future use of patient group directions.Design Cross-sectional postal questionnaire surveySetting All 474 primary care organisations in England in March 2001Participants Clinical governance leads Outcomes Whether a patient group direction was used or not and the reasons why; the timing of the implementation; the utilisation of patient group directions by pharmacies, practices and patients; the proportion of patients referred to their GP; the number of adverse events recorded; the cost of setting up and running patient group directionsand any speciA½ c issues which arose.Results The response rate was 338/474 (71.3%). Forty-three (12.7% of 338 respondents) reported that their organisation used a patient group direction for Zanamivir. The main reasons for not using a patient group direction for Zanamivir were: time or other resource constraints; concerns over validity and appropriateness of the NICE guidance for Zanamivir; concerns regarding thecost-eiectiveness of Zanamivir, and its appropriateness for a patient group direction approach. Other reasons included  ompeting priorities with other initiatives such as ? u immunisation; concerns about the appropriateness or safety of patient group directions for a new black triangle drug; lack of clinical need or demand; an absence of the necessary decision-making processes; lack of agreement between stakeholders; the use of a reasonable alternative; other practical implementation difficulties including inadequate training.Conclusions The Department of Health's response to the workload implications of the introduction of Zanamivir was to introduce patient group directions.However they need to be in place before an epidemic and were not signiA½ cantly in place for the winter of 2000/2001. In the event of a ? u epidemic this winter, on this evidence, primary care is unlikely to cope with a high demand for fast access to Zanamivir


Abstract Personal income taxation remains an ongoing issue in Croatia. It is used as an important instrument of income redistribution. Moreover, it directly affects purchasing power of the working population. Numerous changes have been made in this type of taxation since the establishment of Croatian tax system. The aim of this paper is to analyse possible determinants of personal income taxation in Croatia. After offering brief insight into public finance theory regarding personal income taxation, the structure of personal income taxation in Croatia is explained. The empirical analysis of the determinants of personal income taxation in Croatia is conducted using cointegration analysis. Economic conditions, average monthly wage, and number of taxpayers are used as determinants of personal income tax used in this research. The cointegration analysis is conducted using monthly data from January 2008 to February 2016. The results of the research show a statistically significant negative impact of economic conditions and statistically significant positive impact of average monthly wage and number of taxpayers on personal income taxation in long run, what is in line with economic and public finance theory.


During the lifespan of large software systems, iterative development procedure is commonly adopted with continuously incremental software versions released to the market. When to release each release plays an important role for balancing the competition in market and the risk of low-quality software. Traditionally, release-time issue is addressed with software reliability models for single version. How to model the reliability of multi-release software development process is our concern now. It is interesting to study the dynamics of software faults during this releasing procedure. Without the loss of generality, a specific iterative software development scenario is considered for our current study, where a software development team develops, tests and releases software version by version. The trend of the remaining number of faults over different versions is of great concern, and a modeling framework is proposed to study the expected number of remaining faults in each version. Cost model is then proposed, and cost oriented optimal release time analysis for n versions is studied. A numerical example is given for the illustrative purpose.


Abstract As software systems are getting increasingly connected, there is a need for equipping nonmonotonic logic programs with access to external sources that are possibly remote and may contain information in heterogeneous formats. To cater for this need, hex programs were designed as a generalization of answer set programs with an API style interface that allows to access arbitrary external sources, providing great flexibility. Efficient evaluation of such programs however is challenging, and it requires to interleave external computation and model building; to decide when to switch between these tasks is difficult, and existing approaches have limited scalability in many real-world application scenarios. We present a new approach for the evaluation of logic programs with external source access, which is based on a configurable framework for dividing the non-ground program into possibly overlapping smaller parts called evaluation units. The latter will be processed by interleaving external evaluation and model building using an evaluation graph and a model graph, respectively, and by combining intermediate results. Experiments with our prototype implementation show a significant improvement compared to previous approaches. While designed for hex-programs, the new evaluation approach may be deployed to related rule-based formalisms as well.


: The article presents an overview of scientific publications devoted to the study of epidemiology, etiology, clinical manifestations and basic approaches to the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. An analysis of the results shows a high frequency of comorbidity between ADHD and emotional disorders (anxiety) that determines the severity of the main clinical symptoms and leads to severe social maladaptation. Inclusion of anxiolytics and nootropics in treatment of ADHD is required.


A number of multi-priority jobs are to be processed on two heterogeneous processors. Of the jobs waiting in the buffer, jobs with the highest priority have the first option of being dispatched for processing when a processor becomes available. On each processor, the processing times of the jobs within each priority class are stochastic, but have known distributions with decreasing mean residual (remaining) processing times. Processors are heterogeneous in the sense that, for each priority class, one has a lesser average processing time than the other. It is shown that the non-preemptive scheduling strategy for each priority class to minimize its expected flowtime is of threshold type. For each class, the threshold values, which specify when the slower processor is utilized, may be readily computed. It is also shown that the social and the individual optimality coincide.


It has been determined previously that the protonation of the GC pairs induces a DNA conformation change which leads to a "metastable" structure. The role of the AT pairs, however, is not well known because the protonation does not modify their spectral properties. By means of an indirect method based on the binding of proflavine, it has been determined that the AT pairs are protonated before the acid-induced denaturation and that they seem to be unable to assume a conformation change when protonated. These results would indicate that the protonated AT pairs may be responsible for the induction of the acid denaturation and not the GC pairs as it was thought previously.


In modern information society requirements and expectations associated with power quality have become increasingly important. Among the different disturbances affecting the power quality, the voltage sag are considered as a most important power quality problem faced by utilities & industrial consumer & equipment like PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), ASD (Adjustable Speed Drives) which need to be fully investigated. Custom power device are effective means for mitigating the voltage related issues prominently voltage sag, unbalanced load voltage, voltage regulation, sag/ swell etc. by compensating the reactive power with the injection of shunt current. In this paper by using three level H-bridge topology cascaded multilevel inverter based DSTATCOM the Power Quality issues are compensated effectively.


Author(s): Kaltman, Eric | Advisor(s): Wardrip-Fruin, Noah | Abstract: Computer games are now a significant cultural phenomenon, and a significant artistic output of humanity. However, little effort and attention have been paid to how the medium of games and interactive software developed, and even less to the historical storage of software development documentation. This thesis borrows methodologies and practices from computer science, the history of science and technology, and information science, and brings them to bear on the historical study of computer games. It posits that in order to understand and reconcile the place and effects of cultural software in society, new means of stabilizing software outputs, exploring their contents, and expressing their histories must be created.The thesis's contributions are tied to a model of scholarly process, in which software practitioners — in this case specifically game developers — produce documentation that is then explored by historians and expressed — through scholarly works — to other scholars and lay audiences. That is, the accumulation of historical records about games and software needs to be filtered through stabilizing processes before historians can make use of them. Furthermore, the subsequent expression of those records needs to take their digital, computational, and technically engineered nature into account.The first three chapters focus on the appraisal of game development documentation, the description of game records in institutional archives, and the citation and reference of game resources. "Appraisal" analyzes the records of the game Prom Week and provides an appraisal and institutional ingestion its development documentation. "Description" presents semantic controlled vocabulariesand theoretical models for computer game platforms and media formats. "Citation" introduces the Game and Interactive Software Scholarship Toolkit (GISST), a system for the citation of emulated computer games, their computational state, and recordings of their game play. GISST allows for embedding emulated games into online documents to aid in historical expression.The two latter chapters focus on record expression. "Discovery" presents a novel application of natural language processing to the visualization of computer game history. The final chapter focuses on the history of the computer game Doom and the need to devote more time to the organization and historicization of its documentation.


In 1998, the first Polar route test flight between Asia and North America was carried out. By the end of 2009, over 10,000 Polar flights will have taken place. However, as cross polar traffic continues to increase, the aviation industry is realising the impacts that space weather has on high-altitude, high-latitude, flights (>50�N) and polar operations (>78�N). Effects include disruption in High Frequency (HF) communications, satellite navigation system errors, and radiation hazards to humans and avionics.

These concerns not only apply to current operations, but become even more important at all latitudes when considered within the framework for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), an interagency initiative to transform the U.S. air transportation system by 2025.

The AMS/SolarMetrics report, Integrating Space Weather Observations and Forecasts into Aviation Operations (published March 2007), offers recommendations to increase the safety, reliability, and efficiency of aviation operations through more effective use of space weather information. This report highlighted several policy issues that need to be addressed to ensure the best use of current and future space weather information, namely:

. Communication of space weather information

. Standardization of information and regulations

. Education and training

. Cost benefit and risk analysis

SolarMetrics is working with the airline and space transportation industries to identify and develop new integrated space weather services that will meet their demands for real-time operational decision tools and products.

This poster will present some of the operational issues raised above and how they are being tackled.


Less than a year ago, if you existed and had a pulse, there was somebody who would consider investing or loaning to you, prosperous or not. That was before the Dow Jones Industrial average lost over 50% of its value and icons of the investment banker world—Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch—and the commercial banking world—Wachovia and National City among others—were a mere memory. With liquidity all but dried up, it begs the question: "Credit and liquidity: Where have you gone? How and when can we get you back?" This article will provide some insight about which rocks to look under and how to convey your message to the new and reduced audiences. Don't totally give up the ship; there is some hope.


Several terms of the homologous series ZnkIn2Ok+3 (3 ≤ k ≤ 13) have been synthesized following solid-state reactions with an exhaustive control of the synthesis parameters. A detailed study using High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) and Annular Bright Field (ABF) Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) was carried out, in order to investigate the structure of these materials. The [010] zone axis shows a gradual shift of the oxygen position in order to keep the polarization neutrality along the c axis and allows the formation and stabilization of the structure, while no difference in the indium distribution inside the wurtzite blocks is visualized. On the other hand, images from the [10] zone axis show the characteristic zig-zag modulation of this homologous series for terms with k = 4 and 7. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) confirms the preference site of In3+ along this zig-zag pattern. Raman spectra recorded under both resonant and non-resonant conditions have been related to either vibrations of the In–O or In/Zn–O sublattices or as characteristic of the whole ZnkIn2Ok+3 structure. The frequency shift of vibration modes related to the In/ZnO sublattice is discussed in terms of phonon confinement due to the nature of these materials. Cathodoluminescence measurements reveal a main emission band centered at 1.75 eV, which shows an increase of intensity with k, which can be attributed to the existence of zinc vacancies.


This report describes the discrete-event semantics and its implementation in the Ptolemy II software architecture. The discrete-event system representation is appropriate for time-oriented systems such as queueing systems, communication networks, and hardware systems. A key strength in our discrete event implementation is that simultaneous events are handled systematically and deterministi-cally. A formal and rigorous treatment of this property is given. One of the Ptolemy II major features is in the heterogenous modeling of systems. Composition of the DE domain with different domains in Ptolemy II is discussed. The performance of a discrete-event simulator depends heavily on the algorithm by which events are mantained and sorted in the event queue. In the Ptolemy II DE domain, the event queue is implemented as the calendar queue data structure. The calendar queue is an extremely fast implementation of the priority queue with time complexity equal to O(1) for both enqueue and dequeue operations. A comprehensive description of this data structure is given. Based on the tagged signal model, the formal semantics of our discrete event implementation are given in terms of the firing functions of actors.


Mathematicians have been fascinated for centuries by the properties and patterns of numbers. They have noticed that some numbers are equal to the sum of all of their factors (not including the number itself). Such numbers are called perfect numbers. Thus a positive integer is called a perfect number if it is equal to the sum of its proper positive divisors. The search for perfect numbers began in ancient times. The four perfect numbers 6, 28, 496, and 8128 seem to have been known from ancient times. In this paper, we will investigate some important properties of perfect numbers. We give easy and simple proofs of theorems using finite series. We give our own alternative proof of the well-known Euclid's Theorem
(Theorem I). We will also prove some important theorems which play key roles in the mathematical theory of perfect numbers.


The thesis analyze a subject of renewed interest in bioengineering, the research and analysis of exercise parameters that maximize the neuromuscular and cardiovascular involvement in vibration treatment.
The research activity was inspired by the increasing use of device able to provide localized or whole body vibration (WBV).
In particular, the focus was placed on the vibrating platform and the effect that the vibrations have on the neuromuscular system and cardiovascular system.

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of vibration applied to the entire body, in particular, it was investigated the effect of WBV on:
1) Oxygen consumption during static and dynamic squat;
2) Resonant frequency of the muscle groups of the lower limbs;
3) Oxygen consumption and electromyographic signals during static and dynamic squat.

In the first three chapters are explained the state of the art concerning vibration treatments, the effects of vibration applied to the entire body, with the explanation of the basic mechanisms (Tonic Vibration Reflex, TVR) and the neuromuscular system, with particular attention to the skeletal muscles and the stretch reflex.
In the fourth chapter is illustrated the set-up used for the experiments and the software, implemented in LabWindows in order to control the platform and acquire the electromyographic signal.

In the fifth chapter were exposed experiments undertaken during the PhD years. In particular, the analysis of Whole Body Vibration effect on neurological and cardiovascular systems showed interesting results.
The results indicate that the static squat with WBV produced higher neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory system activation for exercise duration <60 sec. Otherwise, if the single bout duration was higher than 60 sec, the greater cardiorespiratory system activation was achieved during the dynamic squat with WBV while higher neuromuscular activation was still obtained with the static exercise.


This paper concerns flexural and axial wave motion in a cracked beam. A combined finite element (FE) and spectral element (SE) model of a cracked beam is presented. A portion of the beam, which contains the crack, is modelled using FE analysis and combined with semi-infinite SEs. From the combined model the reflection and transmission coefficients of the crack are estimated. To determine the accuracy of this approach, a beam with a mass discontinuity is considered in the first instance. The reflection coefficients are estimated numerically and compared with experimental results. Secondly, a slot-type transverse crack is cut along the width of the beam. The experimental results are compared with both an FE model and a conventional lumpedparameter spring model. The purpose of this work is to investigate further the use of audiofrequency wave propagation as a basis for crack assessment and provide a valid model to use in the development of an assessment procedure.


Even if the relationships between nutrition and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remain underexplored, the current literature is providing, day by day, much more evidence on the effects of various diets in both prevention and treatment of such illnesses. Wrong dietary habits, together with other environmental factors such as pollution, breastfeeding, smoke, and/or antibiotics, are among the theoretical pathogenetic causes of IBD, whose multifactorial aetiology has been already confirmed. While some of these risk factors are potentially reversible, some others cannot be avoided, and efficient treatments become necessary to prevent IBD spread or recurrence. Furthermore, the drugs currently available for treatment of such disease provide low-to-no effect against the symptoms, making the illnesses still strongly disabling. Whether nutrition and specific diets will prove to effectively interrupt the course of IBD has still to be clarified and, in this sense, further research concerning the applications of such dietary interventions is still needed.


Measles is a highly contagious viral infection with worldwide prevalence. It is transmitted by airborne route and has an incubation period is 8–12 days. Symptoms include fever, coryza, cough, rash, while signs include exudative conjunctivitis, maculopapular rashes. The population at risk for measles are those less than five years of age especially infants, those above 20 years of age, the immuno-suppressed and immune-compromised patients such as those with HIV/AIDS, those on steroids and chemotherapy, those with severe malnutrition. We aim to describe the different surveillance methods for measles including the traditional and modern methods, their evaluation and analysis. The traditional surveillance for measles includes over the counter sales of antipyretics and cough syrups, data from school absenteeism and school nurses, daily physician office visit, hospital ED visits, hospital admission data, nurse hotline data, emergency medical services and ambulance 911 calls and laboratory test requests. Measles surveillance can also be done using modern methods which can be used at the local, state and regional levels for the detection of measles outbreak. These modern methods include the Electronic Surveillance System for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE), the real-time outbreak detection system (RODS), early aberration reporting system (EARS), Redbat and the syndrome reporting information system (SYRIS). Telehealth is another modern method for the surveillance of measles which detects outbreak of measles earlier regardless of how far the patient is from the healthcare centers. The various disease surveillance methods above are effective and beneficial in terms of early detection of outbreaks and situation analysis for measles and are hence recommended for use.


Purpose
Modeling of grammatical forms has been used in conjunction with conversational recast treatment in various forms. This study tests the relative effect of providing bombardment prior to or after recast treatment.

Method
Twenty-eight children with developmental language disorder participated in daily conversational recast treatment for morpheme errors. This treatment was either preceded or followed by a brief period of intensive auditory bombardment. Generalization to untreated lexical contexts was measured throughout the treatment period to assess the degree of learning and how quickly the onset of measurable learning occurred.

Results
There were no significant differences in elicited use of morphemes for the groups of children who received auditory bombardment before or after enhanced conversational recast treatment. However, there was a difference in the number of children who could be considered treatment responders versus nonresponders, favoring those who received auditory bombardment after recast treatment.

Conclusion
A brief period of auditory bombardment is a relatively low cost addition to recast treatment methods, given how little time it takes. There is a small but measurable advantage to following recast treatment with a period of auditory bombardment.

Supplemental Material
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5960005.


This article seeks, through the medium of a case study of the York Lunatic Asylum scandal of 1813 to 1815, to rethink aspects of the existing historiography of early nineteenth-century asylum reform. By moving away from the normative medical historical focus on 'madness' and 'custody', it relates the reform of lunatic asylums to the wider social, cultural, and political currents of the early nineteenth century. In particular, it demonstrates how the conflict over the administration of the York Asylum represented a clash between different conceptions of social power and public accountability which were rooted in mutually opposed cultural ideologies. In addition, by bringing more recent work on identity and performance to bear on a classic set of historical issues, it also seeks to investigate how the reform of lunatic asylums, and the cultural shifts which they embodied, impacted upon the social identities of medical practitioners engaged in the charitable care of the sick and mad.


Since "consciousness is the first step towards emancipation" (Fairclough, 1989, p. 233), and since reproducing the ideological power-bearing discourses and hierarchical relations needs foregrounding the taken-for-granted relations in academic settings, the present study focuses on the different discourses and interactions of supervisors, advisors, external and internal examiners, and the audience with the M.A. defending students while urging on various orders of discourse with change. The present paper is a qualitative ethnography-based approach and sees into various commonsensical power-bearing verbal and nonverbal discourses. The specific methods of this work are a long-term observation accompanied by a detailed contextual analysis of five recorded viva sessions in two universities in the west of Iran. The findings of this study, power in discourse and power above discourse, helped in answering how orders of discourse are naturally produced in academic settings generally, and in viva voce settings specifically. Finally, this study concedes that both students and members of the elite groups _professors_ comprehend and produce power-bearing discourses without even a minor change, so that the traditionally held and commonsensical ideologies leading to powerful discourses appeared quite legitimate. Compliances resulted in reinforcing commonsensical assumptions in the academic settings. Resistance or social struggle, as the alternative reaction, is suggested at the end of this work which could lead to reforms in academic and educational systems in favor of emancipation. Similar studies can be done in classrooms and the same contexts where there seems to be unequal hierarchical relations for the purpose of bringing about social struggle. This study has implications for higher education specifically, and for education in general.


In this paper we explore the idea that ratings systems, common across successful e-commerce sites, can better engage individuals in online learning networks. To test this we implement a ratings system as a mechanism for influencing social interaction in our university's online learning community (OLC). Our research measures the impact this system had on five graduate courses over the course of two semesters. Our research also provides insight into how user-driven content can provide input into other systems, such as a recommender system to aid in fostering new online social connections.


In Turkey, injury, a disability and death rate, due to work accidents and occupational injuries, have a serious number compared to developed countries. Based on this results, the European Union Occupational health and safety Law No. 6331was enacted, in order to minimize accidents which are work-related and provide safe working environments, moreover in order to update and adapt the acquis in business law in force for over 30 years. On the other hand, as well as all over the world, according to the available studies, the construction sector in Turkey is the one of the sectors with the high estratios. The purpose of this study, in structure of occupational healt hand safety legislation, the employer and employee within the scope of assessment. Keywords : Occupational health and safety, Constructionindustry, Prevention, Employer Liability


By studying the behavior of the resistance of leukocytes to hypotonic saline solution we have found that leukocytes leaving the spleen are much less resistant than those entering it.

It is felt that the change in resistance affecting leukocytes on their passage through the spleen is in all probability the manifestation of one of the mechanisms by which the spleen regulates the life span of leukocytes.


Scholars have recently noted the paucity of scholarship on administrative licenses as especially significant given the prevalence — indeed ubiquity — of administrative licenses today. This Article contributes to filling that void by tackling an aspect of administrative licensing that has received especially little attention and, as a result, has been a source of serious confusion: license renewals. As this Article details, administrative license renewal practices raise interesting and important questions about administrative law and procedural due process. Does one have a property interest in a license after that license expires by its terms? Is an agency's decision not to renew a license more akin to denying an initial license application or to suspending or revoking an active license?

This Article answers these questions and then applies those answers to one particular context — the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Our nation's most important animal protection law, the AWA governs more than 2.5 million animals held by nearly eleven thousand locations. And yet, by all accounts, it is woefully underenforced. As this Article discusses, that underenforcement is seriously aggravated by the practice of automatically renewing AWA licenses, even in the face of egregious violations. After analyzing recent litigation that has tried to challenge this practice, the Article concludes with policy proposals to address the automatic renewal problem while also assuring fairness.


OBJECTIVE
To quantify accurately the rate of adverse reactions after the preschool (fifth) dose of adsorbed diphtheria toxoid-pertussis vaccine-tetanus toxoid (DPT) vaccine and to test the hypothesis that large local reactions are attributable to the diphtheria toxoid.

DESIGN
Double-blind randomized controlled trial.

SETTING
Suburban community public health unit.

PARTICIPANTS
Healthy children 4 to 5 years of age with a history of having received four doses of adsorbed DPT vaccine.

INTERVENTIONS
Subjects were given either the standard DPT vaccine (with 25 Lf units of diphtheria toxoid) or a modified DPT vaccine (with 10 Lf units of diphtheria toxoid). They were assessed 24 hours later by a nurse. Serum samples obtained before vaccination were tested for diphtheria and tetanus antitoxin levels by means of neutralization assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Rates of large local reactions (an area of redness or swelling or both of 5 cm or greater) 24 hours after vaccination in the two groups. Relation between serum antitoxin levels before vaccination and the rate of large local reactions in each group.

RESULTS
Of the 250 subjects enrolled 124 received the standard vaccine and 126 the modified one. Large local reactions occurred in 71% of the subjects receiving the standard vaccine and 52% of those receiving the modified one (p less than 0.01). In the former group large erythematous reactions occurred significantly more often in those with an elevated prevaccination diphtheria antitoxin level than in those without an elevated level; no relation was found between such reactions and the prevaccination tetanus antitoxin level. Reduced arm movement was evident in 45% of the children in the two groups. Few had systemic adverse reactions.

CONCLUSIONS
Large local reactions occur frequently after the preschool administration of the DPT vaccine. These reactions are uncomfortable but not serious. They result in part from the large amount of diphtheria toxoid in the standard DPT vaccine.


Biodegradable polyesters with free hydroxyl groups were synthesis by the lipase-catalyzed polycondensation of L-malic acid with different diacids (succinic acid, adipic acid and sebacic acid) and diols (ethandiol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,6-hexanediol and 1,8-octanediol). The molecular weight (Mw) of the copolymers was affected by the alkylene chain lengths of diacids and diols. It was found that diacids and diols with longer alkylene chain lengths have a higher reactivity than that of shorter chain-length diacids and diols. The crytallizability of the copolymers were affected by the alkylene chains length of diacids and diols. The crytallizability decreased with the decreasing of the alkylene chains length of diacids and diols.


The finite difference time domain code TEMDDD was modified for the 3D forward modeling of marine CSEM data.
After changes in the code, which make it possible to create model geometries typically encountered in marine CSEM
experiments, parts of the code have been parallelized using massive parallelization on graphic cards.
Parts of the singular value decomposition, which is the most time consuming part of the code, have been successfully
ported with massive speed-ups (8-12x faster) observed as compared to the standard code. The full parallelization of the code is still work in progress.


REM periods with lucid dreaming show increased brain activation, especially in the prefrontal cortex, compared to REM periods without lucid dreaming and, thus, the question of whether lucid dreaming interferes with the recovery function of sleep arises. Cross-sectional studies found a negative relationship between sleep quality and lucid dreaming frequency, but this relationship was explained by nightmare frequency. The present study included 149 participants keeping a dream diary for five weeks though the course of a lucid dream induction study. The results clearly indicate that there is no negative effect of having a lucid dream on the feeling of being refreshed in the morning compared to nights with the recall of a non-lucid dream; on the contrary, the feeling of being refreshed was higher after a night with a lucid dream. Future studies should be carried out to elicit tiredness and sleepiness during the day using objective and subjective measurement methods.


This paper proposes an automatic face orientation interpretation system for human-machine interface to benefit the severely handicapped people. Our system investigates a new method for movement identification and uses a Hybrid scheme consisting of extracting the Eigen values of covariance matrices using Hough Transform and Bresenham's Raster scan Algorithms. The proposed template matching algorithm has been found effective in tracking the movement of the eyes and, using a classifier it is possible to verify the open or closed eyes and convert the eye winks into a sequence of codes (0 or 1) and subsequently translate the code sequence to a certain valid command. The present work differs from the previous eye-gaze tracking methods, in that, the system identifies the open or closed eye and then interprets the eye winking as certain commands for human-machine interface. Our system demonstrates better performance as well as higher accuracy as shown in the results.


With proper planning and use of successful techniques of claims avoidance, recognition, and resolution from the initial stages of the project, a hospital can prevent or minimize construction delays and claims and can complete its new construction in a reasonable atmosphere with a minimum of cost.


Two end-member classes of models (indentation and mantle subduction) that have been proposed to explain patterns of crustal deformation during continental collision may be reconciled using a model that includes a combination of indentation from the side and basal forcing from underlying subducting layers. Measurement of the width of deformation across strike can be used to indicate the predominant forcing mechanism and shows that the combined case is controlled by mantle subduction if the crust is well coupled to the underlying mantle lithosphere, or by indentation if the crust and mantle lithosphere are decoupled. An increase in the width of deformation with convergence as a result of the effect of gravity on crustal thickening can cause a change in the primary control of an orogenic system from mantle subduction to indentation; this transfer may be enhanced by diffusional or convective heating at the base of the thickened crust. The India-Eurasia collision is an example where the deformation width may initially have depended on mantle subduction, but is now controlled by the indenter limit.


The gene encoding MPB83 from Mycobacterium bovis Vallee111 chromosomal DNA was amplified by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, and the PCR product was approximately 600bp DNA segment. Using TA cloning technique, the PCR product was cloned into pGEM-T vector and the cloning plasmid pGEM-T-83 was constructed successfully. pGEM-T-83 and pET28a(+) were digested by BamHI and EcoRI double enzymes. The purified MPB83 gene was subcloned into the expression vector pET28a(+), and the prokaryotic expression vector pET28a-83 was constructed. Plasmid containing pET28a-83 was transformed into competence Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The bacterium was induced by isopropyl-Beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) and its lysates were loaded directly onto sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), approximately 26 kDa exogenous protein was observed on the SDS-PAGE. The protein was analyzed using Western-blotting. The results indicated that the protein was of antigenic activity of M.bovis. The results were expected to lay foundation for further studies on the subunit vaccine and DNA vaccine of MPB83 gene in their prevention against bovine tuberculosis.


ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and successful social enterprises would play an irreplaceable role in Tourism-assisting the poor (TAP). Research into CSR and social enterprises in TAP in China is in a very early stage. Although more and more researchers have paid attention to CSR in tourism and poverty alleviation practice, they seldom give their focuses on TAP where CSR and social enterprises would play a significant role. The research focusing on TAP either at theoretical and practical levels is left behind the practice. This paper reviews the research progress in China and compares it with the international research literature. It suggests that while China can learn a lot from the international community about CSR practice and research, China needs its own research agenda of CSR and social enterprise in the context of TAP to suit China's uniqueness in terms of its institutional arrangement, legal system, and rural capacity.


As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies in the field of complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This article is the 11th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. This article focuses on the idea of elegance and how it can be applied in solving complex problems.


The purpose of the Karanganyar Regency Regional Tourism Development Master Plan (RIPP) is to implement Sustainable Tourism Development (STD). Of the many concepts that are appropriate for achieving this goal, the concept of ecotourism is one of them. The growth of tourism activities in the Ngargoyoso district has accelerated. Local governments need to have instruments to help achieve STD goals in their areas. Studies related to the selection of suitable areas using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) based on ecotourism activities have been widely studied and applied in various regions of the world. This study aims to identify areas suitable for ecotourism as a basis for decision making for regional tourism development. The research approach is carried out by assessing expert opinion on the basis for determining policy using the AHP method. Then integrated with GIS techniques to be able to present the results of the assessment in the form of a map of the suitability of the location for ecotourism. The suitability classes in this study are divided into S1 (Very Suitable), S2 (Fairly Sufficient), S3 (Slightly Suited), and N (Not Sufficient) for the suitability of general ecotourism and S1 (Very Sufficient), S2 (Partially Sufficient) and N (Not suitable) for special ecotourism suitability. Also, this study conducted a clustering of special ecotourism (locally), namely Hiking, Tubing, and Camping. Cluster analysis is used to get a complete picture of the condition of the region to support making preliminary policy appropriately and quickly.


Over the last two million years, humans have colonized almost the entire biosphere on Earth, thereby creating socio-ecological systems in which fundamental patterns and processes are co‐regulated by socio‐economic and ecological processes. We postulate that the evolution of coupled socio‐ecological systems can be characterized by a sequence of relatively stable configurations, here denoted as 'socio‐metabolic regimes', and comparatively rapid transitions between such regimes. We discern three fundamentally different socio‐metabolic regimes: hunter‐gatherers, agrarian societies and industrial society. Transitions between these regimes fundamentally change socio‐ecological interactions, whereas changes and variations within each regime are gradual. Two‐thirds of the world population are currently within a rapid transition from the agrarian to the industrial regime. Many current global sustainability problems are a direct consequence of this transition. The central hypothesis discussed in this article is that industrial society is at least as different from a future sustainable society as it is from the agrarian regime. The challenge of sustainability is, therefore, a fundamental re‐orientation of society and the economy, not the implementation of some technical fixes. Based on empirical data for global resource use (material and energy flows, land use), this essay questions the notion that the promotion of eco‐efficiency is sufficient for achieving sustainability, and outlines the reasons why a transition to a new socio‐metabolic regime is now required. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


Neural-based multi-task learning has been successfully used in many real-world large-scale applications such as recommendation systems. For example, in movie recommendations, beyond providing users movies which they tend to purchase and watch, the system might also optimize for users liking the movies afterwards. With multi-task learning, we aim to build a single model that learns these multiple goals and tasks simultaneously. However, the prediction quality of commonly used multi-task models is often sensitive to the relationships between tasks. It is therefore important to study the modeling tradeoffs between task-specific objectives and inter-task relationships. In this work, we propose a novel multi-task learning approach, Multi-gate Mixture-of-Experts (MMoE), which explicitly learns to model task relationships from data. We adapt the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) structure to multi-task learning by sharing the expert submodels across all tasks, while also having a gating network trained to optimize each task. To validate our approach on data with different levels of task relatedness, we first apply it to a synthetic dataset where we control the task relatedness. We show that the proposed approach performs better than baseline methods when the tasks are less related. We also show that the MMoE structure results in an additional trainability benefit, depending on different levels of randomness in the training data and model initialization. Furthermore, we demonstrate the performance improvements by MMoE on real tasks including a binary classification benchmark, and a large-scale content recommendation system at Google.


TA15 (Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V) is a close alpha titanium alloy strengthened by solid solution with Al and other component. A series of experiments were carried out on normal and high speed milling of TA15. The recommended tools for many years had been the uncoated tungsten carbide grade K. In this work, the tool life of coated carbide tools used in high speed milling of forging and cast titanium alloy was studied. Additionally, the wear mechanism of cutting tools was also discussed. Finally, surface integrity, including surface roughness, metallograph and work hardening, were examined and analyzed. The result shows that the surface quality of forging and cast machined by carbide cutter is similar, but the tool life of carbide in high speed milling of forging TA15 is longer than that in high speed milling of cast TA15.


In this experiment, subjects had to rate the "prominence" of each of the syllables of 20 versions of the same utterance produced by men, women and children at various levels of vocal effort. The ratings were correlated with measurements of the SPL of the fundamental, spectral emphasis, vowel duration, F0max and F0 rise from the previous syllable. Together with ratings of the perceived vocal effort at which the utterances had been produced, these measurements were used to obtain the possible contributions of vocal effort, prosodic distinctness, and vowel duration to the perceived prominence. Together, these accounted for half of the variance. This was compared with the possible contribution of the linguistic structure of the utterance, which accounted for slightly more of the variance. The predictions of a model based on this analysis came closer to the mean than the average subject.


Cadmium based chalcogenides (CdS, CdSe, CdTe) quantum dots exhibited ultrahigh photoluminescence (PL), quantum yields (QYs) and multicolor luminescence. However, the usual synthesis needs high temperature, inert gas protection, and localized injection operation, which hinder applications seriously. Here, we synthesized CdS QDs and a series of metal-ions-doped QDs using low temperature synthesis (30–80 °C). The synthesis was designed according to supersaturated recrystallization. It was operated under air atmosphere, in DMF solution, free from inert gas protection and used non-injection operation. The obtained QDs exhibit strong and stable luminescence. They have a monodisperse, uniform morphology and good crystallinity. With increasing synthesis temperature, the emission center of the CdS QDs shifts from 500 nm to 550 nm. The metal ions doped in the CdS substrate form a deep level. The emission energy decreases and the emission center shifts to longer wavelengths. The emission peaks located at 520 nm, 534 nm, 540 nm, 578 nm and 625 nm correspond to CdS QDs doped with Sn2+, Sb3+, Ni2+, Mn2+ and Cu2+, respectively. The increased synthesis temperature also results in a red shift of the emission peak. The tunable optical properties and the suitability for large scale production endow the metal-ions-doped CdS QDs with promising potential for lighting and displays, which was demonstrated by white light-emitting diodes with a high CRI value, power efficiency and good stability.


The characteristics of the edge state, which is a peculiar magnetic state in zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) that originates from electron-electron correlation in an edge-localized π-state, are investigated by preparing and characterizing quarteranthene molecules. The molecular geometry that was determined from the X-ray analysis is consistent with a zigzag-edge-localized structure of unpaired electrons. The localized electrons are responsible for the peculiar magnetic (room-temperature ferromagnetic correlation), optical (the lowest-lying doubly excited state), and chemical (peroxide bond formation) behaviors. On the basis of these distinguishing properties and a careful consideration of the valence bonding, insight into the edge state of ZGNRs can be gained.


ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increases susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum infection, and this has most clearly been demonstrated in pregnant women. Variant surface antigens on the surfaces of erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum are major targets of protective immunity. We studied the impact of HIV infection on pregnant women's humoral immunity to variant surface antigens expressed by placental and pediatric isolates of P. falciparum. By flow cytometry, sera from HIV-infected women more frequently lacked antibodies to these antigens than sera from HIV-uninfected women. This difference was similar in magnitude for pediatric isolates (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] = 6.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14, 35.32; P < 0.05) and placental isolates (unadjusted OR = 6.47; 95% CI = 0.75, 55.64; P < 0.10). We divided women into high and low responders on the basis of their antibody levels. After adjustment for CD4 count, maternal age, and gravidity, we found that HIV-infected women more frequently had low responses to both pediatric isolates (OR = 5.34; 95% CI = 1.23, 23.16; P = 0.025) and placental isolates (OR = 4.14; 95% CI = 1.71, 10.02; P = 0.002). The relative quantity of antibodies to both pediatric isolates (P = 0.035) and placental isolates (P = 0.005) was lower in HIV-infected women than in HIV-uninfected women. HIV infection has a broad impact on variant-specific immunity, which may explain the susceptibility of infected individuals to clinical malaria episodes.


Amongst the many incidental issues raised by J. T. Milik in his edition of the Aramaic fragments of Enoch from Qumran1 that of the date of the Parables of Enoch is perhaps one of the most important. Although there has never been anything approaching a consensus as to the exact date of this work, I would think it fair to say that many scholars in this century, if not the majority, have taken the view that the Parables are Jewish in origin; many have also argued that they date from before A.D. 70.2 Milik's view that the Parables are Christian and date from around A.D. 270 has such enormous implications for our understanding of the development of intertestamental Judaism and of the use of the term 'Son of Man' in the gospels that it demands very careful consideration. It also suggests that the evidence on which the Jewish origin and pre-A.D. 70 dating has been based needs to be re-examined.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is an attempt to measure the performance in terms of comparing results with a large internationally recognized database used as a benchmark.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional (prospectively collected data analysed and compared retrospectively).

SETTING
Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.

PARTICIPANTS, INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
From January 2006 to December 2010, information of the 2198 CABGs performed at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKU) was collected prospectively. This included patient characteristics and specific intra- and post-operative outcomes and compared with findings from the American Society of Thoracic Surgeons' National Cardiac Database (STS-NCD).

RESULTS
There were more male patients in the AKU cohort and more diabetics. In AKU, more cases involved three or more grafts (85 vs. 78%), and in both groups, an internal mammary artery graft was used over 90% of the time. The overall 30-day mortality was 2.7% at AKU, compared with 1.5% in the STS-NCD data. AKU had a lower incidence of permanent stroke (0.5 vs. 1.2%), prolonged ventilation (10.5 vs. 11.0%), deep sternal wound infection (0.2 vs. 0.4%) and reoperation (4.0 vs. 4.7%). It had more cases of renal failure (5.4 vs. 3.6%). Readmission rates within 30 days were also less in AKU (3.9 vs. 9.1%).

CONCLUSIONS
The outcomes of this study compare very favourably with the benchmark (STS). This demonstrates that high level of quality care can be achieved in this part of the world.


In this paper an optimal control problem for a large system of interacting agents is considered using a kinetic perspective. As a prototype model we analyze a microscopic model of opinion formation under constraints. For this problem a Boltzmann-type equation based on a model predictive control formulation is introduced and discussed. In particular, the receding horizon strategy permits to embed the minimization of suitable cost functional into binary particle interactions. The corresponding Fokker-Planck asymptotic limit is also derived and explicit expressions of stationary solutions are given. Several numerical results showing the robustness of the present approach are finally reported.


Postural instability is a disabling feature of Parkinson's disease (PD), contributing to recurrent falls and fall-related injuries. The retropulsion test is widely regarded as the gold standard to evaluate postural instability, and is therefore a key component of the neurological examination in PD. Many variants exist, which confuses both clinical practice and research. Here, we evaluate the merits of this test by discussing three common variants: (1) the pull test as described in the MDS-UPDRS scale; (2) using an unexpected shoulder pull, without prior warning; and (3) the push-and-release test. All variants are a quick method to index the degree of postural instability, but the outcome can vary considerably due to variability in test execution and -interpretation. This partially explains why the retropulsion test fails to predict future falls in PD. Another explanation is that falling results from the complex interplay between gait, balance, cognitive decline and environmental factors, and the retropulsion test captures only part of that. We conclude with several recommendations for current clinical practice.


With the proliferation of deep convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithms for mobile processing, limited precision quantization has become an essential tool for CNN efficiency. Consequently, various works have sought to design fixed precision quantization algorithms and quantization-focused optimization techniques that minimize quantization induced performance degradation. However, there is little concrete understanding of how various CNN design decisions/best practices affect quantized inference behaviour. Weight initialization strategies are often associated with solving issues such as vanishing/exploding gradients but an often-overlooked aspect is their impact on the final trained distributions of each layer. We present an in-depth, fine-grained ablation study of the effect of different weights initializations on the final distributions of weights and activations of different CNN architectures. The fine-grained, layerwise analysis enables us to gain deep insights on how initial weights distributions will affect final accuracy and quantized behaviour. To our best knowledge, we are the first to perform such a low-level, in-depth quantitative analysis of weights initialization and its effect on quantized behaviour.


Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAAs) is a vascular disease, currently one of the leading causes of death in developed countries. Vascular inflammation plays a crucial role in the disease progression and substantially impacts many determinants in AAAs advancement. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION)  have been shown to be suitable agents for molecular targeting of vascular inflammation. The quantitative ability of MPI in mapping of SPION makes MPI a valid tool for monitoring of AAA progression. In this study, we examined the feasibility of MPI for imaging vascular inflammation in AAA in Angiotensin II-infused ApoE-/- mice with MPI suitable SPION, ferucarbotran (Resovist ®). The results were validated by histological analysis and magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS).


Background Marital status is a known prognostic factor in overall and disease-specific survival in several types of cancer. The impact of marital status on survival in patients with carcinoid tumors remains unknown. We hypothesized that married patients have higher rates of survival than similar unmarried patients with carcinoid tumors. Methods Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, we identified 23,126 people diagnosed with a carcinoid tumor between 2000 and 2011 and stratified them according to marital status. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to compare the characteristics and outcomes between patient cohorts. Overall and cancer-related survival were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Multivariable survival analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards models (hazards ratio [HR]), controlling for demographics and tumor-related and treatment-related variables. Propensity score analysis was performed to determine surgical intervention distributions among married and unmarried (ie, single, separated, divorced, widowed) patients. Results Marital status was significantly related to both overall and cancer-related survival in patients with carcinoid tumors. Divorced and widowed patients had worse overall survival (HR, 1.33 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.08–1.33] and 1.34 [95% CI, 1.22–1.46], respectively) and cancer-related survival (HR, 1.15 [95% CI, 1.00–1.31] and 1.15 [95% CI, 1.03–1.29], respectively) than married patients over five years. Single and separated patients had worse overall survival (HR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.08–1.33] and 1.62 [95% CI, 1.25–2.11], respectively) than married patients over five years, but not worse cancer-related survival. Unmarried patients were more likely than matched married patients to undergo definitive surgical intervention (62.67% vs 53.11%, respectively, P < 0.0001). Conclusions Even after controlling for other prognostic factors, married patients have a survival advantage after diagnosis of any carcinoid tumor, potentially reflecting better social support and financial means than patients without partners.


Background: one of the major causes of infertility is a defective sperm. The male factor of couple infertility is estimated to be about 25 percent to 50 percent. Sperm DNA integrity is important to successful fertilization and the normal development of embryos. Furthermore, sperm oxidative stress (OS) is associated with decreased sperm motility, decreased acrosome reaction, DNA damage and lower levels of implantation for in vitro fertilization. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on two groups of 40 infertile men and 40 fertile men. Blood sample and semen sample was collected. Result:Seminal MDA was highly increased found in infertile men compared to fertile healthy men and serum level of antioxidant are low in infertile men as compare to fertile healthy men. Conclusion:The present study concludes that oxidative stress was involved in low sperm quality and male infertility's etiological agent, they should take the antioxidant rich diet and antioxidant therapy to boost infertility, and the measurement of MDA could be a useful diagnostic tool to assess oxidative stress.


An overview of the results of the Australian Burden of Disease (ABD) study is presented. The ABD study was the first to use methodology developed for the Global Burden of Disease study to measure the burden of disease and injury in a developed country. In 1996, mental disorders were the main causes of disability burden, responsible for nearly 30% of total years of life lost to disability (YLD), with depression accounting for 8% of the total YLD. Ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the main contributors to the disease burden disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), together causing nearly 18% of the total disease burden. Risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, obesity and inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption were responsible for much of the overall disease burden in Australia. The lessons learnt from the ABD study are discussed, together with methodological issues that require further attention.


Numerous articles which have evaluated the sources of information regarding the organ donation observed that for a high percentage of the respondents, the first and the most important resource is the mass-media (Reese, 2003). The approached research problem in this study is the role of Romanian mass-media in building the attitudes towards the organs donations, starting from the idea that they have a formative role besides the informative role. Systemic references capture the most details, sometimes contradictory, related to the relation between the effort to raise donation cases in Romania and the institutional ability to respond efficiently to this goal. The image of Romania regarding the organs donation and transplant in the written press is characterised by: small rise of the donation rate, which still remains under the European average, the existence of some long waiting lists of patients who need a transplant, the very poor rate of donation from the patient found in cerebral death, the causes for this poor rate of donation are: the poor organization of the network of special medical services necessary in the process of organs donation and transplant, and the general attitude of the population.


In the early days of the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to insufficient knowledge of the pandemic, inadequate nucleic acid tests, lack of timely data reporting, etc., the origin time of the onset of COVID-19 is difficult to determine. Therefore, source tracing is crucial for infectious disease prevention and control. The purpose of this paper is to infer the origin time of pandemic of COVID-19 based on a data and model hybrid driven method. We model the testing positive rate to fit its actual trend, and use the least squares estimation to obtain the optimal model parameters. Further, the kernel density estimation is applied to infer the origin time of pandemic given the specific confidence probability. By selecting 12 representative regions in the United States for analysis, the dates of the first infected case with 50% confidence probability are mostly between August and October 2019, which are earlier than the officially announced date of the first confirmed case in the United States on January 20, 2020. The experimental results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States starts to spread around September 2019 with a high confidence probability. In addition, the existing confirmed cases are also used in Wuhan City and Zhejiang Province in China to infer the origin time of COVID-19 and provide the confidence probability. The results show that the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in China is likely to begin in late December 2019.


Low power technology, especially for SoC's has been developed first to extend battery life, to manage heat and then to reduce overall consumption of electricity. To achieve best result, chip-centric and low power centric solutions can be very limiting. More holistic approach would span product planning, application, architecture, physical design, library and process technology. Furthermore, co-optimizing low power solutions with the solutions for other axis such as reliability, speed and process variability can lead to surprisingly rewarding results. This talk will also explore where else low power technology developed for the semiconductor industry can be applied.


This article reviews the development of the author's computational art practice, where the computer is used both as a device that provides the medium for generation of art ('computer as art') as well as acting actively as an assistant in the process of creating art ('computer as artist's assistant'), helping explore the space of possibilities afforded by generative systems. Drawing analogies with Kasparov's Advanced Chess and the deliberate development of unstable aircraft using fly-by-wire technology, the article argues for a collaborative relationship with the computer that can free the artist to more fearlessly engage with the challenges of working with emergent systems that exhibit complex unpredictable behavior. The article also describes 'Species Explorer', the system the author has created in response to these challenges to assist exploration of the possibilities afforded by parametrically driven generative systems. This system provides a framework to allow the user to use a number of different techniques to explore new parameter combinations, including genetic algorithms, and machine learning methods. As the system learns the artist's preferences the relationship with the computer can be considered to change from one of assistance to collaboration.


Abstract Objective Because farmers' markets include a variety of fruits and vegetables, shopping at farmers' markets would likely improve diet quality among low-income consumers, as well as promote sustainable direct farm-to-consumer business models. However, not much is known about how to promote farmers' market shopping among low-income consumers. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper was to examine barriers to and facilitators of shopping at farmers' markets and associations between shopping at farmers' markets and self-reported dietary behaviours (fruit and vegetable, sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption) and BMI. Design Cross-sectional analyses of associations between farmers' market shopping frequency, awareness of markets, access to markets, dietary behaviours and BMI. Setting Department of Social Services, Pitt County, eastern North Carolina, USA. Subjects Between April and July 2013, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants (n 205) completed a quantitative survey. Results Barriers to shopping at farmers' markets included does not accept SNAP/electronic benefit transfer, out of the way and lack of transportation. Farmers' market shopping was associated with awareness of farmers' markets (estimate =0·18 (se 0·04), P<0·001). Fruit and vegetable consumption was positively associated with farmers' market shopping (estimate =1·06 (se 0·32), P=0·001). Conclusions Our study is one of the first to examine SNAP participants' farmers' market shopping, distance to farmers' markets and dietary behaviours. Barriers to shopping at farmers' markets and increasing awareness of existing markets should be addressed in future interventions to increase SNAP participants' use of farmers' markets, ultimately improving diet quality in this high-risk group.


Ethiopia's agricultural sector is highly diverse and subject to change due to different factors such as climate and population growth. Consequently, competition for available land, water, energy, and other inputs increases, posing pressure on the rural population's livelihoods and food security. It is therefore imperative to analyze farmer's production choices under these changing circumstances. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology to establish country-wide farm typologies allowing for both a spatial and temporal analysis of the evolution of the agricultural sector, and in particular smallholders' food security and income in Ethiopia. First, household survey data is employed to categorize smallholder farming systems according to their agro-ecological zone, farm size, main activities and degree of intensification. Second, farming systems are extrapolated using a multinomial logit-regression. Resulting combinations of farming-system occurrence and their production activities are harmonized with national statistics and subsequently equipped with the potential to intensify. Compared with other typologies that commonly only focus on the distribution of farming systems, this study fills the typology with data, allowing for the analysis of income and food security over space and time. It is concluded that livestock-oriented systems are less profitable than crop-oriented systems and more prone to food-insecurity. Increased input intensification is one way to reduce pressure on cropland expansion caused by the expected increase in population, but has to go together with other methods to fully alleviate pressure on land and thereby poverty and food insecurity.