We propose HandLer, a novel convolutional architecture that can jointly detect and track hands online in unconstrained videos. HandLer is based on Cascade-RCNN with additional three novel stages. The first stage is Forward Propagation, where the features from frame t −1 are propagated to frame t based on previously detected hands and their estimated motion. The second stage is the Detection and Backward Regression, which uses outputs from the forward propagation to detect hands for frame t and their relative offset in frame t −1. The third stage uses an off-the-shelf human pose method to link any fragmented hand tracklets. We train the forward propagation and backward regression and detection stages end-to-end together with the other Cascade-RCNN components. To train and evaluate HandLer, we also contribute YouTube-Hand, the first challenging large-scale dataset of unconstrained videos annotated with hand locations and their trajectories. Experiments on this dataset and other benchmarks show that HandLer outperforms the existing state-of-the-art tracking algorithms by a large margin. Code and data are available at https://vision.cs.stonybrook.edu/~mingzhen/handler/.


The Best Leadership Practices of Principals in High Performing and High Poverty Schools in Ohio Mark A. Furda The current accountability movement faced by schools throughout the country has prompted educators to close the achievement gap or else face a barrage of federal, state, and public backlash. Schools which have met overall standards will not be considered successful unless they have done something to close the achievement gap. The gaps generally occur among the economically disadvantaged students, minority groups, and those with learning disabilities. The subgroup of particular interest for this research is low socio-economic status students (SES). Principals are the instructional leaders of their buildings. This research focuses on how school leaders are helping disadvantaged students. To determine what leaders of high performing and high poverty schools are doing to close the achievement gap, a mixed methodology study was completed. Principals in Ohio Schools of Promise (high poverty schools which achieve at high levels on the Ohio Achievement Tests) were asked to complete the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Profile Inventory (LPI) self-survey. A comparison of urban and rural principals was conducted using multiple independent samples t-tests. The results of the survey were also the basis for identifying thirty teachers to interview. The interviews were designed to identify the best practices of principals in these high performing and high poverty schools. A regression analysis was performed to examine possible links between any of several demographic variables and LPI mean scores. Results of the statistical tests indicated no significant differences in how urban and rural principals in Schools of Promise viewed their strengths and weaknesses as leaders. The regression analysis suggested there a statistically significant relationship between the composite LPI mean scores of principals and both administrative years of experience and student teacher ratio at the .05 level. Emergent themes resulting from the teacher surveys revealed best practices in five leadership areas: modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, encouraging the heart, and enabling others to act. The achievement gap between students from low SES backgrounds and their more affluent counterparts has been closed in many schools. The results of this study demonstrate that there are specific strategies leaders can take to help close the gap. The study suggests important steps which can be taken by educators at the building and district levels, as well as the graduate level, to help all students achieve at high levels.


The relationship of the individual to the nation-state is often conceived by theorists in terms of either an emotional ethno-cultural bond (to the traditional 'nation'), or a civic legal-rational connection (to the 'state'). Such a distinction is fundamentally problematic for settler nations with diverse migrant populations. Australia is such a society built on the integration of migrants into an increasingly multicultural polity. The role of citizenship in this process of integration and nation-building is contested. As in other Western democracies, recent moves to increase the value and uptake of citizenship by eligible residents have occurred using discourses of ethno-cultural patriotism. Yet little is known about how migrants to Australia view citizenship. Australian political scientists Betts and Birrell (2007) have argued that most Australians envisage citizenship in terms of monocultural patriotic commitment, while government and the intellectual elite take a more civic 'proceduralist' approach. To explore the validity of this dichotomy, and its relevance to migrants, we analyse migrants' constructions of Australian citizenship from two sources, a government website and interviews, finding evidence of both patriotism and proceduralism, but significant overlap in the way the perspectives are articulated. Differences between the data sets, in representations of economic productivity, identity and exclusion, are also discussed. We conclude that everyday conceptualisations of Australian citizenship by migrants combine patriotism and proceduralism, and indicate a degree of complexity and ambivalence missing in Betts and Birrell's formulation.


Crit Care Med 2016 • Volume 44 • Number 12 (Suppl.) identified on the right side, instead there were several mediastinal collaterals and a small pulmonary artery. ECHO cardiogram showed absent right pulmonary veins, mild right pulmonary artery hypoplasia with an abnormal flow pattern. Bronchoscopy showed abundant purulent secretions and erythematous and friable mucosa on the right side. Cardiac catheterization showed absent pulmonary veins on the right side, hypoplastic right pulmonary artery and multiple aortopulmonary collaterals from the aorta. The child was treated with antibiotics for the pneumonia and supported with non-invasive ventilation. Results: Unilateral pulmonary vein atresia is a rare condition with less that 40 cases reported in the literature. Most of the patients present in early infancy or childhood with recurrent pulmonary infections, dyspnea on exertion, hemoptysis and even death. Cyanosis is uncommon without underlying cardiac defect. What makes this case interesting is that, our patient did not have history of recurrent respiratory infections in the past. Children with unusual lung infections should be investigated for associated congenital anomalies.


Two cases of combined goblet cell carcinoid and mucinous cystadenoma occurring in the appendix are reported. The histogenesis of the goblet cell carcinoid remains one of its most controversial aspects and the occurrence of both of these relatively uncommon tumours in the same organ may lend support to the unitary stem cell hypothesis on the origin of this tumour. Alternatively, this occurrence may represent an example ofthe adenoma/ carcinoma sequence. ( Clin Pathol 1995;48:869-870)


Energy levels of the four lowest bands in Dy and Er, B(E2) transition strengths between the levels, and the B(M1) strength distribution of the ground state, all calculated within the framework of pseudo-SU3 model, are presented [9]. Realistic single-particle energies and quadrupolequadrupole and pairing interaction strengths fixed from systematics were used in the calculations [6]. The strengths of four rotor-like terms, all small relative to the other terms in the interaction, were adjusted to give an overall best fit to the energy spectra. The procedure yielded consistent parameter sets for the four nuclei.


Objectives: Our aims were to investigate the systemic hemodynamic effects of constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibitors in hyperdynamic endotoxemia. Patients and Methods: Group 1 comprised sham-operated controls, while in group 2, 3 and 4, a hyperdynamic circulatory reaction was elicited by a 2-hour infusion of Escherichia coli endotoxin (ETX) in a dose of 5.3 μg/kg. The animals in group 3 were treated with 12.5 mg/kg nonselective NOS inhibitor N-ω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), and those in group 4 with 2 mg/kg of the specific iNOS inhibitor S-methyl-isothiourea (SMT). Mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO) and myocardial contractility (MC) were measured, and total peripheral resistance (TPR) was calculated. The eNOS and iNOS activities were determined in myocardial biopsy samples taken after 8 h of endotoxemia. Results: ETX induced significant decreases in TPR and MAP, a transient myocardial depression, and increased the myocardial eNOS and iNOS activities. L-NAME decreased the activities of both isoenzymes, increased MC but induced a fall in CO. SMT inhibited iNOS by 60%, without influencing the eNOS activity, increased MAP and contractility in the early phase of endotoxemia, and induced only a slight decrease in CO. Conclusions: Nonselective NOS inhibition restores the arterial pressure and exerts a positive inotropic effect, but decreases CO. SMT selectively decreases the iNOS activation without disturbing the vasoregulatory function of the eNOS-derived nitric oxide in hyperdynamic endotoxemia in the dog.


Recognition of clinical syndromes in returned travelers is an important part of providing care to international travelers. The first step is to take a history with attention to pre-travel preventive measures, the patient's itinerary, and potential exposure to infectious agents. The patient should then be examined to document physical signs, such as fever, rash, or hepatosplenomegaly, and to have basic laboratory data obtained. This evaluation will provide most physicians with the necessary information to generate a differential diagnosis. Each diagnosis should be matched against the incubation period of the disease, the geographic location of illness, the frequency of illness in returned travelers, and the pre-travel preventive measures. Careful attention to these aspects of patient care should result in the appropriate diagnosis and therapeutic intervention for the ill returned traveler.


Solitary extramedullary plasmocytoma (SEP) of the thyroid gland is a very rare disease. The diagnosis of SEP can be made after ruling out multiple myeloma. Histological examinations, immunohistochemical analysis with an overexpression of CD 138, CD 38 and kappa light chain reaction confirmed this uncommon condition in our case. Medullary carcinoma, MALT-Lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma of the thyroid should be excluded in the diagnosis. Surgical resection and radiotherapy, or a combination of both, are standard treatment methods. However, because of rareness of this disease, no general therapy can be recommended. We report about a 75 year old male patient and its involvement of the right remainder thyroid lobe by SEP five years post a Dunhill-Procedure due to multinodular goiter.


This study proposes to evaluate fermentation losses and dry matter recovery rate in cactus silages with elephant grass. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with eight replicates. Treatments consisted of cactus silages with increasing levels of elephant grass (10, 20, 30 and 40 % on a fresh-weight basis). The material was ensiled in experimental PVC tubes and was evaluated after 200 days of fermentation. The inclusion of elephant grass in the silage did not influence its pH (4.55), effluent losses (77.78 kg/t of fresh matter) or dry matter recovery rate (69.03 %), but induced a linear increase in dry matter content (from 8.33 to 14.80 %) and a decrease in gas losses (from 30.33 to 17.20 %). The addition of up to 40 % elephant grass improves the fermentation profile of cactus silage.


Abstract Interstratified clay minerals reflect the weathering degree and record climatic conditions and the pedogenic processes in the soil. It is hard to distinguish a few layers of interstratified clay minerals from the chlorite matrix, due to their similar two-dimensional tetrahedral-octahedral-tetrahedral (TOT) structure and electron-beam sensitive nature during transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging. Here, we used multiple advanced TEM techniques including low-dose high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) imaging combined with energy-dispersive spectroscopic (EDS) mapping to study interstratified layers in a chlorite sample from Changping, Beijing, China. We demonstrated an interstratified mica or pyrophyllite monolayer could be well distinguished from the chlorite matrix by projected atomic structures, lattice spacings, and chemical compositions with advanced TEM techniques. Further investigation showed two different transformation mechanisms from mica or pyrophyllite to chlorite: either a 4 Å increase or decrease in the lattice spacing. This characterization approach can be extended to the studies of other electron-beam sensitive minerals.


According to the tunnel blasting vibration test at Kiaochow bay Cross-harbor Tunnel Guide Line Project, the regulation of the tunnel vibration velocity has been studied. Based on the analytical results, this paper finds that the change regulation of vertical, horizontal radial and tangential vibration velocity as the different distances from the work face. The tunnel vibration velocity of the rear work face is greater than the unexcavated area. The peak value of the rear work face is 2-2.5 times as large as that of the front work face, vibration velocity of the front work face attenuates gently. The paper figures out the relationship between vibration velocity and distance from sensor to the work face, which can offer a reference to similar studies.


Lakes and reservoirs are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities, with serious environmental and financial consequences. In particular, nutrient loadings are increasing due to expanding human populations and food demand, and thermal stratification is increasing due to global warming. For deep lakes, this is leading to an increase of the seasonal water column stability, extending the duration of seasonal deoxygenation of hypolimnetic waters, as well as increasing the nutrient inventory within the bottom sediments. The large volume of deoxygenated hypolimnetic water and nutrient-enriched bottom sediments increase nutrient releases. This overturn brings the deoxygenated, nutrient rich hypolimnetic water into the euphotic zone, leading to increased primary productivity, organic enrichment, and providing a feedback mechanism for further degradation of the fauna and flora living in the epilimnion, potentially culminating in total death of aerobic organisms by asphyxiation. Reservoirs and shallow lakes are increasingly subjected to toxic algal blooms in response to changing patterns of stratification in combination with the increasing nutrient loadings. We use two examples to illustrate the problems presently encountered, the range of control strategies available to manage the consequences and then show how adaptive, real-time, self-learning technologies may be used to dynamically optimize the ecosystem health, as both the impacts and the system change with time. The first example is deep Lake Iseo in Italy. The period between overturns has increased from around every ten years to twenty years in Lake Iseo over the last 50 years. We show that the water column stratification may be controlled with solar-powered impellers, allowing the frequency of overturning to be regulated so as to prevent the buildup of large volumes of low-oxygen hypolimnetic waters. The second is shallow Lake Ypacarai in Paraguay. It has undergone rapid eutrophication, resulting in severe toxic algal blooms that are having a devastating impact on the economy of Paraguay. Using the numerical simulations of the lake ecosystem, we carried out a sensitivity analysis of the available controls for the mitigation of the algal blooms. The simulations demonstrate how a decrease in the nutrient loadings, decrease in the water levels, flushing of the lake with bore or river water and increase in water opacity provide multiple potential bloom control mechanisms. The results for both lakes indicate that a real-time adaptive management system using model forecasts could optimize environmental controls on attributes (e.g. cyanobacteria and dissolved oxygen) that would otherwise seriously deteriorate and impact the ecological processes throughout the lake ecosystems.


Through ethnographic research, including participatory photography or "photovoice," this research project explored the changing landscape of childhood faced by children living in orphanages in Kenya amidst ongoing political violence and disease epidemics. In particular, the research focused on documenting children's perceptions and experiences in two orphanages: the urban Kayole Rehabilitation Centre, a governmental agency in Nairobi; and Flying Kites Kenya, a rural nonprofit organization in Njabini. Each child was given a reusable 35 mm camera and instruction about photography. Children were asked to take pictures of daily experiences and people of importance to them. Participatory photography projects with orphaned children in both locales revealed a new conception of "family." Ethical considerations when using visual methodologies with children are also discussed.


Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic foot ulcer are the most frequent, but also the most disabling complications of diabetes mellitus, with a sinister impact on patients' quality of life. Microvascular changes related to the deleterious effect of chronic hyperglycemia play an important role in the pathophysiology of both clinical entities by multiple molecular pathways. Vision-threating diabetic retinopathy may be treated by laser photocoagulation, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents and vitreoretinal surgery. Diabetic foot lesions are best treated by revascularization if needed, off-loading, infection control and therapeutic adjuncts (e.g. special dressings). Treatment should ideally be offered by a multidisciplinary expert team. Prevention and early detection, along with adequate control of glucose, lipids and arterial hypertension are of paramount importance to avoid and mitigate these fearful complications.


The highlight of photoacosutic imaging (PAI) is a method that combines ultrasonic resolution with high contrast due to light absorption. Photoacoustic signals carry the information of the light absorption distribution of biological tissue, which is often related to its character of structure, physiological and pathological changes because of different physiology conditions in response to different light absorption coefficients. A non-invasive PAI system was developed and successfully acquired in vivo images of mouse brain. Based on the intrinsic PA signals from the brain, the vascular network and the detailed structures of the mouse cerebral cortex were clearly visualized. The ability of PAI monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics was also demonstrated by mapping of the mouse superficial cortex with and without drug stimulation. The extracted PA signals intensity profiles obviously testified that the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the mouse brain was changed under the stimulation of acetazolamide (ACZ). The experimental results suggest that PAI can provide non-invasive images of blood flow changes, and has the potential for brain function detection.


A method for molecularly imprinted SPE of banned Sudan azo-dyes from food samples was investigated. The molecularly imprinted polymer was obtained by suspension polymerization using 1-(4-chlorophenyl)azonaphthalen-2-ol as the mimic template. The molecular recognition properties of imprinted beads were evaluated for use as a SPE sorbent, in order to develop a selective extraction protocol for the Sudan class of dyes. The optimized extraction protocol resulted in a reliable molecularly imprinted SPE (MISPE) method suitable for HPLC analysis. It was selective for the main analyte, Sudan I, and the related azo-dyes Sudan II, III, IV, Sudan Red B, and Sudan Red 7B, while the permitted azo-dyes Allura Red AC, Neococcin, and Sunset Yellow FCF were not extracted. The method was tested for Sudan I, II, III, and IV in five different food samples (hot chilli pepper, hot chilli tomato sauce, sausage, tomato sauce, and hard boiled egg yolk) at three concentration levels (15, 100, and 300 microg/g). It demonstrated itself to be insensitive to the presence of different complex matrices, precise, accurate, and with good recovery rates (85-101%). The LOD and LOQ were satisfactory for most analytical determinations.


Quantitative nondestructive testing (QNDT) is required for the in-service inspection of high-cost structures whose failure could lead tragic consequences. The optical methods are widely used for NDT and NDE. However, most of them base on the qualitative detection of the partial fringes induced by the defects. The defect characteristic parameters (DCPs), such as coordinates and types, are easily obtained, but it is difficult to obtain other parameters, e.g. the defect size and embedded depth due to the non-unique relation between the DCPs and the deformation of detected defects. In this paper, the optical method, design optimization and FEM are combined to accomplish QNDT. Three types of defects are inspected and their DCPs values are obtained quantitatively. Moreover, factors that influence detection accuracy of the DCPs are also discussed.


Dynamic behavior of two types of martensitic transformations during tensile deformation of Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy single crystal has been investigated using an acoustic emission waveform analysis. Two kinds of martensitic transformations consist of β1 ⇔ β1′ (structural change of DO3 to 18R) and β1 ⇒ γ1′ (structural change of DO3 to 2H), each of which is called super-elastic and thermo-elastic martensitic transformations, respectively. These two types of martensitic transformations could be obtained during tensile deformation because of different heat treatment. The rise time at the source (the source rise time) in finite elastic solid by the modified Takashima's method was analyzed using the acoustic emission waveform detected during the martensitic transformation. The mean source rise time to the γ1′ phase was smaller than that to the β1′ phase before yielding and became the same after yielding. The former result means that the nucleation of the γ1′ phase is faster than that of the β1′ phase because of different crystallographic structure. The latter result is that the growth rate of the γ1′ phase is the same as that of the β1′ phase.


Abstract The emerging changes in the security calculus within the Korean Peninsula are forcing Japan to revisit its existing position on the nuclear issue. The changing security environment has triggered several debates within Japan on the nuclearisation of the island nation. Although, at present, domestic opinion within Japan is opposed to exercising the nuclear option, there has been a break in the hitherto established taboo to have an open debate on the country's nuclear policy. These debates have triggered thinking on the circumstances in which Japan might choose to cross the nuclear rubicon.


Recent studies have suggested that tropical forests may not be resilient against climate change in the long term, primarily owing to predicted reductions in rainfall and forest productivity, increased tree mortality, and declining forest biomass carbon sinks. These changes will be caused by drought‐induced water stress and ecosystem disturbances. Several recent studies have reported that climate change has increased tree mortality in temperate and boreal forests, or both mortality and recruitment rates in tropical forests. However, no study has yet examined these changes in the subtropical forests that account for the majority of China's forested land. In this study, we describe how the monsoon evergreen broad‐leaved forest has responded to global warming and drought stress using 32 years of data from forest observation plots. Due to an imbalance in mortality and recruitment, and changes in diameter growth rates between larger and smaller trees and among different functional groups, the average DBH of trees and forest biomass have decreased. Sap flow measurements also showed that larger trees were more stressed than smaller trees by the warming and drying environment. As a result, the monsoon evergreen broad‐leaved forest community is undergoing a transition from a forest dominated by a cohort of fewer and larger individuals to a forest dominated by a cohort of more and smaller individuals, with a different species composition, suggesting that subtropical forests are threatened by their lack of resilience against long‐term climate change.


Intestinal adaptation after massive short bowel resection (SBR) is characterized structurally by an increase in intestinal wet weight, protein, DNA content, villus height, crypt depth, and absorptive surface area. These structural characteristics are driven by a proliferative stimulus that increases crypt cell division and augments cellular progression along the crypt-villus axis. Functional characteristics of adaptation include an upregulation of NA+/Glucose cotransporters, Na+/H+ exchangers, and other enzymes involved in digestion and absorption. The combination of structural and functional adaptation are physiologic live-saving events that compensate for the sudden loss of digestive and absorptive capacity in the remnant intestine. If intestinal adaptation does not occur or is inadequate, a lifelong dependence on parenteral nutrition will ensue, which ultimately results in devastating cholestatic liver dysfunction. Several mediators are thought to play an influential role in postresection small bowel adaptation, including intraluminal nutrients, gastrointestinal secretions, hormones, growth factors, and other genetic/biochemical factors. A thorough understanding of the mechanisms that drive intestinal adaptation will be essential in the development of novel and innovative therapies that result in saving lives.


In scheduling data packets over the network, queue service disciplines are used to determine service priority, delay bound, jitter bound and bandwidth. Among them the Weighted Round Robin (WRR) technique has provided the most reasonable performance in guaranteeing both bandwidth and fairness requirements. WRR, however, fails to accommodate various end-to-end delays and jitter bounds. We propose a new WRR algorithm, called Rate-controlled Frame-based Weighted Round Robin (RFWRR) which guarantees the delay jitter bound and satisfies a diverse set of delay requirements. The proposed algorithm divides the scheduler into two components: a rate controller and a frame-based WRR server. The rate controller controls delay jitters by reshaping traffic patterns while the WRR server assigns priorities to the packets in order to meet various delay requirements. The RFWRR has a simple hardware implementation and provides a constant buffer space. We also show that it can be effectively applied to the various traffic classes of the ATM networks.


ABSTRACT Today's most pressing scientific problems necessitate scientific teamwork; the increasing complexity and specialization of knowledge render "lone geniuses" ill-equipped to make high-impact scientific breakthroughs. Social network research has begun to explore the factors that promote the assembly of scientific teams. However, this work has been limited by network approaches centered conceptually and analytically on "nodes as people," or "nodes as teams." In this article, we develop a "team-interlock ecosystem" conceptualization of collaborative environments within which new scientific teams, or other creative team-based enterprises, assemble. Team interlock ecosystems comprise teams linked to one another through overlapping memberships and/or overlapping knowledge domains. They depict teams, people, and knowledge sets as nodes, and thus, present both conceptual advantages as well as methodological challenges. Conceptually, team interlock ecosystems invite novel questions about how the structural characteristics of embedding ecosystems serve as the primordial soup from which new teams assemble. Methodologically, however, studying ecosystems requires the use of more advanced analytics that correspond to the inherently multilevel phenomenon of scientists nested within multiple teams. To address these methodological challenges, we advance the use of hypergraph methodologies combined with bibliometric data and simulation-based approaches to test hypotheses related to the ecosystem drivers of team assembly.


The resistance of cancer cells to radiation-based treatment is a major clinical challenge confounding standard of care in cancer. This problem is particularly notable in many solid tumors where cancer cells are only partially responsive to radiation therapy. Combination of radiation with radiosensitizers is able to enhance tumor cell killing. However, currently available radiosensitizers are associated with significant normal tissue toxicity. Accordingly, there is an unmet need to develop safer and more effective radiosensitizers to improve tumor control. Here, we evaluated the radiosensitizing effect of the FDA-approved drug esomeprazole in normal and radioresistant human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells in vitro, and in a mouse model of HNSCC. For the in vitro studies, we used cancer cell colony formation (clonogenicity) assay to compare cancer cell growth in the absence or presence of esomeprazole. To determine mechanism(s) of action, we assessed cell proliferation and profiled cell cycle regulatory proteins. In addition, we performed reverse phase protein array (RPPA) study to understand the global effect of esomeprazole on over 200 cancer-related proteins. For the in vivo study, we engrafted HNSCC in a mouse model and compared tumor growth in animals treated with radiation, esomeprazole, and combination of radiation with esomeprazole. We found that esomeprazole inhibits tumor growth and dose-dependently enhances the cell killing effect of ionizing radiation in wildtype and p53-mutant radioresistant cancer cells. Mechanistic studies demonstrate that esomeprazole arrests cancer cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle through upregulation of p21 protein and inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) type 1 (Cdk1) and type 2 (Cdk2). In vivo data showed greater tumor control in animals treated with combination of radiation and esomeprazole compared to either treatment alone, and that this was associated with inhibition of cell proliferation in vivo. In addition, combination of esomeprazole with radiation significantly impaired repair following radiation-induced DNA damage. Our studies indicate that esomeprazole sensitizes cancer cells to ionizing radiation, and is associated with upregulation of p21 to arrest cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Our findings have significant therapeutic implications for the repurposing of esomeprazole as a radiosensitizer in HNSCC and other solid tumors.


To date, tremendous achievements have been made to produce ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) with well-designed and controllable porous structure for catalysis, energy storage and conversion. However, OMC as electrode material suffers from poor hydrophilicity and weak electrical conductivity. Numerous attempts and much research interest have been devoted to dope different heteroatoms in OMC as the structure defects to enhance its performance, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, boron, and multi heteroatoms. Unfortunately, the "how–why–what" question for the heteroatom-doped OMC has not been summarized in any published reports. Therefore, this review focuses on the functionalization strategies of heteroatoms in OMC and the corresponding process characteristics, including in situ method, post treatment method, and chemical vapor deposition. The fundamentally influencing mechanisms of various heteroatoms in electrochemical property and porous structure are summarized in detail. Furthermore, this review provides an updated summary about the applications of different heteroatom-doped OMC in supercapacitor, electrocatalysis, and ion battery during the last decade. Finally, the future challenges and research strategies for heteroatom-doped OMC are also proposed.


INO80 chromatin remodeling complexes regulate nucleosome dynamics and DNA accessibility by catalyzing ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling. Human INO80 complexes consist of 14 protein subunits including Ino80, a SNF2-like ATPase, which serves both as the catalytic subunit and the scaffold for assembly of the complexes. Functions of the other subunits and the mechanisms by which they contribute to the INO80 complex's chromatin remodeling activity remain poorly understood, in part due to the challenge of generating INO80 subassemblies in human cells or heterologous expression systems. This JOVE protocol describes a procedure that allows purification of human INO80 chromatin remodeling subcomplexes that are lacking a subunit or a subset of subunits. N-terminally FLAG epitope tagged Ino80 cDNA are stably introduced into human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cell lines using Flp-mediated recombination. In the event that a subset of subunits of the INO80 complex is to be deleted, one expresses instead mutant Ino80 proteins that lack the platform needed for assembly of those subunits. In the event an individual subunit is to be depleted, one transfects siRNAs targeting this subunit into an HEK 293 cell line stably expressing FLAG tagged Ino80 ATPase. Nuclear extracts are prepared, and FLAG immunoprecipitation is performed to enrich protein fractions containing Ino80 derivatives. The compositions of purified INO80 subcomplexes can then be analyzed using methods such as immunoblotting, silver staining, and mass spectrometry. The INO80 and INO80 subcomplexes generated according to this protocol can be further analyzed using various biochemical assays, which are described in the accompanying JOVE protocol. The methods described here can be adapted for studies of the structural and functional properties of any mammalian multi-subunit chromatin remodeling and modifying complexes.


Over the past decade or more, employer use of individual contracts to determine pay and conditions for employees increased in Australia and elsewhere, in no small part due to encouragement by governments, including through legislation promoting Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). This paper considers the evidence on the impact of individual contacts and collective bargaining on outcomes such as pay and conditions for employees and the implications for the distribution of power. Employees on AWAs receive higher pay on average than other employees, due to the overrepresentation of managerial and senior specialised skilled staff amongst AWA employees. For other employees, however, individual contracts appear to be more likely to be associated with lower wage increases and/or a reduction in other conditions of employment. This in turn reflects the impact that individual contracting, compared to collective bargaining, has on the power of employees. Collective bargaining increases the bargaining power of employees, is the mechanism by which unions achieve most gains for their members, and is strengthened when union density is high. However, not all employees receive lower wages if they shift from collective bargaining to AWAs: some receive a non-union premium, by which employers in effect purchase a transfer of power from employees. While the impact of individual contracting, by comparison with collective bargaining, on pay and conditions may vary, it is unambiguously associated with a transfer of power from employees to employers.


This Article explores the escalating battles between visual art and copyright law in order to upend the most basic assumptions on which copyright protection for visual art is grounded. It is a foundational premise of intellectual property law that copyright is necessary for the "progress" of the arts. This Article demonstrates that this premise is flatly wrong when it comes to visual art. United States courts and scholars have come to understand copyright law almost universally in utilitarian terms; by this account, the reason we grant copyright to authors is to give them economic incentives to create culturally valuable works. But legal scholars have failed to recognize that their paradigm makes no sense when applied to visual art, one of the highest profile and most hotly contested fields in intellectual property law. This is because scholars have failed to take into account the single most important value for participants in the art market: the norm of authenticity, which renders copyright law superfluous. The fundamental assumption of copyright law — that the copy poses a threat to creativity — is simply not true for visual art. By juxtaposing copyright theory with the reality of the art market, this Article shows why copyright law does not — and cannot — incentivize the creation of visual art. In fact, copyright law, rather than being necessary for art's flourishing, actually impedes it.


Introduction: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is becoming a public health problem, due its chronic, progressive and irreversible kidney function. Objective: To evaluate the motor function of patients with CKD undergoing hemodialysis (HD) treatment. Method: a cross‐sectional study carried out at João XXIII hospital in the city of Campina Grande‐Brazil, from August to September 2016. Inclusion criteria were: subjects aged between 20 and 60 years old of both gender and who were undergoing HD treatment for more than 1 year. Those who presented cognitive and visual impairment, amputees, history of stroke or traumatic brain injury and underwent surgical procedure in the 6 months prior to the approach were excluded. Motor function assessment was performed by Motor Function Measurement Scale, which is divided into three dimensions: Dimension 1 (D1): standing position and transfers; Dimension 2 (D2): axial and proximal motor function; Dimension 3 (D3): distal motor function. To evaluate the muscular strength was used the Oxford scale and for the range of motion a goniometer was used. Results: The sample consisted of 20 patients. The correlation between D1 and D2 showed a significant positive association. Significant positive correlation was also observed on the strength of the lower limbs and D1 for all muscle evaluated. On the other hand, the strength of the upper limbs, relative to D2 and D3 showed a moderate positive correlation only between the flexors of the right shoulder and D2. Right elbow flexion was the only variable that presented a negative and moderate correlation with hemodialysis time. Conclusion: The strength and range of motion of the sample were lower than expected for people without pathology, in addition the evaluation methods present in this study were not sensitive to detect any dysfunction.


Kidney stone disease (nephrolithiasis; urolithiasis) is a clinical entity with long-term course and recurrence, primarily affecting mature and ageing men, involving the formation and presence of urinary stones in the kidneys and urinary tract. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex and still not fully understood. A rare, potentially modifiable, form of kidney stone disease takes the form of drug-induced urinary stones. The aim of the review was a brief description of the classification and pathophysiology of kidney stone disease, along with the short characteristics of drug-induced urinary stones. This type of stones is formed as a result of crystallisation in the kidneys and urinary tract of sparingly soluble drugs and their metabolites, or as a result of metabolic changes caused by drugs, predestinating the development of stones containing endogenous compounds. Conclusion: Therefore, during treatment with the use of drugs with high lithogenic potential, the safety of pharmacotherapy should be monitored in the context of its increased risk of developing urinary stones.


Modularity is an essential aspect of knowledge representation theory and practice. It has received substantial attention. We introduce model-based modular systems, an abstract framework for modular knowledge representation formalisms, similar in scope to multi-context systems but employing a simpler information-flow mechanism. We establish the precise relationship between the two frameworks, showing that they can simulate each other. We demonstrate that recently introduced modular knowledge representation formalisms integrating logic programming with satisfiability and, more generally, with constraint satisfaction can be cast as modular systems in our sense. These results show that our formalism offers a simple unifying framework for studies of modularity in knowledge representation.


In this paper, we study the characteristics and growth dynamics of young businesses, and the contribution of these businesses to aggregate growth, in a developing economy: Colombia. Our study covers the 17 years between 1993 and 2009. We limit our study to manufacturing plants of 10 or more employees (and some with less employees but large production). By doing so, we concentrate our attention on the segment of young businesses that are most likely truly entrepreneurial efforts. We characterize young manufacturing plants and compare them to older ones. This characterization covers several dimensions of business performance: employment, output, exports, survival patterns, productivity and investment. We contrast these patterns with those observed in the US. We also study the contribution of establishments of different ages to overall employment and output growth over our 17 year period. The paper makes several contributions to the existing literature. First, it characterizes young business dynamics for a developing economy. Second, it focuses on establishments that are born large enough that they plausibly represent truly entrepreneurial initiatives. That focus enables us to show that part of the wide variation in growth patterns among young businesses found by previous studies reflects the poor performance of micro establishments. In particular, we find much less destruction from exit of young businesses when the micro segment is removed from the data.


Cultures of Bact. lactis aerogenes show a reducing power towards oxygen (as measured by a modification of the Thunberg methylene-blue test) which is a rather stable characteristic of the growth under specified conditions. During adaptation of cells to utilize a given carbon substrate the reducing power and the growth rate increase in parallel (over considerable ranges) to their respective optima. In general the reducing power of fully adapted cultures is nearly constant for a considerable variety of carbon sources (12 to 15 units) in spite of a nearly fourfold variation of optimal growth rates. The regularity is masked with certain substrates by abnormal enhancements or inhibitions occurring at high concentrations but reappears when the measurements are made in the low concentration range. The result suggests that there is normally a rate-limiting step in the part of the cell mechanism which consumes molecular oxygen. This is not altered by adaptation to a new carbon source, though when the cells are first transferred to a new medium the proportions of various enzymes are unsuitable for the optimum utilization of the substrate, and the amount of oxygen which can be consumed is far below the maximum. Until these proportions are finally readjusted growth rate and the degree to which the oxidizing mechanism can be used increase in parallel, a limit to the adaptive process being set by the relatively unchanging maximum oxygen uptake.


Temperature is known to affect both the structural and functional properties of proteins in ectothermic animals like fish. Habitat temperature can lead to oxidative stress and influence the metabolic rates of enzymes in fish. In the current study, juvenile Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), an anadromous and threatened species that lives only in the Yangtze River, were cultured under laboratory conditions for 66 days at 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C. We then studied the effects of temperature on the oxidative stress biomarkers in juvenile Chinese sturgeon. We found the activity of lysozyme (LSZ) reached its maximum at 25 °C (30.1 ± 1.2 μg/mL), while it reached its minimum at 15 °C (13.1 ± 3.3 μg/mL). In addition, the activity of xanthine oxidase (XOD) reached its maximum at 30 °C (15.20 ± 3.50), while it reached its minimum at 25 °C (12.01 ± 1.66 U/L). Furthermore, both the ability of inhibiting hydroxyl radicals (AIHR) and total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) were increased at first and subsequently decreased with increasing temperatures, and both reached their maximum at 20 °C (1344.9 ± 349.2 U/mL and 9.54 ± 0.36 U/mL, respectively). Both AIHR and T-AOC were significantly higher at 20 °C than their corresponding levels at 25 °C and 30 °C. These results indicate that the temperature stress was higher at 15 °C and 30 °C for juvenile Chinese sturgeon. Based on the exhibited levels of LSZ, XOD, AIHR, and T-AOC in fish, we conclude the temperature range of 20−25 °C caused the least stress on the fish, and should be considered as the appropriate growth temperature for juvenile Chinese sturgeon.


There has been a growing demand for portfolio management using artificial intelligence (AI). To sustain a competitive advantage for portfolio management, stock market investors require a strategic investment decision that can realize better returns. In this study, we propose a momentum investment strategy that employs a hidden Markov model (HMM) to select stocks in the rising state. We construct an HMM momentum portfolio that includes 890 Korean stocks and analyze the performance of the stocks over the period of January 2000 to December 2018. By identifying states of stocks, sectors, and markets through HMM, our strategy buys shares in the rising state and proceeds with rebalancing after the holding period. The HMM momentum portfolio is determined to earn higher returns than traditional momentum portfolios and to achieve the best performance under the conditions of a short holding period (one week) and a short formation period (one month). In addition, our strategy exhibits competitive performance in market and sector index investment compared with market returns. This study implies that the momentum investment strategy using HMM is useful in the Korean stock market. Based on our HMM momentum strategy, future research can be enriched by applying the HMM to developing a new AI momentum strategy that can be utilized for other portfolios containing various types of financial assets on the global market.


Background: Pressure ulcers are due to vascular insufficiency in tissues located mainly near bony prominences. More advanced wounds require microsurgical treatment using different types of flaps originating from the same or more distant areas. This study reports the use gluteal flaps for the treatment of pressure ulcers in the ischial and sacral regions. Methods: A total of 29 patients with National Pressure Sore Advisory Panel Consensus – 1989 stage III or IV pressure ulcers were followed in a tertiary hospital in metropolitan Goiânia between May 2010 and April 2012. Results: Among the 29 patients subjected to surgery, 10 (34.5%) were female and 19 (65.5%) were male, aged between 17 and 67 years (mean: 37.82 years). They had paraplegia resulting mainly (79%) from motorcycle accidents. Stage III (27.5%) and IV (72.5%) ulcers were treated with fasciocutaneous flaps (38%) or myocutaneous flaps (62%). Conclusions: The use gluteal flaps for the treatment of pressure ulcers in the ischial and sacral regions is an excellent option that can aid patient recovery and rehabilitation.


Integrin alpha3beta1 (VLA-3) is an adhesion receptor for extracellular matrix proteins including various isoforms of laminin. We have isolated mouse genomic clones encoding the integrin alpha3 subunit and deduced the exon/intron organization. The mouse integrin alpha3 subunit gene is encoded by 26 exons spanning 40 kb. The exon/intron structure of the integrin alpha3 subunit gene resembles that of the integrin alpha6 subunit gene, but differs somewhat from those of other members of the integrin family. We have demonstrated that the cytoplasmic domain splicing variants of the alpha3 subunits (alpha3A and alpha3B) are generated by alternative exon usage. We also cloned the 5'-flanking region and performed a preliminary analysis of its promoter activity in various tumor cell lines with different degrees of integrin alpha3 expression. Following transfection, activity in the luciferase assay was found to be roughly correlated with the expression level of integrin alpha3 as measured by flow cytometry. Furthermore, the luciferase assay was performed with normal and SV-40- or polyoma virus-transformed fibroblasts. In mouse, human, and hamster fibroblasts, higher levels of luciferase expression were observed in transformed cells than in normal cells. This result is consistent with our previous finding that integrin alpha3 expression at both the protein and mRNA levels is enhanced upon oncogenic transformation of fibroblasts by tumor viruses.


Abstract. In this paper we present a systematic method to determine sets of close to optimal sensor calibration points for a polynomial approximation. For each set of calibration points a polynomial is used to fit the nonlinear sensor response to the calibration reference. The polynomial parameters are calculated using ordinary least square fit. To determine the quality of each calibration, reference sensor data is measured at discrete test conditions. As an error indicator for the quality of a calibration the root mean square deviation between the calibration polynomial and the reference measurement is calculated. The calibration polynomials and the error indicators are calculated for all possible calibration point sets. To find close to optimal calibration point sets, the worst 99% of the calibration options are dismissed. This results in a multi-dimensional probability distribution of the probably best calibration point sets. In an experiment, barometric MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) pressure sensors are calibrated using the proposed calibration method at several temperatures and pressures. The framework is applied to a batch of six of each of the following sensor types: Bosch BMP085, Bosch BMP180, and EPCOS T5400. Results indicate which set of calibration points should be chosen to achieve good calibration results.


Spindle epithelial tumor with thymus-like differentiation (SETTLE) is a rare tumor seen mostly in children and adolescents. It is presumed that it arises from ectopic thymus or remnants of branchial pouches that differentiate along the thymic line. Unusual spindle cell-predominant histology makes this entity difficult to recognize. The clinical course is not exactly known due to the small number of reported cases but metastasis has been documented during initial presentation. We report a case of SETTLE in the neck where preoperative clinical and radiological impression was that of a mass in the left submandibular gland area. However, during the operation it was felt by the surgeon that the mass was in continuity with the left thyroid lobe.


The Iranian government has placed new emphasis on urban renewal through participatory approaches in recent years. The main target areas are called deteriorated urban fabrics, characterized by micro-lots, impenetrability, and lack of sustainability. In Tehran, renovation of deteriorate urban fabrics has been initiated through dedicated neighborhood facilitation offices. This paper analyzes the activities and achievements of the Khazaneh Facilitation Office (KFO) in Tehran based on information obtained from office records and first-hand experiences of the initiative's manager and facilitators. Findings indicate that contradictions between the city's detailed plan and deteriorated fabric designations as well as unresolved tenure/title issues can act as major obstacles to renewal. Yet, carrying out enabling initiatives, upgrading the built environment, and providing residents with renovation-related legal, social, and financial services can prove successful in gaining the community's trust and jump-starting renovation activities. Due to low prices of land in Khazaneh in the initial period of KFO's activities, the offered incentive package had not been automatically attractive to investors/builders for entering renovation partnerships with home-owners. Additional strategies were thus required, including advocacy and knowledge dissemination, encouraging investors/builders to pool resources, and developing large-scale commercial side-projects to activate renewal. The actual number of renovations directly managed by KFO remained low due to shortages of trusted investors as well as bank loans. Yet, as a result of a subsequent rise in land prices as well as side services provided by KFO, Khazaneh is now experiencing significant renewal activities.


Abstract Orthodoxy has a long experience of cohabitation with other religions and Christian denominations. However, this experience has not always been a peaceful and easy one, especially when molded by the rise of nationalism during the second half of the 19th century and global geopolitical forces throughout the 20th century. A series of historical events, from Russia to the Middle East, from the Balkans to Central Europe, have shaped the Orthodox relationship to religious pluralism, redefining the religious landscape through movement of populations and migrations. These many conflicts and historical events have proved the multifaceted reality of Orthodoxy, from its role as a state religion, such as in Greece, and a majority religion, such as in Russia, to a minority religion with limited rights, such as in Turkey, or, more generally speaking, in the Middle East. It is in this very complex context that interfaith relations unfold, too often in a very violent and traumatic way.


Abstract Sexing of barn owls, Tyto alba javanica, using morphological traits has not been accurate enough due to ambiguous sexual dimorphism between sexes. This has been one of the major problems for the management of barn owls worldwide, especially for translocation and captive-breeding programs. In order to increase the success rate of sexing the barn owl, we compared the results of a molecular sexing method to six morphological traits for sexing the owls: the shape and colour of the facial disc, the colour of the throat area, the tail plumage, the colour of their tarsus, the back plumage, and the frequency of spotting on the chest and underside of the wings. The result of our comparison showed that sex identification using morphological traits had an accuracy of only 72.7%. Three of our samples were identified as females using morphological traits, but molecular sexing determined that these samples were males. We also used our results to determine the best morphological traits for sexing barn owls, and concluded that the best traits for morphological sexing are the frequency of spotting on the chest and underparts of barn owls (accuracy of 81.8%), as well as colour of the owls' facial disc and throat area (accuracy of 63.6%).


Plant cells have two cytoplasmic pathways of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis for the reversible interconversion of fructose 6-phosphate (F-6-P) and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (F-1,6-P2). One pathway is described as a maintenance pathway that is catalyzed by a nucleotide triphosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase (EC 184.108.40.206; ATP-PFK) glycolytically and a F-1,6 bisphosphatase (EC 18.104.22.168) gluconeogenically. These are non-equilibrium reactions that are energy consuming. The second pathway, described as an adaptive pathway, is catalyzed by a readily reversible pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase (EC 184.108.40.206; PP-PFK) in an equilibrium reaction that conserves energy through the utilization and the synthesis of pyrophosphate. A constitutive regulator cycle is also present for the synthesis and hydrolysis of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate (F-2,6-P2) via a 2-kinase and a 2-phosphatase, respectively. The pathway catalyzed by the ATP-PFK and F-1,6-bisphosphatase, the maintenance pathway, is fairly constant in maximum activity in various plant tissues and shows less regulation by F-2,6-P2. Plants use F-2,6-P2 initially to regulate the adaptive pathway at the reversible PPi-PFK step. The adaptive pathway, catalyzed by PPi-PFK, varies in maximum activity with a variety of phenomena such as plant development or changing biological and physical environments. Plants can change F-2,6-P2 levels rapidly, in less than 1 min when subjected to rapid environmental change, or change levels slowly over periods of hours and days as tissues develop. Both types of change enable plants to cope with the environmental and developmental changes that occur during their lifetimes. The two pathways of sugar metabolism can be efficiently linked by the cycling of uridylates and pyrophosphate required for sucrose breakdown via a proposed sucrose synthase pathway. The breakdown of sucrose via the sucrose synthase pathway requires half the net energy of breakdown via the invertase pathway. Pyrophosphate occurs in plant tissues as a substrate pool for biosynthetic reactions such as the PPi-PFK or uridine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase (EC 220.127.116.11; UDPG pyrophosphorylase) that function in the breakdown of imported sucrose. Also, pyrophosphate links the two glycolytic/gluco-neogenic pathways; and in a reciprocal manner pyrophosphate is produced as an energy source during gluconeogenic carbon flow from F-1,6-P2 toward sucrose synthesis.


Empirical evidence suggests that top players often play together in one team. Based on the O-ring theory (Kremer 1993) a Zidane clustering theorem is derived. It is argued that the best midfielder is most efficiently allocated when combined with an ace striker, and vice versa. This implies that better teams can payer higher wages, because players are more valuable for better teams than for weaker teams. In equilibrium all teams are of homogenous quality, otherwise a reallocation would occur on the players market. Obviously, such a clustering effect negatively affects the competitive balance. It is shown that the clustering effect must be compensated by decreasing marginal revenue for sporting success in order to restore the competitive balance. This is certainly not the case in the UEFA Champions League where the prize money is exponentially increasing thus contributing significantly to the inherent monopolization in professional sports leagues.


Vehicular sensing where vehicles on the road continuously gather, process, and share location-relevant sensor data (e.g., road condition, traffic flow) is emerging as a new network paradigm for sensor information sharing in urban environments. Recently, smartphones have also received a lot of attention for their potential as portable vehicular urban sensing platforms, as they are equipped with a variety of environment and motion sensors (e.g., audio/video, accelerometer, and GPS) and multiple wireless interfaces (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth and 2/3G). The ability to take a smartphone on board a vehicle and to complement the sensors of the latter with advanced smartphone capabilities is of immense interest to the industry. In this paper we survey recent vehicular sensor network developments and identify new trends. In particular we review the way sensor information is collected, stored and harvested using inter-vehicular communications (e.g., mobility-assist mobility-assisted dissemination and geographic storage), as well using the infrastructure (e.g., centralized and distributed storage in the wired Internet). The comparative performance of the various sensing schemes is important to us. Thus, we review key results by carefully examining and explaining the evaluation methodology, in the process gaining insight into vehicular sensor network design. Our comparative study confirms that system performance is impacted by a variety of factors such as wireless access methods, mobility, user location, and popularity


We study the growth of a directed network, in which the growth is constrained by the cost of adding links to the existing nodes. We propose a preferential-attachment scheme, in which a new node attaches to an existing node i with probability II(k(i)) approximately k(-1), where k(i) is the number of outgoing links at i. We calculate the degree distribution for the outgoing links in the asymptotic regime t --> infinity, n(k) both analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations. The distribution decays like kmu(k)/Tau(k) for large k, where is a constant. We investigate the effect of this preferential-attachment scheme, by comparing the results to an equivalent growth model with a degree-independent probability of attachment, which gives an exponential outdegree distribution. Also, we relate this mechanism to simple food-web models by implementing it in the cascade model. We show that the low-degree preferential-attachment mechanism breaks the symmetry between in- and outdegree distributions in the cascade model. It also causes a faster decay in the tails of the outdegree distributions for both our network growth model and the cascade model.


PURPOSE
To investigate the opinion about stuttering treatments in people who stutter, based on their answers to two open questions.

METHODS
The participants were 40 adults of both genders, with self-reported stuttering. During the first phase of the research, we contacted two Brazilian nongovernmental organizations: the Brazilian Stuttering Association (ABRAGAGUEIRA) and the Brazilian Fluency Institute (IBF). These associations agreed to participate and were responsible for sending the research questions to their members via electronic mail. The first contact with the participants elucidated the purpose and method of our research and, after obtaining informed consent from participants, the two questions were sent. The research questions involved their opinion about cure, treatments to which the participants had been submitted, and their outcome.

RESULTS
After analysis, the answers obtained indicated that people who stutter believe in a cure for stuttering; that the ideal therapy would be the one that led to the disappearance of the symptoms; and the most frequently reported professional to treat the disorder is the speech-language pathologist. The results also indicated that although most of the participants had undergone speech-language treatment for stuttering, neither significant improvements were observed nor satisfaction was positive.

CONCLUSION
The results indicate that the answers presented by the participants were not based on scientific knowledge about the disorder but on their wish that "something could happen" to make stuttering "disappear." Although in this study we did not investigate the type of treatment to which the patients were submitted, the results suggest that the factors that contribute to an effective treatment are contentious.


Historians have generally presumed that Irish immigrants in the late nineteenth century suffered from ethnic job discrimination. However, empirical scholarship reports conflicting evidence. The present article presents new evidence on the issue based on data from Major League Baseball circa 1880. These data are unique in that "firms" (teams) and individual "employees" (players) can be identified along with "job assignments" (positions played) and "performance" (e.g., batting averages). Linking the players' names with U.S. census enumeration records allows relatively accurate identification of ethnicity. I test various hypotheses derived from Gary S. Becker's economic theory of discrimination. The main results are that Irish players outperformed non-Irish players both on average and at the margin, were (generally) relegated to less central positions in the field, were more often required to fill in at nonregular positions, and were less likely to be hired as managers. In addition, the proportion of Irish on ball clubs and in their host cities was positively correlated, and team win percentage had a (weak) positive correlation with the team's proportion of Irish. Overall, the results generally support anti-Irish discrimination against skilled workers in this highly visible, albeit small, "industry."


This paper proposes a sparse source separation method which clusters the phase difference between the microphone observations and the amplitude modulation (AM) of the source spectrum simultaneously. The phase difference clustering separates the signals in each frequency bin, and the AM clustering corresponds to permutation alignment. Because the proposed method has an inherent ability to align the permutation of frequency components, the proposed method can be applied even when the spatial aliasing problem occurs. Moreover, because the common AM property collects the synchronized frequency components, we can model the microphone observations with a small number of sources. This property enables us to count the number of sources. That is, the proposed method can be applied even if the number of sources is unknown. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method.


Perhaps as a vestige of the remedial paradigm which once dominated college reading instruction, there seems to be a tendency when discussing the teaching of developmental reading (and, perhaps in the teaching itself) to focus excessively on bottom-up (e.g. word-level) approaches to teaching literacy. While bottom-up strategies have their place in balanced approaches to developmental college reading instruction, I believe that they unnecessarily limit the scope of curriculum and instruction and actually inhibit the achievement of higher order literacies which college coursework demands. Too often, insufficient attention is given to top-down processes of meaning making in which readers use whole text and contextual aspects of the reading situation to comprehend or analyze a text. Competent readers engage texts using top-down as well as bottom-up strategies. The top-down strategies they utilize include identifying an author's purpose and argument, and reading rhetorically, using knowledge of genre conventions and text structure to guide their reading and to make meaning. College students must also read texts "synthetically"- not in isolation - analyzing and synthesizing multiple sources in relation to one another. Purposeful readers understand how any given text functions in the design of a course - what instructional objectives the text serves in the course as a whole. Similarly, it is important for students to understand how the texts fits in relation to other components of the course such as lectures, films, etc. Specific norms and conventions of the discipline and the field are additional resources for competent readers to draw upon to effectively understand and learn from texts for specific purposes. Knowing what reading practices the instructor implicitly and explicitly expects students to employ - by virtue or his or her discipline-can help them adopt course-specific ways of reading. While explicitly considering these contextual aspects of engaging with texts adds a dimension of complexity to teaching college reading, it also suggests additional resources for readers to draw upon to make meaning. Reading the disciplinary and course contexts of texts makes the texts themselves more accessible and helps the reader to establish a clear purpose. What follows is a brief essay explaining my situated socio-cognitive view of reading as it relates to teaching reading to college students. Those who teach developmental writing, math and other subjects can read it fruitfully to understand how they might adopt a socio-cognitive perspective and explicitly draw upon the social and cultural resources embedded in the contexts of their instruction. A Socio-cognitive Perspective on College Reading Reading, like all literate activities, is in its essence a meaning construction process. Competent readers draw upon their knowledge, skills and strategies to actively make meaning in interaction with texts. They don't merely "decode" or "absorb" the intended meaning of the author inscribed in the text. When making meaning, readers engage in activities that are both psychological (though not exclusively cognitive) and social in nature. Explicating both the cognitive and social dimensions of college reading can help to show how effective reading instruction must address both. Cognitive psychological approaches to reading emphasize the constructive and information-processing aspects of meaning construction and learning with text. It is asserted that efficient readers come to reading tasks with not only prior knowledge and purposes, but also with a set of assumptions (based upon their knowledge and experience) and expectations. These expectations relate to text type and structure as well as the subject matter of the text and are indispensable for competent reading of complex texts. Moreover, learners purposefully draw upon their storehouses of knowledge (organized as schema) as they perform mental operations (e. …


The research was necessitated due to the researcher's experience of the difficulty of pupils of Pepease Presbyterian Basic Six in the understanding of the human skeleton. The total number of thirty-three pupils in this class, Pepease Presbyterian Basic Six was the population of this study which employed an action research method. The study revealed that pupils performed better in a lesson on the human skeleton aided by the skeletal model designed by the researcher than when presented theoretically. The research instruments employed in this study were interview, test and questionnaire. The model of the human skeleton, designed teaching and learning material used served its purpose so well and this reflected in pupils' performance which had improved remarkably after the intervention. The present study, therefore, recommends intermittent in-service training for Science Teachers especially those in the remote areas on how to design improvised materials for the various topics in the Basic Schools Science Syllabus.


Endometriosis is a disease defined by the presence of endometrial tissue outside of the uterus. Severe pelvic pain is often associated with endometriosis, and this pain can be diminished with therapies that suppress estrogen production. Many women with endometriosis also suffer from other chronic pain conditions. Recent studies suggest that mechanisms underlying these pains and sensitivity to estrogen involve the growth into the ectopic endometrial tissue of a nerve supply, which could have a varied and widespread influence on the activity of neurons throughout the central nervous system.


The Gospel is a subversive proclamation. It subverts the tentative essays of the feminist project even while often siding with those feminist voices as they are raised in protest and in plea for a larger justice than the Western philosophical project has been able to deliver. It recognizes and yet subverts our self-assurance that we "know" about work: about what is valuable work, about how women work, and about how women as workers are engaged by men and society generally. This article will suggest, in thinking about work, Lutheran feminists would want to go beyond the existing claims of feminist scholars about how we can know what we know. Before the law can support "good work," we must know what good work is for human beings and how women experience workplaces.


Smart Grid facilitates efficient and reliable end-to-end intelligent two-way delivery system from source to sink through integration of renewable energy sources, smart transmission and distribution. In this way Smart Grid technology shall bring efficiency and sustainability in meeting the growing electricity demand with reliability and best of the quality. The conventional transformer are relatively inexpensive, highly reliable, and fairly efficient but unable to provide above functionality requirements. The advancement in semiconductor technology has provided a new alternative to the hundred year old conventional transformer technology by providing an elegant solution using Smart Distribution Transformer called Solid State Transformer (SST). Solid-state-transformers (SSTs) comply with these functionality requirements as well as this new transformer is insensitive to harmonics, has zero regulation, prevents load disruptions and faults from affecting the primary system, can supply loads with DC offsets, and does not utilize a liquid dielectric. It is a collection of high-powered semiconductor components, conventional high-frequency transformers and control circuitry which is used to provide a high level of flexible control to power distribution networks. Add some communication capability and the entire package is often referred to as a smart transformer. The purpose of this paper is to give the idea about this developing power electronic transformer application in Indian emerging smart electricity grid.


Wound infections frequently originate from the subcutaneous tissue. The effect of gentamicin in subcutaneous tissue has, however, normally been evaluated from concentrations in blood or wound fluid. The aim of the present study was to investigate the pharmacokinetic properties of gentamicin in human subcutaneous adipose tissue by a microdialysis technique. Seven healthy young volunteers each had four microdialysis probes placed in the fat (subcutaneous) layer of the abdominal skin. After the administration of a 240-mg gentamicin intravenous bolus, consecutive measurements of the drug concentrations in serum and subcutaneous interstitial fluid were obtained simultaneously for 6 h. The tissue gentamicin concentration peaked after 10 to 30 min. The peak concentration in the tissue was 6.7 +/- 2.0 mg.liter-1 (standard deviation), equivalent to 39.1% of the peak concentration in serum. The area under the concentration-versus-time curve for the first 6 h in the tissue was 1,281 +/- 390.0) mg.min liter-1, equivalent to 59.7% of the area under the concentration-versus-time curve in serum. It is concluded that the microdialysis technique can be used to make dynamic and quantitative measurements of the gentamicin concentration in human subcutaneous tissue. In this adipose tissue, the peak concentrations of gentamicin were approximately seven times the MIC for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 33 times the MIC for Staphylococcus aureus after the administration of an intravenous bolus of 240 mg, indicating the presence of sufficient concentrations in the adipose tissue to be effective against common bacteria.


Background All-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashes have long been recognised as a public health concern, with >800 deaths and more than 400,000 injuries each year in the U.S. alone. Recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) have more recently been growing in popularity, but little is currently known about the impact of their use. Our objective was to determine the epidemiology, mechanisms and risk factors for ROV crashes and injuries. Methods Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed using data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission ROV database (2003–2011). Results The database contained 428 crashes (899 occupants). Occupants were 68% male, 31% < 16 years old, and 52% passengers. Five percent of occupants were helmeted and 27% were restrained. Half of the operators were positive for alcohol and 9% for drugs. For crashes, 53% were on roads, 12% were occupational, and 63% occurred at speeds <20 mph. The primary crash mechanism was a non-collision event, predominately rollovers with 95% being sideway rollovers and 81% of sideway rollovers occurring during a turn. Many crashes occurred on dry surfaces (84%), in good weather (94%), and/or on flat surfaces (63%) or gentle slopes (15%). For injuries, 22% were moderate to severe and 36% were fatal. Fifteen percent of occupants were partially ejected and 51% were fully ejected. Fatal crashes were 4 times more likely to involve an operator's death than a passenger's, rollovers increased the odds of being ejected by 13-fold, and both ejection and being pinned by the vehicle increased the likelihood of death by over 10-fold and 20-fold, respectively. Conclusions These data provide important insights into ROV use and related crashes. Although likely to be more stable than ATVs, ROV rollovers, including at low speeds, appear to be the major crash mechanism, most often in a turn. Being unrestrained in a rollover with subsequent ejection and pinning by the ROV were the most significant risk factors for severe injury and death.


ABSTRACT Indigenous people played a critical though unacknowledged role in the discovery of silver in sixteenth-century Spanish America. This article uncovers the roles and experiences of indigenous prospectors in New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. In the early decades of the colonial project, Iberians relied heavily on the knowledge and skill of native prospectors because they had little to no experience or training in mining. Drawing on a vibrant precontact tradition of metallurgy and mining in the Americas, indigenous prospectors hunted for metal, they assessed the potential productivity of a site, and they understood the legal protocol involved in claiming a mine for the owner/s. This article argues that the contributions and lived experiences of these overlooked specialized laborers reveals that indigenous knowledge played a critical role in the formative years of silver mining in the Americas, illustrating their important social, legal, and technological contributions to production and to the economic trajectory of colony and metropole.


A framework for applied production theory should focus on the crucial features of the industry to be studied. First of all, to be useful for a dynamic study, a distinction has to be made between the theoretical production possibilities before investment takes place and the actual empirical production possibilities in the short run after investment has taken place. Then there is the distinction between production possibilities at the micro level of a plant or even division within a plant, and the aggregate production possibilities for the industry as a whole. Entry and exit of plants, and embodied technological change at the micro or plant level drive the dynamics. South Korean thermal plants using bituminous coal are studied for the period 2001-2008. The requirement of plant level data has severely restricted the use of the approach. However, the paper shows that such production function concepts can be applied to coal-fired electricity generation aggregated to the Chinese province level and still get valuable structural information for policy analysis. Development in Total Variable Factor Productivity (TVFP) and bias of technical change are estimated and illuminated using figures for isoquant maps, capacity regions in input coefficient space and average- and marginal cost functions both for the plant level in South Korea and for the aggregated province level in China.


This study intended (i) to compare the differences in swimming speed between short course and long course and (ii) to investigate differences in swimming speed between age groups in freestyle swimmers competing at national level (Switzerland). Age and swimming speed of 45,888 athletes (22,216 women and 23,672 men) on short course and 46,308 athletes (22,257 women and 24,051 men) on long course competing between 2000 and 2011 were analysed using linear regression analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA). Swimming speed was faster on short course compared to long course on all distances for both women and men (P 0.05). For the distances of 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1,500 m, men completed short course faster by 2.25%, 2.97%, 1.62%, 2.34%, 1.86% and 1.89%, respectively (P < 0.05). For women, the differences between the courses were 3.16%, 2.27%, 2.45%, 1.90%, 2.56% and 5.84%, respectively (P <0.05). The fastest swimming speeds were achieved in the age group 20-29 years for both women and men on all distances. In summary, (i) freestyle swimming speed was faster on short course than long course except for 1,500 m in women and (ii) athletes in age group 20-29 years achieved the fastest swimming speeds on all lengths for both short course and long course.


This portable utility development project "the cellular mastering application of tutorial relate to animal's name in holy Quran" is constructed up its expects to encourage its usage and in accordance with the prevailing gradually complex innovation. in creating this mobile cell phone software. a few destinations and targets are targeted on. the fundamental goals are to break down the focal points and disadvantages handy on present cellular telephone packages, structuring an advanced and step by step attractive interface from the beyond versatile gaining knowledge of utility and growing alluring and possible transportable getting to know utility programming to help children with thinking about something new. additionally, this portable mastering application that consist of special blended media components in conjunction with content material in English, Arabic and Malay, video, sound and motion. a number of the proposals endorsed to improve and improve this utility is that the interest brought have to be an increasing number of progressive and alluring for the assessment of kids and the catches made to make intelligence should be more easy to recognize.


Background The Aedes mosquito is a major vector of many important diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever. Biological methods of controlling mosquitos are desirable because they are ecologically friendlier, safer, and more cost effective than chemical and physical methods of controlling mosquitos. Methods Water samples in the mosquitoes' breeding containers from districts in Bangkok were collected from the mosquitoes breeding containers situated in seven districts of Bangkok, Thailand. The DNA was extracted from each sample of the isolated fungi. Purified DNA specimens were amplified in a PCR reaction with universal primers of ITS1 and ITS4. All the PCR product was sequencing, alignment and comparing the homologous sequence in GenBank database. Results Fourteen strains of fungi were isolated. The most commonly found strain was Penicillium citrinum, which was discovered in six of the 30 isolated fungi samples. Conclusion Biological control strategies for the mosquito population should be further investigated because they are considered to be ecologically friendlier, safer, and more cost effective than chemical insecticides.


We have proposed a fish farm monitoring system for achieving efficient fish farming. In our system, sensor nodes are attached at fish to monitor its health status. In this letter, we propose a method for gathering sensor data from sensor nodes to sink nodes when the transmission range of sensor node is shorter than the size of fish cage. In our proposed method, a part of sensor nodes become leader nodes and they forward gathered sensor data to the sink nodes. Through simulation evaluations, we show that the data gathering performance of our proposed method is higher than that of traditional methods. key words: fish farm monitoring, data gathering, routing, DTN, sensor networks


Within the historical process that brought to the formation of the communal documentation, some typologies allow to catch lines of long-term development: in particular, the so called consular  lodi (judgments and decrees) and the treaties or, for using a broader term, the contractual documents. Important elements of evaluation also come out from the practices that are linked both to the production of original documents (especially in the Provence area), both to authentication procedures of the copies: in both cases, intervention of municipal authorities is crucial for giving the written testimony a legal value. Special attention should be also paid to the ideological and practical reasons underlying the choice of collecting the communal charters in a volume: the prologues of the  Libri iurium are rich of informations in this sense. The paper offers some remarks about homogeneous groups of documents, and it intends to highlight the distinguished outcomes of their writing process in relation to the variable interactions between the communal institutions and the notaries.


The pathophysiology of acne vulgaris results from the interplay of follicular hyperkeratinization, the presence of Propionibacterium acnes bacteria in the follicular canal, and sebum production. Several anti-acne agents are currently available that affect one or more of these pathogenic factors and are effective against one or more acne lesion types. The only currently available agent that is directly effective against comedones is tretinoin. Agents effective against inflammatory lesions include tretinoin, benzoyl peroxide, and topical and systemic antibiotics. Agents effective against nodules and cysts include oral antibiotics and isotretinoin. However, the successful utilization of the available agents and techniques is highly dependent on an accurate and thorough assessment of each patient's needs and concerns, followed by the implementation of an individualized treatment program that has been clearly communicated to the patient. Such a program may employ several different anti-acne agents and adjunctive treatments such as comedo extraction or intralesional injection.


Objectives This mixed-method process evaluation underpinned by normalisation process theory aims to measure fidelity to the intervention, understand the social and structural context in which the intervention is delivered and identify barriers and facilitators to intervention implementation. Setting RETurn to work After stroKE (RETAKE) is a multicentre individual patient randomised controlled trial to determine whether Early Stroke Specialist Vocational Rehabilitation (ESSVR) plus usual care is a clinically and cost-effective therapy to facilitate return to work after stroke, compared with usual care alone. This protocol paper describes the embedded process evaluation. Participants and outcome measures Intervention training for therapists will be observed and use of remote mentor support reviewed through documentary analysis. Fidelity will be assessed through participant questionnaires and analysis of therapy records, examining frequency, duration and content of ESSVR sessions. To understand the influence of social and structural contexts, the process evaluation will explore therapists' attitudes towards evidence-based practice, competency to deliver the intervention and evaluate potential sources of contamination. Longitudinal case studies incorporating non-participant observations will be conducted with a proportion of intervention and usual care participants. Semistructured interviews with stroke survivors, carers, occupational therapists, mentors, service managers and employers will explore their experiences as RETAKE participants. Analysis of qualitative data will draw on thematic and framework approaches. Quantitative data analysis will include regression models and descriptive statistics. Qualitative and quantitative data will be independently analysed by process evaluation and Clinical Trials Research Unit teams, respectively. Linked data, for example, fidelity and describing usual care will be synthesised by comparing and integrating quantitative descriptive data with the qualitative findings. Ethics and dissemination Approval obtained through the East Midlands—Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 18/EM/0019) and the National Health ServiceResearch Authority. Dissemination via journal publications, stroke conferences, social media and meetings with national Stroke clinical leads. Trial registration number ISRCTN12464275.


When incubated in 150 mM KCl, rat thymocytes exhibited a very important magnesium efflux (11.4 +/- 0.7 mmoles/liter cells/20 min, n = 29), about 90 times higher than the physiological magnesium efflux catalyzed by the Na-Mg exchanger (0.126 +/- 0.093 mmoles/liter cells/20 min). Cells remained viable (trypan blue test) and membrane integrity was shown by the absence of an increase in sodium permeability. K(+)-induced magnesium efflux exhibited the following properties: (i) it required the presence of external chloride; (ii) it was fully blocked by DIOA, a selective KCl-cotransporter inhibitor (IC(50) = 35 microm); and (iii) it was associated to a progressive increase in cell volume via the DIOA-sensitive K-Cl cotransporter. Such cell swelling seems to play a causal role, because (i) hypertonic media (+400 mM sucrose) abolished K(+)-induced magnesium efflux and (ii) hypotonic Ringer media (205 mOsm) increased both cell volume and magnesium efflux (from a basal value of 0.35 +/- 0.03 mmoles/liter cells/20 min up to 1.44 +/- 0.24 mmoles/liter cells/20 min), even in the presence of DIOA. In conclusion, high potassium induced a dramatic release of intracellular magnesium from rat thymocytes. Such a phenomenon was, at least in part, caused by cell swelling via the DIOA-sensitive K-Cl cotransporter. The nature of the magnesium transport mechanism and its role in the transduction signal of K-Cl cotransporter activation by cell swelling deserve further investigation.


The flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), formerly known as the flexor digitorum sublimis, is the largest of the extrinsic flexors of the forearm. It forms the intermediate muscle layer between the superficial and deep muscle groups of the forearm.[1] It contains four digital components, with a tendon that inserts onto each corresponding finger. The flexor digitorum superficialis is the primary flexor of the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of the middle phalanges, but it also assists in flexion of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints.


The process of how knowledge is acquired and formulated in knowledge-intensive AI is difficult for a student to grasp without practical experience. Often, AI text books and lecture notes contain examples of logic formula or structured knowledge representations which are well refined and bug free. These polished examples are then used to show reasoning mechanisms or the execu- tion of AI search methods. The process of how the knowledge representations them- selves are acquired and validated is often neglected. In this paper we describe the use of a tool called GIPO for teaching AI students. GIPO helps students understand and integrate aspects of knowledge acquisition, knowledge engineering, automated planning and machine learning. We show how the tool's features supports teaching and the student's learning experience, and helps integrate the theory and practice in a range of AI and related subject areas.


Amphiphilic diblock copolymers based on methoxy polyethylene glycol (MePEG), 1, 6-hexanediol and maleic anhydride with different molar composition were synthesized by solution polycondensation. Self-assemble behavior of amphiphilic diblock copolymer in different solvents by dialyzing technique was discussed. The micelle morphologhy was observed by TEM. It was found that well core-shell MePEG1900/Polyester 2162 copolymer nanoparticles can be formed by self-assemble in acetone solution. In addition, the size of nanospheres measured using dynamic light scattering exhibited a narrow monodisphere size distribution and an average diameter in the ranger of less than 200nm.


ABSTRACT Young children, older children, and adults develop comparable levels and durations of immunity following cholera. In comparison, young children receiving oral killed cholera vaccines (OCV) develop a lower level and shorter duration of protection than those of older children and adults. The reasons for this are unclear. We investigated OCV-induced memory T cell responses in younger and older children and compared responses to those in children with cholera. We found that patients with cholera developed significant levels of toxin-specific effector memory T cells (TEM) with follicular helper and gut-homing characteristics. Older children (6 to 14 years of age) receiving two doses of OCV containing recombinant cholera toxin B subunit (rCTB) had more modest TEM responses with follicular helper and gut-homing characteristics, but younger vaccinees (24 to 71 months of age) did not develop TEM responses. The TEM response correlated positively with subsequent IgG memory B cell responses specific to rCTB in older vaccinees. Cytokine analyses indicated that cholera patients developed significant Th1, Th17, and Th2 responses, while older children receiving vaccine developed more modest increases in Th1 and Th17 cells. Younger vaccinees had no increase in Th1 cells, a decrease in Th17 cells, and an increase in regulatory T (Treg) cells. Our findings suggest that T cell memory responses are markedly diminished in children receiving OCV, especially young children, compared to responses following naturally acquired cholera, and that these differences affect subsequent development of memory B cell responses. These findings may explain the lower efficacy and shorter duration of protection afforded by OCV in young children.


This study aims to provide a political criticism of the 2004 novel Birds without Wings by the English author Louis de Bernières, as the political background and overtly political subplot of the novel render it open to one. In order to develop its own argument the study reads Bernières' novel through the political concepts of the contemporary Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben, focusing mainly on two of them that can be found in Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life of Agamben, and created by the sovereign in relation with the sovereign exception or ban: The first concept is an indistinct concept of life, namely a naked or as Agamben puts it, a bare life . And the second is the homo sacer (sacred man) , the one who dwells in this naked life. Living in a small village named Eskibahçe, the characters in Louis de Bernières' novel are described as birds without wings that "are always confined to earth, no matter how much [they] climb to the high places and flap [their] arms" by the author himself (2005, p.621) and they are turned into homines sacri (sacred men) during a state of political emergency as the footfall of the upcoming change. Therefore, the study aims to examine all the homines sacri in Birds without Wings of Louis de Bernières by an Agambenian reading.


A vehicle speed limiter is described, for use with, and for example fitted to, a vehicle throttle system (1) comprising a mechanically actuatable throttle member (3), an engine (10) speed controller (7), and a throttle signal unit in data communication with an engine speed controller and operably coupled to the throttle member so as to generate an electronic throttle signal in functional response to the degree of actuation of the throttle member, and to transmit a throttle signal to the engine speed controller whereby the engine speed is controlled. The speed limiter has a vehicle speed sensor (15) to obtain a signal indicative of vehicle speed; a limit speed data register to include a data store (17) for a data item indicative of at least a first predetermined limit speed; a comparator to compare the speed sensor output with the limit speed data item stored in the limit speed register; a throttle signal modifier unit acting on the output of a throttle signal unit in use when fitted in conjunction with a vehicle throttle system to modify a generated throttle signal so that a transmitted throttle signal is produced such as to tend to limit the vehicle to the applied limit speed. A method of fitment is also described.


We analyze short-term reversal and medium-term momentum patterns in weekly stock returns in Europe. Focusing on raw and on stock-specific returns, our empirical results show for both return specifications i) a negative relation between weekly past returns and future returns in the short run and ii) a positive relation in the medium run. However, returns of reversal and momentum strategies based on stock-specific returns are less volatile. In further analyses, we find short-term reversal and medium-term momentum patterns to be connected to stock characteristics. Looking at the potential causes of these effects, our results do not corroborate that short-term reversal in weekly stock returns is due to an over- or underreaction to firm-specific news nor mainly driven by illiquidity. On the other hand, medium-term momentum in weekly stock returns can be connected to behavioral biases. Finally, our concluding tests confirm that our findings are robust among industries, in sub-periods, for the January effect and in varying market states.


Data stream clustering refers to the process of grouping continuously arriving new data chunks into continuously changing groups to enable dynamic analysis of segmentation patterns. However, the main attention of research on clustering methods till now has been concerned with alteration of the methods updated for static datasets and changes of the available modified methods. Such methods presented only one type of final output clusters, i.e. convex or non-convex shape clusters. This paper presents a novel two-phase parallel hybrid clustering (HPPD) algorithm that identify convex and non-convex groups in online stage and mixed groups in offline stage from data stream. In this work, we first receive the data stream and apply pre-processing step to identify convex and non-convex clusters. Secondly, apply modified EINCKM to present online output convex clusters and modified EDDS to present online output non-convex clusters in parallel scheme. Thirdly, apply adaptive merging strategy in offline stage to give last composed output groups. The method is assessed on a synthetic dataset. The output results of the experiments have authenticate the activeness and effectiveness of the method.


Decision trees are considered to be one of the most popular approaches for representing classifiers. Researchers from various disciplines such as statistics, machine learning, pattern recognition, and data mining considered the issue of growing a decision tree from available data. This paper presents an updated survey of current methods for constructing decision tree classifiers in a top-down manner. The paper suggests a unified algorithmic framework for presenting these algorithms and describes the various splitting criteria and pruning methodologies.