Gated31P-nuclear magnetic resonance followed the metabolic fluctuation in rat gastrocnemius muscle during a contraction cycle. Within 16 ms after stimulation, the phosphocreatine (PCr) level drops 11.3% from its reference state. The PCr minimum corresponds closely to the time of maximum force contraction. Pi increases stoichiometrically, while ATP remains constant. During a twitch, PCr hydrolysis produces 3.1 μmol ATP/g tissue, which is substantially higher than the reported 0.3 μmol ATP ⋅ twitch-1 ⋅ g tissue-1 derived from steady-state experiments. The results reveal that a substantial energy fluctuation accompanies a muscle twitch.


A detailed exploration of the field of mean and fluctuating quantities in a two-dimensional turbulent channel flow is presented. The measurements were repeated at three Reynolds numbers, 12,300, 30,800, and 61,600, based on the half width of the channel and the maximum mean velocity. A channel of 5-inch width and 12:1 aspect ratio was used for the investigation. Mean-speed and axial-fluctuation measurements were made well within the laminar sublayer. The semitheoretical predictions concerning the extent of the laminar sublayer were confirmed. The distribution of the velocity fluctuations in the direction of mean flow u' shows that the influence of the viscosity extends farther from the wall than indicated by the mean velocity profile, the region of influence being approximately four times as wide.


Among the 75 countries with the highest burden of child deaths, 40% of such deaths occur during the neonatal period.1 Complications arising from preterm birth are now the leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide. Despite significant survival gains in children younger than 5 years, reductions in newborn deaths continue to lag behind.1 The rapid proliferation of wireless communication in developing countries has led to the ubiquitous availability and use of mobile phones, even in remote, rural places where public health systems are struggling to gain ground. Does this new reality offer innovative mechanisms through which appropriate care can be delivered during the critical period around childbirth? Research is ongoing across a diverse mHealth space to define the extent to which extending access to information for mothers, improving the targeted delivery of timely care, and replacing inefficient data collection and response systems with real-time accountability can improve the fate of the 7.6 million children younger than 5 years who die each year.1


The twenty-first century has brought lots of challenges for people in all spheres, including education. In the new context, traditional approaches often seem ineffective and therefore new tools and methods have to be applied. An alternative approach that might be useful in the given context is design thinking – the approach that originated in architecture, design and art, and nowadays is applied in many fields. It is a human-centered problem-solving approach that may be used in the teaching/learning process to develop twenty-first century skills and enhance creativity and innovation. This paper introduces readers to the origin of design thinking, its attributes and processes as well as its application in pedagogy.


PURPOSE: Recent data show a decrease in hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (PUs) throughout US hospitals; these changes may be associated with increased success in implementing evidence-based practices for PU prevention. The purpose of this study was to identify wound care nurse perceptions of the primary factors that influenced the overall reduction of PUs. DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive survey. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: Surveys were sent to wound care nurses at 98 University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) hospitals. The UHC consists of more than 120 academic medical centers and affiliated facilities across the United States. Responses solicited from this survey represented a geographically diverse set of hospitals from less than 200 beds to more than 1000 beds. INSTRUMENT: The survey questionnaire used a framework of 7 internal and 5 external influential factors for implementing evidence-based practices for PU prevention. Internal influential factors queried included availability of nurse specialists, high nursing job turnover, high PU rates, and prevention campaigns. External influential factors included data sharing, Medicare nonpayment policy, and applications for Magnet recognition. METHODS: Hospital-acquired PU prevention experts at UHC hospitals were contacted through the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society membership directory to complete the questionnaire. Consenting participants were e-mailed a disclosure and online questionnaire; they were also sent monthly reminders until they either responded to the survey or declined participation. RESULTS: Fifty-five respondents (59% response rate) indicated several internal factors that influenced evidence-based practice: hospital prevention campaigns; the availability of nursing specialists; and the level of preventive knowledge among hospital staff. External influential factors included financial concerns; application for Magnet recognition; data sharing among peer institutions; and regulatory issues. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services nonpayment policy influenced a large majority of hospital's changes in practice. The availability of nursing specialists for wound consult influenced hospitals internally. These factors are informative of the impact policy has on changes in hospital prioritization of adopting evidence-based practices for PU prevention.


The Baltic Sea is considered the marine water body most severely affected by eutrophication within Europe. Due to its limited water exchange nutrients have a particularly long residence time in the sea. While several studies have analysed the costs of reducing current nutrient emissions, the costs for remediating legacy nutrient loads of past emissions remain unknown. Although the Baltic Sea is a comparatively well-monitored region, current data and knowledge is insufficient to provide a sound quantification of legacy nutrient loads and much less their abatement costs. A first rough estimation of agricultural legacy nutrient loads yields an accumulation of 0.5–4.0 Mt N and 0.3–1.2 Mt P in the Baltic Sea and 0.4–0.5 Mt P in agricultural soils within the catchment. The costs for removing or immobilising this amount of nutrients via deep water oxygenation, mussel farming and soil gypsum amendment are in the range of few tens to over 100 billion €. These preliminary results are meant as a basis for future studies and show that while requiring serious commitment to funding and implementation, remediating agricultural legacy loads is not infeasible and may even provide economic benefits to local communities in the long run.


Background: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease that is recognized as a re-emerging global public health issue, especially in tropical and subtropical countries. Malaysia, for example, has increasingly registered leptospirosis cases, outbreaks, and fatalities over the past decade. One of the major industries in the country is the palm oil sector, which employs numerous agricultural workers. These laborers are at a particularly high risk of contracting the disease. Objective: To identify the work environment-related risk factors for leptospirosis infection among oil palm plantation workers in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 350 workers was conducted. The participants were interviewed and administered a microscopic agglutination test. Seropositivity was determined using a cut-off titer of ≥1:100. Results: 100 of 350 workers tested positive for leptospiral antibodies, hence, a seroprevalence of 28.6% (95% CI 23.8% to 33.3%). The workplace environment-related risk factors significantly associated with seropositive leptospirosis were the presence of cows in plantations (adjusted OR 4.78, 95% CI 2.76 to 8.26) and the presence of a landfill in plantations (adjusted OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.40). Conclusion: Preventing leptospirosis incidence among oil palm plantation workers necessitates changes in policy on work environments. Identifying modifiable factors may also contribute to the reduction of the infection.


Jerusalem, 1920: in an already fractured city, eleven-year-old Prudence feels the tension rising as her architect father launches an ambitious – and wildly eccentric – plan to redesign the Holy City by importing English parks to the desert. Prue, known as the 'little witness', eavesdrops underneath the tables of tearooms and behind the curtains of the dance-halls of the city's elite, watching everything but rarely being watched herself. Around her, British colonials, exiled Armenians and German officials rub shoulders as they line up the pieces in a political game: a game destined to lead to disaster.

When Prue's father employs a British pilot, William Harrington, to take aerial photographs of the city, Prue is uncomfortably aware of the attraction that sparks between him and Eleanora, the English wife of a famous Jerusalem photographer. And, after Harrington learns that Eleanora's husband is a nationalist, intent on removing the British, those sparks are fanned dangerously into a flame.

Years later, in 1937, Prue is an artist living a reclusive life by the sea with her young son, when Harrington pays her a surprise visit. What he reveals unravels her world, and she must follow the threads that lead her back to secrets long-ago buried in Jerusalem. The Photographer's Wife is a powerful story of betrayal: between father and daughter, between husband and wife, and between nations and people, set in the complex period between the two world wars.


This article draws from the findings of the secondary school Digital Horizons: Laptops for Teachers research study, to discuss the impact of a policy tool intended to assist teachers use information and communication technologies (ICT) for administration, communication, collaboration, lesson planning and preparation, as well as for classroom lessons themselves.

The results from a national questionnaire, focus group and case study evaluation indicate that secondary teachers are making more use of the laptops for communication with colleagues, reporting to parents, and the development of classroom materials than for use in the classroom for teaching and learning. Teacher commentary indicates that school technological infrastructure and access to professional development both constrain and enable their use of their laptops.

Drawing on Engelbart's notion of improvement infrastructure we discuss factors that have the potential to accelerate the integration of the laptop into teachers' professional lives. Analysis suggests that these factors include school and departmental leadership as well as the nature of the professional development that teachers experience. Engelbart (1992) argued that it was the factors at this level that were most important if the benefits of policy initiatives were to be maximized for teachers, schools and governments.


The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved fingolimod usage for multiple sclerosis in 2010. Melanoma after the usage of fingolimod immunomodulation was reported rarely in clinical trials, and only two case reports exist in the published literature, both occurring in Europe. Most of the incidences reported in clinical trials were in-situ, whereas both case reports were of malignant melanoma. Fingolimod has been found to inhibit metastatic melanoma growth in a mouse model that depends on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced angiogenesis for metastasis. However, there are numerous pathways of angiogenesis and tumour growth found in vivo by which melanoma can expand that do not mandate VEGF. We report a case of superficial spreading malignant melanoma occurring after fingolimod therapy in the USA.


Background: Ireland's health system has been under significant strain due to staff shortages and inadequate capacity. Critical care bed capacity per capita in Ireland is among the lowest in Europe, thus, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put additional strain on an over-stretched system. COVID-19 Community Assessment Hubs (CAHs) were established to mitigate unnecessary admission to acute hospitals, and reduce infection spread by supporting COVID-19 positive or suspected positive patients to isolate at home, or in isolation facilities. There is some evidence that similar assessment centres may be a successful triage strategy to reduce burden on hospital and acute care. Aim : The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 Community Assessment Hubs on service delivery in two regions in Ireland during the pandemic. Methods: A mixed-methods approach will be used, incorporating co-design to engage stakeholders and ensure informed data capture and analysis. Online surveys will assess CAH patients' experiences of access to and quality of care. Clinical patient data from CAHs will be collected and analysed using multinomial logistic regression to check for association with patient demographics and COVID-19 symptoms, and CAH early warning scores and outcomes (Transfer to Emergency Department, Transfer to isolation unit, Sent home with care plan). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with: patients to elicit an in-depth understanding of experiences and acceptability of attending CAHs; and staff to understand challenges, benefits, and effectiveness of CAHs. Interview data will be analysed using thematic analysis. Discussion: This study will provide valuable insights from both patient and staff perspectives on the operation of CAHs. We will evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of CAHs and propose areas for improvement of the service. This will contribute to international literature on the use of community assessment centres during infectious disease pandemics.


In this paper, we propose a generic and efficient method for real-time specular reflections detection in images. The method relies on a new thresholding technique applied in the Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) color space. A detailed experimental study was conducted in this color space to highlight specular reflections' properties. Current state-of-the-art methods have difficulties with lighting jumps by being too specific or computationally expensive for real-time applications. Our method addresses this problem using the following three steps: an adaptation of the contrast of the image to handle lighting jumps, an automatic thresholding to isolate specular reflections and a post-processing step to further reduce the number of false detections. This method has been compared with the state-of-the-art according to our two proposed experimental protocols based on contours and gravity center and offers fast and accurate results without a priori on the image in real-time.


This thesis focuses on the design and development of algorithms and tools for interactive data visualization and digital image processing of large data sets produced in structural biology experiments.
We describe various computational and visualization algorithms, which we have developed and implemented as part of the Tonitza package for interactive visualization and analysis of structural biology data. The computational algorithms include methods for fitting of data sets using correlation and scaling, various types of interpolation, and algorithms for generating statistical information. Several two- and three-dimensional representations of the data sets are described in detail.
We present a number of image processing methods for extracting information from images, and we discuss their applications to electron microscopy. Such methods extend the scientist's ability to study images of biological structures. We describe the Crosspoint Method, a new technique we developed for automatic detection of the positions of virus particles in electron micrographs. We present the heuristics and the algorithms involved and compare the results obtained with those reported in the literature. We introduce EMMA, a new package for digital processing of micrograph images which includes the Crosspoint Method.
As part of the research presented in this thesis, we also describe several parallel algorithms and load balancing schemes for structural biology applications. They helped improve our understanding of the complexity of the problems involved and of how the data is transformed from the moment it is collected until the moment it is displayed.


INTRODUCTION: The study of carbohydrates, its metabolism and many other fields of biochemistry are often understood by students as a junction of chemical structures and reactions of difficult compression. However, Biochemistry should no longer be seen as an abstruse field, but a way to know the human body and its components, including molecular, structural and functional aspects. Therefore, some alternatives are being evaluated in order to assist and improve the dissemination of knowledge among them highlights are the educational games. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work is the production of two educational games able to include the contents of carbohydrates and its metabolism in higher education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The educational games produced were made from available materials and low cost. The games were tested in courses of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology of the Federal University of Uberlândia and the response of the students towards the activities was analyzed. The application, had the presence of trained students to instruct on the activity and correcting. DISCUSSION AND RESULTS: "What is the Carbohydrate?" and "Mastering the metabolism" are two educational games covering the content of structure and function carbohydrates and basal metabolism, respectively. "What is the Carbohydrate?" consists in unravel amid several options the carbohydrate in the hands of the others players. For this, several questions with two possible answers, "yes" or "not", are accepted each round, and if the player find difficulty in formulating questions, there are cards tips. "Mastering the metabolism" consists in a combination of cards that simulate pieces of a domino that must be mounted following the metabolic pathway of carbohydrates, and as the game progresses, the main points of regulation of the pathway will be accompanied by surprise questions. The games showed great acceptance by students. CONCLUSION: "What is the Carbohydrate?" and "Mastering the Metabolism" are productive methodological alternatives for teaching Biochemistry.


We show that every language in NP has a probabilistically checkable proof of proximity (i.e., proofs asserting that an instance is "close" to a member of the language), where the verifier's running time is polylogarithmic in the input size and the length of the probabilistically checkable proof is only polylogarithmically larger that the length of the classical proof. (Such a verifier can only query polylogarithmically many bits of the input instance and the proof. Thus it needs oracle access to the input as well as the proof, and cannot guarantee that the input is in the language - only that it is close to some string in the language.) If the verifier is restricted further in its query complexity and only allowed q queries, then the proof size blows up by a factor of 2/sup (log n)c/q/ where the constant c depends only on the language (and is independent of q). Our results thus give efficient (in the sense of running time) versions of the shortest known PCPs, due to Ben-Sasson et al. (STOC '04) and Ben-Sasson and Sudan (STOC '05), respectively. The time complexity of the verifier and the size of the proof were the original emphases in the definition of holographic proofs, due to Babai et al. (STOC '91), and our work is the first to return to these emphases since their work. Of technical interest in our proof is a new complete problem for NEXP based on constraint satisfaction problems with very low complexity constraints, and techniques to arithmetize such constraints over fields of small characteristic.


The evolution of ten growth-phase pseudobreakups and subsequent substorms, identified in Northern Hemisphere Polar UV images during winter 1998-1999, are compared to the AE index, the unified PC indices, and GOES B field data. Comparing substorm onset (auroral breakup) with GOES data and AE and PC indices, it is found that an exact onset determination from these parameters is in most cases not possible. The three weakest substorms leave no clear signatures in the auxiliary parameters. For the other events, the AE increase appears with a time delay of 5-15 min after onset. The PC indices increase, as expected, before the AE index. The time span between PC increase and onset varies widely (-26 to 5 min). A tail dipolarization is seen in GOES data with a time delay of 2-31 min after onset. The dipolarization delay at geosynchronous orbit appears because of the GOES displacement from the tail onset region. Using the mapped GOES distance from the auroral breakup region as an estimate of GOES displacement from the breakup source region, we find that the tail dipolarization region expands in average with an azimuthal speed of 0.22 MLT min(-1) and an equatorward speed of 0.09 degrees min(-1). Pseudobreakups leave hardly any signature in AE or PC index data except in the four strongest substorm cases. In these cases, a bump appears in the PC indices during the pseudobreakup. A bump in geosynchronous B field data is found only in those two cases where GOES is located very close to the pseudobreakup tail source region.


We report two patients with reflux esophagitis who had decreased lower esophageal sphincter pressures and marked decreased frequency of peristaltic response to swallowing and peristaltic amplitude on pretreatment esophageal motility tracings. Both patients responded to medical therapy of reflux esophagitis with symptomatic clinical improvement, increased lower esophageal sphincter pressures, and increased frequency of peristaltic propagation and amplitude of peristalsis. Measures to treat reflux esophagitis may be effective in some cases, in part, because they permit healing of esophageal inflammation to improve esophageal motor activity, the latter which results in improvement of esophageal acid clearing.


Closed-form determination of fault current limiter (FCL) impedance for symmetrical faults was reported previously using a mathematically rigorous method. In this paper, extensions of the method to asymmetrical faults are presented. Single line-to-ground faults and line-to-line faults are studied. As shown in this paper, although the material corresponding to asymmetric faults use the same basic concepts described before, the different nature of asymmetrical faults and application of symmetrical components theory lead to a different formulation. Also, the graphical representation of asymmetrical faults is as contour plots instead of the circle diagrams for three-phase faults. A three-bus and the IEEE 39-bus systems are used to illustrate the virtues of the method for the proper selection of FCLs impedance. Results demonstrate that the FCL designed, as shown in this paper, works properly for asymmetrical faults. The new formulation and graphical representation for asymmetrical faults are compatible with traditional power system short-circuit analysis software. An example with both symmetrical and asymmetrical faults is presented to illustrate how a full FCL impedance design can be achieved with the method.


In a wastewater resulted from the dyes finishing industry there are amounts of dyes (very common Methyl Orange) and heavy metals resulted mainly from the organo-metallic dyes. Heavy metals (Cd2+ and Cu2+) advanced removal is usually proposed via adsorption and the use of modified fly ash as adsorbent represents a sustainable solution. The paper presents the results obtained in investigating the effect of methyl orange adsorbed onto the fly ash with modified surface, on the removal efficiency of cadmium and copper ionic species, considering the final application: a single step treatment process applied for wastewaters containing both heavy metals and dyes. The adsorption mechanisms are discussed based on the kinetic results and on the Langmuir model.


The National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program has conducted studies to determine the spatial extent and severity of chemical contamination and associated adverse biological effects in coastal bays and estuaries of the United States since 1991. Sediment contamination in U.S. coastal areas is a major environmental issue because of its potential toxic effects on biological resources and often, indirectly, on human health. Thus, characterizing and delineating areas of sediment contamination and toxicity and demonstrating their effect(s) on benthic living resources are therefore important goals of coastal resource management at NOAA.

The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), University of California Moss Landing Marine Lab (MLML), and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), conducted ecosystem monitoring and characterization studies within and between marine sanctuaries along the California coast in 2002 and 2004 on the NOAA RV McArthur. One of the objectives was to perform a systematic assessment of the chemical and physical habitats and associated biological communities in soft bottom habitats on the continental shelf and slope in the central California region. This report addresses the magnitude and extent of chemical contamination, and contaminant transport patterns in the region. Ongoing studies of the benthic community are in progress and will be reported in an integrated assessment of habitat quality and the parameters that govern natural resource distributions on the continental margin and in canyons in the region.


ABSTRACT A new system for the detection of triazine herbicide was prepared using the molecular imprinting approach. This method is based on the competition between fluorescent-labeled and the unlabeled substance-analyte for the specific binding sites, that were produced in polymer by the imprinting of the template. Polymer synthesis consists of radical polymerization of functional monomer (diethylaminoethyl methacrylate or methacrylic acid) and cross – linker (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) in the presence of triazine as a template. After grinding of the polymer block and splitting off the template molecules a suspension of the polymer was used for the herbicide-specific sensor system. Selective detection of triazine in the concentration range of 0.01-100 mM was achieved within 4 hours. This method seems to be applicable for the development of optical sensors, combining the high sensitivity and selectivity characteristic for biological receptors and the high stability of the synthetic molecularly imprint...


RF GaN power technologies are emerging for future equipment in the defence, space and telecommunications domains. Indeed the unique properties of GaN Field Effect Transistors in terms of breakdown voltage associated to high cut-off frequencies make possible a breakthrough for the development of new Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA) for Radars and Telecommunications applications. In both domains those SSPA are fed by modulated signals such as versatile pulses in the case of Radars or highly modulated signals in the case of telecommunications applications. Therefore it is essential to assess the dynamical behavior of those RF devices fed by large modulated signals. Contrary to CW conditions, the dynamics of parasitic created by trapping and thermal effects can no longer be ignored. In order to get insights into the impact of those effects on large signal characteristics, several characterization techniques are required. Classical DC/pulsed IV characteristics, S-parameters or CW load pull measurement don't provide enough information to characterize the large signal dynamics of the devices. Therefore one has to rely on Low Frequency characterization as well as on Load-Pull measurement with modulated signals. In this presentation several techniques will be reviewed which allow to extract and verify the non linear models of GaN HEMTs in real working conditions. Several characteristics must be obtained concerning the thermal behavior or the trapping behavior of the device. Those characteristics are the inputs of a nonlinear model which is able to reproduce the dynamics of the device. Different experimental test benches will be described: . Ultra wide band (10Hz-40GHz) S-parameters measurement set-up: this set-up allows to obtain the S-parameters of the transistor not only in the high frequency range to extract the RF equivalent circuit, but also in the very low frequency range to characterize the dispersion phenomenon due to the traps. [1,2] . A dedicated test bench to directly measure the thermal impedance of the device. This bench relies on the 3 ω method which takes advantage of the generation of harmonics due to the self heating of the device to obtain the thermal impedance. [3]. A time domain load pull system which allows to perform load pull measurement with pulsed signals and multitone telecommunications signals. [4-8]. This test set-up allows to assess large signal dynamics of GaN HEMTs as well as to identify traps characteristics [9]. All these measurement systems, associated to classical ones (Pulsed IV, S-parameters, CW load pull) allow a complete characterization of the small signal and large signal characteristics. From those characteristics, the extraction of an electrothermal nonlinear model will be described. This model takes into account the nonlinear dynamics of the traps and it will be shown that it is able to reproduce measured characteristics both in the CW mode and in the pulsed mode [10-12]. Some conclusions will be drawn to address the challenge of characterization and modeling of GaN HEMTs for the design of RF power amplifiers.


A procedure has been developed by the U.S. Navy to trim-balance, in-place, the gas generator and power turbine rotor of the LM2500 Marine Gas Turbine Engine. This paper presents the theoretical background and the techniques necessary to optimize the procedure to balance the gas generator rotor. Additionally, a method was developed to trim balance LM2500 power turbines. To expand the implementation of both gas generator and power turbine trim-balancing, a capability has to be developed to minimize the effort required (trial weight runs, etc.). The objective was to be able to perform consistently what are called "First-Shot" trim balances. First-Shot trim balances require only one weight placement to bring the engine vibration levels to within the specified goals (less than 0.002 of an in. maximum amplitude) and that being the final trim weight. It was realized that the Least-Squares Influence-Coefficient Method, even with a good set of averaged influence coefficients, can lead to a number of trial weight experiments before the final trim weights can be placed. The method used to maximize the possibility of obtaining a First-Shot trim balance was to use modal information to tailor the influence coefficient sets to correct the most predominant and correctable imbalance problem. Since the influence coefficients were tailored, it became necessary to be able to identify, in the initial vibration survey, the type of response a particular LM2500 has. Using modal information obtained from a LM2500 rotor dynamics model and from the early trim-balance efforts, it was possible to identify the modal response of a given LM2500 and optimize the trim balance of that engine. With these improved techniques a 70 percent success rate for First-Shot trim balance has been achieved and the success rate of the trim balance procedure, as a whole, has been near 100 percent.


[abridged] The detection of gravitational waves from extreme-mass-ratio (EMRI) binaries, comprising a stellar-mass compact object orbiting around a massive black hole, is one of the main targets for low-frequency gravitational-wave detectors in space, like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA or eLISA/NGO). The long-duration gravitational-waveforms emitted by such systems encode the structure of the strong field region of the massive black hole, in which the inspiral occurs. The detection and analysis of EMRIs will therefore allow us to study the geometry of massive black holes and determine whether their nature is as predicted by General Relativity and even to test whether General Relativity is the correct theory to describe the dynamics of these systems. To achieve this, EMRI modeling in alternative theories of gravity is required to describe the generation of gravitational waves. In this paper, we explore to what extent EMRI observations with LISA or eLISA/NGO might be able to distinguish between General Relativity and a particular modification of it, known as Dynamical Chern-Simons Modified Gravity. Our analysis is based on a parameter estimation study that uses approximate gravitational waveforms obtained via a radiative-adiabatic method and is restricted to a five-dimensional subspace of the EMRI configuration space. This includes a Chern-Simons parameter that controls the strength of gravitational deviations from General Relativity. We find that, if Dynamical Chern-Simons Modified Gravity is the correct theory, an observatory like LISA or even eLISA/NGO should be able to measure the Chern-Simons parameter with fractional errors below 5%. If General Relativity is the true theory, these observatories should put bounds on this parameter at the level xi^(1/4) < 10^4 km, which is four orders of magnitude better than current Solar System bounds.


In this study, the formation processes of molybdenum dithiocarbamate (MoDTC) and zinc diallyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) tribofilms were investigated using an in situ Raman-space layer imaging method (SLIM) tribometer under boundary lubrication. According to the results, the ratio of the PO x and P-O-P bonds in the tribofilms was almost the same as the film thickness behavior calculated from the SLIM images. Hence, the the time-dependence chemical composition change of the tribofilms of phosphate related bonds in the tribofilms is considered a factor in the growth of ZDDP tribofilms. Moreover, the presence of MoDTC in the ZDDP solution contributed to the formation of phosphate compounds with a relatively high ratio of P-O-P links, such as ultra-phosphate glasses. This mechanism is attributable to the friction-reduction effects of MoS 2 on the tribofilm, which can contribute to maintaining a suitable condition for the formation of relatively high P-O-P-link-ratio tribofilms.


Hydro turbines used in hydroelectric power plants need to be designed and tested according to the specifications of the specific power plant, mainly the head and flow rate. Their models also need to be tested according to the standards provided by International Electrical Commission (IEC) before manufacturing the actual turbines. A Hydro turbine test rig at TOBB University of Economics and Technology is currently under construction to provide standardized tests for model turbines. A typical calibration system for a flow meter has four components; nozzle, flow diverter mechanism, weighing tank and load cells. The nozzle provides the regulation of water speed and supplies water to flow as a thin-sectioned profile. The flow diverter mechanism diverts the flow either to the weighing tank or to the reservoir. The flow rate is calculated from the collected mass and total time for the process. Calculated flow rate value is compared with the digitally measured values during the experiments, since the IEC standards require a real-time calibration for the flow rate. In this study, the flow diverter mechanism and the nozzle for this test rig is designed in order to meet several internationally acceptable standards.© 2014 ASME


Physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity are growing national concerns owing to their associations with chronic diseases and overall well-being. Parks and recreation providers play a pivotal role in addressing these public health issues by providing the public with infrastructure that enables outdoor physical activity. Information about the health-related benefits of outdoor recreation can aid parks and recreation managers and policymakers in describing the benefits associated with recreation infrastructure and in their decision making regarding investments of scarce financial resources to provide high-quality recreation opportunities. Our analysis of county-level data for Oregon shows a measurable relationship between adult physical activity, overweight, obesity, and recreation supply and demand. The proportions of adults that are physically active are positively associated with the proportion of overweight adults, recreational trail densities, and the frequency of participation in recreational activities. The proportions of adults that are overweight are positively associated with the proportion of physically active adults, but negatively associated with hiking trail densities and frequency of participation in recreational activities. The proportions of adults that are obese, however, are negatively associated with frequency of participation in non-motorized trail-related recreational activities. The results of this macro-level model are consistent with information provided by micro-level analyses described in previous literature, in particular that the supply of and demand for recreation activities are associated with physically active people. In turn, counties comprising more active residents are associated with healthier counties as measured by the proportion of adults considered to be overweight. These macro-level relationships can be used by parks and recreation providers to indicate "at-risk" communities—those with low recreation supply and demand, and high proportions of overweight and obese people—and we provide an example using Oregon counties. Several policy recommendations emerge for parks and recreation providers based on our model results combined with evidence from the reviewed literature. First, parks and recreation providers should support the development of local recreation facilities, including nonmotorized trails, and promote their use by providing information about them and other existing resources. Second, providers should promote the overall health benefits of being physically active via outdoor recreation. Third, providers should identify at-risk communities and allocate resources to these communities in developing and promoting recreation opportunities. We illustrate each of these recommendations with examples of how they are being addressed in Oregon.?


Self-assembled GaN quantum dots (QDs), grown on AlN by molecular beam epitaxy, were investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. We investigate the emission mechanism in GaN QDs by comparing the carrier recombination dynamics in single and multiple period QDs. At 100 K, the PL decay time in single period QD structures is considerably shorter than in stacked QDs. Compared to single period QDs, the room temperature PL efficiency is considerably enhanced in 20 period QDs due to the reduction in nonradiative recombination processes.


In this paper business cycle turning points in Croatia are determined from early 1998 to the end of 2010. For the purpose of distinguishing the periods of recession from the periods of expansion in the Croatian economy three methods are used: simple analysis of quarterly GDP growth rates, the non-parametric Bry-Boschan algorithm and parametric Markov regime switching model. The results of the BryBoschan algorithm and the estimated Markov regime switching model clearly indicate that since 1998 the Croatian economy has undergone two recessions. The first recession ended in mid-1999. The second recession began in the third quarter of 2008 and has not yet ended, according to the data available for the end of 2010. In view of the short period of positive business activity growth in 2010, within the period of negative growth rates lasting from mid-2008, the simplest analysis of the quarterly growth rates on the basis of the "two consecutive negative (positive) GDP growth rates" cannot explain clearly the state of the business cycle in 2010. In the period between the two recessions, a long period of expansion in economic activity of almost nine years was recorded. The conclusions on the turning points separating the recession from the expansion periods are robust to the use of different methods of their determination. All the methods include quarterly GDP growth rate as a relevant measure of movements in the Croatian economy. However, the results of the estimated factor model, i.e. the estimated common component of the set of variables related to GDP, show that the determined turning points are not sensitive to the selection of the variable measuring economic activity.


The Dutch railway network experiences about three large disruptions per day on average. In this paper, we present an algorithm to reschedule the crews when such a disruption occurs. The algorithm is based on column generation techniques combined with Lagrangian heuristics. Since the number of duties is very large in practical instances, we first define a core problem of tractable size. If some tasks remain uncovered in the solution of the core problem, we perform a neighborhood exploration to improve the solution. Computational experiments with real-life instances show that our method is capable of producing good solutions within a couple of minutes of Computation time.


This chapter explores the themes of autonomy, space and place within linguistically super-diverse urban contexts. It argues that linguistic diversity is often perceived as a problem, particularly when the languages involved are those of minority ethnic communities, and that this can lead to exclusion of those languages not only from formal educational spaces but also from other public spaces. This invisibility means that negative dispositions towards multilingualism are perpetuated across the population and a 'monolingual habitus' is sustained. The authors reject this and argue that the multilingual city can nurture a plurilingual habitus.

Drawing on theories of autonomy, space and place from various disciplines and as they relate to contexts of resistance, the chapter highlights ways in which language communities are autonomously ensuring that their languages continue to be learnt and used within formal and informal urban spaces. This focus on autonomy as a political, collectivist construct is exemplified in reference to both community-led complementary schools and a multilingual festival organised by an autonomous network of organisations. The limitations of these activities, however, lead us to propose further participatory research with communities to enable them to reach beyond the locality, both to influence policy and to challenge the monolingual habitus.


Brand partnerships are increasingly common as the cost of developing new products and brands is expensive in terms of both monetary outcomes and potential negative spillover effects to existing brand and products in a firm's portfolio. This dissertation explores how the risk associated with such brand partnerships can be reduced. In the following three essays brand partnerships in the form of brand acquisitions and co-brand arrangements are explored. Essay 1 focuses on brands joining together through brand acquisitions and the impact on firm value in terms of cumulative abnormal stock returns is used as the outcome variable of interest. In both Essay 2 and 3 co-brand arrangements are explored and the impact on consumer recall and evaluation is the outcome of interest. In all cases, managerial insights are provided to help improve the decision making process of forming such a partnership.


This book examines the part played by monks of Mount Athos in the diffusion of Orthodox monasticism throughout Eastern Europe and beyond. It focuses on the lives of outstanding holy men in the history of Orthodoxy who have been drawn to the Mountain, have absorbed the spirit of its wisdom and its prayer, and have returned to the outside world, inspired to spread the results of their labours and learning. In a remarkable demonstration of what may be termed 'soft power' in action, these men have carried the image of Athos to all corners of the Balkan peninsula, to Ukraine, to the very far north of Russia, across Siberia and the Bering Strait into North America, and most recently (when traditional routes were closed to them by the curtain of communism) to the West. Their dynamic witness is the greatest gift of Athos to a world thirsting for spiritual guidance.


Three new species of pygmy seahorse are described from Indonesia: Hippocampus pontohi and H. severnsi from Bunaken Island, off Sulawesi, and H. satomiae from Derawan Island, off Kalimantan. They are considered to be closely related to each other and to Hippocampus colemani. All three species are morphologically distinguished from the larger species of seahorses by the following combination of characters: 12 trunk rings, low number of tail rings (26–29), the placement of brooded young within the trunk region of males, and extremely small size ( bargibanti, H. denise, H. colemani and H. minotaur) based on meristics, proportions, colour and body ornamentation. All three new species have a single gill opening as does H. colemani. Hippocampus pontohi and H. severnsi also share distinctive fleshy appendages with H. colemani but can be separated from the latter based on their body shape, raised angular coronet, larger orbit diameter, narrower trunk, fewer tail rings, smaller overall size and in the case of H. severnsi also colour. Diagnostic features of H. satomiae include 9 pectoral fin rays, 13 dorsal fin rays, spinous exterior, and distinct raised coronet with laterally expanded anterior and posterior flanges.


The effects of a single injection of morphine (20 mg/kg) on serum testosterone levels were examined in the male rat. Within 2 hours after the morphine injection, testosterone levels were significantly lower than control levels. The decline in testosterone levels reached a maximum 4 hours after the administration of morphine, at which time testosterone levels were reduced by more than 85% with respect to controls. The ability of a large number of narcotics to depress serum testosterone levels, 4 hours after their administration, was also examined. All narcotics depressed testosterone levels significantly and their potency relative to morphine was comparable to that observed in several other preparations, such as the guinea-pig ileum and mouse vas deferens. The testosterone-depleting effects of the narcotics appear to represent specific narcotic effects since the (-)-isomers of the narcotics were considerably more potent than the (+)-isomers, naloxone competitively inhibited the effects of morphine on testosterone levels and tolerance developed to the testosterone-depleting effects of these drugs. Acute treatment with morphine also lowered serum luteinizing hormone levels, and this reduction preceded the fall in testosterone levels by 1 to 2 hours.


We provide several new results related to the concept of min-wise independence. Our main result is that any randomized sampling scheme for the relative intersection of sets based on testing equality of samples yields an equivalent min-wise independent family. Thus, in a certain sense, min-wise independent families are complete for this type of estimation. We also discuss the notion of robustness, a concept extending min-wise independence to allow more efficient use of it in practice. A surprising result arising from our consideration of robustness is that under a random permutation from a min-wise independent family, any element of a fixed set has an equal chance to get any rank in the image of the set, not only the minimum as required by definition.


ABSTRACT The skin microbiome is a complex ecosystem with important implications for cutaneous health and disease. Topical antibiotics and antiseptics are often employed to preserve the balance of this population and inhibit colonization by more pathogenic bacteria. However, despite their widespread use, the impact of these interventions on broader microbial communities remains poorly understood. Here, we report the longitudinal effects of topical antibiotics and antiseptics on skin bacterial communities and their role in Staphylococcus aureus colonization resistance. In response to antibiotics, cutaneous populations exhibited an immediate shift in bacterial residents, an effect that persisted for multiple days posttreatment. By contrast, antiseptics elicited only minor changes to skin bacterial populations, with few changes to the underlying microbiota. While variable in scope, both antibiotics and antiseptics were found to decrease colonization by commensal Staphylococcus spp. by sequencing- and culture-based methods, an effect which was highly dependent on baseline levels of Staphylococcus. Because Staphylococcus residents have been shown to compete with the skin pathogen S. aureus, we also tested whether treatment could influence S. aureus levels at the skin surface. We found that treated mice were more susceptible to exogenous association with S. aureus and that precolonization with the same Staphylococcus residents that were previously disrupted by treatment reduced S. aureus levels by over 100-fold. In all, the results of this study indicate that antimicrobial drugs can alter skin bacterial residents and that these alterations can have critical implications for cutaneous host defense.


This paper introduces a new video understanding dataset which can be utilised for the related problems of event recognition, localisation and description in video. Our dataset consists of dense, well structured event annotations in untrimmed video of tennis matches. We also include highly detailed commentary style descriptions, which are heavily dependent on both the occurrence as well as the sequence of particular events. We use general deep learning techniques to acquire some initial baseline results on our dataset, without the need for explicit domain-specific assumptions.


Owing to the spiral bevel gear has a complex geometrical shape, a great number of parameters and a complicated calculation process, a computer-aided design system of the Gleason spiral bevel gear has been developed based on VBA, so as to rapidly make geometry calculation, strength calculation, 2D and 3D parameterization drawing, machining parameters calculation, and so on. Thus it can greatly improve the speed and accuracy of design. In this paper, the overall structure and main functions of the system have been discussed. By taking two meshing gears used on MU trains as a design example, some computing process and results are given out.


Standing stop orders, or "stop-losses," automatically sell out of equity positions to prevent capital losses from exceeding a predetermined threshold. This practice is commonly believed to not only limit downside, but also contribute to long-term portfolio growth. We test this theory by applying stop-losses to the MaxMeasures portfolio selection strategy, and to a bootstrapped backtest of arbitrary strategies on the S&P500 between 1969 and 2012. We find these simplistic stop-losses to be ineffective and generally detrimental to long-term performance.


The reforms instituted by the Broadcasting Act 1990 led to a period of turbulence and upheaval within British broadcasting with results that were at best unintended and, at worst, seriously undermined the ideal of public service broadcasting. A Hayekian economic perspective would suggest that the reforms failed because they did not go far enough in the direction of full 'marketisation'. The paper develops an alternative perspective, based on an adaptation of systems theory within the context of law and economics. This approach offers a broader methodological foundation for the understanding of 'economic law' and a different normative perspective on the broadcasting reforms. It is suggested that the difficulty with these reforms was not their failure to go further in the direction of the market, but rather their lack of clarity in articulating a clear alternative to the market as the basis for the organisation of television production.


We are working on representing discourse in a system that we want to support mixed initiative interaction. The basis for this discussion is the authors' work on a system for helping students understand the reasoning behind decision-support systems that use statistical information. The project involves taking an existing system, Banter (Haddawy, Jacobson, & Jr. 1996), in which control of the interaction rests primarily with the system, and redesigning it as a mixed initiative, cooperative agent, a system we call B2. Tutoring systems are a natural testbed for studies of mixed initiative because, at a minimum, the overarching discourse goal is clear: one participant is supposed to come to "know" what the other participant "knows" as a result of the interaction. Both participants are capable of taking control of the interaction to achieve this end.


Geoffrey Benjamin received his PhD (Social Anthropology) from the University of Cambridge. His academic employments have been at the University of Singapore (1967-76), the Australian National University (Canberra, 1976-81) and the National University of Singapore (1981-2000). Since 1999 Geoffrey Benjamin is Associate Professor in the Division of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He has also held visiting appointments at (among others) the CNRS (Paris, 1985) and the IIAS (Leiden, 1997). Geoffrey Benjamin has conducted research on various Orang Asli groups, Malay, Singaporean and Indonesian society, as well as on Mon-Khmer and Austronesian linguistics. In 2002 he co-edited with Cynthia Chou a collection of papers named "Tribal Communities in the Malay World".


The objective of the study was to find the amount of nickel leached or extracted from a low-grade lateritic ore by H2SO4 leaching. In this study, the recovery of nickel and the dissolution of iron were attempted using response surface methodology, namely, central composite design, to find the optimum conditions of leaching for nickel lateritic ore. In the leaching experiments, effects on amount of iron in solution, as well as nickel recovery of various parameters such as concentration of H2SO4, leaching temperature and initial liquid to solid ratio on nickel recovery were examined. The significance of each factor and their interactive effects on measured responses were evaluated using statistically-designed experiments. Two second-order polynomial models of high significance were used to describe the relationships between the responses and factors. The estimated results from the equations showed good agreement with the experimental results. Determination coefficients (adj-R2) of nickel and iron were 99.66% and 99.92%, respectively. Nickel and iron contents (%) of the leached solutions were analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The analysis of nickel in the leached solutions was carried out with calibration curves and standard addition techniques. Two analytical techniques were compared statistically by the "t-test". In addition, to determine whether the effect of aliquot volume taken from the leached solution and the added standard amount from the measurement results, the effect of dilution on the precision of the calibration curve and the accuracy of the standard addition technique were investigated. These techniques were first applied to real samples using the RSM approach and received good results and were validated. The kinetic models of leaching were evaluated based on the "Shrinking core model" at different temperatures and particle sizes. The dissolution kinetics of nickel and iron were determined as "diffusion controlled".


OBJECTIVE— To determine the proportion of patients with suspected proliferative diabetic retinopathy who did not receive the recommended follow-up ophthalmological evaluation and care, and to examine associations between various patient characteristics and the failure to obtain care. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— The study cohort included all Navajo Indians identified by a retrospective review of records who had proliferative diabetic retinopathy diagnosed at an Indian Health Service Optometry Clinic between 1 October 1985 and 30 September 1988. Follow-up data were obtained by medical record reviews and by interviews with subjects. RESULTS— Of 69 patients identified, 57 of 61 living patients were interviewed. Twenty-three (40.4%) had failed to obtain recommended follow-up. The RR for incomplete treatment among those without a vehicle in the household compared with those with a vehicle was 1.91 (95% CI 1.32–2.76). Other factors associated with incomplete treatment were female sex and marital status other than currently married. Twelve (21%) patients answered "no" to the question, "Have you been told that diabetes was affecting your eyes?" Eight of 38 (21%) who confirmed that they had been told that diabetes was affecting their eyes responded "no" to the question, "Do you think that diabetes is affecting your eyes?" However, the answers to these questions did not distinguish between patients who obtained or did not obtain recommended care. CONCLUSIONS— Interventions to increase the proportion of Navajo Indians with diabetic retinopathy who receive appropriate ophthalmologic care must address the issue of transportation.


Thermophilic sporeforming bacteria are found ubiquitously in natural environments and therefore are present in a number of agricultural food products. Spores produced by these bacteria can survive harsh environmental conditions encountered during food processing and have been implicated in food spoilage. During research efforts to develop a standardized method for enumerating spores in dairy powders, the dairy powder associated thermophilic sporeformer Anoxybacillus flavithermus was discovered growing in un-inoculated control plates of Tryptic Soy agar (TSA) supplemented with 1% w/v starch, after incubation at thermophilic (55°C) growth temperatures. This paper reports the investigation into the source of this thermophilic sporeformer in TSA medium components and characterization of the bacterial isolates collected. Aqueous solutions of Tryptic Soy broth (TSB) powder from four suppliers and four agar-agar powders (two manufacturing lots from one supplier; Agar A_1 and Agar A_2, and two from separate suppliers; Agar B and Agar C) were subjected to two different autoclave cycle times (121°C for 15 min or 121°C for 30 min) and then prepared as TSA. After incubation at 55°C for 48h, bacterial growth was only observed in media prepared from both lots of Agar A agar-agar powder, and only when they were subjected to a 15 min autoclave cycle, implicating these powders as a source of the sporeformer contamination. Genetic characterization of 49 isolates obtained indicated the presence of five unique rpoB allelic types (ATs) of the thermophilic sporeformer, Geobacillus spp . in agar-agar powder from Agar A. These results not only highlight the importance of microbiological controls, but also alert researchers to the potential for survival of thermophilic sporeformers such as Anoxybacillus and Geobacillus in microbiological media used for detection and enumeration of these same thermophilic sporeformers in products like dairy powders.


Tropical cyclones are one of the most destructive natural disasters occurring frequently in coastal India. The socio economic impacts of these tropical cyclones are high as they result in enormous loss of life and property every year. In the present study, pre event visible-near IR images and post event Radarsat images were procured and used to identify completely submerged landcovers temporally. The methodology is developed considering a case study on the Kendrapara district of Orissa state, which was hit by a cyclone on 29-30 th October 1999. The pre event IRS 1D LISS III (resolution = 22m) image of Kendrapara district was procured geometrically corrected and classified into several landuse and landcover classes. For landuse/landcover classification, supervised classification technique was used. This georeferenced landuse/landcover map provided the baseline information for the district. Next step involved procurement of immediate temporal post-event SAR images of the cyclone-affected district. These images were geometrically corrected and cleaned for speckle noise. Deterministic approach was used to set up threshold for classifying pixel as completely submerged under water or non submerged for Radarsat SAR images i.e. Radarsat SAR images exactly delineated areas completely submerged under water due to cyclonic floods. This type of analysis will help policy makers in determining the extent of submergence and damage. This methodology would be used as a rapid tool to assess damage. Further, this will help in expediting the release of relief funds as well as aid proper allocation of funds to the affected areas/people.


A model for predicting the timing of neurogenesis in mammals (Finlay and Darlington [1995] Science 268:1578–1584) is here extended to an additional five metatherian species and to a variety of other events in neural development. The timing of both the outgrowth of axonal processes and the establishment and segregation of connections proves to be as highly predictable as neurogenesis. Expressed on a logarithmic scale, late developmental events are as predictable as early ones. The fundamental order of events is the same in eutherian and metatherian animals, but there is a curvilinear relation between the event scales of the two; for metatherians, later events are slowed relative to earlier events. Furthermore, in metatherians, the timing of developmental events is more variable than in eutherians. The slowing of late developmental events in metatherians is associated with their considerably longer time to weaning compared with eutherians. J. Comp. Neurol. 411:359–368, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this rejoinder, we respond to the following claims regarding our integrated theory of domestic labor found in the commentaries by Julia T. Wood and Robin Patric Clair (2011, this issue): that we are establishing a ruler for the division of domestic; that our theory is biased toward the over-performer's rule or standard; that disagreements over domestic labor are primarily narrative constructions; and that our theory suggests a less than sanguine view of the potential for change in how men and women are socialized regarding the performance of domestic labor. In so doing, we argue that what Julia T. Wood describes as a "ruler" is not ours to create but rather is specific to each dyad and typically established by the partner with the lowest threshold level, be it a woman or a man. We also maintain that while a narrative approach provides a way to understand couples' interpretations of their experience, we believe a distinct value of our integrative theory is in helping to explain behavior and offer redress where such is needed. Finally, we argue that although our perspective regarding change may seem less than sanguine, that simply waiting for change to occur is of little benefit to those individuals and marriages/relationships suffering from lack of change in the here and now.


Dinah Norman a-Marrngawi explained that her Country cannot hear English, it can only hear Yanyuwa. We support Dinah's position – because the English language underpins the Australian colonial project, and has been used to separate, ignore and take from Country, her peoples and their knowledges. Country responds to people, however, for example when there is empathic, creative communication and engagement with landscapes, and when liyan and wirrin is the basis for human and ecological wellbeing. We propose a practice for people new to this participation; of 'becoming family with place'. It integrates four ways of knowing, to celebrate an ontopoetic for Country that is experiential, creative, propositional and participative – a post-conceptual knowing for human flourishing. It is for coming home to Country, and is for learning and educational purposes.PAN: Philosophy Activism Nature no., 14, pp. 6-15


The small number of plants hitherto discovered in the Chalk formation of England renders any addition to the Cretaceous flora important; I am therefore induced to lay before the Society descriptions and figures of three fruits from the Chalk and Lower greensand of Kent and Sussex, that an authentic record may be preserved of these unique and interesting relics. 1. Zamia Sussexiensis, Mantell. Plate II. fig. 1. from the lower greensand at Selmeston, Sussex. More than twenty years since I discovered a deposit of calcareous wood in the strata of greensand near Willingdon, a village about three miles to the north-west of Easrbourn, in the country of Sussex : a similar accumulation of fossil wood occurs in a sand-bank in the adjacent parish of Selmeston, at the junction of the lower green-sand with the gault, and is described in my 'Fossils of the South Downs' (p.76). The specimens collected from these localities consist of waterworn fragments of stems and braches, which are generally more or less perforated by boring mollusca. The structure of the wood is decidely coniferous : transverse sections present concentric circles and medullary rays, and a reticulated surface composed of distinct cellules, varying in form from the circular to the elliptical. In a longitudinal division the tubes or woody fibres are seen to be uniform, and to have their walls studded with nearly circular dises or areolé disposed in double rows, the discs being irregularly alternate, as in the recent Araucaria. In a few examples spiral vessels


Modern healthcare engineering requires a wound dressing solution supported by materials with outstanding features such as high biological compatibility, strong mechanical strength, and higher transparency with effective antibacterial properties. Here, we present a unique hydrogel technology consisting of two negatively charged biopolymers and a positively charged synthetic polymer. The interaction between charged polymers through hydrogen bonds has been created, which are revealed in the simulation by density functional theory and Fourier transform infrared spectra of individual polymers and the hydrogel film. The transparent hydrogel film dressings showed excellent stretchability, a higher water swelling ratio (60%), and strong mechanical strength (∼100 MPa) with self-healing abilities (85-90%). The fabricated hydrogel film showed stable blood clots (within 119 ± 15 s) with rapid hemostasis (<2%) properties and effective antibacterial studies against E. coli and S. aureus bacterial strains. In addition, the obtained hydrogel film also showed excellent cell viability on mouse fibroblast cells. With their enormous amenability to modification, these hydrogel films may serve as promising biomaterials for wound dressing applications.


Models that top leaderboards often perform unsatisfactorily when deployed in real world applications; this has necessitated rigorous and expensive pre-deployment model testing. A hitherto unexplored facet of model performance is: Are our leaderboards doing equitable evaluation? In this paper, we introduce a task-agnostic method to probe leaderboards by weighting samples based on their 'difficulty' level. We find that leaderboards can be adversarially attacked and top performing models may not always be the best models. We subsequently propose alternate evaluation metrics. Our experiments on 10 models show changes in model ranking and an overall reduction in previously reported performance- thus rectifying the overestimation of AI systems' capabilities. Inspired by behavioral testing principles, we further develop a prototype of a visual analytics tool that enables leaderboard revamping through customization, based on an end user's focus area. This helps users analyze models' strengths and weaknesses, and guides them in the selection of a model best suited for their application scenario. In a user study, members of various commercial product development teams, covering 5 focus areas, find that our prototype reduces pre-deployment development and testing effort by 41% on average.


In 1978, when Bill Weber and Amy Vedder arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, the gorilla population was teetering toward extinction. Poaching was rampant, but it was loss of habitat that most endangered the gorillas. When yet another slice of the Parc des Volcans in the Virunga Mountains was targeted for development, Weber and Vedder recognized that the gorillas were doomed unless something was done to save their land. Over Fossey's objections, they helped found the Mountain Gorilla Project. The MGP was designed to educate Rwandans about the gorillas and about the importance of conservation, while at the same time establishing an ecotourism project -- one of the first anywhere in a rainforest -- to bring desperately needed revenue to Rwanda. Weber and Vedder realized that Rwandans were bearing the full cost of saving the gorillas while receiving none of the benefit; the MGP would change that formula and help to meet local people's needs."In the Kingdom of Gorillas" introduces readers to the world of mountain gorillas. Through the authors we come to know entire families of gorillas, from powerful silverback patriarchs, who fiercely protect their territory and their families, to helpless newborn infants, cradled in their mother's embrace. Weber and Vedder take us with them as they slog through the rain-soaked moun- tain forests, observing the gorillas at rest and at play, eating, grooming, and preparing their nightly nests. They tell us about the gorillas they recognized and came to know as individuals, stories both tragic and joyful. They describe a landscape that was heaven one day, green hell the next. And they tell of their discovery of the terrible andmysterious events surrounding Fossey's murder. When the authors first arrived in Rwanda, European expatriates called it "the Switzerland of Africa," a name that referred not only to its high mountains and rugged beauty but also to Rwanda's relative political and economic stability. Most outsiders knew the country only for its endangered gorillas, but Rwanda was a nation in danger, too. In the 1980s Weber and Vedder expanded their conservation work in Rwanda to include other forest reserves, learning more about the country, its people, and its increasingly turbulent politics. When a simmering civil war exploded into genocide in 1994, Weber and Vedder were in the U.S., unable to contact their many friends and colleagues trapped in the horrendous bloodbath. Later they would hear tales of brutality but also of heroism, including stories of park workers who hid their countrymen to protect them from slaughter. Others continued to work in the face of danger and without pay for nearly a year. Ironically, throughout the genocide and the subsequent conflict, the Virunga homeland of the gorillas was scarcely touched.Today the population of mountain gorillas is the highest it has been since the 1960s, and there is new hope for the species' fragile future even as the people of Rwanda strive to overcome their ethnic differences. Rich with details about the gorillas' lives, the realities of conservation, and portraits of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times, this is a riveting adventure story that is sure to take its place among the classic accounts of the world of nature.


The encephalopathy of Reye's syndrome is frequently complicated by increased intracranial pressure (ICP) which may lead to death or severe neurologic sequelae. An understanding of the pathophysiology of increased ICP is necessary to prevent further increases in pressure and to reduce pressure while maintaining adequate cerebral perfusion. Four of seven children with Reye's syndrome and increased ICP survived after reduction of increased ICP by controlled hyper ventilation and osmotherapy while being monitored with the Richmond intracranial bolt. Careful anesthetic and critical-care management, appropriate, reliable monitoring, and pentobarbital therapy may constitute the most successful therapy to date for patients with Reye's syndrome and increased ICP.


The effects of corporate governance on optimal capital structure choices have been well documented, though without offering empirical evidence about the impact of corporate governance quality on the adjustment speed toward an optimal capital structure. This study simultaneously considers two effects of debt originating from agency theory—the takeover defense and the disciplinary effects of debt—on the speed of adjustment to the optimal capital structure. Corporate governance has a distinct effect on the speed of capital structure adjustment: weak governance firms that are underlevered tend to adjust slowly to the optimal capital structure, because the costs of the disciplinary role of debt outweigh the benefits of using debt as a takeover defense tool. Although overlevered weak governance firms also adjust slowly, they do so because they are reluctant to decrease their leverage toward the target level to deter potential raiders, especially if they face a serious takeover threat. Therefore, this study finds that both overlevered and underlevered firms with weak governance adjust slowly toward their target debt levels, though with different motivations.


Forty-three species of 25 genera are described in a collection of 170 large, massive reef corals from the upper Eocene Gatuncillo Formation near Lago Alahuela in central Panama. Comparisons with type material for other Eocene Caribbean reef corals suggest that 27 of these species are new. Twenty-four of these species are named herein. Like other Eocene Caribbean reef-coral faunas, the fauna is rich in Astrocoenia, Actinacis, and Astreopora; however, unlike other faunas, plocoid and meandroid members of the family Faviidae (e.g., Montastraea, Agathiphyllia, Goniastrea, and Colpophyllia) are abundant. Also present are the oldest known representatives of the genera Meandrina, Coscinaraea, Alveopora, Heliopora, and Pocillopora, as well as the only recorded occurrences of Coscinaraea and Cyathoseris from the Caribbean. Comparisons with Oligocene and Recent Caribbean reef-coral faunas suggest that the generic composition of Cenozoic Caribbean reefs became established during the Eocene. With exception of the family Mussidae, much of the post-Oligocene history of the Caribbean is one of extinction at the generic level (19 of the 28 Eocene genera became extinct) and proliferation of species within the surviving genera.


We propose an application that uses a humanoid robot as a communications terminal. We describe a life-size robot that suits inter-personal communication. For simplicity, the current version is restricted to a motorized chair. We show that the robot realizes three service modes: chat mode, e-mail mode and autonomous mode. In chat mode, the hand gestures of the humanoid robot reproduce those made by the operator as captured by surface EMG signal recognition. the humanoid robot is seen as a feasible instrument of telecommunication.


The association between increased risk of hip fracture and low vitamin D status has long been recognized. However, the level of vitamin D required to maintain bone strength is controversial. We used a rodent model of vitamin D depletion to quantify the 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25D) levels required for normal mineralization. Six groups of 10‐wk‐old male Sprague‐Dawley rats (n = 42) were fed a diet containing 0.4% calcium and various levels of dietary vitamin D3 for 4 mo to achieve stable mean serum 25D levels ranging between 10 and 115 nM. At 7 mo of age, animals were killed, and the histomorphometry of distal and proximal femora and L2 vertebra was analyzed. Total RNA was extracted from whole femora for real‐time RT‐PCR analyses. In the distal femoral metaphysis, trabecular bone mineral volume (BV/TV) showed a significant positive association with circulating 25D levels (r2 = 0.42, p < 0.01) in the animals with serum 25D levels between 20 and 115 nM. Osteoclast surface (Oc.S) levels were positively associated with RANKL:OPG mRNA ratio, higher in groups with lower serum 25D levels, and were independent of serum 1,25D levels. Serum 25D levels <80 nM gave rise to osteopenia as a result of increased osteoclastogenesis, suggesting that levels of 25D >80 nM are needed for optimal bone volume. These data indicate that serum 25D levels are a major determinant of osteoclastogenesis and bone mineral volume and are consistent with the levels of 25D recommended to reduce the risk of fracture in humans.


Garcia and co-authors are to be commended for their success in alleviating the chylous leak in this patient who had suffered through numerous previous attempts at resolving the problem. The fact that the initial surgical procedure to resect a lymphangioma was interrupted owing to a large amount of chyle leaking from the tumor bed clearly presaged the problem that would haunt this patient for the next nine months. There can be no question that it is way more preferable to avoid and prevent chyle leaks than trying to fix a chyle leak. That being said recent advances in minimally invasive techniques and specifically the ability to embolize the thoracic duct with coils and glue have been literally "lifesavers".


The present investigation is concerned to study the influence of poly vinyl acetate (PVAc.) on flow behavior of bentonite dispersions in water, poly vinyl acetate was added to the bentonite dispersion in different concentration (5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5 and 20) gm/l. after that, the flow properties of these samples was measured and that included (viscosity, shear stress, shear rate and Bingham yield value), The results show thixotropy flow by a hysteresis loop of the flow curves for bentonite dispersion with and without poly vinyl acetate, but with (PVAc.) give higher fluidity flow. Also the morphology of bentonite dispersions was analyzed before and after adding poly vinyl acetate by scanning electron micrograph (SEM), it is show that a weak association between (PVAc.) and bentonite dispersions.


Iran is located in a high-risk seismic zone of earthquakes. It has thousands of valuable historic buildings, mostly made of unreinforced masonry, which is quite vulnerable to natural hazards, especially earthquakes. The conservation and seismic upgrading of these buildings is vital for their survival. However, resources are limited and some sort of prioritization is needed in order to allocate the budget. There are several factors, which should be considered when ranking heritage buildings, but this paper mainly focuses on the values of historic buildings and describes a survey undertaken to find out whether it is possible to rank them. The method applied is choosing a particular group of people and determine whether they can classify buildings into a hierarchy? The results showed that most people could perform this task, so some sort of hierarchy exists, although different groups might choose different hierarchies.


We introduce spatiotemporal optical dark X solitary waves of the (2+1)D {hyperbolic} nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE), that rules wave propagation in a self-focusing and normally dispersive medium. These analytical solutions are derived by exploiting the connection between such NLSE and a well known equation of hydrodynamics, namely the type II Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP-II) equation. As a result, families of shallow water X soliton solutions of the KP-II equation are mapped into optical dark X solitary wave solutions of the NLSE. Numerical simulations show that optical dark X solitary waves may propagate for long distances (tens of nonlinear lengths) before they eventually break up, owing to the modulation instability of the continuous wave background. This finding opens a novel path for the excitation and control of X solitary waves in nonlinear optics.


To investigate the criminal conduct of all institutions, organizations, and individuals involved in the persecution of Falun Gong; to bring such investigations, no matter how long it takes, no matter how far and deep we have to search, to full closure; to exercise fundamental principles of humanity; and to restore and uphold justice in society. Mail address: P. O. Box 84 NewYork, NY 10116 USA World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong


"Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi'ite Islam" combines historical analysis with the tools of gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad, in Shi'ite Islam.The book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in Late Antiquity through the Church fathers and popular hagiography. It examines how Merovingian authors assimilated powerful queens and abbesses to a Marian prototype to articulate their political significance and, at the same time, censure holy women's public charisma. Mary Thurlkill focuses as well on the importance of Fatima in the evolution of Shi'ite identity throughout the Middle East. She examines how scholars such as Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi advertised Fatima as a symbol of the Shi'ite holy family and its glorified status in paradise, while simultaneously binding her as a mother to the domestic sphere and patriarchal authority.This important comparative look at feminine ideals in both Shi'ite Islam and medieval Christianity is of relevance and value in the modern world. It will be welcomed by scholars and students of Islam, comparative religion, medieval Christianity, and gender studies.


We report two spectropolarimetric observations of SN 2005hk, which is a close copy of the "very peculiar" SN 2002cx, showing low peak luminosity, slow decline, high ionization near peak, and an unusually low expansion velocity of only about 7000 km s-1. Further to the data presented by Chornock et al., at −4 days before maximum, we present data of this object taken on 2005 November 9 (near maximum) and November 23 (+ 2 weeks) that show the continuum and most of the spectral lines to be polarized at levels of about 0.2%–0.3%. At both epochs the data correspond to the Spectropolarimetric Type D1. The general low level of line polarization suggests that the line-forming regions for most species observed in the spectrum have a similar shape to that of the photosphere, which deviates from a spherical symmetry by <10%. In comparison with spectropolarimetry of Type Ia and core-collapse SNe at similar epochs, we find that the properties of SN 2005hk are most similar to those of Type Ia SNe. In particular, we find the low levels of continuum and line polarization to indicate that the explosion mechanism is approximately spherical, with homogeneous ejecta (unlike the chemically segregated ejecta of CCSNe). We discuss the possibility that SN 2005hk was the result of the pure deflagration of a white dwarf and note the issues concerning this interpretation.


In this work, the caffeine and some catechin compounds (+) C, EC, and EGCG were extracted from green tea by using two molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) as sorbent materials in a multi-solid-phase extraction (SPE) process known as MISPE (molecular imprinted solid-phase extraction). To obtain synthesis of MIP, (+) catechin (and caffeine) was employed as the template, AM (and MAA) as the monomer, EGDMA as the crosslinker, and AIBN as the initiator. A solution of (+) catechin (and caffeine) (0.2 mg/mL in methanol) was utilized in the solid extraction cartridges following loading, washing, and elution procedures with acetonitrile, methanol, and methanol/acetic acid (90/10, %v/v) as the solvents, respectively. This multi-solid-phase extraction protocol was applied for the extraction of caffeine and some catechin compounds from green tea. A comparison was made between the results obtained with the caffeine and (+) catechin MIP cartridges, blank polymer, and a traditional C18 reversed-phase cartridge. It was thereupon found that the recovery of caffeine by the caffeine-MIP-based sorbent used in this work was almost two and four times greater than that by a commercially available C18 material.


The Akt inhibitor, perifosine, is an alkylphospholipid exhibiting antitumor properties and is currently in phase II clinical trials for various types of cancer. The mechanisms by which perifosine exerts its antitumor effects, including the induction of apoptosis, are not well understood. The current study focused on the effects of perifosine on the induction of apoptosis and its underlying mechanisms in human non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Perifosine, at clinically achievable concentration ranges of 10 to 15 μmol/L, effectively inhibited the growth and induced apoptosis of NSCLC cells. Perifosine inhibited Akt phosphorylation and reduced the levels of total Akt. Importantly, enforced activation of Akt attenuated perifosine-induced apoptosis. These results indicate that Akt inhibition is necessary for perifosine-induced apoptosis. Despite the activation of both caspase-8 and caspase-9, perifosine strikingly induced the expression of the tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor, death receptor 5, and down-regulated cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP), an endogenous inhibitor of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, with limited modulatory effects on the expression of other genes including Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, PUMA, and survivin. Silencing of either caspase-8 or death receptor 5 attenuated perifosine-induced apoptosis. Consistently, further down-regulation of c-FLIP expression with c-FLIP small interfering RNA sensitized cells to perifosine-induced apoptosis, whereas enforced overexpression of ectopic c-FLIP conferred resistance to perifosine. Collectively, these data indicate that activation of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway plays a critical role in perifosine-induced apoptosis. Moreover, perifosine cooperates with TRAIL to enhance the induction of apoptosis in human NSCLC cells, thus warranting future in vivo and clinical evaluation of perifosine in combination with TRAIL in the treatment of NSCLC. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(7):2029–38]


The results of complementary experimental and analytical investigations of thermomechanical fatigue of both unidirectional and crossply titanium matrix composite laminates are presented . Experimental results are given for both isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue tests which were based on simple, constant amplitude mechanical and thermal loading profiles. The discussion of analytical methods includes the development of titanium matrix composite laminate constitutive relationships, the development of damage models and the integration of both into a thermomechanical fatigue analysis algorithm. The technical approach begins with a micro-mechanical formulation of lamina response. Material behavior at the ply level is based on a mechanics of materials approach using thermo-elastic fibers and an elasto-thermo-viscoplastic matrix. The effects of several types of distributed damage are included in the material constitutive relationships at the ply level in the manner of continuum damage mechanics. The modified ply constitutive relationships are then used in an otherwise unmodified classical lamination theory treatment of laminate response. Finally, simple models for damage progression are utilized in an analytical framework which recalculates response and increments damage sizes at every load point in an applied thermal/mechanical load history. The model is used for the prediction of isothermal fatigue and thermomechanical fatigue life of unnotched, crossply [0°/90°] s titanium matrix composite laminates. The results of corresponding isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue tests are presented in detail and the correlation between experimental and analytical results is established in certain cases.


Buffeted daily by market and consumer forces demanding change, how does an organization move to become the innovative organization of the future? As one linchpin of a broad scale reorganization of its national healthcare system, the US Department of Veterans Affairs set out to identify and promote innovative clinical practices. Leaders began with the approximately 35,000 registered nurses who make up the largest segment of health care providers in the system. This article discusses the characteristics of an innovative organization and identifies those issues that the Department of Veteran's Affairs determined as critical to becoming an organization that fosters and sustains innovation.


From a feminist political economy perspective, the unfolding of the coronavirus is a further reminder of the fundamental contradiction between a capitalist system that prioritises profits, and a feminist ethic that prioritises life-making or social reproduction. This article argues for a more systematic understanding of crises of social reproduction under capitalism, stressing the difference between such crises for labour and those for capital. The coronavirus crisis represents an extraordinary example of a crisis of social reproduction for capital, but this article examines crises of social reproduction for capital and labour that arise from the more ordinary workings of capitalism. The focus is on unfolding such crises in the Global South, using the case of India to illustrate the usefulness of such an analysis.
 KEYWORDS: social reproduction; gender; labour; political economy; India


UNLABELLED
NRAS mutations are common in human melanoma. To produce a mouse model of NRAS-driven melanoma, we expressed oncogenic NRAS (NRAS(G12D)) in mouse melanocytes. When NRAS(G12D) was expressed in the melanocytes of developing embryos, it induced melanocyte proliferation and congenital melanocytic lesions reminiscent of human blue nevi but did not induce cutaneous melanoma. Unexpectedly, however, it did induce early-onset primary melanoma of the central nervous system (CNS). The tumors were rapidly proliferating and caused neurologic symptoms, rapid health deterioration, and death. NRAS is not a common driver oncogene of primary melanoma of the CNS in adults, but we report two cases of primary melanoma of the CNS in children, both of which carried oncogenic mutations in NRAS. We conclude that acquisition of somatic mutations in NRAS in CNS melanocytes is a predisposing risk factor for primary melanoma of the CNS in children, and we present a mouse model of this disease.

SIGNIFICANCE
We show that the acquisition of NRAS mutations in melanocytes during embryogenesis is a risk factor for early-onset melanoma of the CNS. We have developed a powerful mouse model to study this rare but devastating childhood disease, and to develop therapeutic approaches for its treatment.


Collaborative beamforming (CB) has been widely used in a wireless sensor network (WSN) to improve the directivity of signals in long-distance transmission. CB performance has been analyzed for some specific node distributions such as Uniform and Gaussian distributions. However, the results obtained based on a particular distribution for a WSN under a specific condition may not be true for other WSNs under different conditions. This letter proposes a novel unified method to evaluate CB performance for various node distributions. The simulation results verify the proposed method.


The effect of climatic conditions on progress of fungal diseases of papaya were evaluated in three experimental areas in Linhares, State of Espirito Santo, Brazil. First area was carried out using traditional system and was drip irrigated; second area was also carried out using traditional system, but it was overhead irrigated, and third area was carried out using organic system with micro spray. It was evaluated three different systems of cultural control in the first area: 1- papaya plants not sprayed with fungicides with any leaf removal (check treatment without sanitation); 2- papaya plants not sprayed with fungicides with leaf removal (check treatment with leaf removal), and 3- papaya plants sprayed with fungicides without leaf removal (grower treatment). Each system received four plots with 20 plants. Evaluation was done in 10 plants in the center of plots. Incidence and severity of Ascochyta leaf spot, black spot and powdery mildew were evaluated on leaves. It was evaluated the incidence and stem end rot of fruits. Epidemics of Ascochyta leaf spot are favoured by temperatures ranging from 15 oC to 20 oC. Epidemic of black spot occurred when temperature ranged from 25 oC to 30 oC with relative humidity ranging from 80 to 100%, from november to march. Powdery mildew development was favored by temperatures from 15 oC to 20 oC and relative humidity from 60 % to 70%. It was not observed any relation between incidence of stem end rot of papaya and acumulated rain 15 days before the evaluation (r less than 0.21). Incidence of fruit rot diseases caused by anthracnose and chocolate spot did not correlate with weather conditions. Ascochyta leaf spot was detected in all the evaluation data with maximum severity from the juliana date 155 to 250 and minimum from 20 to 80; the black spot increased from date juliana 326 to 70 with maximum disease severity on the date 336; powdery mildew increased in two distinct times: one from the date 330 to 80 and another form the date 240 to 320 with maximum severity on the date from 240 to 250. Fruit rot was detected in stored papaya when they were harvested on the dates from 140 to 320. The pattern treatment employed by the growers differed significantly from the treatments involving cultural practices such as sanitization and no sanitization, with the exception for stem end rot, where the grower pattern treatment did not differ from the treatment with sanitization. The cultural treatments with sanitization did not differ from the treatment without sanitization. However for stem end rot, treatment with sanitization increased 24 % and 9 % the number of commercial fruits for the juliana dates 170 and 210, respectively over the treatment without sanitization; for anthracnose, 13 % and 55 %, for the juliana dates 160 and 230, respectively and for the chocolate fruit spot 30 % and 9 %, for the juliana dates 170 e 210, respectively. Total diseased progess curves in the areas called curral and Bitchisner were almost identical; the maximum severity of Ascochyta leaf spot was 20 % in the curral and 10 % in Bitchisner, from the dates 110 e 320. Black spot was more severe in the curral than in Bitchisner. Powdery mildew was detected on the plants from curral and Bitchisner from dates 230 aos 320 with higher severity on the plants of curral where the plants are irrigated with central pivot. Maximum disease severity of 45 and 65 % were detected on papaya areas from curral and Bitchisner, respectively. The incidence of papaya black spot was higher on the curral area than on the plants form Bitchisner due to the method of irrigation.


A 29-year-old woman with acute myelogenous leukemia in relapse at the end of a nine-month period of remission was admitted to hospital where intensive antileukemic therapy was started. Antibiotics were given when she developed a fever and, when oral thrush appeared, intravenous amphotericin B was initiated. After 16 days, the amphotericin B (at a total dose of 295 mg) was discontinued because of side effects and 12 days later, when a lung biopsy had revealed mucormycotic hyphae in infarcted tissue in the left upper lobe, fluconazole (300 mg daily by intravenous infusion over a period of two hours) was substituted. This was continued for one month with clinical and radiologic improvement in the lung condition and no attributable adverse effect. At this juncture the patient died of intractable heart failure. We suggest that fluconazole may be an acceptable alternative to amphotericin B in the treatment of pulmonary mucormycosis.


Conventional motion estimation algorithms extract motion vectors from image sequences based on the image's local-brightness differences in consecutive images. Therefore, motion vectors are extracted along the moving edges formed by moving objects over their background. However, in the case of "textureless" moving objects, motion vectors inside the objects cannot be detected because no brightness (texture) differences exist inside the object. Severe issues may incur in motion-related imaging applications because motion-vectors of vast (inner) regions of textureless objects can not be detected, although the inner part is moving with the object's edges. To solve this problem, we propose an unconventional image-processing algorithm that generates spatial textures based on object's edge information, allowing the detection of the textures motion. The model is represented by a 2-D crossbar array of a 1-D reaction-diffusion (RD) model where 1-D spatial patterns are created inside objects and aggregated to form textures. Computer simulations confirm the approach, showing the formation of textures over approaching objects, which may open applications in machine vision and automated decision systems.


Objective To study expert and novice eye movement pattern during simulated landing flight for providing references to evaluate flight performance and training of pilots. Methods The subjects were divided in to two group s of expert and novice according to their flight simulation experience. Eye movement data were recorded when they were performing landing task. Comparison of expert and novice flight performance data and eye movement data was made. Results It was found that the differences between expert and novice lay not only in flight performance but also in eye movement pattern. Performance of expert was better than novice. Expert had shorter fixation time, more fixation points, faster scan velocity, greater scan frequency and wider scan area than novice. It was also found that eye movement pattern of expert bring lower mental workload than novice. Conclusion Flight performance is related to eye movement pattern. Effective eye movement pattern is related to good flight performance. The analysis of eye movement indices can evaluate pilots' flight performance and provide reference for flight training.