C‐reactive protein (CRP) is a major acute phase reactant in man but not in mouse. It is synthesized in abundant quantities by human hepatocytes during the course of several diseases, mainly acute inflammations. To investigate the regulation of CRP expression, the human CRP gene was introduced into fertilized eggs by microinjection and transgenic mouse lines were derived. The CRP gene is exclusively transcribed in the liver and expression is strictly dependent on experimental inflammation. The kinetics of induction both for RNA and protein synthesis is very fast; RNA is first detectable after 2 h in the liver, the protein after 6 h in the serum. Human CRP levels in the sera of transgenic mice are comparable to those observed in human diseases. Nuclear run‐on experiments indicate that regulation is primarily at the transcriptional level.


Using first-principles calculations, we study the effect of embedding various atoms into the nanopore sites of both C6N6 and C6N8 monolayers. Our results indicate that the embedded atoms significantly affect the electronic and magnetic properties of C6N6 and C6N8 monolayers and lead to extraordinary and multifarious electronic properties, such as metallic, half-metallic, spin-glass semiconductor and dilute-magnetic semiconductor behaviour. Our results reveal that the H atom concentration dramatically affects the C6N6 monolayer. On increasing the H coverage, the impurity states also increase due to H atoms around the Fermi-level. C6N6 shows metallic character when the H atom concentration reaches 6.25%. Moreover, the effect of charge on the electronic properties of both Cr@C6N6 and C@C6N8 is also studied. Cr@C6N6 is a ferromagnetic metal with a magnetic moment of 2.40 μB, and when 0.2 electrons are added and removed, it remains a ferromagnetic metal with a magnetic moment of 2.57 and 2.77 μB, respectively. Interestingly, one can observe a semi-metal, in which the VBM and CBM in both spin channels touch each other near the Fermi-level. C@C6N8 is a semiconductor with a nontrivial band gap. When 0.2 electrons are removed, it remains metallic, and under excess electronic charge, it exhibits half-metallic behaviour.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic of unprecedented extent. Beside humans, a number of animal species can be infected, however, in some species differing susceptibilities were observed depending on the virus variant. Here, we serologically investigated cats and dogs living in households with human COVID-19 patients. The study was conducted during the transition period from delta as the dominating variant of concern (VOC) to omicron (BA.1/BA.2) to investigate the frequency of virus transmission of both VOCs from infected owners to their pets. The animal sera were tested by surrogate virus neutralization tests (sVNT) using either the original receptor-binding domain (RBD), enabling the detection of antibodies against the delta variant, or an omicron-specific RBD. Of the 290 canine samples, 20 tested positive by sVNT, but there were marked differences between the sampling time, and, related thereto, the virus variants, the dogs had contact to. While in November 2021 infected owners led to 50% seropositive dogs (18/36), only 0.8% (2/254) of animals with household contacts to SARS-CoV-2 between December 2021 and April 2022 tested positive. In all cases, the positive reaction was recorded against the original RBD. For cats, a similar pattern was seen, as in November 2021 38.1% (16/42) tested positive and between December 2021 and March 2022 only 5.0% (10/199). The markedly reduced ratio of seropositive animals during the period of omicron circulation suggests a considerably lower susceptibility of dogs and cats to this VOC. To examine the effect of BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, sera taken in the second and third quarter of 2022 from randomly selected cats were investigated. 2.3% (11/372) tested seropositive and all of them showed a stronger reaction against the original RBD, further supporting the assumption of a lower susceptibility of companion animals to the omicron VOC.


Synchronous hybrid delivery (simultaneously teaching on-campus and online students using Web conferencing) is becoming more common in higher education. However, little is known about students' emotions in these environments. Although often overlooked, emotions are fundamental antecedents of success. This study longitudinally examined the role of students' emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom), perceptions of control, value, and success in synchronous hybrid learning environments. In particular, the investigation assessed students' self-reported enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom as predictors of their program achievement and successful technology use. Students were recruited from synchronous hybrid MBA and MPA programs. Control-value theory of emotions was used as the theoretical framework. Paired samples t-tests revealed that the achievement domain, compared to the technology domain, yielded higher mean scores for control, value, enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom. In addition, mixed ANOVAs indicated an interaction effect in which group means for program boredom were significantly higher for on-campus students than for online students. Intercorrelations in each domain showed that perceived success was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to anxiety and boredom. Technology-related anxiety was also found to fully mediate the positive effect of control on perceived success in using technology.


Recommender systems have played an important role in helping individuals select useful items or places of interest when they face too many choices. Collaborative filtering is one of the most popular methods used in recommender systems. The idea is to recommend to the target user an item that users with similar tastes will prefer. An important goal of recommender systems is to predict the user's preferences accurately. However, prediction accuracy is not the only evaluation metric in recommender systems. In this dissertation, we will mainly deal with three other aspects of recommender systems, namely sparsity, robustness and diversification. The dissertation starts with iterative collaborative filtering to overcome sparsity issues in recommender systems. Instead of calculating the similarity matrix using sparse data only once, we iterate this process many times until convergence is achieved. To overcome the sparsity, users' ratings in dense areas are estimated first and these estimates are then used to estimate other ratings in sparse areas. Second, the robustness of recommender system is taken into consideration to detect shilling attacks in recommender systems. Some graph-based algorithms are applied in the user-user similarity graph to detect the highly correlated group, in order to get the group of fake users. Finally, we consider diversification of the types of information being used for recommendations. Specifically, geographical information, temporal information, social network information, and tag information are all aggregated in a biased random walk algorithm to make use of diversified data in multi-dimensional recommender systems.


We continue our study of outer elements of the noncommutative H^p spaces associated with Arveson's subdiagonal algebras. We extend our generalized inner-outer factorization theorem, and our characterization of outer elements, to include the case of elements with zero determinant. In addition, we make several further contributions to the theory of outers. For example, we generalize the classical fact that outers in H^p actually satisfy the stronger condition that there exist a_n in A with h a_n in Ball(A) and h a_n \to 1 in p-norm.


We describe an algorithm that maps a CMOS circuit diagram into an area-efficient, high-performance layout in the style of a transistor chain. It is superior to other published algorithms of this kind in terms of the class of input circuits it accepts, its efficiency, and the quality of the results it produces. This algorithm is intended for the automatic generation of basic cells in a custom or semicustom design environment, thereby removing the burden of arduous mask definition from the designer. We show how our method was used to compose cells in a row into a functional slice (e.g. an adder) that can be used in, say, a data path.


In recent years, a productive dialogue has developed between retail geographers and those social geographers concerned with the spatiality of consumption. This has resulted in a series of accounts of shopping that emphasize notions of consumer creativity. Nonetheless, this paper argues that many of these have struggled to reconcile the meaning of shopping with an understanding of the material parameters within which consumers operate. Recognizing that this tendency has distracted from the socio-spatial inequalities evident in retailing, the paper examines how shopping rituals are embedded in social relations that discourage particular shoppers from visiting certain retail locations. Drawing on extensive and intensive data derived in Coventry (UK), the paper questions the extent to which this geography of exclusion is the product of constraint, arguing that shopping is shaped by a more complex spatiality of inclusion and (self-) exclusion. Accordingly, the paper makes the case for a social geography of shopping that pays careful attention to the emotionally laden transactions played out in particular settings.


Thromboembolism is a common cause of death and disability. Heparin or warfarin, the current standard management for thromboembolism may cause serious bleeding complications. Thrombin is the key enzyme of coagulation. Hirudin, the most potent natural thrombin-specific inhibitor, was first isolated from leech salivary fluid. Synthetic thrombin-specific inhibitors are rationally designed based on the knowledge on the structures of the activate site of thrombin. Thrombin-specific inhibitors are the current best choice for the treatment of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). Recombinant hirudins (such as desirudin) were also approved for the prevention of thrombosis after hip or knee surgery. Bivalirudin (hirulog-1 or Angiomax), in adjunct to aspirin, was approved for prevention of thrombosis in patients with unstable angina following angioplasty. Argatroban has been used for the treatment of HIT, peripheral and cerebral thrombotic diseases. The benefit of using thrombin-specific inhibitors alone in acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina remains uncertain. Some of thrombin-specific inhibitors which are small molecules are orally active. The major concern for the use of thrombin-specific inhibitors is bleeding complication. The efficacy, safety, stability and oral bioavailability may be considerably improved through structural optimization. A growing line of evidence suggests that statins, the most commonly prescribed cholesterol lowering drug, may inhibit thrombin generation. Statins do not cause bleeding and have an outstanding safety profile. The findings suggest that further development of thrombin-specific inhibitors and exploration of the potential applications of non-specific thrombin inhibitors, including statins, may improve the prevention and management of thromboembotic events.


BACKGROUND
An important first step in understanding school-based violence is understanding children's subjective perceptions of the phenomena. Understanding these perceptions is likely to be a major factor in determining the integrity of both prevalence and intervention studies.

AIMS
We investigated how elementary and secondary aged children perceived school-based violence.

SAMPLE
A sample of 979 children from a nested random sample of elementary (grades 3-6) and middle school (grades 7-8) classrooms in Jerusalem participated in this study.

METHODS
To understand children's perception of school violence, we used an instrument composed of 19 dichotomous items, each presenting a one-line description of a behaviour, which the respondent would define as either 'intentionally harmful' or not.

RESULTS
Eighth graders were significantly less likely to label the behaviours described as violent compared to all other grades; and seventh graders were less likely as compared to third, fourth and fifth graders; also, some between-gender differences were found.

CONCLUSION
The respondents often view the behaviours described as intentional and aggressive; this finding should serve as an impetus to widen the scope of school-based violence interventions to include these behaviours, especially for younger children.


Microbial inhibitors including weak acids, furan derivatives and phenolic compounds are key problems of cellulosic bio-fuels production by fermentation. Most of these inhibitors are sugars and lignin degradation compounds, which are almost unavoidable during pretreatment processes. While, most of the one stage pretreatment has been conducted at high severity factors of 3.5 or more to get high sugar yield, with increase in severity factor, high concentration of microbial inhibitors were formed and significantly affected downstream biofuel yield. Thus, a two-stage pretreatment of corn stalk, hydrothermal followed by oxalic acid, under low severity factor and its enzymatic degradability was investigated in this study to identify fermentable sugar production and corresponding microbial inhibitors formation. Additionally, effect of equivalent severity factors of 2 to 3.5 and particle sizes of 1 to 35 mm were also studied systematically. Particle size of 15 mm was found as an optimum size at an equivalent severity factor of 2.5. Sugars 61.99 ± 0.03 g and inhibitors 5.12 ± 0.01 g from 100 g of corn stalk were obtained at the optimum particle size and pretreatment condition. The highest glucan conversion and recovery at the optimum conditions were 92.95± 0.08 and 78.42± 0.07%, respectively. Overall, the two-stage pretreatment process with the larger particle size and low equivalent severity factor could be an alternative to reduce microbial inhibitors formation and excessive biomass processing cost. Key words: Bio-fuel, corn stalk, pretreatment, particle size, microbial inhibitors, fermentable sugars.


The increasing availability of Building Information Models in the construction industry open for maintenance applications capitalizing on this opportunity. In this thesis Mobile Augmented Reality and Location-Based Services are utilized to develop an application targeting maintenance workers with access to Building Information Models. Building Information Models contain information about every object in a building, down to the millimeter. Having access to this detailed and up-to-date information on a mobile device help workflow efficiency. In a maintenance work environment such a solution liberate the personnel from carrying folders with blueprints of the entire building. Adding Mobile Augmented Reality technology enables the maintenance worker to be presented a visualization of the object, without the need for further interpretation. The mobile device is used to superimpose the object on the real world in its precise location. To retrieve an accurate location for the object, Location-Based Services are utilized. The application is evaluated to examine the applicability in a maintenance work environment. Two tests where conducted. The first at University of Tromso, and the second at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. The results from the evaluation showed that the proposed solution provides high usefulness as a tool in daily maintenance work operation.


agreed that the rash may have been a contact dermatitis due to the penicillin solution. To determine the aetiology of the rash the patient was patchtested with the original penicillin solution (now found to be completely inactive), a freshly prepared solution of penicillin, and the 0.25% zinc sulphate soiution, on the flexor surface of the forearm. This test proved negative. After the rash had completely subsided the patch tests were repeated on the site of the lesions-i.e., immediately below both eyes. In 24 hours the active penicillin solution produced a patch of itching vesico-papular lesions on an erythematous base exactly similar to the original rash; the inactive solution and the zinc sulphate patches were negative.


The best and most detailed knowledge of car use in Sweden and how car use is changing comes from travel surveys. There are also many studies of how the number of car journeys and kilometres driven is affected by petrol price changes and other cost increases. The most important cost items in terms of car use are petrol, purchase of the vehicle and maintenance. Car ownership is widespread and relatively sensitive to purchasing costs and income changes. On the other hand, car use is not sensitive to petrol price increases. The number of car journeys and car kilometres is not greatly affected by petrol price increases. An explanation for that is that the average household expenditure for petrol accounts for a relatively small proportion of total household expenses, in average between three and seven per cent. Another conclusion is that we do not know much about how households adapt to increased costs.


In this paper, we present the maintenance assistance user interface (MAUI), a novel approach for providing tele-assistance to a worker charged with maintenance of a cyber-physical system. Such a system comprises both physical and digital interfaces, making it challenging for a worker to understand the required steps and to assess work progress. A remote expert can access the digital interfaces and provide the worker with timely information and advice in an augmented reality display. The remote expert has full control over the user interface of the worker in a manner comparable to remote desktop systems. The worker needs to perform all physical operations and retrieve physical information, such as reading physical labels or meters. Thus, worker and remote expert collaborate not only via shared audio, video or pointing, but also share control of the digital interface presented in the augmented reality space. We report results on two studies: The first study evaluates the benefits of our system against a condition with the same cyber-physical interface, but without tele-assistance. Results indicate significant benefits concerning speed, cognitive load and subjective comfort of the worker. The second study explores how interface designers use our system, leading to initial design guidelines for tele-presence interfaces like ours.


While the Internet has given educators access to a steady supply of Open Educational Resources, the educational rubrics commonly shared on the Web are generally in the form of static, non-semantic presentational documents or in the proprietary data structures of commercial content and learning management systems. With the advent of Semantic Web Standards, producers of online resources have a new framework to support the open exchange of software-readable datasets. Despite these advances, the state of the art of digital representation of rubrics as sharable documents has not progressed. This paper proposes an ontological model for digital rubrics. This model is built upon the Semantic Web Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), principally the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL).


Rapid screening of hospital admissions to detect asymptomatic carriers of resistant bacteria can prevent pathogen outbreaks. However, the resulting isolates rarely have their genome sequenced due to cost constraints and long turn-around times to get and process the data, limiting their usefulness to the practitioner. Here we use real-time, on-device target enrichment ("adaptive") sequencing on a new type of low-cost nanopore flow cell as a highly multiplexed assay covering 1,147 antimicrobial resistance genes. Using this method, we detected four types of carbapenemase in a single isolate of Raoultella ornithinolytica (NDM, KPC, VIM, OXA). Further investigation revealed extensive horizontal gene transfer within the underlying microbial consortium, increasing the risk of resistance spreading. Real-time sequencing could thus quickly inform how to monitor this case and its surroundings.


Complacency refers to a type of automation use expressed as insufficient monitoring and verification of automated functions. Previous studies have attempted to identify the age-related factors that influence complacency during interaction with automation. However, little is known about the role of age-related differences in working memory capacity and its connection to complacent behaviors. The current study aims to examine whether working memory demand of an automated task and age-related differences in cognitive ability influence complacency. Higher degrees of automation (DOA) have been shown to reduce cognitive workload and may be used to manipulate working memory demand of a task. Thus, we hypothesize that a lower DOA (i.e. information acquisition stage with lower level) will demand more working memory than a higher DOA (i.e. decision selection stage with higher level) and that a lower DOA will result in a greater difference in complacency between age groups than a higher DOA.


Many collaborative filtering recommender systems collect and use users' explicitly entered preferences in the form of ratings for items. However, in many real world scenarios, this form of feedback can be difficult to obtain or unavailable (e.g., news portals). In this case recommendations must be built by leveraging more abundant implicit feedback data, which only indirectly signal users' preferences or opinions. A record in such datasets is a result of an action performed by a user on an item (e.g., the item was clicked or viewed). State-of-the-art implicit feedback recommender systems predict whether the user will act on a target item and interpret this prediction as a discovered preference for the item. These models are trained by observations of user actions of one single type. For instance, they predict that a user will watch a video using a dataset of observed video watch actions. In this paper we conjecture that multiple types of user actions may be jointly exploited to predict one target type of actions. We present a general prediction model (MMF - Multiple action types Matrix Factorization) that implements this conjecture and we illustrate some practical examples. The empirical evaluation of MMF, which was conducted on a large real world dataset, shows that using multiple actions is beneficial and it can outperform a state-of-the-art implicit feedback model that uses only the target action data.


A new question methodology has been developed and used with voting machines in large physics lecture classrooms. The methodology was tested by comparing student performance in voting machine and non-voting machine lecture sections during three consecutive electricity and magnetism quarters of introductory calculus-based physics. Data from The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism and common examination questions indicates that students using voting machines achieved a significant gain in conceptual learning, and that voting machines reduced the gap between male and female student performances on tests. Surveys indicated that students were positive about the use of voting machines and believed that they helped them learn. The surveys also suggested that grading voting machines responses and/or overusing voting machines may lower student enthusiasm.


Based on the theory of Means-End Chain, this paper surveyed value cognition structure of 36 member consumers through the laddering interview. According to the survey, it made an in-depth analysis on brand positioning strategy for Lin'an Carya Cathayensis Sarg, and obtained the existing brand operating model. It is hoped to explore effective strategy of brand positioning for agricultural product enterprises in Zhejiang Province, and accordingly lift core competitiveness of agricultural products of Zhejiang Province.


Until recently, the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) was one of the most common bat species in North America. However, this species currently faces a significant threat from the emerging fungal disease white-nose syndrome (WNS). The aims of this study were to examine the population genetic structure of M. lucifugus hibernating colonies in Pennsylvania (PA) and West Virginia (WV), and to determine whether that population structure may have influenced the pattern of spread of WNS. Samples were obtained from 198 individuals from both uninfected and recently infected colonies located at the crest of the disease front. Both mitochondrial (636bp of cytochrome oxidase I) and nuclear (8 microsatellites) loci were examined. Although no substructure was evident from nuclear DNA, female-mediated gene flow was restricted between hibernacula in western PA and the remaining colonies in eastern and central PA and WV. This mitochondrial genetic structure mirrors topographic variation across the region: 3 hibernating colonies located on the western Appalachian plateau were significantly differentiated from colonies located in the central mountainous and eastern lowland regions, suggesting reduced gene flow between these clusters of colonies. Consistent with the hypothesis that WNS is transmitted primarily through bat-to-bat contact, these same 3 hibernating colonies in westernmost PA remained WNS-free for 1-2 years after the disease had swept through the rest of the state, suggesting that female migration patterns may influence the spread of WNS across the landscape.


Abstract: The religious freedom clauses of the Indian Constitution attempt to mediate between the competing claims of individuals, religious groups and the state, in a manner that is born out of specific historical circumstances. This article examines the controversial questions of whether, and to what extent, the Constitution grants individuals (specifically, dissenters) rights against the religious communities to which they belong. Taking as its point of departure a landmark Supreme Court judgment that struck down an anti-excommunication law, the article argues that the Indian Constitution is committed to an 'anti-exclusion principle': that is, group rights and group integrity are guaranteed to the extent – and only to the extent – that religious groups do not block individuals' access to the basic public goods required to sustain a dignified life. Moreover – and unlike most other Constitutions – an individual may vindicate this right directly against her community in a court of law, by invoking the Constitution. This remedy is justified both philosophically, and in the specific context of Indian history. In this manner, Indian constitutionalism offers a novel and innovative solution to the perennial problem of balancing individual rights to religious freedom against the claims of community.


Background Online programs targeting lifestyle have the potential to benefit brain health. We aimed to develop such a program for individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). These individuals were reported to be at increased risk for dementia, and report both an intrinsic need for brain health information and motivation to participate in prevention strategies. Co-creation and user-evaluation benefits the adherence to and acceptance of online programs. Previously, we developed a prototype of the online program in co-creation with the users. Objectives We now aimed to evaluate the user-experiences of our online lifestyle program for brain health. Design 30-day user test; multi-method. Setting Participants were recruited in a memory clinic and (online) research registries in the Netherlands (Alzheimer Center Amsterdam) and Germany (Center for memory disorders, Cologne). Participants Individuals with SCD (N=137, 65±9y, 57% female). Measurements We assessed user-experiences quantitatively with rating daily advices and usefulness, satisfaction and ease of use questionnaires as well as qualitatively using telephone interviews. Results Quantitative data showed that daily advices were rated moderately useful (3.5 ±1.5, range 1–5 points). Participants (n=101, 78%) gave moderate ratings on the programs' usability (3.7±1.3, max 7), ease of learning (3.6±1.9) and satisfaction (4.0±1.5), and marginal ratings on the overall usability (63.7±19.0, max 100). Qualitative data collected during telephone interviews showed that participants highly appreciated the content of the program. They elaborated that lower ratings of the program were mainly due to technical issues that hindered a smooth walk through. Participants reported that the program increased awareness of lifestyle factors related to brain health. Conclusions Overall user-experience of the online lifestyle program was moderate to positive. Qualitative data showed that content was appreciated and that flawless, easy access technique is essential. The heterogeneity in ratings of program content and in program use highlights the need for personalization. These findings support the use of online self-applied lifestyle programs when aiming to reach large groups of motivated at-risk individuals for brain health promotion.


Ketamine is a phencyclidine derivative which acts as a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonist. It is used in veterinary and human anaesthesia. Ketamine's hallucinogenic and dissociative properties have lead to its exploitation as a recreational drug. This trend culminated in the identification of the phenomenon of ketamine cystitis in 2007.1 In this condition, the patient with a history of ketamine use may report frequency, dysuria, haematuria and incontinence, with cystoscopy showing an erythematous contracted bladder.

Histologically there is mucosal ulceration, striking urothelial reactive atypia and lamina propria inflammation, often with eosinophils. In addition squamous metaplasia, nephrogenic metaplasia and calcification have been described.2 Although previous reports have provided radiological evidence of ureteric stricture formation with prolonged ketamine use, the effects of chronic use on the upper urinary tract have not yet been histologically documented.3 This case report highlights the unusual histological features seen in ureteric resection in a case of chronic ketamine abuse.

The patient is a 39-year-old man with a history of spina bifida occulta. Spinal surgery was performed at Great Ormond Street Hospital during his childhood, with no history of further problems. There is no urological history until 2005 when, aged 34 years, he presented …


This paper describes an algorithm to continually and accurately estimate the absolute location of a diagnostic or surgical tool (such as a laser) pointed at the human retina, from a series of image frames. We treat the problem as a registration problem using diagnostic images to build a spatial map of the retina and then registering each online image against this map. Since the image location where the laser strikes the retina is easily found, this registration determines the position of the laser in the global coordinate system defined by the spatial map. For each online image, the algorithm computes similarity invariants, locally valid despite the curved nature of the retina, from constellations of vascular landmarks. These are detected using a high-speed algorithm that iteratively traces the blood vessel structure. Invariant indexing establishes initial correspondences between landmarks from the online image and landmarks stored in the spatial map. Robust alignment and verification steps extend the similarity transformation computed from these initial correspondences to a global, high-order transformation. In initial experimentation, the method has achieved 100 percent success on 1024 /spl times/ 1024 retina images. With a version of the tracing algorithm optimized for speed on 512 /spl times/ 512 images, the computation time is only 51 milliseconds per image on a 900MHz PentiumIII processor and a 97 percent success rate is achieved. The median registration error in either case is about 1 pixel.


Twenty-seven volunteers completed three simulated driving tests to determine test-retest reliability of performance on a low-cost, fixed-base computerized driving simulator. One retest was completed a few hours after the initial drive, and the final retest was completed 7 days following the initial test drive. Driving performance was compared using measures of vehicle control, speed, and reaction time to critical events. A measure of participants' ability to inhibit a pre-potent response was also assessed using an inhibition task during each drive, with the number of incorrect inhibition responses recorded. Practice effects were evident for measures of vehicle control (deviation of lane position and number of line crossings) and participants' ability to withhold responses to inhibition tasks. Good test-retest reliability was observed for measures of vehicle control, speed, reaction time, and variability measures. Poor test-retest reliability was observed for the number of stopping failures observed during driving. The findings from this study suggest that the driving scenario used provides reliable assessment tasks that could be used to track the effects of pharmacological treatments on driving performance. However, an additional familiarization drive should be included as part of future study protocols employing this driving scenario to reduce learning effects during trials. Care should also be taken when interpreting results from tasks with low test-retest reliability.


Highly monodisperse PbS colloidal nanocrystal clusters with well controllable size and size distribution, high crystallinity and high water solubility have been successfully synthesized through a modified polyol process. Thiourea stock solution was rapidly injected into diethyene glycol solution containing lead precursor at an elevated temperature to produce PbS clusters.The high reaction temperature allows for control over size and size distribution and yields highly crystalline products.The superior water solubility is achieved by using poly(acrylic acid) as the capping agent. The caboxylate groups of which partially bind to the nanocrystal surface and partially extend into the surrounding water. The uncoordinated caboxylate groups also bring high density of charges to the surface of CNCs at the same time. Moreover, the CNCs exhibit visible or near-infrared absorption even though the overall sizes of the particles are larger than the excitation Bohr radius. This is due to the fact that the clusters are ...


In this paper, dynamic behavior is compared for two methods of local work in progress (WIP) regulation in autonomous work systems in production networks. In one method, work systems do not share information regarding the expected physical flow of orders between them; in the other, order-flow information is shared to compensate for the variable dynamic effects of physical order-flow coupling. In both methods, the work systems adjust production rate with the objective of maintaining a desired amount of local WIP. A linear discrete-time dynamic model of the flow of orders between work systems is used, which promotes identification of fundamental properties such as characteristic times and damping. The results demonstrate the need for order-flow information sharing in establishing desired network dynamic behavior. Examples are used to illustrate behavior in the general case of omnidirectional order flows and the special case of unidirectional order flows.


With rapid technological and cultural advancements, the 21st century has witnessed the wide scale development of transnationalist economies, which has led to the concurrent evolution of language and literacy studies, expanding cross-cultural approaches to literacy and communication. Current language education applies new technologies and multiple modes of text to a diverse range of cultural contexts, enhancing the classroom experience for multi-lingual learners. The Handbook of Research on Cross-Cultural Approaches to Language and Literacy Development provides an authoritative exploration of cross-cultural approaches to language learning through extensive research that illuminates the theoretical frameworks behind multicultural pedagogy and its myriad applications for a globalized society. With its comprehensive coverage of transnational case studies, trends in literacy teaching, and emerging instructive technologies, this handbook is an essential reference source for K-20 educators, administrators in school districts, English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, and researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This diverse publication features comprehensive and accessible articles on the latest instructional pedagogies and strategies, current empirical research on cross-cultural language development, and the unique challenges faced by teachers, researchers, and policymakers who promote cross-cultural perspectives.


The input/output relationship describing a given signal-processing application in its entirety can be partitioned into a set of primitive operations which may be represented using signal-processing graph notation (SPGN) as a network of interconnected processes. A set of alternate low-level primitive structures (ALPS) can be defined to implement the operations underpinning each node in this network. This SPGN/ALPS processor network is queue driven and message based, each queue consisting of a message header and an array of data. Current systems developments have demonstrated that a small, finite set of low-level primitives is sufficient for the synthesis of the majority of acoustic-processing problems, and the paper outlines the design approach for some of these. In particular, a prime-radix DFT algorithm, FIR and IIR filter structures using constrained filter coefficients and a general purpose array address mapping element are described. In addition, system architectures based on these SPGN/ALPS networks are developed.


The large number of mechanical degrees of freedom of the hand is not fully exploited during actual movements such as grasping. Usually, angular movements in various joints tend to be coupled, and EMG activities in different hand muscles tend to be correlated. The occurrence of covariation in the former was termed kinematic synergies, in the latter muscle synergies. This study addresses two questions: (i) Whether kinematic and muscle synergies can simultaneously accommodate for kinematic and kinetic constraints. (ii) If so, whether there is an interrelation between kinematic and muscle synergies. We used a reach-grasp-and-pull paradigm and recorded the hand kinematics as well as eight surface EMGs. Subjects had to either perform a precision grip or side grip and had to modify their grip force in order to displace an object against a low or high load. The analysis was subdivided into three epochs: reach, grasp-and-pull, and static hold. Principal component analysis (PCA, temporal or static) was performed separately for all three epochs, in the kinematic and in the EMG domain. PCA revealed that (i) Kinematic- and muscle-synergies can simultaneously accommodate kinematic (grip type) and kinetic task constraints (load condition). (ii) Upcoming grip and load conditions of the grasp are represented in kinematic- and muscle-synergies already during reach. Phase plane plots of the principal muscle-synergy against the principal kinematic synergy revealed (iii) that the muscle-synergy is linked (correlated, and in phase advance) to the kinematic synergy during reach and during grasp-and-pull. Furthermore (iv), pair-wise correlations of EMGs during hold suggest that muscle-synergies are (in part) implemented by coactivation of muscles through common input. Together, these results suggest that kinematic synergies have (at least in part) their origin not just in muscular activation, but in synergistic muscle activation. In short: kinematic synergies may result from muscle synergies.


"Book Unbound" is a "collocational cybertext," a self-assembling poetic collage that can be read in two ways: either automatically in the "bound" mode, or in an "unbound" mode that allows readers to extract and recycle words from its recombinant text stream. The present version is a HyperCard stack (Mac only, HyperCard program not required) available for downloading. --Editor


Leaf area is evaluated as leaf area index (LAI), the ratio of leaf to ground area, and is known to be crucial to understanding forests and high-quality fruit production in orchards. Nondestructive tools have been available for decades that pair hemispherical photography with gap fraction theories to understand LAI. Those tools do not allow for rapid assessment in the field, and there is no standardized protocol to acquire accurate estimates yet. This experiment has developed an optimized method with the CID Plant Canopy Imager (CI-110) in a high-density apple orchard. This novel tool for LAI estimation allows image acquisition and processing in real time in the field. LAI assessments of hemispherical images were taken under five light environments, at three imaging heights, processed with two thresholding methods, and were compared with destructive LAI values for accuracy. The difference between estimated and destructive LAI (∆LAI) was determined for trees on an individual or grouped by a three tree basis. Estimations for triplet groupings were more accurate, and the significantly lower ∆LAI in each treatment occurred for the no-net environment, 10 cm from the ground and processed with the Otsu threshold. When combined as triplet groupings, this methodology sequence yielded an LAI estimation with a 13% prediction error (∆LAI = 0.19). The use of the CI-110 with this methodology can give useful, real-time information regarding orchard canopies to address pruning and training decisions for high-quality fruit production.


ABSTRACT Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in classrooms can have an effect on school children's comfort, health, and performance. In most classrooms, the teacher is the only one who can take actions to change the IEQ. The objective of this study was to identify what teachers usually do to improve IEQ in classrooms and how these actions relate to children's comfort perceptions. A survey was carried out among 1145 school children (9–12 years) in 21 primary schools (54 classrooms) in the Netherlands. Every child filled out a questionnaire about their comfort perception and every teacher filled out a questionnaire about their IEQ-improving actions and school children's requests to change the IEQ. The relations among children's comfort perceptions, their requests, and teachers' actions were analysed through t-tests and chi-squared tests. The most common action conducted by teachers was opening windows because of the 'too warm' complaints. Correspondingly, the most frequent request of the children was opening/closing windows because of thermal discomfort. However, the teachers' actions did not have a significant impact on children's comfort perceptions, which means that teachers could not fulfil every child's needs in a classroom, even though teachers' actions did relate to the child's requests.


Many small rural communities with ageing populations and limited opportunities for young people are not attracting skilled workers, but have a flow of skilled people through the community as locums, seasonal workers or contractors. This project investigated the question: how can rural communities capture maximum benefit from professional and other highly skilled workers in the context of an increasingly mobile and transitory workforce? It found that rural communities derive a wide range of benefits from mobile skilled workers. Effectiveness of the integration process determines the nature and extent of mobile skilled worker contribution to the community. Community settings that encourage and support mobile skilled worker integration are identified in terms of culture, leadership and interactional infrastructure. These same settings also influence mobile skilled worker retention in rural communities. Rural communities need to be proactive in matching worker and community characteristics, and this begins with the recruitment process. Mobile skilled workers need assistance and support to develop a primary social contract, and the process needs to be monitored. This is a community-wide responsibility and requires a coordinated, whole-of-community approach. This is the first Australian study to explore how rural communities can capture the advantages from highly skilled mobile workers. Rural communities that make the most of the available pool of skills can increase resilience, identification and uptake of opportunities such as new enterprises, good practice in natural resource management, enhanced social and leisure opportunities, and the quality and range of local services. The importance of this report is that it provides a broad range of strategies for rural communities wanting to know how to optimise the benefits they derive from mobile skilled workers, regardless of their location or rural industry base.


Abstract In recent years, anthropology has paid much attention to the concept of identity. Identity politics is a shifting and complex area, but the trick is to claim the right identity at the right time. This article discusses some of the issues associated with this topic on the coast of East Africa. The quotation in the title is a phrase I often heard when a student studying Swahili in the early 1960s. The East Coast was considered to be different from the rest of East Africa – otherwise known as 'up-country' – because it had a long history and impressive material remains as well as a written language with its own literature. What it did not have, unlike the rest of East Africa, were 'tribes'. In the postcolonial period, 'tribalism' has provided a popular and simplistic explanation in the mass media for the conflicts and wars in Africa. Historians, political scientists and anthropologists have argued, however, that modern 'tribalism' does not represent indigenous polities but rather the fall-out from the introduction of modern political systems and conflicts over resources. Given all of these factors, why, in the late twentieth century, should there have been calls for the Swahili to be recognised as a 'tribe'? Seeking answers to this question takes us to an old debate – who are the waSwahili? – sometimes phrased as 'Is there such an entity as the Swahili?' In the first section of this article, I consider the arguments of those who have maintained that the Swahili are not a single people, and in the second discuss the contrary case. The third section considers some of the reasons for such differences in approach, including historiography, identity politics, and the relative positions of authors.


The antiarrhythmic drug amiodarone accumulates in many organs of the body. Amiodarone lung disease (ALD) most commonly manifests clinically as an interstitial pneumonitis. The few reports of nodular ALD generally have been in the clinical and radiographic literature. No detailed histopathologic analysis of nodular ALD is available. We report 4 patients with nodular ALD, all of whom had excision of a nodule and none had a preoperative diagnosis of ALD. The radiographic suspicion before excisional biopsy in all 4 cases was malignancy. The initial pathologic suspicion in all 4 cases was either an abscess or vasculitis. In 3 of the 4 cases, where the dosages were known, each patient received 800 mg/d for 7 or more months. All cases have strikingly similar histopathology, with vacuolated histiocytes massed within alveoli to form macroscopic nodules with tissue breakdown. Ultrastructural examination of lung and peripheral nerve in 1 case showed the characteristic inclusions of amiodarone in the cytoplasm of swollen histiocytes. Vacuolated histiocytes filled with these inclusions indicate the effect of the drug, but in these 4 cases there was tissue destruction, which indicated disease. The necrotizing nature of the massed histiocytes in the absence of infection or obstruction suggests the correct etiologic diagnosis even when the history of administration of the drug is not available at initial review.


Disrupting either the DNA annealing factor RAD52 or the A-family DNA polymerase POLQ can cause synthetic lethality with defects in BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are tumor suppressors important for homology-directed repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), and protection of stalled replication forks. A likely mechanism of this synthetic lethality is that RAD52 and/or POLQ are important for backup pathways for DSB repair and/or replication stress responses. The features of DSB repair events that require RAD52 vs. POLQ, and whether combined disruption of these factors causes distinct effects on genome maintenance, have been unclear. Using human U2OS cells, we generated a cell line with POLQ mutations upstream of the polymerase domain, a RAD52 knockout cell line, and a line with combined disruption of both genes. We also examined RAD52 and POLQ using RNA-interference. We find that combined disruption of RAD52 and POLQ causes at least additive hypersensitivity to cisplatin, and a synthetic reduction in replication fork restart velocity. We also examined the influence of RAD52 and POLQ on several DSB repair events. We find that RAD52 is particularly important for repair using ≥ 50 nt repeat sequences that flank the DSB, and that also involve removal of non-homologous sequences flanking the repeats. In contrast, POLQ is important for repair events using 6 nt (but not ≥ 18 nt) of flanking repeats that are at the edge of the break, as well as oligonucleotide microhomology-templated (i.e., 12–20 nt) repair events requiring nascent DNA synthesis. Finally, these factors show key distinctions with BRCA2, regarding effects on DSB repair events and response to stalled replication forks. These findings indicate that RAD52 and POLQ have distinct roles in genome maintenance, including for specific features of DSB repair events, such that combined disruption of these factors may be effective for genotoxin sensitization and/or synthetic lethal strategies.


A new class of diphenylphosphoryl-substituted cationic cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes [Ir(POFdFppy)2(N^N)]+PF6− (dFppy = 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine) (POF1–POF6) with different N^N ancillary ligands have been synthesized and characterized. The influences of N^N ancillary ligands on the photophysical and electrochemical properties of the Ir(III) complexes have been investigated systematically. The results demonstrate that the photoluminescence quantum yields (ΦPL) of the complexes are dependent on the N^N ancillary ligands. POF1–POF3 equipped with phenanthroline or bipyridine ancillary ligands exhibit intense emission bands at 465–497 nm and high ΦPL in the range of 56–61% in CH2Cl2. The biimidazole-type complexes POF4–POF6 exhibit an obvious substituent effect on the photophysical and electrochemical properties. Although the emission spectra of POF4 and POF5 show similar fine structures, the ΦPL of POF5 bearing two methyl groups at the biimidazole moiety is remarkably lower (5%) than that of POF4 (45%, unmodified biimidazole). POF6 bearing two phenyl groups at the biimidazole moiety exhibits a red-shift and a weak emission band, and an extremely low ΦPL (<3%). However, the photoluminescence quantum yields of POF5 and POF6 (35% and 41% in EC film, 40% and 65% in neat film, respectively) in the film increase effectively in comparison to those in solution. Cyclic voltammetry shows further that the structure of the ancillary ligand affects the redox properties. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations were performed to provide insights into the electronic structures of POF1–POF6. POF1 bearing a 1,10-phenanthroline moiety demonstrates the highest oxygen sensitivity.


The decreasing solubility of hydrogen in hydrocarbons with decreasing temperature continues down to the freezing point of the hydrocarbons, around −300°F. This behavior is shown to be an enlargement of phenomena exhibited by normal hydrocarbon mixtures. Methods of predicting equilibrium-phase compositions are presented for hydrogen in ligh-hydrocarbon systems. The correlations are satisfactory for binary and certain ternary systems, but are not reliable for complex mixtures.


The research aimed to study the effect of drying processes (spray and freeze drying), and feed concentrations (80%, 65% and 50% of plant in water, w/w) on physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of star gooseberry (Sauropus androgynus), ceylon spinach (Basella alba), and cowslip creeper (Telosma minor). After drying, the powder recovery of herbal plant powders was up to 77.47%. The aw and moisture content of spray-dried powder (SDP) were lower than that of freeze-dried powder (FDP). The drying method did not significantly affect nutritional values of both powders, whereas the feed concentrations markedly affected the nutritional values of the powders. The fibre and fat contents of powder prepared from 80% feed concentration had the highest values (p<0.05). The dried star gooseberry powder was rich in protein (13.01-16.81%) and fibre (5.03-5.52%). The colour of FDP represented a smaller change than that of SDP. The dried powders prepared by 80% showed the highest solubility, up to 85.44%. The microbial counts of SDP were lower than that of FDP. The colour might well have been preserved by freeze drying, whereas a low moisture and microbial count were likely due to the spray drying.


Fairness-aware learning studies the problem of building machine learning models that are subject to fairness requirements. Counterfactual fairness is a notion of fairness derived from Pearl's causal model, which considers a model is fair if for a particular individual or group its prediction in the real world is the same as that in the counterfactual world where the individual(s) had belonged to a different demographic group. However, an inherent limitation of counterfactual fairness is that it cannot be uniquely quantified from the observational data in certain situations, due to the unidentifiability of the counterfactual quantity. In this paper, we address this limitation by mathematically bounding the unidentifiable counterfactual quantity, and develop a theoretically sound algorithm for constructing counterfactually fair classifiers. We evaluate our method in the experiments using both synthetic and real-world datasets, as well as compare with existing methods. The results validate our theory and show the effectiveness of our method.


The depth absorbed dose and LET (linear energy transfer) distribution of different ions of clinical interest such as 1H, 4He, 7Li, and 12C ions have been investigated using the Monte Carlo code SHIELD-HIT. The energies of the projectiles correspond to ranges in water and soft tissue of approximately 260 mm. The depth dose distributions of the primary particles and their secondaries have been calculated and separated with regard to their low and high LET components. A LET value below 10 eV/nm can generally be regarded as low LET and sparsely ionizing like electrons and photons. The high LET region may be assumed to start at 20 eV/nm where on average two double-strand breaks can be formed when crossing the periphery of a nucleosome, even though strictly speaking the LET limits are not sharp and ought to vary with the charge and mass of the ion. At the Bragg peak of a monoenergetic high energy proton beam, less than 3% of the total absorbed dose is comprised of high LET components above 20 eV/nm. The high LET contribution to the total absorbed dose in the Bragg peak is significantly larger with increasing ion charge as a natural result of higher stopping power and lower range straggling. The fact that the range straggling and multiple scattering are reduced by half from hydrogen to helium increases the possibility to accurately deposit only the high LET component in the tumor with negligible dose to organs at risk. Therefore, the lateral penumbra is significantly improved and the higher dose gradients of 7Li and 12C ions both longitudinally and laterally will be of major advantage in biological optimized radiation therapy. With increasing charge of the ion, the high LET absorbed dose in the beam entrance and the plateau regions where healthy normal tissues are generally located is also increased. The dose distribution of the high LET components in the 7Li beam is only located around the Bragg peak, characterized by a Gaussian-type distribution. Furthermore, the secondary particles produced by high energy 7Li ions in tissuelike media have mainly low LET character both in front of and beyond the Bragg peak.


SAR endolysins are a recently discovered class of muralytic enzymes that are regulated by dynamic membrane topology. They are synthesized as enzymatically inactive integral membrane proteins during the phage infection cycle and then are activated by conformational remodeling upon release from the membrane. This topological duality depends on N-terminal SAR (Signal-Anchor-Release) domains, which are enriched in weakly hydrophobic residues and require the proton motive force to be maintained in the bilayer. The first SAR endolysin to be characterized was P1 Lyz, of phage P1. Its activation requires a disulfide bond isomerization involving its catalytic Cys initiated by a free cysteine thiol from the newly-liberated SAR domain. A second mode of disulfide bond regulation, as typified by Lyz103 of the Erwinia Amylovora phage ERA103, has been demonstrated. In its membrane bound form, Lyz103 is inactivated by a disulfide that is formed between cysteine residues flanking a catalytic glutamate.

A second class of SAR endolysins, typified by R21, the lysozyme of the lambdoid phage 21, does not require disulfide bond isomerization for activation. Rather, these proteins are dependent on the release of the SAR domain for proper folding of the catalytic cleft. Bioinformatic analysis indicates that the regulatory theme of R21 is common in the SAR endolysins of dsDNA phages. Furthermore, bioinformatic study of endolysins of dsDNA phage of Gram-negative hosts revealed two new classes of SAR endolysins that are not homologous to T4 gpe, as all SAR endolysins were once thought to be. SAR endolysins were found in nearly 25% of sequenced dsDNA phages of Gram- negative hosts including 933W, which is involved in the release of Shiga toxin from EHEC strain EDL933. An inhibitor study against the SAR endolysin of 933W, R933W, was performed using a custom compound library in a high through-put, in vivo lysis assay. Of nearly 8,000 compounds screened, one compound, designated 67-J8, inhibited lysis but not growth. In vivo and in vitro experiments show that the compound has no effect on R933W activity, accumulation, or secretion. In vivo experiments suggest that 67-J8 increases the proton motive force, thereby presumably retaining the SAR domain in the membrane.


Preliminary phytochemical screening of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa grown in Tanzania revealed the presence of secondary metabolites like steroids, tannins, saponins, glycosides, terpenoids, flavonoids along with L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and iron(II). Furthermore, both leaves and calyces showed antibacterial activities (agar well diffusion method) against selected bacterial species (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Shigella sonnei), but calyces possessed potent antibacterial activities compared to leaves. The results also supported the claimed traditional uses of this plant. When interrogated during the cross-sectional study in Dodoma region, 54% of the respondents claimed the plant is used to treat anaemia (supposedly as it increases haemoglobin levels), 23% claimed it is used in the preparation of local wine and the remaining respondents stated use in both areas. Furthermore, the intake of H. sabdariffa leaves and calyces on regular basis can boost the immunity system and helps in preventing bacterial and viral infections as the plant is loaded with flavonoids and vitamin C. Thus, the results observed for the plant H. sabdariffa that is grown in Dodoma in small scale for traditional uses, paves a way for consideration of future large scale production of pharmaceutical and neutraceutical products in Tanzania.
Keywords: Phytochemical screening, Hibiscus sabdariffa, antibacterial activity, L-ascorbic acid and iron(II)


A multifaceted educational program was designed to maximize dietary adherence of twenty-three diabetic subjects in order to study two experimental diets for forty weeks. The results of the program showed that a high level of diet adherence was achieved in spite of the strict dietary guidelines. The success of the educational approach was also reflected in the high attendance rate (99 per cent of 270 subject visits) and the low voluntary attrition rate (4 per cent). Five aspects of the over-all design were felt to have been of major importance in gaining subject cooperation: (1) the small, grouporiented learning process; (2) frequent intervals of follow-up; (3) feedback on laboratory data; (4) individualization of diet prescriptions; and (5) family involvement. Since the majority of diabetics seen in medical clinics fail to follow their prescribed diets, the concepts and approach applied to this study may be applicable to the dietary management of diabetic patients. Such implications and specific recommendations are presented in this report.


Pulse transit time (PTT) is the time it takes for pressure waves to propagate through the arterial system. Arterial stiffness assessed via PTT has been extensively examined in the conduit arteries; however, limited information is available about PTT to the skeletal muscle microcirculation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess PTT to the skeletal muscle microcirculation (PTTm) with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and to determine if PTTm provides unique information about vascular function that PTT assessed in the conduit arteries (PTTc) cannot provide. This pilot study was conducted with 10 (Male = 5; Female = 5) individuals of similar age (21.5 ± 1.2 yrs). The feasibility of using the intersecting tangents method to derive PTTm with NIRS was assessed during reactive hyperemia with the cross-correlation of PTTm produced by the intersecting tangents method and a different algorithm that utilized signal spectral properties. To determine if PTTm was distinct from PTTc, the cross-correlation of PTTm and PTTc during reactive hyperemia was assessed. Cross-correlation indicated agreement between PTTm derived from both algorithms (r2 = 0.77, p < 0.01) and a lack of agreement between PTTm and PTTc during reactive hyperemia (r2 = 0.07, p < 0.01). Therefore, we conclude it is feasible to assess PTTm utilizing NIRS, and PTTm provides unique information about vascular function, including skeletal muscle microvascular elasticity, which cannot be achieved with traditional PTTc. PTTm with NIRS may provide a comprehensive and non-invasive assessment of vascular function and health.


Built-In Self Test (BIST) has been proposed as a powerful technique for addressing the highly complex testing problems of VLSI circuits. In the BIST methodology, two major problems which must be addressed are test generation and response analysis. In this paper, we present an efficient unified procedure, named three-phase cluster partitioning, to automatically synthesize a pseudo-exhaustive test generator for VLSI BIST design. Previous approaches to the problem of test generation have optimized computational efficiency at the expense of the required hardware overhead, or vice versa. Our design procedure is computationally efficient and produces test generation circuitry with low hardware overhead. The procedure minimizes the number of test patterns that are required for pseudo-exhaustive test. Based on three-phase cluster partitioning, a design generator named BISTSYN has been developed and implemented to facilitate the BIST design. The input to the design generator is a circuit description at the gate level which is viewed as a netlist. BISTSYN provides the BIST mechanisms as the output. For those conventional circuits which are extremely unsuitable for pseudo-exhaustive test, BISTSYN employs a circuit partitioning tool, named Autonomous, to partition the combinational portion of the circuit into different structural subcircuits so that each subcircuit can be pseudo-exhaustively tested. We demonstrate the effectiveness of BISTSYN by applying the method to different examples and practical VLSI designs. The detailed comparisons of our benchmark simulation results against those that would be obtained by existing techniques are also presented. >


This paper reports preliminary experiments on automatic attribution of personality traits based on nonverbal vocal behavioral cues. In particular, the work shows how prosodic features can be used to predict, with an accuracy up to 75% depending on the trait, the personality assessments performed by human judges on a collection of 640 speech samples. The assessments are based on a short version of the Big Five Inventory, one of the most widely used questionnaires for personality assessment. The judges did not understand the language spoken in the speech samples so that the influence of the verbal content is limited. To tho best of our knowledge, this is the first work aimed at inferring automatically traits attributed by judges rather than traits self-reported by subjects.


We report the non-equilibrium behavior of disordered superconducting Al films in high Zeeman fields. We have measured the tunneling density of states of the films through the first-order Zeeman critical field transition. We find that films with sheet resistances of a few hundred ohms exhibit large avalanche-like collapses of the condensate on the superheating branch of the critical field hysteresis loop. In contrast, the transition back into the superconducting phase (i.e., along the supercooling branch) is always continuous. The fact that the condensate follows an unstable trajectory to the normal state suggests that the order parameter in the hysteretic regime is not homogeneous.


Honeybees are an amazing and highly beneficial insect species that play important roles in undisturbed and agricultural ecosystems. Unfortunately, honeybees are increasingly threatened by numerous factors, most notably the parasitic varroa mite (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman). A recent field study showed that migrations of mites into hives on foraging bees greatly contributes to the rapid growth of mite population in colonies, and increases the mortality of honeybees. Motivated by this, we propose a simple two-patch honeybee-varroa model to explore how foraging behavior of honeybees in the presence of varroa mite infestations affect the population dynamics of honeybees and mites, respectively. We provide a full analysis on the local and global dynamics of our proposed two-patch model, which incorporates mite migration generated by honeybee foraging activities. Our analytical and numerical studies reveal the dynamical outcomes of migration including: (a) Mite's extinction cannot be prevented by mite migration when mite population in each patch goes extinct in the absence of mite migration, however, mite migration could drive mite extinct under proper conditions. (b) Under proper conditions, high rates of mite migration could have the following effects: (1) save one honeybee colony from collapsing when both honeybee colonies are going extinct without migration; (2) drive honeybee extinct in at least one patch. (c) Intermediate migration rate could generate multiple locally stable honeybee-mite coexistence equilibria, and drive mite's extinction under proper environments. (d) An increase in migration rate causes a growth of the varroa population, which in return has a negative feedback on the colony population. (e) Increasing mite migration from a healthy patch to a collapsing patch could reduce the extinction time in the collapsing patch. Our results provide novel insights on the effects of foraging and Varroa migration on colony survival.


We study the effect of the exchange interaction on the Coulomb blockade peak height statistics in chaotic quantum dots. Since exchange reduces the level repulsion in the many-body spectrum, it strongly affects the fluctuations of the peak conductance at finite temperature. We find that including exchange substantially improves the description of the experimental data. Moreover, it provides further evidence of the presence of high-spin states $(Sg~1)$ in such systems.


We study the dynamics of market entry following mergers and acquisitions (M&As) using banking industry data. The findings suggest that M&As are associated with statistically and economically significant increases in the probability of entry. The data suggest that M&As affect the proportion of the markets with entry by about 1020%. These findings also suggest that entry may be part of an "external" effect of M&As that helps supply credit to some relationship-dependent small business borrowers. Our results are robust to the use of alternative econometric methods, changes in specifications of the exogenous variables, and alteration of the data samples.


Background and Objective: Mammalian compact bone is composed mostly of Haversian system. Although there are many studies describing the typical Haversian system in mammals, there are few studies conducted on bones from non-mammalian species. The objective of the current study was to investigate the existence of the typical Haversian system in compact bones from reptiles and birds. Materials and Methods: Femora were collected from geckos, Nile monitors, sparrows, ducks and geese. Samples were then, fixed in 10% paraformaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. Paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin or Von Kossa and then examined using light microscopy. Results: The current study showed different histological structures of compact bones from studied species and an absence of the typical Haversian system seen in mammals. The compact bone of geckos was mostly avascular, while Nile monitor bone was highly vascular. Sparrow bone showed one side vascular and the other side avascular. The vascularity was represented by primary vascular canals surrounded by a few irregularly arranged osteocytes inside their lacunae forming primary osteons. Bone tissue from ducks and geese were similar and were composed mostly of dense Haversian tissue, while some areas had primary osteons. Conclusion: The compact bone microstructure in some reptile and bird species lack the typical Haversian system described in mammals. This will be of a great importance in developing a better understanding of long bone anatomy and physiology in different species.


Experiments were conducted with a view to studying how the factors on the side of the mouse would affect the toxicity of cadmium (Cd) in the acute exposure to it. The factors studied were strain, sex, age in days and the interaction among these. So far these factors have been studied independently. But it is suspected that they are affecting each other, so a simultaneous exploration was attempted in the present study as to the effects of these factors on the Cd accumulation in various organs. The results obtained were as follows: LD50 in acute Cd poisoning tended to be higher in C57BL/6 than in CF#1. Between the sexes it was higher in males than in females. As for the age of the mouse, the LD50 was higher in those aged 40 days and 80 days than in those 20-day- and 150-day-old. Changes in the body weight in acute Cd poisoning were analyzed by obtaining the variance for each factor. As a result a significant difference in the body weight change was revealed between the sexes, strains and ages of the animals and it was indicated that these factors modified the body weight changes in Cd poisoning. Cd concentration in the liver significantly differed among the strains and age groups. In the kidney the Cd concentration had a significant difference among the strains, sexes, ages in days, and interaction between the strain and age, suggesting that these factors might affect the Cd accumulation in the organs. The rate of Cd accumulated against the amount administered (accumulation rate) was studied in each of the organs. In the liver the accumulation rate was significantly affected by the age in days, and the interactions between strain and sex, strain and age, and sex and age, indicating that the modification occurred chiefly through the interactions among the factors. In the kidney the difference in the accumulation rate was attributed to strain, sex, and age in days, indicating that these factors affected the accumulation independently. From these results it was suggested that such factors as strain, sex and age in days affected directly or indirectly the manifestation of toxicity and accumulation of cadmium in the various organs to different degrees.


While journalism scholarship on Twitter has expanded significantly in recent years, journalists' use of the social networking platform for self-promotion and branding has only recently received attention. Yet, as Twitter is becoming important for journalists to build economic and social capital, journalistic branding is becoming increasingly relevant to study. This article reports the results from a study of 4189 Australian journalists' Twitter accounts to examine their level of activity and approaches to self-presentation in their profile information. Journalists are relatively active Twitter users who tweet on a regular basis, but they still present a predominantly professional persona that is closely tied to their employer. Less than half also provide personal information about themselves. Whereas only small differences could be found along gender lines, more significant differences existed in terms of whether journalists worked in metropolitan or regional areas and what their employers' main platform of distribution was.


Control of two-wheeled humanoid robots poses several challenges due to the unstable dynamics of their mobile base and the coupling between the upper and lower body dynamics. The problem is often faced in the literature with methods based on the linearized or simplified models that fail in exploiting the whole body dynamic capabilities of the platform in use. In this letter, we tackle the problem of whole-body dynamic control for a mobile wheeled unstable humanoid robot. Compared to the existing approaches based on online optimization to guarantee respect of the constraints, we propose a control method that takes into account the nominal constrained dynamics of the robot in the quasi-velocities through an internal model, thus reducing the computational burden. A computed-torque control law in the quasi-velocities is used to stabilize the robot around the upper position. We report on preliminary experimental results and on the method effectiveness in rejecting unknown external disturbances.


Background: The main aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of advanced paternal age on semen volume, liquefaction, sperm concentration, motility and sperm morphology among an indigenous urban black African population. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective and crosssectional study carried out between 2010 and 2015 on a sample of 505 apparently healthy adult males who presented for assisted conception at Nordica Fertility Center in Nigeria for secondary infertility. Paternal age (years) was categorized into < 40, 40–44, 45–49, and > 49. Sperm was collected by masturbation and examined within 60 minutes of collection. Analysis was done using STATA 13 and the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Overall means (± SD) of age (years) and BMI were 42.5 (7.2) and 27.4 (4.5) respectively. Means of seminal fluid volume (ml), liquefaction time (mins) and progressive motility (%) at age < 40 (2.3 ± 1.4 ml; 28.9 ± 7.5 and 39.9 ± 22.4 respectively) were significantly higher (t = 2.50, p – value = 0.007; t = -1.87, p – value = 0.03 and t = 1.76, p –value = -0.04 respectively) than that at age > 49 years. There was no significant difference in sperm count (× 106/ml) in all age groups. There was no important statistical alteration in sperm cell morphologies regardless of age difference. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that paternal age significantly correlated with seminal fluid volume (r = -0.02, t = -2.65, p – value = 0.008) but not with motility or sperm count. Conclusion: The study showed that paternal age may influence some semen parameters such as volume and liquefaction time. These may serve as useful points of consideration in assisted conception when dealing with male patients older than 49 years.


The Mediterranean Sea is an important regional EU sea and often used to assess the impacts of global change on the environment, due to its practically enclosed character. As most of the northern part is bordered by the EU, it is also of interest in the evaluation of the environmental and economic impact of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and related environmental legislation. For this purpose, the feasibility to carry out a budget approach, developed in LOICZ (Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) project has been analyzed. The activities carried out allow to conclude that all budget components can be reliably estimated and such budget correctly set up. In particular: estimates for precipitation and evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea can be obtained from ECMWF; other sources for estimates of such variables are available, and in a further implementation of this work a comparison between estimate sets will be carried out; estimates of annual flow and nutrient output to the Mediterranean Sea as required by the LOICZ budget can be obtained via the setting up of the AVGWLF model, with reasonable operating expense (time and effort) and with acceptable assumptions made for information/data not available for some or all of the regions, especially in the Asian and North African part of the Mediterranean; exchanges through the Gibraltar and Dardanelles Straits can also be reliably estimated, based on previous studies. It is recognized that the estimates of all budget components, as illustrated in the paragraphs above, can be improved. It is foreseen that some of these improvements will be obtained already in the actual implementation of the LOICZ budget.


Abstract Wautersiella falsenii is a rarely non-fermenting Gram-negative bacterium and belongs to the Flavobacteriaceae family. This nosocomial pathogen can cause several human infections, especially among immunocompromised patients. Here, we describe the whole genome sequence of a clinical W. falsenii strain isolated from a urine sample of a 35-year-old woman with a urinary tract infection in Tunisia. We investigated its phenotype and genotype. After bacterial identification by the MALDI-TOF method, the whole-genome sequencing of this strain was performed. This isolate was not susceptible to various antibiotics, including β-lactams, aminoglycosides, and quinolones. However, it remains susceptible to imipenem (MIC = 0.25 mg/l), ertapenem (MIC = 0.75 mg/l), and meropenem (MIC = 0.19 mg/l). Interestingly, the E-TEST® (MP/MPI) showed a reduced MIC of meropenem +/− EDTA (0.064 μg/ml). Besides, the color change from yellow to red in the β CARBA test only after 24 hours of incubation can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, as a likely low expression of the gene encoding metallo-β-lactamase. On the other hand, and more likely, it may be a false-positive result because, according to the test manufacturer's recommendations, the test should be read after 30 minutes. Perhaps, therefore, this gene is not expressed in the tested strain. Moreover, the whole-genome sequence analysis demonstrated the presence of a novel chromosomally located subclass B1 metallo-β-lactamase EBR-like enzyme, sharing 94.92% amino acid identity with a previously described carbapenemase produced by Empedobacter brevis, EBR-1. The results also showed the detection of other antibiotic resistance genes and the absence of plasmids. So far, this study is the first report on the detection of W. falsenii in Tunisia. These findings prove that W. falsenii could be a potential reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes, e.g., β-lactamases. Collaborative efforts and effective hygiene measures should be established to prevent the emergence of this species in our health care settings.


Abstratct – The aim of the present examination was to discover the impact of basketball particular training and traditional strategy for training on Speed-Agility-Quickness of National/Interuniversity/State level Basketball players. They were haphazardly allotted into three groups similarly. The three groups were named as pursues, the SAQE group-1, group-II named as the SAQNE and Active control (AC) III. After finishing of the pre test, the subjects were treated with their particular training program. Training period was planned for seven weeks. Speed-agility-quickness I (SAQE) experienced a basketball particular training program. Following seven weeks of the training time frame post test was led on the dependent variables of performance Ability for all the three groups. To dissect the treatment impact of training Mean and SD was utilized. To analyze the hugeness of mean contrasts among all the three groups investigation of covariance was utilized. It was inferred that the ramifications of multi parts training program particular to the basketball game may have been the wellspring of its predominance on the change of speed-agility-quickness of the male basketball players.


The multinational Arabidopsis research community is highly collaborative and over the past thirty years these activities have been documented by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC). Here, we (a) highlight recent research ad vances made with the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana ; (b) provide summaries from recent reports submitted by MASC subcommittees, projects and resources as-sociated with MASC and from MASC country representatives; and (c) initiate a call for ideas and foci for the "fourth decadal roadmap," which will advise and coordinate the global activities of the Arabidopsis research community.


Introduction: Diarrhoea remained the second leading cause of death among children under five years globally. It killed more young children than Aids, malaria and measles combined. Uganda remained among the 15 countries that accounted for almost three quarters of all deaths from diarrhoea among under five children. This study investigated caretakers" knowledge, attitude, practices and associated factors towards prevention of diarrhoea in children under five years since a few studies had been previously done. Lwengo district had a high turn up of patients seeking treatments for water borne diseases and of which over seventy percent were children under five years. The knowledge, attitudes, practices and associated factors by caretakers towards prevention of diarrhoea in Lwengo among children under 5 years was unknown. Methodology: A community based cross sectional study design was conducted. The study was done from April to May, 2018 among 458 caretakers of children under five years of age. Multistage sampling technique was employed in order to select the study areas and study units. Standardized interview questionnaires were adapted and modified from related articles and journals to collect data on the socio demographic variables and factors associated with it. Five focus group discussions were done in Lwengo and Kyazanga to establish other underlying factors. Data was entered into excel. Statistical software package then exported to SPSS software package version 13.0 for further analysis. Results: A total of 458 participants were included in the study. Of these, the response rate was 100.0%. The mean ages of caretakers and under five children was 31.25 years and 2.49 years respectively. Among caretakers, 82.75% had formal education and 91.92% were in the second quantile. Prevalence of diarrhoea morbidity over 14 days" period preceding the study was 52.4%. Two hundred seventy nine of the 458 caretakers (60.92%) had good knowledge about diarrhoea prevention in children under five years, two hundred fifty six of 458 caretakers (55.9%) of them had good attitudes towards prevention of diarrhoea in children under five years and eighty three of 458 caretakers (18.12%) had good practice towards diarrhoea prevention in children under five years. Factors independently associated with good practices towards diarrhoea prevention were caretakers that were knowledgeable about diarrhoea prevention in children under five years (Adj.OR=1.85, 95% CI=1.182.92),caretakers that had positive attitudes towards diarrhoea prevention (Adj. OR=1.26, 95% CI=0.87-1.83), caretakers that reported having had no diarrhoea in children under five years prior to the study (Adj.OR=1.50, 95% CI=1.02-2.23) and caretakers that were in the second wealth quantile (Adj.OR=1.78, 95% CI =1.07-2.96). Conclusion: Caretakers" knowledge, attitudes and practices towards prevention of diarrhoea was not satisfactory. Occurrence of high burden of diarrhoea in children in Lwengo district was found to be associated with knowledge levels among caretakers about prevention of diarrhoea in children under five years, attitudes, wealth index, hygiene and sanitation practices. Appropriate behavioural change interventions could lead to significant changes in caretakers" practices in diarrhoea prevention in children.


Comparison of brain function between children and adults with autism provides an understanding of the effects of the disorder and associated maturational differences on language processing. Functional imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) was used to examine brain activation and cortical synchronization during the processing of literal and ironic texts in 15 children with autism, 14 children with typical development, 13 adults with autism, and 12 adult controls. Both the children and adults with autism had lower functional connectivity (synchronization of brain activity among activated areas) than their age and ability comparison group in the left hemisphere language network during irony processing, and neither autism group had an increase in functional connectivity in response to increased task demands. Activation differences for the literal and irony conditions occurred in key language‐processing regions (left middle temporal, left pars triangularis, left pars opercularis, left medial frontal, and right middle temporal). The children and adults with autism differed from each other in the use of some brain regions during the irony task, with the adults with autism having activation levels similar to those of the control groups. Overall, the children and adults with autism differed from the adult and child controls in (a) the degree of network coordination, (b) the distribution of the workload among member nodes, and (3) the dynamic recruitment of regions in response to text content. Moreover, the differences between the two autism age groups may be indicative of positive changes in the neural function related to language processing associated with maturation and/or educational experience. Autism Res 2013, ●●: ●●–●●. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


In his comprehensive overview of moral philosophy, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith made a key contribution through the concept of the "impartial spectator"—an imagined third party who allows an individual to objectively judge the ethical status of his or her actions. Also called the "man within the breast," the impartial spectator is a tool through which individuals divide themselves into the "judge" and "the judged" to examine their own conduct in an unbiased manner. While Smith conceptualizes this imaginary figure as an embodiment of universal morality, and hence not limited to the values of one's immediate community, I argue that this is largely impossible due to the character's society-reliant nature. The impartial spectator is inevitably a local figure, a judge who, while objective, adjudicates based on the context of one's immediate social milieu. Furthermore, due to his dependence on community norms, the impartial spectator is unable to motivate individuals to care for those outside conventional society's concerns, and is ultimately restricted in his capacity to inspire moral improvement. Interestingly, however, the "man within the breast's" society-driven nature seem less problematic and debilitating to Smith's overall self-evaluation method in the context of today's globalized, equality-driven world. His reliance on community norms does not serve as a key hindrance factor for inspiring altruism today, which demonstrates that Smith's introspective technique may be better-suit for application in the present than in the philosopher's time.


DAX-1 (dosage-sensitive sex reversal adrenal hypoplasia congenital critical region on X chromosome, gene 1) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily that can repress diverse nuclear receptors and has a key role in adreno-gonadal development. Our previous report has demonstrated that DAX-1 can inhibit hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α transactivity and negatively regulate gluconeogenic gene expression (Nedumaran, B., Hong, S., Xie, Y. B., Kim, Y. H., Seo, W. Y., Lee, M. W., Lee, C. H., Koo, S. H., and Choi, H. S. (2009) J. Biol. Chem. 284, 27511–27523). Here, we further expand the role of DAX-1 in hepatic energy metabolism. Transfection assays have demonstrated that DAX-1 can inhibit the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptor liver X receptor α (LXRα). Physical interaction between DAX-1 and LXRα was confirmed Immunofluorescent staining in mouse liver shows that LXRα and DAX-1 are colocalized in the nucleus. Domain mapping analysis shows that the entire region of DAX-1 is involved in the interaction with the ligand binding domain region of LXRα. Competition analyses demonstrate that DAX-1 competes with the coactivator SRC-1 for repressing LXRα transactivity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that endogenous DAX-1 recruitment on the SREBP-1c gene promoter was decreased in the presence of LXRα agonist. Overexpression of DAX-1 inhibits T7-induced LXRα target gene expression, whereas knockdown of endogenous DAX-1 significantly increases T7-induced LXRα target gene expression in HepG2 cells. Finally, overexpression of DAX-1 in mouse liver decreases T7-induced LXRα target gene expression, liver triglyceride level, and lipid accumulation. Overall, this study suggests that DAX-1, a novel corepressor of LXRα, functions as a negative regulator of lipogenic enzyme gene expression in liver.


8. Quick, efficient reduction and retention by the best means available. 9. Neither exercise nor disturbance of the wound until either apyrexia is well established or gross sepsis is certain. Pain and lymphadenitis may be better indicators of sepsis than either tension or pyrexia. 10. Subsequent treatment of the limb according to the principles for a closed fracture, and of the wound by established surgical methods. • lRepotts of QLases.


Variable rate sprinklers (VRS) have been developed to promote localized water ap- plication of irrigated areas. In Precision Irrigation, VRS permits better control of flow adjustment and, at the same time, provides satisfactory radial distribution profiles for various pressures and flow rates are really necessary. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance and radial distribution profiles of a developed VRS which varies the nozzle cross sectional area by moving a pin in or out using a stepper motor. Field tests were performed under different conditions of service pressure, rotation angles imposed on the pin and flow rate which resulted in maximal water throw radiuses ranging from 7.30 to 10.38 m. In the experiments in which the service pressure remained constant, the maximal throw radius varied from 7.96 to 8.91 m. Averages were used of repetitions performed under conditions without wind or with winds less than 1.3 m s -1 . The VRS with the four stream deflector resulted in greater water applica - tion throw radius compared to the six stream deflector. However, the six stream deflector had greater precipitation intensities, as well as better distribution. Thus, selection of the deflector to be utilized should be based on project requirements, respecting the difference in the obtained results. With a small opening of the nozzle, the VRS produced small water droplets that visually presented applicability for foliar chemigation. Regarding the comparison between the estimated and observed flow rates, the stepper motor produced excellent results.


: A non-human primate model for the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) has been developed in a pilot study on four pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) receiving ethanol once weekly from 40 days of gestation (2.5 g/kg for three moderate-dose monkeys and 4.1 g/kg for one high-dose monkey). Ethanol and acetaldehyde levels and indices of general health were monitored throughout pregnancy. One pregnancy ended in miscarriage. The three infants born at term were compared to control infants. The infant exposed to the higher ethanol dose showed phenotypic similarities to humans with FAS. Its brain was microcephalic and dysplastic; reflex, motor and cognitive development were retarded. One infant receiving the moderate dose had subtle brain abnormalities; it was hyperkinetic and showed developmental retardation on several behavioral measures. The other moderately dosed infant was normal. A larger study now in progress will comprise six groups of seven monkeys, each group being exposed to 0 (control), 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, 2.5 or 4.1 g/kg of ethanol once weekly throughout gestation. So far, 4.1 g/kg ethanol has been shown to be fetotoxic when given between 8 and 13 days of pregnancy.


Price discovery research related to fed cattle has involved data covering a relatively small portion of the longer cattle cycle. Thus, research has not explicitly addressed the impacts alternative supply conditions have on price discovery. Additionally, little research has addressed the pricing choices for fed cattle marketing or procurement. In research reported here using data from an experimental market, the Fed Cattle Market Simulator, models were estimated that encompassed live weight, dressed weight, and grid pricing under alternative supply scenarios, specifically a larger supply and smaller supply period. Variables explaining fed cattle price variation differed somewhat between the two supply periods. For the two periods combined, results were nearly as theoretically expected. One consistent finding was that higher quality fed cattle marketed with a grid brought higher prices in both supply periods. Similarly, some differences were noted in the pricing choice model between the two periods and the combined periods. Another consistent finding was that having lower quality cattle to market increased the probability of marketing them on a live weight basis. Higher quality cattle were more apt to be marketed with a grid.


Charcoal analyses were performed on hearths and ash layers from a seasonally occupied Neolithic dwelling site in the eastern lowlands of the Horn of Africa, dated to the first half of the second millennium BC. It was suggested by an earlier study that the predominance of two taxa, Suaeda (seablite)/Chenopodiaceae and Salvadora persica (saltbush), could be an over-representation due to the selection of wood for specialized use, i.e. fish processing. In this study, we show that this can be ruled out, and that the characteristics of the charcoal spectra can be explained in terms of past vegetation composition. We suggest that arid steppe plant formations prevailed, from which most of the fauna was hunted, and that the nearby water channel was not active all year round. Resume


Research on automated image enhancement has gained momentum in recent years, partially due to the need for easy-to-use tools for enhancing pictures captured by ubiquitous cameras on mobile devices. Many of the existing leading methods employ machine-learning-based techniques, by which some enhancement parameters for a given image are found by relating the image to the training images with known enhancement parameters. While knowing the structure of the parameter space can facilitate search for the optimal solution, none of the existing methods has explicitly modeled and learned that structure. This paper presents an end-to-end, novel joint regression and ranking approach to model the interaction between desired enhancement parameters and images to be processed, employing a Gaussian process (GP). GP allows searching for ideal parameters using only the image features. The model naturally leads to a ranking technique for comparing images in the induced feature space. Comparative evaluation using the ground-truth based on the MIT-Adobe FiveK dataset plus subjective tests on an additional data-set were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The objective of this review is to investigate the relationship between cancer and PTSD, a disease of high prevalence in all and with physical and emotional sequelae. Research on the database PubMed using the terms "Cancer", "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" and "PTSD" from January 2000 until April 2011. There seems to be a close relationship between the threat caused by the cancer diagnosis and the development of PTSD. Cancer brings negative reactions throughout the treatment on patients, caregivers and familiars, and the prevalence of PTSD ranges from 4% to 9.1% for the full diagnosis, reaching 39% in the presence of partial criteria. The emotional support individual or group emerges as an important factor in reducing the symptoms of PTSD. In this context, the development of measures for PTSD in cancer patients still deserves to be explored in further research, especially in that fit the Brazilian context. The diagnosis of cancer is commonly associated with a traumatic experience and can trigger symptoms of PTSD. Early detection of diagnosis of PTSD in cancer patients, their families and caregivers can be a contributing factor in reducing symptoms and improving quality of life. Thus, parameters and specific measures for this population in relation to PTSD can help develop assessments and educational interventions and psychological measures.