Topological interlocking is an effective joining approach in both natural and engineering systems. Especially, hierarchical/fractal interlocking were found in many biological systems and can significantly enhance the system mechanical properties. Inspired by the hierarchical/fractal topology in nature, mechanical models for Koch fractal interlocking were developed as an example system to better understand the mechanics of fractal interlocking. In this investigation, Koch fractal interlocking with and without adhesive layers were designed for different number of iterations N. Theoretical contact mechanics model was used to capture the deformation mechanisms of the fractal interlocking with no adhesive layers under relatively small deformation. Then finite element (FE) simulations were performed to study the mechanical behavior of fractal interlocking under finite deformation. The designs were also fabricated via a multi-material 3D printer (Objet Connex 260) and mechanical experiments were performed to further explore the mechanical performance of the new designs. It was found that the load-bearing capacity of Kotch fractal interlocking can be effectively increased via fractal design. In general, when the fractal complexity (it is specifically represented as number of hierarchy N in the present Koch fractal design) increases, the stiffness of the fractal interlocking will increase significantly. Also, when N increases, the stress are more uniformly distributed along the fractal boundary of the top and bottom pieces of the fractal interlocking, which efficiently reduce local stress concentration, and therefore the overall strength of the interlocking also increases. However, the mechanical responses of fractal interlocks are also sensitive to imperfections, such as the gap between the interlocked pieces and the rounded tips. When fractal complexity increases, the mechanical properties will become more and more sensitive to the imperfection and eventually, the negative influences from imperfection can even become dominant. Therefore, considering the imperfection, there is an optimal level of fractal complexity to reach the maximum mechanical performance. This result is in consistent with fractal interlocks in different biological systems. Except topology, the influences of friction, material properties and damage evolution, and the adhesive layer on the mechanical performance of Koch fractal interlocking were also evaluated via non-linear FE simulations and mechanical experiments on 3D printed Koch interlocking specimens. It was found that the adhesive layer can significantly improve the load transmission of the fractal interlocking and therefore can effectively amplify the interlocking efficiency.


In Tunisia, Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) represents the most significant leish ‐ maniasis form. The epidemic of ZCL emerged in Central Tunisia in 1982 and expanded to the whole central and southern parts of the country. Tunisian ZCL is caused by Leishmania (L) . major zymodeme MON‐25 and transmitted by Phlebotomus papatasi . Rodents consti‐ tute the reservoir for ZCL. They include Psammomys obesus, Meriones shawi and Meriones libycus . ZCL occurs as seasonal epidemics and the annual incidence ranges from 2 to 10 thousand cases. Transmission of L. major by the phlebotomine sandfly vector occurs dur ‐ ing the summer months, and active lesions in humans tend to emerge during the autumn and winter months. The symptoms of the disease are rather polymorphic, ranging from benign self‐limited cutaneous sores to more protracted and extensive lesions that may cause severe disfigurement. Asymptomatic infection occurs frequently in endemic areas indicating a high level of immunity of the residents in these regions. The transmission of ZCL, its drastic increase and its spread are influenced by environmental changes affect ‐ ing the reservoir and vector geographic distributions and by the lack of efficacy of the control tools available.


Typically when we think of global powerhouses, countries such as the US, UK, Japan or Germany come to mind. But the world is in the midst of a tectonic shift in international economic and political power. Countries previously lumped under the general heading of 'developing' are fast becoming key players on the international stage. India, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and South Africa, among others, are subtly altering our perceptions of what constitutes a 'strong' or 'weak' economy, while 'Emerging States' - a term once familiar only to economists - is entering common parlance. The Emerging States are reshuffling the cards of the international game in a manner unheard of since 1945. Never before have the dominant powers had to make room for new players, propelled forward by an astonishing economic momentum. The power struggle looming in multilateral organizations such as the UN and the IMF reflects a shift in the world center of gravity, in both geopolitical and cultural terms. Although emerging countries all feature high growth rates, growing integration into the world economy, stabilized institutions and discrete forms of capitalism, their trajectories differ: from China, 'the world's factory,' to India, 'the world's back office'. Under such circumstances, there is a growing need to understand how the notion of 'Emerging States' corresponds to reality and what new international configurations it is likely to spawn. This richly documented volume, which contains over 100 color maps, graphs and tables, helps businessmen, scholars and the general reader to get to grips with 'Emerging States' and how they are transforming international relations.


The Commission of National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), which was established in 1773, introduced fundamental changes relating to organisation and the curriculum in the Polish education system. The Commission constituted a kind of Ministry of Education, which exercised supervision over all the schools in the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The hierarchy was as follows - the Main Crown Schools in Kraków and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Vilnius, subordinate to the Commission, were in turn superior to divisional schools, including subdivisional schools, and these in turn were superior to parish schools. The changes in the curriculum in the Main Schools were focused predominantly on broadening knowledge in the field of mathematics, natural sciences, and technical skills, which was brought to life in the form of Collegium Physicum and its respective departments, e.g. the departments of architecture, mechanics, and hydraulics, and their respective offices, gathering tools, equipment, and models facilitating the sharing of knowledge through presentations. Similar curricular changes were implemented in secondary schools. It was the first time that natural sciences with technical elements had been introduced on such a wide scale to the curriculum. The official instructions enabled the standardisation of the curriculum in all schools. The characteristic feature of the curriculum was its utilitarianism, as, when teaching each subject, particular attention was paid to developing students' skills in using acquired theoretical knowledge in practice. The changes were introduced in a systematic manner. The first step covered the preparation of the curriculum and instructions concerning its implementation, which was followed by teacher training. This was of paramount significance to the teaching of mathematics, natural sciences, and technical subjects. The class books were arranged by putting them out to tender, and often the works by foreign authors were used. The new curriculum modernised education, broadening students' knowledge of mathematics, natural sciences, and technical subjects, and preparing them for the huge civilisational changes brought by the 19th century. It aroused interest in technology, which was entering nearly all spheres of socio-economic life on a bigger and bigger scale. It proved useful in the 19th century, when Polish students went to technical colleges abroad in great numbers due to the lack of technical universities in the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian Partition.


Analysis of high-resolution satellite images taken during the cold part of the year demonstrates that they can be used to reliably distinguish the saiga from domestic ungulates and also to determine the distribution of saiga herds over large areas. To achieve maximum reliability in differentiating animal species in satellite images, one should use a number of characteristics (including the color of animals, their size and shape, and herd structure) and prioritize those that are most prominently displayed in particular images. The results of this study can be used to develop a non-invasive and highly accurate method for saiga census.


This study aims to find out the relationship between sociodemographic parameters and eclampsia, to assess complications and outcome in mother and child due to eclampsia and how to prevent maternal and fetal complications by prompt interventions. This was a case control study conducted over a period of 2 years.Cases were patients with eclampsia who were compared with controls who were patients without eclampsia. In this study it was found that early referral, intensive management of severe hypertension and introduction of newer and better treatment protocols are essential prerequisites to improve the maternal and fetal outcome. Incidence of eclampsia is still high in our population. Maternal deaths and morbidity have reduced. Inspite of advanced neonatal care, 1 offspring out of 4 is still lost. Early intervention and prompt management should be our goal to improving maternal and fetal outcome in eclampsia.


This paper presents a new algorithm for classifying distributions. The algorithm combines the principle of margin maximization and a kernel trick, applied to distributions. Thus, it combines the discriminative power of support vector machines and the well-developed framework of generative models. It can be applied to a number of real-life tasks which include data represented as distributions. The algorithm can also be applied for introducing some prior knowledge on invariances into a discriminative model. We illustrate this approach in details for the case of Gaussian distributions, using a toy problem. We also present experiments devoted to the real-life problem of invariant image classification.


Carbon-fiber-microelectrode arrays (MEAs) have been utilized to electrochemically image neurochemical secretion from individual pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Dopamine release events were electrochemically monitored from seven different locations on single PC12 cells using alternately constant-potential amperometry and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV). Cyclic voltammetry, when compared to amperometry, can provide excellent chemical resolution; however, spatial and temporal resolution are both compromised. The spatial and temporal resolution of these two methods have been quantitatively compared and the differences explained using models of molecular diffusion at the nanogap between the electrode and the cell. A numerical simulation of the molecular flux reveals that the diffusion of dopamine molecules and electrochemical reactions both play important roles in the temporal resolution of electrochemical imaging. The simulation also reveals that the diffusion and electrode potential cause the differences in signal crosstalk between electrodes when comparing amperometry and FSCV.


For many of us, the passion we feel for our work in injury prevention is driven by a fundamental belief that we should do everything in our power every day to protect families and communities from harm. This commitment to safety is even stronger when it comes to protecting children—especially if you are a parent. The loss of a child to an injury is often needless and always tragic. We know injuries are preventable. Widespread adoption of known, effective programmes and policies offers the opportunity to reduce injuries and death among those who are the most vulnerable and the least able to control their own environment.

In 2009, more than 9000 children and adolescents 0–19 years old in the USA died from an unintentional injury—with the main causes of these injuries being motor vehicle crashes, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fire and falls.1 For every child injury death, more than 1000 children are treated for a non-fatal injury.2 While child injury death rates declined by 29% from 2000 to 2009, the annual number of deaths (9143 in 2009) remains unacceptably high.1

A recent study by the Centers …


Surmmary
The ability to produce opacity in horse serum is a characteristic of certain M types of group A streptococci. The types that produce the opacity factor (O factor) are generally those for which it is difficult to produce good anti-M sera. M-positive (M+) and true M-negative (M —) variants of strains that belong to serotypes in which the serum opacity reaction (s.o.r.) is positive both possess the O factor, but there is a difference in binding of the factor to other cellular components in the two variants. The O factor is closely bound to the wall-membrane fraction of M — cells, whereas in M + cells it is easily extracted by Lancefield's method or 1% sodium deoxycholate. It is detectable in broth culture supernatants, in the cytoplasm and in the areas surrounding colonies in pour plates of M+ but not of M — cultures. The O factor is poorly antigenic, but when it is possible to obtain a good antiserum the inhibitory action is type specific. The O factor produced by several M types appears to be inhibited by normal rabbit serum.


Collegiate athletes often use nutritional programs and supplements to elicit body composition changes in muscle or fat. It is unknown if athletes can accurately perceive their fluctuations in body composition, yet their understanding may help them make more accurate interpretations regarding the success of potential nutrition or exercise regimens. The purpose of this study was to investigate if collegiate hockey players could accurately perceive a change in body composition during a 3-month period within their regular season, in which no predetermined nutritional or exercise program was provided. Twenty-four male Canadian collegiate hockey players completed preseason and midseason body composition assessments using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Immediately before the midseason scan, players attempted to accurately match their perceived fluctuation in composition, with predetermined categorical ranges of relative body composition and strength. Two-thirds of players and one-half of players accurately perceived changes in arm-lean and arm-fat tissue, respectively. Approximately two-thirds of players did not accurately perceive gains or losses of lean or fat tissue within their leg and overall body. Although some athletes partially detected changes in the lean and fat tissue of particular regions, the vast majority of players cannot detect the type, or amount of tissue gained and lost across the overall body. Body composition assessments, rather than an athlete's perceptions, should be used to help interpret the success of a sport nutrition or exercise program. Athletes should be aware that physiologic adaptations might take place unnoticed, which could affect the acceptance and adherence of nutrition or exercise interventions.


In this paper, we propose a hybrid particle swarm optimization-based algorithm for approximately solving the set-union knapsack problem. Knapsack problem arises in several applications such as manufacturing systems, transportation and supply chain management. This study reinforce the basic swarm optimization method with a local search procedure for the set-union knapsack problem. The proposed approach is evaluated on a benchmark instances available in the literature. The bounds achieved by the proposed approach are compared to those provided by the best methods available in the literature. Encouraging results have been provided.


OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the reliability of joint resting position (EJP), resistance to passive movement (ERM), and the angle of appearance of the resistance (EAR) as measures of muscle hypertonus of elbow flexors in patients after stroke. Previously, similar measures had been found reliable when applied to measuring shoulder and wrist hypertonus in patients after stroke.

METHOD
Forty-five subjects with stroke were randomly selected from occupational therapy admissions at two rehabilitation centers. Tone of elbow flexors was measured twice at the same sitting by two examiners. EJP and EAR were measured with a goniometer, and ERM was measured with a resistance rating scale. Correlations were calculated between first and second measurements by center and by high tone and poor upper extremity function subgroups (with correction for multiple correlations) to determine reliability.

RESULTS
Each of the three measures was highly reliable as demonstrated by a high correlation in at least one of the subgroups (Center 1: EJP, r = .964 for high tone subgroup; ERM, r = .789, EAR, r = .902, both in poor upper extremity function subgroup; and Center 2: EJP, r = .892, ERM, r = .938, both in poor upper extremity function subgroup; EAR, r = .666 for all subjects; all p values < .05). Correlations were especially high when data for subjects with high upper extremity function were eliminated.

CONCLUSION
Reliability of these three methods of measuring upper extremity muscle tone enhances their usefulness as well as therapists' confidence in their judicial application.


Atmospheric pressure-temperature programmed reduction coupled with on-line mass spectrometry (AP-TPR/MS) is used for the first time on microbiologically treated coal samples as a technique to monitor the degree of desulfurization of the various sulfur functionalities. The experimental procedure enables the identification of both organic and inorganic sulfur species present in the coal matrix. A better insight in the degradation of the coal matrix and the accompanying processes during the AP-TPR experiment is obtained by a quantitative differentiation of the sulfur. The determination of the sulfur balance for the reductive pyrolysis gives an overview of the side reactions and their relative contribution in the total process. The volatile sulfur species are unambiguously identified using AP-TPR off-line coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In this way, fundamental mechanisms and reactions that occur during the reductive pyrolysis could be quantified, explaining the differences in AP-TPR recoveries. Therefore, this study gives a clearer view on the possibilities and limitations of AP-TPR as a technique to monitor sulfur functionalities in coal.


A twisted Baxter operator and a twisted dendriform algebra are introduced , and their basic properties are studied. We prove that a twisted Baxter operator induces a twisted dendriform algebra.


Exciton recombination dynamics in tailored-potential, site-controlled AlGaAs quantum wires (QWRs) are studied. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra evidence exciton localization in weakly disordered "uniform" QWRs, whereas deterministic bandgap grading is shown to suppress localization and promote exciton drift along the potential gradient. Measured exciton transit times between two quantum dot probes placed at opposite ends of the potential gradient yield the effective 1D exciton mobility as >1300 cm2/(eVs).


Significant progress in the area of simultaneous design and control for chemical processes has been achieved and various methodologies have been put forward to address this issue over the last several decades. These methods can be classified in two categories (1) controllability indicator-based frameworks that are capable of screening alternative designs, and (2) optimization-based frameworks that integrate the process design and control system design. The major objective is to give an up-to-date review of the state-of-the-art and progress in the challenging area of optimization-based simultaneous design and control. First, motivations and significances of simultaneous design and control are illustrated. Second, a general classification of existing methodologies of optimization-based simultaneous design and control is outlined. Subsequently, the mathematical formulations and relevant theoretical solution algorithms, their merits, strengths and shortcomings are highlighted. Last, based on the recent advances in this field, challenges and future research directions are discussed briefly. An attempt is made with the help of this review article to stimulate further research and disseminate the simultaneous design methods to challenging problem areas. In particular, the application of optimization-based simultaneous design and control methods to large-scale systems with highly inherent nonlinear dynamics often the case in industrial chemical processes remains a challenging task and yet to be solved. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 1640–1659, 2012


The mannose 6-phosphate (Man 6-P) receptor operates to transport both endogenous newly synthesized acid hydrolases and extracellular enzymes to the lysosomal compartment. In a previous study (Gabel, C. A., and S. A. Foster, 1986, J. Cell Biol., 103:1817-1827), we noted that beta- glucuronidase molecules internalized by mouse L-cells via the Man 6-P receptor undergo a proteolytic cleavage and a limited dephosphorylation. In this report, we present evidence that indicates that the postendocytic alterations of the acid hydrolase molecules occur at a site through which the enzymes pass en route to the lysosomal compartment. Mouse L-cells incubated at 20 degrees C with beta-glucuronidase (isolated from mouse macrophage secretions) internalize the enzyme in a process that is inhibited by Man 6-P but unaffected by cycloheximide. As such, the linear accumulation of the ligand observed at 20 degrees C appears to occur through the continued recycling of the cell surface Man 6-P receptor. The subcellular distribution of the internalized ligands was assessed after homogenization of the cells and fractionation of the extracts by density gradient centrifugation. In contrast to the accumulation of the ligand within lysosomes at 37 degrees C, the beta-glucuronidase molecules internalized by the L cells at 20 degrees C accumulate within a population of vesicles that sediment at the same density as endocytic vesicles. Biochemical analysis of the internalized ligands indicates that: (a) the subunit molecular mass of both beta-glucuronidase and beta-galactosidase decrease upon cell association relative to the input form of the enzymes, and (b) the beta-glucuronidase molecules experience a limited dephosphorylation such that high-mannose-type oligosaccharides containing two phosphomonoesters are converted to single phosphomonoester forms. The same two post-endocytic alterations occur after the internalization of beta-glucuronidase by human I-cell disease fibroblasts, despite the low acid hydrolase content of these cells. The results indicate, therefore, that acid hydrolases internalized via the Man 6-P receptor are processed within the endocytic compartment. In that endogenous newly synthesized acid hydrolases display similar alterations during their maturation, the results further suggest that the endosomal compartment is involved in the sorting of ligands transported via both the cell surface and intracellular Man 6-P receptor.


Objectives: The previous studies generated neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) using different protocols. However, the nature of the temporal or regional specificity of NPCs derived using these protocols is not well defined. Therefore, this study aimed to generate age- and region-specific NPCs from hiPSCs, which mimic in vivo fetal brain (FNPC-B) or spinal cord (FNPC-SC) tissues, in the absence or presence of retinoic acid (RA) and sonic hedgehog (SHH). Materials and Methods: Ventral, caudal and posterior neural cells were generated from hiPSCs with morphogens (RA and SHH), or dorsal, rostral, and anterior neural cells by the withdrawal of these morphogens from the NPC-media. NPCs generated from hiPSCs were compared to FNPC-B or FNPC-SC using immunocytochemical staining assays and global microarray for the evaluations of general and region-specific neural cells markers of neural induction, differentiation, and maturation. Microarray profiling results were analyzed using quantitative unpaired t-test (P < 0.05). Results: Immunocytochemical analyzes showed that generated NPCs expressed general neural cells markers (PAX6 and MUSASHI-2). Furthermore, FNPC-B and anterior NPCs were characterized with marked expression of cortical neural cells marker (SOX1) when compared to FNPC-SC and posterior NPCs. Microarray profiling results showed the up-regulation of brain cells markers (EMX2 and PAX6) in FNPC-B and anterior NPCs. Similarly, spinal cord cells markers (COL5A2, HOXB5, HOXB7, HOXB8, HOXC4, and HOXD4) were up-regulated in FNPC-SC and posterior NPCs. Conclusion: NPCs that mimic in vivo brain and spinal cord cells can be generated from hiPSCs in the absence or presence of RA and SHH.


Following the creation of Birdsong for Prisoners (Osmond 2011) this new composition Crossing Borders continues to explore the nature of sound as an internal and external form of interpretation. Birds, voices, sounds and languages are not necessarily restricted by artificially imposed borders. The ability to translate and transpose compositional materials, digitally store and retrieve recordings made in transit provides a new means of compositional accessibility.


[1] We used in situ and satellite measurements to investigate the seasonal patterns of leaf area index (LAI) and gross ecosystem CO2 exchange (GEE) by an evergreen tropical forest. The forest experienced a dry season from June through November. The rates of light-saturated CO2 uptake (GEE) were comparatively high from December through March and low from May through July. In situ measurements showed that LAI varied seasonally, with a minimum from May through September. Leaf production and leaf abscission were reduced from December through April. Leaf abscission increased in May, which reduced LAI. High rates of leaf abscission and production occurred from July through September associated with leaf turnover. Leaf abscission decreased abruptly in October, while production continued, which rapidly increased LAI. Leaf phenology was not directly correlated with changes in soil water. The seasonal cycle of in situ LAI differed markedly from the seasonal cycles of in situ normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD15 LAI product. We hypothesize that the NDVI and MOD15 seasonality at the site is driven partly by seasonal changes in leaf age and leaf reflectance. We developed three simple models to investigate the causes of GEE seasonality. The first two models showed that the seasonal changes in LAI alone, and the effects of leaf age on leaf-level photosynthesis alone, could not account for the observed GEE seasonality. The third model showed that the combined effect of seasonal changes in LAI and seasonal changes in leaf age and leaf photosynthesis was sufficient to account for the observed GEE seasonality.


A new biomimetic linear actuator named Antagonistically Driven Linear Actuator (ANTLA) that could be directly employed in both macro and microscale of robotic applications is introduced in the present work. The presented actuator provides cost effectiveness and simple fabrication process thanks to its plain construction. In addition to producing basic bidirectional rectilinear motions, the actuator is able to modulate its compliance that might be one of the critical elements of the actuator functionality for the biomimetic applications. For the test, the proposed actuator concept is fabricated and assembled in a microscale robot that generates annelid motion.


Abstract Introduction: Severe asthma is characterized by frequent exacerbations, symptoms limiting daily activities and nocturnal symptoms. It requires the continuous use of medications, at high doses, and, sometimes, continuous use of oral corticosteroids, representing a significant burden to health system and society. This systematic review sought to address economic data related to severe asthma in Brazil. Method: In June 2014, electronic searches were conducted to identify relevant publications. Quality criteria were developed and applied to each selected study. In order to compare results across the selected studies, costs were refined to an annual basis, grouped according to the study perspective, inflated and converted to 2014 USD. Results: Cost analyses from the Brazilian public health system perspective were derived from two studies and showed an average annual hospital cost per patient of 135 USD and 733 USD, respectively. From the family perspective, average annual direct costs per patient varied from 764 USD to 929 USD. Conclusion: Hospitalizations and medications seem to be the most important resources funded by the Brazilian public health system and by patients and their families. Although further studies are necessary, as information on cost of this disease is scarce in Brazil, these findings suggest that there is a potential room for improving severe asthma care among Brazilian patients.


As the second largest oil consumer and the largest oil importer in the world, China's oil consumption and oil imports are expected to continue to rise with the rapid growth of China's economy, especially with the exponential growth in private car ownership. By 2030, 75 percent of China's oil consumption will be imported (IEA, 2008). This heavy reliance on imported oil raises concerns about national energy security, while the large increase in fossil fuel consumption conflicts with domestic and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recognizing these concerns, China has developed policies to promote the use of bioenergy to enhance energy security and to lower air pollution and GHG emissions since 2000. However, due to concerns that increased grain ethanol production was increasing food prices and leading to greater food insecurity, China has moved to restrict the use of grains as bioenergy feedstocks. Instead, they are promoting the use of non-grains that grow on marginal and abandoned lands, such as cassava, sweet potato, sweet sorghum, sugarcane and sugar beets as bioenergy feedstocks. In addition, second generation bioenergy from woody biomass is in the conceptual stage, but is expected to grow rapidly due to abundant biomass resources and supportive governmental policies. With a production of 0.70 billion gallons of ethanol in 2013, China is currently the fourth largest producer of ethanol in the world behind only the United States, Brazil and Europe. The national targets for ethanol and biodiesel production are set to be 3.35 billion gallons and 0.60 billion gallons by 2020, respectively. This paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model -- the Applied Dynamic Analysis of the Global Economy model focusing on agriculture and land use (ADAGE-ALU), to assess China's bioenergy potential in the short run and long run, including the impact on food prices, land use change and GHG emissions.

Several studies have attempted to ...


BACKGROUND
In order to use outcome scores for making decisions about treatment, practitioners need to know the course of scores of several groups of patients.

AIM
To test the applicability of methods for computing cut-off scores and individual changes.

METHOD
Using Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), we analysed repeated assessments of 699 adults and 414 elderly patients in different treatment settings.

RESULTS
Mean HoNOS scores and cut-off scores differentiated between patient groups reasonably well. Scores and threshold values for elderly patients were relatively high. The reliable change index showed few individual changes even for groups where change was expected. The effect size and the standard error of measurement were found to be more sensitive to change.

CONCLUSION
More research is needed before the findings can be generalised.


My research explores the notion of 'art as process' and 'exhibition as process' by examining the difficulties which an inter-disciplinary and international group of individuals encounter, when attempting to put into practice contemporary theory surrounding the politics of representation. The research examines the creation (initiation and implementation) of the africa95 visual arts programme. which was staged in Britain in 1995 as part of africa95: A Season Celebrating the Arts of Africa, and within that, the africa95 Pamoja International Sculpture Workshop, held at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The focus of the research is the case study of twenty sculptors and one photographer, who participated within the Pamoja Workshop, with particular attention being given to the Makonde sculptress Reinata Sadhimba. This reveals how the contexts in which these artists found themselves - 'context of creation' or 'context of exhibition' - directly affected how they presented themselves and their work. The credibility of the artist-author is paramount. It is the significance of this credibility that lies at the heart of my thesis. The case study suggests, first, that the Pamoja artists spoke most freely about their lives and work within their own creational context at the workshop - while they were making their work - rather than within the presentational contexts provided by the africa9S VAP - exhibitions, slide shows, conferences. Second, the artists' preferred mode of communication was narrative, through which they were able to express most fully their relationship with their work. Third, it was only after being aware of these narratives that any significant shift in perception began to take place within their audience. As I explain in the Introductory paragraphs on pages 11-17, I have chosen to set out the major sections of the case study in narrative form. I have also adapted the other sections to this style of presentation. This presentational device allows the artists' contributions to take the lead, whilst simultaneously acknowledging academic thought processes within the context of practice. The Pamoja sculptors - from eleven African countries, the USA and the UK - produced between them over 120 works during africa95. This paper is also a record of the substantial body of work, the majority of which has remained in Britain, and of the narratives with which the artists' described their individuality in this work.


We investigate the use of natural language to drive the generalization of policies in multi-agent settings. Unlike single-agent settings, the generalization of policies should also consider the influence of other agents. Besides, with the increasing number of entities in multi-agent settings, more agent-entity interactions are needed for language grounding, and the enormous search space could impede the learning process. Moreover, given a simple general instruction,e.g., beating all enemies, agents are required to decompose it into multiple subgoals and figure out the right one to focus on. Inspired by previous work, we try to address these issues at the entity level and propose a novel framework for language grounding in multi-agent reinforcement learning, entity divider (EnDi). EnDi enables agents to independently learn subgoal division at the entity level and act in the environment based on the associated entities. The subgoal division is regularized by opponent modeling to avoid subgoal conflicts and promote coordinated strategies. Empirically, EnDi demonstrates the strong generalization ability to unseen games with new dynamics and expresses the superiority over existing methods.


A strain was isolated from tobacco phylloplane and preliminarily identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens TL-1, which had the visible inhibition against ten plant pathogenic fungi, viz., Curvularia lunata, Bipolaris maydis, Valsa mali, Rhizoctonia solani, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria alternate, Fusarium oxysporum and Verticillium dahlia in dual culture experiments. The ethyl acetate extract of nutrient broth seeded with Pseudomonas fluorescens TL-1 suspension was separated into fifty-nine fractions by the Sephadex LH-20 column and the antifungal activity of each fraction was tested with paper disc diffusion method against Curvularia lunata. The results showed that fraction 1 to 3 had the strongest inhibitory effects on Curvularia lunata. Furthermore, GC/MS analysis of the constituents of fraction 1 to 59 confirmed that phenol, 2, 4-bis (1, 1-dimethylethyl) was the active compound for the antifungal activity from Pseudomonas fluorescens TL-1.


ABSTRACT In Lesotho, when children or adults talk about the importance of schooling, they frequently use the term ho iphelisa. This is usually translated as 'to survive', reflecting the uncertainties that people in this small country have confronted over recent decades: rapidly diminishing employment opportunities, extremely high HIV prevalence and environmental crises. Based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in two rural primary schools and their neighbouring communities, we examine how the idea of survival motivates engagement with education. We find that 'survival' permeates the school curriculum and the discourse of children, parents and teachers, and encompasses three distinct but related dimensions: economic, moral and physical. We also highlight how these aspects of survival are both individual and collective, and operate across different temporalities. Through this, we contribute to understanding the complexities of educational aspiration and motivation in contexts of uncertainty.


Abstract: Conventions of Occupational Integration. The Employment of Disabled People in Swiss Enterprises (1950 to 1980) Disabled people's access to the labour market is one of the leading ideas in disability policy. Its success depends on the willingness of employers to employ handicapped people. Both historical and social studies focus on the welfare state or the people in question, while the perspective of the employers is often neglected. Under what conditions are companies willing to employ people whose performance diverges from the common interest to maximise economic output? Switzerland is well suited for a case study, since there are no regulations for employers, such as a quota-system. Incorporating the theory of «économie des conventions», this study investigates how employers' associations and companies justify employment of disabled people and how these people are valued. The timeframe investigated spans from the immediate post-war period to 1980.


Advances in wireless communication as well as in sensor technology have enabled many Wireless Senor Network (WSN) applications. Unfortunately, operational challenges faced by WSNs still hinder their wide deployment. Therefore, researchers are still looking for reliable, real time, and energy efficient structures and routing protocols which can effectively disseminate information in WSNs as traditional techniques such as flooding have proved to be unproductive. In this paper we propose two routing protocols: non-opportunistic and opportunistic. The non-opportunistic protocol is highly adaptable, while the opportunistic protocol will save energy by selecting the next forwarding node dynamically based on prior knowledge of packet delivery to neighboring nodes. The performance of the proposed protocols is evaluated against the traditional protocols, such as Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Collection Tree protocols.


The suggestion that smooth muscle cell proliferation contributes to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and restenosis after angioplasty has led to a growing interest in the use of drugs to inhibit this process. This review summarizes pharmacological studies of smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo and identifies specific mediators of proliferation that are implicated by drugs binding with high affinity to enzymes or receptors. (Hypertension 1992^0:713-736)


We consider the approximate computation of spectral projectors for symmetric banded matrices. While this problem has received considerable attention, especially in the context of linear scaling electronic structure methods, the presence of small relative spectral gaps challenges existing methods based on approximate sparsity. In this work, we show how a data-sparse approximation based on hierarchical matrices can be used to overcome this problem. We prove a priori bounds on the approximation error and propose a fast algo- rithm based on the QDWH algorithm, along the works by Nakatsukasa et al. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the performance of our algorithm is robust with respect to the spectral gap. A preliminary Matlab implementation becomes faster than eig already for matrix sizes of a few thousand.


The aim of the present study was to determine whether there is a differing pattern of systemic exposure to atorvastatin in Asian versus Caucasian subjects by comparison of data obtained from completed pharmacokinetic studies. Pharmacokinetic data were analyzed from completed single-dose (10–80 mg) studies in Asian and Caucasian subjects. Dose normalized area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and maximum observed concentration (Cmax) (AUCdn and Cmaxdn) were obtained by dividing each value by the administered dose. Dose-per-bodyweight normalized AUC and Cmax (AUCdn,wt and Cmax,dn,wt) were obtained by dividing each value by the administered dose per unit bodyweight. Mean difference and 90% confidence intervals for Asian versus Caucasian comparisons were calculated for atorvastatin pharmacokinetic values based on the t statistic and expressed as ratios using Caucasians as the reference. Data were analyzed from 310 Asians and 579 Caucasians from 22 studies. AUCdn (Asian = 2.35, Caucasian = 2.06 [ng·hr·mL−1]/mg) and Cmaxdn (Asian = 0.39, Caucasian = 0.40 Cmaxdn,wt) and the equivalent dose-per-bodyweight normalized values for atorvastatin (AUCdn,wt: Asian = 157.5, Caucasian = 156.4 [ng·hr·mL−1]/[mg·kg−1]; Cmaxdn,wt: Asian = 26.2, Caucasian = 30.3 [ng·mL−1]/[mg·kg−1]) were similar in both ethnic groups. Mean differences and 90% confidence interval for the differences fell within the limits (0.8–1.25) except for Cmaxdn,wt, for which the lower limit was slightly below 80%. No differences were noted in the systemic exposure to atorvastatin between Asian and Caucasian subjects. These data therefore demonstrate that dosing considerations in the current labels for atorvastatin are similar for Asian compared with Caucasian subjects.


Gene expression patterns determine the manner whereby organisms regulate various cellular processes and therefore their organ functions.These patterns do not emerge on their own, but as a result of diverse regulatory factors such as, DNA binding proteins known as transcription factors (TF), chromatin structure and various other environmental factors. TFs play a pivotal role in gene regulation by binding to different locations on the genome and influencing the expression of their target genes. Therefore, predicting target genes and their regulation becomes an important task for understanding mechanisms that control cellular processes governing both healthy and diseased cells.In this paper, we propose an integrated inference pipeline for predicting target genes and their regulatory effects for a specific TF using next-generation data analysis tools.


Haim Gerber's The Social Origins of the Modern Middle East represents one of the most recent and commendable attempts at introducing sociological theory into the area of Middle Eastern studies. As such it is an elaborate and sophisticated, complex and yet oversimplified attempt to place the Middle East, especially its Ottoman origins into the theoretical framework offered by Barrington Moore. In his Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Moore identified three major routes of modernization, one of which was most likely to occur in vast agrarian empires with huge peasant populations. In such structures, a large peasantry and a "weak impulse" toward modernization lead, in the long run, to peasant based revolutions and to the concomitant communist states. The Chinese and Russian Empires are prime examples of such developments in the modern world. Although the major socioagrarian empire of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire


BACKGROUND
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common liver problem in diabetes, is a risk factor for liver cancer. Diabetes, high body mass index (BMI) and old age can all contribute to NAFLD progression. Transient elastography (TE) is used for non-invasive fibrosis assessment.

OBJECTIVES
To identify the prevalence of NAFLD and significant hepatic fibrosis in diabetic patients and to assess associated factors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred and forty-one diabetic and 60 normal subjects were screened. Fatty liver was diagnosed when increased hepatic echogenicity and vascular blunting were detected by ultrasonography. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) representing hepatic fibrosis was assessed by TE. LSM ≥7 kPa was used to define significant hepatic fibrosis.

RESULTS
Four cases were excluded due to positive hepatitis B viral markers and failed TE. Diabetic patients had higher BMI, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference and fasting glucose levels than normal subjects. Fatty liver was diagnosed in 82 (60.7%) diabetic patients but in none of the normal group. BMI (OR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.02-1.69; p=0.038) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(OR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.05-1.23; p=0.002) were associated with NAFLD. Diabetic patients with NAFLD had higher LSM than those without [5.99 (2.4) vs 4.76 (2.7) kPa, p=0.005)]. Significant hepatic fibrosis was more common in diabetic patients than in normal subjects [22 (16.1%) vs 1 (1.7%), p=0.002]. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(OR: 1.24; 95%CI: 1.07-1.42; p=0.003) was associated with significant hepatic fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Sixty and sixteen percent of diabetic patients were found to have NAFLD and significant hepatic fibrosis. High BMI and ALT levels are the predictors of NAFLD, and elevated AST level is associated with significant hepatic fibrosis.


A novel slow-wave transmission line with optimized slot-type floating shields in advanced CMOS technology is presented. Periodical slot-type floating shields are inserted beneath the transmission line to provide substrate shielding and to shorten the electromagnetic (EM) propagation wavelength. This is the first study that demonstrates how the wavelength, attenuation loss, and characteristic impedance can be adjusted by changing the strip length (SL), strip spacing (SS), and metal layer position of the slot-type floating shields. Wavelength shortening needs to be achieved with a tradeoff between slow-wave effect and attenuation loss. The slot-type floating shields with different SLs, SSs and metal layer positions are analyzed. It is concluded that minimum SL provides the most optimal result. A design guideline can be established to enable circuit designers to reach the most appropriate slot-type floating shields for optimal circuit performance. Transmission line test structures were fabricated by using 45-nm CMOS process technology. Both measurement and EM waves simulation were performed up to 50 GHz. Transmission lines are frequently used at a length of half- or quarter-wavelength. With a shortened wavelength, a saving in silicon area of more than 67% can be achieved by using optimized slot-type floating shields. Experimental results demonstrated a higher effective relative permittivity value, which is improved by a factor of more than 9, and a better quality factor, which is improved by a factor of more than 6, as compared to conventional transmission lines.


This paper identifies the major drivers of corporate tax incidence in open-economy general equilibrium models and compares estimates from four major studies. These studies vary in their elasticity assumptions, and adjusting the estimates to reflect central empirical estimates of those elasticities suggests capital bears the majority of the corporate income tax burden. This paper further presents an alternative method for determining corporate tax incidence that distinguishes between global effects of corporate taxes and excise effects that vary among nations. Under this approach, even in an open economy, capital could bear virtually the entire tax burden.


Redshift drift is the phenomenon whereby the observed redshift between an emitter and observer comoving with the Hubble flow in an expanding FLRW universe will slowly evolve—on a timescale comparable to the Hubble time. There are nevertheless serious astrometric proposals for actually observing this effect. We shall however pursue a more abstract theoretical goal, and perform a general cosmographic analysis of this effect, eschewing (for now) dynamical considerations in favour of purely kinematic symmetry considerations and Taylor series expansions based on FLRW spacetimes. We shall develop various exact results and series expansions for the redshift drift (and its derivatives) in terms of the present day Hubble, deceleration, jerk, snap, crackle, and pop parameters, as well as the present day redshift of the source. In particular, potential observation of this redshift drift effect is intimately related to the universe exhibiting a nonzero deceleration parameter.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a semi-active suspension control system for a light commercial vehicle using continuously varying dampers, accelerometers, and an onboard processor. The control algorithms such as sky-hook, ground-hook, and hybrid are designed based on the vertical velocities of each quarter of the car. These velocities are estimated from Kalman filter using quarter car vehicle model. The controllers are implemented in an actual vehicle equipped with the developed semiactive suspensions system and their performance are compared. Sky-hook control improved ride comfort by reducing body accelerations in the 1-3 Hz range, ground-hook control improved road holding by reducing wheel accelerations in the 10-15 Hz range, and hybrid control results were in between the sky-hook and ground-hook results. The main contribution of this paper is the successful implementation of the semiactive suspension control strategies on an actual vehicle with accompanying experimental results.


The paper shows that a large class of underactuated vehicles cannot be asymptotically stabilized by either continuous nor discontinuous state feedback. Furthermore , stabilization of an underactuated surface vessel is considered. Controllability properties of the surface vessel is presented, and a continuous periodic time-varying feedback law is proposed. It is shown that this feedback law exponentially stabilizes the surface vessel to the origin, and this is illustrated by simulations.


What is the relevance of major mergers and interactions as triggering mechanisms for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) activity? To answer this long-standing question, we analyze 140 XMM-Newton-selected AGN host galaxies and a matched control sample of 1264 inactive galaxies over z ∼ 0.3–1.0 and M* < 1011.7 M☉ with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging from the COSMOS field. The visual analysis of their morphologies by 10 independent human classifiers yields a measure of the fraction of distorted morphologies in the AGN and control samples, i.e., quantifying the signature of recent mergers which might potentially be responsible for fueling/triggering the AGN. We find that (1) the vast majority (>85%) of the AGN host galaxies do not show strong distortions and (2) there is no significant difference in the distortion fractions between active and inactive galaxies. Our findings provide the best direct evidence that, since z ∼ 1, the bulk of black hole (BH) accretion has not been triggered by major galaxy mergers, therefore arguing that the alternative mechanisms, i.e., internal secular processes and minor interactions, are the leading triggers for the episodes of major BH growth. We also exclude an alternative interpretation of our results: a substantial time lag between merging and the observability of the AGN phase could wash out the most significant merging signatures, explaining the lack of enhancement of strong distortions on the AGN hosts. We show that this alternative scenario is unlikely due to (1) recent major mergers being ruled out for the majority of sources due to the high fraction of disk-hosted AGNs, (2) the lack of a significant X-ray signal in merging inactive galaxies as a signature of a potential buried AGN, and (3) the low levels of soft X-ray obscuration for AGNs hosted by interacting galaxies, in contrast to model predictions.


1 Barbara Bernal Thomas, Southern Polytechnic State University, School of Computing and Software Engineering, Marietta, GA 30068 email@example.com Abstract Modern technology creates an imperative for increasingly diverse classroom experiences. Both students and faculty can benefit from the constant technological advances occurring today. Students expect their educational experience to include the use of current technology, multimedia presentations of subject content, and engaging learning interactivity. A dramatic benefit can be achieved by the use of diverse tools, such as a classroom web site, email communication between all classroom participants, and other Internet-based technology. These tools enable educational representations in static, dynamic, interactivity, and multi-modal formats to reach the different types of learners in academia. The virtual classroom experiences are linked to the synchronous and asynchronous interaction, the characteristics of online professors and students, and the convenience and flexibility of the virtual classroom. These primary topics and the challenges for the creation, maintenance and assessment of virtual classrooms are addressed in this paper.


Ad hoc wireless networks are the category of wireless networks that utilize multi-hop radio relaying and are
capable of operating without the support of any fixed infrastructure. In typical wireless networks, terminals have to be powered on at all time to detect possible signals that target them which causes in significant unwanted energy consumption. Ideally, the wireless radio is powered on only when there are data waiting to be transmitted or received. Otherwise, the radio is powered off and the node is in the sleep state. In this way, the wasted energy for idle mode is minimized. Energy is a precious resource in wireless ad hoc networks because most nodes in the network are driven by battery and cannot be recharged in most cases. In order to keep the network functional as long as possible, energy-efficient algorithms should be devised. By reducing the control traffic, energy consumption for packet each node can be reduced. The Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP) implements hybrid routing by every network node proactively maintaining routing information about its routing zone, while reactively acquiring routes to destinations beyond the routing zone. In this paper, we proposed a model to reduce control traffic by calculating optimum zone radius and thus reduce the power consumption in the network, there by enhance the life time of the network. We demonstrate the performance of reduced
control traffic in Zone Routing Protocol with varying number of nodes in the network using NS2 Simulator.


While most network embedding techniques model the relative positions of nodes in a network, recently there has been significant interest in structural embeddings that model node role equivalences, irrespective of their distances to any specific nodes. We present PhUSION, a proximity-based unified framework for computing structural and positional node embeddings, which leverages well-established methods for calculating node proximity scores. Clarifying a point of contention in the literature, we show which step of PhUSION produces the different kinds of embeddings and what steps can be used by both. Moreover, by aggregating the PhUSION node embeddings, we obtain graph-level features that model information lost by previous graph feature learning and kernel methods. In a comprehensive empirical study with over 10 datasets, 4 tasks, and 35 methods, we systematically reveal successful design choices for node and graph-level machine learning with embeddings.


Worldwide, disasters and climate change pose a serious risk to sustainable urban development, resulting in escalating human and economic costs. Consequently, city authorities and other urban actors face the challenge of integrating risk reduction and adaptation strategies into their work, although related knowledge and expertise are still scarce. Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation explores ways in which resilient cities can be 'built' and sustainable urban transformations achieved. The book provides a comprehensive understanding of urban risk reduction and adaptation planning, exploring key theoretical concepts and analysing the complex interrelation between cities, disasters and climate change. It further provides an overview of current risk reduction and adaptation approaches taken by both city authorities and city dwellers from diverse contexts in low-, middle- and high-income nations. On this basis, the book presents a planning framework for reducing and adapting to risk in urban areas, expanding on existent positive actions and highlighting current gaps and shortfalls in theory and practice. The importance of a distributed urban governance system is highlighted, where citizens' and urban institutions' adaptive capacities can support and complement each other. This book presents a holistic approach throughout, integrating perspectives and practice from risk reduction and climate change adaptation from a specific urban perspective. The text is richly supplemented with boxed case studies written by renowned academics and practitioners in the field and 'test yourself' scenarios to integrate theory into practice. Each chapter also contains learning objectives, end of chapter questions, suggested further reading and web resources, as well as many tables and figures. This book will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students across the disciplines of environmental studies, geography, international development, sociology, sustainability studies, urban studies and planning. (Less)


Objective. We sought evidence of association of candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) within the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) axis, largely selected on the basis of functional data available at the time of our study, with adult bone mass. Methods. Four hundred ninety-eight men and 468 women aged 59–71 years were recruited. A lifestyle questionnaire was administered, and bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were measured at the lumbar spine and femoral neck. Two hundred fifty-four men and 271 women had repeat bone densitometry 4 years later. DNA was obtained from whole blood samples using standard extraction techniques. Single nucleotide variants in the growth hormone releasing hormone gene (GHRH, G/A 223 Phe75Leu, rs4988492), growth hormone releasing hormone receptor gene (GHRHR, G/A 217, Ala57Thr, rs4988496), the growth hormone secretagogue receptor gene (GHSR, T/C, Gly57Gly, rs495225), and the growth hormone receptor gene (GHR, T/G, noncoding, rs2940944) were analyzed. Results. In both sexes, allelic variation in the gene encoding GHRH was associated with BMC and BMD at the proximal femur and lumbar spine, with results generally stronger in women. In women, the mean BMC lumbar spine within the GHRH 11 genotype was 56.9 g, while that of the GHRH 12 genotype was 68.4 g [p < 0.001, fully adjusted for age, body mass index, cigarette and alcohol consumption, dietary calcium intake, physical activity, years since menopause, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use]; corresponding figures for BMD lumbar spine (GHRH 11 genotype) were 0.96 g/cm2 versus 1.10 g/cm2 (p < 0.001 fully adjusted). Conclusion. We have demonstrated a relationship between allelic variation in the gene encoding GHRH and bone density; we welcome attempts at replication in other populations.


The Munich Oktoberfest is one of the largest and best-known public festivals in the world. Each year 6 million visitors attend, drinking more than 5 million liters of beer and consuming hundreds of thousands of sausages. Referred to by the locals as the ?Wiesn?, this extravaganza celebrates its 172nd birthday in 2005. With an event of this scope, it is easy to miss the best parts. That is, unless you have an insider's perspective to point out the must-see?s. This highly personal homage to Oktoberfest helps you make the most of this memorable experience, and contains tips on where to go, what to do, and how to do it. ? An invaluable companion to the biggest party in the world, with a calendar of events, glossary, and many helpful tips ? An insider's guide to all the fun and festivities


We analyze two fundamentally different concepts to considering data for planning decisions using the example of a newsvendor problem in which observable features drive variations in demand.

Our work contributes to the extant literature in two ways. First, we develop a novel joint estimation-optimization (JEO) method that adapts the random forest machine learning algorithm to integrate the two steps of traditional separated estimation and optimization (SEO) methods: estimating a model to forecast demand and, given the uncertainty of the forecasting model, determining a safety buffer. Second, we provide an analysis of the factors that drive difference in the performance of the corresponding SEO and JEO implementations. We provide the analytical and empirical results of two studies, one in a controlled simulation setting and one on a real-world data set, for our performance evaluations.

We find that JEO approaches can lead to significantly better results than their SEO counterparts can when feature-dependent uncertainty is present and when the cost structure of overage and underage costs is asymmetric. However, in the examined practical settings the magnitude of these performance differences is limited because of the overlay of opposing effects that entail the properties of the remaining uncertainty and the cost structure.


According to the source-path-receiver model of vehicle interior airborne noise, the correlative identification method of transfer function was proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the method has excellent noise immunity performance. A m sequence generator whose shift clock frequency is adjustable and register series is optional was designed by complex programmable logic device CPLD and external circuit. The m sequence pseudo-random signal which was amplified by audio power amplifier drives the loudspeaker as sound source signal. The field tests indicate that compare with broadband white noise sweep method, the identification method based on m sequence technique has advantages in noise suppression.


Accountability is a vital human rights principle to address preventable maternal morbidity and mortality in Uganda. The continuous use of 'accountability' as a term without elaborating on it gets in the way of using its underlying principles to improve laws and policies. The implementation of legal accountability requires creating avenues through which women whose maternal health rights have been violated may access legal remedies. The existence of adequate legal remedies is vital not only for redressing violations of rights but also for identifying and proposing strategies towards addressing the bottlenecks in health systems. Courts of law are principal judicial mechanisms and, therefore, it is incumbent upon courts to expand rather than limit maternal healthrelated rights. The Uganda Human Rights Commission is another body which is empowered with a protective and promotional mandate that should be used to promote and protect reproductive health rights. It is further emphasised that accountability is not a tool to be understood and interpreted only by legal practitioners. Rather, various forms of accountability, including social and administrative forms, are vital for complementing legal accountability in reducing preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.


Lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries are one of the most promising next generation battery chemistries with potential to achieve 500–600 W h kg−1 in the next few years. Yet understanding the underlying mechanisms of operation remains a major obstacle to their continued improvement. From a review of a range of analytical studies and physical models, it is clear that experimental understanding is well ahead of state-of-the-art models. Yet this understanding is still hindered by the limitations of available techniques and the implications of experiment and cell design on the mechanism. The mechanisms at the core of physical models for Li–S cells are overly simplistic compared to the latest thinking based upon experimental results, but creating more complicated models will be difficult, due to the lack of and inability to easily measure the necessary parameters. Despite this, there are significant opportunities to improve models with the latest experimentally derived mechanisms. Such models can inform materials research and lead to improved high fidelity models for controls and application engineers.


Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), once considered disease of west is also increasingly diagnosed in Asia in recent years. As there are already studies about IBD in Southeast Asia like India, Srilanka, it would be more informative to study the disease in Maldives as being closer to India and Srilanka. This is probably the first study about the disease from Maldives conducted in a single tertiary hospital center. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence, clinical characteristics and treatment of IBD in Maldives.
Methodology: A preliminary hospital-based retrospective observational study was performed in ADK multispecialty hospital, a referral tertiary center located in the capital city of Maldives. Patients visiting gastroenterology OPD, who were diagnosed as IBD either Crohn's disease (CD) or Ulcerative colitis (UC) on basis of internationally established standard practice, were recruited in the study after informed oral consents for the duration of three years from January, 2017 to December, 2020. We collected clinical data including gender, age at diagnosis, symptomatology, severity, smoking habits, family history, disease phenotype, and behavior at diagnosis from each involved patients as per clinical proforma prepared for UC and Crohn's disease in separate forms.
Result: Total 41 patients of IBD with 15 CD and 26 UC were recruited during study period. The prevalence of IBD in the country was estimated to be at least 20 per 100000 persons. Ileocolonic phenotype in CD and Extended colitis in UC were more common. Clinically, majority IBD patients presented with moderate to severe form. Biologic agents were frequently used in IBD.
Conclusion: The prevalence of IBD in Maldives is also more or less similar to other Asian countries where as some aspects of clinical characteristics are similar to Western countries. There needs to be nationwide epidemiological study or multi center hospital based prospective or at least cross sectional study for detail and optimal information about various aspects of IBD.


Data science relies on pipelines that are organized in the form of interdependent computational steps. Each step consists of various candidate algorithms that maybe used for performing a particular function. Each algorithm consists of several hyperparameters. Algorithms and hyperparameters must be optimized as a whole to produce the best performance. Typical machine learning pipelines consist of complex algorithms in each of the steps. Not only is the selection process combinatorial, but it is also important to interpret and understand the pipelines. We propose a method to quantify the importance of different components in the pipeline, by computing an error contribution relative to an agnostic choice of computational steps, algorithms and hyperparameters. We also propose a methodology to quantify the propagation of error from individual components of the pipeline with the help of a naive set of benchmark algorithms not involved in the pipeline. We demonstrate our methodology on image classification pipelines. The agnostic and naive methodologies quantify the error contribution and propagation respectively from the computational steps, algorithms and hyperparameters in the image classification pipeline. We show that algorithm selection and hyperparameter optimization methods like grid search, random search and Bayesian optimization can be used to quantify the error contribution and propagation, and that random search is able to quantify them more accurately than Bayesian optimization. This methodology can be used by domain experts to understand machine learning and data analysis pipelines in terms of their individual components, which can help in prioritizing different components of the pipeline.


The Business Process Model Annotation (BPMN) is a graphical notation aimed at building intuitive representations of complex business processes. Although a useful means for documenting of business processes the main limitation of BPMN is the lack of a formal semantics which may yield to ambiguous specifications, while leaving the modeller with no means to detect errors contained in a model. In this paper we introduce a framework for mapping BPMN models to a corresponding representation in terms of the Open-Altarica language, a formal modelling language designed for safety-analysis of discrete-event probabilistic models. This allows the BPMN modeller to take advantage of the analysis and simulation tools provided with the Open Altarica platform, therefore allowing for error detection in BPMN models. We demonstrate the proposed approach through the analysis of a power supply system case study.


In this study, elastic waves of ultrasonic and acoustic emission were used to evaluate the propagation characteristic of the wave in pipe, and study on mode conversion of the elastic wave due to the cracks in the pipe was also performed. An acoustic emission (AE) sensor was used to receive the propagated ultrasonic wave. AE technique has a merit that it can identify the received ultrasonic wave by the analysis of the AE parameters such as count, energy, frequency, duration time and amplitude. For transmitting and receiving of the wave, a wedge for universal angle was manufactured. The optimum angles for transmitting of ultrasonic wave and signal receiving at the attached AE sensor on the pipe were determined. Theoretical dispersion curve was compared with the results of the time-frequency analysis based on the wavelet transformation. The received modes showed a good agreement with theoretical one. The used ultrasonic sensor was 1MHz, and AE sensor was broadband (100kHz – 1200kHz). The artificial cracks were induced in the pipe to measure the propagation characteristics of the elastic wave for the cracks. AE parameters for the received signals were also varied with the crack types in the pipe. AE parameters of amplitude and duration time were more effective factors than the analysis of mode conversion for evaluation of the cracks in the pipe.


Objectives: Power electronic converters are usually utilized for interfacing Distributed Generation (DG) resources to power grids. This paper proposes a novel and simple control technique for connection of DG resources to Three-Phase Four-Wire (3P4W) distribution grids via interfaced converters. Methods: The differential equations of the DG system are established, and then the switching state functions of the grid-interfacing converter are achieved in order to improve the transient response of system and power quality of grid. Results: By means of the proposed approach, the grid-interfacing converter can transfer active power at main frequency from DG resources to grid, and also compensate all reactive, neutral, harmonic and unbalanced load current components with a fast transient waveform. Applications: The effectiveness of the proposed control technique is demonstrated by the simulation studies in MATLAB/Simaulink environment.
Keywords: Distributed Generation (DG), Grid-interfacing Converter, Power Quality, Three-phase Four-wire (3P4W) Distribution Grid


National demand on soybean can be full filled by extending production area including marginal lands. Tidal swamp is one of marginal lands which potentially can be cultivated for soybean production with the use of tolerant varieties to waterlogging. So far, there are only two varieties that are tolerant to tidal swamp condition. This research was conducted to study the response of soybean genotypes to waterlogging and to provide gene resources in breeding for tidal tolerant variety. The research was conducted from October 2007 to February 2008 in the glasshouse of Indonesian Legume and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI), Malang. The experimental design was split-plot with two replications; where the main plot was waterlogging treatment and the sub plot was soybean genotype (17 genotypes of ILETRI collection). The results showed that soybean genotypes had different responses to different water treatments, shown on the number of branches and reproductive nodes, the number of filled and unfilled pods, and yield (dry seeds) per plant. Waterlogging inhibited plant growth of all traits. Under waterlogging, the highest number of reproductive nodes and filled pods, and yield per plant was from MLGG 0537 i.e. 12.25, 19.25, and 3.13 g plant-1, respectively.


The social studies teacher preparation program described in this article is a 5th-year Masters of Education degree and licensure program—a graduate program preceded by a 4-year history or social science education degree offered by the College of Liberal Arts. The social studies graduate program aims at preparing teaching candidates to learn knowledge and skills necessary to plan and teach technology-rich lesson plans and resource units. Teaching candidates are required to apply new technology skills to actual classrooms, while collaborating with cooperating teachers. The program is designed to be compliant with the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Program Review, which is a component of the accreditation process implemented by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). As a member of the NCATE Board of Examiners and auditor for the NCATE Program Review, the author is acutely aware of the current role played by educational technology in the assessment of given units or programs, as well as in specific candidate assessment for the preparation of PK-12 classroom teachers.


Access to health care financing can be achieved by using a combination of public and private initiatives aimed at every American who wants access to health care but is currently denied access. Small-employer market reforms that would guarantee the availability and affordability of coverage to small employers and their employees should be enacted. A private, not-for-profit reinsurance mechanism should be established to absorb losses for high-risk individuals and high-risk employer groups insured by carriers. State risk pools should be established to provide coverage to high-risk individuals who cannot obtain coverage through an employer. Tax assistance should be provided to small employers who make health care coverage available to their employees. The Medicaid program should be extended to cover all poor and near-poor Americans and to provide primary and preventive care for the near poor.


For a number of years now it has been evident that the major issue facing science educators in the more developed countries of the world is the quantitative decline in enrolments in the senior secondary sciences, particularly the physical sciences, and in the number of higher achieving students applying for places in universities to undertake further studies in science.

The deep malaise in school science to which these quantitative measures point has been elucidated by more qualitative studies of the students' experience of studying science in secondary school in several of these countries (Sweden, Lindahl (2003); England, Simon and Osborne (2002); and Australia, Lyons (2005)). Remarkably concordant descriptions of these experiences can be summarized as:

School science is:
• transmission of knowledge from the teacher or the textbook to the students.
• about content that is irrelevant and boring to our lives.
• difficult to learn in comparison with other subjects

Incidentally, the Australian study only involved consistently high achieving students; but even so, most of them found science more difficult than other more interesting subjects, and concluded that further science studies should be avoided unless they were needed for some career purpose.

Other more representative confirmations of negative evaluations of the science curricula across Australia (and in particular states) are now available in Australia, from the large scale reviews of Goodrum, Hackling and Rennie (2001) and from the TIMSS (2002). The former reported that well under half of secondary students find the science at school relevant to my future, useful ion everyday life, deals with things I am concerned with and helps me make decisions about my health.. TIMSS found that 62 and 65 % of females and males in Year 4 agree with I like learning science, but by Year 8 only 26 and 33 % still agree.

Students in Japan have been doubly notably because of (a) their high performance in international measures of science achievement like TIMSS and PISA and (b) their very low response to items in these studies which relate to interest in science. Ogura (2003) reported an intra-national study of students across Years 6-9 (upper primary through Junior High); interest in a range of their subjects (including science) that make up that country's national curriculum. There was a steady decline in interest in all these subjects which might have indicated an adolescent reaction against schooling generally. However, this study went on to ask the students a further question that is very meaningful in the Japanese context, If you discount the importance of this subject for university entrance, is it worth studying? Science and mathematics remained in decline while all the other subjects were seen more positively.

It is thus ironic, at a time when some innovations in curriculum and other research-based findings are suggesting ways that these failures of school science might be corrected, to find school science under a new demands that come from quite outside science education, and which certainly do not have the correction of this malaise as a priority.

The positive curricular and research findings can be characterized as moves from within science education, whereas the new demands are moves that come from without science education. In this paper I set out these two rather contrary challenges to the teaching of science as it is currently practised, and go on to suggest a way forward that could fruitfully combine the two.


Graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and their heterostructures are promising thermal interface materials due to the outstanding thermal properties of graphene and h-BN. For the heterostructures, extensive work has mainly focused on the thermal transport of two-dimensional (2D) graphene/h-BN (GBN) in-plane heterostructures in which graphene and h-BN are bonded at the interface. In this study, we investigate the thermal conductivity of three-dimensional (3D) GBN van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by means of nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations. Unlike the 2D GBN in-plane heterostructure, the 3D GBN vdW heterostructure consists of three layers where graphene is sandwiched by two h-BN sheets via vdW forces. Various techniques, including hydrogen-functionalization, vacancy defects, tensile strain, interlayer coupling strength, layer numbers of h-BN, size effect, and temperature, are extensively explored to find an effective route for the modulation of the thermal conductivity. It is found that the thermal conductivity of the triple-layer GBN vdW heterostructure is very sensitive to these extrinsic factors. Of these, hydrogen-functionalization is the most effective method. A low hydrogen coverage of 1% in the sandwiched graphene can lead to 55% reduction in the thermal conductivity of the vdW heterostructure. Vacancy defects on graphene exert a more significant effect on the thermal conductivity reduction for the vdW heterostructure than B or N vacancies in the outer h-BN layers. This work reveals the physical mechanism for manipulating the thermal transport along the GBN vdW heterostructures via structural modification and provides a useful guideline for designing novel thermal management devices based on the GBN vdW heterostructures.


The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of permanent pacemaker implantation (PPMI) in a cohort of 358 patients undergoing transapical aortic valve implantation (TAVI) using a balloon-expandable prosthesis between April 2008 and March 2011. After excluding patients who had had a previous PPMI (n=36; 10%), the study group consisted of 322 patients. These were divided into two groups: patients who required PPMI (PPM group) and patients who did not require it (non-PPM group). Preoperative, perioperative and one-year follow-up data were collected prospectively. Twenty (6.2%) patients required PPMI. Previous implantation of an aortic prosthesis (P=non-significant), previous coronary artery bypass grafting (P=0.05) and coronary artery disease (P<0.005) were more common in the non-PPM group. On logistic regression, only patient age seemed to be correlated to PPMI (P=0.05, odds ratio 1.08; CI 0.9-1.1). There was no difference in survival rate between the groups after 30 days (PPM group 95%, non-PPM group 93.6%). Similarly, the survival rate did not differ after one year (PPM group 84%, non-PPM group 80.9%; P=0.3). The PPMI rate after transapical TAVI using a balloon-expandable prosthesis is thus low, and has no impact on early and follow-up mortality.


This article documents a decline in aggregate hedge fund performance over the past decade. We tested whether a set of prediction models can select subsets of individual funds that buck the trend and subsequently outperform. Two of the predictors reliably picked funds that lowered the volatility and raised the Sharpe ratio of a multi-asset-class portfolio relative to a stock/bond portfolio over the full 1997–2016 sample. Hedge fund allocations reduced volatility in two subperiods but failed to improve the Sharpe ratio from 2008 onward. We explore potential explanations for the erosion of hedge fund performance.


Venous access has been a problem for the practicing oncologist. Previous approaches, such as arteriovenous fistulas, grafts, or percutaneous catheters, have not gained widespread acceptability. We report our experiences with 230 Port-a-Cath devices, a totally implantable venous access system. The catheters were placed in 218 general oncology patients for the administration of chemotherapy. One patient had three catheters placed and 10 patients had two catheters each. Most patients received standard bolus chemotherapy, while 25 patients were treated with continuous ambulatory infusions. The catheters were in place for an average of 271 days (range 2-1,427 days) for a total of 62,330 catheter days, representing the largest published experience with devices of this type in cancer patients. A total of 24 complications occurred in 22 patients. Catheter insertion was associated with four pneumothoraces, two of which required chest tube drainage. Five catheters were removed because of infection. There were 6 cases of venous thrombosis, but none resulted in pulmonary embolism. Other complications were manageable and included catheter occlusion, migration, and extravasation of chemotherapy agents. The Port-a-Cath is safe and is associated with a low rate of complications. Implantable venous access systems represent a significant advantage in the management of oncology patients with poor venous access.


Mitral regurgitation (MR), the disruption of the mitral valve, contributes to heart failure (HF). Under conditions of volume overload, excess mineralocorticoids promote cardiac fibrosis. The mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist spironolactone is a potassium-sparing diuretic and a guideline-recommended therapy for HF, but whether it can ameliorate degenerative MR remains unknown. Herein, we investigate the efficacy of spironolactone in improving cardiac remodeling in MR-induced HF compared with that of a loop diuretic, furosemide. Using a novel and mini-invasive technique, we established a rat model of MR. We treated the rats with spironolactone or furosemide for twelve weeks. The levels of cardiac fibrosis, apoptosis, and stress-associated proteins were then measured. In parallel, we compared the cardiac remodeling of 165 patients with degenerative MR receiving either spironolactone or furosemide. Echocardiography was performed at baseline and at six months. In MR rats treated with spironolactone, left ventricular function—especially when strained—and the pressure volume relationship significantly improved compared to those of rats treated with furosemide. Spironolactone treatment demonstrated significant attenuation of cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis in left ventricular tissue compared to furosemide. Further, spironolactone suppressed the expression of apoptosis-, NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4)- and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-associated proteins. Similarly, compared with MR patients receiving furosemide those prescribed spironolactone demonstrated a trend toward reduction in MR severity and showed improvement in left ventricular function. Collectively, MR-induced cardiovascular dysfunction, including fibrosis and apoptosis, was effectively attenuated by spironolactone treatment. Our findings suggest a potential therapeutic option for degenerative MR-induced HF.


Objectives: Smoking and tobacco leaf chewing are important predisposing factors of oral cancer. Chronic tobacco users are so much addicted that they are unable to get rid of their habits even after developing frank oral cavity cancers. Personal and psychological counseling, life style modifications have failed to de‐addict these individuals. Serum nicotine level falls sharply and provokes them for further use of tobacco to keep sustained level of nicotine in blood. It has been observed that chewing of Indian medicinal plant root curcuma longa (turmeric, haldi) or its active ingredients curcumin is effective to de‐addict tobacco users. Present paper is a pilot study to translate these clinical findings into scientifically explained observations. Methods: Patients with pre‐cancerous lesions or oro‐pharyngeal cancers with habits of chronic smoking or tobacco chewing were recruited for the study. The study conducted between September 2003 to August 2005 in collaboration with Department of Biochemistry and Radiotherapy, Medical College, Calcutta. Of total 256 patients (132 in control arm and 124 in study arm); M: F = 90:10; 196/256 (75%) were smokers and others were tobacco chewers. Serum nicotine level estimated at monthly interval for three months. Study arm patients were given simultaneously curcuma longa for consecutive three months and serum nicotine level was compared with control arm. Addiction potentiality was recorded by our counselor. Results: Control arm patients had the same addiction dependency as before but amongst study arm patients (n=132) 84/132 (63.6%) completely gave up smoking or tobacco chewing. 19 patients (14.3%) dropped smoking less than 10 cigarettes per day and 14 patients (10.6%) tobacco chewing decreased from 10‐times to less than 2‐times per day. The difference is statistically significant. Conclusion: Initial result of our ongoing study is very much encouraging. The details of the present study will be discussed at the time of presentation. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):B144.


The purpose of this study was to illuminate the effects of fulvic acid in plants' stress signaling pathway. 2.0 mg/l fulvic acid was sprayed on soybean leaves for 3 days at 12 h intervals, followed by treatment of 150 mM NaCl or exposed to heat stress at 35°C for 2 h over 2 days. Pre-treatment with fulvic acid increased the relative water content (RWC), antioxidant enzyme, isoenzyme activities (SOD, APX, GST), as well as alleviated the stress-induced oxidative damage by decreasing the levels of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and malondialdehyde (MDA). In addi- tion, the application of fulvic acid under salt stress induced rubisco expression only at 12 h, while it induced the expression of cytochrome c oxidase at 6 h and 12 h. On the other hand, fulvic acid under heat stress induced significant expression of both rubisco and cytochrome c oxidase at 6 h and 12 h. However, under high salinity conditions, fulvic acid suppressed the transcript levels of Hsp70 , while it induced increases in Hsp70 levels under heat treatment at 6 h. As a result, in this study, fulvic acid played the role of a regulator and stimulant in stress response of soybean leaves.


This thesis traces the transition of Fritz Lang from German cinema to American. The development of Lang's style and techniques used to demonstrate social and political aspects of society both in post war Germany and post war America are being discussed. Furthermore this thesis shows, through the close study of two of Lang's major films, the expressionistic tendencies that Lang later conveyed in his noir films.


This profile describes the AIChE Concept Warehouse (CW) website, a community developed, web-based tool to decrease instructional barriers and to help faculty implement concept-based active learning in class. The CW provides three distinct but complementary functions: (a) a content repository, (b) an audience response system and learning management system to deliver content, and (c) learning analytics that provide learning data to instructors and researchers. The available content includes Conceptests, Concept Inventories, and more extensive Instructional Tools.


The purpose of the experiments was to test generalizations derived from Navon's (1977) perceptual precedence hypothesis (global features are extracted earlier than local ones in feature analysis). Experiment 1 compared the identification of a level in hierarchically organized stimulus patterns (small letters forming larger letters on higher levels) between two- and three-level structures. Results showed an effect on reaction time (RT) of the imbedment of a level within a structure of sub- and superordinated levels: The same level will be identified more quickly if it is the local level of a two-level letter than if it is the medium level of a three-level letter. This effect can be explained by the loss of the most easily noticed privileged structural position. This result and the observed longest RT for identifying the middle level in a three-level letter contradict expectations derived from Navon's (1977) hypothesis of perceptual precedence. Experiment 2 tested a variant of the precedence hypothesis by Kinchla and Wolfe (1979). On the basis of this hypothesis it can be expected that RT for identification of the middle level should converge toward those for the other levels if the middle level is presented at about 2 degrees. This hypothesis could not be confirmed. Results are discussed in the context of a proposed attentional explanation. This explanation suggests that a structural level is noticed more easily if it segregates perceptually from the other levels. In this respect, the global level usually but not necessarily has an advantage.


This dissertation produces a systematic account of anxiety, and does so by way of interpreting the account of anxiety given to us by Kierkegaard and Heidegger. The methodology of this dissertation is such that it interprets the anxiety in Kierkegaard through Heidegger's lens, and also interprets the anxiety in Heidegger through Kierkegaard's lens. By this method this dissertation harmonizes the accounts of anxiety in Kierkegaard and Heidegger, and in this way produces a systematic account of anxiety
by way of these two authors. In particular, this dissertation argues that anxiety in both Kierkegaard and Heidegger has a particular structure: that it is ambiguous, which means that it is structurally constituted by an antipathy (a repulsion) and a sympathy (an attraction). In harmonizing Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's accounts of anxiety in this way, this dissertation produces a systematic account of ambiguous anxiety.


OBJECTIVES
Loop electrosurgical excision of the transformation zone (LEETZ) was recently associated with relatively high failure rates. We evaluated whether the combination of LEETZ with laser vaporization is superior to LEETZ alone in reducing the rates of recurrent abnormal cytology and residual disease.

METHODS
The study population included 426 women with histologic diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2-3, of whom 289 (study group) were treated by LEETZ followed by laser vaporization of the crater base and walls and 137 (control group) were treated by LEETZ alone. All women were followed scrupulously at regular intervals for recurrent abnormal cytology and residual disease. The mean follow-up periods were 43 and 59 months for the study and control groups, respectively.

RESULTS
Both groups were derived from the same community and were similar in epidemiologic characteristics and disease severity. Although the incidence of positive surgical margins was similar in both groups (10.4 and 9.5% for the study and control groups, respectively), recurrent abnormal cytology (10.2% vs 5.5%, P = 0.07) and histologic residual disease (21.4% vs 0%, P = 0.05) were more frequent among women in the control group. This applied to women with both negative and positive surgical margins. Both study and control women with positive surgical margins, especially at the endocervix, were at higher risk for recurrence.

CONCLUSION
The addition of laser vaporization to LEETZ may improve outcome of both women with positive margins and women with negative margins. Our results support conservative management for all treated women, regardless of cone margin status.


Previous work conducted by the signing authors at Greenwich Dunes, in Prince Edward National Park, Canada, suggests that the majority of aeolian sediment input to the dunes over the course of several months is driven by a few isolated events. The type of events that effectively delivered sand from the beach to the dune were of medium frequency and small to medium magnitude. The probabilities of large and very large magnitude wind events to result in strong transport was small because of the limitations imposed by an ice and snow cover, moisture, and short fetch distances.
The long term monitoring station responsible for the collection of the nine months data set at Greenwich continued recording for at least another year, and thus the potential existed for an interannual comparison. In this paper we analyse the statistical significance of results from the first year of monitoring given the new available longer time series. In particular we address the existence of large magnitude wind events that result in no aeolian sediment transport and the implications for large over-predictions of sediment input to foredunes at the meso-scale. We use results on the nature of transport events effectively involved in foredune building to discuss previous findings and implications for management and modelling of coastal dunes at the meso-scale.


Studies of electrical properties, including noise properties, of thick-film resistors prepared from various resistive and conductive materials on LTCC substrates have been described. Experiments have been carried out in the temperature range from 300 K up to 650 K using two methods, i.e. measuring (i) spectra of voltage fluctuations observed on the studied samples and (ii) the current noise index by a standard meter, both at constant temperature and during a temperature sweep with a slow rate. The 1/f noise component caused by resistance fluctuations occurred to be dominant in the entire range of temperature. The dependence of the noise intensity on temperature revealed that a temperature change from 300 K to 650 K causes a rise in magnitude of the noise intensity approximately one order of magnitude. Using the experimental data, the parameters describing noise properties of the used materials have been calculated and compared to the properties of other previously studied thick-film materials.