Title of dissertation: A NEW PARADIGM FOR PRACTICAL MALICIOUSLY SECURE MULTI-PARTY COMPUTATION Xiao Wang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jonathan Katz Department of Computer Science Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) protocols allow a group of mutually distrusting users to compute a function jointly on their inputs without revealing any information beyond the output. For many years, implementations of MPC protocols have targeted security against semi-honest adversaries, i.e., attackers are assumed to execute the protocol honestly but try to learn private information after the fact. Protocols secure against stronger and more realistic malicious adversaries, who could behave arbitrarily during the protocol execution, were known to exist but were much less efficient. This thesis introduces a new paradigm to construct extremely efficient MPC protocols with malicious security. In particular, this thesis consists of three major contributions. 1. We introduce the authenticated garbling framework, and present an efficient concrete instantiation of the protocol. The resulting protocol partially closes the gap between semi-honest and malicious MPC protocols asymptotically; the implementation of the protocol represents the state-of-the-art system for malicious two-party computation. 2. We discuss how to apply authenticated garbling to the multi-party setting, where all-but-one parties can be corrupted by the adversary. The resulting protocol improves upon the best previous constant-round protocol by orders of magnitude. We also present a system that, for the first time, enables MPC executions among hundreds of parties, distributed globally. 3. We present a series of optimizations to two-party authenticated garbling by interpreting authenticated garbling in a new way. The improved malicious protocol has essentially the same concrete efficiency as the best semi-honest protocol in the preprocessing model. 4. We develop these protocols in EMP-toolkit, a practical and efficient MPC tool that can be used to build new protocols and to develop applications using our existing protocols. A New Paradigm for Practical Maliciously Secure Multi-Party Computation


OBJECT
In this study, the authors compare simultaneous measurements of static and pulsatile pressure parameters in the epidural space and brain parenchyma of hydrocephalic patients.

METHODS
Simultaneous intracranial pressure (ICP) signals from the epidural space (ICPEPI) and the brain parenchyma (ICPPAR) were compared in 12 patients undergoing continuous ICP monitoring as part of their diagnostic workup for hydrocephalus. The static ICP was characterized by mean ICP and the frequency of B waves quantified in the time domain, while the pulsatile ICP was determined from the cardiac beat-induced single ICP waves and expressed by the ICP pulse pressure amplitude (dP) and latency (dT; that is, rise time).

RESULTS
The 12 patients underwent a median of 22.5 hours (range 5.9-24.8 hours) of ICP monitoring. Considering the total recording period of each patient, the mean ICP (static ICP) differed between the 2 compartments by ≥5 mm Hg in 8 patients (67%) and by ≥10 mm Hg in 4 patients (33%). In contrast, for every patient the ICP pulse pressure readings from the 2 compartments showed near-identical results. Consequently, when sorting patients to shunt/no shunt treatment according to pulsatile ICP values, selection was independent of sensor placement. The frequency of B waves also compared well between the 2 compartments.

CONCLUSIONS
The pulsatile ICP is measured with equal confidence from the ICPEPI and ICPPAR signals. When using the pulsatile ICP for evaluation of hydrocephalic patients, valid measurements may thus be obtained from pressure monitoring in the epidural space. Recorded differences in the mean ICP between the epidural space and the brain parenchyma are best explained by differences in the zero setting of different sensors.


Surface heterogeneity of model amorphous silica films used as a model for interstellar grain surfaces is revealed through the application of the pre-exponential optimized inversion method to previously reported sub-monolayer thermal desorption studies of carbon monoxide (CO) desorption. The impact of that surface heterogeneity, as represented by the coverage dependence of the CO activation energy for desorption from the amorphous silica surface, on the IR spectroscopy of the CO stretching vibration is explored through vibrational line profile synthesis. Comparison is then made to previous investigations of CO line profiles on this surface and on amorphous solid water as reported in Taj et al. (2017, 2019a). A tentative conclusion is drawn that CO vibrationally promoted desorption from, and diffusion on, the amorphous silica surface may be responsible for the correspondingly short vibrational excited state lifetime of CO on that surface. The contrast with CO on amorphous solid water, where direct and rapid vibrational relaxation into the solid water phonon bath occurs, is highlighted. The consequences of this from the standpoint of CO deposition on grain surfaces are discussed.


This volume is divided into three parts. Part one includes updated statistics and analyses for regions of the world and for 38 countries, Argentina having been added to the 37 covered in Volume 2. Part two again focuses on market and industry trends and includes 26 new articles on topics ranging from Japanese outbound tourism and changing demographics, attitudes, and life-styles of the U.S. consumer to theme park development in southeast Asia and the Channel Tunnel and its effects on U.K. tourism. Part three presents


The outbreak of the coronavirus results on the closure of many offices, especially in Indonesia. At the same time, this condition also forces the companies to develop employees' capabilities in e-learning in order to improve their working quality. Training department of a company that is in charge of developing employees' capabilities gets an impact that it must switch the training delivery and that e-learning training is considered as suitable one. This study aimed to explore employees' perceptions toward the implementation of e-learning culture training program. The data were gathered through a set of questionnaires to get their perceptions, challenges and benefits. The results were analyzed quantitatively. The participants were 70 employees from a company in Jakarta who joined the culture training programs through e-learning. In this training, they were required to participate actively, build communication with the instructor and among participants and understand the training content. The training activities included online discussion, discussing the video, written materials, virtual journey and variety of cases. The result of the data analysis presented some issues regarding how employees perceived the implementation of e-learning culture training, the challenges and benefits of e-learning training program. This study also provides an advantage that it increases the company and employees' awareness regarding the knowledgeable in e-learning that is crucial nowadays.


Previous research indicates that, following European colonization, animal husbandry did not replace hunting as the primary source of meat in the diet of southeastern Native Americans until the early nineteenth century. However, while the introduction of Eurasian domesticated animals had little immediate impact on the lives of indigenous peoples in the Southeast, the expansion of the European market economy had profound implications for the economic and subsistence strategies of Native Americans in all regions. In response to European demands for deerskins, furs, and other goods, Native Americans of the Southeast and elsewhere intensified exploitation of indigenous resources. The Creeks became one of the largest producers of deerskins for the European commodities trade in the Southeast. Ethnohistoric and zooarchaeological evidence indicates that the intensification of localized resource exploitation had a suppressive effect on the adoption of animal husbandry by the Creeks. It was only after the collapse of the deerskin trade in the Southeast that animal husbandry replaced hunting as the primary source of meat in the subsistence strategy of the Creeks.


Methapyrilene hydrochloride (MPHC), N-nitrosomethylaniline (NMA), N-nitrosomethyl-3-carboxypropylamine (NMCP) and N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) are reputed to be nonmutagenic carcinogens because they are genetically inactive in Salmonella mutagenesis tests but produce cancer in rats. We have assayed these compounds for their genetic activity with diploid strains D7, D7-144, and RMO52 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The compounds MPHC and NMA were highly toxic to the cells and induced gene conversion and reverse mutations in strains D7, D7-144 and RMO52. Metabolic activation was not required for this activity. However, in acidic (pH 5) medium, the genetic activity and cell toxicity of MPHC and NMA were markedly reduced. Ascorbic acid suppressed the mutagenicity and toxic effects of MPHC. Mutagenicity of NDELA was enhanced in strain D7-144 when cells were treated in acidic medium. At pH 7, NDELA was not mutagenic. NMCP induced reversed mutations in strains D7-144 and RMO52 in the absence of metabolic activation. Our results indicate that the four carcinogens, MPHC, NMA, NMCP and NDELA, require different physiological conditions for the expression of their genetic activity.


This paper investigates the impact of heterogeneity at the land surface on geophysical parameters retrieved from multiangle microwave brightness temperature data, such as would be obtained from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. Synthetic brightness temperature data were created using the Common Land (land surface) Model, coupled with a microwave emission model and set within the framework of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS). Soil moisture, vegetation optical depth, and effective physical temperature were retrieved using a multiobjective calibration routine similar to the proposed SMOS retrieval algorithm for a typical on-axis range of look angles. The impact of heterogeneity both in the near-surface profiles of soil moisture and temperature and in the land cover on the accuracy of the retrievals was examined. There are significant errors in the retrieved parameters over regions with steep gradients in the near-surface soil moisture profile. These errors are approximately proportional to the difference in the soil water content between the top (at 0.7 cm) and second layer (at 2.7 cm) of the land surface model. The errors resulting from heterogeneity in the land cover are smaller and increase nonlinearly with increasing land-surface heterogeneity (represented by the standard deviation of the optical depth within the pixel). The most likely use of retrieved soil moisture is through assimilation into an LDAS for improved initiation of weather and climate models. Given that information on the soil moisture profile is already available within the LDAS, the error in the retrieved soil moisture as a result of the near-surface profile can be corrected for. The potential errors as a result of land-surface heterogeneity can also be assessed for use in the assimilation process.


Small metal structures sustaining plasmon resonances in the optical regime are of great interest due to their large scattering cross sections and ability to concentrate light to subwavelength volumes. In this paper, we study the dipolar plasmon resonances of optical antennas with a constant volume and a sinusoidal modulation in width. We experimentally show that by changing the phase of the width-modulation, with a small 10 nm modulation amplitude, the resonance shifts over 160 nm. Using simulations we show how this simple design can create resonance shifts greater than 600 nm. The versatility of this design is further shown by creating asymmetric structures with two different modulation amplitudes, which we experimentally and numerically show to give rise to two resonances. Our results on both the symmetric and asymmetric antennas show the capability to control the localization of the fields outside the antenna, while still maintaining the freedom to change the antenna resonance wavelength. The antenna design we tested combines a large spectral tunability with a small footprint: all the antenna dimensions are factor 7 to 13 smaller than the wavelength, and hold potential as a design element in meta-surfaces for beam shaping.


Sepsis is a leading cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICUs) and costs hospitals billions annually. Treating a septic patient is highly challenging, because individual patients respond very differently to medical interventions and there is no universally agreed-upon treatment for sepsis. Understanding more about a patient's physiological state at a given time could hold the key to effective treatment policies. In this work, we propose a new approach to deduce optimal treatment policies for septic patients by using continuous state-space models and deep reinforcement learning. Learning treatment policies over continuous spaces is important, because we retain more of the patient's physiological information. Our model is able to learn clinically interpretable treatment policies, similar in important aspects to the treatment policies of physicians. Evaluating our algorithm on past ICU patient data, we find that our model could reduce patient mortality in the hospital by up to 3.6% over observed clinical policies, from a baseline mortality of 13.7%. The learned treatment policies could be used to aid intensive care clinicians in medical decision making and improve the likelihood of patient survival.


Resources on family system dynamics and processes, with an emphasis on cultural and contextual factors that influence family functioning and well-being over the lifespan


The influence of fillets with different geometry shape on the stress distribution in aluminum alloy weld-bonded single lap joint was investigated using elasto-plastic finite element method (FEM). The results show that it is advantageous of reducing stress concentration in adhesive layer near the ends of the lap zone in single lap weld-bonded aluminum joints and part of the stress transferring from adhesive layer to the nugget when the joints with a couple of right triangle fillets over other shapes. The load-bearing capacity of the whole weld-bonded joints may be improved. The full-triangular fillet is recommended that it be more advantageous of decreasing the stress peak value and making the stress distribution in overlap zone more uniform.


This paper aims to investigate the entropy generation in slip flow due to double rotating disks. Heat equation is formulated by considering effects of viscous dissipation, Joule heating and nonlinear thermal radiation. Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects of nanofluid are also discussed. Applied magnetic field is considered to be time dependent. Homogeneous–heterogeneous reactions are also studied. Von Karman transformations are used. Homotopy analysis method is implemented on system of equations for convergent series solutions. Influence of various flow parameters on entropy, Bejan number, velocity, temperature, Nusselt number, and skin friction is discussed through graphs and tables. Axial velocity decays for higher nonlinear mixed convection variable of temperature and velocity slip parameter. Temperature rises for larger thermal slip parameter and thermophoresis parameter. Entropy and Bejan number are increasing for higher estimation of homogeneous reaction parameter and diffusion parameters.


Current methods for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are either time consuming or require expensive instruments and are thus are not suitable for point-of-care diagnosis. The design, synthesis, and evaluation of fluorogenic probes with high specificity for BlaC, a biomarker expressed by Mtb, are described. The fluorogenic probe CDG-3 is based on cephalosporin with substitutions at the 2 and 7 positions and it demonstrates over 120 000-fold selectivity for BlaC over TEM-1 Bla, the most common β-lactamase. CDG-3 can detect 10 colony-forming units of the attenuated Mycobacterium bovis strain BCG in human sputum in the presence of high levels of contaminating β-lactamases expressed by other clinically prevalent bacterial strains. In a trial with 50 clinical samples, CDG-3 detected tuberculosis with 90 % sensitivity and 73 % specificity relative to Mtb culture within one hour, thus demonstrating its potential as a low-cost point-of-care test for use in resource-limited areas.


Part-set cueing facilitation refers to the retrieval advantage when part of the set of to-be-remembered information is provided as cues at test. The present experiments were designed to explore part-set cueing in the context of map and route memory. In two experiments, we set out to find how cues and beacons would affect the recall of routes, as well as to see if presentation during the memorization phase changed the outcome in the recall task. The use of both beacons and part-set cues facilitates the recall of routes, but to varying degrees. Implications of these findings will be discussed.


The EISCAT Scientifi c Association, together with a number of collaborating institutions, has recently completed a feasibility and design study for an enhanced performance research radar facility to replace the existing EISCAT UHF and VHF systems. This study was supported by EU Sixth-Framework funding. The new radar retains the powerful multi-static geometry of the EISCAT UHF, but will employ phased arrays, direct-sampling receivers, and digital beamforming and beam steering. Design goals include, inter alia, a tenfold improvement in temporal and spatial resolution, an extension of the instantaneous measurement of full-vector ionospheric drift velocities from a single point to the entire altitude range of the radar, and an imaging capability to resolve small-scale structures. Prototype receivers and beamformers are currently being tested on a 48-element, 224 MHz array (the "Demonstrator") erected at the Kiruna EISCAT site, using the EISCAT VHF transmitter as an illuminator.


House flies spread many communicable diseases such as cholera, dysentery and spread parasitic infections. Therefore, it is important to control house flies at garbage dumping sites as they are a rich source of disease agents. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) is one of the common wetland birds in Sri Lanka, often seen foraging on flies at garbage dumping sites. Referring to the preliminary observations reported before, two garbage dumping sites were selected from Kandy district. Digana garbage dumping site (7.260 N 80.740 E) was selected as a Cattle Egret occupied site and Panvila garbage dumping site (7.220 N 80.430 E) was selected as the control site where no Cattle Egrets were recorded. The adult house flies (Musca domestica) were counted which random quadrate sampling twice a month for 5 min. Birds were counted from 08:00 to 10:00 hrs by point count method with a binocular. Cattle Egrets, Crows, Common Mynahs, Spotted Doves, Green bee-eaters, House Sparrows, Black Robins, Indian Pond Herons and Asian Palm Swifts were identified as bird species in Digana garbage dumping site and only Common Mynas, Spotted Doves and Asian Palm Swifts were observed in Panvila site. A strong correlation between populations of Cattle Egrets and house flies was observed in the Digana garbage dumping site (<0.05). Since major food item of Cattle Egret is insects, they are attracted to waste dumping site, which provides abundant dipterans maggots at low energy expenditure. However, the house fly population was significantly high in Panvila site than Digana site as Cattle Egrets were not observed in Panvila site. Also In both sites, no correlation was observed between populations of other bird species and population of house flies (0.05<). During breeding season, the Cattle Egrets were observed to be migrating away from the Digana site and were not recorded in late June. No Cattle Egrets in July to September were observed in this site. The number of house flies was clearly increased during this period and with the return of Cattle Egrets after breeding season the numbers of house flies decrease dramatically. The present study shows that there is a strong relationship between population of house flies and Cattle Egret abundance. Keywords: Cattle Egrets, Garbage dumping sites, House flies


In culture and scholarship, science-fictional worlds are perceived as unrealistic and altogether imaginary. Seo-Young Chu offers a bold challenge to this perception of the genre, arguing instead that science fiction is a form of 'high-intensity realism' capable of representing non-imaginary objects that elude more traditional, 'realist' modes of representation. Powered by lyric forces that allow it to transcend the dichotomy between the literal and the figurative, science fiction has the capacity to accommodate objects of representation that are themselves neither entirely figurative nor entirely literal in nature. Chu explores the globalized world, cyberspace, war trauma, the Korean concept of han, and the rights of robots, all as referents for which she locates science-fictional representations in poems, novels, music, films, visual pieces, and other works ranging within and without previous demarcations of the science fiction genre. In showing the divide between realism and science fiction to be illusory, "Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?" sheds new light on the value of science fiction as an aesthetic and philosophical resource - one that matters more and more as our everyday realities grow increasingly resistant to straightforward representation.


The paper describes the results of a recent project entitled "DOCET - EQF CDIO Correspondence Model for the Recognition and Enhancement of Engineering Degrees".

In Europe, the recent changes in the educational systems, as well as in the international macroeconomic contexts, bring about the need of enhancing engineering curricula as well as increasing their transparency. In this scenario, any tool able to help Universities revise "in real time" their programs and transfer innovation into courses will be an important support. A first prerequisite of such a tool is to be based on a "common language", shared by the higher education national systems and stakeholders (both within Europe and globally).

The new European Qualifications Framework (EQF) aims to provide a common reference system to build qualifications readable across Europe, and not linked to any specific disciplinary areas of engineering. The CDIO Syllabus already represents a world-wide reference for the design of engineering programs and for their evaluation. Its development involved stakeholders from industry and so it could speed up the mutual transfer of innovation between Universities and businesses. Both the EQF and CDIO Syllabus are based on the same learning outcomes (objectives) based approach.

Accordingly, the DOCET project aimed to build a correspondence model between CDIO syllabus and the EQF, mapping the CDIO outcomes onto the 8 EQF levels. The learning outcome - based descriptors the EQF provides for Knowledge, Skills and Competence at different levels (and its other qualifiers such as autonomy and responsibility, context, action verbs) have been combined with the engineering content provided by a set of tools that can help the negotiation and definition of shared and transparent goals for engineering education.


A study was conducted to determine the dynamic properties of compacted clayey soils subjected to low amplitude vibration. A fast and simple ultrasonic pulse transmission method was used. Tests were conducted on three clayey soils with low to high plasticity compacted using standard and modified Proctor effort over a range of water contents. The samples were allowed to dry after compaction and P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, Poisson's ratio, and shear modulus were determined. The effects of soil type, compaction conditions, and degree of saturation on the dynamic response of the soils were investigated. The elastic wave velocities and the dynamic shear modulus increased as the soil plasticity decreased. The velocities and the modulus increased and the Poisson's ratio decreased as the degree of saturation decreased due to drying. Generally, the velocities and moduli increased significantly at the early stages of drying with the changes becoming more gradual as drying progressed. Variations were high for soils compacted with low energy and high water content. The shear moduli of the soils were also estimated using a common empirical equation. Suction values obtained for the test soils in a different study were used as effective stresses in the estimation. The estimated shear moduli agreed well with the measured values.


Superplasticizers or high-range water reducers are new types of chemical admixtures which when incorporated into concrete can cause significant increases in its slump but without any loss in its mechanical properties. They originated in Japan and Germany and are being used increasingly in North America. Various types of superplasticizers available are listed with their advantages and limitations for use in concrete. A number of case histories in the use of superplasticizers in precast concrete industry, in high-rise concrete construction and slip forming are given. Research needs to resolve some of the problems associated with the use of superplasticizers in concrete are outlined. These include development of new types of superplasticizers in concrete containing low-heat cement and compatibility between superplasticisers and supplementary cementing materials such as fly ash and slag.


AIMS: Topical use of clindamycin has been associated with taste disorders in the literature, but little is known about the nature of this adverse drug reaction. The aim of this article was to describe reports of clindamycin-induced taste disorders and to analyse the factors involved. METHODS: The adverse drug reaction database of the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre was searched for reports concerning taste disorders with antibiotics. Clinical review of the cases and statistical analysis with logistic regression were performed. Characteristics of patients who reported taste disorders were compared for age, gender and formulation in clindamycin vs. other antibiotic users. RESULTS: Taste disorders were reported in seven (18%) of the clindamycin cases. In five reports an oral formulation was involved, in one report intravenous (i.v.) administration and in one report both formulations were used. Latency was <1 day after start and in one case taste disorders were present repeatedly at 10 min after every i.v. application. The adjusted reporting odds ratio was 7.0 (95% confidence interval 2.8, 17.3) and supports a possible causal relationship. CONCLUSIONS: The association of clindamycin and taste disorders is supported by disproportionality analysis and seems to be independent of possible confounders such as age, gender and infections. The case reports suggest a role for clindamycin concentrations excreted in body fluids like saliva.


The creation of clinical decision support systems has received a strong impulse over the last years, but their integration into a clinical routine has lagged behind, partly due to a lack of interoperability and trust by physicians. We report on the implementation of a clinical foundation framework in Arden Syntax, comprising knowledge units for (a) preprocessing raw clinical data, (b) the determination of single clinical concepts, and (c) more complex medical knowledge, which can be modeled through the composition and configuration of knowledge units in this framework. Thus, it can be tailored to clinical institutions or patients' caregivers. In the present version, we integrated knowledge units for several infectionrelated clinical concepts into the framework and developed a clinical event monitoring system over the framework that employs three different scenarios for monitoring clinical signs of bloodstream infection. The clinical event monitoring system was tested using data from intensive care units at Vienna General Hospital, Austria.


: The upper limb-cardiovascular syndrome is reported for the first time in a South African family. There were 6 affected members in 3 generations. Infradiaphragmatic total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, with obstruction, was found in 1 child. This rare cardiac abnormality, which constitutes only 8,5% of all cases of total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, itself an unusual abnormality, has not previously been reported in association with the Holt-Oram syndrome.


The challenges of protecting fashion designs under intellectual property regulationsFashion is a particular and variable industry. As designers introduce several collections a year, providing effective protection of rights is extremely difficult. Simultaneously, it is crucial in view of the constantly expanding global market for counterfeit goods. The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether the currently binding law regulations with reference to fashion designs are effective in the context of fashion design. Different IP rights were subjected to comparative analysis, taking into account the characteristics of the fashion industry. Judgements of Polish, American and Italian courts as well as the judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union have been used as the analytical research. The research into this paper has determined that current legal provisions do not contain regulations that could, in a complete and effective manner, protect fashion designs.


1. The suitability of cellulose and Sepharose as supports for affinity chromatography of two groups of cofactor-linked enzymes, dehydrogenases and kinases, was examined. Sepharose was found to be superior. 2. The selective capacities of the columns were measured by frontal analysis and are discussed in relation to the nucleotide contents. 3. The effect of various concentrations of enzyme and of non-specific protein on the performance of the affinity columns, and the effects of equilibration time, flow rate, sample volume and dilution of the nucleotide were examined. 4. The effect of interposing polymethylene and polyglycine extension arms between the matrix backbone and the nucleotide was investigated for several cofactor-dependent enzymes. Maximum binding was observed with an extension arm 0.8-1nm long.


Abstract Hudson Bay Lithospheric Experiment (HuBLE) was designed to understand the processes that formed Laurentia and the Hudson Bay basin within it. Receiver function analysis shows that Archaean terranes display structurally simple, uniform thickness, felsic crust. Beneath the Palaeoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO), thicker, more complex crust is interpreted as evidence for a secular evolution in crustal formation from non-plate-tectonic in the Palaeoarchaean to fully developed plate tectonics by the Palaeoproterozoic. Corroborating this hypothesis, anisotropy studies reveal 1.8 Ga plate-scale THO-age fabrics. Seismic tomography shows that the Proterozoic mantle has lower wavespeeds than surrounding Archaean blocks; the Laurentian keel thus formed partly in post-Archaean times. A mantle transition zone study indicates 'normal' temperatures beneath the Laurentian keel, so any cold mantle down-welling associated with the regional free-air gravity anomaly is probably confined to the upper mantle. Focal mechanisms from earthquakes indicate that present-day crustal stresses are influenced by glacial rebound and pre-existing faults. Ambient-noise tomography reveals a low-velocity anomaly, coincident with a previously inferred zone of crustal stretching, eliminating eclogitization of lower crustal rocks as a basin formation mechanism. Hudson Bay is an ephemeral feature, caused principally by incomplete glacial rebound. Plate stretching is the primary mechanism responsible for the formation of the basin itself.


ABSTRACT The history of reading is a comparatively recent field. Work to date has been diverse both in period and methodology, ranging from case studies of individuals to statistical analyses of populations. This diversity means that it can be hard to discern either a broadly agreed narrative of reading practices or a clear set of debates. However, a range of scholars have emphasized contrasts between intensive and extensive reading, oral and silent reading, utilitarian and recreational reading, and public and private reading. These contrasts have been aligned with historical periods, with oral reading, for example, being associated with early modern reading in contrast to later periods. This article analyses the reading practices of Samuel Pepys and concludes that his example supports a contrast between a more intensive, oral, utilitarian, and public reading in the seventeenth century and that of later periods. Pepys's reading practices are also shown to have profound effects on his interpretation of texts. He sees texts of all genres as scripts to be performed by particular individuals, and judges them according to their suitability for this performance in a specific context.


In the domain of regenerative medicine research there are many fronts aimed at increasing our understanding of induced pluripotent, embryonic and adult stem cells. Recently a new front has appeared, stem cell niches, the microenvironment that is a crucial component in the regulation of stem cells. New in vitro platforms are continually being created to answer the multitude of biological questions that surround stem cell niches. The transition from in vitro to in vivo is a heavy setback in cellular research due to a huge gap between the two conditions, which can only be reduced if the in vitro conditions better mimic those found in vivo. This project has reduced the gap and has the potential to continue minimizing the differences between the two conditions in the field of muscle stem cell research. Through a combination of the forefront techniques in biological research, we were able to create a new innovative bioengineered platform, a bipolar hydrogel microenvironment. First, we took advantage of polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels, which are highly hydrophilic polymer networks that have properties that mimic physiologic tissue, including high water content and low Young's Modulus. Microfabrication techniques allowed us to topographically pattern the hydrogel at micro-dimensions resembling the native cell environment. Utilizing microfluidics and micro-printing techniques, the three-dimensional hydrogel surface was also patterned with tethered niche proteins found in the in vivo muscle stem cell niche. The swelling properties of the PEG hydrogel were considered as an advantage and controlled to form niche gaps with physical properties that were tuned to correspond to those found in vivo. This new complex and controlled surface for cells to be cultured on is a tool, which will allow biologists to probe new questions and gain insight into the regulatory networks that control cell fate


It is estimated that 2.6 million adolescents suffer from major depressive episodes each year. Research has noted that symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies reveal that low income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically-disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only roughly 25% of children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come from schools. This study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools and on designing novel guidelines for effective protocols. A compilation of expert opinion on depression screening, education, and treatment, as well as analysis of previously implemented school screening and/or awareness programs, was examined in order to understand key strategies. This study found that a multi-layered approach that includes screening, universal education, and high-risk intervention is most effective in addressing mental health needs of low-income adolescents. To ensure feasibility and efficacy, screening should be conducted with a modified PHQ-a test and followed-up with timely clinical interviews by school psychologists. All students should receive universal depression education curriculum consisting of principles like depression literacy, asset theory, and promotion of help-seeking behaviors. Extending universal education to teachers would also be beneficial in promoting mental health communication and positive classroom environments. It is vital that students screened positively for depression or suicidality then receive high-risk protocols, ranging from group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to facilitated mental health center referrals based on individual severity. Effectively addressing depression in school systems requires integration of mental health promotion, depression prevention, and psychotherapy. By taking a multidimensional approach addressing all three aspects, public health officials and school administrations can ensure that adequate resources are being directed to those most in need.


Gastric cancer is a common malignancy worldwide with a high mortality rate. Multiple single agents have produced response rates ranging from 5% to 45% in patients with metastatic gastric cancer. Combination chemotherapy regimens with two or three agents have more than doubled survivorship compared with best supportive care. Recent clinical trials include the evaluation of docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), showing a survival advantage compared with cisplatin and 5-FU, although with high rates of toxicity, particularly neutropenia and neutropenic fever. The REAL-2 trial evaluated epirubicin and cisplatin with either infusional 5-FU (ECF) or capecitabine (ECX), and epirubicin and oxaliplatin with either infusional 5-FU (EOF) or capecitabine (EOX); results favored the EOX regimen. Oxaliplatin-containing triplets appear to have a favorable safety profile compared with cisplatin-containing triplets. Additional randomized data are available for the oral fluoropyrimidine, S-1. In a randomized trial comparing 5-FU vs. irinotecan plus cisplatin vs. S-1, conducted by the Japan Clinical Oncology Group, S-1 was associated with a favorable safety profile, response rate, and time-to-treatment failure with longer survival compared with 5-FU. The Japanese SPIRITS trial was a phase III comparison of S-1 vs. S-1 plus cisplatin and showed favorable 1- and 2-year survivals and a progression-free survival advantage for S-1 and cisplatin. Cooperative group strategies are evaluating the role of chemotherapy combinations, including cisplatin and docetaxel with biologic agents. In addition, there is interest in developing oxaliplatin-based combinations. The expanding list of potential molecular markers for gastric cancer may provide the opportunity to better understand the biology of the disease and to develop new treatment strategies.


In this paper we estimate the rate of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into UK import prices using disaggregate data at the SITC-2 and SITC-3 digit level. Consistent with earlier studies, we find evidence for significant heterogeneity among the estimated industry-specific pass-through rates. In an environment where cross-sectional heterogeneity is significant the use of aggregate data can be misleading since aggregation may lead to heavily biased ERPT estimates at the economy-wide level. We demonstrate that the aggregation bias caused by this heterogeneity is not negligible for the UK data. Further, we investigate the source of the cross-sectional variation in the estimated industry-specific pass-through rates. For our sample, we find the industry-specific average inflation rates to be significant in explaining this variation. Furthermore, we find evidence for short-run and long-run partial pass-through into food and manufacturing sectors. As for the economy-wide ERPT the conclusion stands, possibly reflecting the relatively large weight of manufacturing goods in UK imports. Finally, we find a significant reduction in estimated ERPT rates since 1995 caused by increased stability of the UK economy over the past decade.


Eric Godwin Silas,
world renowned fisheries scientist lives
in Ambady Retreat, in a quiet villa situated
in the suburbs of Cochin City. At 82 he
keeps him self busy. He is now the
Chairman, Research Advisory Committee
of Central Institute of Fisheries Education,
Mumbai and Chairman of the Scientific
Advisory Committee o f Rajiv Gandhi
Center for Aquaculture (MPEDA, Ministry
of Commerce). He is a guiding force
behind fisheries research in the country.

For Dr. Silas, the interview was one
of travellin g into the past. As an
youngster, he evinced a deep love for
nature and living organisms. He drifted
from following his father's profession. His
father was an estate manager. Instead
of following his father's footsteps, he
chose to become a fisheries scientist and
administrator. He nurtures fond and
respectful memories of his association
in the 1950s with Dr. Carl L. Hubbs,
doyen of Fishery Scientists in USA and
with Dr. Sunder Lai Hora and Dr Salim
Ali, who were mentors of his professional
life. Silas is deeply conscious about the
enormous quantum of effort and
achievement needed in the fisheries
sector, especially in the present
deteriorating environmental conditions
set in motion by global warming, over
fishing etc. He expressed his concern
over the present scenario of many of the
predatory fishes high up in the food chain
are conspicuous by their rarity. They are
replaced by fishes of lesser value. He
expressed disappointment at the
perfunctory interest of the scientific
community at the alarming situation and
their casual approach to the problem.
Silas continues to entertain immense
faith in the capabilities of the younger
generation of fisheries scientists and
hopes that they will rise to the occasion
in solving the problems confronting the
fisheries sector. Silas is confident that
the fisheries research institutions would
conform to the mandate given to them
and would support scientific fisheries
research in solving all challenging
issues. Silas loves to be engaged in hard
and purposeful work and by nature, and
he takes heavy load of work upon
himself


The topicality and importance of the chosen subject is justified by the trends observed in recent years, showing that questions concerning nutrition, food and food safety are gaining more and more significance. One of the biggest challenges of the 21st century is to ensure a stable, sustainable and safe food production for the continuously growing population of the world.
We have chosen this subject for the research work, as we wanted to deal with an issue that influences our everyday life, our lifestyle and welfare and our health. For this reason, this article focuses on analysing consumer habits, preferences and attitudes related to pork consumption, namely on the area of nutrition marketing. Hungary's population traditionally consumes pork meat and it is the second most popular meat, so we have chosen pork meat to be the focal point of the article.
A consumer research consisting of 1201 questionnaires served as a basis of the primary research, which can be treated as the sample population. The most important aim of the primary research was to examine how the consumption of pork products is altering in Hungary, how often they are consumed, how healthy they are judged by consumers, where these products are purchased, what price is evaluated to be realistic, which products are consumed less and more, how the preference list of consumers related to pork products looks like and where the significant differences between pork consumption and gender, age, family status, educational attainment, settlement size etc. can be found.


For highly perforated domains the paper addresses a novel approach to study mixed boundary value problems for the equations of linear elasticity in the framework of meso-scale approximations. There are no assumptions of periodicity involved in the description of the geometry of the domain. The size of the perforations is small compared to the minimal separation between neighbouring defects and here we discuss a class of problems in perforated domains, which are not covered by the homogenisation approximations. The meso-scale approximations presented here are uniform. Explicit asymptotic formulae are supplied with the remainder estimates.


Over the years many researchers have investigated the public debate on migrations, providing a restricted panorama drawn by some consolidated frames, a repertoire of recurring argument, images and iconic representations. This contribution will report on three prevailing public definitions of immigration, adding to these representations a fundamental aspect to understand its strength and effectiveness. In fact, when reconstructing the definitions of the situation, we will combine the metaphorical formulas that are used by speakers with the set of symbolic references that allow us to connect their explanations to narratives, mythologies and images rooted in our culture as well as in the Italian collective imagination. Following the example of Gamson's work, some examples of satirical cartoons and memes are presented together with the definition. The aim is to exemplify some strategies of exploration of the theme and, above all, the strength of the framing leading to a synthetic and visual representation of a wider and more complex narrative that can however, be easily recalled and exposed in a few strokes and images. The analysis of the imaginary is essential to understand how each frame can work, to build representations that are both concrete and rich, plausible and full of references to symbols, myths, "cultural resonances". In so doing, the frame is built as common sense by contributing to the production of an effective and, almost literally, hegemonic communication.


Materials of vegetable origin, in particular, woodworking industry residues can be used as alternative sorption materials for extraction of different pollutants out of water media: heavy-metal ions, colorants, phenol, petroleum. Methods of sorption properties improvement of wood residues represent substantial interest. In this work sorption properties of wood residues: sawdust of ash tree (Fráxinus excélsior) and small-leaved linden (Tília cordáta) were investigated with the aim of their further usage as sorbents at extraction of petroleum derivatives out of water media. Exhausted engine oil, having a considerable part of mineral component in its content, was investigated as the petroleum derivative. For the increase of oil absorption power processing of sawdust with ultrasound of frequency 35000 Hz with in different time intervals: from 30 up to 240 minutes was carried out. Values of maximum oil absorption power ofnative and processed samples in static conditions in relation to the exhausted engine oil were defined. Maximum oil absorption power of sawdust that underwent ultrasound processing amounted to 7.76 g/g for ash tree and 11.8 g/g for linden, what corresponds to the increase by 29.3% for ash tree and by 55.5% for linden in comparison with the initial sawdust. Sorption capacity of sawdust by methylene blue and iodine characterizing mesoand microporosity of sorption materials and its dependence on duration of ultrasound impact was defined. Toxicity of initial samples of linden and ash tree sawdust was defined by the method of biotesting, hazardclass of residues was estimated.


The economy of Massachusetts is in a deep recession. What makes the downturn all the more painful is that it comes on the heels of a period of unprecedented prosperity. What happened? How could a state go from having the lowest unemployment rate in the US to having the second highest in the space of less than 4 years? Some claim that the current recession is a natural and inevitable downturn after a prolonged expansion and that the region will soon return to a reasonable growth path. Others claim that the state is likely to experience a prolonged period of decline. The thesis of this article is that the dramatic real estate cycle, which began with a housing price boom between 1984 and 1987, was an important element that not only contributed to but also very significantly amplified the economic fortunes and misfortunes of the Commonwealth and the region.


In a variety of text document editing and processing applications, it is necessary to keep track of the revision history of text documents by recording changes and the metadata of those changes (e.g., user names and modification timestamps). The recent Web 2.0 document editing and processing applications, such as real-time collaborative note taking and wikis, require fine-grained shared access to collaborative text documents as well as efficient retrieval of metadata associated with different parts of collaborative text documents. Current revision control techniques only support coarse-grained shared access and are inefficient to retrieve metadata of changes at the sub-document granularity.
In this dissertation, we design and implement partial persistent sequences (PPSs) to support real-time collaborations and manage metadata of changes at fine granularities for collaborative text document editing and processing applications. As a persistent data structure, PPSs have two important features. First, items in the data structure are never removed. We maintain necessary timestamp information to keep track of both inserted and deleted items and use the timestamp information to reconstruct the state of a document at any point in time. Second, PPSs create unique, persistent, and ordered identifiers for items of a document at fine granularities (e.g., a word or a sentence). As a result, we are able to support consistent and fine-grained shared access to collaborative text documents by detecting and resolving editing conflicts based on the revision history as well as to efficiently index and retrieve metadata associated with different parts of collaborative text documents.
We demonstrate the capabilities of PPSs through two important problems in collaborative text document editing and processing applications: data consistency control and fine-grained document provenance management. The first problem studies how to detect and resolve editing conflicts in collaborative text document editing systems. We approach this problem in two steps. In the first step, we use PPSs to capture data dependencies between different editing operations and define a consistency model more suitable for real-time collaborative editing systems. In the second step, we extend our work to the entire spectrum of collaborations and adapt transactional techniques to build a flexible framework for the development of various collaborative editing systems. The generality of this framework is demonstrated by its capabilities to specify three different types of collaborations as exemplified in the systems of RCS, MediaWiki, and Google Docs respectively. We precisely specify the programming interfaces of this framework and describe a prototype implementation over Oracle Berkeley DB High Availability, a replicated database management engine. The second problem of fine-grained document provenance management studies how to efficiently index and retrieve fine-grained metadata for different parts of collaborative text documents. We use PPSs to design both disk-economic and computation-efficient techniques to index provenance data for millions of Wikipedia articles. Our approach is disk economic because we only save a few full versions of a document and only keep delta changes between those full versions. Our approach is also computation-efficient because we avoid the necessity of parsing the revision history of collaborative documents to retrieve fine-grained metadata. Compared to MediaWiki, the revision control system for Wikipedia, our system uses less than 10% of disk space and achieves at least an order of magnitude speed-up to retrieve fine-grained metadata for documents with thousands of revisions.


Degradation in a homogeneous alluvial channel due to complete stoppage of sediment downstream of a high capacity reservoir has been studied empirically. Based on dimensional analysis, a method has been established for predicting transient bed profiles in degrading alluvial stream. In addition, prediction procedures for other degradation elements like maximum degradation at any time at upstream section and degradation extent has also been evolved. The prediction procedures when tested against known data gave satisfactory results.


This paper seeks to explore an important characteristic of both traditional and contemporary Chinese art, that is, co-creativity. The author believes that co-creativity is a particular Chinese cultural sensibility that establishes the continuity of Chinese art and allows it to endure despite historical, societal and political changes throughout the centuries. This paper starts with an introduction of the idea of co-creativity in Chinese culture. One of its embodiments is the relationship between yin and yang . Yin and yang both engender and fulfill each other, which is a co-relational and co-creative process. It then analyzes how the idea of co-creativity is demonstrated in traditional landscape painting through the expression of the oneness with nature and invitation to join a journey with the artist. Lastly, it demonstrates this continious co-creative cultural sensibility through analyzing two contemporary artists' works. The author reads the submissive openness and vulnerability in Chinese female artist Chen Lingyang's works as a continuity of the co-creative spirit of yin and yang , nature and human. Chen's work, rooted in her cultural sensibility, expresses a totally different statement of women's desires and conditions than does that of American feminist artists Judy Chicago and Carolee Schneemann. Likewise, performance artist Ma Liuming's Fen-Ma Liuming in… series seems inspired by nature's image of co-creating the world. Different as these works may be in their formal aspects—from painting to poetry, from photography to performance— "co-creativity" is at the heart of Chinese cultural expression.


A biometric system provides automatic identification of an individual based on a unique feature or characteristic possessed by him/her. Iris recognition (IR) is known to be the most reliable and accurate biometric identification system. The iris recognition system (IRS) consists of an automatic segmentation mechanism which is based on the Hough transform (HT). This paper presents a robust IRS in unconstrained environments. Through this method, first a photo is taken from the iris, then edge detection is done, later on a contrast adjustment is persecuted in pre-processing stage. Circular HT is subsequently utilized for localizing circular area of iris inner and outer boundaries. The purpose of this last stage is to find circles in imperfect image inputs. Also, through applying parabolic HT, boundaries are localized between upper and lower eyelids. The proposed method, in comparison with available IRSs, not only enjoys higher accuracy, but also competes with them in terms of processing time. Experimental results on images available in UBIRIS, CASIA and MMUI database show that the proposed method has an accuracy rate of 99.12%, 98.80% and 98.34%, respectively.


POLSBY, NELSON W., ed. Reapportionment in the 1970's. Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1971, 296 pp., $10.00, L.C. 73-142046. This symposium analyzes reapportionment as a political and legal question: the Constitutional requirement of mathematical equality which ignores natural community boundaries, the consequences of this formula, the possibility of bi-partisan agencies by which the Court could have avoided stepping in, the influence of apportionment on policy outcomes in the states, and the consequences for Congress of population shifts to the suburbs.


Theories of authoritarianism assert that autocratic governments follow repressive and redistributive policies which impede mass mobilization, mitigate economic grievances and prevent regime instability. However, policy formulation and implementation remain opaque and under-theorized elements of authoritarian politics. I argue that the mix of repressive and redistributive policies chosen by a regime is a function of intra-elite conflict between hard-liners and soft-liners. The power of the two factions and their influence on policy evolve as members of the elite learn to judge the comparative advantages of the regime in repression and redistribution. Hard-liners will be ascendant in regimes with a comparative advantage in repression, while soft-liners will be ascendant in regimes with a comparative advantage in redistribution. I illustrate these arguments with an account of the East German regime's response to the 17 June uprising in 1953, including analysis of an original data set on secret police informants and food supplies after the unrest.


A detailed investigation of the hydrodynamic stability to transverse linear disturbances of a steady, one-dimensional detonation in an ideal gas undergoing an irreversible, unimolecular reaction with an Arrhenius rate constant is conducted via a normal-mode analysis. The method of solution is an iterative shooting technique which integrates between the detonation shock and the reaction equilibrium point. Variations in the disturbance growth rates and frequencies with transverse wavenumber, together with two-dimensional neutral stability curves and boundaries for all unstable low- and higher frequency modes, are obtained for varying detonation bifurcation parameters. These include the detonation overdrive, chemical heat release and reaction activation energy. Spatial perturbation eigenfunction behaviour and phase and group velocities are also obtained for selected sets of unstable modes. Results are presented for both Chapman–Jouguet and overdriven detonation velocities. Comparisons between the earlier pointwise determination of stability and interpolated neutral stability boundaries obtained by Erpenbeck are made. Possible physical mechanisms which govern the wavenumber selection underlying the initial onset of either regular or irregular cell patterns are also discussed.


Background: Previously, pre-existing cancers were considered a contraindication for kidney transplantation. Meanwhile, due to improved screening and treatment options, the prevalence of dialysis patients with cancer history is increasing. Potentially these patients could be eligible for kidney transplantation.
Methods: Single center retrospective study, analyzing the incidence and outcome of de novo cancers in kidney transplant recipients with and without pre-existing cancer from 01.01.1981 through 31.12.2018.
Results: The incidence of eligible transplant candidates with pre-existing malignancies increased over the last 40 years, primarily due to diagnosis of limited disease during the pre-transplant evaluations. Outcome is good with comparable graft and patient survival. Incidence of recurrent or secondary de novo cancers is low. The average annual incidence of de novo malignancy is 1 per 100 patient years in the post-transplant follow-up. In the last decades, the incidence of kidney cancers decreased, while lung cancers and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) increased. The outcome of malignant disease was poor, notably in patients with disseminated disease at presentation and mainly attributed to cancer-related death. Meanwhile, graft losses were rare after diagnosis of de novo malignancy.
Conclusions: In summary, the incidence of pre-existing and de novo solid cancers increased within the last four decades in our transplant cohort. Patients with pre-existing cancers have an excellent outcome and – if well selected – should not be excluded from transplantation. Meanwhile, de novo cancers after transplantation are associated with poor outcome.


The power grid is one of the largest man-made critical infrastructures. It has been designed to distribute electric power from generating units to residential, commercial and industrial end-users. Due to the continuous increasing of electrical penetration, the availability and reliability of network is of paramount importance. In addition, the continuous increasing of renewable generators posed a further challenges to the stability of the network due to their dependencies on environmental changes, which are drifting weather scenarios towards extremes. Hence, resilience is becoming a major concern for the future power grid. In order to respond promptly to those important changes, the resilience of the such critical infrastructure has to be augmented. This can only be achieved with the availability of robust computational models that allow to design a better network, robustly validated and updated the results. Ideally, a computational framework for the assessment of power grid resilience should capture all the relevant physical interactions between components, subsystems and the system as a whole. Furthermore, uncertain and heterogeneous environmental factors have to be accounted for and their effect on safety-related metrics explicitly modelled and quantified. This is necessary to reveal power grid risks, hazards and identity situation for which an immediate safety and resilience enhancement is necessary. In this thesis, the existing power grid safety-related concepts (i.e. reliability, risk, vulnerability and resilience) and ancillary uncertainty quantification methods are analysed. The major weakness in existing quantification frameworks has been identified as the way a lack of data required by the frameworks and the treatment of such imprecise information. To overcome this limitation, a novel and robust methods for the uncertainty quantification in power grid safety-critical evaluations has been developed. The main contributions of this dissertation are a set of novel tools for the assessment of power grid reliability, vulnerability and resilience and accounting for a rigorous treatment of lack of data uncertainty. These methods have a limited need for artificial model assumptions, which might alter the quality of the available information and, with it, the validity of safety-critical decisions. One of the key elements for a resilient grid is the system ability to learn from past events, improving the grid structure, operations and policies. For this reason, a Reinforcement Learning framework for optimal decision-making under uncertainty has been investigated. This allows to equip the systems with learning capabilities, which is a fundamental component of the resilience concept, and it optimizes operation and maintenance decisions. The developed frameworks can be used to investigate the effect of threatening scenarios (such as extreme weather conditions, multiple contingencies and cascading events) on the grid safety performance. The validity of the approaches has been tested on scaled-down power grids and prognostic health management as well on realistic models of existing systems (e.g. the IEEE reliability test system). These tools provide a valuable contribution to the research community and industrial practitioners as they can help to discern whether the available information suffices to answer a reliability, vulnerability or resilience related question. If the information is limited and additional data has to be gathered, the method informs the decision-maker with the most relevant and sensitive factors, i.e. a basic indication on where to start collecting data so that an expected reduction in uncertainty is maximised.


Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is routinely used to resolve the ultra-structure of cells with a ∼10-fold higher resolution compared to diffraction limited imaging. While STED microscopy is based on preparing the excited state of fluorescent probes with light, the recently developed expansion microscopy (ExM) provides sub-diffraction resolution by physically enlarging the sample before microscopy. Expansion of fixed cells by crosslinking and swelling of hydrogels easily enlarges the sample ∼4-fold and hence increases the effective optical resolution by this factor. To overcome the current limits of these complimentary approaches, we here combined ExM with STED (ExSTED) and demonstrate an increase in resolution of up to 30-fold compared to conventional microscopy (<10 nm lateral and ∼50 nm isotropic). While the increase in resolution is straight forward, we found that high fidelity labelling via multi-epitopes is required to obtain emitter densities that allow to resolve ultra-structural details with ExSTED. Our work provides a robust template for super resolution microscopy of entire cells in the ten nanometer range.


U reteroscopy is becoming the first surgical treatment option for the majority of urinary affections. This procedure is performed using an endoscope which provides the surgeon with the visual information necessary to navigate inside the urinary tract. Having in mind the development of surgical assistance systems, that could enhance the performance of surgeon, the task of lumen segmentation is a fundamental part since this is the visual reference which marks the path that the endoscope should follow. This is something that has not been analyzed in ureteroscopy data before. However, this task presents several challenges given the image quality and the conditions itself of ureteroscopy procedures. In this paper, we study the implementation of a Deep Neural Network which exploits the advantage of residual units in an architecture based on U-Net. For the training of these networks, we analyze the use of two different color spaces: gray-scale and RGB data images. We found that training on gray-scale images gives the best results obtaining mean values of Dice Score, Precision, and Recall of 0.73, 0.58, and 0.92 respectively. The results obtained shows that the use of residual U-Net could be a suitable model for further development for a computer-aided system for navigation and guidance through the urinary system.


Three distinct porphyry copper subbelts are defined in the Colombian Andes: (1) a western subbelt emplaced during the early to middle Eocene in an oceanic domain, underlain by ophiolitic basement, along the western side of the Western Cordillera; (2) a composite eastern subbelt generated during the Middle Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous in a continental domain, underlain by elements of the Guyana Shield, along the eastern side of the Central Cordillera and the western side of the Eastern Cordillera; and, between the two, (3) a central subbelt formed in the early to late Miocene at the contact of the oceanic and continental domains along the Cauca-Patia depression and its flanks.K-Ar geochronometry undertaken as part of this study provided preferred minimum ages of: 54.7 + or - 1.3 m.y. for Murindo, 48.1 + or - 1.0 m.y. for Acandi, and 42.7 + or - 0.9 m.y. for Pantanos-Pegadorcito in the western subbelt; 166 + or - 4 m.y. for Mocoa, 166 + or - 4 m.y. for Dolores, 144 + or - 3 m.y. for California, and 131 + or - 2 m.y. for Infierno-Chili in the eastern subbelt; and 17.4 + or - 0.4 m.y. for Piedrasentada in the central subbelt.The porphyry copper prospects are associated with dacite to tonalire porphyry stocks, which in the western and eastern subbelts intruded batholiths emplaced perhaps 15 to 30 m.y. earlier but which in the central subbelt are isolated within metamorphic or sedimentary host rocks. The porphyry copper systems exhibit a variety of alteration patterns, with potassium silicate and sericitic alteration important in the highest grade prospects and propylitization predominant in low-grade occurrences. None of the prospects displays significant supergene enrichment. Although porphyry coppers in the continental domain tend to be more molybdenum rich than those in the oceanic domain, gold-rich prospects occur in both settings, as do major lode gold deposits.The Jurassic and Miocene subbelts are interpreted to have been emplaced during eastward subduction at Andean-type continental margins, whereas the western Eocene subbelt could have been generated in either a modified Andean-type setting or in an intraoceanic island arc prior to its accretion to the continental edge.


A Journey Unlike Any Other is an interactive museum exhibition that introduces visitors to the experience of being a refugee. First, the visitor is confronted with hostility from soldiers in the homeland, and later, after an escape, with all the difficulties derived from meetings with police and immigration authorities in the new country. The provocations visitors endure during the course of the exhibition enhance a high degree of perceptual awareness, reflectivity and memory. In the aftermath of their experience, visitors indicate an increase of empathic understanding and experiential knowledge, whereas their interest in information and further background knowledge seems to be unaffected.


Aim. The aim of this PhD thesis is to report the sociological position, power dynamics and expertise in the communication between specialist nurses and doctors within NHS acute hospitals.

Background. Nursing and healthcare have continually evolved, with new nursing roles interfacing professionally at a more advanced level with doctors. Historically the relationship and interactions have been characterised as the 'Doctor-Nurse' game which has been reviewed from many sociological perspectives. However, little has been added to understand the basis of these transactions that take place in the clinical setting between advanced practice nurses and doctors in hospitals.

Methods. The primary methods comprised a critical realist approach ethnography, undertaking: fieldwork observations, follow-up interviews and artefact analysis on teams of specialist nurses and doctors working in three NHS hospitals. Seven specialist teams comprising 30 specialist nurses and 53 doctors of all grades were directly studied, alongside other peripheral members of the healthcare team as they delivered care.

Results. The findings in this study demonstrate that much has changed concerning the role of the specialist nurse: professionally, clinically and sociologically. Four main themes emerged from the research: defining a new relationship between medicine and nursing; social space, development of 'field' in hospital care, division of labour, expertise and a new interaction model. The basis of the relationship has changed through bureaucratic challenges to the medical role which has resulted in changes to nursing power and its application in the clinical field in the new care models. There are a number of new strategies employed by both groups in the management of professional role, knowledge base, expertise and clinical work in the field. The communication strategies are more complex with a sophisticated coalition model of organisation. However, some 'doctor-nurse games' are still played out in the clinical setting, based upon traditional divisions of labour and power. This relationship has also created other tensions in the workspace particularly with junior medical staff, nursing staff and administrators.


: In this research, we investigate information systems development (ISD) as value co-creation and how different actors perform co-creation as an ISD approach. For this purpose, we present a case study of an ISD project that developed a digital game on the topic of climate change in a not-for-profit, intergovernmental context. The project had limited resources. It involved a number of youth and used a social media platform. We apply a taxonomic framework for value co-creation that we derived from a taxonomy of Web-based co-creation. The taxonomy had originally been developed for a commercial context and researchers have not empirically validated it before. Our study shows that the taxonomic framework explains the project as value co-creation especially with regard to co-creators' motivation and the types of value they created. We further discuss our findings in reference to information systems (IS) literature on service innovation. This literature contributes to additionally explaining what value co-creation is and how one can perform it as an instance of ISD practice. Against this background, we offer some propositions for how future ISD research could benefit from adopting a value co-creation perspective. Although we derived our findings from a specific project in a particular setting, we argue that they can be used to 1) prepare any co-creation project, 2) cope with co-creation during the development process by explaining co-creation as an approach to ISD, and 3) reflect and derive lessons learnt. While researchers need to further empirically validate these claims, we develop insight into value co-creation in ISD with respect to participatory approaches to ISD beyond conventional environments, roles, and participant and contributor types.


Background Sternal wound infections are a rare but life-threatening complication of cardiothoracic surgery. Prior literature has supported the use of negative pressure wound therapy to decrease sternal wound infections and promote healing. This study sought to determine whether closed incision negative pressure therapy reduced wound infection and improved outcomes in cardiothoracic surgery. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed including all adult patients who underwent nontraumatic cardiothoracic surgery at a single institution between 2016 and 2018 (n = 1199). Patient characteristics, clinical variables, and surgical outcomes were compared between those who did and did not receive incisional negative pressure wound therapy intraoperatively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis determined factors predictive or protective of the development of complications. Results Incisional negative pressure wound therapy was used in 58.9% of patients. Patients who received this therapy were older with statistically higher rates of hyperlipidemia, statin, and antihypertensive use. The use of negative pressure wound therapy was found to significantly reduce rates of both wound infection (3.0% vs 6.3%, P = 0.01) and readmission for wound infection (0.7% vs 2.6%, P = 0.01). After controlling for confounding variables, negative pressure wound therapy was found to be a protective factor of surgical wound infection (odds ratio, 0.497; 95% confidence interval, 0.262–0.945). Conclusions In the largest population studied to date, this study supported the expanded use of negative pressure therapy on sternal wound incisions to decrease infection rates.


The basic aspects of the theory of argumentation, the relations of argumentation with the concept of logical inference and a description of argumentation in the analysis of compared international politics are presented in this article. Argumentation will be here understood as part of a deliberative process of pro or against reasoning around certain opinion that might be defended by means of a confrontation of ideas. Therefore, the one who argues proposes, refuses, beats or justifies any understanding of the world. With this in view, a brief description of deductive argumentative systems is undertaken. Some degree of formality, arising from the logics to structure the general argumentative basis, is introduced. Then, an exemplification based on a highly recognized case in international relations is presented: the conditions of public debate that gave birth to the invasion and war in Iraq.


AIM
To conduct the first systematic test of the hypothesis that modulation of cardiac vagal tone is impaired in Lyme disease.

METHODS
The response of cardiac vagal tone to respiratory modulation was measured in 18 serologically positive Lyme disease patients and in 18 controls.

RESULTS
The two groups were matched in respect of age, sex, body mass, mean arterial blood pressure, mean resting heart rate and mean resting cardiac vagal tone. The mean maximum cardiac vagal tone during deep breathing in the Lyme disease patients [11.2 (standard error 1.3)] was lower than in the matched controls [16.5 (standard error 1.7); P = 0.02].

CONCLUSION
Respiratory modulation of cardiac vagal tone is impaired in Lyme disease, which suggests that Lyme disease may directly affect the vagus nerve or the brainstem.


In this study, we investigate the ability of the mammalian auditory pathway to adapt its strategy for temporal processing under natural stimulus conditions. We derive temporal receptive fields from the responses of neurons in the inferior colliculus to vocalization stimuli with and without additional ambient noise. We find that the onset of ambient noise evokes a change in receptive field dynamics that corresponds to a change from bandpass to lowpass temporal filtering. We show that these changes occur within a few hundred milliseconds of the onset of the noise and are evident across a range of overall stimulus intensities. Using a simple model, we illustrate how these changes in temporal processing exploit differences in the statistical properties of vocalizations and ambient noises to increase the information in the neural response in a manner consistent with the principles of efficient coding.


Meniscus is the most commonly injured structure in the knee joint. Resection of the meniscus as well as the torn menisci is known to induce the degeneration of the articular cartilage. Replacement of the resected meniscus by allograft is limited by its availability and potential disease transmission. Artificial prostheses are being tried in an attempt to regenerate the meniscal tissue and we developed the biodegradable porous polycaprolactone(PCL) scaffold, which acts as a temporary scaffold to enable the regeneration of a new tissue in time. We report the results of rabbit implantation model. Biodegradable PCL scaffold coated with type I collagen with pores sized 100~150 +m and with compression modulus 400 kpa were fabricated by melt-molding particulate- leaching method. The molds were made using the native meniscus of the rabbit. Medial meniscus of right knee was partially removed through arthrotomy, leaving anterior 1/5 of the meniscus, after sectioning medial collateral ligament. The implant was attached to the peripheral capsule and remnant anterior meniscus with sutures. The medial meniscus of the left knee was removed and served as a control without replacement. The regenerated meniscus was harvested at 4 & 12wks after implantation. In addition to the routine histology of the tissue regenerated and remnant scaffold, junction between the normal meniscus and the regenerated tissue, and cartilage surface degeneration was observed. After 4 and 12 weeks the scaffolds, although considerable amount of the materials remained, were largely filled and covered with fibrous tissue which was assumed to be derived from synovial tissue of peripheral capsule. The tissue grossly resembling the native meniscus was maintained and spindle shaped cells with extracellular matrices were observed histologically. Neither cells with chondrocytic phenotype nor distinct cartilage matrices were observed until 12 weeks. The bonding between the regenerated tissue and the peripheral synovial capsule was firm and solid in all cases. The tissue bridges between the native meniscus and the regenerated tissue were found in 9/10 operated knees. Articular surface degeneration was not different between experimental and control groups except one case. More or less, the extrusion of the meniscus was found in almost all knees. This study revealed that meniscal replacement with PCL polymer prosthesis was feasible and led to adequate tissue formation. Long term studies on adaptive remodeling will be required.


Through applying PPC model based on RAGA in the irrigation schemes,the authors turn multi-dimension data into low dimension space.So the optimum projection direction can stand for the best influence to the collectivity.Thus,the value of projection function can evaluate each item.The PPC model can avoid jamming of weight matrix in the method of grey relation,and obtain better result.It provides a new method and thought for comprehensive evaluation of irrigation scheme and other relative study.


This guide is intended for students in Professor Shannon's Fall 2016 First Year Seminar class. Those wishing to copy this guide for instructional purposes, please contact guide creator, Christina Connor.


Objective: To determine the level of hearing handicap and its age and gender association in older adults.
Study Design: Cross sectional analytical study.
Place and Duration of Study: Study conducted at Ear, Nose & Throat outpatients of Yusra General Hospital, National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Islamabad and Cantonment General Hospital Rawalpindi, from Jul to Sep 2017.
Methodology: We recruited two hundred cases of self-reported hearing difficulty, using non-probability consecutive sampling, who fulfilled inclusion criteria. After recording demographic details including history, subjects were screened by the Screening Version of Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE-S). Followed by otoscopy and pure tone audiometry. Analysis was done using SPSS-24.
Results: Study revealed 133 (65.5%) males and 67 (33.5%) females with mean age of 65.45 ± 7.50 years. Out of 179 (89.5%) had significantly high level of hearing handicap with HHIE-S score >43, while 21 (10.5%) revealed mild to moderate handicap with score of 17-42. Hearing handicap was significantly associated with aging (p<0.001), while no significant gender association was noted. Hearing loss was mainly of sensory-neural type 192 (96%).
Conclusion: In older adults with self-reported hearing loss, high level of hearing handicap was present in majority (89.5%) and mild to moderate in 10.5%, with significant association with aging and hearing loss was predominantly sensory- neural type.


We consider the problem of estimation from noisy relative measurements in a network. In previous work, a distributed scheme for obtaining least-squares (LS) estimates was developed based on the Jacobi algorithm; in a synchronous version, the algorithm was shown to converge exponentially and bounds on the rate of convergence have been obtained. In this paper, we design and analyze a new class of distributed asynchronous smoothing algorithms based on a randomized version of Kaczmarz algorithm for solving linear systems. One of the proposed schemes applies Randomized Kaczmarz directly to the noisy linear system, whereas the other one operates on the normal equations for LS estimation. We analyze the expected convergence rate of the proposed algorithms depending solely on properties of the network topology. Inspired by the analytical insights, we propose a distributed smoothing algorithm, namely Randomized Kaczmarz Over-smoothing (RKO), which has demonstrated significant improvement over existing protocols in terms of both convergence speedup and energy savings.


Confidentiality and consistency are two aspects of security for information systems, but mechanisms used to ensure them often support one at the expense of the other, in particular when data is not independent of the others. A new approach of access control for information systems consists in preserving several versions of the data and performing user's actions on his own view. Doing so, the view behaves as expected with regard to invoked operations (confidentiality) while ensuring properties on data and relationships in the repository (consistency). The FLUOR1 project uses this model for its embedded information system.


Biomaterials used for implants may be metallic, ceramic, polymeric or composite. Currently, metals that are gradually broken down in the body have been attracting much attention, as a new generation of biodegradable implants. Magnesium (Mg) and related alloys are promising candidates for degradable biomaterials, comprising temporary mechanical properties with biological acceptance to the human body. However, the target periods set clinically, with respect to the practical uses of Mg for biodegradable stents, have yet to be achieved. Hence, improved understanding of the corrosion behaviour of Mg in the biological environment is needed.
Novel Mg narrow walled minitubes, for degradable stent applications, have been produced using radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RF-MS) physical vapour deposition (PVD). The microstructural development of the as-deposited minitubes have been investigated, as a function of annealing temperature, using the combined complementary analytical techniques of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and microhardness indentation. The as-deposited minitubes exhibited columnar grain structures with high levels of porosity, but were very brittle. Slight alteration to the crystal structure, from columnar to more isotropic grain growth, was demonstrated at elevated temperature, along with increasing material densification, hardness and corrosion resistance. It is suggested that stabilisation of the columnar grains and the formation of oxide layers during the sequential Mg-layer deposition process, acted as a barrier, preventing the development of a fully dense, equiaxed structures.
The onset and development of Mg corrosion may be addressed by the use of coatings or near surface modification processes. Accordingly, the corrosion resistance of ~ 1-2 µm thick Al coatings, deposited by RF-MS on polished Mg surfaces, within Ar and Ar/H2 environments, were appraised. The coatings were heat-treated at 300°C and 450°C, with the aim of inducing the formation of bioinert Al2O3, and samples were corroded within phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution at 37°C to mimic the biological environment. Both as-deposited and heat-treated coatings were found to delay the onset of corrosion, but showed higher initial corrosion rates, once established, as compared to the polished Mg surfaces. Slight improvement in coating performance was achieved through the addition of H2 to the system, which acted to inhibit Al-Mg alloying and enhance Al2O3 formation. However, localized accelerated corrosion associated with substrate polishing damage emphasised the need for improved process control and coating uniformity. Si-H coatings deposited on Mg surfaces within Ar/H2 ambient using a PVD technique was also investigated. The as-deposited coatings comprised dense, crack-free amorphous a-Si-H layers with thickness of ~ 1 µm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses provided evidence for the presence of SiH2 as well as SiOx. The corrosion resistance of a-Si-H coated Mg increased significantly in contact with PBS, in both electrical and immersion tests, due to improved coverage of the substrate.
The effect of rapid thermal processing techniques on the corrosion resistance of Mg surfaces was also investigated. Mg surfaces treated by large area electron beam (LAEB) irradiation showed refinement of the surface grain structure, with increased grain boundary delineation, although localised ablation, roughness and crater formation increased with increasing cathode voltage and number of pulses. The corrosion potential and corrosion rate of LAEB modified surfaces generally increased with increase the energy imparted to the surface. The extended corrosion performance of low energy EB processed surfaces, under immersion testing was consistent with the trend of improved corrosion resistance during the early stages of immersion in PBS. However, surfaces over-processed at high energies experienced higher corrosion rates in both potentiodynamic and immersion testing, due to the development of inclusions, craters and cracks on the modified surface.
Further, Mg surfaces, modified by laser surface melting (LSM) under conditions of low energy laser irradiation, experienced rapid melting, causing surface smoothening and grain refinement centred along the laser beam tracks, whilst coarser grains decorated the overlapping regions, due to the Gaussian shape of the laser beam profile. More uniform surface processing was achieved by increasing the laser beam spot size, which acted to improve the corrosion resistance of Mg. Under high energy LSM processing conditions, Mg surfaces showed conventional laser melting rippled patterns, along with craters and cracks, and the redeposition of MgO particles, causing an increase in surface roughness and corrosion rate. The corrosion performance under immersion testing showed the corrosion rate similar to that of the original polished Mg samples, due to non-uniform surface modification and the mixed development of fine and coarser grains. However, observation revealed that refined grain regions along the centre of the laser tracks were able to resist corrosion for longer times.
Generally, annealed Mg-minitubes produced by PVD, and the near surface modification of Mg by EB and LSM, showed that fine grained Mg can affect the electrochemical response of Mg within the physiological environment, due to the rapid, enhanced development of the passivation layer, promoted by improvements in surface homogeneity and an increase in grain boundary density.


Osmotic dehydration experiments of pumpkin with binary aqueous solutions of sucrose, sodium chloride and ternary solutions with both solutes at 298 K were carried out. Weight reduction, water loss and solute acquisition kinetics were determined. Experimental data were fitted employing a diffusional model considering samples as spheres and the external resistance to the mass transfer negligible. The model gave as parameter of fitting an effective diffusion coefficient for each component transferred (water, sucrose and sodium chloride) for each experimental condition assayed. Correlations between the effective diffusivity and solute concentration were established for binary and ternary systems.


The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a programme to demonstrate and encourage the development of LISA data-analysis capabilities, tools and techniques. At the time of this workshop, three rounds of challenges had been completed, and the next was about to start. In this paper we provide a critical analysis of the entries to the latest completed round, Challenge 1B. The entries confirm the consolidation of a range of data-analysis techniques for galactic and massive-black-hole binaries, and they include the first convincing examples of detection and parameter estimation of extreme-mass-ratio inspiral sources. In this paper we also introduce the next round, Challenge 3. Its data sets feature more realistic waveform models (e.g., galactic binaries may now chirp, and massive-black-hole binaries may precess due to spin interactions), as well as new source classes (bursts from cosmic strings, isotropic stochastic backgrounds) and more complicated nonsymmetric instrument noise.


An experiment was carried out at Kediri, Tabanan Regency and Animal Nutrition Laboratory to study the effect of the supplementation VCO in the ration to increase carcass weight and decrease duck meat cholesterol. The experiment used a completely randomized design (CRD) with five treatments and four replicates. Each of the replicate used five male Balinese ducks with the same weight. The five treatments were diets without VCO as a control (A), ration with 1% VCO (B), ration with 2% VCO (C), ration with 3% VCO (D) and ration with 4% VCO (E) respectively. Ration and water offered ad libitum. The variables measured were carcass weight, physical carcass composition and meat cholesterol. The result of this experiment showed that the carcass weight, the carcass percentage, the percentage of carcass meat in the B, C, D and E treatments were not significantly (P>0.05) higher than the control, so the percentage of fat carcass subcutan (including skin) and carcass bone percentage were not significantly (P>0.05) lower than the control. Triglyceride in treatment 3% VCO in diets (D) was significantly (P 0.05) higher than the control. The total cholesterol content and LDL in those four treatments were not significantly (P>0.05) lower than the control. From the result of this experiment can be concluded that the supplementation of 1-4% VCO in the ration has not increased to the carcass weight and decreased the duck meat cholesterol. Keywords : VCO, duck, carcass weight, and  meat cholesterol


Plans by the NHS Commissioning Board to reorganise clinical networks in England have raised concerns of a loss of expertise and momentum.

The board announced in July that it intended to increase the range of conditions covered by adding two new networks—maternity and children's health; and mental health, dementia, and neurological conditions—to the existing cancer and cardiovascular disease networks. But specialists have said that the new system will spread resources more thinly and that advances made in care of cancer and stroke patients may be put at risk.

At present there are 56 networks divided equally between cancer and heart disease and stroke. Their job is to improve the delivery of services and reduce variation in a particular geographical area. Under the new system, which comes into force next April, the numbers of networks will be reduced to 12 …


This dissertation investigates the process and product of interpreters with different levels of experience and explores the expertise approach (cf. Ericsson, Charness and Hoffman 2007) as applied to interpreters. The expertise approach claims that highly skilled performers, regardless of their chosen field, use the same type of strategies in order to reach the top levels of their profession. An important feature of the expertise approach is deliberate practice, a specific type of practice that highly skilled performers engage in so as to improve their performance.The dissertation is based on four different studies featuring two different sets of participants. Two data sets – a cross-sectional material with nine participants on three different levels of interpreting experience (none, short and long), and a long-term material with three interpreters recorded at two different points in time – were analysed in terms of both processing and product data. The interpreting process was studied by retrospectively analysing and categorizing processing problems, monitoring and strategies, while the interpreting product was analysed by using holistic rating scales for intelligibility and level of information transfer of the interpreting product. In-depth interviews were also conducted with the long-term participants in order to investigate their perception of deliberate practice and their own view of their skill development. An important and integral part of the dissertation, apart from the results, was the development of the holistic rating scales (adapted from Carroll 1966), and the development of an in-depth interview study.The conclusions of the dissertation are that there are measurable differences of interpreting skill between performers with little or no interpreting experience and performers with long interpreting experience, but this finding could not be supported by the long-term (intra-individual) study. Differences between the groups in the cross-sectional material could also be observed from the process data. Experienced interpreters16encountered fewer processing problems than less experienced interpreters and had more strategies at hand to solve problems. There were also clear differences in terms of instances of monitoring (i.e. controlling the interpreting process and output) between experienced interpreters and other subjects. Monitoring seemed to be a dividing line between experienced and inexperienced interpreters, and experienced interpreters had more processing capacity available to monitor themselves. This was also to a certain extent supported in the in-depth interviews, where the participants reported how they constantly evaluate themselves in terms of improving performance. A key assumption established in the beginning of the project – that experienced interpreters would claim, in the in-depth interviews, that they practise a great deal – was not supported, to our surprise. The interpreters recounted many practice-like activities but stated that they did not actually practise.The dissertation concludes by calling for more studies on deliberate practice in interpreting, suggesting that the term "interpreter expert" should only be used with caution in scientific studies and that the particular features of expertise and deliberate practice in interpreting should be discussed.


SMESEC is an H2020 project that designed and implemented a lightweight cybersecurity framework for protecting small and medium-sized enterprises against cyber threats. The framework integrates a large variety of contemporary cybersecurity tools but also provides additional features aiming to facilitate novice users to get an overview of existing threats through simple tutorials, extensive explanatory material and a complete lessons-learned section. One of the possible areas in which the project can demonstrate its potential is in the protection of online voting solutions for small companies or governmental institutions. Scytl has developed an online voting solution that has been used in many private and governmental elections. The solution follows the principles of security by design, however infrastructure security must also be considered and ensured. This is not always easy for small companies or institutions, which are primarily interested on self-administrate their systems, but in the same time cannot afford the full spectrum of necessary security tools for tackling major and severe cyber threats. This paper aims to provide a detailed overview of the components and the architecture of a fully-functional and widely used online voting system, some of the imminent threats such a deployment faces and most importantly a description of the integration with the SMESEC framework and how exactly this was beneficial for the specific online voting solution.


Both the dynamic and equilibrium thermal responses of an L mode plasma to repetitive ECH heat pulses were measured and compared with predictions from several thermal transport models. While no model consistently agreed with all observations, the GLF23 model was most consistent with the perturbed electron and ion temperature responses for one of the cases studied, which may indicate a key role played by electron modes in the core of these discharges. Generally, the IIF and MM models performed well for the perturbed electron response while the GLF23 and IFS/PPPL models agreed with the perturbed ion response for all three cases studied. No single model agreed well with the equilibrium temperature profiles measured.