Manufacturing industry companies are increasingly interested in using less energy in order to enhance competitiveness and reduce environmental impact. To implement technologies and make decisions that lead to less energy demand, energy/power data are required. All too often, however, energy data are either not available, or available but too aggregated to be useful, or in a form that makes information difficult to access. Attention herein is focused on this last point. As a step toward greater energy information transparency and smart energy-monitoring systems, this paper introduces a novel, robust time series-based approach to automatically detect and analyze the electrical power cycles of manufacturing equipment. A new pattern recognition algorithm including a power peak clustering method is applied to a large real-life sensor data set of various machine tools. With the help of synthetic time series, it is shown that the accuracy of the cycle detection of nearly 100% is realistic, depending on the degree of measurement noise and the measurement sampling rate. Moreover, this paper elucidates how statistical load profiling of manufacturing equipment cycles as well as statistical deviation analyses can be of value for automatic sensor and process fault detection.


A damage identification method was proposed recently, the essence of which resided in locally examining the dynamic equilibrium condition of different structural components under inspection. The singularities of the constructed damage indices were considered to provide effective indication of the location and size of damaged zones. The accuracy of the method, however, suffers from significant interference by measurement noise due to the involvement of high-order derivatives of structural dynamic deflection. Moreover, the applicability of the technique is largely limited, because a variety of baseline parameters of the tested structures, e.g., Young's modulus and vibration frequencies, must be acquired as prior knowledge. In the present study, continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is first conducted based on the original damage index, yielding enhanced detection results capable of indicating multiple cracks in a beam component. The reliance of the method on the baseline parameters of the tested structure is effectively circumvented by developing a statistical estimation method in the spatial and scale domain, according to which the baseline information can be inversely estimated using only the measured data of structural vibration displacements. As a proof-of-concept investigation, the effectiveness of the newly established damage identification strategy is examined experimentally by identifying multiple cracks in an aluminum beam-like structure.


The development of educational programs which come as educational alternatives determined a continuous development of the educational offer and an increased number of students. Taking into account the challenges determined by the features of these educational programs the institution which provides distance learning programs has to adapt in order to be able to respond to the complex students' needs, including assuring the quality of administrative services.
In distance learning students are separated as time and space. The study program is organized between face to face meetings, reduced as time and individual study. Interaction between students, between students and didactical staff, between students and administrative staff has specific characteristics in this case. Communication is mainly computer mediated and face to face interaction is reduced. More, students are engaged in other activities, they usually have jobs and families. Students enrolled in such educational programs need a permanent guidance and feedback during the study, they need clear and updated information to be received in the shortest time. In order to improve the administrative services (secretariat, taxes, distribution of learning materials, library) students' feedback is needed to be able to see the current status and to improve these services.
The quality assurance for administrative services is a request that must be accomplished using a specific procedure, during the study and at the end of the study program. This procedure is developed and continuously improved to meet students' needs, to be able to take measures in time in order to avoid students' drop out, which in distance learning is more often than in traditional learning. Periodically, questionnaires are designed and distributed to students in order to have their feedback in this matter.
The aim of this paper is to present the data collected from the questionnaire which will reveal students' feedback on services offered by the higher education institution.


Abstract. An IRB6620 industrial robot from ABB Co. Ltd. (Zurich, Switzerland) is used as a processing platform for optical processing, and computer-controlled optical surfacing is applied as a key technology. The function of each coordinate system of the robot in processing is reviewed, as well as the relationship of each coordinate system and coordinate transformation. An algorithm governing coordinate transformations is provided. In order to assess the functionality of the robot as a polishing instrument, experiments have been designed so that the removal rate and surface form error correction of the robot facility have been compared with those from established computer numerical control polishing. The importance for the application of industrial robot in optical processing is also presented.


Adaptation to one environment can often generate phenotypic and genotypic changes which impact the future ability of an organism to thrive in other environmental conditions. In the context of host-microbe interactions, biofilm formation can increase survival rates in vivo upon exposure to stresses, like the host's immune system or antibiotic therapy. However, how the generic process of adaptation impacts the ability to form biofilm and how it may change through time has seldomly been studied. To do so, we used a previous evolution experiment with three strains of the Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex, in which we specifically did not select for biofilm formation. We observed that changes in the ability to form biofilm happened very fast at first and afterwards reverted to ancestral levels in many populations. Biofilm changes were associated to changes in population yield and surface polysaccharide production. Genotypically, mutations in the tip adhesin of type III fimbriae ( mrkD ) or the fim switch of type I fimbriae were shaped by nutrient availability during evolution, and their impact on biofilm formation was dependent on capsule production. Analyses of natural isolates revealed similar mutations in mrkD , suggesting that such mutations also play an important role in adaptation outside the laboratory. Our work reveals that the latent evolution of biofilm formation, and its temporal dynamics, depend on nutrient availability, the genetic background and other intertwined phenotypic and genotypic changes. Ultimately, it suggests that small differences in the environment can alter an organism's fate in more complex niches like the host.


Background: Although bariatric surgery is widely considered the most effective form of obesity management, some patients receiving surgery describe how their psychological issues remain neglected.
This study evaluated the impact of additional psychological support (a Bariatric Rehabilitation Service (BRS)) on patients' psychological outcomes at 12 months and their experiences of the bariatric service at 24 months.
Methods: Patients were randomised to receive either usual care or the BRS and rated a range of psychological outcomes at 12 months. Completed psychological data was obtained from 70 patients (usual
care: n=32; BRS: n=38). At 24 months post surgery patients (n=68) gave written feedback regarding the content and timing of their experiences and a sub group (n=16) took part in telephone interviews about their experiences of the bariatric service they had received.
Results: By 12 months those who received the BRS reported greater improvement in their psychological outcomes compared to the usual care group in terms of vigour (p=0.02, eta2=0.08), approach coping (p=0.04, eta2=0.06), quality of life (p=0.04, eta2=0.06) and self-reported hunger (p=0.05, eta2=0.05). By 24 months a large majority of those who had received the BRS reported satisfaction with the service's timing and content. However the majority of all patients, regardless of condition, reported wanting further psychological support up to 24 months post-operatively. A minority, however, stated that as their problems were not emotional the additional support was unnecessary.
Conclusion: The BRS resulted in some small improvements in psychological outcomes. Psychological support before and after surgery could be delivered in relation to individual patient need rather
than as a blanket provision. Further research is needed to determine both the timing of such support and to identify those who would show most benefit.


Solo Kartasura BRI Branch is one of the bank which the business activities
that collect and distribute the funds back to the people by credit form. Credit which
will they give such as commercial credit, consumer credit and credit programs. In the
case of giving credit, Solo Kartasura BRI Branch faced the risk of credit, that the
credit which distribute with the interest rates can't be acceptable according to the
agreement that has been dealed by the debtor and creditor. Therefore, a policy is
needed in dealing with credit problems so that the risk of bad debts could be push as
minimal as possible.
The purpose of BRI Solo Kartasura BRI Branch research is to get the
information about the causes of why credit problems could happen, the credit quality
of productive assets, how big is the credit problems, and the policy of credit problems
in Solo Kartasura BRI Branch Office.
In analizyng data in the Solo Kartasura BRI Branch, the writer used five
categories in Pass, Special Mention, Substandart, Doubtfull, and Loss.These
categories are based on the collectibility, Category Pass: 0 day, Special Mention: 90
days, Substandart: 180 days, Doubtfull: 270 days, and Loss: more than 270 days.
In the analysis that has been made, non-performing loans percentage of each
type of credit that given by Solo Kartasura BRI Branch in the year 2008 has showed
non-performing loans commercial credit in Solo Kartasura BRI Branch Office in the
year 2008 is 6,48 %, percentage of non-performing loans consumer credit is 0,68 %,
and for the percentage of non-performing loans credit program is 4,06 %. So overal
total of percentage non-performing loans in Solo Kartasura BRI Branch is 4,5 %.
Whereas, the credit quality of productive assets which given by Solo Kartasura BRI
Branch in 2008 is very good, because it has really good criteria with the Quality
Index of Productive Assets which is 103.02.
Based on invention in this research, the writer can make few suggestions like Solo
Kartasura BRI Branch should more give attention on giving commercial credit and
making a routine credit development because the percentage of non-performing
commercial loans credit in 2008 is above the limit maximum credit problems
conditions of BI which is 5 %.


The study of resilience has two core characteristics: it is fundamentally applied in nature, seeking to use scientific knowledge to maximize well-being among those at risk, and it draws on expertise from diverse scientific disciplines. Recent advances in biological processes have confirmed the profound deleterious effects of harsh caregiving environments, thereby underscoring the importance of early interventions. What remains to be established at this time is the degree to which insights on particular biological processes (e.g., involving specific brain regions, genes, or hormones) will be applied in the near future to achieve substantial reductions in mental health disparities. Aside from biology, resilience developmental researchers would do well to draw upon relevant evidence from other behavioral sciences as well, notably anthropology as well as family, counseling, and social psychology. Scientists working with adults and with children must remain vigilant to the advances and missteps in each others' work, always ensuring caution in conveying messages about the "innateness" of resilience or its prevalence across different subgroups. Our future research agenda must prioritize reducing abuse and neglect in close relationships; deriving the "critical ingredients" in effective interventions and going to scale with these; working collaboratively to refine theory on the construct; and responsibly, proactively disseminating what we have learned about the nature, limits, and antecedents of resilient adaptation across diverse at-risk groups.


While large private water companies grab the headlines, it is more often small private vendors that bring water to the urban poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This working paper looks at how water-vending systems operate, how effective they are in meeting the needs of the urban poor, and how this effectiveness might be improved. The paper concentrates on the small-scale and informal vendors, most of whom work independently with very little capital. Nevertheless, they display enormous diversity and flexibility, and are adept at responding to the needs of all but the very poorest households.


The geology of Jamaica is reviewed with reference to gold. Two geochemical surveys, one employing stream sediments for mineral exploration in selected regions of Jamaica considered a priori to have greater mineral potential, and the other an island-wide low-density soil survey to meet agro-environmental objectives, were undertaken in 1986 and 1988, respectively. The paper presents an interpretation of the previously unpublished soil data for gold, and undertakes a comparison of the two surveys in terms of their effectiveness for gold exploration. The stream sediment survey (1 site per 1 km2) led to the discovery of three new gold occurrences, one of which became a producing mine in 2001, and the recognition of two previously known auriferous districts. The low-density soil survey (1 site per 64 km2) identified the host rocks of three of these auriferous districts as having gold potential, including those of the producing mine, demonstrating its value as a broad-scale regional mineral reconnaissance tool. Geochemical studies of gold in Jamaica are complicated by the presence of transported palaeo-anomalies, related to Miocene ash-falls, in terra rossa soils in karst terrain. The Fe/Na ratio is an index of soil maturity and increases over two-and-a-half orders of magnitude with increasing soil age and mature. The plotting of Au versus the Fe/Na ratio in soils offers a simple procedure for identifying samples most likely to be related to gold occurrences in bedrock, i.e. high Au and low Fe/Na ratio. It is concluded that in the specific instance of Jamaica's high relief terrain and the apparent limitation of gold occurrences to the Cretaceous Inliers and Eocene Wagwater Trough underlying those high relief areas, stream sediment sampling is the most effective mineral exploration tool.


Mooring systems for floating wave energy converters (WECs) must be designed to survive the cyclical loads and motions to which they are subjected as a result of the wave load-WEC interaction and the motions of the WEC in the random elevation of the sea surface. The current study compares simulation procedures for the fatigue analysis of WEC moorings. The objective is to suggest a simulation procedure suitable for an extensive study of the behaviour of WEC systems and thus for the fatigue analysis of mooring lines. A cylindrical, floating WEC with four spread mooring lines is chosen as case study. The dynamics of the WEC system are simulated and analysed using both coupled and de-coupled models in the timedomain. Four types of simulation procedures are compared using commercial software, DNV DeepC, and an in-house solver, MooDy. A systematic fatigue response analysis based on variations of the numerical and physical parameters is conducted. The results are compared with respect to the fatigue damage calculated using the stress-based approach and the rainflow counting method. The simulation procedure using a coupled model is suggested as the preferred numerical method for capturing the interaction between the components of WEC system, which is proven to be crucial for the fatigue damage evaluation of mooring lines.


A common application of unattended sensor networks (WSN) is low data rate streaming from many scattered sensors to one or more sink nodes. To meet the stringent requirement of prolonged WSN lifetime, we introduce a new notion of statistical reliability for data streaming applications and propose several variants of stop-and-wait hop-by-hop ARQ with explicit and implicit ACKs. The energy-efficiency of the protocols are mathematically analyzed and compared. The analysis reveals that implicit ACKs should be applied with caution to prevent an "avalanche" of implicit ACK transmissions. It is further shown that a simple combined implicit/explicit ACK resolves the "avalanche" problem. Our proposal is further validated by simulation.


This paper sets out a method for creating and marking individualised mathematics assessments for students based on their ID numbers. It therefore provides a means for setting assessed coursework questions that give students the incentive to put in the practice needed to master mathematical techniques without the risk of collusion between students. A marking grid can then be constructed using only basic Excel skills. The method is explained here in the context of basic mathematical techniques applied to economics, but it can also be applied to other academic disciplines that involve numerical problems.


Background Vitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency seems a distinct risk factor influencing prevalence and severity of several autoimmune diseases. Several studies suggest that low serum concentrations of vitamin D are frequent in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and an inverse relationships have been reported between 25(OH)D serum concentrations and disease activity or disability. Objectives European multicentre cross-sectional study to collect data on vitamin D serum concentrations in RA patients from different countries, and to investigate the relationship with disease activity, disability and quality of life in a large population. Methods The survey involved 625 RA patients (mean age 55±11 years, mean disease duration 11±9 years) and 276 age and sex-matched healthy subjects from 13 European countries. Serum samples for 25(OH)D measurement were collected during winter time (December-March) and analyzed in a central laboratory using chemiluminescence immunoassay (DiaSorin). Thirty-six percent of RA patients were treated with vitamin D analogues. Patient past medical history, Rheumatoid Arthritis Impact Diseases (RAID) score, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and DAS28-CRP were also collected. Statistical analysis was performed by non parametric tests. Results Mean serum concentration of 25(OH)D was found significantly lower in RA patients (17.6±9.7 ng/ml) when compared to matched controls (18.9±9.4 ng/ml) (p=0.01), Several statistically significant differences between European countries were observed (possibly linked to different latitude, sun exsposure and dietary habits) (see figure). Vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/ml) was found in almost 66% of RA patients, and severe deficiency (<10 ng/ml) was detected in almost 25% of them; insufficiency (between 20 and 30 ng/ml) was found in 27% of RA patients. Only 6% of the RA patients were found within the normal concentrations (>30 ng/ml). Male and female RA patients showed similar 25(OH)D values. Negative statistically significant correlations were found between 25(OH)D serum concentrations and RAID (p=0.05) HAQ (p=0.04) and DAS28-CRP (p<0.001) scores in the RA patients group. Conclusions This European survey add new evidences that vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency is frequent in RA patients with statistically significant differences between several countries. Vitamin D serum concentrations negatively correlate with the clinimetric indexes for disease activity, disability and quality of life in the present cohort of RA European patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The IEEE 802.15.3 medium access control (MAC) protocol is an emerging standard for high-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs), especially for supporting high-quality real-time multimedia applications. Despite defining quality of service (QoS) signalling mechanisms for interoperability between devices, IEEE 802.15.3 does not specify resource allocation algorithms that are left to manufacturers. To guarantee the QoS of real-time variable bit rate (VBR) videos and utilise the radio resource efficiently, the authors propose a dynamic resource allocation algorithm. The proposed bandwidth allocation algorithm is based on a novel traffic predictor. Recently, the variable step-size normalised least mean square (VSSNLMS) algorithm was employed for on-line traffic prediction of VBR videos. However, the performance of the VSSNLMS algorithm significantly degrades due to the abrupt traffic variation occurring at the scene boundary. To tackle this problem, the authors design a novel traffic predictor based on a simple scene detection algorithm and the VSSNLMS algorithm. Analyses using real-life MPEG video traces indicate that the proposed traffic predictor significantly outperforms the VSSNLMS algorithm with respect to the prediction error. The performance of the proposed bandwidth allocation algorithm is also investigated by comparing several existing algorithms. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed bandwidth allocation algorithm surpasses other mechanisms in terms of channel utilisation, buffer usage and packet loss rate.


This article analyzes the global causes of the contemporary crisis and the possibilities to eliminate the most acute problems that have generated this crisis. It analyzes both the negative role of the world financial flows and their important positive functions including the 'insurance' of social guaranties at the global scale. Оn the one hand, anarchic and extremely rapid development of new financial centers and financial flows contributed to the outbreak of the global financial-economic crisis. The latter was amplified by the nontransparency of many financial instruments, which led to the actual concealment of risks and their global underestimation. On the other hand, new financial technologies decrease risks in a rather effective way, they expand possibilities to attract and accumulate enormous capitals, actors, and markets. The modern financial sector also contributes to the provision of insurance for social funds at the global scale. The participation of pension and insurance funds in financial operations leads to the globalization of the social sphere. Countries poor in capital, but with large cohorts of young population, are involved more and more in a very important (though not quite apparent) process of supporting the elderly portion of the population in the West through the vigorous unification of the world's financial flows, their standardization, and by increasing global mobility and anonymity.


The increasing popularity of Computer Aided Design (CAD) in architectural practice has produced a challenge for design education. The overall aim of this research is to understand the role and effect of CAD in architectural design and education, primarily within the conceptual design phase. Through focus group interviews, the research explores the impact of different approaches to CAD education on student's perception regarding the role and effect of CAD in conceptual design. To achieve the aim a study was conducted with two accredited architectural schools in Australia. Two groups of universities, each adopting a very different approach to CAD education were identified and their enrolled student groups were interviewed. Although the two groups of students being interviewed have been educated in two very different approaches to CAD education, interestingly both groups have acknowledged the importance of traditional methods in conceptual design. The effect of CAD on architectural design and education is primarily seen as a positive and necessary move for the industry and education but more importantly CAD is not seen as a replacement for traditional methods of design, rather it should be part of an integrated ecology of software that facilitates a diverse range of design intentions. Conference theme: Design Education


Cyanobacteria commonly form large blooms in waterbodies; they can produce cyanotoxins, with toxic effects on humans and animals, and volatile compounds, causing bad tastes and odors (T&O) at naturally occurring low concentrations. Notwithstanding the large amount of literature on either cyanotoxins or T&O, no review has focused on them at the same time. The present review critically evaluates the recent literature on cyanotoxins and T&O compounds (geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol, β-ionone and β-cyclocitral) to identify research gaps on harmful exposure of humans and animals to both metabolite classes. T&O and cyanotoxins production can be due to the same or common to different cyanobacterial species/strains, with the additional possibility of T&O production by non-cyanobacterial species. The few environmental studies on the co-occurrence of these two groups of metabolites are not sufficient to understand if and how they can co-vary, or influence each other, perhaps stimulating cyanotoxin production. Therefore, T&Os cannot reliably serve as early warning surrogates for cyanotoxins. The scarce data on T&O toxicity seem to indicate a low health risk (but the inhalation of β-cyclocitral deserves more study). However, no data are available on the effects of combined exposure to mixtures of cyanotoxins and T&O compounds and to combinations of T&O compounds; therefore, whether the co-occurrence of cyanotoxins and T&O compounds is a health issue remains an open question.


Over twenty different measures have been used for analyzing multiple-cause mortality data. Various measures are used in the different fields working with multiple-cause data. A review of the literature shows a general lack of standardization in the use of these measures and a lack of a notational framework for developing formulae for the different measures. This paper aims to make contributions towards closing these two gaps. It provides a synthesis of the literature on different measures and outlines a notational framework for developing multiple-cause mortality measures. Sulaiman BAH , Department of Health Information Management and Technology, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. E-mail- email@example.com M. Mahibbur RAHMAN, Department of Statistics and Demography, University of Swaziland, Swaziland. E-mail: email@example.com


Myosin II is an essential component of the actomyosin contractile ring and plays a crucial role in cytokinesis by generating the forces necessary for contraction of the actomyosin ring. Cdc4 is an essential myosin II light chain in fission yeast and is required for cytokinesis. In various eukaryotes, the phosphorylation of myosin is well documented as a primary means of activating myosin II, but little is known about the regulatory mechanisms of Cdc4. Here, we isolated Nrd1, an RNA-binding protein with RNA-recognition motifs, as a multicopy suppressor of cdc4 mutants. Notably, we demonstrated that Nrd1 binds and stabilizes Cdc4 mRNA, thereby suppressing the cytokinesis defects of the cdc4 mutants. Importantly, Pmk1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) directly phosphorylates Nrd1, thereby negatively regulating the binding activity of Nrd1 to Cdc4 mRNA. Consistently, the inactivation of Pmk1 MAPK signaling, as well as Nrd1 overexpression, stabilized the Cdc4 mRNA level, thereby suppressing the cytokinesis defects associated with the cdc4 mutants. In addition, we demonstrated the cell cycle-dependent regulation of Pmk1/Nrd1 signaling. Together, our results indicate that Nrd1 plays a role in the regulation of Cdc4 mRNA stability; moreover, our study is the first to demonstrate the posttranscriptional regulation of myosin expression by MAPK signaling.


A three-layer back-propagation neural network model based on the non-linear relationship between the size of the SrTiO3 nanocrystalline and the technology factors, such as reaction time, reaction temperature, raw material adding amount of NaOH and SrCl2, and the rate of TiCl4/Hl, was established. Moreover, in order to accelerate the converging rate and avoid the non-converging situation, the momentum terms are introduced. Besides, the variable learning speed is adopted. At the same time, the input variables were pretreated by using the main component analysis firstly. And the results show that the improved back-propagation neural network model is very efficient for predication of the SrTiO3 nanocrystalline size.


Precise control over the temporal and spatial properties of acoustic fields in 2 or 3-D is essential for nearly all modern, biomedical applications of ultrasound. At present, piezoelectric arrays dominate, however, despite their ubiquity they have a number of drawbacks that compromise the fidelity with which the output field can be manipulated, particularly at high frequencies and in three dimensions. The development of new novel alternatives for manipulating acoustic fields in 3-D is therefore essential. This thesis presents several new techniques through which this can be achieved using both the optical generation of ultrasound and single element piezoelectric transducers. First, the use of multiple Q-switch laser sources in combination with binary amplitude holograms is investigated for the generation of single and multi-focal acoustic fields. The conditions required for the generation of a focus are established numerically and the method is validated experimentally. Next, two approaches are developed for the generation of arbitrary spatial distributions of pressure using a single optical pulse. The first employs multi-layer optical absorbers: structures composed of several absorbing layers each individually patterned such that the field constructively interferes at a set of target points. The second uses tailored optically absorbing surface profiles: arbitrary surface shapes, fabricated through 3-D printing, designed to geometrically focus over a continuous pattern. Finally, the last chapter of the thesis investigates the use of multi-frequency kinoforms for mapping the field of single element piezoelectric transducers onto multiple complex target distributions. The properties of these kinoforms are explored in depth numerically and experimentally it is shown that multiple complex distributions can be generated in a target plane using this approach.


This article presents the use of NLP techniques (text mining, text analysis) to develop specific tools that allow to create linguistic resources related to the cultural heritage domain. The aim of our approach is to create tools for the building of an online "knowledge network", automatically extracted from text materials concerning this domain. A particular methodology was experimented by dividing the automatic acquisition of texts, and consequently, the creation of reference corpus in two phases. In the first phase, on-line documents have been extracted from lists of links provided by human experts. All documents extracted from the web by means of automatic spider have been stored in a repository of text materials. On the basis of these documents, automatic parsers create the reference corpus for the cultural heritage domain. Relevant information and semantic concepts are then extracted from this corpus. In a second phase, all these semantically relevant elements (such as proper names, names of institutions, names of places, and other relevant terms) have been used as basis for a new search strategy of text materials from heterogeneous sources. In this case also specialized crawlers (TP-crawler) have been used to work on a bulk of text materials available on line.


An iterative technique is developed for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems to mitigate the residual intersymbol interference (ISI) that exceeds the length of the guard interval. The technique, called residual ISI cancellation (RISIC), uses a combination of tail cancellation and cyclic restoration and is shown to offer large performance improvements. The effects of imperfect channel estimation are also considered. The RISIC algorithm is applied to a typical terrestrial high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting system that uses a concatenated coding scheme for error control. Results show that the RISIC algorithm can effectively mitigate residual ISI on static or slowly fading ISI channels.


The licensed shared access (LSA) promises to be a viable alternative solution to the well-reported spectrum underutilization. The higher priority of the incumbent in the spectrum sharing arrangement implies that the licensee's access to the spectrum can be revoked or restricted at any time. This has been observed to result in degradation of some critical performance metrics of the latter. In this paper, we investigate the effect of this on the energy efficiency (EE) of an LSA sharing between an airport incumbent and a mobile network operator licensee. We formulate expressions for the operating transmit power of the licensee when its spectrum access right is revoked/restricted in both the uplink and downlink transmission directions. We then propose a power allocation scheme that maximizes the EE of the licensee during these time intervals in which the licensee operating transmit power is constrained by the incumbent system's utilization of the spectrum. We further provide analytical discussions on how the achievable EE during this time compares to when the licensee's access to the spectrum is free of any restriction from the incumbent. The results obtained show that while the EE suffers degradation in the uplink when the licensee spectrum access right is restricted, there is no noticeable difference in the achievable EE in the downlink direction. Furthermore, in the uplink, the optimal power allocation provides better EE even than when the spectrum is free especially at lower transmit power and channel number, while in the downlink, the optimal power allocation EE is consistently better than the free spectrum EE.


The first possibilities for engineers to analyse membrane structures were based on physical modelling; now approximately 60 years later this task is nearly completely overtaken by computer simulations. Through the years the software has improved by using better form finding algorithms, resulting in highly advanced software. Given the growing complexity of lightweight membrane structures and the increasing time pressure to develop projects, one must constantly search for new optimizations. Even while designing lightweight membrane structure is a highly interactive process, there are opportunities to improve the process. This paper deals with the question of how new or already existing software can be used to create a more efficient automated process for standardized lightweight structures. Using new modelling techniques, the form finding can be transformed from a manual to an automated process. The explored process is called "generative modelling", a modelling technique consisting of algorithms based on parameters. This approach is converting the manual design steps in subsequent processing steps using parametric input. This process optimisation using various interconnecting software packages, such as Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, GSA, Formfinder and EASY leads to various design templates and a case study, which will be described within the paper. Further on a review about various form finding and analysis methods has been carried out and will be presented as well.


As packet switching speeds scale to Terabits-persecond and beyond, power considerations are increasingly forcing core router manufacturers to adopt all-optical and hybrid optoelectronic single-chip switching solutions. Such routers will have small buffers, typically in the range of a few tens of Kilobytes, causing potentially increased packet loss, with adverse impact on end-to-end TCP performance. We recently proposed and analysed the benefits of pacing traffic at the network edge for open-loop real-time traffic in a small buffer network. However, no detailed study of the efficacy of edge pacing on closed-loop TCP performance has been undertaken for such a network. In this paper, we consider two pacing methods - TCP pacing at the end-hosts, and traffic pacing by the network edge - in the context of small buffer networks, and undertake a comprehensive comparison. Our contributions are three-fold: First, we show via extensive simulations that under most scenarios (considering bottleneck and non-bottleneck core links, low-speed and high-speed access links, long- and short-lived TCP flows, and different variants of TCP) edge pacing performs as well or better than host pacing in terms of link utilisation (TCP throughputs) and average per-flow goodputs. Second, we provide analytical insight into the setting of the edge pacing delay parameter, showing how the efficacy of pacing relates to bottleneck buffer size. Third, we discuss incremental deployment of pacing, highlighting that unlike host pacing that requires adoption by a critical mass of users, edge pacing can be deployed relatively easily under service provider control to facilitate rapid migration to core networks with small buffers.


This paper discusses two ways to amend the optimal lending contract under asymmetric information studied in Clementi and Hopenhayn (2006) to change its long-run implications so that firm growth and exit driven by borrowing constraints exist in the long run. One way assumes that the entrepreneur has a lower discount factor than the bank, and the other assumes the bank has limited commitment. The optimal lending contracts under each variation closely resemble each other.


The intimate association of basalt, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite within a volcanic center suggests that these rocks are genetically related. Individual lava flows that show a gradation in composition may preserve maximum evidence of the magmatic processes producing this association. One such flow of rhyolite to dacite composition, Glass Mountain in northern California, was formed by contamination of rhyolite magma as it intruded the basaltic flows of the Medicine Lake Highland shield volcano. Although dacite flows and domes commonly show less variation in composition than the Glass Mountain flow, many show similar evidence of contamination by basalt by the presence of abundant basaltic inclusions and phenocrysts and phenocryst clots from those inclusions. Similarly, many andesite flows contain rhyolitic inclusions, rhyolitic bands, and phenocrysts appropriate to rhyolite. These observations indicate that andesite and dacite are hybrid rocks that are formed when rising primary basalt and rhyolite magmas either become contaminated with the glassy debris of the volcanic pile or mix with each other directly. Linear variation in bulk composition, phenocryst assemblages of intermediate rock, and frequency distribution of lava compositions in the southern Cascade Range, Chilean Andes, Taupo volcanic zone, and Tongan Islands support this hypothesis. It appears that partial melting usually produces magma of rhyolitic and basaltic compositions and that any subsequent fractional crystallization is of limited importance.


As an important part of long-range nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring technology, ultrasonic guided wave technology has been used in a wide range of applications in aerospace, petrochemical, transportation, and other fields. This paper extends the previously developed wave finite element method by introducing the prestressing effect in Murnaghan hyperelastic materials and solving the dispersion curves of prestressed waveguide structures. Furthermore, this paper proposes a mode-tracking algorithm based on image sequential alignment that can achieve the multi-mode classification of guided wave dispersion curves and compare the changes in propagation characteristics of different guided wave modes. The results reveal that the change in guided wave phase velocity produced by prestressing is related to the applied stress, frequency-thickness product, and propagation direction and that the susceptibility of different guided wave modes to prestress varies. Finally, the model approach is validated by comparing its predictions to theoretical results from the literature, which match remarkably well. This study is an important guideline for the preferential selection of environmentally insensitive guided wave modes and excitation frequencies, correction of detection signals, and accurate assessment of engineering structure damage information in ultrasonic guided wave technology engineering applications.


Some path-independent integrals are shown to exist in the potential field of transmission lines in the TEM mode. These integrals have physical significance that can be used effectively in design, optimisation and inspection. In particular, they will be useful in sensitivity analysis of capacitance or impedance with cross-sectional dimensions, and the ordering of relative importance of cross-sectional dimensions. Each represents the rate of decrease of potential energy of the system with an increase in a dimension of the conductor. In the paper, the integrals are defined, and their relationship with line parameters such as capacitance or impedance are given. Examples are included to illustrate the validity of path independence. An alternative method, the stiffness derivative procedure, for a numerical calculation of the line integrals is also presented.


Spatial selective attention pattern recognition plays a significant role in specific people's (e.g.: pilot's) state monitoring. Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) were recorded from the scalp of 6 subjects who were cued to attend to a flickering sequence displayed in one visual field while ignoring a similar one with a different flickering rate in the opposite field. The SSVEP to either flickering stimulus was enhanced when attention was lead to the same direction rather than to the opposite direction. The most significant enlargement is generally located on the posterior scalp contralateral to the visual field of stimulation. This attention-caused amplitude enhancement of SSVEP can be used to measure the attention shifting. In this paper, we developed an algorithm to extract short SSVEP, selectively combine them to form a joint temporal spatial selective attention feature, and use Support Vector Machine (SVM) to classify different attention pattern joint features. By segmenting the long single trial SSVEP (12s) data into short pieces (1s), we are able to largely decrease the training time while still keeping a high recognition accuracy (>93%) for most subjects, which makes it possible to monitor spatial selective attention on time.


Abstract This article examines community perceptions and employment impacts to assess ex ante the post-mining viability of two settlements in remote north-east South Australia. The results reinforce grave concerns over their future viability following mine closure. However, government employees and traditional owners are more optimistic than other groups about community futures beyond mining. Devastatingly, employment impacts represent approximately 80 and 75% (225 & 1616) of jobs and 90 and 80% ($30 m & $164 m) of employment income in the two locations (Leigh Creek, Roxby Downs). These impacts reach beyond mining into other sectors, particularly Public Services and Trade and Accommodation respectively, and further limit economic diversity and opportunity. Building alternative futures in remote locations like these is problematic, though not impossible. Policy responses should reflect differences in perceptions, impact and case-specific contexts: settlements at the end of their life cycles like Leigh Creek require emergency action including institutional reform; settlements still in the early stages like Roxby Downs have time to begin planning now, though not yet conceived, for a future without mining.


Systematic study of the closely related hemiurid genera Mitrostoma, Neopisthadena and Opisthadena revealed that Opisthadena cortesi is a junior synonym of Opisthadena dimidia and Opisthadena fujianensis and Opisthadena marina are species inquirendae. Phylogenetic analysis of the 7 recognized species, based on 21 transformation series derived from comparative morphologic characters, produced a single tree with a consistency index of 0.735. The five species of the genus Opisthadena constitute a monophyletic clade and Neopisthadena habei is their sister group. Mitrostoma nototheniae is the sister group of the other 6 members of the clade. Geographic distribution suggests an ancient circum-Pacific distribution of the group. The association between kyphosids and this group of hemiurids appeared with the ancestor of Neopisthadena and Opisthadena.


Weakly-supervised temporal action localization aims to localize action instances temporal boundary and identify the corresponding action category with only video-level labels. Traditional methods mainly focus on foreground and background frames separation with only a single attention branch and class activation sequence. However, we argue that apart from the distinctive foreground and background frames there are plenty of semantically ambiguous action context frames. It does not make sense to group those context frames to the same background class since they are semantically related to a specific action category. Consequently, it is challenging to suppress action context frames with only a single class activation sequence. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose an action-context modeling network termed ACM-Net, which integrates a three-branch attention module to measure the likelihood of each temporal point being action instance, context, or non-action background, simultaneously. Then based on the obtained three-branch attention values, we construct three-branch class activation sequences to represent the action instances, contexts, and non-action backgrounds, individually. To evaluate the effectiveness of our ACM-Net, we conduct extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets, THUMOS-14 and ActivityNet-1.3. The experiments show that our method can outperform current state-of-the-art methods, and even achieve comparable performance with fully-supervised methods. Code can be found at https://github.com/ispc-lab/ACM-Net


Abstract This work aims to show, in the first place, that the ratiovitalism of Jose Ortega y Gasset is one of the possible lines of the hermeneutic transformation process of contemporary thinking. Nietzsche's hermeneutical mark on the development of Ortega's thinking is clear in some very relevant aspects, such as the importance of the body and the innovative notion of life, both of which are decisive issues to understand sport. Secondly, an attempt is made to tap into the rich reflections of Ortega y Gasset on sport, which have a considerable impact on the entire human life, based on the claim of a notion of living body (Leib) and of a new notion of life. Sport forms part of a vital horizon that is not reduced by the narrow utilitarian perspective, but which announces the superior form of human existence, opening up to a festival and creative meaning of life. This requires a discipline that is not merely satisfied with correctly complying with some standards, but which encourages indefinite improvement. The attribute of sport is creative vitality, a new way of understanding life. Because, based on this new vital perspective, homo oeconomicus can no longer be used as a model, but rather, the vital phenomenon understood in a sporting manner is festival, joyful, creative, agonal and Olympic, freely vigorous, a meaningful source of energy. Life is, in principle, creation, a creative experiment, as in the Nietzschean conception.


Water vapor in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) has a local radiative cooling effect. As a source for ice in cirrus clouds, however, it can also indirectly produce infrared heating. Using NASA A-Train satellite measure- ments of CALIPSO and Aura/MLS we calculated the cor- relation of water vapor, ice water content and temperature in the TTL. We find that temperature strongly controls wa- ter vapor (correlation r = 0.94) and cirrus clouds at 100 hPa (r = 0.91). Moreover we observe that the cirrus seasonal cycle is highly (r = 0.9) anticorrelated with the water va- por variation in the TTL, showing higher cloud occurrence during December-January-February. We further investigate the anticorrelation on a regional scale and find that the strong anticorrelation occurs generally in the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone). The seasonal cycle of the cirrus ice water content is also highly anticorrelated to water vapor (r = 0.91) and our results support the hypothesis that the total water at 100 hPa is roughly constant. Temperature acts as a main regulator for balancing the partition between water vapor and cirrus clouds. Thus, to a large extent, the deplet- ing water vapor in the TTL during DJF is a manifestation of cirrus formation.


Framed in the I model of aggression, which states that aggression results from the combination of predisposition toward aggression, an instigation, and inhibiting factors, the current dissertation explored the relationships among shame proneness, masculine identity threat, and emotional acceptance predicting sexual aggression. I hypothesized that men who were prone to shame (impelling factor) and were less accepting of emotions (inhibiting factor) would be more likely to engage in sexually aggressive responding following a threat to their masculinity (instigation). Participants were 299 men recruited from a university research pool and Amazon Mechanical Turk. This study used a web-based analogue of sexual aggression, in which participants were led to believe they were interacting with a fictional partner who dislikes sexual content in media. After completing self-report measures and receiving fictional feedback that their responses were typical of women (masculinity threat) or typical of men (no threat), participants were asked to choose between a sexually explicit video and a neutral video to send to their partner, and they selected the number of seconds that their fictional partner would watch the video. The choice to send sexual content to an unwilling partner was considered sexually aggressive responding. The results indicated that men who were less accepting of emotions and exposed to the masculinity threat chose a longer duration of the sexually explicit video for their partner to watch. Contrary to hypotheses, shame proneness did not increase the likelihood of sexual aggression or moderate the effect of the masculinity threat on sexual aggression. Furthermore, the hypothesized three-way interaction in which men who were prone to shame, reported low acceptance of emotions, and exposed to the masculinity threat would be more sexually aggressive was not supported. Further exploratory analyses revealed that proneness to guilt, but not shame protected against sexual aggression, and a tendency to externalize blame significantly interacted with the masculinity threat to predict sexual aggression. Although the original hypotheses were only partially supported, the findings indicate that the way in which emotions are processed (e.g., accepting the emotion or externalizing blame) and masculinity threats play a role in sexual aggression. Implications and future directions are discussed. INDEX WORDS: Sexual violence, Sexual aggression, Masculinity, Shame, Guilt, Emotion Regulation SHAME, MASCULINE IDENTITY THREAT, AND ACCEPTANCE OF EMOTIONS PREDICTING SEXUAL AGGRESSION: AN APPLICATION OF THE I MODEL


Considerable attention has been paid on endophytic diazotrophs in recent times, because of its of ability to fix and transfer fixed nitrogen to the host plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous and play a significant role in improving the growth of plants through better uptake of nutrients, especially phosphorus. Interaction between AM fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria and its impact on the host plant has been studied in several instances. In the present study, an attempt has been made to know the combining ability of G.diazotrophicus with AM fungi on S.bicolor. Spores of ten species of AM fungi were isolated from the rhizosphere soils of S.bicolor from different localities of Madurai and Sivagangai districts of Tamil Nadu. G.diazotrophicus was isolated from stem tissues of sugarcane (Saccharrum officinarum L.) from Madurai districts. The AM fungi in association with G.diazotrophicus were evaluated on the basis of root colonization, fresh and drymatter yield, N, P, soluble sugars and photosynthetic pigments in leaves of S.bicolor. Fresh weight and dry weight was significantly higher in dual inoculated plants. The highest values were recorded with Glomus fasciculatum + G.diazotrophicus combination. AM fungal infection was significantly higher in dual inoculated plants. N concentration was significantly increased by G.diazotrophicus even more in association with the efficient fungal strains. Dual inoculated plants showed a significant increase in P, soluble sugars, photosynthetic pigments in leaves was observed in G.diazotrophicus + Glomus fasciculatum combination. Such morphological modification may enhance water and nutrient uptake. Our results confirm the importance of studying plant-microbial interrelationship to provide useful information for agricultural system management.


The relation between women's age and fertility, and the factors that influence the age at which couples desire to have their first child, were analysed in a national sample of women aged 25-49 years. A random sample of 8050 households in the Netherlands was approached. In these households, 3295 women between the ages of 25 and 49 years answered a short questionnaire about planning their first pregnancy and about fertility. Furthermore, sociodemographic data were gathered. There appeared to be almost no variation in cumulative pregnancy rate between age 20 and 28: between 65 and 70% at 6 months, just below 90% at 12 months and approximately 93% at 24 months. After the age of 33 years, the cumulative pregnancy rate at 6 months decreased. From the age of 28 years the cumulative pregnancy rate at 12 months and at 24 months decreased gradually, reaching 75 and 80% respectively, by the age of 35 years. The year of birth of the woman (the 'time' factor) was the most important factor influencing the age at which couples desired to have their first child. In addition, demographic factors, particularly a high level of education, a high professional level and a high level of family income, were associated with the desire to have the first child at a relatively late age.


The derivation of three‐dimensional (3D) stratified neural retina from pluripotent stem cells has permitted investigations of human photoreceptors. We have generated a H9 human embryonic stem cell subclone that carries a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter under the control of the promoter of cone‐rod homeobox (CRX), an established marker of postmitotic photoreceptor precursors. The CRXp‐GFP reporter replicates endogenous CRX expression in vitro when the H9 subclone is induced to form self‐organizing 3D retina‐like tissue. At day 37, CRX+ photoreceptors appear in the basal or middle part of neural retina and migrate to apical side by day 67. Temporal and spatial patterns of retinal cell type markers recapitulate the predicted sequence of development. Cone gene expression is concomitant with CRX, whereas rod differentiation factor neural retina leucine zipper protein (NRL) is first observed at day 67. At day 90, robust expression of NRL and its target nuclear receptor NR2E3 is evident in many CRX+ cells, while minimal S‐opsin and no rhodopsin or L/M‐opsin is present. The transcriptome profile, by RNA‐seq, of developing human photoreceptors is remarkably concordant with mRNA and immunohistochemistry data available for human fetal retina although many targets of CRX, including phototransduction genes, exhibit a significant delay in expression. We report on temporal changes in gene signatures, including expression of cell surface markers and transcription factors; these expression changes should assist in isolation of photoreceptors at distinct stages of differentiation and in delineating coexpression networks. Our studies establish the first global expression database of developing human photoreceptors, providing a reference map for functional studies in retinal cultures. Stem Cells 2015;33:3504–3518


In perpendicular recording, substantial erasure of the stored data patterns can occur during the writing process. Among all those erasure processes, side-track erasure (STE) is one of the critical issues in drive head/media integration. Unlike the adjacent track erasure (ATE) process, the locations of the STE affected areas are often many tens of tracks away from the central writing track location. In this work, we report on an experimental investigation and quantification of the general attributes and the origins of the STE processes in various situations. Particularly, we thoroughly characterize some distinctive signatures and behaviors of STE processes by employing both the amplitude- and bit-error-rate-based STE measurement methods in combination with a novel magnetic force microscope characterization technique


Background: While chronic dialysis treatment has been suggested to increase pulmonary pressure values, right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) is a major cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease. We investigated the impact of different dialysis treatments on right ventricular function. Methods: We examined 220 subjects grouped as follows: healthy controls (n = 100), peritoneal dialysis (PD; n = 26), hemodialysis (HD) with radial arteriovenous fistula (AVF; n = 62), and HD with brachial AVF (n = 32). Echocardiography including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) of the right ventricle was performed in all patients. Results: Pulmonary pressure values progressively rose from controls across the 3 dialysis groups (21.7 ± 6.8, 29.7 ± 6.7, 37.9 ± 6.7 and 40.8 ± 6.6 mm Hg, respectively; p < 0.001). TDI indices of right ventricular function were more impaired in HD patients, particularly in those with brachial AVF. RVD, assessed by TDI myocardial performance index, was higher in HD patients compared with PD patients (71.3 vs. 34.6%, p < 0.001). Moreover, the prevalence of RVD further increased in patients with brachial AVF compared with the radial access (90.6 vs. 61.3%, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Compared to DP, HD increases the risk of RVD, particularly in the presence of brachial AVF. TDI may detect early functional failure of the right ventricle in HD patients.


White Matter (WM) atrophy is a good marker of cognitive decline and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Precise segmentation of WM from structural Magnetic Resonance (MR) images is pivotal in the accurate quantification of WM atrophy. An image processing framework for the accurate segmentation of WM is proposed in this article. The proposed framework comprises background removal, restoration of the image with Non-Local Means (NLM) Filter, enhancement with Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE), skull stripping and k-Means segmentation with histogram guided initialization. The framework exhibited a mean Dice Similarity Index (DSI) of 87.27% with a standard deviation of ± 5.74, on axial plane MR images of T1 series, from 30 subjects, against manual segmentation as ground truth.


Unsupervised image-to-image translation tasks aim to find a mapping between a source domain X and a target domain Y from unpaired training data. Contrastive learning for Unpaired image-to-image Translation (CUT) yields state-of-the-art results in modeling unsupervised image-to-image translation by maximizing mutual information between input and output patches using only one encoder for both domains. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on contrastive learning and a dual learning setting (exploiting two encoders) to infer an efficient mapping between unpaired data. Additionally, while CUT suffers from mode collapse, a variant of our method efficiently addresses this issue. We further demonstrate the advantage of our approach through extensive ablation studies demonstrating superior performance comparing to recent approaches in multiple challenging image translation tasks. Lastly, we demonstrate that the gap between unsupervised methods and supervised methods can be efficiently closed.


Abstract Background Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare disease, linked to asbestos exposure in more than 80% of the cases. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been identified as modulators of the tumour microenvironment and carcinogenesis. Polymorphisms of selected MMPs have been studied as potential biomarkers of time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) in MM. The aim of our study was to investigate selected MMP polymorphisms as baseline risk predictors in MM development in combination with other well known risk factors, such as asbestos exposure. Patients and methods The study included 236 patients and 161 healthy blood donors as the control group. Ten different polymorphisms in three MMP genes were genotyped using a fluorescence-based competitive allele-specific assay (KASPar): MMP2 rs243865, rs243849 and rs7201, MMP9 rs17576, rs17577, rs2250889 and rs20544, and MMP14 rs1042703, rs1042704 and rs743257. In statistical analyses continuous variables were described using median and range (25%–75%), while frequencies were used to describe categorical variables. Deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was assessed using the standard chi-square test. The additive and dominant genetic models were used in statistical analyses. The association of genetic polymorphism with MM risk were examined by logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Carriers of at least one polymorphic MMP2 rs243865 allele tended to have a decreased risk for MM (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.44–1.00; P = 0.050). The association was more pronounced in patients with known asbestos exposure: carriers of at least one polymorphic allele had significantly lower MM risk (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.35–0.86; P = 0.009). None of the other tested polymorphisms showed association with the risk of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Conclusions The MMP2 rs243865 polymorphism may have a protective role in malignant pleural mesothelioma development. This finding is even more evident in patients exposed to asbestos, implying a strong gene-environment interaction.


Objective: To determine the cost-effectiveness of enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) versus conventional care for patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Background: ERPs for colorectal surgery are clinically effective, but their cost-effectiveness is unknown. Methods: A multi-institutional prospective cohort cost-effectiveness analysis was performed. Adult patients undergoing elective colorectal resection at 2 university-affiliated institutions from October 2012 to October 2013 were enrolled. One center used an ERP, whereas the other did not. Postoperative outcomes were recorded up to 60 days. Total costs were reported in 2013 Canadian dollars. Effectiveness was measured using the SF-6D, a health utility measure validated for postoperative recovery. Uncertainty was expressed using bootstrapped estimates (10,000 repetitions). Results: A total of 180 patients were included (conventional care: n = 95; ERP: n = 95). There were no differences in patient characteristics except for a higher proportion of laparoscopy in the ERP group. Mean length of stay was shorter in the ERP group (6.5 vs 9.8 days; P = 0.017), but there were no differences in complications or readmissions. Patients in the ERP group returned to work quicker and had less caregiver burden. There was no difference in quality of life between the 2 groups. The cost of the ERP program was $153 per patient. Overall societal costs were lower in the ERP group (mean difference = −2985; 95% confidence interval, −5753 to −373). The ERP had a greater than 99% probability of cost-effectiveness. The results were insensitive to a range of assumptions and subgroups. Conclusions: Enhanced recovery is cost-effective compared with conventional perioperative management for elective colorectal resection.


Objective: The success of rehabilitation patients depends on strategic treatment planning and choice of most suitable treatment modality. In this case, a 20 years male, reported both the maxillary central incisors were found to be fractured, 1/3 and 2/3 apical of teeth. In mandible condition, second right premolar is anodontia. Methods: This case report describes technique in restoring an uncomplicated fractured maxillary anterior teeth in a young patient with laminate veneer porcelain restoration and post fiber post with core build-up resin followed by using of porcelain crown for traumatic tooth and single implant for treatment second right premolar of mandible. Results: Porcelain veneers is a conservative method of restoring the appearance of discolored, pitted teeth, and teeth with diastema that provide extremely good esthetic results. Post and post-core systems are used to restore extensively damaged teeth. Implants are considered as a first treatment option to replace missing teeth due to the considerable advantages over the other available options. Conclusion: The ultimate goal of this case treatment is to restore natural esthetics, function, long term health and patient comfort.


Linear logic and the linear λ-calculus have a long standing tradition in the study of natural language form and meaning. Among the proof calculi of linear logic, proof nets are of particular interest, offering an attractive geometric representation of derivations that is unburdened by the bureaucratic complications of conventional prooftheoretic formats. Building on recent advances in set-theoretic learning, we propose a neural variant of proof nets based on Sinkhorn networks, which allows us to translate parsing as the problem of extracting syntactic primitives and permuting them into alignment. Our methodology induces a batch-efficient, end-to-end differentiable architecture that actualizes a formally grounded yet highly efficient neuro-symbolic parser. We test our approach on ÆThel, a dataset of type-logical derivations for written Dutch, where it manages to correctly transcribe raw text sentences into proofs and terms of the linear λ-calculus with an accuracy of as high as 70%.


DR. FRANCIS PROCTOR was keenly interested in physiologic optics; it is appropriate, therefore, that this first lecture should concern the cornea, the most important part of the optical system of the eye. The smooth surface, regular curvature and high degree of transparency which are responsible for the optical effectiveness of the cornea are maintained free of aberration by a series of unique physical and chemical balances. These delicate balances are dependent on the functional integrity of the various corneal layers. The functions of these layers are affected in diverse ways by drugs and poisons; consequently, discussion of the pharmacology and toxicology of the cornea necessitates consideration of the layers individually, as well as in relation to each other. In classic descriptions of corneal histology, the epithelium is considered to be most superficial, but functionally the surface layer is the precorneal film. This film must not be dismissed as a simple


Telaprevir is a direct acting antiviral agent, used with pegylated interferon and ribavirin for the management of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection, in patients not responding to therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin only. Although 75% of patients achieve a sustained virological response after treatment with telaprevir, adverse drug–drug interactions and undesirable events often occur. Therefore, telaprevir monitoring is pivotal to improve the management of HCV infection. Here, the first High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography‐Ultraviolet (HPLC‐UV) method to quantify telaprevir in human plasma of HCV‐genotype 1‐infected patients is reported. The volume of the plasma sample was 700 μL. This method involved automated solid‐phase extraction with Oasis HLB Cartridge 1 cc (divinylbenzene and N‐vinylpyrrolidone). The extracted samples were reconstituted with 150 μL of 60/40 water/acetonitrile. Thirty microliters of these samples was injected into a HPLC‐UV system, and the analytes were eluted on a X Terra® RP18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) with a particle size of 5 μm. The mobile phase (ammonium acetate buffer, 150 mM, pH 8.0, and methanol:acetonitrile 50:50) was delivered at 1.0 mL/min with linear gradient elution. The total run time for a single analysis was 16 min; telaprevir was detected by UV at 276 and 286 nm. The calibration curve was linear from 312.5 to 20,000 ng/mL (r2 > 0.996). The absolute recovery of telaprevir ranged between 89 and 93% at concentrations of quality control samples of 800, 4,000, 8,000, and 16,000 ng/mL. Both precision and accuracy were always <15%. The HPLC‐UV method reported here: (i) has been validated, (ii) is currently applied to monitor telaprevir in plasma of HCV‐infected patients, and (iii) appears useful in a routine laboratory. © 2013 IUBMB Life, 65(9):800–805, 2013


"It has been said that the victim of a sexual assault is actually assaulted twice – once by the offender and once by the criminal justice system2". In the U.S. court system, the principal player is the defense lawyer who crossexamines the complaining witness. The literature to date has not linguistically examined the extent to which the actual questioning differs from questioning in similar cases. Thus, we ask: other than the fact that the crime is so personal, what is different about the language of sexual and non-sexual assault trials? We obtained one transcript of three types of trial (sexual assault by a male on a female; non-sexual assault by a male on a female; and non-sexual assault by a male on a male) and analyzed the cross-examinations using Appraisal Analysis (Martin and White, 2005), which identifies a speaker or writer's stance toward another person or proposition. The findings revealed similar strategies; however, while all three lawyers effectively and legally discredit the witness, there are subtle differences in the judgements they imply. Of course, we cannot generalize the findings from these three cases to claim distinctions between the cross-examination strategies used in sexual and non-sexual assault cases. However, our main goal in this initial study is to demonstrate the usefulness of Appraisal Analysis as a tool for achieving a more nuanced understanding of the use of stance markers during cross-examination. It may be that it is this strategy that inhibits many women from pursuing rape cases in court; if so, Appraisal Analysis would be a useful tool for future research on a larger data set.


Plastid targeted proteins of diatoms and related algae can be predicted with high sensitivity and specificity using the ASAFind method published in 2015. ASAFind predictions rely on SignalP predictions of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) targeting signal peptides. Recently (in 2019), a new version of SignalP was released, SignalP 5.0. We tested the ability of SignalP 5.0 to recognize signal peptides of nucleus-encoded, plastid-targeted diatom pre-proteins, and to identify the signal peptide cleavage site. The results were compared to manual predictions of the characteristic cleavage site motif, and to previous versions of SignalP. SignalP 5.0 is less sensitive than the previous versions of SignalP in this specific task, and also in the detection of signal peptides of non-plastid proteins in diatoms. However, in combination with ASAFind, the resulting prediction performance for plastid proteins is high. In addition, we tested the multi-location prediction tool TargetP for its suitability to provide signal peptide information to ASAFind. The newest version, TargetP 2.0, had the highest prediction performances for diatom signal peptides and mitochondrial transit peptides compared to other versions of SignalP and TargetP, thus it provides a good basis for ASAFind predictions.


Using $\epsilon$-bias spaces over $F_2$, we show that the Remote Point Problem (RPP), introduced by Alon et al [APY09], has an $NC^2$ algorithm (achieving the same parameters as [APY09]). We study a generalization of the Remote Point Problem to groups: we replace $F^n$ by $G^n$ for an arbitrary fixed group $G$. When $G$ is Abelian, we give an $NC^2$ algorithm for RPP, again using $\epsilon$-bias spaces. For nonabelian $G$, we give a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm for RPP. We also show the connection to construction of expanding generator sets for the group $G^n$. All our algorithms for the RPP achieve essentially the same parameters as [APY09].


During the last decade, the exponential increase of multimedia and remote sensing image archives, the fast expansion of the world wide web, and the high diversity of users have yielded concepts and systems for successful content-based image retrieval and image information mining. Image data information systems require both database and visual capabilities, but there is a gap between these systems. Database systems usually do not deal with multidimensional pictorial structures and vision systems do not provide database query functions. In terms of these points, the evaluation of content-based image retrieval systems became a focus of research interest. One can find several system evaluation approaches in literature, however, only few of them go beyond precision-recall graphs and do not allow a detailed evaluation of an interactive image retrieval system. Apart from the existing evaluation methodologies, we aim at the overall validation of our knowledge-driven content-based image information mining system. In this paper, an evaluation approach is demonstrated that is based on information-theoretic quantities to determine the information flow between system levels of different semantic abstraction and to analyze human-computer interactions.


This paper considers three problems in sparse filter design, the first involving a weighted least-squares constraint on the frequency response, the second a constraint on mean squared error in estimation, and the third a constraint on signal-to-noise ratio in detection. The three problems are unified under a single framework based on sparsity maximization under a quadratic performance constraint. Efficient and exact solutions are developed for specific cases in which the matrix in the quadratic constraint is diagonal, block-diagonal, banded, or has low condition number. For the more difficult general case, a low-complexity algorithm based on backward greedy selection is described with emphasis on its efficient implementation. Examples in wireless channel equalization and minimum-variance distortionless-response beamforming show that the backward selection algorithm yields optimally sparse designs in many instances while also highlighting the benefits of sparse design.


In the current study, the effect of applied load, sliding speed, and type and weight percentages of reinforcements on the wear properties of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was theoretically studied. The extensive experimental results were taken from literature and modeled with artificial neural network (ANN). The feed forward (FF) back-propagation (BP) neural network (NN) was used to predict the dry sliding wear behavior of UHMWPE composites. Eleven input vectors were used in the construction of the proposed NN. The carbon nanotube (CNT), carbon fiber (CF), graphene oxide (GO), and wollastonite additives are the main input parameters and the volume loss is the output parameter for the developed NN. It was observed that the sliding speed and applied load have a stronger effect on the volume loss of UHMWPE composites in comparison to other input parameters. The proper condition for achieving the desired wear behaviors of UHMWPE by tailoring the weight percentage and reinforcement particle size and composition was presented. The proposed NN model and the derived explicit form of mathematical formulation show good agreement with test results and can be used to predict the volume loss of UHMWPE composites.


Theories of admissibility of evidence provide insights into concepts that ensure the reconstruction of facts, reliability of proof, fair trial and respect for individual rights in a nutshell. In the German criminal justice system different frameworks form a rather complex system for monitoring the use of illegally gathered evidence. Overall, however, two issues constantly occur: (a) references to the adherence to the rule of law, which mingle with a more modern concept of "fair trial," and (b) growing emphasis on the protection of the individual's right to privacy – may it concern a suspect, a victim or a witness. The paper discusses the relevant constitutional and statutory rules as well as legal doctrine and case law, marking the tension between the duty to determine the truth and exclusionary rules. During the last two decades, new, especially covert methods of information gathering were established that challenge traditional concepts, such as the defendant's rights and potential consequences for the exclusion of evidence. This requires new solutions for balancing the right to privacy, principles of fair trial and law enforcement tasks.


Greaseproof paper has a dense structure and therefore provides a natural barrier against materials like fat and oils. The barrier is obtained by extensive refining of the pulp. This refining is however a costly operation, not only in terms of direct costs for the refining but also in terms of indirect costs because the energy consumption for the drying of the paper is affected by the refining. A full-scale trial was performed to investigate the role of the pulp with respect to the energy demand and the barrier properties of the final papers. Paper made of 100% sulphite pulp with a low degree of refining exhibited the lowest energy consumption at a given level of air permeance. In addition, the effect of refining on the air permeance was compared with that of calendering. The calendering affected the air permeance less than the refining. The papers produced in the full-scale trial were later used as substrates for coatings and for detailed studies of the paper structure. Coating with chitosan was examined on a bench-scale and on a pilot scale. The studies showed that greaseproof paper can be upgraded with an oxygen barrier, but also that suitable coating techniques are lacking for the application of the coating in a sufficient amount. The influence of the base paper on the barrier properties of chitosan-coated paper was investigated in another study, in which it was found that greaseproof paper possesses a unique coating hold-out which cannot be met by other types of paper with a more open structure. It was also found that the coated paper had a lower oxygen permeability than the chitosan coating itself, and this indicates that the dense surface layer of greaseproof paper contributed to the oxygen permeability of the coated paper. The pore volume fraction of the greaseproof paper was found to be approximately 40% and it is therefore surprising that its air permeance is so low. To bring understanding to this question, the structure of greaseproof paper was studied using several methods. It was found that the structure was dominated by very small pores with a median diameter of <0.3 µm. The fraction of closed pores was also substantial. A porosity gradient was also found, indicating that the papers used in the study had a closed surface. The hypothesis that the surface layer of the paper contributed to the oxygen barrier was tested in an experiment in which greaseproof paper was extrusion-coated with polyethylene. The oxygen permeability was measured at 0%, 50% and 90% relative humidity, and the permeability was found to increase with increasing moisture content. Because only the cellulose layer in the paper and not the polyethylene layer in the coating is affected by moisture, this result supports the hypothesis that the surface layer of the paper contributed to the oxygen barrier properties of the coated paper.


A point-to-point discrete-time scheduling problem of transmitting B information bits within T hard delay deadline slots is considered assuming that the underlying energy-bit cost function is a convex monomial. The scheduling objective is to minimize the expected energy expenditure while satisfying the deadline constraint based on information about the unserved bits, channel state/statistics, and the remaining time slots to the deadline. At each time slot, the scheduling decision is made without knowledge of future channel state, and thus there is a tension between serving many bits when the current channel is good versus leaving too many bits for the deadline. Under the assumption that no other packet is scheduled concurrently and no outage is allowed, we derive the optimal scheduling policy. Furthermore, we also investigate the dual problem of maximizing the number of transmitted bits over T time slots when subject to an energy constraint.


Abstract Orienteers have been physiologically assessed in the past using treadmill protocols designed for road and track runners, neglecting the specific conditions in which they compete. The purpose of the present study was to quantify the agreement between physiological data obtained from a specific field-based protocol with that obtained with a matched laboratory-based assessment. Ten elite orienteers completed a six-stage incremental test in both field and laboratory settings. The field test comprised a marked 803-m course over flat forest terrain, with the participants paced by a bicycle parallel to the course. The laboratory test was conducted on a treadmill at a 4.5% grade. Oxygen consumption and heart rate were measured continuously and blood lactate concentration at the completion of each stage. Regression statistics and an analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Heart rate, blood lactate concentration, and increased significantly with increases in running speed, but there were no significant differences in heart rate, blood lactate concentration or between the field and laboratory tests at any running speed. Regression statistics revealed that only trivial or small differences existed for measures associated with submaximal testing, including speed at the onset of blood lactate accumulation. There was less agreement for maximal data with differences typically small to moderate. In general, there were only minimal differences between the field and laboratory tests, supporting their use in this population. This initial study provides the first steps in the creation of improved test protocols for terrain running based performance.


"The Sourcebook of Contemporary Fashion Design" is a cutting-edge design anthology featuring more than 300 established and emerging fashion designers around the world. Included here in in impressive 650 pages are the world's most notable contemporary fashion designers - master couturiers and up-and-coming designers alike, showcasing their work in graphic full-color photographs and illustrations. For ease of reference, fashion design illustrations, photographs, and explanations of these lovely designs are categorized according to design type, purpose, and style. Also included is a visual index for quick reference and designers' contact information. This impressive fashion design book is the first large-scale book of its kind to showcase a complete and diverse range of contemporary fashion designers notable for their work in couture and ready-to-wear clothing. The case studies incorporate every type of design project possible - from the t-shirt to the evening dress, from shoes to handbags, hats to jewellery - making this lushly illustrated, information-rich book an invaluable resource that consumers, designers, design students, fashion retailers, merchandisers, and stylists will turn to again and again.


We examined the longitudinal and seasonal removal of dissolved and particulate nutrient components in a free water surface (FWS) constructed wetland treating all the effluent from a commercial recirculating rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss farm. The wetland consisted of a meandering, 0.7 m deep channel with a total FWS area of 5811 m2, a total hydraulic loading rate (HLR) of 2.23 m d−1, and a total hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 0.32 d. Bi-weekly, 24 h composite samples were obtained along the wetland for 1 yr and analysed for dissolved and particulate nutrient components. Furthermore, a short sampling campaign assessed the sedimentation of particles (5 to 200 μm). A first order kinetic plug flow model was fitted to the longitudinal data, and a first set of area-based removal rate constants (kA) for this wetland type was derived. Sedimentation led to particulate nutrient removal, but there was no annual net removal of dissolved nutrients aside from an infinitesimal removal of phosphorus. Microbial removal processes were substratelimited, and removal rate constants followed an annual cycle presumably coupled to available plant surface area and temperature. Denitrification was limited by low carbon availability and high oxygen concentrations, and the wetland became a net producer of nitrate at times due to oxygenation of ammonia. In summary, dissolved nutrients were largely not removed and the wetland was over-dimensioned for particulate nutrient removal. This new insight should be taken into account in future efforts to improve the treatment performance of similar types of aquaculture wetlands operated at short hydraulic retention times.


The level of educational attainment in Mozambique is one of the lowest in the world and primary school completion rate is also very low, not reaching 40 per cent. Using data from the Mozambican Household Budget Survey 2014/15, we study (1) the determinants of school dropout; (2) the variables that are associated with school dropout in the year of the survey, exploiting its panel structure; and (3) infrastructural or social protection interventions in rural villages that can influence dropout, using a propensity score matching analysis. We find that age, child labour, household head's gender and education, and access to services are particularly associated with the probability of dropout, and that early marriage and teen pregnancy are consistently associated with higher dropout rates. Our results also suggest that building or renovating a school or a water facility, or setting up a social protection programme can reduce the probability of dropout. This can be of support to the redesign of the country's education, infrastructural, and social protection policies, especially in rural areas.


Chemosymbiotic bivalves are important members of cold seep communities and information on their distribution in the European waters is still quite scarce. This study reports the presence of living populations and shell remains of some recently described bivalves such as Lucinoma asapheus , Solemya elarraichensis and Acharax gadirae as well as Bathymodiolus sp. in the mud volcanoes of the Spanish Atlantic waters. Living populations of these species were thus far only found in Anastasya, Aveiro and Almazan mud volcanoes, together with other chemosymbiotic metazoa ( Siboglinum spp.), suggesting the presence of moderate seepage activity. In other mud volcanoes (Albolote, Gazul), the benthic communities are dominated by sessile filter feeders on authigenic carbonates (chimneys, slabs) and only the shell remains of some chemosymbiotic bivalves were found, indicating earlier or very low seepage conditions. The present study elaborates on the known distribution of L. asapheus and S. elarraichensis to the European waters of the Gulf of Cadiz.


In this paper the attempt of studying a Secure Gateway in payment system for Electronic transaction is made. The current research and development shows that the electronic payment system for such an electronic transaction is to be secure for participants such as Payment Gateway Server, Bank Servers and Merchant Servers, on Internet. The security architecture of such systems are designed by using various Security Protocols and Techniques, not only to safeguard but eliminate the fraud that occurs in such a transaction with stolen credit card/debit card payment information and customer information. Electronic commerce involves the tremendous exchange of some form o f money for trade of goods and services over the Internet, and it is evident from the studies that the Internet is an insecure and unreliable media in many ways in such a trade. The primary goal of this paper is to review the asymmetric key crypto-system methodology that uses Security Protocol, the Secure Communication Tunnel Techniques that protect conventional transaction data such as account numbers, Card number, amount and other information, and to finally provide secure implementation for such an electronic transaction on the Internet.


Currently, titanium dominates the dental implant materials due to its strength and bio-inerrability. The use of titanium implant had demonstrated considerable surgical success. However, researchers are spontaneously pursuing better materials to achieve better osseointegration in the early stage of implantation. Recently, dental implants based on functionally graded material (FGM) were introduced in pursuit for the goal of enhanced bio-compatibility. The concept for FGM dental implant is that the property would vary in certain pattern to match the biomechanical characteristics required at different regions in the oral bone. However, mating properties do not necessarily guarantee better osseointegration and bone remodelling. There is no existing report available on the long-term effect of FGM dental implant on its hosting bone tissues. This paper aims at exploring this critical problem by using computational bone remodelling technique. The magnitude of bone remodelling due to use of FGM implant is identified over a healing period of four years. Comparisons were made between titanium and various FGM designs, the interesting differences were observed and the optimum FGM design was suggested based on the remodelling results.


A series of primary and metastatic breast carcinomas obtained from female and male patients were cytogenetically analysed. Trisomy 12 was identified as a recurrent and sometimes early event in breast carcinogenesis. Also, multiple polysomies involving chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 7, 12, 16, 18, and 19 were identified as a possible pathway of progression in a subset of carcinomas. Among the male breast carcinomas, +7, del(16)(q13) and +20 were identified as recurrent changes. A study of invasive breast carcinomas of histological types usually considered to be prognostically favourable revealed that medullary carcinomas are cytogenetically more complex than mucinous and tubular carcinomas, with medullary carcinomas often exhibiting karyotypic features that have previously been associated with aggressive breast carcinomas, i.e., highly complex chromosome aberrations with near-triploid chromosome numbers. A cytogenetic comparison of primary breast carcinomas and their lymph node metastases, as well as a comparison of chromosomal imbalances in node-positive and node-negative primary breast carcinomas, showed that monosomy for chromosomes 17, 18, and 22 seem to be important in the metastatic process. On the other hand, loss of material from the proximal part of the long arm of chromosome 6 and loss of the long arm of chromosome 16 were preferentially associated with a node-negative phenotype in primary breast cancer.


This article examines the experiences of people with physical and visual disabilities encountering inaccessible urban spaces in highland Ecuador. I draw on the notion of "embodied space" to explore how people with disabilities have begun to contest discourses of contagion, exclusion, and pity through collective action and spatial tactics aimed at constructing more inclusive spaces, such as community centers or public plazas. Through ethnographic analysis of both conflicts over transportation systems and public rallies aimed at social awareness, I argue that Ecuadorians with disabilities face new forms of socio-spatial exclusion as they challenge legacies of isolation and stigma.


Tin nanoparticles (Sn NPs) are of considerable interest for conductive printing because of their low melting temperature and low cost. In the present study, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilized metallic Sn NPs were synthesized by a polyol process and the size of Sn NPs was controlled from 15 to 89 nm by adjusting the amount of PVP. For the first time, we demonstrated that conductive patterns fabricated from the inks of metallic Sn NPs were achieved readily at room temperature under N2 without reducing gases or additives. The lowest obtained resistivity was 1.1 × 10−3 Ω cm, which was 100 times higher than that of bulk Sn. The size of Sn NPs, the amount of the stabilizing agent, and the low melting temperature of Sn NPs were found to be the main factors controlling the conductivity of the obtained Sn pattern in room temperature sintering. This study offers a new approach for the room temperature fabrication of conductive electronics using the printing technique.


Abstract. The evolution of structures associated with mirror modes during their flow in the Earth's magnetosheath is studied. The fact that the related magnetic fluctuations can take distinct shapes, from deep holes to high peaks, has been assessed in previous works on the observational, modeling and numerical points of view. In this paper we present an analytical model for the flow lines and velocity magnitude inside the magnetosheath. This model is used to interpret almost 10 years of Cluster observations of mirror structures: by back tracking each isolated observation to the shock, the "age", or flow time, of these structures is determined together with the geometry of the shock. Using this flow time the evolutionary path of the structures may be studied with respect to different quantities: the distance to mirror threshold, the amplitude of mirror fluctuations and the skewness of the magnetic amplitude distribution as a marker of the shape of the structures. These behaviours are confronted to numerical simulations which confirm the dynamical perspective gained from the association of the statistical analysis and the analytical model: magnetic peaks are mostly formed just behind the shock and are quickly overwhelmed by magnetic holes as the plasma conditions get more mirror stable. The amplitude of the fluctuations are found to saturate before the skewness vanishes, i.e. when both structures quantitatively balance each other, which typically occurs after a flow time of 100–200 s in the Earth's magnetosheath. Comparison with other astrophysical contexts is discussed.


Aging is a process of progressive decline in physiological functions resulting in increased vulnerability to diseases and death. Aging results in increased rates of age related disorders like neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, arthritis etc. Modulation of insulin signaling, protein aggregation, stress, free radical damage and inflammation are the major causes for deleterious changes resulting in aging. Many studies are being undertaken to find novel compounds which can improve a typical human life span and aid in healthy aging. We investigated the potential of one such compound silymarin for its anti-aging effect. Silymarin is a flavanone derivative extracted from the seeds of the milk thistle Silybum marianum. It is widely used for the treatment of liver diseases in clinical practice. We tested the anti-aging efficacy of silymarin using the Caenorhabditis elegans model system. Our results demonstrate that C. elegans treated with 25μM and 50μM silymarin concentration resulted in an increase in mean lifespan by 10.1% and 24.8% respectively compared to untreated control. Besides increased lifespan, silymarin treated aged animals showed better locomotion rate, higher response to stimuli and improved tolerance to stress compared to untreated control. We also checked the potential of silymarin to slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorder like Alzheimer's disease (AD) by using CL4176 C. elegans model for AD. C. elegans CL4176 transgenic animal induces expression of amyloid beta-protein (Aβ1-42) in muscle tissues when subjected to temperature of 23°C and above resulting in worm paralysis. CL4176 animals treated with silymarin showed delayed paralysis via enhancing resistance to oxidative stress. These results suggested that silymarin is a potential hormetin for preventing aging and age-related diseases.


ABSTRACT The author provides a viewpoint on the dialogue between computing and art by describing a framework for classification of Interactive Digital Artworks: information technology systems in which spectators are involved in the production of the artistic output. The author bases his approach on the input-process-output view of information systems and relates it to the "Computing as a Science" viewpoint. The framework is validated by classifying 33 interactive digital artworks presented at various international exhibitions.


Carcinoma of the external meatus is a rare disease and a challenge to treat. Demographic and clinical characteristics of this disease are discussed for 14 patients treated in the Institute of Otorhinolaryngonlogy and Maxillofacial Surgery during the period 1993-2003. using four different clasification of the disease. All patients were treated surgically with postoperative radiotherapy. Five years survival is 100% for the II and II stage of the disease for all clasifications, and 75% for the III stage according to Pitsburg clasiffication. Reccurence of the disease in the first year after treatment is 66.6% and, 84% in the second year. The diagnostic protocol is clinical examination, computed tomography of the temporal bone, nuclear magnetic resonance of the temporal bone and endocranium, ultrasound examination of the neck and parotid region and tumor biopsy. The surgical approach could be less radical, through mastoid, with postoperative