A descriptive study to determine the causes of low vision and blindness in children attending the Pacelli School for the Blind in Lagos State, Nigeria. A standardised methodology was used with structured and semi-structured questioinaires. Twenty-six children aged below 16 years who were identified as having low vision and blindness were examined to determine the causes of the low vision and blindness. The anatomical sites of diseases leading to low vision and blindness in these children were retina (30.8%), lens (23.1%), glaucoma (19.2%), cornea (11.5%) and optic nerve (7.7%). Aetiologically, 38.5% of low vision was due to hereditary factors, 23.1% intra-uterine, 15.4% others and unknown in 23%. Retinal dystrophy was the most common cause of low vision and blindness, while congenital cataract and glaucoma were the major causes of avoidable blindness. Very few cases of corneal scar (Measles/Vitamin A deficiency) were seen. The causes of low vision appeared to be different from those of blindness as hereditary and intra-uterine factors were mainly responsible for low vision. It is recommended that these children be identified early, through low vision care programmes and those with avoidable causes treated accordingly.


In the paper a step-by-step model will be developed that enables the valuation of land- and real estate development projects with multiple embedded real options that are subject to both market risk in the form of fluctuating gross market values, and project specific risk in the form of uncertain outcomes of zoning procedures. The rationale for this model is to be able to explicitly value the flexibility present within projects. The standard NPV approach cannot value this flexibility. The valuation is done from the viewpoint of a land developer who wants to estimate the maximum price for which he can acquire the land, given a known portfolio of options that is available throughout the development process. The real options to defer, abandon, expand or contract and the option to switch are included in this portfolio. The model itself is based on the value creation process in land and real estate development (residual valuation) and is used to value four development scenarios with multiple underlying assets, each with their own option structure and uncertain zoning procedures. The valuation process produces an Expanded NPV of the development project which is by definition the summation of the Static NPV and total Option Value. The Real Options Growth Matrix of Smit and Trigeorgis (2004) is finally used to illustrate the four development scenarios by their Static NPV and total Option Value, providing a benchmark for strategic considerations concerning the management of the future development process. The underlying assets in the model are specified as the gross market value per m net floor area of four possible property types: retail, office, residential and industrial space. Gross market values are based on current property specific market rents and gross initial yields. Using the Marketed Asset Disclaimer assumption of Copeland and Antikarov (2004), the discounted gross market value represents the value eas ifi the underlying asset were traded on the financial markets. The binomial option pricing framework of Cox, Ross and Rubinstein (1979) is subsequently used to model the market risk of the underlying assets. The fluctuations of the underlying assets are based on a Geometric Brownian Motion process, which is defined by the historical standard deviations of the property specific total returns. The exercise prices represent the land- and development outlays that are necessary to develop the project and follow a deterministic path over time. The sensitivity analysis of the model shows that the options in the portfolio display interesting and significant interaction effects, dependent on their order of valuation and sensitivity to varying levels of volatility, time-to-maturities, moneyness, risk-free interest rates, dividend yields and cross correlations. Overall it can be concluded that the characteristics of financial options are mostly preserved when modeling the development process of real estate as a collection of real options.


Real time systems are being increasingly used in several applications which are time critical in nature. Fault tolerance is an important requirement of such systems, due to the catastrophic consequences of not tolerating faults. We study a scheme that provides fault tolerance through scheduling in real time multiprocessor systems. We schedule multiple copies of dynamic, aperiodic, nonpreemptive tasks in the system, and use two techniques that we call deallocation and overloading to achieve high acceptance ratio (percentage of arriving tasks scheduled by the system). The paper compares the performance of our scheme with that of other fault tolerant scheduling schemes, and determines how much each of deallocation and overloading affects the acceptance ratio of tasks. The paper also provides a technique that can help real time system designers determine the number of processors required to provide fault tolerance in dynamic systems. Lastly, a formal model is developed for the analysis of systems with uniform tasks.


During the last century, technological advances have deeply renewed many critical infrastructures, such as transportation networks and power systems. In fact, the strong interconnection between physical process, communication channels, and control systems have led to the new concept of cyber-physical systems.Next to countless new advantages, these systems unfortunately have also new weaknesses. An example is cyber-attacks: malicious intrusions into the communication channel turned to manipulate data. In this thesis the considered cyber-physical system is a power network where hundreds of eld devices are connected to a control center, which collects data and controls the whole system. A cyber-attack where the adversary model is based on the attacker's knowledge of the network topology and line parameters is considered. This work is focused on one of the features of the control center: the state estimator. After a preliminary analysis of the conventional state estimators with respect to cyber attacks constructed according to this adversary model, new ideas for improving the security of the system are presented. The aim of this thesis is to propose novel state estimators that are both accurate under no cyber-attack, and at the same time able to detect attacks that are undetectable by the conventional state estimator. This mainly involves introducing additional information about the system as constraints in the state estimator, under the assumption that the new information is not available to the adversary.At the end of the analysis of the new mathematical model of the state estimators, a new denition of undetectable attack is proposed. The functionality of the novel state estimators is demonstrated in numerical experiments, which have been performed on dierent benchmark power networks.


Universal Multifractals have been widely used to characterize and simulate geophysical fields extremely variable over a wide range of scales such as rainfall. Despite strong limitations, notably its non-stationnarity, discrete cascades are often used to simulate such fields. Recently, blunt cascades have been introduced in 1D and 2D to cope with this issue while remaining in the simple framework of discrete cascades. It basically consists in geometrically interpolating over moving windows the multiplicative increments at each cascade steps.

In this paper, we first suggest an extension of this blunt cascades to space-time processes. Multifractal expected behaviour is theoretically established and numerically confirmed. In a second step, a methodology to address the common issue of guessing the missing half of a field is developed using this framework. It basically consists in reconstructing the increments of the known portion of the field, and then stochastically simulating the ones for the new portion, while ensuring the blunting the increments on the portion joining the two parts of the fields. The approach is tested with time series, maps and in a space-time framework. Initial tests with rainfall data are presented.

Authors acknowledge the RW-Turb project (supported by the French National Research Agency - ANR-19-CE05-0022), for partial financial support.


This article investigated destination-related risk perceptions among two groups of Korean residents: those who have no previous experience of overseas travel and those who have traveled overseas but not to Australia. An analysis of 810 respondents to a questionnaire-based survey concluded that the two groupings view Australia as less risky than international destinations generally. Both respondent groupings cited financial risks as a strong deterrent to overseas travel, although inexperienced travelers expressed more concern about the prospective culture-related risks associated with travel to Australia. Experienced travelers expressed a lesser likelihood of encountering crime during a trip to Australia than in the case of other destinations, whereas inexperienced travelers perceived alternative destinations as equally risky, perhaps indicative of their incapacity to discriminate. The findings suggest that the experience of overseas travel increases awareness of the potential dangers and hazards that may be encountered in destination settings, which generates perceptions of risk that are closer to reality. It is suggested that tourism authorities should take note of this and direct scarce resources toward prospective market segments who have more realistic views about the destination.


Author(s): Bischak, Connor Gregory | Advisor(s): Ginsberg, Naomi S | Abstract: Super-resolution imaging has revolutionized how the structure of biological systems are observed at the nanoscale. Yet, observing dynamic processes in biology with high temporal and spatial resolution remains a significant challenge. Additionally, elucidating the nanoscale structure and dynamics in functional materials, particularly in optoelectronics, would greatly aid in the development of more efficient devices, such as solar cells and light-emitters. Unfortunately, most super-resolution microscopy platforms are designed for imaging biological samples and are incompatible with complex, functional materials. To extend super-resolution imaging to capture both biological dynamics and nanoscale material properties, we have developed cathodoluminescence imaging with low electron exposure (CILEE) and cathodoluminescence-activated imaging by resonance energy transfer (CLAIRE). Both imaging methods use cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy to achieve nanoscale spatial resolution. The main drawback of CL microscopy is damage caused by the relatively high energy electron beam. In CILEE, the electron beam dose is significantly reduced to image samples only moderately robust to the electron beam. In CLAIRE, more fragile samples can be imaged by placing a thin scintillator film between the sample and electron beam. When excited by a focused electron beam, the scintillator film acts as a nanoscale optical excitation source, providing contrast based on interactions between luminescent dopant atoms in the sctillator and the adjacent sample in the near field. In this dissertation, the development of CILEE and CLAIRE are outlined, as well as many examples of uncovering new nanoscale phenomena with both imaging platforms.Part I of this dissertation, which includes Chapters 2-5. focuses on using CILEE to elucidate the nanoscale structure and dynamic properties of lead halide hybrid perovskites, which are promising materials for optoelectronics. Using CILEE, we reveal a surprising degree of heterogeneity at the surface of hybrid perovskite thin films that differs greatly from the more homogeneous environment found in the bulk. Our CILEE study suggests that solar cells composed of a hybrid perovskite active layer can improve in efficiency by decreasing the heterogeneity through synthetic approaches. We also use CILEE to investigate the process by which mixed halide hybrid perovskites phase separate upon photoexcitation, a process that severely limits solar cell efficiency. Through a combination of CILEE and multiscale modeling, we find that phase separation is driven by polaronic strain in the lattice. Our results represent a new type of nanoscale phase transformation that is unique to hybrid materials. The emergence of CILEE as new approach to non-invasive super-resolution imaging has led to a greater understanding of the complex structure and dynamics in hybrid perovskite materials.Part II of this dissertation, which includes Chapters 6-11, introduces CLAIRE as a new super-resolution imaging platform designed to image soft materials, such as organic or biological samples. In this dissertation, we describe the production of thin, free-standing scintillator films for CLAIRE and the incorporation of these scintillator films into a functional imaging device. We demonstrate that CLAIRE is capable of imaging soft materials and dynamic processes. The capability of CLAIRE to image biological samples with endogenous chromophores, such as photosynthetic membranes, is also demonstrated. Together, CILEE and CLAIRE extend non-invasive super-resolution optical imaging to new classes of soft materials that are incompatible with current super-resolution optical imaging approaches and traditional electron microscopy. These new nanoscale imaging methods provide promising opportunities to visualize biological dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution and to interrogate the nanoscale optical properties of functional optoelectronic materials to understand their fundamental properties, leading to higher efficiency devices.


We analyze the impact of wealth taxes on investment timing decisions under uncertainty and irreversibility by employing a real options model of the Dixit/Pindyck type. Considering that wealth taxes have been (re-)introduced or are under discussion in many countries, investors need decision rules for tax systems with wealth taxation. We integrate different valuation methods for wealth tax purposes, distinguish between broadly and narrowly defined wealth taxes and vary the wealth tax rate to ascertain which wealth tax design is more or less likely to accelerate or delay investment. Our main findings are threefold. First, historical cost valuation reduces the distortive timing effects of wealth taxation compared to fair value accounting. Second, broadening the wealth tax base tends to accelerate investment during high interest rate periods and delay investment during low interest rate periods. Our results predict that wealth taxes with a broad tax base are likely to discourage risky investment in times of near-zero interest rates. These distortive wealth tax base effects, however, can be avoided by granting sufficiently high depreciation deductions for wealth tax purposes. Third, the investment timing effects of wealth tax rate variations are very sensitive to the riskiness of the underlying investment. Moreover, investment timing effects crucially depend upon the depreciation rate for wealth tax purposes. A tax legislator who aims to encourage risk taking should introduce generous depreciation deductions. Our study indicates that if a wealth tax is considered to be politically inevitable, possible harmful investment effects can be mitigated by choosing appropriate valuation methods and parameters.


Background : Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a common cause of cancer-related death in North America and Korea, with an overall 5-year survival rate of between 4 and 14%. The TNM staging system is the best prognostic index for operable NSCLC . However, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9), and C-erbB-2 have all been implicated in the pathogenesis of NSCLC and might provide prognostic information. Methods : Immunohistochemical staining of 81 specimens from a resected primary non-small cell lung cancer was evaluated in order to determine the role of the biological markers on NSCLC . Immunohistochemical staining for EGFR, MMP-9, and C-erbB-2 was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue sections to observe the expression pattern according to the pathologic type and surgical staging. The correlations between the expression of each biological marker and the survival time was determined. Results : When positive immunohistochemical staining was defined as the extent area>20%(more than Grade 2), the positive rates for EGFR, MMP-9, and C-erbB-2 staining were 71.6%, 44.3%, and 24.1% of the 81 patients, respectively. The positive rates of EGFR and MMP-9 stain for NSCLC according to the surgical stages I, II, and IIIa were 75.0% and 41.7%, 66.7% and 47.6%, and 76.9% and 46.2%, respectively. The median survival time of the EGFR(-) group, 71.8 months, was significantly longer than that of the EGFR(+) group, 33.5 months.(p=0.018, Kaplan-Meier Method, log-rank test).. The MMP-9(+) group had a shorter median survival time than the MMP-9(-) group, 35.0 and 65.3 months, respectively (p=0.2). The co-expression of EGFR and MMP-9 was associated with a worse prognosis with a median survival time of 26.9 months, when compared with the 77 months for both negative-expression groups (p=0.0023). There were no significant differences between the C-erbB-2(+) and C-erbB-2 (-) groups. Conclusion : In NSCLC, the expression of EGFR might be a prognostic factor, and the co-expression of EGFR and MMP-9 was found to be associated with a poor prognosis. However, C-erbB-2 expression had no prognostic significance.


In this article I analyse and discuss guidelines for priority setting in crisis management at a regional level in Sweden. The guidelines concern three types of crises: pandemics, large losses of electric power and interruptions in water supply. Pandemics are typical public health issues. Large losses of electric power and interruptions in water supply are in themselves not, but may have serious public health consequences. These guidelines are compared with guidelines for priority setting in health care. This is done because of the central position of health care in the management of many different types of crises. The comparison shows clear differences. In the analysis, I use a distinction between substantive principles of priority setting and process-oriented principles. Regarding substantive principles, I have found that the guidelines point in different directions. This seems acceptable, however, since they focus on different problems. Moreover, it seems possible to integrate the various context-dependent principles by relating them to higher order principles. Regarding process-oriented principles, I have found that how and to what extent these principles are applied in the guidelines vary. If we want to apply these principles in a more satisfying way, this would require a more systematic approach.


This study refers to the problem of long-term inpatient flow in a general hospital. In this study, a queueing simulation model was developed for the two departments in the hospital with a homogeneous case mix and relatively many long-term inpatients in order to increase the turnover rate and hospital charges. Before the simulation n, the model was verified by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The following results were generated by three alternative models of the special bed policies. 1. Alternative I : When long term inpatients were admitted to the wards belonging to departments A and B without transfer to other departments and special beds, the average turn-over rate decreased by 2-4% and the average hospital charges decreased by 70 million won. 2. Alternative II : When long-term inpatients were transferred to department C but the transfer of wards was determined by department C in order of clinical need, the average turnover rate increased by 4-13% but the average hospital charges decreased by 30 million won. This result was not greatly different from the present state. 3. Alternative III : When long-term inpatients were transferred to the special wards and department C simultaneously, the increase in the average turnover rate and hospital charges was equivalent to the increase of two beds in the special wards. When the special wards were allocated 16 beds, the average turnover rate of departments A and B increased by about 55% and 20% respectively. Also, the hospital charges increased by about 0.44 billion won. As a result, transfer to department C and the use of 16 beds in the special wards for long-term inpatients of departments A and B is expected to maximize the hospital revenue. However, as the above special bed policy can not increase the turnover rate above 60%, there is a need for a more comprehensive policy to further increase the rate. The development of an elaborate model should include the number of long-term inpatients in all clinical departments, the special wards system or an increase of hospital beds to handle admission needs, and the resources of the hospital by department. When the alternatives are evaluated, a cost-benefit analysis in addition to the turnover rate and the hospital charges should be considered.


Pension systems differ across countries and are subject to country specific regulations. In addition, various countries offer different types of pension plans to their citizens. In some pension plans individuals have a lot of flexibility regarding managing their savings; in others, pension funds or life insurers manage the members' savings without taking into account the individuals' preferences. Nevertheless, in most of the pension plans individuals face some challenges. They have to decide on the investment and consumption of their retirement savings either by choosing a pension provider and a specific pension product, or by choosing a particular annuity, and, possibly, a life insurance policy. In some countries they have to make decisions as soon as they are employed; in other countries, not until they approach the time of retirement. To help individuals make the right decisions regarding their retirement savings, this thesis presents some optimization techniques that could be applied by pension providers and financial advisers to provide individuals with such guidelines. For a given objective function and a number of constraints, we search for the optimal solution, which indicates, for example, how to invest the savings, which annuity to purchase, and which level of death benefit to choose. In most of the papers we follow a classical approach and maximize the expected CRRA utility of either the final wealth, or the consumption and bequest amount. Scholars refer to the aforementioned decisions as the consumption-investment problems. A classical approach to solving these problems is stochastic optimal control (SOC), which aims to find a closed-form solution to a given problem. However, as the explicit solution exists only for relatively simple models, this approach cannot be applied to the problems considered in this thesis. Therefore, in this thesis we use a multi-stage stochastic programming (MSP) approach that is known for its practical applications and thus broadly used in operations research. In a few chapters of the thesis we apply a mixed approach, i.e., a combination of the MSP and SOC approaches, and in one of the chapters we apply Monte Carlo simulations. Each chapter of the thesis focuses on different challenges that individuals face, given a different set of constraints, determined either by national regulations or by individuals' personal preferences. The first two chapters deal with defined contribution pension plans, where an individual makes the consumption, investment, and life insurance decisions, both before and after retirement. Our results indicate that retirement savings management differs for each individual, and that it should not only depend on the individual's degree of risk aversion or time left to retirement, but also characteristics such as current wealth, expected income before and after retirement, expected pension contributions, impatience factor, lifetime expectancy, and preferences regarding portfolio composition and the level of death benefit. Consequently, pension providers should offer variable life annuities that are tailored to the individuals' needs in terms of the underlying asset allocation, the payout profile, and the level of death benefit. The next three chapters discuss the purchase of the right annuity. We start with investigating whether individuals should wait until retirement to purchase a life annuity providing fixed payments, whether they should invest in this annuity already some years before retirement by purchasing a deferred annuity with the same fixed payments, or whether they should invest their savings in stocks and bonds. Despite simple model assumptions, our findings indicate that individuals should invest part of their savings in deferred annuities. The proportion in these products increases with the degree of risk aversion and the expected lifetime, and decreases with the bequest motive. Afterwards, we investigate the optimal annuity choice under inflation risk, which is often ignored both by practitioners advising on the retirement planning and by scholars investigating the consumption-investment problems. We search for an optimal level of retirement income in real terms, given investment opportunities in inflation-linked, nominal, and variable annuities, as well as in stocks and bonds. Our findings show that real annuities are a crucial asset in every portfolio, and that trying to hedge inflation without investing in inflation-linked products leads to a lower and more volatile retirement income. In the last chapter discussing the annuity purchase, we differentiate between a wide variety of annuities. In addition to stocks and bonds with different maturities, we search for the optimal investment in annuities contingent on a single and joint lifetime, with fixed and variable payments, with immediate and deferred payments, and with temporary and life long payments. We conclude that the optimal portfolio for a single and a two-person household not only requires frequent rebalancing, but also consists of too many different assets. Accordingly, we argue that despite so many annuities available in the market, the products that individuals need the most are not available. Finally, in the last chapter of this thesis we apply Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the value of the interest rate guarantee incorporated in the Danish with-profit products. In these products the pension provider offers its members a guaranteed interest rate as well as some bonus rate that depends on the pension provider's realized investment returns. We argue that with-profit products with such a bonus mechanism often provide lower returns than pure unit-linked products without any guarantee because, to meet the solvency requirements, the pension provider has to invest individuals' assets more conservatively.


Background: Anemia in the postnatal period is a common problem, which has been subject of research recently. Though, it is a common problem, it is a less researched topic in India. Hence, this study was undertaken. Aim: The aim was to know the clinic-social factors associated with anemia in the postpartum period. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective record-based study conducted in Government Lady Goschen Hospital, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. All the women in the postpartum period who had hemoglobin (%) <11 g/dl were included for the study. Information about various social and clinical factors was collected on a pretested semi-structured proforma. Multivariate analyses were used to get adjusted odds ratio. P < 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: About 16.7% (165/988) had moderate anemia. The rest that is 83.3% (823/988) had mild anemia. Multivariate analysis reveals that following factors were significantly associated with moderate anemia: Illiterate mothers, parity (≥3), short interpregnancy interval (<3 years), presence of anemia in the antenatal period, late diagnosis in the antenatal period and poor compliance with treatment. Conclusion: Majority had mild anemia. Further research should be focused to (1) reasons for persistence of anemia from antenatal to postpartum period. (2) Find out the reason for failure to come for follow-up in the postpartum period even though services are free.


Animal genomes are folded into loops and topologically associating domains (TADs) by CTCF and cohesin, but whether these loops are stable or dynamic is unknown. Here, we directly visualize chromatin looping at the Fbn2 TAD in mouse embryonic stem cells using super-resolution live-cell imaging and quantify looping dynamics by Bayesian inference. Our results are consistent with cohesin-mediated loop extrusion in cells, and with CTCF both stopping and stabilizing cohesin. Surprisingly, the Fbn2 loop is both rare and dynamic, with a looped fraction of ~3-6.5% and a median loop lifetime of ~10-30 minutes. Instead of a stable loop, our results establish a highly dynamic view of TADs and loops where the Fbn2 TAD exists predominantly in a partially extruded conformation. This dynamic and quantitative view of TADs may facilitate a mechanistic understanding of their functions.


For the clinician involved in evaluation and treatment of the employee alleging work-related psychiatric dysfunction, the ethical challenges are many. The chapter provides a framework concerning the issues of ethics in medical/legal practice for the clinician working in occupational medicine and psychiatry.


AS THE AVERAGE LIFE SPAN increases and more people develop chronic illnesses, it is becoming apparent that our healthcare system is not providing the necessary combination of coordinated systems to an aging and increasingly complex population. The fact that healthcare costs keep rising without comparable increases in national health outcomes proves this. Thirty years ago, when life expectancy was shorter and demands on the healthcare system were not as profound, the system delivered care from personal family physicians (physicians working with less complex patients, with more time, and with better relationships with patients and their families). Population growth, better research, better medications, and more intensive interventions created a new period in healthcare history, a period of endless information and incredible patient needs. Fortunately forward-thinking healthcare analysts and researchers have identified gaps in care and developed proposals and theories to bridge the gap. Beginning with the Institute of Medicine's Crossing the Quality Chasm, new ideologies emerged which impugned current practices while identifying primary areas of need (Institute of Medicine 2000). INTERSECTING MODELS REVOLUTIONIZE HEALTHCARE In 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) repudiated the current system of care for children with special healthcare needs and published a policy statement defining the medical home (American Academy of Pediatrics 2002). The AAP believes care should be accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective. In 2002, the AAP disseminated an updated policy that refers to a care-delivery system that provides timely access to medical care, improved communication between patients and their healthcare team, coordination and continuity of care, and focus on quality and safety. The medical home concept aims to improve the entire healthcare delivery system. The medical home idea is a "family-centered" approach, and it stipulates that patients need coordinated and continuous care. In a system that has grown beyond the primary care provider to care from a complex array of providers, coordinated and continuous care has become an absolute necessity. In 2007, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) released "Joint Principles of the PatientCentered Medical Home" (ICIC 2008.) With the support of these organizations the medical home model went beyond an approach to manage children with special needs to become an ideology for improving care for patients across the life span. In 1998, chronic care innovator Dr. Ed Wagner published the first in a series of precedent-setting articles that evolved into the Chronic Care Model (Wagner 1998). Based on the knowledge that 133 million people live with a chronic condition, a number that is projected to increase by more than 1 percent per year, and that nearly half of those individuals have multiple chronic illnesses, Wagner conceptualized a new, transformative delivery system. This system includes not only an informed patient but an active community, plus health systems that use decision support and clinical information systems such as electronic medical records. Similar to the medical home model, the chronic care model has moved the patient from a place of isolation into a larger family and community support structure, acknowledging that people do not function or live in dissociated states. Further, the chronic care model fosters communication between an involved and educated patient and a proactive, interactive care team. No longer is communication of facts and figures acceptable -communication must involve an exchange of knowledge in a collaborative relationship, what Wagner refers to as "productive interactions." This cooperative model abolishes the hierarchical, archaic structure of physician-patient care and introduces the concept of equal partners using information and decision support to establish unified and achievable goals. …


Network resource reservation systems are being developed and deployed, driven by the demand and substantial benefits of providing performance predictability for modern distributed applications. However, existing systems suffer limitations: They either are inefficient in finding the optimal resource reservation, or cause private information (e.g., from the network infrastructure) to be exposed (e.g., to the user). In this paper, we design BoxOpt, a novel system that leverages efficient oracle construction techniques in optimization and learning theory to automatically, and swiftly learn the optimal resource reservations without exchanging any private information between the network and the user. In BoxOpt, we first model the simple reservation interface adopted in most reservation systems as a resource membership oracle. Second, we develop an efficient algorithm that constructs a resource separation oracle by a linear number of calls on resource membership oracle. Third, we develop a generic framework to construct a resource optimization oracle by iteratively calling the resource separation oracle, and then develop three novel, efficient algorithms under this generic framework, the best of which computes the optimal resource reservation by a linear number of calls on resource separation oracle. As such, BoxOpt can discover the optimal resource reservation with $O(n^{2})$ calls on the resource membership oracle. We implement a prototype of BoxOpt with and demonstrate its efficiency and efficacy via extensive experiments using real network topology and a 7-day trace from a large operational federation network. Results show that (1) BoxOpt has a 100% correctness ratio by comparing with a state-of-the-art optimization solver, and (2) for 90% of requests, BoxOpt learns the optimal resource reservation within 10 seconds.


We discuss the needs and plans for evolving event reconstruction and computing infrastructures of high-energy physics experiments towards the high-luminosity LHC era. Realizing the full physics potential of programs of the HL-LHC experiments will require the HEP community to address a number of challenges in the area of reconstruction algorithms, software and computing. These challenges center around a number of themes, including: complexity of event environment; enhancements in detector capabilities; changes in commodity computing technologies; legacy software; and the need for increased sensitivity in HL-LHC analyses. We summarize some of the research and development opportunities in thes areas.


Primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSLs) are commonly seen at the cerebral hemisphere, especially the corpus callosum, basal ganglia and thalamus. It is extremely rare for a PCNSL to occur in the temporal horn among pathology of intraventricular tumors. This patient was a 59-year-old man and referred our hospital due to confusion and gait disturbance. On the enhanced MRI, homogeneous-enhanced solitary mass was found within the temporal horn of the left lateral ventricle. That lesion was accompanied with increasing hypervascular tumor blush on the preoperative cerebral angiography. The author chose a craniotomy for removal of mass and tissue diagnosis and reported a patient with an extraordinary diagnosis of PCNSL at the temporal horn. J Med Cases. 2015;6(6):247-250 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2155w


This paper describes a set of design parameters for manipulating the branch length, branch direction, and overall size of gold nanostars (AuNS) synthesized by a seedless process. We controlled the structure of AuNS by varying four different synthetic factors: mechanical agitation, type of Good's buffer, concentration ratio of precursors, and pH of growth solution. We found that stirring the precursors increased the yield of branched particles. Additionally, the AuNS morphology could be controlled by changing the buffer type and concentration ratio of precursors, which tuned the localized plasmon resonances from the visible to the near-infrared. We determined that performing the synthesis at a pH less than the pKa of the buffer was critical for the stability of the AuNS; when the pH was greater than the pKa, the nanoparticles aggregated in solution. We expanded the library of Good's buffers able to form AuNS and optimized the mechanical and chemical synthesis conditions, which improved the structural homog...


We report on a 75-year-old patient suffering from persistent diarrhea with consecutive weight loss of 50 kg over a nine month period. Three years ago the patient had been operated on a sigmoid cancer. Ultrasonography and CT-scan revealed retroperitoneal masses due to lymph node metastases. Enteroclysis demonstrated a fistula between the duodenum and the terminal ileum. Whereas duodenocolic fistulae due to malignancies are well known to the best of our knowledge a fistula between retroperitoneal parts of the duodenum and the intraperitoneal intestine have not descripted so far.


Abstract Participation in aftercare may reduce risk of recidivism among women offenders with substance use problems following their release to the community. This study examines motivation to participate in aftercare among women offenders and whether their participation in both in-custody and aftercare treatment reduces their risk of recidivism. Surveys were conducted with women (N = 1,158) in prison-based substance abuse treatment programs. Return-to-prison was examined among participants in community-based aftercare (N = 1,182) over 12 months following treatment discharge. Higher treatment motivation was associated with child welfare involvement, prior treatment, and use of "harder" drugs; ethnic minority women had lower treatment motivation compared with White women. Participants who completed the aftercare program, or who had longer treatment duration, and those who had participated in an in-prison program prior to parole had reduced risk of recidivism. Study findings suggest the value of community aftercare for women offenders, particularly when combined with prior in-prison treatment.


We consider the problem of high-dimensional non-linear variable selection for supervised learning. Our approach is based on performing linear selection among exponentially many appropriately defined positive definite kernels that characterize non-linear interactions between the original variables. To select efficiently from these many kernels, we use the natural hierarchical structure of the problem to extend the multiple kernel learning framework to kernels that can be embedded in a directed acyclic graph; we show that it is then possible to perform kernel selection through a graph-adapted sparsity-inducing norm, in polynomial time in the number of selected kernels. Moreover, we study the consistency of variable selection in high-dimensional settings, showing that under certain assumptions, our regularization framework allows a number of irrelevant variables which is exponential in the number of observations. Our simulations on synthetic datasets and datasets from the UCI repository show state-of-the-art predictive performance for non-linear regression problems.


Based on a hybrid genetic algorithm, the bandwidth for distributed multi-pump Raman amplifier (DMRA) is optimized. Optimal results show that signal bandwidth Δλ can be evidently broadened by means of increasing the number of pumps, Δλ decreases with the increase of Raman gain and with the improvement of flatness property, and the hybrid erbium-doped fibre amplifier and DMRA can availably overcome the weakness of pure DMRA.


This paper presents an approach to estimating the operational impacts of freeway work zones. The focus is on significant work zones on freeway corridors as defined by FHWA. The methodology is based on deterministic freeway capacity concepts described in the Highway Capacity Manual and allows the analyst to test impacts of a range of work zone configurations in an extended time–space domain. The focus on extended facilities refers to the analysis of multiple segments of various types, including basic freeway, ramp, and weaving segments. The cost-effective and time-efficient analysis approach can model effects of work zones such as lane closures, lower speed limits, capacity reduction, and the implicit effects of traffic diversion, peak reduction, and other intelligent transportation system strategies. Performance measures include total delay, queuing impacts, average running speed, and the potential to estimate user cost. The methodology focuses on a corridor-based analysis of work zones on freeways. It is not appropriate for network analysis, for long corridors, for signalized arterials, or for cases in which congestion on the arterial network significantly affects freeway operations. In these applications, a simulation-based analysis is more appropriate. However, the methodology presented in this paper is more cost-effective and less data intensive than simulation analysis and can readily be calibrated with local or regional data. This is a key advantage in challenging economic times, when agencies struggle to balance a constrained budget with the need to analyze multiple construction projects within their jurisdiction.


Hexagonal Mn-doped AlN nanostructures were successfully synthesized through a catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition at higher temperature using Mn powder, Al powder and NH3 as the starting materials. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence (PL) were employed to characterize the structure and morphology of the products. It was found that the as-prepared AlN was wurtzite structure and flower-shape with uniform geometry. The intensity of PL emission band from the Mn-doped AlN sample is located at 398nm, corresponding to the deep level O defect caused by the introduced Mn into AlN matrix.


Fingerprints play a central role in any field where person identification is required. In forensics and biometrics, three-dimensional fingerprint-based imaging technologies, and corresponding recognition methods, have been vastly investigated. In cultural heritage, preliminary studies provide evidence that the three-dimensional impressions left on objects from the past (ancient fingerprints) are of paramount relevance to understand the socio-cultural systems of former societies, to possibly identify a single producer of multiple potteries, and to authenticate the artist of a sculpture. These findings suggest that the study of ancient fingerprints can be further investigated and open new avenues of research. However, the potential for capturing and analyzing ancient fingerprints is still largely unexplored in the context of cultural heritage research. In fact, most of the existing studies have focused on plane fingerprint representations and commercial software for image processing. Our aim is to outline the opportunities and challenges of digital fingerprint recognition in answering a range of questions in cultural heritage research. Therefore, we summarize the fingerprint-based imaging technologies, reconstruction methods, and analyses used in biometrics that could be beneficial to the study of ancient fingerprints in cultural heritage. In addition, we analyze the works conducted on ancient fingerprints from potteries and ceramic/fired clay sculptures. We conclude with a discussion on the open challenges and future works that could initiate novel strategies for ancient fingerprint acquisition, digitization, and processing within the cultural heritage community.


The current World Health Organization classification recognizes three histological types of grade II low-grade diffuse glioma (diffuse astrocytoma, oligoastrocytoma, and oligodendroglioma). However, the diagnostic criteria, in particular for oligoastrocytoma, are highly subjective. The aim of our study was to establish genetic profiles for diffuse gliomas and to estimate their predictive impact. In this study, we screened 360 World Health Organization grade II gliomas for mutations in the IDH1, IDH2, and TP53 genes and for 1p/19q loss and correlated these with clinical outcome. Most tumors (86%) were characterized genetically by TP53 mutation plus IDH1/2 mutation (32%), 1p/19q loss plus IDH1/2 mutation (37%), or IDH1/2 mutation only (17%). TP53 mutations only or 1p/19q loss only was rare (2 and 3%, respectively). The median survival of patients with TP53 mutation ± IDH1/2 mutation was significantly shorter than that of patients with 1p/19q loss ± IDH1/2 mutation (51.8 months vs. 58.7 months, respectively; P = 0.0037). Multivariate analysis with adjustment for age and treatment confirmed these results (P = 0.0087) and also revealed that TP53 mutation is a significant prognostic marker for shorter survival (P = 0.0005) and 1p/19q loss for longer survival (P = 0.0002), while IDH1/2 mutations are not prognostic (P = 0.8737). The molecular classification on the basis of IDH1/2 mutation, TP53 mutation, and 1p/19q loss has power similar to histological classification and avoids the ambiguity inherent to the diagnosis of oligoastrocytoma.


There's a place the slaves been whisperin' around called Canada. The law don't allow no slavery there. They say you follow the North Star, and when you step onto this land you are free. Taken away from her mother by a ruthless slave trader, all Julilly has left is the dream of freedom. Every day that she spends huddled in the slaver trader's wagon travelling south or working on the brutal new plantation, she thinks about the land where it is possible to be free, a land she and her friend Liza may reach someday. So when workers from the Underground Railroad offer to help the two girls escape, they are ready. But the slave catchers and their dogs will soon be after them.


ABSTRACT We recently reported the identification of sequences in the chicken genome that show over 95% identity to the novel envelope gene of the subgroup J avian leukosis virus (S. J. Benson, B. L. Ruis, A. M. Fadly, and K. F. Conklin, J. Virol. 72:10157–10164, 1998). Based on the fact that the endogenous subgroup J-related env genes were associated with long terminal repeats (LTRs), we concluded that these LTR-env sequences defined a new family of avian endogenous viruses that we designated the ev/J family. In this report, we have further characterized the content and expression of the ev/J proviruses. The data obtained indicate that there are between 6 and 11 copies of ev/J proviruses in all chicken cells examined and that these proviruses fall into six classes. Of the 18 proviruses examined, all share a high degree of sequence identity and all contain an internal deletion that removes all of thepol gene and various amounts of gag andenv gene sequences. Sequencing of the gaggenes, LTRs, and untranslated regions of several ev/J proviruses revealed a high level of identity between isolates, indicating that they have not undergone significant sequence variation since their introduction into the avian germ line. Although the ev/Jgag gene showed a relatively weak relationship (46% identity and 61% similarity at the amino acid level) to that of the avian leukosis-sarcoma virus family, it retains several sequences of demonstrated importance for virus assembly, budding, and/or infectivity. Finally, evidence was obtained that at least some members of the ev/J family are expressed and, if translated, could encode Gag- and Env-related polypeptides.


Crude fractions of urine from pregnant women are immunosuppressive in vitro. An 85-kilodalton immunosuppressive glycoprotein purified to homogeneity from such urine inhibited in vitro assays of human T-cell and monocyte activity at concentrations of 10(-9) to 10(-11) molar. This material was nontoxic and blocked early events required for normal T-cell proliferation in vitro. On the basis of its tissue source and its in vitro activity, the name "uromodulin" is proposed for this glycoprotein.


With the explosive growth of genomic information, the searching of sequence databases has emerged as one of the most computation and data-intensive scientific applications. Our previous studies suggested that parallel genomic sequence-search possesses highly irregular computation and I/O patterns. Effectively addressing these runtime irregularities is thus the key to designing scalable sequence-search tools on massively parallel computers. While the computation scheduling for irregular scientific applications and the optimization of noncontiguous file accesses have been well-studied independently, little attention has been paid to the interplay between the two. In this paper, we systematically investigate the computation and I/O scheduling for data-intensive, irregular scientific applications within the context of genomic sequence search. Our study reveals that the lack of coordination between computation scheduling and I/O optimization could result in severe performance issues. We then propose an integrated scheduling approach that effectively improves sequence-search throughput by gracefully coordinating the dynamic load balancing of computation and high-performance noncontiguous I/O.


This paper extends the dual-Petrov-Galerkin method proposed by Shen [16] and further developed by Yuan, Shen and Wu [23] to several integrable and non-integrable fifth-order KdV type equations. These fifth-order equations arise in modeling different wave phenomena and involve various nonlinear terms. The method is implemented to compute the solitary wave solutions of these equations and the numerical results imply that this scheme is capable of capturing, with very high accuracy, the details of these solutions with modest computational costs. It is also shown that the scheme is
stable under a very mild stability constraint, and is second-order
accurate in time and spectrally accurate in space.


Mandibles and stomachs of three Antarctic shrimp species (Nematocarcinus lanceopes, Notocrangon antarcticus, and Chorismus antarcticus ) were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy of the midgut glands was applied to find out the nutritional status of the animals which contained a broad variety of food items in their stomachs. In contrast to the Antarctic krill, the three carideans possess a dual filter system; primary filters in the cardia and secondary filters in the pyloric chamber. Morphologically, the mandibles and stomachs of the three species vary considerably, however, their food items are similar. We conclude that stomach contents do not markedly reflect the different modes of life or habitat preferences of the investigated species.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, characterized by the accumulation of triacylglycerols (TGs) and other lipids in the liver, often accompanies obesity and is a risk factor for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis. To treat or prevent fatty liver, a thorough understanding of hepatic fatty acid and TG metabolism is crucial. To investigate the role of acyl CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), a key enzyme of TG synthesis, in fatty liver development, we studied mice with global and liver‐specific knockout of Dgat1. DGAT1 was required for hepatic steatosis induced by a high‐fat diet and prolonged fasting, which are both characterized by delivery of exogenous fatty acids to the liver. Studies in primary hepatocytes showed that DGAT1 deficiency protected against hepatic steatosis by reducing synthesis and increasing the oxidation of fatty acids. In contrast, lipodystrophy (aP2‐SREBP‐1c436) and liver X receptor activation (T0901317), which increase de novo fatty acid synthesis in liver, caused steatosis independently of DGAT1. Pharmacologic inhibition of Dgat1 with antisense oligonucleotides protected against fatty liver induced by a high‐fat diet. Conclusion: Our findings identify a specific role for hepatic DGAT1 in esterification of exogenous fatty acids and indicate that DGAT1 contributes to hepatic steatosis induced by this mechanism. (HEPATOLOGY 2009.)


Digital transformation (DT) introduces strategy-oriented and customer-centric changes, based on innovative usage of emerging information and communication technology (ICT), to implement improved or new processes in modern organizations. This paper provides insights into academic publishing trends and offers an analysis of scientific fields in which researches were made followed by a brief analysis of the most influential articles. Paper also identifies and discusses key determinants and influence factors of DT and some emerging trends and technologies, in order to explain organizational and technological context of DT. For better understanding of this mix of business and ICT related concepts, a framework of concepts on DT was developed and called Digital transformation playground (DTP). Its purpose is to get better understanding of what are the mainstream concepts of today, what other and emerging ICT or digitalization concepts in the context of DT arise, and how these technology elements impact business related concepts.


Sir .—May I comment on the Wilms tumor aspect of the September 1975 review article in theJournalon abdominal ultrasonography (129:1096, 1975). A majority of these tumors can be diagnosed successfully with modern techniques of intravenous urography. Simple serous cysts are extremely rare in children, and the first diagnosis of any intrarenal lesion should be nephroblastoma. In doubtful cases arteriography can be extremely helpful, 1 particularly in the late-presenting case that may show nonfunction. Ultrasonography presents an attractive noninvasive technique for confirming the diagnosis of this condition, but we must be cautious about how we interpret the appearances of the apparently transonic tumor. A nephroblastoma may be so homogeneous and avascular that it presents no internal barriers of impedance and appears to be a transonic or anechoic mass, no matter how the amplitude of the sound is varied. We recently had a case of an avascular tumor in a


We present a novel method to reconstruct 3D character models from video. The main conceptual contribution is that the reconstruction can be performed from a single uncalibrated video sequence which shows the character in articulated motion. We reduce this generalized problem setting to the easier case of multi-view reconstruction of a rigid scene by applying pose synchronization of the character between frames. This is enabled by two central technical contributions. First, based on a generic character shape template, a new mesh-based technique for accurate shape tracking is proposed. This method successfully handles the complex occlusions issues, which occur when tracking the motion of an articulated character. Secondly, we show that image-based 3D reconstruction becomes possible by deforming the tracked character shapes as-rigidas-possible into a common pose using motion capture data. After pose synchronization, several partial reconstructions can be merged in order to create a single, consistent 3D character model. We integrated these components into a simple interactive framework, which allows for straightforward generation and animation of 3D models for a variety of character shapes from uncalibrated monocular video.


The savanna woodlands of north-eastern Namibia are a significant source of essential resources for the rural population. Thus far, however, there is little or no growth data available to predict future timber supplies and current yield regulation is limited to the issuing of harvesting permits based on the assessment of available tree sizes, rather than a tree population as a whole. This paper presents the negative exponential function for the development of a guide curve. The curve defines an optimum stand structure based on desired timber yields for specific tree sizes, the intrinsic mortality rates of individual species and the total desirable stocking of a stand. The application of the approach is assessed using the size class distributions of two prominent tree species of the Kanovlei area in north-eastern Namibia. While the function models the development of the populations of the species well, timber and non-timber trees will need to be modelled separately. In the coming years it will be an important priority to establish a system of sample plots to obtain growth data that may support or augment the system.


Introduction In South Africa there is an easy access to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and expenditure is high. Certain OTC products are available to the public in general stores, while others may only be available at pharmacies. It is also common for OTC medicines to be prescribed by a doctor for treatment of minor illnesses. Individuals with medical insurance usually have cover for these products, but typically only to a limited extent. Aim To investigate the utilization patterns in two medical insurance schemes of OTC analgesic products in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) category N02BE51 which includes medicines containing paracetamol and varying combinations of codeine, caffeine and antihistamines. Methodology Data were obtained for two benefit plans, one with generous, high benefits (HI), the other with lower benefits (LO). Data covered utilization of OTC medicines in the N02BE51 group, indicating whether the medicines were purchased at a pharmacy or dispensed by a doctor. Doctors were further categorised as contracted/network or non-network providers. Product costs and volumes were analysed according to access directly by the beneficiary, recommendation by a pharmacist, or prescription from a doctor. Results Compared to doctors, pharmacists issued more-expensive products. Average costs were higher in the HI plan compared to the LO plan. Pharmacists showed a preference for dispensing larger and more expensive pack sizes. Doctors showed better cost containment: the average cost of products in HI was twice that of LO. Doctors dispensing directly to patients issued smaller pack sizes and lower-priced products. Contracted network doctors did not appear to impact on costs. Conclusion Among the privately-insured individuals studied, the avaiIability, cost and formulation of N02BE51 OTC products appeared to be poorly regulated, whether by the consumer, pharmacist, medical insurance scheme or legislation. Doctors demonstrate better cost containment by prescribing less costly, smaller pack-size alternatives compared to pharmacists.


Background. The emergence of interstitial pneumonia (IP) in patients with hematological malignancy (HM) is becoming a challenging scenario in current practice. However, detailed characterization and investigation of outcomes and risk factors on survival have not been addressed. Methods. We conducted a retrospective study of 42,584 cancer patients covering the period between 1996 and 2008 using the institutional cancer registry system. Among 816 HM patients, 61 patients with IP were recognized. The clinical features, laboratory results, and histological types were studied to determine the impact of IP on survival and identify the profile of prognostic factors. Results. HM patients with IP showed a significant worse survival than those without IP in the 5-year overall survival (P = 0.027). The overall survival showed no significant difference between infectious pneumonia and noninfectious interstitial pneumonia (IIP versus nIIP) (P = 0.323). In a multivariate Cox regression model, leukocyte and platelet count were associated with increased risk of death. Conclusions. The occurrence of IP in HM patients is associated with increased mortality. Of interest, nIIP is a prognostic indicator in patients with lymphoma but not in patients with leukemia. However, aggressive management of IP in patients with HM is strongly advised, and further prospective survey is warranted.


Abstract. Observing stratospheric ozone is essential to assess whether the Montreal
Protocol has succeeded in saving the ozone layer by banning ozone depleting
substances. Recent studies have reported positive trends, indicating that
ozone is recovering in the upper stratosphere at mid-latitudes, but the trend
magnitudes differ, and uncertainties are still high. Trends and their
uncertainties are influenced by factors such as instrumental drifts, sampling
patterns, discontinuities, biases, or short-term anomalies that may all mask
a potential ozone recovery. The present study investigates how anomalies,
temporal measurement sampling rates, and trend period lengths influence
resulting trends. We present an approach for handling suspicious anomalies in
trend estimations. For this, we analysed multiple ground-based stratospheric
ozone records in central Europe to identify anomalous periods in data from
the GROund-based Millimetre-wave Ozone Spectrometer (GROMOS) located in Bern,
Switzerland. The detected anomalies were then used to estimate ozone trends
from the GROMOS time series by considering the anomalous observations in the
regression. We compare our improved GROMOS trend estimate with results
derived from the other ground-based ozone records (lidars, ozonesondes, and
microwave radiometers), that are all part of the Network for the Detection of
Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The data indicate positive trends of
1 % decade−1 to 3 % decade−1 at an altitude of about
39 km (3 hPa), providing a confirmation of ozone recovery in
the upper stratosphere in agreement with satellite observations. At lower
altitudes, the ground station data show inconsistent trend results, which
emphasize the importance of ongoing research on ozone trends in the lower
stratosphere. Our presented method of a combined analysis of ground station
data provides a useful approach to recognize and to reduce uncertainties in
stratospheric ozone trends by considering anomalies in the trend estimation.
We conclude that stratospheric trend estimations still need improvement and
that our approach provides a tool that can also be useful for other data
sets.


We investigate the formation, growth, merger history, movement, and destruction of cosmic voids detected via the watershed transform code VIDE in a cosmological N-body dark matter {\Lambda}CDM simulation. By adapting a method used to construct halo merger trees, we are able to trace individual voids back to their initial appearance and record the merging and evolution of their progenitors at high redshift. For the scales of void sizes captured in our simulation, we find that the void formation rate peaks at scale factor 0.3, which coincides with a growth in the void hierarchy and the emergence of dark energy. Voids of all sizes appear at all scale factors, though the median initial void size decreases with time. When voids become detectable they have nearly their present-day volumes. Almost all voids have relatively stable growth rates and suffer only infrequent minor mergers. Dissolution of a void via merging is very rare. Instead, most voids maintain their distinct identity as annexed subvoids of a larger parent. The smallest voids are collapsing at the present epoch, but void destruction ceases after scale factor 0.3. In addition, voids centers tend to move very little, less than 0.01 of their effective radii per ln a, over their lifetimes. Overall, most voids exhibit little radical dynamical evolution; their quiet lives make them pristine probes of cosmological initial conditions and the imprint of dark energy.


We find evidence for the behavioral biases of anchoring and loss aversion. We find that anchoring is more important for items that are resold quickly, and we find that the effect of loss aversion increases with the time that a painting is held. The evidence in favor of anchoring and loss aversion with this large dataset validates previous results and adds to the empirical evidence a finding of increasing loss aversion with the length a painting is held. We do not find evidence that investors can take advantage of these behavioral biases.


It is argued on the basis of MNDO−PSDCI calculations that, at the wavelength of electronic dichroism studies used to infer structure, the transition dipole moment of the retinyl Schiff's base chromophore of bacteriorhodopsin makes an angle of 10.5 ± 3.5° with respect to the long axis of the chromophore. The magnitude and direction of this off-axis angle helps to reconcile the differences between the deuterium NMR and optical determinations of the angular orientation of the chromophore in bacteriorhodopsin. Reconciliation of the NMR and optical dichroism structures is only possible, however, when the chromophore is oriented so that the imine proton points toward the extracellular surface. After correction, the published electronic dichroism data predict a chromophore angle of Ω = 61 ± 7°, where Ω is defined as the angle of a line connecting chromophore atoms C5 and C15 relative to the membrane normal. The corresponding NMR results are Ω = 53.7 ± 4.1°. The combined data with equal weighting yield Ω = 57 ± 8...


We apply an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict recruitment and biomass development of Northeast Arctic cod. The ANN is trained using a genetic algorithm with input time series such as spawning stock biomass of cod, herring and capelin biomass, and temperature. Forecasts were made by training the ANN on parts of the time series (training set), and then using a trained ANN to predict cod recruitment or biomass in years outside of the training set. In general the predictions corresponded well to observations. The correlation (r2) between observed and predicted stock recruitment at age 3 was 0.74, based on a model with temperature, spawning stock biomass, and capelin biomass. The correlation between observed and predicted stock biomass was 0.89, 0.72 and 0.57 for one, two and three year predictions respectively. The best model for the one year predictions was based on input information on cod biomass, temperature, and cod landings. These results illustrate the strong forecasting ability of ANN models. In the light of our findings we discuss the potential benefit of applying ANN models as a forecasting technology in fisheries assessment.


Fructose intake is known to induce obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to evaluate the effects of fructose drinking on gut leakiness, endotoxemia, and NAFLD and study the underlying mechanisms in rats, mice, and T84 colon cells. Levels of ileum junctional proteins, oxidative stress markers, and apoptosis‐related proteins in rodents, T84 colonic cells, and human ileums were determined by immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence analyses. Fructose drinking caused microbiome change, leaky gut, and hepatic inflammation/fibrosis with increased levels of nitroxidative stress marker proteins cytochrome P450‐2E1 (CYP2E1), inducible nitric oxide synthase, and nitrated proteins in small intestine and liver of rodents. Fructose drinking significantly elevated plasma bacterial endotoxin levels, likely resulting from decreased levels of intestinal tight junction (TJ) proteins (zonula occludens 1, occludin, claudin‐1, and claudin‐4), adherent junction (AJ) proteins (β‐catenin and E‐cadherin), and desmosome plakoglobin, along with α‐tubulin, in wild‐type rodents, but not in fructose‐exposed Cyp2e1‐null mice. Consistently, decreased intestinal TJ/AJ proteins and increased hepatic inflammation with fibrosis were observed in autopsied obese people compared to lean individuals. Furthermore, histological and biochemical analyses showed markedly elevated hepatic fibrosis marker proteins in fructose‐exposed rats compared to controls. Immunoprecipitation followed by immunoblot analyses revealed that intestinal TJ proteins were nitrated and ubiquitinated, leading to their decreased levels in fructose‐exposed rats. Conclusion: These results showed that fructose intake causes protein nitration of intestinal TJ and AJ proteins, resulting in increased gut leakiness, endotoxemia, and steatohepatitis with liver fibrosis, at least partly, through a CYP2E1‐dependent manner.


Hybrid motion strategies such as combining jumping or running with flying and gliding are used in nature by numerous animals and birds for effective movements in their natural habitat. However, only, recently its importance is realized as a valuable locomotion strategy for small robots. The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive coverage of developments in robots capable of this hybrid locomotion, i.e., a combination of aerial and terrestrial mode. Relevant works of interest in each domain are also discussed.


A measurement of the differential branching fraction of the decay $K^∗(892)^0\mu^+\mu^−$ is presented together with a determination of the S-wave fraction of the $K^+\pi^−$ system in the decay $B^0 \to K^+\pi^−\mu^+\mu^−$. The analysis is based on pp-collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{−1}$ collected with the LHCb experiment. The measurements are made in bins of the invariant mass squared of the dimuon system, $q^2$. Precise theoretical predictions for the differential branching fraction of $B^0 \to K^∗(892)^0\mu^+\mu^−$ decays are available for the $q^2$ region $1.1 < q 2 < 6.0 GeV^2 /c^4$. In this $q^2$ region, for the $K^+\pi^−$ invariant mass range $796 < m_{K_{\pi}} < 996 MeV/c^2$, the S-wave fraction of the $K^+\pi^−$ system in $B^0 \to K^+\pi^−\mu^+\mu^−$ decays is found to be
$F_S = 0.101 \pm 0.017(stat) \pm 0.009(syst)$,
and the differential branching fraction of $B^0 \to K^∗(892)^0\mu^+\mu^−$ decays is determined to be
$d\mathcal{B}/dq^2 = (0.392^{+0.020}_{−0.019}(stat) \pm 0.010(syst) \pm 0.027(norm)) \times 10^{−7}c^4/GeV^2$.
The differential branching fraction measurements presented are the most precise to date and are found to be in agreement with Standard Model predictions.


One fiber stain measure and control system has been designed to meet the problem that the magnitude and uniformity of the fiber strain directly determine the properties and longevity of the carbon fiber continuous sucker rod during the pultrusion process. In this system, there are 2 key technologies. The first one is the sensor that is used to measure the micro bend strain of the carbon fiber during the pultrusion process, designed base on fiber micro-bend principle, using silicon film as sensitive element and fabricated by silicon integrated circuit technology and three dimensional processes. Another is the executive unit of the system: Magneto-rheological Fluids torsional damper, which is designed base on one type of intelligent material named Magneto Rheological Fluids which can change its viscosity in millisecond according to the magnetic strength around it. So this paper provides a technical means to ensure the quality of the pultrusion process applied in fabricating the carbon fiber continuous sucker rod.


This study aims to examine the effect of cyberloafing and work stress on the performance of teachers and education staff. This type of research uses a quantitative approach. The number of samples used was 38 respondents. Sources of data in this study were obtained from distributing questionnaires (primary data). The collected data were analyzed using path analysis. The results of this study are that cyberloafing has a significant negative effect on the performance of teachers and education staff. Work stress has a significant negative effect on the performance of teachers and education staff. Work stress does not mediate the effect of cyberloafing on the performance of teachers and education staff.


Gold and Iron Oxide nanoparticles NPs play as nanocarriers for a specific drug delivery and contrast agents. Intercellular uptake of these nanoparticles and targeting to individual cell and sub-cellular compartment is essential.The aim of the current study is to evaluate the intracellular uptake of these NPs to specific tumor cells in vitro conjugated with folic acid with a goal of enhancing the efficiency of specific targeting to tumor cells.We synthesized the nanoparticles by a chemical method and characterized by UV-Visible, FTIR, XRD, and TEM.The results revealed the conjugation of Gold and Iron Oxide nanoparticles with folic acid increased the intercellular uptake with high percent compared to non- conjugated nanoparticles.


Although annuities are a theoretically appealing way to manage longevity risk, in the real world relatively few consumers purchase them at retirement. To counteract the possibility of retirees outliving their assets, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, a national defined contribution pension scheme, has recently mandated annuitization of workers' retirement assets. More significantly, the government has entered the insurance market as a public-sector provider for such annuities. This paper evaluates the money's worth of life annuities and discusses the impact of the government mandate and its role as an annuity provider on the insurance market.


The first hip replacements of the modern era were performed by Sir John Charnley in 1959,using poly- tetrafluoroethylene for the acetabulum and polymethylmethacrylate cement to secure the stainless steel femoral component. These initial operations were not a success due to excessive wear of the PTFE bearing surface. The operation was not acknowledged to be the success it is today until 1962when Charnley switched to using high-density polyethylene for the acetabular component and the "low-friction arthroplasty" was introduced.' This prosthesis has remained the "gold standard" until the present day with relatively few changes to the original concept, and with considerable success with published results in excess of 20 years.'


We present the results of high spatial resolution HCO+(1−0) and HCN(1−0) observations of the N55 south region (N55-S) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). N55-S is a relatively less extreme star-forming region of the LMC characterized by a low radiation field. We carried out a detailed analysis of the molecular emission to investigate the relation between dense molecular clumps and star formation in the quiescent environment of N55-S. We detect 10 molecular clumps with significant HCO+(1−0) emission and 8 with significant HCN(1−0) emission, and estimate the molecular clump masses by virial and local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis. All identified young stellar objects (YSOs) in N55-S are found to be near the HCO+ and HCN emission peaks showing the association of these clumps with recent star formation. The molecular clumps that have associated YSOs show relatively larger line widths and masses than those without YSOs. We compare the clump properties of N55-S with those of other giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the LMC and find that N55-S clumps possess similar size but relatively lower line width and larger HCN/HCO+(1−0) flux ratio. These results can be attributed to the low radiation field in N55-S resulted by relatively low star formation activity compared to other active star-forming regions like 30 Doradus-10 and N159. The dense gas fraction of N55-S is ∼0.025, lower compared to other GMCs of the LMC supporting the low star formation efficiency of this region.


: A case of anterior skeletal open bite was successfully treated with a sagittal osteotomy of the mandibular horizontal ramus. Advantages of this technique are good access and ease of surgery, broad medullary contact at osteotomy sites, and elimination of the need for a bone graft. Close cooperation between speech pathologist and surgeon is essential when apertognathia is acquired by tongue-thrust or abnormal oral habits. Removal of causal factors and adequate immobilization will reduce the chance for relapse often seen in open bite surgery.


An overview of translational, human oncogenomics, transcriptomics and cancer interactomic networks is presented together with basic concepts and potential, new applications to Oncology and Integrative Cancer Biology. Novel translational oncogenomics research is rapidly expanding through the application of advanced technology, research findings and computational tools/models to both pharmaceutical and clinical problems. A self-contained presentation is adopted that covers both fundamental concepts and the most recent biomedical, as well as clinical, applications. Sample analyses in recent clinical studies have shown that gene expression data can be employed to distinguish between tumor types as well as to predict outcomes. Potentially important applications of such results are individualized human cancer therapies or, in general, 'personalized medicine'. Several cancer detection techniques are currently under development both in the direction of improved detection sensitivity and increased time resolution of cellular events, with the limits of single molecule detection and picosecond time resolution already reached. The urgency for the complete mapping of a human cancer interactome with the help of such novel, highefficiency, low-cost and ultra-sensitive techniques is also pointed out.


The study was a cross-sectional study that determined the carriage rate of Neisseria meningitides among pupils of Islamic boarding schools (Tsangaya Almajirai) in Kano, Nigeria. Nasal swabs were randomly collected from 150 children aged 5 years to 10 years and above from three selected Tsangaya Almajiri schools in Kano using cluster sampling. The collected samples were processed for the presence of N. meningitides using standard cultural and biochemical test and further identified using latex agglutination technique. Also, Blood profile of study subjects was carried out. A questionnaire was similarly administered to identify risk factors associated with carriage status. The results of the study revealed that 23 (15.3%) of the children were carriers of N. meningitides with 2%, 12% and 5% of the isolates belonging to serogroup A, B and C respectively, while 4% were identified as non-groupable. Risk factors such as age, population density, period of sample collection and preceding viral infection were associated with carriage although not significant (p>0.05). Keywords: Neisseria meningitides, carriage, Islamic boarding schools, Kano.


We study the computational complexity of routing multiple objects through a network in such a way that only few collisions occur: Given a graph G with two distinct terminal vertices and two positive integers p and k, the question is whether one can connect the terminals by at least p routes (e.g. paths) such that at most k edges are time-wise shared among them. We study three types of routes: traverse each vertex at most once (paths), each edge at most once (trails), or no such restrictions (walks). We prove that for paths and trails the problem is NP-complete on undirected and directed graphs even if k is constant or the maximum vertex degree in the input graph is constant. For walks, however, it is solvable in polynomial time on undirected graphs for arbitrary k and on directed graphs if k is constant. We additionally study for all route types a variant of the problem where the maximum length of a route is restricted by some given upper bound. We prove that this length-restricted variant has the same complexity classification with respect to paths and trails, but for walks it becomes NP-complete on undirected graphs.


A buffered autoregression extends the classical threshold autoregression by allowing a buffer region for regime changes. In this study, we examine asymptotic statistical inferences for the two-regime buffered autoregressive (BAR) model, with autoregressive unit roots. We propose a Sup-LR test for the nonlinear buffer effect in the possible presence of unit roots, and a class of unit root tests to identify the number of nonstationary regimes in the BAR model. The wild bootstrap method is suggested to approximate the critical values of the two tests. Simulation results show that the proposed unit root test outperforms the conventional augmented Dickey–Fuller test, and that the two wild bootstrap tests are robust to unknown heteroscedasticity. Two macroeconomic data examples, based on U.S. unemployment rates and real exchange rates, respectively, are provided to illustrate the methods.


The development of Optical Character Recognition and other data input technologies is providing disabled individuals access to occupations in electronic data processing. Many of these technologies require proofreading of previously captured data for prolonged periods of time. Research using other tasks requiring sustained attention has demonstrated steep performance decrements over time by many functionally impaired populations. Previous investigations have suggested that gains in proofreading performance may be achieved by increasing the error density in the material to be proofread. Thus, the present study was designed to assess the performance of a heterogeneous group of 12 disabled persons on a computerized proofreading tasks. Errors were embedded in alphanumeric code. The subjects included individuals with a broad range of physical or psychological impairments. After extensive training, all subjects participated in a 6-hr. proofreading task. The subjects corrected 96.6% of the errors embedded in 50,000 characters. Error detections were stable across six hours of proofreading. Implications for proofreading in applied settings are discussed.


To download this paper, please click here . Yeremei Aipin (b. 1948) is Russia's foremost Khanty author. The Khanty, sometimes known as the Ostyaks, are an indigenous people in west Siberia and number about 30,000. Among other things, they are notable for their role in the Kazym rebellion (c. 1931-34), which was the last known conflict between the Soviet authorities and an indigenous Siberian people, and upon which the following story touches. Although many of Aipin's works are available in other languages, he has not been widely published in English. The British Library, for example, stocks just one such book. The following translation of ' An Epistle from God ' (1990), an accessible, entertaining, and thoughtful short story, seeks to change this. It is worth mentioning that the following translation has been slightly abridged (the first two chapters have been redacted), and that it was translated from the original Russian, not from Khanty (although the Khanty language is mentioned in the story).


Abstract: Journey to the West (Xiyou Ji西游记) and Flowers in the Mirror (Jinghua Yuan镜花缘) are two of the best-known stories of travel in ancient Chinese literature. Both works contain descriptions of outlandish sights and foreign customs, particularly the vivid descriptions of the fantastic and outlandish Womanland (Nv'er Guo 女儿国), which embodies traditional Chinese scholars' understanding of the outside world. Comparativists tend to regard the portrayals of these exotic women and their talents, and the subverted roles of men and women, as the authors' statements about the inferior status of women in feudal China and their denunciations of the oppression of women. Flowers in the Mirror is seen as more radical in its pursuit of women's rights and gender equality. This article argues that androcentrism still prevails even in the positive depictions of the expression of women's desires. Furthermore, the delineation of these exotic women and of supernatural spirits demonstrates the authors' praise of China's pre-eminence and its condescending views of foreign places.


Viral population dynamics of very virulent infectious bursal disease virus (vvIBDV) field strains isolated in the Iberian Peninsula since the first outbreak in the 1990s have been analysed. Low levels of genetic variability and a global purification selection pattern were reported in 480 base pairs of the hypervariable region of the VP2 gene, indicating a lack of a selection-driven immune escape in the evolutive pathway of the virus. The viral population structure of vvIBDV strains in the Iberian Peninsula showed a strong relationship between geography and phylogeny, with two main groups observed. A global comparison among vvIBDV strains also showed an association with sequences from the same country. The low variability, the strong purifying selection and the geographical pattern observed point to a picture where the virus evolves slowly, occupying the same geographical niche for a long time. The scenario depicted fits well with the biological features of the virus: being able to remain viable for long periods of time due to a strong environmental resistance, and as an immunosuppressive agent, capable per se of annihilating temporally the immune system of the host.


The controlling and patterning of small droplets on a solid surface is of significant interest to understand interfacial phenomena and for practical applications. Among interfacial phenomena, the formation of interfacial droplets attracts scientists' attention, as the mechanism of this phenomenon where water molecules can spontaneously accumulate at the hydrophobic oil/solid interface is still not fully understood. Further investigation is needed to find out specifically where the driving force comes from and how to spatially arrange the interfacial droplets. Herein, self-assembled monolayers are formed on a gold substrate, and it turns out that the hydrophobic surface with a monolayer formed from HS(CH2)11CH3 could inhibit the formation of interfacial droplets; by contrast, the hydrophilic surfaces with monolayers formed from HS(CH2)11COOH, HS(CH2)11NH3·Cl and HS(CH2)11OH, all promote water accumulation. It suggests that the hydrogen bonding between the surface and water proves to be critical in inducing interfacial droplet formation but this has been neglected in past studies. Taking advantage of microcontact printing, the surface chemistry can be controlled at the micron scale and allows spatial arrangement of interfacial droplets at specific regions. This work moves a further step in understanding the mechanism of interfacial droplet formation, and can be potentially exploited for the collection of water and fabrication of microtemplates.


Abstract : Three discrete reliability growth models using fractional failure reduction, referred to as failure discounting, were developed to estimate changing system reliability. Each of the models is designed for use when testing is performed until a fixed number of failures have been observed and attribute data, success or failure, is available for each trial. The first reliability growth model applies failure discounting to the maximum likelihood estimate for a proportion. The second and third models use a modification of an exponential reliability estimate employing linear regression and a weighted average technique respectively along with failure discounting to track changing reliability. Two failure discounting methods were used with each reliability growth model. The first method reduces past failures by a fixed fraction at a fixed interval. The second method uses the upper confidence bound for the reoccurrence of each failure cause as the discounted failure value. The performance of the reliability growth models with varying reliability growth patterns was evaluated with a Monte-Carlo computerized simulation. (Theses)


The year 2015 is considered the hottest on records at the global scale, since reliable temperature measurements are available. Ambient air quality is strongly influenced by meteorological conditions, and daytime surface ozone concentrations are generally positively correlated with temperatures. We thus analysed 2015 ozone data over Italy to check if exceptional ozone values reflected the exceptional temperatures. To this end, we evaluated the ozone season in 2015 compared to the 2002–2015 trend, using data from 24 selected monitoring stations and analyzing the exceedances of limit values imposed by the European directive. We found that 2015 was one of the hottest years over Italy, and the ozone season was one of the most severe in the last ten years. In 2015, the average duration of ozone episodes (the number of consecutive days with daily maximum 8-hour-average values higher than the threshold of 120 µg·m−3) was about 4 days, similar to that of 2006 and less than that of 2003 which was about 5 days. This duration is longer than the average observed in recent years, which is less than 3 days. Furthermore, the mean maximum concentration of ozone events was the second on record together with 2006, after the notable heatwave of 2003.


Memory has an essential function in human life as it helps individuals remember and recognize their surroundings. It is also the major form of cognition that controls behavior. As memory is a function that is highly characteristic of humans, how it was established is of particular interest. Recent progress in the field of neurosciences, together with the technological advancement of genome‐wide approaches, has led to the accumulation of evidence regarding the presence and similar/distinct mechanisms of memory among species. However, the understanding of the evolution of memory obtained utilizing these genome‐wide approaches remains unclear. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of the literature on the evolution of the memory system among species and the genes involved in this process. This review also discusses possible approaches to study the evolution of memory systems to guide future research.


This document presents four scenarios for the future of finance. The goal of our study is to imagine the future of finance and to identify challenges faced by policymakers in fighting systemic risk. It builds upon a tradition within the CPB to develop scenarios for policy analysis. We develop four scenarios for the future of finance. Our scenarios differ in two dimensions. First, to what extent soft information lies at the core of banks' business. Second, to what extent scope economies exist between different banking activities. By combining these two dimensions, we obtain four scenarios: Isolated Islands, Big Banks, Competing Conglomerates, and Flat Finance. Market structure, market failures, and government failures vary between scenarios. These differences then translate into differences in the complexity of balance sheets, the ability to coordinate policy internationally, the information gap faced by regulators, the size of banks' balance sheets, the tradability of banks' assets, the level of interconnectedness, the potential for market discipline, and the threat of regulatory capture. As a result, each scenario calls for a different set of policies to combat systemic risk.


PURPOSE
There has been paucity in research investigating the individualization of recovery interval duration during cycling-based high-intensity interval training (HIIT). The main aim of the study was to investigate whether individualizing the duration of the recovery interval based upon the resolution of muscle oxygen consumption would improve the performance during work intervals and the acute physiological response of the HIIT session, when compared with a standardized (2:1 work recovery ratio) approach.

METHODS
A total of 16 well-trained cyclists (maximal oxygen consumption: 60 [7] mL·kg-1·min-1) completed 6 laboratory visits: (Visit 1) incremental exercise test, (Visit 2) determination of the individualized (IND) recovery duration, using the individuals' muscle oxygen consumption recovery duration to baseline from a 4- and 8-minute work interval, (Visits 3-6) participants completed a 6 × 4- and a 3 × 8-minute HIIT session twice, using the IND and standardized recovery intervals.

RESULTS
Recovery duration had no effect on the percentage of the work intervals spent at >90% and >95% of maximal oxygen consumption, maximal minute power output, and maximal heart rate, during the 6 × 4- and 3 × 8-minute HIIT sessions. Recovery duration had no effect on mean work interval power output, heart rate, oxygen consumption, blood lactate, and rating of perceived exertion. There were no differences in reported session RPE between recovery durations for the 6 × 4- and 3 × 8-minute HIIT sessions.

CONCLUSION
Individualizing HIIT recovery duration based upon the resolution of muscle oxygen consumption to baseline levels does not improve the performance of the work intervals or the acute physiological response of the HIIT session, when compared with standardized recovery duration.


Technological advances have increased the potential for wearable augmented reality (AR) devices. More applications are being ported for this platform with this development, and not all are suited for AR. After the initial novelty fades, users often find the application gimmicky and unwieldy, causing them to become incredulous towards AR's potential. Developers need to ensure that the application emphasizes elements that are unique to AR for a successful port. This paper analyzes the human- cursor paradigm to derive a set of requirements and integrate them into an application. With this integration, an application that has no exclusive need of the AR platform can be redesigned to take advantage of AR's capability making it more valuable to the user. This emphasis will promote targeted development of meaningful applications further expanding the augmented reality platform.


The Messinian salinity crisis (late Miocene) is one of the most fascinating paleoceanographic events in the recent geological history of the Mediterranean Sea, defining a time when it partly or nearly completely dried out. However, the relative roles of tectonic processes and sea-level changes, as triggers for restriction and isolation of the Mediterranean Sea from the open ocean, are still under debate. In this study, we present a detailed pollen, dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst), and magnetic susceptibility analysis of a sequence of late Neogene (between ca. 7.3 and 5.2 Ma) marine sediments from the Montemayor-1 core (lower Guadalquivir Basin, southwestern Spain), which provides a continuous record of paleoenvironmental variations in the Atlantic side of the Betic corridors during the late Miocene. Our results show that significant paired vegetation and sea-level changes occurred during the Messinian, likely triggered by orbital-scale climate change. Important cooling events and corresponding glacio-eustatic sea-level drops are observed in this study at ca. 5.95 and 5.75 Ma, coinciding with the timing and duration of oxygen isotopic events TG32 and TG22–20 recorded in marine sediments worldwide. It is generally accepted that the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis began at ca. 5.96 ± 0.02 Ma. Therefore, this study suggests that the restriction of the Mediterranean could have been triggered, at least in part, by a strong glacio-eustatic sea-level drop linked to a climate cooling event occurring at the time of initiation of the Messinian salinity crisis.


Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the share of executive compensation paid through stock options. We examine the extent to which tax policy has influenced the composition of executive compensation, and discuss the implications of rising stock-based pay for tax policy. We begin by describing the tax rules for executive pay in detail and analyzing how changes in various tax rates affect the tax advantages of stock options relative to salary and bonus. Our empirical analysis leads to three conclusions. First, there is little evidence that tax changes have played a major role in the dramatic explosion in executive stock-option pay since 1980. Although the tax advantage of options has approximately doubled since the early 1980s, options currently have only a slight tax advantage relative to cash--approximately $4 per $100 of pretax compensation to the executive. A more convincing story for the dramatic explosion in stock options involves changes in corporate governance and the market for corporate control. For example, there is a strong correlation between the fraction of shares held by large institutional investors and the fraction of executive pay in the form of stock options, a result that holds both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. Second, we find evidence that the million-dollar rule (which limited the corporate deductibility of non-performance-related executive compensation to $1 million) led firms to adjust the composition of their pay away from salary and toward performance-related pay, although our estimates suggest that this substitution was minor. We find no evidence that the regulation decreased the level of total compensation. Third, we examine whether there is evidence for significant shifting of the timing of option exercises in response to changes in tax rates. After replicating Goolsbee's (1999) result regarding tax shifting with our data for the 1993 tax reform, we show that no such shifting occurred in either of the two tax reforms of the 1980s. Moreover, we find evidence that much of the unusually large level of option exercises in 1992 was the result of the rising stock market rather than the change in marginal tax rates.