In Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) all artifacts that are created during development can be regarded as parts of the final system. Thus, these artifacts can be seen as components of the system in the sense of Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE). There, software is split into units such that different concerns are separated. Each functionality of the system can be tracked to the component it is implemented by and therefore fixed, exchanged, extended or individually reused. While in traditional composition systems the components operate independently at run-time, MDSD models are integrated at different points during development time by model transformations. Through this, the advantages mentioned are often lost; and problems occur when one of the components is changed either directly or indirectly during development of a system. This paper proposes an approach that integrates advantages from CBSE into MDSD. In particular the refinements performed during modeldriven development are regarded as compositions supported by composition systems. The approach is based on our Reuseware formalism and exemplified on a concrete MDSD process.


Many geotechnical engineering problems are related to the behaviour of unsaturated soils. Despite this many studies on unsaturated soils have used artificially created soil mixtures investigated primarily to validate constitutive models, or expansive clays researched for their proposed use in geological disposal applications. This thesis investigates a fill material from a typical engineering application: flood embankments located along the Bengawan Solo River in East Java, Indonesia. Conventional load and soak oedometer tests carried out on this fill, highlighted the collapsible nature of this material under as-constructed conditions. A microstructural study conducted to investigate the fabric changes occurring due to loading and wetting, indicated that the undisturbed material may already have undergone the process of volumetric collapse in-situ. This research argues that volumetric collapse upon wetting may contribute to flood embankment instabilities, although the mechanism is often overlooked in favour of more spectacular failure modes. The isotropic compression and shearing behaviour of the Bengawan Solo fill was also investigated under saturated, suction controlled and constant water content conditions. Isotropic compression results indicated that both yield stress and post-yield compressibility increased with increasing suction. The angle of friction and cohesion determined from triaxial tests were both found to increase with increasing suction. An irregular compaction curve was found to exist at low compactive energy levels. The nature of the soil aggregates (created on mixing with water) was found to be responsible for the compacted structure created at low dry densities. This research isolated the influence of compacted fabric on volumetric behaviour by conducting suction controlled oedometer tests on specimens with different soil structures but similar conditions of moisture content and dry density. Results from suction controlled tests suggest that the influence of compacted fabric alone (separate from initial state conditions of moisture content, dry density, mean net stress and suction) is small, and therefore in terms of constitutive modelling it is sufficient to assume one set of model parameters for a given soil (of specific particle size distribution and mineralogy) regardless of compaction conditions.


Marriage is almost universal in India and associated with many conventional individual, familial and socio-cultural factors. It remains an important component in the study of population and endures many important events in human life. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the level of happiness and its associated factors in a rural population in India. Primary data was collected from a cross-sectional survey of newly married (for at least one year but not more than five years) individuals (N=256, male: 136 and female: 120) in rural Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh. Multistage PPS sampling was applied to select the study subjects. The measurement of marital happiness was based on standard and widely verified marital happiness scale. In addition, marital happiness as perceived by the individuals was also assessed. Level of happiness was assessed descriptively and ordered logistic regression was applied to examine the factors. Important significantly associated factors contributing to the lack of happiness were social support (positively), wealth (poor happier), marital duration (negatively), age (23-26 age-group happier), family type (nuclear family happier) and sex (men happier). Social-support may play a key role in the formulation of policies. In addition, the findings may provide useful clues to the social workers and counsellors associated with marital well-being.


Karaganda Basin contains the largest coalbed methane (CBM) reserve in Kazakhstan. We previously modelled the enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) process by injecting CO2 into a typical well group which showed high production potential. With the global agreement on carbon neutrality, it is advantageous to explore the CO2 storage potential during CO2-ECBM in Karaganda Coal Basin. The CO2 storage potential of a given coal seam volume in the Karaganda Coal Basin is evaluated by setting up an extended 5-well pattern in a compositional reservoir simulator. The CO2-ECBM process is simulated by incorporating the reservoir parameters reported for the Karaganda Coal Basin, with variable CO2 injection rate and well pressures to optimize the injection strategy, such as the necessity of well stimulation. Simulation results showed that primary depletion followed by CO2 injection is a promising win-win strategy. Based on parameter sensitivity analysis, the CO2 injection rate should have an optimal value under pressure constraint, since higher injection rate does not contribute remarkably to the recovery. With the aid of CO2 injection, the methane recovery could be enhanced from 35.1×106 kg to 40.2×106 kg by 14.5% during the 4-year CO2 injection at constant rate of 60,000 m3/day with constraint pressure of 15,000 psi. Correspondingly over 99.98% of injected CO2 can be concurrently stored in the form of adsorbed and free gas in these case scenarios. Simulation results suggest that commercial CBM production could be established in the Karaganda Coal Basin, if properly implemented; meanwhile, the process entails enormous potential for CO2storage and represents a new opportunity for the Karaganda coal industry.


Data journalism is emerging as a new subspecialty in Indian journalism. Indian data journalism practice is in nascent stage and newsrooms have lately started recognizing it as a new practice. There were specific issues and challenges faced by journalists in western news rooms as they adopted the practice. To generate a comparative perspective, the study carried out semi-structured interviews with Indian data journalists about their perceptions on the challenges of practicing data journalism. The results show that there are external and internal bottlenecks in practicing data journalism in India. While irregular data releases, use of unfriendly formats by governmental authorities is a major concern; reluctance of media organizations to invest in data teams is identified as an internal challenge. Indian data journalists are skeptical about the audience's participatory potential, which has restricted them from relying on practices like crowd-sourcing.


Based on economic and social development to discuss the application of traditional folk color culture in digital design, its purpose is to increase the national culture value in the digital design. Firstly, using Game theory analyzes the necessity of the application of traditional folk color culture in the digital design. Secondly, using computer graphics and mathematical language carry on the culture innovation of the traditional folk-custom color culture. Finally, explains practical application of the traditional folk-custom color culture in digital design. Through practice, proves the feasible of that the traditional folk color culture is used in the digital design.


This work was aimed at finding suitable conditions for increased charge injection into liquid hexane. Experiments have been carried out on charge injection by both photoelectric and high-field processes. Photoelectric injection in very pure and highly degassed hexane depends mainly on the condition of the photocathode. Immediately after the preparation of the photocathode, the current increases continuously with applied voltage and it is shown to be mainly due to the emission of photo- electrons. Both cathode and liquid deteriorate over several days and a larger proportion of the current becomes due to bulk ionisation. Simultaneous d.c. and pulse measurements are used to prove that the initial photocurrent not only originates at the cathode but that its magnitude is also limited by the rate of emission of photoelectrons which subsequently form heavy negative carriers. The field dependence of the photocurrent has been explained in terms of the probability of heavy carrier formation by the electrons passing over an image barrier. The observed carrier mobility is in close agreement with that of other workers. Field-injection from razor blade electrodes resulted in high conduction currents at comparatively low applied voltages. The current is only slightly higher when the blade ^s negative. In pure hexane the current is found to be independent of bulk movement of the liquid so that it must be limited by electrode processes which are probably electron emission and electron extraction for negative and positive polarities respectively. In commercial and water or alcohol doped hexane, the current increases with liquid flow when the blade is negative but decreases when it is positive. These effects are explained in terms of field dissociation of the impurities and the formation of space charge at the high-field electrode. The present measurements suggest that the high injection currents reported elsewhere are mainly due to field ionisation of impurities rather than electron emission.


Even though there is a growing interest in Java-based embedded computing, compilers have to solve several problems before they can produce high performance Java code. On the one hand, Java`s advanced features, e.g. calls of virtual methods, need to be optimized with appropriate inter-class techniques. Additionally, Java`s memory management requires fast garbage collection observing real-time deadlines. On the other hand, new hardware trends create problems: heterogeneous parallel embedded systems require new techniques for performance optimization, and cache storage needs to be allocated by the compiler in order to exploit the speed of new processors. To meet these requirements, the EU long-term research project JOSES (Java and CoSy technology for Embedded Systems) has been initiated. Its mission is to create a Java-based European technology for heterogeneous embedded systems, including an optimizing Java compiler environment producing high-performance native code. JOSES will exploit the European product-quality compiler framework CoSy, marketed by ACE. This component-based technology allows re-use of existing compiler engines and employs generator technology wherever possible.


This paper studies multihop optical networks in which nodes employ wavelength routing switches that enable the establishment of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channels, called lightpaths, between node pairs. In fact, most optical networks are multifiber networks. The problem of dynamical routing and assignment of wavelength (RAW) in such networks is studied in this paper. Two resource assignment strategies, PACK and SPREAD, are proposed. By virtue of a layered-graph, routing and assignment of wavelength subproblems can be considered simultaneously. These two strategies can be used to solve the RAW problem in networks with even links as well as that in networks with uneven links. Simulation shows that layered-graph-based RAW algorithms perform better than the existing ones. It also shows that SPREAD with distributive use of network resources can achieve better performance than PACK with collective use of resources in multifiber networks. The layered-graph-based algorithms can effectively deal with the failure of the fiber/link and node. By making use of the special structure of the layered-graph, we propose a shortest path algorithm, whose complexity is lower than that of the standard shortest path algorithm.


While athletes have been building and leveraging their brands for many years by introducing brand extensions, research on sport brand extensions has primarily focused on factors that influence the success of team-related extensions. However, as there is potential risk involved when introducing brand extensions, it is important for athletes to understand how consumers respond to extensions they may introduce. Through the use of self-administered web-based surveys this study provides the initial examination of this topic by exposing participants (n = 292) to hypothetical brand extensions and investigating factors that may influence perceived fit and attitudes toward athlete brand extensions. Partial least squares path modeling suggests that athlete prestige had the most significant effect on fit and attitudes for a brand extension that is considered to be a fit with an athlete's image, while athlete attachment had the most influence on fit and attitudes for a brand extension with low perceived fit.


What is our purpose in life? What drives us? What gives us fulfilment?

These are deeply personal and sometimes incredibly difficult-to-answer questions, but I believe they hold the key to understanding what makes us tick.

Buckminster Fuller, the visionary architect and thinker in the throes of depression asked himself this:

> " What is my job on this planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won't happen unless I take responsibility for it?

It was to change his life around, and have in turn inspired many leaders to ground themselves in a career or life-defining purpose.1 It probably sums up my general approach.

Like many colleagues, I didn't really plan a career in Medical Leadership. For a combination of reasons—inherent competitiveness, personal tragedy at an early age, strong role-modelling (good and bad), profound faith in the human race, fascination with the 'human condition'—I have always had a deep personal drive to be the best person I can be. I am very driven to improve the world around me, and to mine the depths of my own potential.

I was launched into a Clinical Director role in a service under extreme pressure earlier than may have been …


Establishing a process for identifying evidence-based practices (EBPs) in special education has been a significant advance for the field because it has the potential for generating more effective educational programs and producing more positive outcomes for students with disabilities. However, the potential benefit of EBPs is bounded by the quality, reach, and maintenance of implementation. The cross-disciplinary field of implementation science has great relevance for translating the promise of EBPs into positive outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. This article examines the history, extent, and limitations of EBPs and describes the emergence and current state of implementation science as applied in special education. Subsequent articles in this special issue of Exceptional Children address a range of issues related to implementation science in special education: the research-to-practice gap, dissemination and diffusion, adherence and sustainability, scaling up, a model for state-level implementation, and fostering implementation through professional development.


BACKGROUND: Nosocomial pneumonia is a difficult diagnosis to establish in the intensive care unit setting, due to the non-specific nature of the clinical and radiographic findings. Procalcitonin is a circulating biomarker that may become elevated in the presence of bacterial infection. METHODS: We conducted a prospective single-center cohort study at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a 1,200-bed urban teaching hospital in St Louis, Missouri. In medical and surgical intensive care unit patients with suspected nosocomial pneumonia we measured plasma procalcitonin with an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay. RESULTS: We evaluated 104 consecutive patients with suspected nosocomial pneumonia, 67 (64%) of whom met our predefined clinical and microbiologic criteria for definite nosocomial pneumonia. Though the mean procalcitonin concentration was greater in the 67 patients with definite nosocomial pneumonia (18.3 ± 99.1 ng/mL, median 0.8 ng/mL, 5th percentile 0.0 ng/mL, 95th percentile 43.1 ng/mL) than in the 12 patients with definite absence of nosocomial pneumonia (1.7 ± 2.0 ng/mL, median 1.0 ng/mL, 5th percentile 0.0 ng/mL, 95th percentile 6.7 ng/mL), this difference was not statistically significant (P = .66). A procalcitonin cutoff value of > 1 ng/mL yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 49% for definite nosocomial pneumonia. Receiver operating curve and multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that procalcitonin is inferior to clinical variables for diagnosing nosocomial pneumonia. However, compared to patients with an initial procalcitonin > 1 ng/mL, those with lower procalcitonin had fewer total antibiotic days (13.0 ± 10.3 d vs 19.7 ± 12.0 d, P < .001) and fewer antibiotic days for treatment of nosocomial pneumonia (10.0 ± 5.9 d vs 14.7 ± 7.4 d, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma procalcitonin has minimal diagnostic value for nosocomial pneumonia.


Tall growing perennial grasses such as Phalaris arundinacea and Festulolium can be used as an alternative source for bioenergy production in northern latitudes as they can be grown in less cultivated areas and can be potentially used as a dual purpose crop (bioenergy and forage). The aim of studies was to investigate the effectiveness of using bioenergy waste products – fermentation residues (digestate) and wood ash as fertilisers for perennial grasses. The field experiment was conducted in the central part of Latvia (56°42' N and 25°08' E) from 2013 to 2015. For all fertiliser treatments (wood ash, digestate once per season; digestate twice per season and mineral fertilisers) the same amount of plant nutrients (N, P, K) was applied annually: N (100), P2O5 (80), K2O (160); and the missing quantities of elements in ash and digestate were compensated by mineral fertilisers. Dry matter yield (DMY) in two harvest regimes (single cut and two cut) and chemical composition (ash content; total C and N) of grass biomass partitioning among tillers, leaves and panicles were estimated. Biomass yield in the three years of use varied considerably depending on the fertiliser, harvest regime and species, ranging up to 10.0 Mg ha for RCG and 7.73 Mg ha for festulolium. All fertilisers provided a significant increase of DMY, however, better results for both species were obtained using wood ash and mineral fertilisers. The harvest regime and species affected directly the quality of biomass, single cut of RCG contained significantly less ash and more carbon. There were significant differences between sward fractions – culms in comparison with leaves contained less ash and nitrogen, and more carbon, what are desirable features for solid fuel.


ABSTRACT Huge rallies organized by Islamists at the end of 2016 in Jakarta attracted scholarly debate, with some arguing that the influence of Islamists is rising. However, members of those Islamist groups are still a minority in Indonesia. Examination of Islamist groups alone hardly explains why so many middle-class individuals outside these organizations supported and took part in the rallies. This article argues that the Islamist leaders of rallies intentionally created a dhikr assembly-like atmosphere to attract dhikr followers and other ordinary Muslims to take part. I then scrutinize the response of Majelis Rasululluah (The Prophet's Assembly, MR), one of the biggest Sufi dhikr litany associations in Jakarta. The MR leadership gave in to the overwhelming demand from its followers who wished to take part in such activities, called the political rally a 'dhikr event' and announced its permission to participate. Although relationships between Islamists and Sufis have been conventionally understood as antagonistic, this Indonesian case demonstrates that their temporary alliance can be possible.


Recently, ampicillin- and chloramphenicol-resistant strains of Haemophilus influenzae type b and multiply-resistant Salmonella strains have appeared in some areas of the world. Therefore, alternative drug therapy for infections caused by these organisms is being sought. We used cefuroxime to successfully treat five children with H. influenzae type b meningitis and two children with Salmonella meningitis. Four H. influenzae type b isolates and one Salmonella isolate were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and cotrimoxazole. Each of the patients received 200 to 250 mg of cefuroxime per kg per day in four divided doses for 14 to 21 days. The concentrations of cefuroxime in cerebrospinal fluid at 2 h after intravenous 50-mg/kg doses were 6.4 +/- 1.7 (mean +/- standard deviation) and 3.6 +/- 2.2 micrograms/ml on days 2 and 14 of treatment, respectively. The level of drug in cerebrospinal fluid was 1.34 +/- 1.3 micrograms/ml in children without meningitis. The mean cefuroxime concentration in subdural fluid samples from each of three patients was 12.6, 15, and 25.2 micrograms/ml. Cefuroxime is recommended as an alternative drug for the treatment of H. influenzae type b meningitis, but additional information is necessary before cefuroxime can be recommended for therapy of Salmonella meningitis.


The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is considered as the most promising paradigm over the last few years for delivering functionalities and allowing business cooperation. In SOA, the traditional vision of security aims to keep properties such as availability, authenticity and confidentiality by protecting the web service itself. However, in such an approach, the particularities of the human interaction in regard to the behaviors of the service stakeholders have been until now based only on trust. In this article, we present an approach based on machine readable contracts and evidences for improving the traditional web service-centered security. Similarly, the usefulness of this approach in context of semi-automatic auditing and risk management is discussed. \textcopyright 2016 Lavoisier.


Modern architecture has vital impact in Nigerian architecture even though there are somesocio-cultural and religious factors and elements of traditional architecture and use of traditional materials andprinciples of design that still exist. This paper will be discussing on how modern architecture failed in the aspectthe of conservation and restoration of palace buildings which are the focal points within the walled cities thatis directly captured as significant historical buildings. Basically the palace serves as a whole administrative andnon-administrative building based on its division into various functional spaces. Moreover, the palace buildingconstruction as well as changes and fortifications occurred overtime which is seen directly from the facades. Thisperiods includes; vernacular pre-colonial and post-colonial period. Therefore the research illustrates how importedmodern architecture affected the palaces of the country at large. For this paper two particular palaces namely; Hadejiaand Kano emirs palace in the Northern region dominated by the Hausa/Fulani's will be used for the comparative anddescriptive criticism. Relevant information will be collected from the buildings and then from the findings, analysisof the building based on some certain parameters such as; building location, period of construction, and materialsused will be considered and most of all the criticism of the failure of modernist architects in terms of conservationand restoration of the two ancient palace buildings will be judged based on the final view point which will imply thetrends of modernism in Nigerian historical buildings.


Abstract Polymorphisms in the X-ray repair cross complementing 1 (XRCC1) gene have been found to be associated with susceptibility to various types of cancers. We investigated the association between the XRCC1 gene Arg399Gln polymorphism and the susceptibility to lung cancer in Turkish patients. To determine the association of this polymorphism with the risk of lung cancer in Turkish patients, a hospital-based case-control study was designed, involving 67 patients with lung cancer and 60 control subjects with no cancer history who were matched for age and gender. XRCC1 genotypes (Arg/Arg, Arg/Gln, and Gln/Gln) were determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis on genomic DNA. No statistically significant relationship was determined between the lung cancer and control groups (p>0.05). Among the patients, 61% were Arg/Arg, 28% were Arg/Gln, and 11% were Gln/Gln. Among the controls, 50% were Arg/Arg, 38% were Arg/Gln, and 12% were Gln/Gln. There was no difference in the distribution of XRCC1 genotypes or the frequencies of the Arg (75% versus 69%) and Gln (25% versus 31%) alleles between the lung cancer patients and controls. Our results suggest that the XRCC1 gene Arg399Gln polymorphism is not associated with an increased risk for the development of lung cancer in Turkish patients.


Scientific cognition of the brain helps students improve their design thinking abilities. This paper attempts to study the application of the right-brain development philosophy in the architectural design teaching. By using the literature analysis, case analysis and comparative analysis methods, based on the theoretical research results of brain-science-based education and right-brain thinking development at home and abroad, this paper analyzes the specific relationship between the right-brain thinking and the architecture design, and considering the issues in the current architectural design discipline, it constructs a theoretical teaching framework based on the rightbrain development philosophy, designs a teaching program based on right-brain thinking according to the course content of architectural design. Then this paper compares and analyze the teaching effects in actual teaching activities, hoping to provide some new reference and basis for architectural design teaching.


Objective Data concerning the effect of current smoking on solely new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) are limited. We investigated the impact of current smoking on 2-year clinical outcomes between durable-polymer (DP)-coated DES (zotarolimus-eluting [ZES] and everolimus eluting [EES]) and biodegradable-polymer (BP)-coated biolimus-eluting stent (BES) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients after successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods Finally, a total of 8357 AMI patients with current smoking underwent successful PCI with new-generation DES (ZES, EES, and BES) were enrolled and divided into three groups as ZES (n = 3199), EES (n = 3987), and BES group (n = 1171). The primary endpoint was the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) defined as all-cause death (cardiac death [CD] or non-cardiac death), recurrent AMI (re-MI), any revascularization (target lesion revascularization [TLR], target vessel revascularization [TVR], and non-TVR). The secondary endpoint was the incidence of definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST). Results The 2-year adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of MACE for ZES vs. EES (1.055; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.843–1.321; p = 0.638), ZES vs. BES (HR, 0.885; 95% CI, 0.626–1.251; p = 0.488), EES vs. BES (HR, 0.889; 95% CI, 0.633–1.250; p = 0.499), and ZES/EES vs. BES (HR, 0.891; 95% CI, 0.648–1.126; p = 0.480) were similar. The occurrence of ST after adjustment were also comparable. In addition, the 2-year adjusted HR for all-cause death, CD, re-MI, TLR, TVR, and non-TVR were not different. Conclusions In this study, DP-DES and BP-DES showed comparable safety and efficacy during 2-year follow-up periods. Therefore, DP-DES or BP-DES are equally acceptable in AMI patients with current smoking undergoing PCI.


We propose a method for correcting aberrations in digital holography based on the principles of computational adaptive optics using the phase gradient autofocus technique that demands no reference measurements. The method requires a priori information on the relative positions of the elements of the optical setup. It is applicable for sufficiently smooth optical aberrations. This technique does not impose any restrictions on the magnitude of the scattered optical field phase distortions caused by the object structure. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical simulation and experimental verification.


Abstract Nowadays, violence has a major impact in society. Violence metrics increasing very rapidly reveal a very alarming situation. Many violent events go unnoticed. Over the last few years, autonomous vehicles have been used to observe and recognize abnormalities in human behavior and to classify them as crimes or not. Detecting crime on live streams requires classifying an event as a crime or not a crime and generating alerts to designated authorities, who can in turn take the required actions and assess the security of the city. There is currently a need for this kind of effective techniques for live video stream processing in computer vision. There are many techniques that can be used, but Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and OpenCV provide the most accurate prediction for this task. OpenCV is used for the task of object detection in computer vision, which will take the input from either a drone or any autonomous vehicle. LSTM is used to classify any event or behavior as a crime or not. This live stream is also encrypted using the Elliptic curve algorithm for more security of data against any manipulation. Through its ability to sense its surroundings, an autonomous vehicle is able to operate itself and execute critical activities without the need for human interaction. Much crowd-based crimes like mob lynching and individual crimes like murder, burglary, and terrorism can be protected against with advanced deep learning-based Anamoly detection techniques. With this proposed system, object detection is possible with approximately 90% accuracy. After analyzing all the data, it is sent to the nearest concern department to provide the remedial approach or protect from any crime. This system helps to enhance surveillance and decrease the crime rate in society.


The C 1s, O 1s, and N 1s X-ray absorption spectra of three lipid species, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC), and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (chloride salt) (DOTAP), have been recorded using transmission detection in a scanning transmission X-ray microscope. The spectra are presented on an absolute intensity scale (i.e., optical density per nm) to allow their use as reference standards for spectromicroscopic analysis of supported lipid bilayers. Examples of C 1s based spectromicroscopic mapping of saturated and unsaturated domains in dry lipid bilayers of DOPC and DSPC at several compositions are presented. The results are compared with fluorescence microscopy of the same area. Challenges for extending this work to studies of wet lipid bilayers interacting with antimicrobial peptides are discussed.


The NY-ESO-1 antigen is expressed in a significant proportion of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and appears to be an ideal target for immunotherapy. In order to elucidate the nature of the HLA-DPB1*0401/0402 (DP4+)-restricted CD4+ immune response in patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing EOC, peripheral blood CD4+ T cells from HLA-DP4+ patients were stimulated with the NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 and tested for the release of type 1 (IFN-gamma) and type 2 (IL-5) cytokines in enzyme-linked immunospot assays. Of 14 DP4+ EOC patients who tested seronegative for NY-ESO-1, 3 patients had a detectable CD4+ T cell response to NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 by IFN-gamma ELISPOT assay. Six of 10 DP4+ EOC patients with serum antibodies to NY-ESO-1 had CD4+ T cell responses to NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 by IFN-gamma assay. Six patients had mixed Th1/Th2 CD4+ T cell responses to NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 regardless of their antibody response to NY-ESO-1. Four EOC patients had Th1 cells expressing IFN-gamma, but not IL-5. This suggests that the NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 stimulates both Th1 and Th2 type CD4+ T cell responses in EOC patients. These data suggest the NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 has a key role in the induction of cellular and humoral immune responses against NY-ESO-1-expressing EOC tumors. Our study supports the relevance of cancer vaccine trials with the NY-ESO-1 epitope 157-170 in HLA-DP4+ EOC patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors and strategies to improve Th1-dominated tumor-reactive CD4+ T cell bias.


To collect software bugs found by users, development teams often set up bug trackers using systems such as Bugzilla. Developers would then fix some of the bugs and commit corresponding code changes into version control systems such as svn or git. Unfortunately, the links between bug reports and code changes are missing for many software projects as the bug tracking and version control systems are often maintained separately. Yet, linking bug reports to fix commits is important as it could shed light into the nature of bug fixing processes and expose patterns in software management. Bug linking solutions, such as ReLink, have been proposed. The demonstration of their effectiveness however faces a number of issues, including a reliability issue with their ground truth datasets as well as the extent of their measurements. We propose in this study a benchmark for evaluating bug linking solutions. This benchmark includes a dataset of about 12,000 bug links from 10 programs. These true links between bug reports and their fixes have been provided during bug fixing processes. We designed a number of research questions, to assess both quantitatively and qualitatively the effectiveness of a bug linking tool. Finally, we apply this benchmark on ReLink to report the strengths and limitations of this bug linking tool.


Background Findings from the NPEU Birthplace study suggest that women with straightforward pregnancies should have increased access to midwifery units and the RCOG response has raised questions about the right birth location for first time mothers. Women with straightforward pregnancies are more likely to have a normal birth in midwifery units, yet most still give birth on obstetric units. Methods This NIHR-funded adjunct study to the NPEU research was designed to investigate how women and their partners make decisions about where to give birth. Preference for non-hospital settings was explored alongside preference for hospital birth and medical care. The study used a longitudinal prospective qualitative design and recruited 41 women with mixed parity and 15 partners from three NHS trusts, each of which provided different 'birth place' options. Findings Women with straightforward pregnancies often preferred to give birth in obstetric units believing hospital birth to be safer; giving birth in midwife units was valued by some but thought to be unnecessarily risky by others. The ways in which different settings were presented by clinicians during antenatal care influenced women's birth place preferences. Discussion Women's birth place decisions are currently hampered by limited availability of information and by a tendency on the part of clinicians, including midwives, towards presuming that birth will take place in an obstetric unit. Increased uptake of birth in midwifery units depends on balanced provision of evidence- based information about the risks and benefits of different birth settings, contextualised to individual pregnancies.


This thesis sets out and tests several different approaches to predicting and understanding the acoustic response of an industrially representative liquid fuelled, swirl-stabilised, lean-burn fuel injector using numerical simulations. This work is important as it contributes to the design of fuel injectors with a low susceptibility for thermoacoustic instabilities or 'rumble'.The flame transfer function (FTF), a transfer function relating the mass flow rate through the fuel injector and heat release rate of the combustor, has been chosen as the best way to describe the flame response as it can be used in conjunction with a acoustic field solver to predict the stability of a combustion system. The FTF of a chosen injector geometry has been predicted using conventional compressible methods and a novel incompressible method which has been shown to be consistent with the compressible method at two frequencies of forcing. This is in contrast with mass flow forced incompressible simulations that fail to reproduce the correct downstream flow field fluctuations. The single phase flow field and acoustic response of the injector has also been predicted and compared to experiments with good agreement.The injector hydrodynamic response has also been investigated along with how hydrodynamics, acoustics, the fuel spray and heat release are related. Acoustic forcing can be seen to actively alter the strength of large scale fluid structures, the mean pressure field and the mass flow rates through the different injector passages. The fuel spray may also couple with these structures causing additional local changes to the mixture fraction field and heat release rates. The effects of fuel spray SMD (Sauter Mean Diamter) and fuel spray injection velocity have on the flame have also been tested showing that the fuel spray atomisation, which can also be affected by acoustic forcing, may play a significant role in combustion instabilities.Several novel numerical methods have been developed and are also discussed in detail includ- ing methods relating to the reproduction of acoustic forcing in incompressible simulations and the reproduction of turbulent fields at inlets. Several innovative post-processing techniques have been employed to identify the relationship between large scale flow structures, the fuel spray and combustion.Modifications of the original injector geometry have been proposed to reduce the sensitivity of the injector to instabilities. These include better atomisation and mixing, better placement of swirl vanes, better aerodynamic design and improved hydrodynamic stability.


Objective: To explore associations between the five factor model (FFM; Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness/Intellect, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) personality traits and measures of whole brain integrity in a large sample of older people, and to test whether these associations are mediated by health-related behaviours. Method: Participants from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 completed the International Personality Item Pool measure of the FFM and underwent a structural MR brain scan at mean age 73 years yielding three measures of whole-brain integrity: average white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), brain tissue loss, and white matter hyperintensities (N=529 to 565). Correlational and mediation analyses were used to test the potential mediating effects of health-related behaviours on the associations between personality and integrity. Results: Lower conscientiousness was consistently associated with brain tissue loss ( β =- 0.11, p< 0.01), lower FA ( β =0.16, p< 0.001) and white matter hyperintensities ( β =-0.10, p< 0.05). Smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, physical activity, body mass index and a composite health behaviour variable displayed significant associations with measures of brain integrity (range of r =0.10 to 0.25). The direct effects of conscientiousness on brain integrity were mediated to some degree by health behaviours, with the proportions of explained direct effects ranging from 0.1% to 13.7%. Conclusions: The personality trait conscientiousness was associated with all three measures of brain integrity, which we tentatively interpret as the effects of personality on brain ageing. Small proportions of the direct effects were mediated by individual health behaviours. Results provide initial indications that life-time stable personality traits may influence brain health in later life through health promoting behaviours.


We propose a method to overcome the usual limitation of current data processing techniques in optical and infrared long-baseline interferometry: most reduction pipelines assume uncorrelated statistical errors and ignore systematics. We use the bootstrap method to sample the multivariate probability density function of the interferometric observables. It allows us to determine the correlations between statistical error terms and their deviation from a Gaussian distribution. In addition, we introduce systematics as an additional, highly correlated error term whose magnitude is chosen to fit the data dispersion.
We have applied the method to obtain accurate measurements of stellar diameters for under-resolved stars, i.e. smaller than the angular resolution of the interferometer. We show that taking correlations and systematics has a significant impact on both the diameter estimate and its uncertainty. The robustness of our diameter determination comes at a price: we obtain 4 times larger uncertainties, of a few percent for most stars in our sample.


Postoperative hyperglycemia is common in critically ill patients, even in those without a prior history of diabetes mellitus. It is well known that hyperglycemia induced by surgical stress often results in dysregulation of liver metabolism and immune function, impairing postoperative recovery. Current evidence suggests that maintaining normoglycemia postoperatively improves surgical outcome and reduces the mortality and morbidity of critically ill patients. On the basis of these observations, several large randomized controlled studies were designed to evaluate the benefit of postoperative tight glycemic control with intensive insulin therapy. However, intensive insulin therapy carries the risk of hypoglycemia, which is linked to serious neurological events. Recently, we demonstrated that perioperative tight glycemic control in surgical patients could be achieved safely using a closed-loop glycemic control system and that this decreased both the incidence of infection at the site of the surgical incision, without the appearance of hypoglycemia, and actual hospital costs. Here, we review the benefits and requirements of perioperative intensive insulin therapy using a closed-loop artificial endocrine pancreas system in hepatectomized patients. This novel intensive insulin therapy is safe and effectively improves surgical outcome after hepatic resection.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of an acellular pertussis vaccine (pa) either formulated with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (dTpa) or administered consecutively with a licensed tetanus and diphtheria vaccine (Td) as a 5th dose in adolescents.

METHODS
A total of 510 healthy children 10 to 13 years of age were assigned randomly, using a single-blind design, to receive either the dTpa vaccine or the Td vaccine with the pa vaccine 1 month later. The quantities of 3 pertussis antigens (pertussis toxin, filamentous hemagglutinin, and pertactin) in the dTpa and the pa vaccines were one third of those of the Infanrix vaccine (SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, Rixensart, Beligium) licensed for use in infants. For enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurement of serum immunoglobulin G antibodies and proliferation assay of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, blood samples were obtained before and 1 month after immunization. Local and systemic reactions were recorded on diary cards for 15 days after immunization.

RESULTS
After immunization with dTpa or pa, significant and comparable rises in geometric mean values of antibodies (12- to 46-fold) and proliferations (8- to 18-fold) to each of the pertussis antigens were noted. After immunization with dTpa or Td, significant rises in geometric mean values of antidiphtheria and antitetanus antibodies (35- to 76-fold) were noted, and all subjects had values of these antibodies >/=.1 international units/mL. The dTpa and pa vaccines were at least as well tolerated as the licensed Td vaccine.

CONCLUSIONS
Booster immunization of adolescents with an acellular vaccine containing reduced quantities of pertussis antigens in addition to diphtheria and tetanus toxoids induces good responses in both arms of the immune system without an increase in adverse reactions.


A cumulative body of experimental research is emerging that examines the ability of computer technology to support the processes and outcomes of small group meetings. For the most part the group decision support system effort has been concerned with demonstrating the usefulness of the technology in planning and decision-making situations where the quality of the meeting's outcomes can be objectively assessed. In many decision situations, however, there is no objective measure of decision quality available. Rather, the group must reconcile differences in opinion, personal preference, or judgments and achieve consensus about a particular mode of action. As a contribution to the accumulating research on GDSS, the current study examine the eff4ects of a GDSS in resolving conflicts of personal preference. In a task requiring resolution of competing personal preferences, 82 groups - the largest sample size in the GDSS literature to date - were randomly assigned to one of three experiment conditions: (1) a computer-based support system (GDSS); (2) a manual, paper and pencil, support system; or (3) no support whatsoever. Groups were either of size 3 or 4 persons. Use of the GDSS was expected to facilitate democratic participation in group discussion move group members toward agreement with one another, and result in a high level of satisfaction with the group decision process. While several of the intended effects of the technology were observe, the groups experienced some unintended consequences as a result of using the GDSS. In general, the GDSS technology appeared to offer some advantages over no support, but little advantage over the pencil and paper method of supporting group discussion.


textabstractGastrointestinal endoscopy has developed rapidly in the last five decades. It started
in the sixties, when the first commercial model of the then recently invented fully
flexible fiberoptic gastroscope was developed. In the late sixties fiberoptic endoscopes
changed to forward viewing, with an open channel for air insufflation,
aspiration and a passage for accessories, especially biopsy instruments. In the
seventies with the introduction of a new side-viewing endoscope it became possible
to visualize the pancreatic duct and to perform endoscopic sphincterotomy, later
accompanied by stone extraction. Enteroscopy was first established in the mid
seventies and advanced into balloon-assisted enteroscopy, which enabled visualizing
and treating the whole small intestine in the new millennium. Endoscopic
ultrasound (EUS), developed in the 1980's, has in recent years become tool for diagnosis
and therapy of a range of esophageal, gastric, hepatobiliary, pancreatic and
rectal disorders.
Nowadays these innovative techniques have evolved into a routine investigation
of the gastrointestinal tract. Patients with gastrointestinal complaints generally
undergo an endoscopic examination. In the Netherlands yearly approximately
400,000 examinations of the gastrointestinal tract are performed. With
these endoscopic studies abnormalities in esophagus, stomach, duodenum, colon,
small intestines and bile ducts are diagnosed and therapeutic interventions are
performed. The findings of these investigations have important implications for
patient management, for example for the selection of medical therapy for a gastric
ulcer or for the indication for a surgical intervention of a malignant process.
The endoscopist generates a report of the performed examination for the referring
physician. The reports range from short written or dictated reports to standardized
computer reports.


This paper presents the ongoing analysis of two fission experiments. Both projects are part of the collaboration between the nuclear reactions group at Uppsala and the JRC-IRMM. The first experiment deals with the prompt fission neutron multiplicity in the thermal neutron induced fission of 235 U(n,f). The second, on the fission fragment properties in the thermal fission of 234 U(n,f).The prompt fission neutron multiplicity has been measured at the JRC-IRMM using two liquid scintillators in coincidence with an ionization chamber. The first experimental campaign focused on 235 U(n th ,f) whereas a second experimental campaign is foreseen later for the same reaction at 5.5 MeV. The goal is to investigate how the so-called sawtooth shape changes as a function of fragment mass and excitation energy. Some harsh experimental conditions were experienced due to the large radiation background. The solution to this will be discussed along with preliminary results.In addition, the analysis of thermal neutron induced fission of 234 U(n,f) will be discussed. Currently analysis of data is ongoing, originally taken at the ILL reactor. The experiment is of particular interest since no measurement exist of the mass and energy distributions for this system at thermal energies. One main problem encountered during analysis was the huge background of 235 U(n th ,f). Despite the negligible isotopic traces in the sample, the cross section difference is enormous. Solution to this parasitic background will be highlighted.


We give two algorithms for maximal diagnosis of wiring networks without repair under a general fault model. Maximal diagnosis consists of identifying all diagnosable faults under the assumptions that each net can have multiple drivers and receivers and can be affected by any number of short and open faults. This process is equivalent to verifying all connections between inputs and outputs. Matrices represent the connections in fault-free and faulty networks. We present two new algorithms and discuss prior algorithms. All algorithms discussed are adaptive and have their tests divided into two phases. Our first new algorithm exploits a unique condition for verifying the connections; our second new algorithm maps the connection verification problem to a bipartite graph. All algorithms discussed use an independent test set for the first test phase. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms outperform previous algorithms for maximal diagnosis in terms of the number of tests. The total time complexity for computing the test sequences and analyzing the output response is polynomial.


Economic data on construction market performance culled from recently published analysis and studies, have served to highlight and quantify the phenomena that have driven the negative global economic downturn, affecting the construction sector in particular, over the last two years, with obvious repercussions also for Italy. Although there were a few rallying signs that the downward trend was easing off slightly in early 2011 – both in Europe and, albeit rather more hesitantly, in Italy – those tenuous hopes for recovery were not backed up by actual statistical indicators, potentially providing some indication of promising development trends. Of the few emerging dynamics in the American market, which is recovering more swiftly than in Europe, there seems to have been a marked increase in the production of sustainable or "green" buildings, which are taking over increasingly larger slices of the market.


Stock prediction is one of the emerging applications in the field of data science which help the companies to make better decision strategy. Machine learning models play a vital role in the field of prediction. In this paper, we have proposed various machine learning models which predicts the stock price from the real-time streaming data. Streaming data has been a potential source for real-time prediction which deals with continuous ow of data having information from various sources like social networking websites, server logs, mobile phone applications, trading oors etc. We have adopted the distributed platform, Spark to analyze the streaming data collected from two different sources as represented in two case studies in this paper. The first case study is based on stock prediction from the historical data collected from Google finance websites through NodeJs and the second one is based on the sentiment analysis of Twitter collected through Twitter API available in Stanford NLP package. Several researches have been made in developing models for stock prediction based on static data. In this work, an effort has been made to develop scalable, fault tolerant models for stock prediction from the real-time streaming data. The Proposed model is based on a distributed architecture known as Lambda architecture. The extensive comparison is made between actual and predicted output for different machine learning models. Support vector regression is found to have better accuracy as compared to other models. The historical data is considered as a ground truth data for validation.


Completed in 1344, MS Bodley 264 contains the Old French "Roman d'Alexandre" and is one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts extant. While Bodley 264 owes its renown to its plethora of marginalia, it is also notable for its extensive depiction of heraldic insignia, which appear on almost half of the manuscript's 208 folios. Bodley 264's exceptional display of heraldry is examined as part of the network of cultural practices for which heraldry became ever more important in the fourteenth century. On a practical level, the heraldry in Bodley 264 responded to the greater use of narrative picture cycles in manuscripts, which increased the need for legible visual details articulating story development. Bodley 264's blazons are also localizing and familiarizing devices that may have signified ownership. As a visual citation of contemporary tournaments, Bodley 264's heraldry showed that the ancient chivalric tradition imagined in the book remained alive in Franco-Flemish society. Finally, the heraldry in Bodley 264 assimilates Alexander's life to crusade history, casting him as a forefather of medieval campaigns in the East. Bodley 264's heraldry inscribes Alexander into a timeless chivalric community and is a testament to the desire to see the chivalric past revivified in images, texts, and pageantry.


This study is exploring tourism destination perceived image of Stockholm amongChinese students. This paper could offer some academic value for future studies on thedestination image of Stockholm. Besides, this paper may be useful for marketers topromote Stockholm toward Chinese youth/students travel market. Cognitive imageand affective image characteristics were examined.This thesis used quantitative method to analyze the destination image among Chinesestudents. The questionnaire survey was used to investigate cognitive image andaffective image among Chinese students who studying in Stockholm University. Ingeneral, respondents had a positive image of Stockholm. They focused on what to seeand to do as well as the social environment of Stockholm. Happy/ laid back are theitems that reflects the respondents' feelings about staying in Stockholm, which is arelax place that makes tourists have a chance to feel the stress free lifestyle. They alsoenjoy the beautiful scenery, friendly local people atmosphere, the cultural attractions,local architectures, good outdoor air condition and water condition of Stockholm aswell. In their opinions, those mentioned attributes were important to constructing thedestination image of Stockholm.


In this paper, we derive the orthogonality relations for modes supported by a general cylindrical chirowaveguide. As introduced in our earlier work, a chirowaveguide is a cylindrical waveguide filled with chiral or optically active materials. As in conventional waveguides, the orthogonality relations reported here can be used to expand an arbitrary E or H field within a chirowaveguide in terms of a complete set of mutually orthogonal modes in the waveguide. Comments Copyright 1990 IEEE. Reprinted from IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Volume 38, Issue 11, November 1990, pages 1631-1634. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of the University of Pennsylvania's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to email@example.com. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/185 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 38. NO. 11. NOVEMBER 199


ABSTRACT Vocational disciplines such as engineering provide an ideal opportunity for contextualising the curriculum. The provision of co-curricular activities can stimulate students to assimilate their prior knowledge and skills whilst enhancing employability attributes. Team-based co-curricular activities linked to problem-based learning can offer students a quasi-authentic experience of engineering practice. In this paper, we provide a case study of a successful co-curricular initiative supported by local civil engineering employers. Civil Engineering 4 Real (CE4R) are evening workshops facilitated by practicing engineers, where student attendance is voluntary. Students use authentic documentation and collaborate in peer learning to solve industrial problems. CE4R has assisted student's anticipatory socialisation into their disciplinary profession. However, further research is required to establish the cognitive legacy that students gain from attending CE4R. There is also a need to explore the synergy that could be prompted through understanding the boundaries between CE4R and the programme curriculum.


Despite their crucial role in initiating steroid-hormone synthesis, the hypothalamic and pituitary hormones (LH, LHRH) and their receptors have received scant attention in genetic studies of hormone-related diseases. This study included 1,170 men diagnosed with prostate cancer (PC) in Los Angeles County between 1999 and 2003. LHRH and LH receptor genotypes were examined for association with PC survival. Additionally, associations with PC incidence were examined by comparing PC cases to control men of similar age and race/ethnicity. The LHR 312 G allele was found to be associated with increased PC mortality (p=0.01). Ten years after diagnosis, 16% of men carrying two copies of the G allele (genotype GG) had died of PC, compared to 11% of those with genotype AG and 9% of those with AA. In a case-control comparison, this same allele was significantly associated with decreased PC risk: OR=0.68 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.93) for genotype GG vs. AA. These results suggest that androgens may play oppos- ing roles in PC initiation and progression, and highlight the need to include these important but overlooked genes in future studies of PC etiology, prognosis, and treatment.


We investigate the far-infrared (IR) dust emission for 20 local star forming galaxies from the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-IR Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) sample. We model the far-IR/submillimeter spectral energy distribution (SED) using images from Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory. We calculate the cold dust temperature (Tc) and emissivity (β) on a pixel by pixel basis (where each pixel ranges from 0.1 to 3 kpc2) using a two-temperature modified blackbody fitting routine. Our fitting method allows us to investigate the resolved nature of temperature and emissivity variations by modeling from the galaxy centers to the outskirts (physical scales of ∼15–50 kpc, depending on the size of the galaxy). We fit each SED in two ways: (1) fit Tc and β simultaneously, (2) hold β constant and fit Tc. We compare Tc and β with star formation rates (calculated from LHα and L24 μm), the luminosity of the old stellar population (traced through L3.6 μm), and the dust mass surface density (traced by 500 μm luminosity, L500). We find a significant trend between SFR/L500 and Tc, implying that the flux of hard UV photons relative to the amount of dust is significantly contributing to the heating of the cold, or diffuse, dust component. We also see a trend between L3.6/L500 and β, indicating that the old stellar population contributes to the heating at far-IR/submillimeter wavelengths. Finally, we find that when β is held constant, Tc exhibits a strongly decreasing radial trend, illustrating that the shape of the far-IR SED is changing radially through a galaxy, thus confirming on a sample almost double in size the trends observed in Galametz et al.


We report the case of a 4-year-old girl with a biochemical relapse (plasma α-fetoprotein of 57,987.6 μg/L) after hepatoblastoma and extrahepatic metastases removal and adjuvant chemotherapy. Abdominal ultrasound, CT, and MRI failed to determine the site of recurrence. F-FDG PET/CT showed increased activity in the region of left scapula and adjacent soft tissue, which was incorrectly interpreted as the postoperative repair or inflammatory change. F-DOPA PET/CT showed increased activity and noticeable progressed lesion in the same place. Finally, the left scapula was identified as the site of recurrent metastasis from hepatoblastoma by pathological examination.


Abstract Microfacies analysis and point counts of thin sections from 608 hand samples were used to track changes in the abundance and diversity of fossil grains through the extended recovery interval following end-Permian mass extinction on the Great Bank of Guizhou (GBG)—an isolated Late Permian to Late Triassic carbonate platform in south China. Exposure of a two-dimensional cross-section of the platform permits the comparison of faunal patterns along an environmental gradient from shallow to deep water. The diverse Late Permian biota was dominated by calcareous sponges, crinoids, articulate brachiopods, foraminifera, and calcareous algae. In contrast, Early Triassic communities were dominated by mollusks, with increasing abundance of crinoids beginning in the Spathian. Increase in the diversity and abundance of fossils on the GBG was confined to a brief interval near the Spathian–Anisian boundary and concentrated along the platform margin. Later Middle Triassic diversification, the return of calcareous algae and calcareous sponges, and the appearance of scleractinian corals did not substantially alter the mollusk-crinoid-Tubiphytes assemblage before the end of the Middle Triassic. The low abundance of skeletal grains in Lower Triassic strata implies: (1) similarities in the relative contributions of micrite, microbialites, and oolites to Neoproterozoic carbonates result, at least in part, from the temporary removal of skeletal sinks for calcium carbonate; and (2) animals with hard skeletons remained at low abundance from the time of the end-Permian extinction through much of the Early Triassic.


In this article I seek to describe, analyze and problematize the process of scientific communication, dissemination and diffusion. The basis for this reflection is the performance of the Ciencia & Saude Coletiva journal over its eleven years of existence; I seek to link this case study with the field of interests of the process of communication, indexing and consequently, the standing of the publication, the editors and the authors on the international stage. The data published and illustrated in the article are part of the journal's archive, and were categorized and analyzed by me, in collaboration with its executive editor. In the analysis and conclusions, I attempt to show that in the field of science and technology, the "gold of the 21st century", there is no room for naivety. However there is space for national and international cooperation and for endowing academic production with a social purpose: Science for Society.


Oral implantology (implant dentistry) is the science and discipline concerned with the diagnosis, design, insertion, restoration, and/or management of alloplastic or autogenous oral structure to restore the loss of contour, comfort, function, esthetic, speech, and/or health of the partially or completely edentulous patient. Osseointegration, a term coined by Branemark and co-workers in early 1960s, represents a direct connection between bone and implant without interposed soft tissue layers. The aim of the present review is to discuss various factors responsible for loss of oral implants. The factors contributing to failure of osseointegration have been identified as medical status of the patient, smoking, bone quality, bone grafting, irradiation, bacterial contamination, lack of preoperative antibiotics, degree of surgical trauma, and operator experience. Furthermore, it appears that implant surface properties, roughness and premature loading influence the failure pattern.


We describe solutions, how to improve a quality of basic testing methods to be possible to use them for dynamic testing high-resolution/middle speed AD converters and AD modules. The following methods are described: an application of low-distortion band pass filters, a digital correction of a known distortion of a testing signal, an application of a two-tone (or multitone) signal, an application of a nondeterministic signal (noise). The method, which combines a filtration of testing signal and a following digital correction, is described and proposed as the perspective one. The AD transfer standard, which is applied for an evaluation of testing methods and systems is also mentioned


The University's policies and procedures that apply to administrators and staff are not intended to create, and do not create, an employment contract or guarantee of continued employment for any employee; nor does anything in any policy or work rule of the University alter the at-will employment relationship between the University and its administrative and staff employees. Both the University and its employees have the right, under the Employment at Will guidelines, to terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause or reason.


More than one-third of the Nation's population receives their drinking water from public water systems that use groundwater as their source. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sampled untreated source water from 932 public-supply wells, hereafter referred to as public wells, as part of multiple groundwater assessments conducted across the Nation during 1993–2007. The objectives of this study were to evaluate (1) contaminant occurrence in source water from public wells and the potential significance of contaminant concentrations to human health, (2) national and regional distributions of groundwater quality, and (3) the occurrence and characteristics of contaminant mixtures. Treated finished water was not sampled. The 932 public wells are widely distributed nationally and include wells in selected parts of 41 states and withdraw water from parts of 30 regionally extensive aquifers used for public water supply. These wells are distributed among 629 unique public water systems—less than 1 percent of all groundwater-supplied public water systems in the United States—but the wells were randomly selected within the sampled hydrogeologic settings to represent typical aquifer conditions. Samples from the 629 systems represent source water used by one-quarter of the U.S. population served by groundwater-supplied public water systems, or about 9 percent of the entire U.S. population in 2008. One groundwater sample was collected prior to treatment or blending from each of the 932 public wells and analyzed for as many as six water-quality properties and 215 contaminants. Consistent with the terminology used in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), all constituents analyzed in water samples in this study are referred to as "contaminants". More contaminant groups were assessed in this study than in any previous national study of public wells and included major ions, nutrients, radionuclides, trace elements, pesticide compounds, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and fecal-indicator microorganisms. Contaminant mixtures were assessed in subsets of samples in which most contaminants were analyzed. Contaminant concentrations were compared to humanhealth benchmarks—regulatory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for contaminants regulated in drinking water under the SDWA or non-regulatory USGS Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for unregulated contaminants, when available. Nearly three-quarters of the contaminants assessed in this study are unregulated in drinking water, and the USEPA uses USGS data on the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in water resources to fulfill part of the SDWA requirements for determining whether specific contaminants should be regulated in drinking water in the future. More than one in five (22 percent) source-water samples from public wells contained one or more naturally occurring or man-made contaminants at concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks, and 80 percent of samples contained one or more contaminants at concentrations greater than one-tenth of benchmarks. Most individual contaminant detections, however, were less than one-tenth of human-health benchmarks. Public wells yielding water with contaminant concentrations greater than benchmarks, as well as those with concentrations greater than one-tenth of benchmarks, were distributed throughout the United States and included wells that withdraw water from all principal aquifer rock types included in this study. Ten contaminants individually were detected at concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks in at least 1 percent of source-water samples and collectively accounted for most concentrations greater than benchmarks. Seven of these 10 contaminants occur naturally, including three radionuclides (radon, radium, and gross alpha-particle radioactivity) and four trace elements (arsenic, manganese, strontium, and boron); three of these 10 contaminants (dieldrin, nitrate, and perchloroethene, or PCE) primarily have man-made sources. Radon activities were greater than the proposed MCL of 300 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in 55 percent of samples and were greater than the proposed Alternative MCL of 4,000 pCi/L in 0.6 percent of samples. The remaining six contaminants from natural sources were detected at concentrations greater than benchmarks in 3 to 19 percent of samples. Dieldrin, PCE, and nitrate each were detected at concentrations greater than benchmarks in 1 to 3 percent of samples. Contaminants from natural sources accounted for three-quarters of contaminant concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks in source-water samples; contaminants from man-made sources accounted for one-quarter of such concentrations. 2 Quality of Source Water from Public-Supply Wells in the United States, 1993–2007 Trace elements and radionuclides were detected at concentrations greater than benchmarks in samples from both confined and unconfined aquifers, consistent with the fact that these contaminants originate primarily from aquifer materials. By contrast, man-made contaminants were detected at concentrations greater than benchmarks mainly in samples from unconfined aquifers, consistent with the fact that these contaminants originate from man-made sources at the land surface. For example, more than two-thirds of the samples with concentrations of pesticide compounds or VOCs greater than benchmarks were from public wells in the highly populated areas of states bordering the East Coast, primarily in semi-consolidated sand and gravel aquifers (mostly unconfined aquifers) that underlie the Coastal Plains. Collectively, pesticide compounds or VOCs were detected in 64 percent of source-water samples, and concentrations of one or more of these contaminants were greater than benchmarks in 4.5 percent of samples. The most frequently detected organic contaminants were disinfection by-products, such as chloroform and bromodichloromethane, the herbicide atrazine and one of its degradates, deethylatrazine, the gasoline oxygenate methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and solvents, such as PCE, trichloroethene (TCE), and 1,1,1-trichloroethane. MCLs or HBSLs were not available for some frequently detected contaminants, such as MTBE and deethylatrazine, so detections of these contaminants could not be evaluated in the context of human health. One or more properties or contaminants were detected at concentrations outside of USEPA's recommended ranges for the aesthetic quality of water in about one-half of the samples. Fecal-indicator microorganisms were detected in about 12 percent of source-water samples. Contaminants detected in source-water samples usually co-occurred with other contaminants as mixtures. Few human-health benchmarks have been established for contaminant mixtures, but about 4 percent of samples contained mixtures of two or more contaminants at concentrations greater than individual benchmarks, and most samples (84 percent) contained mixtures of two or more contaminants at concentrations greater than one-tenth of individual benchmarks. Mixtures of two or more contaminants at concentrations greater than one-tenth of individual benchmarks were dominated by inorganic contaminants, and all of the most common unique mixtures (detected in 5 to 33 percent of samples) were composed of a trace element (arsenic, strontium, or uranium were most common), nitrate, and (or) radon (activities greater than 300 pCi/L). When mixtures of organic contaminants were assessed, regardless of the availability of human-health benchmarks, about three-quarters of the organic mixtures contained atrazine, simazine, or deethylatrazine, about two-thirds contained chloroform, and 43 percent contained PCE or TCE. The most complex mixtures in source water—those with the greatest number of contaminants—were most often detected in samples from unconfined aquifers, mostly from unconsolidated sand and gravel aquifers in the western United States. Findings from this study indicate the ubiquitous nature of natural and man-made contaminant sources and that all principal aquifer rock types included in this study are vulnerable to contamination. Early attention to potential groundwater contamination is vital because groundwater contamination is difficult and costly to reverse once it occurs.


Understanding the functional effect of Single Amino acid Substitutions (SAS), derived from the occurrence of single nucleotide variants (SNVs), and their relation to disease development is a major issue in clinical genomics. Even though there are several bioinformatic algorithms and servers that predict if a SAS can be pathogenic or not they give little or non-information on the actual effect on the protein function. Moreover, many of these algorithms are able to predict an effect that no necessarily translates directly into pathogenicity. VarQ Web Server is an online tool that given an UniProt id automatically analyzes known and user provided SAS for their effect on protein activity, folding, aggregation and protein interactions among others. VarQ assessment was performed over a set of previously manually curated variants, showing its ability to correctly predict the phenotypic outcome and its underlying cause. This resource is available online at http://varq.qb.fcen.uba.ar/. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Supporting Information & Tutorials may be found in the webpage of the tool.


The purpose of this exploratory research was measuring facility managers' knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and it may assist in decreasing the gap in knowledge between facility managers and the needs of people with physical disabilities. An existing survey examining ADA knowledge was slightly modified and used for this study. Four athletic facility managers from universities in a large Bowl Championship Series conference participated in the study. Results provided a preliminary sketch of who athletic facility manages may be, and how athletic facility managers may be educating themselves and others about accessibility. This exploratory study shows that facility managers may be knowledgeable of specific ADA requirements but may not have a firm grasp on more general issues patrons with physical disabilities face and that have often been the point of contention in the courts such as parking, entranceways, seating, and sightlines. Additionally, athletic facility managers may not be seeking to expand their education on ADA-related matters or educate others on the topics, which could be a missed opportunity to position themselves as a topic expert in the field of ADA compliance for athletic facilities.


OBJECTIVE
To provide a new therapy with definite quality controllable therapeutic effects for functional restoration of the affected limbs in hemiplegic patients due to cerebral thrombosis.

METHOD
180 patients with hemiplegia due to cerebral thrombosis were randomly divided into 2 groups: the treatment group (treated with scalp acupuncture by using the lifting manipulation) and the control group (treated with scalp acupuncture by using the twirling manipulation). Evaluations were given for the two groups based on the improvement of myodynamia and comprehensive functions after the treatment.

RESULTS
Both groups showed increased myodynamia, but with different cured and much relieved rates (86.67% in the treatment group and 5% in the control group, P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
Scalp acupuncture with the lifting manipulation can dramatically increase myodynamia of the affected limbs in hemiplegic patients due to cerebral thrombosis.


BACKGROUND
School re-entry for children with cancer hallmarks a return to age-appropriate activities; a process fraught with adjustment challenges. The paediatric oncologist is in a pivotal role of setting the tone and providing direction to the child, family, and other members of the health care and school team about this process. Understanding physicians' attitudes and behaviours regarding school re-entry will provide insight into these practices.

METHODS
A four-part survey (general attitudes, patient factors, work cultures and respondent characteristics) was developed and mailed to the members of US and Japanese paediatric oncology professional societies. Japanese (n=362) and US (n=350) paediatric oncologists comprised the study sample; the average respondent was a male in his mid-forties providing clinical care>or=5 hours/week practising for about 15 years. Responses to a hypothetical scenario reflecting the range of how school re-entry issues for a child on treatment may be handled was the outcome variable in this report.

RESULTS
US physicians (284/350, 84.5%) endorsed telling everyone (the school officials and classmates) about a child's diagnosis and treatment to facilitate the transition back to school. In contrast, only 93/359 (25.9%) of the Japanese respondents endorsed telling everyone. Japanese physicians were more likely to endorse telling everyone if they believed it was the physician's responsibility to tell children the truth at diagnosis (P<0.001), if they did not believe that awareness of cancer dashes hope (P=0.002), and were not influenced by type of cancer the child had (P=0.003).

CONCLUSIONS
Differences in US and Japanese paediatric oncologist responses in return to school issues may reflect larger cultural issues such as: benefits and disadvantages to telling the child that he/she has cancer; hospitalization practices; and the availability of school re-entry programs. More needs to be learned about how children, their families and schools prefer to have re-entry issues handled during and after treatment and how these approaches affect the child's re-entry into school.


On the dry, flat, jack pine ( Pinus banksiana Lamb.)-dominated ecosystems of the northern Lake States and eastern Canada, wildfire behavior often produces narrow, remnant strips of unburned trees that provide heterogeneity on a landscape historically shaped by stand-replacing wildfires. We used landscape met- rics to analyze a chronosequence of aerial imagery to examine these ''stringers'' of mature trees within historical wildfires in northern Lower Michigan. Our major objective was to describe the natural range of variability of stringer patterns and their persistence and change during the fire-free interval. Field studies were then used to examine stringer composition and structural variability. Stringers were found to occur in all fires >1000 ha, in about one-third of wildfires >80 ha, but never in fires <80 ha, likely because of the lack of fire intensity on smaller fires that is necessary for stringers to be formed. Stringers were typically composed of many small, well-aggregated patches that represented 3–14% of the area within the burn perimeter, and stringer formation was relatively independent of pre-fire forest structure or composition. Stringer patterns changed mostly in the first decade after the fire that created them and then stabilized. Major changes that occurred in stringer patterns after this period were most often due to human activities, highlighting their natural persistence through the fire-free interval. The historical persistence and importance of these features also highlights their importance on modern fire-prone land- scapes, particularly in northern Lower Michigan where a high proportion of land management is focused on jack pine plantations for breeding habitat for Kirtland's warbler ( Dendroica kirtlandii Baird), an endangered species. (cid:2) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


In this paper, an algorithm using evolved regular expressions to characterize and predict human gene splice sites without any prior knowledge is described. In contrast to previous pattern-based approaches to the splice site detection problem, the patterns to be matched are unknown in advance and discovered using a supervised learning approach. We have used a genetic programming based system, PerlGP, to evolve regular expressions and proper length windows for a long sequence in which the evolved regular expressions can effectively characterize and predict the splice junctions. Since the gene splicing process is too complex to be fully understood currently, and the widely accepted consensus sequences only reflect some partial statistical information around splice sites, not to mention defining a splice site. However, our evolved regular expressions may shed new light on the underlying rules that define splice sites. Experimental results demonstrate that using the evolved regular expressions, splice junctions could be accurately characterized, furthermore, these evolved regular expressions could also be employed as a predictor to detect whether a CT/AG containing sequence is a splice site or not. Our experimental results also exhibit that the performance of this approach for predicting human gene splice junctions is competitive compared with some other traditional methods.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the frequency with which commitment to running conflicts with family life, to distinguish between runners who experience conflict and those who do not based on their levels of commitment to the roles of runner and family member, and to determine whether runners who reported conflict receive less support for running from their significant other.

DESIGN
A questionnaire was mailed to 1426 members of a running club. Personal demographics, running quantity, conflict, commitment to running, family commitment, and spouse support were measured. The Family APGAR scale was used to measure global family functioning, assessing adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, and resolve.

RESULTS
There were 724 respondents for a response rate of 50.8%. Five hundred fifty-eight runners (356 men, and 202 women) lived with a partner. The mean score for conflict was 1.9. Only 32 (5.5%) had a score above 3 (high conflict). When evaluated together and separately, the women and men in the high-conflict groups had equal commitment to running, lower family commitment, lower spouse support, and a lower Family APGAR score compared with the low-conflict group.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study running is not a major contributor to family conflict. Those runners who are experiencing conflict seem to have a more global conflict with their families that is independent of running, manifested by decreasing spouse support for the runner's activities. If a runner is an active, committed member of his or her own family and sets this commitment as a priority, it does not appear that the time and energy of running is by itself a source of conflict.


Cavitation is a common but undesirable phenomenon in the operation of centrifugal pumps. Methods to detect cavitation are needed to ensure safe operation. This study contributes to the approach of using acoustic signals for cavitation detection. Mainly focusing on microphone measurements, the effect of cavitation on frequency spectra at different positions around an industrial centrifugal pump are investigated. A method to systematically extract relevant frequencies that can be used as cavitation indicators is proposed. Various significant frequencies were found, distributed over the frequency range up to 30kHz. The cavitation on the impeller suction side was observed via a high-speed camera. A link between the optical appearance of the cavitation and the behavior of the indicator frequencies was apparent. Furthermore, a method for algorithmically evaluating the cavitation visible in high-speed imagery is presented and the synchronized optical and acoustical data was used to investigate the spectral change during transient cavitation events.


Several static analysis tools, such as Splint or FindBugs, have been proposed to the software development community to help detect security vulnerabilities or bad programming practices. However, the adoption of these tools is hindered by their high false positive rates. If the false positive rate is too high, developers may get acclimated to violation reports from these tools, causing concrete and severe bugs being overlooked. Fortunately, some violations are actually addressed and resolved by developers. We claim that those violations that are recurrently fixed are likely to be true positives, and an automated approach can learn to repair similar unseen violations. However, there is lack of a systematic way to investigate the distributions on existing violations and fixed ones in the wild, that can provide insights into prioritizing violations for developers, and an effective way to mine code and fix patterns which can help developers easily understand the reasons of leading violations and how to fix them. In this paper, we first collect and track a large number of fixed and unfixed violations across revisions of software. The empirical analyses reveal that there are discrepancies in the distributions of violations that are detected and those that are fixed, in terms of occurrences, spread and categories, which can provide insights into prioritizing violations. To automatically identify patterns in violations and their fixes, we propose an approach that utilizes convolutional neural networks to learn features and clustering to regroup similar instances. We then evaluate the usefulness of the identified fix patterns by applying them to unfixed violations. The results show that developers will accept and merge a majority (69/116) of fixes generated from the inferred fix patterns. It is also noteworthy that the yielded patterns are applicable to four real bugs in the Defects4J major benchmark for software testing and automated repair.


Mechanism of angiogenesis and its management in breast cancer disease has been discussed in this chapter. This review specifically describes on the targetted molecular markers for development of antiangiogenic therapy like anti VEGF therapy and suitable agents that target the receptors of VEGF like VEGFR. These are essentially tyrosine kinase inhibitors which block downstream signaling pathways instead of binding to VEGF directly. Block of VEGF production in clinical development that target the EGFR include agents like cetuximab, gefitinib and erlotinib. Other drugs which may be of interest including cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors and MMP inhibitors find clinical application as angiogenic inhibitors. Tumor associates macrophage which acts as conductor of angiogenesis and notch signaling getting involved in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis are also a target of therapy. Combination of antiangiogenic drugs with one another and with other biological agent is also being explored to improve efficacy and to overcome the drug resistance.


Problem statement: The development of alternative tourism was necessary. The objectives of this research were to study: (1) the history of group collaborating in Thai National Development on Pu-pan Mountain Range, (2) the potentiality of tourism according to the keeping on track of the group collaborating in Thai National Development on Pu-pan Mountain Range and (3) the appropriate management in alternative tourism. Approach: The research area included Sakonnakon and Kalasin Provinces. The samples as informants were selected by Purposive Sampling, for 168 persons. The instrument using for collecting data consisted of the Interview Form, the Observation Form, Focus Group Discussion and Participatory Workshop. Data were classified into groups, investigated by using Triangulation and analyzed according to specified goal. The findings were presented in descriptive analysis. Results: (1) the historical background, Thailand was governed by soldier authoritarian system in 1964 in the age of Marshal Tanom Kittikajon who made a revolution. As a result, people were under political pressure with maltreating and suppressing people who loved democracy very much by accusing that they were communist party of Thailand. Finally, they collaborated in fighting with communist party for helping the suffered people. Then, they were suppressed by the government. There was fighting until the citizen had death and loss. This group stopped, (2) the problem situation in managing the recent tour origin, found that it was a lack of entrepreneurs leading the local tour, who had knowledge and competency in local culture. The tour places were not developed. There was a lack of tour guides in each place, in explaining for the tourists, public relation and facilities, (3) the appropriate management of alternative tourism on Pu-pan mountain range, consisted of 5 aspects as follows: (1) the service, (2) the tour activities, (3) the environmental condition, (4) the management and (5) the marketing enhancement. For group service, there were 4 levels of alternative tourists: (1) the consumer group with high price, (2) the consumer group with moderate level of income, (3) the consumer group with not high level of income and (4) the consumer group as students. The appropriate activities should be managed for the consumers. Conclusion/Recommendations: The continuous activity implementation in Pu-pan mountain range, if it was regular developed, would affect the community economic system since the place not only related to historical story, but also had fertile nature for creating the tour atmosphere very well.


GLT-1, the major glutamate transporter, is expressed at perisynaptic astrocytic processes (PAP) and axon terminals (AxT). GLT-1 is coupled to Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) α1-3 isoforms, whose subcellular distribution and spatial organization in relationship to GLT-1 are largely unknown. Using several microscopy techniques, we showed that at excitatory synapses α1 and α3 are exclusively neuronal (mainly in dendrites and in some AxT), while α2 is predominantly astrocytic. GLT-1 displayed a differential colocalization with α1-3. GLT-1/α2 and GLT-1/α3 colocalization was higher in GLT-1 positive puncta partially (for GLT-1/α2) or almost totally (for GLT-1/α3) overlapping with VGLUT1 positive terminals than in nonoverlapping ones. GLT-1 colocalized with α2 at PAP, and with α1 and α3 at AxT. GLT-1 and α2 gold particles were ∼1.5-2 times closer than GLT-1/α1 and GLT-1/α3 particles. GLT-1/α2 complexes (edge to edge interdistance of gold particles ≤50 nm) concentrated at the perisynaptic region of PAP membranes, whereas neuronal GLT-1/α1 and GLT-1/α3 complexes were fewer and more uniformly distributed in AxT. These data unveil different composition of GLT-1 and α subunits complexes in the glial and neuronal domains of excitatory synapses. The spatial organization of GLT-1/α1-3 complexes suggests that GLT-1/NKA interaction is more efficient in astrocytes than in neurons, further supporting the dominant role of astrocytic GLT-1 in glutamate homeostasis.


Mathematically there is a close connection between pendulum drawing and rope mats. This article describes a method of analysing traditional rope mats and rosettes. By sampling the rope track one finds that the rope follows a periodic function both in xand y-directions. Having the two periodic curves, it is possible to do a Fourier decomposition in both directions. By doing this the Fourier components are found for the two curves, or, as we may call it: The two-dimensional spectrum for the rosettes. By knowing the spectrum for some known mats and rosettes, it is possible to categorize the mats in families based on their order (number of needed components to represent the mat), which can be different from the traditional way of categorizing them. The Fourier components for the mats may now be used to synthesize the mat with a two-dimensional curve drawing software like Matlab or Winplot. By changing the Fourier components' frequency and amplitude, it is possible to make new variants of the mats and rosettes within the same family.


Ga-PSMA PET/CT was performed in a 75-year-old man with newly diagnosed prostate cancer because of an equivocal lesion in the spine both on Tc-bone-SPECT/CT and MRI. Because of increased PSMA activity on PET/CT, the bone lesion was interpreted as metastasis from prostate cancer. Later, the patient was diagnosed as having monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance. A biopsy was performed, and histological examination revealed multiple myeloma with PSMA expression in the neovessels but no metastatic prostate cancer cells. The patient was downstaged, and the treatment was changed accordingly. This case illustrates the importance of biopsies from PSMA PET-positive lesions.


In this study, the heat transfer coolant utilized in the heat exchanger is a molten salt, which transfers thermal energy to water (steam) for power production by a supercritical Rankine (25MPa) or subcritical Rankine (17MPa) cycle. Molten salts are excellent coolants, with 25% higher volumetric heat capacity than pressurized water, and nearly five times that of liquid sodium. The greater heat capacity of molten salts results in more compact components like pumps and heat exchangers. However, the use of a molten salt provides potential materials compatibility issues. After studying a variety of individual molten salt mixtures, chlorides and fluorides have been given the most serious consideration because of their heat transport and transfer characteristics.In this study thermal designs of conventional (shell and tube), and compact (printed circuit) heat exchangers are carried out and compared for a given thermal duty. There are a couple of main issues that need to be addressed before this technology could be commercialized. The main issue is with the material compatibility of molten salts (especially fluoride salts) and secondarily, with the pressure difference across the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger's primary side pressure is nearly atmospheric and the secondary side (power production) is pressurized to about 25MPa for supercritical cycle and 17MPa for subcritical cycle. Further in the analysis, the comparison of both the cycles will be carried out with recommendations.© 2012 ASME


This study assesses how different phases of shoot growth underlie seasonal change in leaf and stem dry matter content (LDMC and SDMC, respectively) of 12 woody Mediterranean species. The relationship between LDMC and nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations is also explored and the seasonal vs interspecies variability of LDMC compared. LDMC, SDMC and shoot elongation rate (SER) were measured on a monthly basis for a minimum of 12 months. Bud growth rate (BGR) and NSC concentrations were also assessed in several of the study species. LDMC and SDMC decreased during shoot elongation in spring and increased in summer, showing a significant negative correlation with SER, but were unrelated to BGR. Half of the species analysed showed a positive relationship between LDMC and NSC. Seasonal fluctuations of LDMC within species were higher than interspecies differences, and species ranking was significantly affected by the month of sampling, except during winter months. Seasonal changes in LDMC and SDMC are mainly related to shoot elongation phenology, and NSC sink-source relationships between old and growing organs can explain this relationship in some species. Owing to the high seasonal variability in LDMC, it is recommended that samples for comparative purposes should be collected as close to the winter as possible.