The use of different names and codes for the same entity in different terminologies has long been identified as a barrier to integrating biomedical information sources. By integrating terms from many disparate biomedical sources, terminological systems help bridge across terminologies. And because terms and codes constitute an entry point into information sources, terminology integration represents a key element to information integration. As an example of terminological system, we briefly introduce the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), a resource integrating more than one hundred biomedical terminologies. We show how integrative resources such as the UMLS can play a role to bridge across namespaces in the Semantic Web. Translational research requires the integration of information between the "bench" (basic research) and the "bedside" (clinical practice). Using the example of oncology, we show practical issues in the integration of cancer terminologies. Biography: Olivier Bodenreider is a Staff Scientist in the Cognitive Science Branch of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. His research interests include terminology, knowledge representation and ontology in the biomedical domain, both from a theoretical perspective and in their application to natural language understanding, reasoning, information visualization and integration. Dr. Bodenreider is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics. He received a M.D. degree from the University of Strasbourg, France in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Medical Informatics from the University of Nancy, France in 1993. Before joining NLM in 1996, he was an assistant professor for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics at the University of Nancy, France, Medical School.


with evidence of persisting enteroviral RNA in skeletal muscle' and persistent enterovirus excretion in stool,6 indicates that enteroviruses may be involved in a proportion of patients with the postviral fatigue syndrome, notwithstanding the inconclusive results of cross sectional seroepidemiological studies. The study of Dr Miller and colleagues emphasises that a single diagnostic test for the syndrome does not exist at present and shows that screening of single serum samples for enterovirus specific IgM antibody is of little value.


Structural integrity assessments typically aim to calculate the integrity of a component under nominal or best estimate conditions. To account for potential variability and uncertainty present in the system, safety factors are often applied to assessment inputs and outputs. This approach does not allow the level of conservatism present to be quantified, often leading to over-conservatism or inadvertent non-conservatism. Probabilistic assessments explicitly calculate the probability of failure based on distributions of the input parameters and hence quantify the margin present in the assessment, leading to a greater understanding of the system.
 In this study a creep-fatigue damage assessment of a transiently loaded piping component is used as a vehicle to investigate some of the challenges and benefits of probabilistic assessments. A probabilistic assessment of the component life is compared to a lower-bound deterministic calculation to identify the mismatch in margin between the two results. The potential inaccuracies introduced when reducing the computational burden of Monte Carlo simulations with response surface methodologies are explored and tested. Finally, two challenges when attempting to underwrite a very low probability of failure are tackled: the inference of the shape of a distribution's tails from limited experimental data and the uncertainty of extreme percentiles of finite Monte Carlo samples.


Once weld-induced residual stresses are mitigated, the risk of catastrophic failures in gas transmission pipelines is expected to decrease. Large-diameter pipelines are used extensively for gas transmission between cities. In large-diameter pipes, it is normal procedure to employ two or three welders working simultaneously to complete the joint. However, the number of welders, as well as the delay time, can influence the welding residual stress, which is considered in this paper. To this end, five welds completed with different welding procedures have been investigated on a large-diameter, 610 mm gas transmission pipeline. The welding residual stresses were measured using the ultrasonic method, a nondestructive stress measurement technique that works based on the acoustoelasticity law. The finite element method was also employed for modeling of the specimens in order to numerically validate the measurements. The results show that employing four welders welding simultaneously on a 610 mm diameter pipeline can considerably reduce the welding residual stress in comparison with a case of using one or two welders. Furthermore, a delay time between starting the segmental welding can create a preheating effect that leads to mitigation in the residual stresses.


Magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data have been used to construct a chronologic framework for the deposition of the Hepburn9s Mesa Formation in the Yellow-stone Valley of southwestern Montana. Deposition spanned an interval from ∼16.8 Ma to at least 14.3 Ma, and possibly to 13.8 Ma. The magnetic data help to constrain the Barstovian land-mammal age in the northern Rocky Mountains, as well as two interval zones defined within it. The major faunal boundary ages determined here are indistin-guishable from ages for these same boundaries at the Barstovian type locality in southern California. Consequently, observed differences in generic and species composition between these regions are likely to reflect biogeographic and ecological variability, rather than temporal separation. When used in conjunction with biostratigraphic data from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, these new dates improve the time constraints that can be placed on the duration (∼1 m.y.) of the "mid-Tertiary unconformity" in the northern Rockies and on the inception at ∼17 Ma of the interval of crustal extension that led to extensive intermontane-basin development during the Neogene.


Density and porosity are fundamental and
important physical properties of rocks in various geological problems, and
affect the other physical properties. Therefore, measurements of density and
porosity of rock samples are important investigation items in both geo-science
and geo-engineering areas. Several measurement techniques of the density and
porosity are available and being applied currently. To ensure the data quality
and to conduct its quality assessment, comparison of measurement results by
different measurement techniques is necessary since the techniques are based on
different principles and test procedures. In this study, we collected eight
types of rock samples including a gabbro, a granite, four sandstones, a welded
tuff and a mudstone as study materials, and also prepared several metal
specimens for the experimental comparison. The porosities of the eight rocks
covered a very wide range from 0.3% to 50% approximately. We employed three
methods (caliper, buoyancy and helium-displacement pycnometer) to measure
volumes of regularly-shaped specimens and to determine their bulk densities and
porosities. As a result, the three techniques yielded almost same bulk
densities and porosities for all the specimens. In addition, we also applied
mercury intrusion porosimetry to measure density and porosity as well as to
determine pore size distribution of the rock samples. Porosity values obtained
by the porosimetry method were underestimated in the case of high-porosity
(soft) rock samples and overestimated for the very low-porosity rock samples.
Ability to determine pore size distribution, however, is a very important
advantage of the porosimetry method.


The entropy power inequality (EPI) yields lower bounds on the differential entropy of the sum of two independent real-valued random variables in terms of the individual entropies. Versions of the EPI for discrete random variables have been obtained for special families of distributions with the differential entropy replaced by the discrete entropy, but no universal inequality is known (beyond trivial ones). More recently, the sumset theory for the entropy function yields a sharp inequality H(X + X') - H(X) ≥ 1/2 - o(1) when X, X' are independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) with high entropy. This paper provides the inequality H(X + X') - H(X)≥ g(H(X)), where X, X' are arbitrary i.i.d. integer-valued random variables and where g is a universal strictly positive function on R+ satisfying g(0) = 0. Extensions to nonidentically distributed random variables and to conditional entropies are also obtained.


The demands on a driver to maintain a consistent path is reflected in the driver's workload. Visual demand, which can be measured using vision occlusion, can be used to quantify driver workload. Vision occlusion blanks out the driver's vision of the roadway using a visor or other similar device. By measuring the amount of time the driver is viewing the roadway, a measure of the information load on the driver is obtained. Experiments were conducted in a driving simulator, on a test track, and on a public road to examine the reliability and repeatability of vision occlusion. The results showed that the effects of curve radius on visual demand were similar for all three test conditions. However, differences in the baseline demand level occurred between contexts. These results indicate driving simulator and test track results can be used to estimate changes in visual demand of real roads.


The main aim of DNA barcoding is to establish a shared community resource of DNA sequences that can be used for organismal identification and taxonomic clarification. This approach was successfully pioneered in animals using a portion of the cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) mitochondrial gene. In plants, establishing a standardized DNA barcoding system has been more challenging. In this paper, we review the process of selecting and refining a plant barcode; evaluate the factors which influence the discriminatory power of the approach; describe some early applications of plant barcoding and summarise major emerging projects; and outline tool development that will be necessary for plant DNA barcoding to advance.


The evolutionary trajectories of trade‐offs are ultimately governed by the evolution of the underlying physiological processes of the acquisition and subsequent allocation of resources. In this study, we focused directly on acquisition and allocation as traits and estimated their genetic architecture in the trade‐off between flight capability and reproduction in the cricket, Gryllus firmus. To determine the evolutionary genetics of acquisition and allocation both within and between resource environments, we performed a large‐scale quantitative genetic breeding experiment in which families were split over several resource levels. Our findings were fourfold: (1) there was substantial genetic variance in acquisition and allocation, (2) contrary to the assumption of independence between acquisition and allocation, there was a significant genetic correlation between them, (3) the genetic covariance between acquisition and allocation was significantly different in the different food environments, (4) the trade‐off, as measured by the genetic correlation between flight muscle mass and ovary mass, was only significant in the food restriction environments. However, when measured directly as the genetic correlation between reproductive allocation and flight allocation, we found a consistent strong negative genetic correlation, demonstrating that when allocation is measured independently of acquisition we find evidence for the trade‐off.


Computer representation of graphical images is a very important component of multimedia technology. Hence there is a need for designers of multimedia documents to view, edit, manipulate and animate graphical images. A survey has been carried out on a variety of shareware graphical tools for viewing, editing, manipulating, converting and animating graphical images in the DOS and Windows programming environments of personal computers. This survey is solely based on the authors' experience with these shareware graphical utilities. The primary objectives of this survey are to increase user awareness of these shareware graphical image processing and animation tools, to place a selection of these tools in perspective, to outline the potential graphical capabilities of these tools and to compare these capabilities.


Tissue engineering covers a broad field that applies the principles of engineering and life sciences to the development of biological substitutes for defective organs. As an important branch of tissue engineering, bone tissue engineering is studied widely and deeply recently years. Scaffold, as an artificial extracellular matrix for promoting cell attachment, differentiation, and mineralized bone formation, is focus in these studies, especially its micro-structure design and fabrication. In this paper, the methodology of bone tissue engineering, the scaffold design and manufacturing with bio-material are reviewed. Based on the review, the conclusion, that non-uniform gradient micro-construct of scaffold will become a new solution for existing problems, is proposed. Keywords-tissue engineering; scaffold; design; manufacturing


We study the problem of allocating optical bandwidth to sets of communication requests in all-optical networks that utilize Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM). WDM technology establishes communication between pairs of network nodes by establishing transmitter-receiver paths and assigning wavelengths to each path so that no two paths going through the same fiber link use the same wavelength. Optical bandwidth is the number of distinct wavelengths. Since state-of-the-art technology allows for a limited number of wavelengths, the engineering problem to be solved is to establish communication between pairs of nodes so that the total number of wavelengths used is minimized; this is known as the wavelength routing problem. In this paper, we survey recent advances in bandwidth allocation in tree-shaped WDM all-optical networks: - We present hardness results and lower bounds for the general problem and the special case of symmetric communication. - We give the main ideas of deterministic greedy algorithms and study their limitations. - We demonstrate how we can achieve optimal and nearly-optimal bandwidth utilization in networks with wavelength converters using simple algorithms. - We also present recent results about the use of randomization for wavelength routing.


Since the open door policy was embarked upon in 1979, China s banking sector has undergone gradual but notable reforms. A key objective of the reforms implemented by the Chinese government is to build an effective, competitive and stable banking system in order to improve its efficiency and reliability. This study employs both parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods to assess and evaluate the cost efficiency of Chinese banks over the period from 1994 until 2007, a period characterised by far-reaching changes brought about by the banking reforms. To this end, we first compare a number of specifications of stochastic cost frontier models to determine the preferred frontier model which are adopted in our efficiency analysis. The preferred model specification for our sample is the one stage SFA model that includes the traditional input prices, the outputs and the control variables (that is, equity, non-performing loans and the time trend) in the cost frontier and the environmental variables (that is, ownership structure, size, deregulation, market structure and market discipline) in the inefficiency term. Moreover, we also employ two cost DEA models (traditional DEA and New DEA) as a complement to the preferred SFA model for methodological cross-checking purposes. Similar to the previous empirical literature, we find that in most cases only moderate consistency across the different techniques.

The cost efficiency of Chinese banks is found to be 91% on average, based on our SFA model, over the period from 1994 until 2007. Based on the results of the DEA and New DEA models, the average cost efficiency for Chinese banks over the sample period is about 89% and 87%, respectively. We find that Chinese banking efficiency has deteriorated after China s admission to the WTO, suggesting that the significant external environmental changes which arose from China s WTO entry may have had a negative impact on its banking efficiency. In addition, we find that the majority of Chinese banks reveal scale inefficiencies and as asset size increases, banks tend to pass from increasing, to constant, and then to decreasing returns to scale.

Our findings also show that both state-owned banks and foreign banks are more efficient than domestic private banks and larger banks tend to be relatively more efficient than smaller banks. These and other results suggest that in order to enhance Chinese banking efficiency, the government needs to continue with the banking reform process and in particular, to open up banking markets, to improve risk management and corporate governance in Chinese banks and to encourage the expansion of banks.


A new equation for the viscosity of Natural Gas under Reservoir conditions has been developed. The equation was obtained by the analysis of experimental Pressure, Volume and Temperature (PVT) Data of Gas associated with Nigerian Crude Oil. The PVT Data were those of renowned companies that operate in Nigeria. The pressure ranged from 144 psia to 4100 psia, and a temperature variation between 130oF and 220oF. Comparison of the equation formulated in this work with experimental PVT viscosity gave an average absolute error of 1.55%, a maximum absolute error of 4.878% and a standard deviation of 1.29. A comparison of viscosity obtained from the charts of Carr et al and the equation of Lee et al with Nigerian PVT Viscosity showed that the new equation gave more accurate result. Since some Correlations perform better when applied to data from which they were derived, a further comparison test was performed. In this test, the new equation was used to solve two problems for which solutions by the method of Carr et al were available. The first problem from the Handbook of Natural Gas Engineering by Katz et al gave a viscosity of 1.158cp while the new equation gave 1.157cp. The second problem from Ikoku's book (Natural Gas Production Engineering) gave a viscosity of 1.178cp and the new equation also gave 1.178cp. This closeness of the viscosity of the new equation to the values from the Carr et al method proved the applicability of the new equation to any type of Natural Gas.


This study was designed to determine the association between oral hygiene status and necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (NUG), as well as the severity of NUG in Nigerian children. The study cohort was made up of 438 children under 12 years attending the Dugbe Dental Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria. A dental history and intra-oral examination using probe and mirror were taken. A slightly modified Green and Vermillion index was used to determine oral hygiene status. An index was also developed for NUG severity. The result showed that only 2.4% of the children with good oral hygiene had NUG, compared with: 24.6% of those with fair oral hygiene; 62.8% of those with poor oral hygiene; and 66.7% of those with very poor oral hygiene. The prevalence of the more severe stages of the disease showed an increasing trend as the oral hygiene status became poorer. This study thus demonstrated that the prevalence of NUG was significantly higher and more severe in children with poor oral hygiene status compared with those having good oral hygiene status. (P < 0.001).


Background: When using botulinum toxin for the management of lateral epicondylitis, injection at a fixed distance from an anatomic landmark could result in inadequate paralysis of the intended muscle. We assessed the effectiveness of injection of botulinum toxin using precise anatomic measurement in individual patients. Methods: In this randomized placebo-controlled trial, 48 patients with chronic refractory lateral epicondylitis were randomly assigned to receive a single injection of either botulinum toxin (60 units) or placebo (normal saline). The site of injection was chosen as a distance one-third the length of the forearm from the tip of the lateral epicondyle on the course of the posterior interosseus nerve. The primary outcome measure was intensity of pain at rest, measured with the use of a 100-mm visual analogue scale, at baseline and at 4, 8 and 16 weeks after injection. Results: Compared with the placebo group, the group given botulinum toxin had significant reductions in pain at rest during follow-up (decrease at 4 weeks 14.1 mm, 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.8–22.3; at 8 weeks 11.5 mm, 95% CI 2.0–21.0; at 16 weeks 12.6 mm, 95% CI 7.7–17.8; p = 0.01). As for the secondary outcomes, the intensity of pain during maximum pinch decreased in the botulinum toxin group; there was no difference in pain during maximum grip or in grip strength between the two groups. All but one of the patients in the intervention group experienced weakness in the extension of the third and fourth fingers at week 4 that resolved by week 16. No serious adverse events were reported. Interpretation: The use of precise anatomic measurement to guide injection of botulinum toxin significantly reduced pain at rest in patients with chronic refractory lateral epicondylitis. However, the transient extensor lag makes this method inappropriate for patients whose job requires finger extension. (ClinicalTrials.gov trial register no. NCT00497913.)


Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the direct costs of healthcare provided to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Basque Country and to compare them with those of the population with chronic diseases. Material and methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional, population-based study. Direct health-care costs for patients aged over 35 years diagnosed with T2DM in the Basque Country (n = 126,894) were calculated, stratified by age, sex and deprivation index, and compared to the costs for the population diagnosed with a chronic disease other than T2DM (n = 1,347,043). Results: The annual average healthcare cost of a person with T2DM was D 3432. Cost gradually increased with age to D 4313 in patients aged 80---84 years. Cost in males were D 161 higher as compared to costs in females


Background: Psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) needs standardization for countries and is used for minimal hepatic encephalopathy (mHE) diagnosis. Assessing it is cumbersome.Aims: To standardize PHES for Turkish patients and compare it with German norms; to determine mHE prevalence with two different methods and to assess whether the PHES test can be simplified.Methods: Healthy volunteers (n=816; 400 male) and cirrhotics (n=124; 58 male) were included. PHES score threshold was set at ≤-5 points and that of critical flicker frequency (CFF) at <39 Hz for mHE diagnosis. For comparing German and Turkish norms, datasets were combined. Multiple backward procedure was applied. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were created for assessing diagnostic capabilities of single subtests of the PHES test. Results: Turkish norms displayed non-linear dependence on age and education. Rate of mHE in compensated cirrhotics was 29.8% and 27.4% with PHES and CFF tests, respectively. Compatibility of two tests was low (kappa coefficient 0.389); mHE prevalence decreased to 16% when both tests were combined. Turks performed worse vs Germans in the digit symbol (DS) and serial dotting (SD) subtests but generally performed better in the other subtests. In ROC analyzes of subtests, AUROC was 0.974 for DS+SD tests combined. Conclusions: PHES norms for Turks were developed. Use of 2 methods for diagnosing mHE may be important for research purposes. From a clinical perspective sensitivity with acceptable specificity may suffice. Combined use of DS and SD subtests of the PHES battery may well be suited for use in clinical practice.


We introduce an open-domain neural semantic parser which generates formal meaning representations in the style of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT; Kamp and Reyle 1993). We propose a method which transforms Discourse Representation Structures (DRSs) to trees and develop a structure-aware model which decomposes the decoding process into three stages: basic DRS structure prediction, condition prediction (i.e., predicates and relations), and referent prediction (i.e., variables). Experimental results on the Groningen Meaning Bank (GMB) show that our model outperforms competitive baselines by a wide margin.


This paper presents a wideband RF power amplifier (PA) dedicated to 2GHz applications integrating a contact-less temperature sensor that allows on-chip observation and testing of the PA. Indeed, based on the static and dynamic local temperature changes caused by the PA operation, the thermal sensor can sense parameters such as output power or efficiency. This principle is applied to a 65nm CMOS PA with an OCP1 of 21dBm. We demonstrate that the output voltage of the thermal sensor follows the PA efficiency under single tone and multi-tone input signal conditions.


To help reduce victimisation, safeguarding practices in England and Wales are becoming more multi-agency, with Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH) being a contemporary example of such an approach. MASH aims to reduce victimisation by identifying and managing vulnerability at the earliest opportunity. This is achieved through the co-location of safeguarding agencies, joint decision making and the co-ordination of interventions. Previous research has indicated that the demand placed upon MASH often outweighs available resources, questioning the extent to which MASH effectively safeguards vulnerable people at the earliest opportunity. Whilst existing literature has focused upon the characteristics of MASH referrals, alongside referral processes, rates of repeat referrals have been overlooked. This paper aims to bridge this gap by exploring the number of repeat referrals made over a two-month period to a MASH location in the north-west of England (n = 2,134). By investigating repeat referrals, reasons why some individuals are susceptible to being victimised on multiple occasions are identified. The paper concludes that whilst MASH has taken a step towards identifying and managing victimisation, practices and processes need to be reviewed if MASH is to proactively prevent repeat victimisation.


Two major components of global change: land‐use changes and intentional or accidental species introduction are threatening the conservation of native species worldwide. In particular, Mediterranean coastal areas are highly susceptible to the invasion of alien species and they also have experienced major changes in land use such as agricultural abandonment and urbanization. However, there has been little research done which quantitatively links biological invasions and the components of land‐use changes (i.e. number, trajectory and direction of the changes). We analysed the current distribution and abundance of Cortaderia selloana (Schultes et Schultes fil.) Asch. et Graebner, an alien ornamental species, in 332 fields in Aiguamolls de l'Empordà (Catalonia, NE Spain) and related the patterns of invasion to spatiotemporal data on land‐use changes from 1956 to 2003. Our aim was to determine which land uses had been more susceptible to C. selloana invasion during the last 5 years and to find out which components of land‐use changes triggered invasion. We found that 22.30% of the fields are currently invaded. In the last 5 years, fields have triplicated the total density of C. selloana. The presence of C. selloana decreases with the distance from urban areas. Invasion is over‐represented in pastures and old‐fields, and it has increased with time since abandonment. The presence of C. selloana was also associated to fields that had experienced many changes in land use in the last 46 years. The most heavily invaded fields were those that were pastures in 1956 and are now old fields in 2003. On average, the largest plants are found in agricultural field margins and in fields that had a disturbed land use both in 1956 and in 2003. Furthermore, pastures had the lowest proportion of reproductive plants. Overall, current C. selloana patterns of invasion can be explained by the historical legacy of land‐use changes.


Though strong branding and a distinctive product range are often identified as important factors for companies' economic success, many UK womenswear retailers offer surprisingly similar products. The author argues that product sameness amongst many high street womenswear retailers in the UK is a deliberate strategy employed by industry practitioners to limit demand uncertainty. Based on an empirical study of UK high street womenswear retailers, the author argues that the womenswear fashion industry, like other industries operating in markets faced by high levels of demand uncertainty, has adopted strategies to minimise economic risks. The author explores how fashion information created by companies/groups in the quaternary industry sector is used as inspirational sources for fashion workers at retailing level and contributes to the development of a collective taste amongst them. Collective taste in the context of this research is seen not as a by-product of interaction as theorised by Blumer, but as a strategy to cope with the inherent demand uncertainty experienced by firms operating in the womenswear market and as a means for establishing some orderliness in the fashion system.


The complexity of transportation services expands to a service-oriented transportation framework. Generally, transportation vehicles often return as deadheads after they complete their linehauls, utilizing only 50 % of the transportation capacity. Backhaul is a strategy used by freight forwarders that offers shipping to different customers while increasing profits on return trips. Through the dispatching of joint service platform, this study can use GPS and portable mobile devices, geographic information systems, and on-board unit. The idea of backhauls was utilized to maximize transportation efficiency.


Overlapping recombinant clones that appear to encompass the entire renin gene, named Ren 1, have been isolated from a library of BALB/c mouse genomic DNA fragments. Based on restriction endonuclease mapping and DNA sequence analysis, Ren 1 spans 9.6 kb and contains nine exons interrupted by eight intervening sequences of highly variable size. The first exon, encoding the signal peptide of preprorenin, is separated from the eight following exons by a 3‐kb intron. These eight exons are organized into two clusters of four separated by a 2‐kb intron. DNA stretches encoding the aspartyl residues, which are part of the active site of renin, are located at homologous positions in both clusters. Our results show that aspartyl protease genes have arisen by duplication and fusion of an ancestral gene containing five exons. The estimated date of the duplication event of the mouse renin genes Ren 1 and Ren 2 is discussed.


Mining played a minor role in Union County's history in the earlyto mid-1900s, when four mining districts were developed: Black Mesa, Peacock Canyon, Northeastern Union County, and Folsom. More than 120 clastic plugs, many containing copper, silver, and uranium minerals, have been identified in the Black Mesa district of the Dry Cimarron Valley of New Mexico that extends into southeastern Colorado (Carrizo district) and western Oklahoma. Copper, silver, and minor gold were produced from deposits in the Black Mesa (New Mexico) and Carrizo (Colorado) districts. Sedimentary-copper deposits were first located in the Peacock Canyon district in 1900, but no production occurred. Known sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the Morrison Formation in the Northeastern Union County uranium prospect area are small, low grade, and uneconomic. Three types of mineral deposits are found in the Folsom district (quartz with minor gold veinlets in basalt, placer gold, and scoria), but only the scoria deposits have been produced for railroad ballast, natural lightweight concrete aggregate, road surfacing aggregate, and cinder (or building) block manufacture. Around 2010-2012, Dumas Ventures LLC leased thousands of acres in the Clayton area for exploration for placer gold and received a mining permit from the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division. No gold production has occurred and there is no resource potential for economic placer gold deposits anywhere in Union County with a high degree of certainty. In addition, aggregate (sand and gravel), clay, coal, and building stone have been developed in the county. 109 New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 70th Field Conference, Geology of the Raton-Clayton Area, 2019, p. 109-116.


Due to the special hydrographic and physiographic conditions in Taiwan, flooding is likely to occur in the middle and lower reaches of a plain whenever serious rainstorm events occurred. Note worthily, the loss of lives and property caused by flooding are always most considerable in a metropolitan area, and the densely distributed buildings would, not only increase the impervious area, but also decrease the water storage area. Furthermore, a large number of intensive buildings have changed the original land flow conditions, resulting in a beam shrinking flow and the additional form drag phenomenon, which makes the flooding phenomenon more serious. The main purpose of this research is to find the correlation between building coverage and the Manning's coefficient n through a water flume model experiment. To probe into this issue, the Manning's roughness adjustment is further divided into a part caused by the surface impedance and a part caused by the building impedance. Thus, building coverage can be added to the general computing grid to reflect the flooding situation with buildings. The two-dimensional inundation model, based on this research, was applied to Taichung City for an actual case simulation. The simulation result of Typhoon Kalmaegi showed that the presented model can obtain a more accurate flooding situation in urban area by considering the blockage effects of buildings and adjusting the surface roughness.


Medical image registration plays an increasingly important role in many clinical applications, including the detection and diagnosis of diseases, planning of therapy, guidance of interventions, and the follow-up and monitoring of patients. The primary goal of image registration is to find corresponding anatomical or functional locations in two or more images. This has many applications: registration can be applied to images from the same subject acquired by different imaging modalities (multimodal image registration) or at different time points (serial image registration). In this article, we will illustrate some of the advances that have been made over recent decades. We will discuss some of the theoretical aspects of nonrigid registration and describe methods for their implementation. Finally, we will illustrate how common problems in medical imaging, such as motion correction and image segmentation, can be solved using image registration.


The yeast NMD3 gene was identified in a two-hybrid screen using the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay factor, Upf1p, as bait. NMD3 was shown to encode an essential, highly conserved protein that associated principally with free 60S ribosomal subunits. Overexpression of a truncated form of Nmd3p, lacking 100 C-terminal amino acids and most of its Upf1p-interacting domain, had dominant-negative effects on both cell growth and protein synthesis and promoted the formation of polyribosome half-mers. These effects were eliminated by truncation of an additional 100 amino acids from Nmd3p. Overexpression of the nmd3delta100 allele also led to increased synthesis and destabilization of some ribosomal protein mRNAs, and increased synthesis and altered processing of 35S pre-rRNA. Our data suggest that Nmd3p has a role in the formation, function, or maintenance of the 60S ribosomal subunit and may provide a link for Upf1p to 80S monosomes.


All of the amendments tested lowered the bulk density and greatly improved the water flow rate through the soil mix, thereby reducing management problems. Wetting agents were found of value in management of soil mixes difficult to re-wet after being depleted of water. Water storage capacity of a soil mix was improved most by the addition of such water-absorbing materials as peat moss, redwood shavings, and vermiculite. Amendments that improved all soil properties, except water storage, included pumice and calcined clay. Only slight increases in water storage were obtained from use of larger wood chips, fir bark, or rice hulls.
Evaluations of various amendments to several soils by two different laboratory and greenhouse methods showed agreement in results but the laboratory method required much more equipment. The greenhouse method could easily be used by anyone interested in evaluating his own soil, and amendments. The only equipment needed is a balance and several small tensiometers. The greenhouse method also allows evaluation of the plant grown to extract the water, for its response to the treatment. The laboratory method offers the possibility of evaluating many more mixes over a shorter period of time, however.


Environmental instream flows are a common tool for maintaining river flows that are required to sustain both ecosystem and societal needs. Many of the most widely adopted environmental flow standards are based on historical flow, mainly because of the relative simplicity of these methods. Few previous studies, however, have examined the ability of historical flow standards to protect low flows. Here, the low-flow protective ability of five different historical flow methods, using 35 gaging stations in the Tombigbee River Basin of Alabama and Mississippi, was analyzed. The minimum environmental flow thresholds were calculated using the five indices, and the number of times in a recent 32-year period flows fell below each threshold was determined. The Tennant-based threshold was reached most frequently, followed by the modified Tennant. Although other low-flow metrics, such as 7Q10, were triggered infrequently (9% of the time) over the whole period, triggering rates increased to 46% for 7Q10 during the drought of 2016, suggesting that even minimal low-flow standards may provide some benefit during drought. Analyzing historical flow methods to see how often they would result in management actions if implemented is a useful way of developing guidance on the adoption of minimum environmental instream flow standards.


08Cr2AlMo steel is a type of material developed especially for heat exchanger pipe bundle used under H2S condition in the recent years. In this paper, some researches were carried out on the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptivity of 08Cr2AlMo steel in H2S water solution and the inhibition of imidazoline and diethylene triamine on the SCC by means of slow strain rate tensile test, scanning electron microscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results indicate that 08Cr2AlMo steel is highly susceptible to SCC in saturated H2S solution for the fracture surfaces of specimen show typical quasi-cleavage fracture. The addition of both imidazoline and diethylene triamine into saturated H2S solution is effective on inhibiting the SCC. The inhibitors can reduce the potential of the cathodic hydrogen evolution, which prevents the penetration of hydrogen into the specimen effectively. Furthermore, inhibitors accelerate the formation of the chemically bonded film on the steel surface. It is also found that when the concentration of inhibitors is below 0.2%, there is no obvious inhibition effect on SCC, and the inhibition effect of diethylene triamine is better than that of imidazoline.


This article describes a hybrid wheeled/legged robot, called the Wheeleg robot. The Wheeleg robot consists of wheels and legs separated but always acting together to locomote the system. A detailed description of the Wheeleg robot from a mechanical and electrical point of view is provided. Some considerations concerning the computing architecture are made, and some experimental results obtained in the laboratory and on volcanic terrain are given.


A novel variable structure controller for an electric generation hybrid system is proposed. The system is intended for variable alternate load and includes a wind turbine, photovoltaic generation and a battery bank. As a first step for the controller design, a dynamic model of the system is developed in a rotor reference frame. The control law is designed through the combination of passivity and sliding mode techniques. The objective is to control the operation of the wind subsystem to complement the photovoltaic generation, so the power demand is satisfied. During periods of scarce winds, the strategy is modified and the control objective becomes maximum wind generation.


At the heart of the body of environmental controls available to local councils lies the concept of statutory nuisance under Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ('the Act'). Local councils have a duty to investigate their areas from time to time seeking for the existence of statutory nuisances. In reality, the use of their powers is usually triggered by a complaint and, indeed, the Act specifically empowers them to follow up such complaints where it is reasonably practicable that they should do so. As is well known, the prime weapon is the abatement notice which must be served where the officers have formed the view that a statutory nuisance exists. An appeal to the magistrates' court lies within 21 days of the service of this notice. The effect of an appeal is normally to suspend the notice until the appeal has been heard. In the event that no appeal is made and yet the notice is not complied with, the local authority have a discretion to prosecute. It can be seen that these procedures mix administrative law with civil and criminal outcomes. The service of a notice is an administrative act and an appeal against it would be civil in nature, whereas a prosecution for failure to comply with a notice would be criminal in nature. But, both sets of proceedings take place in the magistrates' court with the potential for confusion in terms of the rules of evidence and the procedures that each entail. What should be a relatively straightforward procedure has become one where the complexities of the law and the variations from one case to another mean that drafting a watertight abatement notice has become an unrealised ambition by many an officer. It might not be an exaggeration to suggest that most abatement notices have become appealable on such grounds as these. If the interpretation of the requirements of section 80(1) means that officers could simply serve notices which required an abatement of the nuisance without specifying the manner of the abatement, then the problem might be resolved. A number of Divisional Court cases have considered this issue but without any satisfactory resolution. Some of these have now gone to the Court of Appeal and the latest of these has attempted to cut through this Gordian knot by taking this route to the interpretation of the statute.


One way to ease the burden of concurrent programming is to have threads communicate synchronously via message-passing, making explicit the program points where data is transferred from one thread to another. In a language like Concurrent ML (CML), this philosophy leads to strong guarantees on the ordering and visibility of communicated data, simplifying program reasoning. The cost of synchrony comes with a high price in performance, however, particularly in distributed environments where communication latency is high. To ameliorate these costs, we might allow communication to be asynchronous, having senders buffer data without waiting for the availability of a matching receiver, thereby allowing execution of the sender's continuation to overlap data transmission. However, while the use of asynchrony can help reclaim performance, it also complicates program structure and understanding. In this paper, we investigate an alternative semantics for CML that implements sends asynchronously, but guarantees that the resulting execution nonetheless exhibits behavior observably equivalent to one in which all communication is performed synchronously. Our goal is to retain the expressivity and simplicity of CML's synchronous operations in writing concurrent programs and reasoning about them, but give implementations the flexibility to safely regain performance using asynchronous communication. We formalize the conditions under which this equivalence holds, and present an implementation that builds a decentralized dependence graph whose structure can be used to check the integrity of an execution with respect to this equivalence. We integrate a notion of speculation to allow ill-formed executions to be rolled-back and re-executed, replacing offending asynchronous actions with safe synchronous ones. Several realistic case studies deployed in a cloud environment demonstrate the utility of our approach.


Population explosion, availability of life saving drugs and perusal of healthier life styles is leading to rising life expectancy worldwide. This indirectly translates to increasing prevalence of open angle glaucoma1 worldwide and Pakistan is no exception to these myriad factors of population increase and related healthcare issues.
Studies have in general shown increased glaucoma severity corelating with direct and indirect costs associated with the progression of disease2. Hence there is a wide spread tendency to treat suspicious optic nerve heads, mild to moderate high intraocular pressures or even documented but non progressive glaucoma damage without comprehensive structural, visual function, local and systemic risk assessment. This has in turn led to plethora of adverse clinical, socioeconomic and financial concerns triggering chain of adversities at individual and as well as national level.


A strong pattern of high hindlimb representation (especially tibiae) was recognized in our survey of zooarchaeological analyses that included limb bone shafts in estimates of element abundance in assemblages from the Old and New Worlds, from widely spread time periods and with various hominid species that acted as bone accumulators. Inter-element differences in bone mineral density and carcass transport behavior by hominids do not explain the pattern satisfactorily. We hypothesized that shaft fragments of hindlimb elements (especially tibiae) might be more ?intrinsically identifiable? than are fragments from other limb bones, and constructed an experiment to test this idea. Whole limb bones were sectioned into shaft fragments of various sizes using a bandsaw. An experienced faunal analyst (TRP), who was uninvolved in the bone selection and preparation, was required to identify the fragments as accurately as possible to specific skeletal element. Identification bouts were divided into 14 individual sorts, each consisting of 24 randomly assigned specimens. Sorts were constructed to replicate an increasing degree of communition across three stages: two ?Stage I? sorts contain large specimens, four ?Stage II? sorts contain smaller specimens and eight ?Stage III? sorts contain the smallest specimens. Refitting and guessing were not allowed and fragments identified to a non-element-specific category (i. E.: upper limb segment, humerus or femur; intermediate limb segment, radius or tibia; lower limb segment, metacarpal or metatarsal; limb bone shaft only) were not counted as a correct identification. Of 336 total specimens, 195 (58.0 %) were correctly identified to element. Overall, the differences in proportions of skeletally identified fragments for all six elements are not statistically significant. This finding seemingly falsifies the hypothesis that shaft fragments from hindlimb elements (especially tibiae) are more intrinsically identifiable than are fragments of other limb bones. However, our study also highlights the need for additional testing of the hypothesis since most actual archaeofaunas preserve many more specimens with complete or nearly complete diaphyseal circumference than does our experimental sample, which is composed entirely of specimens with preserving <50 % of their original circumferences. Our results suggest that bone specimen cross-sectional information, mostly lacking in the experimental sample but not in real archaeofaunas, is one of the most important classes of data on which accurate identification of shaft fragments are made.


Abstract Climate change has the potential to increase food insecurity and exacerbate malnutrition in small-scale farming households through its impacts on crop yield and income. Using a mixed-methods design, a cross-sectional study was carried out in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso Bekwai District in the Western Region of Ghana among 210 farming households with the objective of finding associations between climate change and food and nutrition security in small-scale farming households. Results from the quantitative study showed that 72% of the participants had perceived changes in weather patterns. Majority (94%) of the participants were food insecure and households that had perceived climate change were 11 times more likely to be food insecure than those that had not (p = 0.001). Results from the qualitative study showed that participants had observed less predictable weather patterns which had negative impacts on crop yield, food security and dietary diversity. The study recommended educating and encouraging farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices and other modern technologies to enhance crop production and livelihood of small-scale farmers as well as food and nutrition security within the district.


In the absence of visual input from the external world, humans are able to internally generate vivid mental images of external stimuli. This cognitive process is known as visual mental imagery, and it is involved in many forms of complex reasoning and problem-solving. Using functional neuroimaging, several studies revealed that visual mental imagery recruits a network of prefrontal, parietal and inferotemporal regions. Moreover, under certain conditions, imagining external entities have been shown to induce recruitment of retinotopically-organized visual areas, traditionally thought to be dedicated to the perception of external stimuli.
The recruitment of low-level visual areas following visual mental imagery of different stimuli could have important implications for the implementation of new rehabilitative techniques directed to patients suffering from visual field defects. In fact, following lesions affecting retrochiasmatic visual pathways, one of the most common deficits is homonymous hemianopia. This visual impairment is characterized by the loss of sight in one half of the visual field and has a profound impact on patients' emotional and social wellbeing. Several studies indicated preserved visual imagery abilities in hemianopic patients, both in the sighted and damaged hemifield. This led us to hypothesize the possibility to recruit functionally preserved portions of early visual cortices in the affected hemisphere of hemianopic patients by means of visual mental imagery. If this revealed to be true, the recruitment of early visual areas would potentially induce plastic mechanisms of change that could reinstate perceptual awareness, increasing the size of the perceived visual field.
In the present thesis, we explored neural substrates of visual mental imagery both in the healthy and in the damaged brain using fMRI. In Study 1, by means of a delayed spatial judgment task, we investigated in healthy participants the degree of complexity of the information encoded in primary visual cortex, its similarities and differences with representations of perceived stimuli, and how this information is encoded in areas outside early visual cortex. We found significant encoding of complex stimulus categories in early visual areas, as well as in inferotemporal and parietal cortices. Additionally, in agreement with previous studies, we found that a subset of these regions showed a certain degree of shared representations with perception.
Moreover, in Study 2, we explored whether it is possible to selectively recruit individual quadrants within the visual field using visual mental imagery. To this aim, we tested a group of normal-sighted individuals and patients suffering from homonymous hemianopia in a visual imagery paradigm. Results indicated that normal-sighted individuals are able to recruit early visual cortex by means of top-down mechanisms. In the group of patients, we observed a large amount of interindividual variability that allowed reliable recruitment limited to the healthy hemisphere.
Together, the results of this thesis provide evidence for distinct roles of parietal and premotor areas, involved in processing the spatial layout of imagined stimuli, and temporal regions, representing the content of internally generated representations. Moreover, the results are in line with the view that, in the absence of bottom-up visual stimulation, early visual cortex is able to access information about both content and spatial layout of imagined stimuli via feedback connections. In addition, we demonstrated that the top-down modulation of low-level visual areas occurring during visual mental imagery is feasible to recruit retinotopically-organized early visual cortex, both in normal-sighted participants and in the healthy hemisphere of hemianopic patients. Albeit preliminary, these results open new perspectives on the potential use of visual mental imagery as a rehabilitation tool in the clinical treatment of visual field defects.


Prior research has demonstrated an association between lead exposure and criminal behavior at the population-level, however studies exploring the effect of lead exposure on criminal behavior at the individual-level have not been reviewed systematically. The intent of this study is to complete a systematic review of all studies assessing individual-level exposures to lead and the outcomes of crime and antisocial behavior traits. We included peer reviewed studies that were published prior to August 2022 and were classified as cohort, cross-sectional, or case-control. Studies measuring the outcomes of crime, delinquency, violence, or aggression were included. The following databases were searched using a standardized search strategy: ProQuest Environmental Science Database, PubMed, ToxNet and the Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS). Seventeen manuscripts met our inclusion criteria. Blood lead was measured in 12 studies, bone lead in 3 studies, and dentine lead levels in 2 studies. This systematic review identified a wide range of diverse outcomes between exposure to lead at multiple windows of development and later delinquent, criminal and antisocial behavior. A review of all potential confounding variables included within each study was made, with inclusion of relevant confounders into the risk of bias tool. There is limited data at the individual level on the effects of prenatal, childhood, and adolescent lead exposure and later criminal behavior and more evidence is necessary to evaluate the magnitude of the associations seen in this review. Our review, in conjunction with the available biological evidence, suggests that an excess risk for criminal behavior in adulthood exists when an individual is exposed to lead in utero or in the early years of childhood. The authors report no conflict of interest and no funding source. Clinical trial registration: PROSPERO ID: CRD42021268379.


This paper deals with numerical simulation possibilities of a hydroforming technology in production of a flow solar absorber with structured surface in a single technological operation. An austenitic stainless steel X5CrNi18-10 is used as a material for the production of the flow solar absorber. In the theoretical chapters, a comparison between static implicit and dynamic explicit algorithms of finite element method (FEM) is performed. Experimental part of the paper includes creation of geometrical, material and computational models for the explicit and the implicit solution in software ANSYS Workbench Static Structural and ANSYS LS-DYNA. Finally, due to evaluation of the experiment and FEM results, the comparison between the implicit and the explicit theoretical solution of a formed part thickness is performed.


Multi-layered, self-actuated devices have been the focus of recent studies due to their ability to exhibit large displacements and achieve complex shapes. Such devices have been constructed using active materials responsive to varying stimuli including electro-active and magneto-active materials to perform useful functions or satisfy objective functions related to target shapes. In this work, the authors seek to study the utility of employing materials responsive to magnetic and electric fields in combination with passive materials, and with varied placement in discrete layers and segments through a flexible beam, to design structures capable of satisfying a variety of objective functions simultaneously. These multi-field responsive composite devices, with greater complexity of the embedded combined actuation mechanisms, are able to achieve a wider variety of target shapes compared to traditional unimorph/bimorph structures actuated by a single-field. Additionally, the increased actuation design space facilitates consideration of a wider range of possible objective functions including those related to power consumption, materials' cost, and work performed.
 Fabrication of these devices for experimentation is both time-consuming and expensive. As a result, this study will utilize an existing one-dimensional model for electromagnetically-actuated composites and expand its features to include segmentation: the arbitrary placement of any active or passive material type in any layer of a given arbitrarily-sized section of the beam. Ultimately, the goal of this study is to analyze the model by varying characteristic features of multi-field actuated, multi-layered, and segmented devices undergoing large displacements under simultaneously applied fields.
 Although the model is written arbitrarily for any number of segments, layers within segments, and material types, this study focuses on a base model comprising three material types: electroactive polymer, magneto-active elastomer, and a passive substrate. The initial parameters chosen for the study are the relative lengths (length ratio) of segments, volume of magnetic material, and stiffness of passive material. Two objective functions are chosen. The first is a target shape approximation function, dependent on the errors between the displacements of the computed and the desired shapes. The second calculates a cost based on volume of magnetic material. The effects of the parameters on the objective functions are analyzed by evaluating an array of combinations of parameters; results indicate that each parameter significantly influences the multi-field actuation of the beam, and these correlations are quantitatively analyzed and compared. Concurrently, metrics of power required, structure mass, and other important factors are quantified. As a result, this analysis serves as a precursor to a formal optimization algorithm by determining the usefulness of the chosen objective functions and corresponding input variables for these devices, while also identifying other possible metrics for the design optimization of a multi-field beam.


Introduction: Essential tremor is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary shaking. The aim of this study was to examine cardiac autonomic functions in patients diagnosed with essential tremor, as previous studies have differed in their findings regarding whether cardiac autonomic functions are affected in essential tremor patients. Patients and Methods: The study included 32 patients diagnosed with essential tremor and 26 individuals without any diseases as the control group. Consensus criteria were used for the diagnosis of essential tremor. A clinical rating scale was utilized to measure the characteristics and degree of essential tremor. Based on this scale, patients were classified as having a mild, moderate, marked, or severe disability. An exercise treadmill test was performed in both the tremor and control groups. Chronotropic index values were used to evaluate the sympathetic system, and resting heart rate index values were calculated to evaluate the parasympathetic system. Heart rate recovery values were calculated at one, two, three, four, and five minutes after the exercise treadmill test. Results: The descriptive characteristics of the tremor and control groups were similar. The Chronotropic index values were statistically different between the tremor and control groups, as they were significantly decreased in the tremor group. This was evaluated as sympathetic incompetence. The resting heart rate index values did not differ significantly between the tremor and control groups at minutes one or two, but they were significantly higher in the tremor group at minutes three, four, and five. The parasympathetic activity was found to be insufficient in the later period. Conclusion: The findings suggest that cardiac autonomic functions may be affected in patients with essential tremor.


Abstract : The Air Force Space Command (AFSPACECOM) uses an analytic satellite motion model based an the Brouwer theory, referred to as SGP4, for near-earth objects, and another satellite motion model based on the work of Hujsak, referred to as SDP4, for deep-space objects. These models assist in tracking over 7000 objects around the Earth each day. original satellite motion model used by the AFSPACECOM based on the work of Kozai and Brouwer, known as the Simplified General Perturbations model or SGP, is an analytic model still being used at several sites. Based on the increasing number of space objects that require tracking and the desire for accuracy, there is a growing need to reduce computation time in implementing satellite motion models. Parallel computing offers one method to achieve this objective. This thesis investigates the parallel computing potential of SGP, SGP4, and SDP4 using the Intel iPSC/2 hypercube multicomputer. This thesis chooses a parallel algorithm and applies it to SGP, SGP4, and SDP4 for implementation on the hypercube, and reports on the potential reduction in computer time by first considering only the calculational portion of the algorithm and then including the effects of the reading and writing portions. A diskette containing the Fortran software developed is available upon request from bneta moon.math.nps,navy.mil. Parallel processing, Satellite motion model, Hypercube.


How can workers retain job security in an industry currently experiencing extensive restructuring and retrenchment? In the United States, massive layoffs in the 1980s in industries like steel have resulted in increased worker demands for job security provisions in collective agreements and legal protections against layoffs. In many Western European countries, where private-sector practices ensuring strong job security and laws regulating layoff practices were well established, the 1980s brought strong pressure from business to relax job security in order to facilitate rapid restructuring.Susan Houseman's book presents some of the first hard evidence on the economic effects of providing job security, evidence gathered during the restructuring of the European Community's steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s. The author reviews personnel practices by the Community's leading steel companies, basing her analysis on extensive interviews with employers, workers, and government officials in West Germany, France, Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands. Drawing on economic theory, she shows that the extent of workers' rights to job security will affect how an industry optimally adjusts to a decline in demand and to a situation of excess capacity.Using detailed plant data, she shows that job security for workers affected decisions concerning employment, production, investment, and plant closures in the industry, While job security for workers may slow the process of industrial restructuring and result in lower productivity, the author points out that it also generates important social benefits, including community stability and a more equitable distribution of the risks and costs of economic change. This book will draw the attention of policymakers in government and in international organizations such as the European Community, the OECD, and the ILO. It will also be of interest to scholars in labor economics, industrial relations, public policy, and business.


The distribution and excretion of tritiated actinomycin D have been determined in 3 adult patients with disseminated malignant melanoma. In the blood, the drug was preferentially taken up into nucleated cells. The urinary and fecal excretion was prolonged and only about 30 per cent of the dose of actinomycin was recovered in 9 days. There was evidence that the drug was concentrated in bone marrow and tumor cells, but did not readily cross the blood-brain barrier. The long tissue half-lige of actinomycin D suggeststhat an intermittenr schedule of administration would be the most effective.


This book is an primary text for the Shoshoni language that provides basic information on the phonology and grammar of the language. While the book emphasizes the Fort Hall dialect, it also addresses other dialects. Primarily conceived as a college or high school-level textbook, it is also an accessible introduction for anyone interested in the language. Readers will find useful background information about the Shoshoni people, and a history of Fort Hall into the present day. Each chapter contains exercises for the student, and sections on language and culture that discuss such topics as gift giving, presentation of self, eye contact, and other non-verbal behavior.


Estrogen deficiency that occurs during menopause is associated with wide‐ranging consequences, including effects on the gastrointestinal system. Although previous studies have implicated a role for estrogen in modulating colonic permeability and inflammatory gene expression, the kinetics of these changes following loss of estrogen and whether they are intestinal region specific are unknown. To test this, we performed sham or ovariectomy (OVX) surgery in BALB/c mice and examined permeability (in vivo and ex vivo) and gene expression changes in the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon at 1, 4, and 8 weeks postsurgery. In vivo permeability, assessed by FITC‐dextran gavage and subsequent measures of serum levels, indicated that OVX significantly increased whole intestinal permeability 1 week postsurgery before returning to sham levels at 4 and 8 weeks. Permeability of individual intestinal sections, measured ex vivo by Ussing chambers, revealed specific regional and temporal responses to OVX, with the most dynamic changes exhibited by the ileum. Analysis of gene expression, by qPCR and by mathematical modeling, revealed an OVX‐specific effect with tight junction and inflammatory gene expression elevated and suppressed with both temporal and regional specificity. Furthermore, ileal and colonic expression of the tight junction protein occludin was found to be significantly correlated with expression of TNFα and IL‐1β. Together, our studies reveal previously unappreciated effects of estrogen deficiency in specific intestinal segments and further demonstrate temporal links between estrogen deficiency, inflammatory genes, and intestinal permeability.


In the past few years, nanomaterials have shown great potential for organic waste water treatment. Herein, we report the single-step ligand-free synthesis of Fe2O3·nMoO3 composites with different morphologies, including nanowires, bowknot-like microstructures, and urchin-like microstructures, through an oriented-attachment mechanism. It is the first time that Fe2O3·3.9MoO3 nanowires were synthesized successfully with tunable lengths from 5.1 μm to 37.4 μm as efficient and recyclable Fenton-like catalysts for Congo red. 97.8% degradation efficiency within 60 min and a kinetic constant of 9.0 × 10−3 L mg−1 min−1 according to the second order kinetic reaction equation were achieved. The degradation capacity for 250 mg L−1 Congo red is up to 231.4 mg g−1, which shows their excellent degradation ability at high dye concentrations. The Fe2O3·3.9MoO3 nanowires show great potential for organic pollutant removal.


Environmental regulations implemented by administrative agencies have often been met with fierce political resistance from regulated parties. In some instances, regulated parties have turned to legislative and judicial bodies for relief from environmental regulation. As these political and legal battles have escalated, several forms of compromises have evolved. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in its administration of the Endangered Species Act, has often utilized the tool of "Habitat Conservation Planning" as a means by which some regulatory relief is granted in exchange for an agreement by the regulated party to undertake mitigation measures to aid endangered or threatened species. As a further inducement for regulated parties to enter into the Habitat Conservation Planning process, the Service has also adopted a "No Surprises" policy of guaranteeing regulated parties that if certain additional mitigation measures are taken, then if in the future any further mitigation measures are deemed necessary to protect endangered or threatened species, they will only be undertaken at the expense of the Service. This paper develops simple models of the conditions under which such compromise agreements are offered by a regulator, and the conditions under which the regulated party either accepts such an offer or pursues a strategy of appealing to legislative or judicial bodies for relief from regulation.


This paper presents comparison of non-linear magnetic modelling techniques for an axial flux open slotted eddy current brake. Dynamic modelling of a designed axial flux open slotted eddy current brake having single rotor single stator is described. The magnetic and electrical properties of dynamic modelling which are effected the braking torque are explained. Magnetic modelling of a designed eddy current brake is investigated over one symmetrical flux path. Jakobi, Gauss-Siedel and Newton-Raphson non-linear modelling techniques are also examined. These techniques are explained and non-linear magnetic modelling flow chart is provided. Results obtained from non-linear modelling techniques are compared with 3-D finite element analysis and test results. Results show that Newton-Raphson method gives more reasonable result then Jakobi and Gauss-Siedel methods at high non-linear conditions.


Since the 2nd part of last century neo-shamanic rituals using mind-altering extracts from plants or animals have become increasingly popular in Europe and the USA. The first rituals coming to the west were based on drinking a special Amazonian tea, Ayahuasca, based on 2 different plants, with active compounds belonging to the class of the beta-carbolines (harmala alkaloids) and tryptamines. The use of such compounds will be described from the perspective of the transformative psychopharmacology: that part of psychopharmacology studying the use of psychoactive compounds to achieve a new balance, a transformation or healing and sometimes even leading to a cure. Examples of curing are meanwhile well documented, for instance the positive influence on drug abuse and addiction, alcoholism. The importance of the healing aspects of these rituals however are often neglected or overlooked. For users, these are key however. As medicine becomes more and more personalized and postmodern, it will be relevant to understand why patients and healthy people decide to participate in healing rituals based on psycho-active compounds. We will present the pharmacology, the transformative psychopharmacology, the effects and adverse events of 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and its place in postmodern medicine.


The biokinetics of ruthenium after oral and intravenous administration has been investigated in two human subjects using the stable isotope 101Ru as a tracer. Tracer concentrations in blood plasma have been determined using activation analysis with protons. The results presented here prove that the stable tracer technique is a valuable tool for obtaining relevant information about the biokinetics of ruthenium in humans. From these pilot studies, it may be argued that the clearance of systemic ruthenium from plasma is significantly slower than the predictions of the biokinetic model currently recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The experimental data for the orally administered tracer, which reflect the gastrointestinal absorption process, differ from the curve derived from the ICRP model, suggesting that the uptake into the systemic circulation may be lower than predicted. On the basis of these preliminary data, investigations on a larger number of subjects with improvements in the experimental design are scheduled.


ABSTRACT Introduction: ErbB2 overexpression and/or gene amplification is present in 20% of all breast cancers and characterizes an aggressive form of this disease. Despite the availability of several active drugs that have yielded substantial survival improvements, most patients with ErbB2-positive metastatic disease will develop tumor progression, either because of primary or acquired resistance. Therefore, research has focused on drugs that can more efficiently interfere with ErbB2 and with other members of the epidermal growth factor receptor family. Areas covered: This review focuses on those investigational drugs that inhibit ErbB2 tyrosine kinase activity (TKIs) for treating breast cancer. Expert opinion: ErbB-targeting TKIs show encouraging activity in patients with ErbB-positive tumors that are resistant to conventional ErbB-therapies (mostly trastuzumab), confirming pre-clinical observations. Efficient interference with the ErbB-network signaling implies also a potential use in ErbB2-normal tumors, where the phenotype is sustained by ErbB-aberrant signaling. Finally, early data suggests that ErbB-targeting TKIs could be active in treating patients with activating ErbB2 mutations. Ongoing and future research efforts should elucidate what is, according to the peculiarities of these compounds, their positioning in the treatment of women with breast cancer.


Part of the Pandora's Box of unique changes humans have wreaked upon our environment with industrialization which has brought about the Anthropocene, is the unleashing of chemicals in the environment that harm humans and other organisms. As an example, since World War II, US chemical production has increased by 15 times, currently producing 30,000 pounds of chemicals per resident each year. Severe regulatory gaps exist, however, between rigorously testing these chemicals, and their legal production and toxicity in our environment.

This article examines the most used agricultural chemical globally and the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide RoundUp®,1 glyphosate, as a case study to analyze the overly-narrow approach of current legal frameworks for chemical evaluation and permissibility. We identify two principle problems in existing legal frameworks on pesticides: anthropocentrism and compartmentalization. Anthropocentric biases fail to take into account organisms outside of the Vitruvian Man version of the imaginary standard biologically and sociologically homogenous human subject, paying limited attention to susceptible nonhuman organisms such as amphibians, or vulnerable human populations such as pregnant mothers, infants, at the tails of the sensitivity curves for these chemicals. Such biases take as their model of analysis healthy and wealthy adults, and leave little buffer room for the diverse health sensitivities of humans or other organisms more susceptible to toxicity. By compartmentalizing testing of these chemicals to single populations, regulatory frameworks often tend to look at effects of chemicals in isolation, without considering synergistic effects. Synergistic effects from multiple chemical exposures often occur in populations (female, low-socioeconomic status, immigrant, children, etc.) least provisioned to defend against these chemicals — and with the least political and legal power to voice their injuries.

We inquire: how are current laws and policies surrounding glyphosate creating a politics of exclusion? In answering this question, we mainly focus on regulatory frameworks for pesticides in Europe. Given that the EU legal framework is considered one of the most stringent systems for the authorization of pesticides in the world, we study this framework as a paradigmatic case. In this context, we explain how the re-evaluation of glyphosate has unleashed changing forces for the reform of the existing regulatory frameworks. We find that existing legal frameworks determine what constitutes a risk via standard models of sameness rather than acknowledgement of biological difference, as well as fail to take into account ecological analyses of chemical interactions with other extenuating environmental factors. A critical legal framework of prevention and subaltern participation is required to anticipate the problems of chemicals, replacing the current structure with a toxic-until-proven-safe model.


The splenic function measured by the counts of "pitted" erythrocytes has been assessed in 87 patients with sickle cell disease (59 homozygotes for hemoglobin S (SS), 14 double heterozygotes for Hb S and beta zero thalassemia (S/beta zero thal), 4 S/beta+ thal and 10 SC patients) in Southeast Brazil. Results showed a progressive increase in pit counts according to age. The reduction pattern in the splenic function was similar for the SS, S/beta zero thal and S/beta+ thal patients, and over the age of 12 almost all patients presented counts compatible with severe splenic hypofunction. Patients with SC hemoglobinopathy presented slower development of hyposplenism and lower levels of pit counts even in advanced ages. Except for S/beta+ thal patients, the developmental pattern of hyposplenism was not different from that reported among patients in the United States and Jamaica.


Context: The transfer of vocational education and training (VET) has a long tradition and can be based on various conceptual and methodical approaches. Transfer process and success can be influenced by numerous factors at different levels (systemic, institutional and individual). However, the existing research on the challenges and success factors of VET transfer is very heterogenous and fragmented. Method: To provide a comprehensive and structured overview of the current state of the international research on transfer in the context of VET, we conducted a literature review, which is presented here. Using the method of systematic literature review, a total of 231 studies were found and 41 studies were selected based on the defined criteria for full text analysis. Findings: Various specific research foci and analytical approaches used on the included studies were identified and documented. The transfer of a dual VET system or its elements is based on different approaches and perspectives of the recipient country and the transferee. Major challenges for the transfer of dual VET systems include the social reputation of VET in the recipient countries and (language- and culture-related) communication difficulties between the involved parties. For a successful transfer of VET, a deeper knowledge of the contextual conditions in the recipient country are of particular importance, as well as a close, longstanding cooperation between the involved parties. Conclusion: The generated knowledge about key contextual conditions at the individual, company and systemic level in the context of VET transfer can provide a valuable basis for future VET cooperation.


Immuno-oncology is a complex treatment paradigm for many malignancies. As a result, nurses need to increase their knowledge awareness regarding safe, evidence-based care of patients who receive oncologic immunotherapy with their treatment regimen. This pilot study looks at nurse confidence levels specific to the challenges associated with this complex treatment. The Oncology Nurse Immunotherapy Confidence Survey, developed for this project, allowed for 28 confidence measurements, demographic collection, and a brief quasi-thematic analysis. The pre- and posteducation confidence scores demonstrated a 51% overall improvement.


What makes some metaphors easier to understand than others? Theoretical accounts of metaphor processing appeal to dimensions like conventionality and aptness to explain variability in metaphor comprehensibility. In a typical experiment, one group of naive participants rates a set of metaphoric sentences along these dimensions, while another is timed reading the same sentences. Then, the ratings are used to predict response times in order to identify the most relevant linguistic dimension for metaphor comprehension. However, surprisingly high correlations between ratings of theoretically orthogonal constructs and the results of an experiment in which a context manipulation affected ratings of metaphor conventionality and aptness suggest that these measures should be treated as dependent, rather than explanatory, variables. We discuss the implications of this perspective for theories of language processing.


Recently identified genetic determinants for enhanced susceptibility to Crohn's disease (CD) included polymorphisms in the ATG16L1 and IRGM1 loci suggesting that the autophagy pathway plays a role in the pathogenesis of this disease. We have generated and analyzed three mouse models with diminished expression of autophagy proteins and show how the loss of function of various autophagy components contributes to CD pathogenesis. In the mouse small intestine, the common cellular target of Atg16L1, Atg5, and Atg7 is the Paneth cell, a specialized epithelial cell whose main function is the delivery of antimicrobial factors into the intestinal lumen by production and secretion of its characteristic cytoplasmic granules. Autophagy-deficient Paneth cells exhibited a striking loss of function in this granule exocytosis pathway. Transcriptional analysis revealed a gain of function whereby the gene expression associated with inflammatory responses was increased in autophagy-deficient Paneth cells. Importantly, we validated these findings by analyzing intestinal tissues from CD patients. Similar Paneth cell abnormalities were observed in CD patients homozygous for the ATG16L1 risk allele. Thus, one role for the autophagy pathway in CD pathogenesis is through selective effects on the biology and specialized properties of Paneth cells.


The menace of odour from fish farms culminated to this study. Previous research works done showed that the major odorous substances from fish farms are ammonia, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds all of which are toxic in aquaculture. These compounds are excreted by fish or are products of feed degradation in aquaculture resulting to aquarium pollution. This research is aimed at reducing the concentration of these substances using a microalga; Chlorella vulgaris. This alga was isolated from the pond wastewater using a BG medium described by Mark and Cane. To a fish tank of size 150 × 150 × 150 m3 containing 200 litres of pond water and 200 fish was added 250 mL of Chlorella vulgaris culture and allowed to stand for four hours (4 h). The pond water was made up to 500 litres and incubated for eight days. The control was subjected to the same conditions but without application of the isolate. The ammonia concentration was measured every two days starting from day zero. At the end of eight days incubation, ammonia and VOCs concentrations were reduced to 0.23 and 0.53 mg/L respectively compared to the untreated pond (control) of 23.5 and 1.94 mmg/L respectively. Besides, nitrate and total organic carbon reduction were observed at the end of eight days incubation (33.04 and 2.32 mg/L respectively as against control concentrations of 55.72 and 13.66 mg/L respectively). This is attributed to possible utilization as nitrogen and carbon sources for the growing alga. Oxygen generated during photosynthesis also facilitates the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate thereby increasing the nitrate level. The study showed that chlorella which is a known live food in aquaculture can also be used to control aquarium odour as well as improve the quality of the pond water. Received date: 06/09/2018 Accepted date: 18/09/2018 Published date: 25/09/2018


Summary: Mutants blocked in different stages of flagellar development were isolated and examined by light and electron microscopy. Flagellum-less mutants had normal basal bodies but lacked the flagellar shaft and showed abnormalities in the transitional region. Stumpy mutants had very short flagellar shafts in which electrondense material, sometimes arranged in sheet-like arrays, accumulated in the space between the outer tubules and the distended flagellar membrane. Short-flagellum mutants also showed abnormalities in the flagellar shaft; abnormally spaced radial spokes were seen in negatively stained frayed flagella of one of these mutants. The flagellum lengths and flagellar regeneration characteristics of two long-flagellum mutants with defective length control were determined; length was highly variable with some abnormally long flagella, and regeneration was slow and asynchronous.


Eight Longidorus, one Paralongidorus and seven Xiphinema species are natural vectors of nepoviruses and seven Paratrichodorus and four Trichodorus species are vectors of tobraviruses. Nematode transmitted viruses and their vector nematodes are restricted in their distribution to regions with temperate or Mediterranean climates with the natural distributions of the viruses reflecting that of their vectors. In Europe the occurrence of a virus and vector frequently are localized within a relatively small area whereas in North America the viruses and/or their vectors are widespread. Specificity of transmission is indicative of a long association between virus and vector which has been determined and maintained by the range of factors influencing the complex nematode-virus-plant interactions. The influence of several ecological factors which may affect these interactions and the geographic distributions of the nematode/virus associations are reviewed and discussed.


In order to solve the problem of ventilation systems and pollution control systems where exist pollutants, taking into account the traditional sealed enclosures or partial enclosures, and other pollutants in exhaust hood to control the collection rate is very low. As the collection rate of the Traditional closed cover and local cover which control pollutants is poor, besides that, the energy consumption is Large, based on The actual needs of field and laboratory, the Prototypes and experimental models of Convergent air curtain generator have been set up. And with them univariate and multivariate orthogonal experiments have also been made. Through a large number of experimental analyses, the most Optimal parameters has been got, and the Theoretical model of Convergent jet air curtain. Based on the experimental and theoretical analysis, with the Case studies and Under the conditions of heat radiation of the convergent flow air curtain jet, Comparing with the static test, it has been found that Convergent air curtain makes the room temperature, dust and pollutant concentration, the concentration of air pollutants and energy consumption have been greatly reduced. The theoretical model and experimental results has some reference value and significance on environmental protection, labor protection and health protection related to protection design.


Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This paper investigates the extent to which current formal models of third language (L3) grammatical acquisition extend to sequential child L3 acquisition. We examine whether heritage speakers learning a foreign language as an early L3 transfer grammatical properties from the heritage language or the dominant second language (L2). Design/Methodology/Approach: We used a sentence repetition task and a picture story retelling task. The tasks focussed on grammatical phenomena that were either different between English and German, that is, verb-second and adverb order, or between English and German, on the one hand, and Turkish, on the other, that is, verb-complement order as well as subject and article realization. Data and Analysis: We tested matched groups of 31 Turkish-German and 31 monolingual German children learning English in grades 3 and 4, and we compared sentence repetitions as well as oral sentence production across different grammatical phenomena using parametric statistics. Findings/Conclusions: In both tasks, the two groups perform indistinguishably from each other, and both groups show selective transfer of grammatical properties from German. These findings suggest L2 transfer from a typologically related language in sequential child L3 acquisition. Originality: This paper breaks new ground by testing the applicability of formal models of adult L3 acquisition of grammar to sequential child L3 learners. It uses aural comprehension and oral production tasks with carefully matched groups of L2 and L3 learners of English to isolate the source of grammatical transfer in L3 acquisition. Significance/Implications: The research advances our understanding of cross-linguistic influence and unravels the dynamics of grammatical transfer in early child multilingualism. It adjudicates between current models of transfer in L3 acquisition in a multiple-methods design, it shows that these models apply to early L3 acquisition of heritage speakers, and it highlights that these models need to be expanded to include factors such as dominance and proficiency in prior languages.


Introduction: Patients requiring cranioplasty reconstruction with customized cranial implants may unexpectedly present with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks and durotomies following previous neurosurgical procedures. As such, multiple factors influence the type of dural reconstruction chosen at this time, which are essential for achieving long-term success. Overall, the most common material used for duraplasty is currently an "off-the-shelf" xenograft construct. However, some believe that they are not suitable for large-sized defects and accompany a higher incident of complications. Therefore, based on our success and experience with scalp augmentation using rectus fascia grafts, the authors herein present our preliminary experience with duraplasty using autologous rectus fascia grafts (ARFGs). Methods: A retrospective review of our database, consisting of 437 cranial reconstructions from 2012 to 2017, was performed under institutional review board approval. Selection criteria included all adult patients (n = 6) requiring dural reconstruction (duraplasty) with ARF grafting for an active CFS leak with concomitant skull defect. Cadaver study and patient illustrations are also presented to demonstrate clinical applicability. All outcomes, including complications, were reviewed and are presented here. Results: A total of 6 patients underwent autologous duraplasty with either unilateral or bilateral ARFGs. All patients (6/6) of large-sized (>3 cm2) defect repair with ARFGs were indicated for repair of secondary CSF leaks following previous craniotomy by neurosurgery. To date, none have demonstrated recurrent leaking and/or dura-related complications. At this time, all 6 patients were reconstructed using customized cranial implants with a mean follow-up of 10 months. Conclusion: Based on our preliminary experience presented here, the use of rectus fascia grafts for autologous dural reconstruction appears to be both safe and reliable. This new technique adds another tool to the neurosurgical armamentarium by reducing the additional risk of "off-the-shelf" dural substitutes.


A review of 50 hospital-based outbreaks of food poisoning which were reported in Scotland during 1973-7, is described. At least 1530 persons consuming hospitalprepared food were involved. Thirty-one episodes were associated with Clostridium perfringens (C. welchii), 11 were due to food-borne salmonella infection, three to enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus, and five incidents were of undetermined aetiology. This differs noticeably from the experience in England and Wales where salmonellas appear to predominate as the main cause of hospital outbreaks. Twenty-two incidents occurred in hospitals for psychiatric or mentally subnormal patients, and ten others were located in geriatric units. Only 33 hospitals were involved in the 50 outbreaks as nine hospitals experienced two or more episodes. The role of the hospital in the occurrence of food poisoning may be overemphasized in comparison with other catering establishments, as outbreaks are more readily recognized and laboratory facilities are usually available for investigation, but it is also believed that many episodes may not be reported. The peculiar problems of the hospital-catering service and particularly those of the older long-stay hospitals, are discussed in relation to preventive measures which would minimize the hazards of food poisoning.


In recent years, Deep Learning (DL) has found great success in domains such as multimedia understanding. However, the complex nature of multimedia data makes it difficult to develop DL-based software. The state-of-the art tools, such as Caffe, TensorFlow, Torch7, and CNTK, while are successful in their applicable domains, are programming libraries with fixed user interface, internal representation, and execution environment. This makes it difficult to implement portable and customized DL applications.
In this paper, we present DeepDSL, a domain specific language (DSL) embedded in Scala, that compiles deep networks written in DeepDSL to Java source code. Deep DSL provides (1) intuitive constructs to support compact encoding of deep networks; (2) symbolic gradient derivation of the networks; (3) static analysis for memory consumption and error detection; and (4) DSL-level optimization to improve memory and runtime efficiency.
DeepDSL programs are compiled into compact, efficient, customizable, and portable Java source code, which operates the CUDA and CUDNN interfaces running on Nvidia GPU via a Java Native Interface (JNI) library. We evaluated DeepDSL with a number of popular DL networks. Our experiments show that the compiled programs have very competitive runtime performance and memory efficiency compared to the existing libraries.


In order to characterize materials with respect to their susceptibility to shear band formation at high strain rates, a modified Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus and hat-shaped steel specimens with a shear zone having a width significantly larger than the typical width of adiabatic bands are used. The sample is directly impacted by the striker. The force acting on the sample is measured with a PVDF-gauge between the sample and the output bar. The displacement is recorded with an electro-optical extensometer. The energy absorbed by the shearing process up to failure can be used as a reference for the susceptibility of materials to shear band formation. The method is demonstrated comparing the shear behavior of two high-strength steels with similar metallic structure and strength. Differences were found in the transition region between quasi-static and fully adiabatic shearing conditions where the energy up to rupture differs by 40 %. For fully adiabatic shear band formation, the deformation process of both materials equals. At extreme rates, shear processes are mainly governed by the thermodynamic properties of the materials. On the other hand, strength and structural properties play a role for low and intermediate rates where global and localized shear mechanisms occur in parallel.


Since its inception in the early 1980s, "postfeminism" has become a common appellation for the attitudes and behaviors of young women in the contemporary United States. The article assesses how postfeminism is connected to the discursive deployment of sexuality in the late modern era by examining the socio-historical context out of which postfeminism emerges, reviewing various definitions of postfeminism, and offering a conceptualization of postfeminism as a neoliberal discursive formation. After briefly analyzing the existing scholarship on postfeminism, particularly the ways in which this body of literature privileges a white middle-class, heterosexual subject, the article proposes an intersectional approach to postfeminism in order to more fully understand how postfeminist discourses reproduce inequalities of race, gender, and sexuality, and offers some preliminary thoughts about pop star Nicki Minaj's potential to symbolically rupture postfeminism's discursive boundaries.


Physical activity is beneficial in chronic pain rehabilitation. However, due to psychological anxieties about pain and the percevied risk of injury, physical activity is often avoided by people with chronic pain. This avoidance is expressed through self protective body movement aimed at avoiding strain, particularly in painful areas. The detection of protective behaviour is crucial for effective rehabilitation advice and to enable a more normal lifestyle. Current technology to motivate physical activity in rehabilitation contexts does not address these psychological barriers. In this paper, we investigate the automatic recognition of a specific form of protective behaviour, guarding, common in people with chronic lower back pain. We trained ensembles of decision trees, Random Forests, on posture and velocity based features from motion capture and electromyographic data. Results show overall out of bag F1-classification scores of 0.81 and 0.73 for sitting to standing and one leg stand exercises respectively.