The graduation rate in engineering can be correlated to several factors, including race and gender. Nationally, the populations with the highest engineering graduation rates are majority males, with Asian males at 66.5% and Caucasian males at 59.7%. The goal of diversity and inclusion program practitioners is to establish parity in graduation rates for all populations. There are several interventions that are proven to increase the retention and graduation of underrepresented students in engineering. Some of these include math intensive summer bridging, tutoring, cohort building where students establish a learning community. Singly these are somewhat effective, but when multiple interventions are applied over multiple years, the effect is additive and there is a significant increase in the likelihood of graduation. Outside of traditional applications, there other interventions that are shown to be effective on student retention, but they are not typically applied to underrepresented students. One of these is international scholarship, or study abroad experiences. The research question addressed by this project is the following: While long term applications of traditional retention programming for underrepresented students yield graduation rates at parity or exceeding that of majority males, could the graduation rate be even higher with the addition of a scholarly international experience, an intervention not typically applied to underrepresented populations? In this study, traditional interventions were applied to 10 students at Pennsylvania State University (all underrepresented in engineering by race or gender) over a four year period. In addition, an international or study abroad experience was added. Interventions were applied addressing four known variables that increase retention: financial support, math and academic preparation, the learning community/cohort building, and international education. Three objectives or expected outcomes of this project were: 1. Increased retention and graduation rates of participating students in STEM fields. 2. Improved programs and strategies for sustaining diversity in STEM fields. 3. Improved access to engineering educational opportunities. The quantitative measure of success for the NSF Pathways project is determined by the retention and graduation rate of the students in STEM fields at the end of five years. The current four-year retention rate for these students in 2017 was at 100%. The graduation rate of these ten students who completed all interventions is also expected to be at 100% in a STEM field, with 90% in engineering. Qualitative data through focus groups and essays indicated the importance of building a strong learning community, and the added impact of international scholarly collaboration.


In this article we advance the conjecture that conscious awareness is equivalent to data compression. Algorithmic information theory supports the assertion that all forms of understanding are contingent on compression (Chaitin, 2007). Here, we argue that the experience people refer to as consciousness is the particular form of understanding that the brain provides. We therefore propose that the degree of consciousness of a system can be measured in terms of the amount of data compression it carries out.


To the Editor. —Infections in patients with AIDS often represent challenging diagnostic problems, and all the means of obtaining diagnostic clues must be actively pursued. We recently saw a patient with AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma who was admitted to the hospital because of high fever of one month's duration, weight loss, and abdominal pain. Prior to the onset of these symptoms, intermittent diarrhea had been present for two months. Before admission, stool examination revealed cysts ofGiardia lambliaandEntamoeba histolytica. On admission, his temperature was 39 °C, his BP was 120/70 mm Hg, and his heart rate was 120 beats per minute. His skin showed the violaceous maculopapular and nodular lesions characteristic of Kaposi's sarcoma. The abdomen was distended with diminished bowel sounds and pronounced tenderness in the right upper quadrant. Hepatosplenomegaly was present. Laboratory investigation results were as follows: hemoglobin, 8.8 g/dL; WBCs, 1,800/cu mm; platelet count, 150,000/cu


Incorporation of probe molecules has been widely used in elucidation of the mechanism of the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reaction. In this study, we used acetylenic molecules, including 1-hexyne, 2-hexyne, 4-phenyl-1-butyne, and 1-phenyl-1-propyne as well as acetylene as probes with cobalt and iron catalysts. Experiments were carried out in a tubular microreactor of 3/8 inch diameter. Long chain alkynes were added via a saturator or a syringe pump. Acetylene was introduced from a cylinder containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen plus 1% of acetylene. We found that acetylenic compounds can initiate the F-T synthesis at temperatures more than 100oC lower than those at which normal F-T reactions are carried out. Since products obtained from linear alkyne-initiated F-T and those from normal F-T synthesis are indistinguishable, we used phenyl-substituted acetylenes as probes to distinguish the alkyne initiated products from normal F-T products. At low temperatures, only alkyne-initiated F-T reactions take place; at normal F-T temperatures, both alkyne initiated reactions and normal initiated F-T reactions occur. Although the degree of incorporation of internal alkynes is much less than that of the terminal alkynes, they can also initiate F-T chain growth to form mostly branched products. Under the same reaction conditions, internal olefins have little effect on the F-T reaction.When an acetylenic probe molecule is added to cobalt catalyzed F-T reactions, aldehydes or alcohols with one carbon more than the added probe molecule are the only oxygenates formed, perhaps by a hydroformylation type of reaction. Incorporation of alkynes (with carbon number n) on iron catalysts increased the rate of formation of Cn+1+ oxygenates, via Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution. The F-T synthesis is a complex process in which a large number of hydrocarbon and oxygenated species are present on the catalyst surface. The nature of these adsorbates and how they react differ as reaction conditions and the nature of the catalyst changes. This work, combined with results of experiments on incorporation of ethylene, lends credence to the postulation that unsaturated two-carbon entity, possibly vinylidenes or ethylidynes, may be involved in initiation of the F-T synthesis.


Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) grown for seed in western Oregon must have the forage removed in spring so that flowering and seed maturation will be more uniform. There is little available information that describes the effects of time of forage removal on red clover seed production. This study was conducted to determine (i) the effects of time of forage removal on seed production of red clover grown under a range of common environmental conditions found in western Oregon and (ii) whether any crop phenological or environmental indicators can be used to describe optimal forage removal time. Twelve different experimental locations per year were established in 1990 and 1991 in commercial red clover seed production fields throughout a six-county area in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Forage was removed once per treatment and there were seven forage removal time treatments from early May to late June. Red clover seed yields are dependent on a relationship with the number of accumulated heat units (HUs) at the time of forage removal. The average HU optimum (199 HUs) is not exact for all sites, but can be adjusted for the estimated combined effects of factors that influence the relative productivity of each site. Relatively low yielding sites should have forage removal time advanced relative to the HU optimum, and high yielding sites should have forage removal time delayed. Also, named improved cultivars were not as sensitive to time of forage removal as are Oregon-adapted ecotypes. Forage removal time is a critical factor that needs to be considered to achieve maximal seed yields.


We derive the profile of a vector field coupled to matter on a static and spherically symmetric background in the context of generalized Proca theories. The cubic Galileon self-interaction leads to the suppression of a longitudinal vector component due to the operation of the Vainshtein mechanism. For quartic and sixth-order derivative interactions, the solutions consistent with those in the continuous limit of small derivative couplings correspond to the branch with the vanishing longitudinal mode. We compute the corrections to gravitational potentials outside a compact body induced by the vector field in the presence of cubic, quartic, and sixth-order derivative couplings, and show that the models can be consistent with local gravity constraints under mild bounds on the temporal vector component. The quintic Galileon interaction does not allow regular solutions of the longitudinal mode for a rapidly decreasing matter density outside the body.


Over the past decade, the United Nations conference has become an increasingly important site for contesting views on social relations. Although UN conferences cover a broad range of topics, from the environment to development, a recurrent focus of international debate has been on gender, and particularly, women's sexual and reproductive autonomy. The Beijing Conference on Women (1995) represented, in some respects, a culmination of international positioning around gender and women's rights. As such, it attracted the participation of not only a large contingent of women's organizations, but also a significant number of fundamentalist and conservative religious groups. In this article, I explore the participation of the Vatican in the Beijing process. The Vatican has a long history of involvement in international population issues which has positioned it as a leading international actor in opposing women's rights to reproductive freedom. This article focuses on the rhetorical and discursive strategies used by the Vatican at Beijing. By focusing on how the Vatican has responded to a women's human rights agenda, the paper explores some of the ten sions and contradictions not only in the Vatican's position, but also in the campaign for women's rights. Through an examination of the Vatican's position at Beijing, the article offers some insight into the internationalization of rights debates and the sig nificance this has for those on the religious right.


Abstract This article analyses how gendered, racialised and classed antagonisms are created in texts by radical right-wing populists and intellectuals connected to the anti-immigration movement and the antifeminist men's rights movement in Finland. The studied rhetoric focuses on the reproduction of the "white nation" as part of the endangered "Western civilisation"; a feminism "gone too far" and shifts in heterosexual power relations in the postcolonial era. The rhetoric is discussed as political reimaginations that aim to recentre white masculinity in a society that has seen its self-evident and normative position questioned


The objective of this study is to analyze the temperature and shrinkage stresses of the mid-span cross-section of a 20 meters box girder to find the reasons which cause the longitudinal cracks in the web and bottom of box girder. According to the results of damage inspeation, there are many longitudinal cracks in the web and bottom slab of box girders, especially the web of the edger beam, the crack is very clear. Ansys ver.10 software is used to analyze two dimensional finite element model of a typical cross section of a real bridge to calculate the temperature stresses caused by temperature difference between inside and out side of the box and the shrinkage stresses based on moisture diffusion. The results of analysis show that the outer surface of the web and bottom slab of the fabricated box girder will produce tensile stress at the effect of negative temperature difference. If the concrete reaches a certain age, the tensile stress does not cause creaks in the cross-section. The shrinkage stress changes with the moisture gradient in the box section. It will reach the maximum in 15 days and then decreases with the growth of the age. Shrinkage stress may cause cracking of the concrete surface because of the tensile strength is low in the early age.


In Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects, value for money (VFM) tests and accounting treatment are distinct but related issues. VFM analysis should be concerned with total risk, not just with the sharing of risk, which dominates the accounting treatment decision. A framework is developed for logical thinking about what is meant by "best VFM" in the context of PFI projects. This involves consideration of the full set of alternatives, not an artificially diminished subset. The credibility of analytical techniques can be tarnished if they are misused to legitimate a predetermined decision. A reduction in construction risk may be a powerful source of VFM gains under PFI, but, under UK accounting regulation, this should not influence the accounting treatment decision. New complications about how VFM should be interpreted arise directly from the process of public sector fragmentation: affordability to the client is not necessarily the same as VFM for the public sector as a whole. Only public auditors, such as the National Audit Office, can gain access to PFI documentation on the conditions necessary for a comprehensive assessment of both accounting treatment and VFM. However, such studies require the kind of theoretical underpinning provided in this article, as otherwise the findings are likely to be ambiguous and hence vulnerable to rebuttal. In particular, VFM judgements must make explicit the basis of comparison on which they rest.


This research use efficiency with DEA method to calculate the performance of the banks after merger and acquisition. Measurement of efficiency was calculate by historic data starting year 1998 when the regional crisis economic till 2009 after crisis financial global economic in Indonesia. The efficiency ratio has calculated between 0 to 100 percent of the efficiency parameter. The result of efficiency research shows that m & a not significance to increase the efficiently and depends with the qualitative variable of the banks, such: organizational effectiveness and managerial capability. The result of research show that Bank Mandiri has stable efficiency ratio after m & a till 2009 and not influence by the crisis but has significance influence to the efficiency of the peer-groups of the banks. Crisis financial global in the year 2008 only influence Bank Century as a fact. Research also show that only the banks with the capital up to IDR 10 Trillion (+/USD. 1 Billions) has influence the efficiency criteria of their peer groups of the banks, the capital less than the amount not significance influence the efficiency criteria of their peer-groups. Efficiency ratio measure by DEA method and analysis, tests of efficiency before and after m&a using mann-whitney test non parametric approach with abnormal data distributions, analysis of peer groups influence by m & a measure with ANOVA tests and analysis of influence financial crisis global in year 2008 measure by pairwise method the efficiency ratio before and after crisis.


We study the problem of detecting whether an inhomogeneous random graph contains a planted community. Specifically, we observe a single realization of a graph. Under the null hypothesis, this graph is a sample from an inhomogeneous random graph, whereas under the alternative, there exists a small subgraph where the edge probabilities are increased by a multiplicative scaling factor. We present a scan test that is able to detect the presence of such a planted community, even when this community is very small and the underlying graph is inhomogeneous. We also derive an information theoretic lower bound for this problem which shows that in some regimes the scan test is almost asymptotically optimal. We illustrate our results through examples and numerical experiments.


Vaccination and the application of a vaginal microbicide have traditionally been considered independent methods to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV-1 to women. Both techniques can be effective in macaque models, and limited efficacy has been observed in clinical trials for each. Here, we have addressed whether vaccines and microbicides can be used together to provide reinforced protection against virus challenge of rhesus macaques. In two separate experiments, four groups of animals were vaccinated with a T-cell–based adenovirus (Ad) vectored vaccine aimed at reducing postinfection viral loads and/or a partially effective dose of a vaginal microbicide aimed at blocking infection of a high-dose vaginal challenge with SIVmac251 or SHIV-162P3. In the first study, the only two protected animals were in the group that received Ad26/Ad5HVR48 vaccine vectors combined with the fusion inhibitor T-1249 as the vaginal microbicide before SIVmac251 challenge. In the second study, vaccination with Ad35/Ad26 vectors combined with the CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc as the vaginal microbicide led to significant reductions of both acquisition of infection and postinfection viral loads following SHIV-SF162P3 challenge. As expected, the vaccine by itself reduced viral loads but had no acquisition effect, whereas the microbicide had a partial acquisition effect but minimal impact on viral loads. For both measures of protective efficacy, the vaccine–microbicide combination differed more from controls than did either separate intervention. Overall, the data suggest that vaccines and microbicides are complementary techniques that may protect better when used together than separately.


Proceedings of the 2010 Biennial Geotechnical Seminar, held in Denver, Colorado, November 5, 2010. Sponsored by the Geo-Institute of ASCE; the Colorado Chapter of the Geo-Institute; Rocky Mountain Section of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists; Colorado Association of Geotechnical Engineers. This collection contains 11 papers is a collection of papers that examine past, present, and future geotechnical challenges for Colorado in the areas of earth retention, foundations, dams, pavements, and sustainability. Topics include: downtown excavation shoring; Colorado earthquakes; sustainability in geotechnical engineering; thermo-active foundations; helical pile capacity. This Geotechnical Practice Publication will be valuable to anyone involved with geotechnical engineering, especially those working in Colorado or similar geologic settings.


The goal of this work is to provide a detailed description of the freezing mechanism in gold clusters. This is accomplished by using constrained Monte Carlo simulations combined with parallel tempering algorithms to evaluate the Free Energy barriers for various temperatures with respect to crystalline order parameters on a 456 atom cluster. Our simulation results help us to challenge the usual assumption of classic nucleation theory where nucleation starts at the center of a cluster, showing instead that nucleation is favored by freezing started at the surface. We study simplistic phenomenological models for surface freezing and find that the three phase contact line free energy term must be included in order to properly describe the features of the free energy barriers. Furthermore, we propose an alternative free energy parameter with which we are able to identify a kinetic spinodal temperature where the nucleation barrier disappears and find that the critical cluster size remains finite at the limit of stability of the fluid phase. This result is supported by Molecular Dynamics simulations.


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A novel type of partitioned stator switched flux permanent magnet (PS-SFPM) machine with either single-layer or double-layer windings is developed in this paper. The proposed PS-SFPM machines have two stators, which separately accommodate the armature windings and the PMs, and between which is the rotor made of iron pieces, while the number of stator poles with PMs may be equal or half of that with armature windings. All the machines are optimized under fixed copper loss for maximum average torque by genetic algorithm. Their electromagnetic performances are compared, such as open-circuit flux-linkages and back-electromotive forces (EMFs), cogging torque, static torque waveforms, average torque against current, PM utilization ratio, and flux-weakening performances. The results show that due to more PM usage and higher open-circuit back-EMF, the PS-SFPM machines having the number of stator poles with PMs the same as that with armature windings exhibit higher average torque, irrespective of the winding topologies, either single-layer or double-layer windings. However, the single-layer winding PS-SFPM machines having the number of stator poles with PMs half of that with armature windings have the best PM usage and the highest ratio of average torque to PM volume, as well as good flux-weakening capability. A prototype machine is manufactured and tested to validate the analyses.


Local government organisations face a dynamic environment characterised by demographic changes, local business cycle changes, and an increase in service demands where they find it increasingly difficult to achieve and maintain the level of financial condition necessary to achieve organizational objectives. These organisations in developing countries face more structural constraints, not least the institutional environment, which further affects their financial conditions for delivering services. Therefore, this thesis aims to – a) measure the financial condition of municipalities in Bangladesh; b) examine the influence of socio-economic, demographic, managerial and organizational factors on financial conditions, and probe into its determination process through the mediation of Management Control Systems (MCSs) of municipalities in Bangladesh; and c) investigate the role of budgetary practices in explaining the performances in terms of budgetary and service level solvencies of municipalities in Bangladesh.

This thesis employs a mixed method approach to delve into the research questions to achieve the research objectives. While quantitative method is used to achieve the first two research objectives, the third objective necessitates employing a mixed method. Using time series data collected from archival documents of a representative sample of 72 municipalities in Bangladesh, municipal financial conditions are measured for the financial years from 2006-2007 to 2014-2015 by applying a composite index developed from eleven indicators organized under four dimensions. Subsequent to the measurement of financial condition, the influences of socioeconomic, demographic, managerial and organizational factors are also investigated quantitatively using cross-sectional data for the financial year 2014-15. Based on past studies relevant models are developed from which the theoretical relationships of socioeconomic, demographic, managerial and organizational factors with municipal financial conditions are hypothesized. These predicted relationships are then tested using quantitative data collected from primary source by conducting a survey and secondary sources such as archival documents and relevant databases of a representative sample of 93 municipalities in Bangladesh. Finally, the influences of budgetary practices are investigated by developing two sets of research queries in the form of hypotheses and questions involving both the practices and outcomes of municipal key budgets. These hypotheses and questions are then examined using a combination of quantitative data collected from both primary and secondary sources of a representative sample of 93 municipalities, and qualitative data collected from a set of interviews with a selection of municipal managers in Bangladesh. This approach is employed to shed more light by the qualitative data on the questions that remained unanswered by the quantitative data.

Results obtained indicate differences across municipalities in Bangladesh in their overall as well as in various dimensions of financial conditions explaining their financial and operational strengths and weaknesses. Of the socio-economic and demographic factors, empirical evidences provide support for significant positive relationship of disaster susceptibility and revenue capacity with municipal financial conditions except for population density, which is insignificantly related. As predicted population size is found to be negatively related. Although managerial factors such as chief accountant's competence, managerial involvement and autonomy except for mayoral competence are found to be significantly related (controlling for revenue diversification and municipal size); their indirect effects on municipal financial conditions through the mediation of strategic control systems are found to be insignificant. Similarly organizational factors, viz., stakeholders' engagement, development oriented culture and municipal organizational autonomy except for the use of quality information are found to be significantly related to municipal financial conditions. These factors for overall municipalities do not have significant indirect effects on municipal financial conditions through the mediation of enabling budgetary control system, such effects (except for the use of quality information) however are found to be significant in cases where municipalities have higher revenue diversification and are larger in size. Empirical evidence from a quantitative line of enquiry support the significant (insignificant) moderating effect of central government influences on the relationship between municipal annual budgetary practices and budgetary solvency (multiyear budgetary practices and service level solvency) as hypothesized in the study. Qualitative findings further corroborate how institutional impreciseness moderates municipal weak annual budgetary practices to remain solvent for their continued existence and shed more light on why multiyear budgetary practices suffer from weaknesses thus provide better explanations on how municipalities in Bangladesh despite having weaknesses in their budgetary practices survive at the expense of their service level solvency.

Theoretically, this thesis enhances the literature as the measurement of financial conditions in one hand enhances the applicability of using indicators existed in the literature in measuring the index, on the other hand investigations of the influences of various socio-economic, demographic, organizational, managerial factors, management control systems, and budgetary practices assist to have deeper understanding on how these factors lead to the determination of municipal financial conditions. Practically, policy makers will find these results useful in devising effective transfer policy and monitoring the financial conditions of municipalities, managers can derive significant benefits by appreciating the necessity of developing required managerial and organizational attributes, and fostering and institutionalizing management control systems and practices to achieve and maintain sound financial conditions for sustainable municipal services. Future research may be carried out by incorporating other relevant variables in the models developed or by looking at similar issues with a sample of similar local governments from other comparable developing countries.


The concept of anomie, as originally developed by Emile Durkheim more than one hundred years ago, connotes a state of lawlessness. What happens in this state is of continued and increased concern, for example, if a government collapses, as in the case of Nazi Germany, or as a consequence of natural disasters, such as hurricane Katrina. Detached evaluation of recent events is impaired because it requires some lapse of time. The essence of lawlessness also prevents resort to traditional legal sources. Thus one is confined to empirical evidence and whatever norms can be derived from them. Essentially, unwritten law emerges in groups of people and in neighborhoods under circumstances of extreme emergencies and in the absence of any organized communal or state power. The evidence from the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 and taken from the cities of Frankfurt and Berlin indicates a spirit of excitement and raw energy, in other words, an upsurge of vitality that facilitates improvisation under conditions of severe threat to survival. Standards of morality and legal behavior are temporarily suspended in the interest of coping with immediate emergencies. Yet the more serious the state of anomie, the more reactive forces come into play that ultimately gravitate toward reestablishing traditional legal controls. The evaluation is rendered difficult because standards of analysis shift. What seemed to be plausible under circumstances of threat to life and health may appear at a later time to be questionable if not offensive. Throughout these processes traditional criminal law leads a shadowy existence in the minds of people who continue to adhere to core values regardless of the fate of government.


The objective of the study was to introduce and evaluate production performance of Koekoek chicken under smallholder farmers' management practice and enhance their household income. This on farm experiment was conducted in eastern and south eastern zone of Tigray region. About 53 food insecure smallholder farmers were selected in collaboration with the experts and village administrators. Eighty seven percent of the beneficiaries were female headed householders and the remaining 13% were male headed housed holders. Each farmer received 20 koekoek chicks 45 days old, which were grown under on-station to decrease chicken mortality. Data on live weight, egg weight, egg color, sexual maturity, hatchability, adaptability and the overall farmers' perception on breed were collected by preparing checklist points. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. The breed was adaptable to both zones and non-selective for feed. It was also good scavenger and it could survive and give good production (meat and egg) under farmers' management practice. The average weight was recorded as 1.33, 1.87 and 2.47 kg at five eight, eight and twelve month's age for male koekoek, respectively, whereas 1.2, 1.64 and 1.59 kg was recorded for female at five, eight and twelve months age, respectively. The decrease in body weight of female indicates that layers chicken have decrease in weight at the time of laying and when their age increased. Sexual maturity of both male and female koekoek chickens were at 6 months.  Egg production potential of the chicken was ranging from 180-240 hen-1 year1 depending on the farmers management practice mainly feeding, watering and housing. Egg weight of the koekoek chicken range from 50.63 to 53.67 g. About 87.5% of the eggs were brown and the remaining 12.5% were white. This breed has good acceptance in terms of their body weight, egg weight, adaptability to wide climatic conditions, feeding behavior and their color which has a market value. Therefore, this breed is suitable and recommended for scavenging and semi-scavenging chicken production system.

 Key words: Adaptability, dual chicken, exotic chicken breed.


Background: The onset of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) typically involves reductions in activities of daily living and social interactions (jointly referred to as "illness burden"). Emotional distress has been linked to increased reported symptoms, and stress management skills have been related to lower fatigue severity in CFS patients. Symptom severity and illness burden are highly correlated. The ability to manage stress may attenuate this relationship, allowing individuals to feel less burdened by the illness independent of the severity of their symptoms. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate if perceived stress management skills affect illness burden via emotional distress, independent of ME/CFS symptom severity. Methods: A total of 117 adults with ME/CFS completed measures of perceived stress management skills, emotional distress, ME/CFS symptom severity, and illness burden. Results: Regression analyses revealed that greater perceived stress management skills related to less social and fatigue-related illness burden, via lower emotional distress. This relationship existed independent of the association of symptom severity on illness burden, and was stronger among those not currently employed. Conclusions: Ability to manage stress is associated with a lower illness burden for individuals with ME/CFS. Future studies should evaluate the efficacy of psychosocial interventions in lowering illness burden by targeting stress management skills.


NEXT GENERATION AUTOMOBILESGOLDEN, COLORADO-- A collaboration between automakers and the federal government to develop high-mileage, low-emission cars is set to unveil its first prototypes--probably diesel-electric hybrids--next year. However, critics charge that the program is betting on the wrong technologies by emphasizing polluting diesel engines instead of potentially cleaner technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells; others question why the government is subsidizing the effort when Toyota has already built a fuel cell car on its own dime ([see sidebar][1]). Moreover, with the United States' current low gas prices, observers don't expect to see consumers cruising in the new supercars anytime soon.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/285/5428/681


EU Horizon 2020, Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, 2014-2020. Grant agreement 643808, Project MARIO 'Managing active and healthy ageing with use of caring service robots'


From the cofounder of Netscape and the inspiration for Michael Lewis's bestselling "The New, New Thing," comes a thrilling insider's account of the race to beat Microsoft for control of the Internet. Netscape was a tiny start-up company that ultimately revolutionized business and communications for the entire world. Jim Clark tells the fascinating story of how he, Marc Andreessen, and a core group of programmers turned an esoteric computer program into a visionary new technology used by millions. Challenged from the start by competition, a seemingly bottomless pit of expenses, and a need for secrecy from the roving eye of Microsoft, Clark's programmers spent days at a stretch in front of their computer screens, rushing to produce their revolutionary Web browser under the enormous pressure of time. Clark vividly re-creates the tense, thrilling atmosphere of the start-up company in a nail-biting tale of drama and suspense. Netscape Time is also an inspiring manual for anyone who wishes to take advantage of the endless business possibilities of today's technology. Indeed, Clark, the only person ever to found three multibillion-dollar start-ups, is perhaps more qualified than any businessman today to show how it's done. As a business book, as a reflection of our technology culture, and as a purely enjoyable read, "Netscape Time" is perhaps the most significant book about the rise of the Internet ever to be published.


In the history of the Bulgarian science, the period from the liberation from the Ottoman rule to 1912 is remarkable for its serious boom, for a full expression of the freedom of the science in its national and personal aspect. In these times was laid the beginning of the scientific psychology in the country. The main schools and trends that have formed the Bulgarian psychological thought are presented here: the Leipzig School of W. Wundt, the Jena Pedagogical School, the Geneva School of E. Claparede. The discussion on the subject of psychology in the medical circles is also stated as well as the question of teaching psychology in the secondary and higher schools. An overview of the first textbooks on psychology of Bulgarian authors is given. The historical and psychological analysis focuses on the complete works of the most famous authors who worked during the studied period. Language: Bulgarian


Recently, European cities have faced several changes including deindustrialization and population increase. To limit urban sprawl, urban densification is preferred. It conducts to (re)develop available areas such as brownfields. Although these areas can be attractive for housing due to their location (in proximity to the city centre or to a riverside), their soils and subsoils are often contaminated. They are therefore potentially harmful for human health and the environment, and potentially costly to remediate. Currently, in case of contamination suspicion, depth geochemical characterization of urban soil and subsoil are carried out at site scale. Nevertheless, large redevelopment project occur at quarter to city scale. It appears therefore useful to acquire the preliminary knowledge on the structure and quality of soil and subsoils, as well as on the potential sources of contamination at quarter to city scale. In the frame of the Ile de Nantes (France) redevelopment project, we considered more particularly anthropogenic deposits and former industrial activities as main sources of contamination linked to human activities. To face the low traceability of the use of anthropogenic deposits and the lack of synthesis of former industrial activities, we carried out a historical study, synthetizing the information spread in numerous archive documents to spatialize the extent of the deposits and of the former activities. In addition we developed a typology of made grounds according to their contamination potential to build a 3D geological model with a geochemical coherence. In this frame, we valorized existing borehole descriptions coming mainly from pollution diagnosis and geotechnical studies. We also developed a methodology to define urban baseline compatibility levels using the existing analytical data at depth from pollution diagnosis. These data were previously gathered in a local geodatabase towards with borehole descriptions (more than 2000 borehole descriptions, more than 1800 analyzed samples, almost 100 000 analyzed parameters). The potential quality of soil and subsoil was spatialized in 2D and 3D on the basis of anthropogenic deposits structure and typology as well as of the potential sources of contamination linked to former industrial activities. Volumes were also calculated to help the developer anticipating the management of excavated materials. Comparison with effective soil and subsoil quality (existing chemical data) shows fairly good anticipation of contamination problems, confirming the interest of spatializing the historical anthropogenic activities to anticipate the quality of urban soil and subsoil and guide city scale mapping. Urban geochemical compatibility levels will be used operationally to enhance the reuse of excavated materials. A better knowledge of soils and subsoils at depth is very useful to optimize urban redevelopment projects, anticipating contamination problems, and managing excavated materials (e.g. local reuse possibilities, disposal costs etc.). The potential economic, environmental and social consequences render it essential for urban sustainable development. 3D geochemical characterization of soil and subsoil for urban (re)development is an ambitious task. Rarely carried out until now, it needs improved development of acquisition, management, visualisation and use of data.


Biological interactions are one of the most common ways in which students learn about the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape biodiversity, but plants and soils are rarely included when teaching this material. This contrasts with the fact that students encounter and rely on plants and soils every day, and most interactions a plant experiences happen belowground. As a result, many students unintentionally cultivate a fauna-centric viewpoint of the natural world, meaning they are likely to miss the importance of plants and soils in nature or the ecosystem services they provide. Ultimately, this puts them at a disadvantage to make well-informed environmental decisions in the future. The purposes of the role-playing activity are: (1) to engage students in a more active interpretation and discussion of the interactions between plants and soils, and (2) to connect these interactions to the larger ecological concepts of drivers of biodiversity.


Business-IT alignment continues to remain a top management concern. Regardless of ample research, achieving and sustaining business-IT alignment remains challenging to organization's management. To this day, the influence of organizational politics remains unstudied in the light of business-IT alignment. By performing a case study in a large organization in Sweden, the authors present and discuss how organizational politics influences business-IT alignment from the viewpoint of practitioners. They find that organizational politics has a negative influence on communications, partnering, IT governance, IT scope, and business and IT skills of the Strategic Alignment Maturity model. Furthermore, the authors identified several root causes for organizational politics in the business-IT alignment context, not addressed by the commonly used business-IT alignment constructs. The findings of this research study are useful to business and IT practitioners for achieving and sustaining business-IT alignment in their organizations considering the influence of organizational politics.


In order to solve the multisensor multitarget tracking problem of the non-Gaussian nonlinear systems, the paper presents a multisensor joint probabilistic data association particle (MJPDAP) algorithm. At first, the algorithm permutes and combines the measurement from each sensor using the rule of generalized S-D assignment algorithm. Then, all of measurements in each assignment are combined into one equivalent measurement and the joint likelihood function of the equivalent measurement is calculated. Finally, the particle weight is updated and the state estimation of the fusion center is obtained, using joint probability data association (JPDA) method. In this paper, some Monte Carlo simulations are used to analyze the performance of the new method. The simulation results show the MJPDAP can effectively track multitarget in the nonlinear systems, and be of much better performance than the single-sensor joint probabilistic data association particle (SJPDAP) algorithm.


The conductivity of few‐ and monolayer graphene with covalently bound moieties is a key‐point in the potential application of these materials in any electrical and optoelectronic device. In particular, fluorination of such graphene‐based systems is of interest, as fluorine is expected to have a strong influence on the charge‐carrier density due to its high electronegativity, and therefore modify the electrical transport properties significantly. Here it is shown that, depending on the device architecture, the electrical properties of fluorinated graphene‐based devices are significantly different. It is found that the conductivity of thin films of few‐layer graphene decreases by several orders of magnitude with fluorine content increasing from 2.4 to 16.6 at%, whereas individual flakes show a significant increase in both conductivity and charge carrier mobility. This observation, combined with Raman microscopy study, points toward the fact that the edges of the flakes are primary sites for fluorine within the experimental range of fluorine content. The strong decrease in conductivity in the film devices is therefore associated with the high contact resistance between the fluorine saturated edges of the individual flakes.


Four strains of Salmonella gallinarum isolated from independent cases of fowl typhoid all possessed both an 85-kilobase and a 2.5-kilobase plasmid. Each plasmid was eliminated in turn from one of the strains by transposon labeling and curing at 42 degrees C. Elimination of the small plasmid had no effect on the high virulence of the strain for newly hatched and 2-week-old chickens. Whereas oral inoculation of 2-week-old chickens with the parent strain produced 90% mortality with characteristic signs of fowl typhoid, inoculation of the large-plasmid-minus strain produced 0% mortality. A corresponding increase in the 50% lethal dose from log10 1.1 to greater than log10 7.3 was seen with the large-plasmid-minus strain after intramuscular inoculation. Reintroduction of the large plasmid completely restored virulence. A role for the plasmid-linked virulence genes in both invasion and growth in the reticuloendothelial system is suggested by the failure of the large-plasmid-minus strain to penetrate to the liver and spleen after oral inoculation and by its increased clearance from the reticuloendothelial system after intravenous inoculation. These results clearly demonstrate that the large plasmid of S. gallinarum contributes toward virulence in fowl typhoid of chickens.


We consider the compatibility of DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, XENON10 and XENON100 results for spin-independent (SI) dark matter Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), particularly at low masses (∼10 GeV), assuming a standard dark matter halo. The XENON bounds depend on the scintillation efficiency factor Leff for which there is considerable uncertainty. Thus we consider various extrapolations for Leff at low energy. With the Leff measurements we consider, XENON100 results are found to be insensitive to the low energy extrapolation. We find the strongest bounds are from XENON10, rather than XENON100, due to the lower energy threshold. For reasonable choices of Leff and for the case of SI elastic scattering, XENON10 is incompatible with the DAMA/LIBRA 3σ region and severely constrains the 7-12 GeV WIMP mass region of interest published by the CoGeNT


Objective. Calprotectin is a granulocyte cytosolic protein that is considered to be a promising marker of subclinical inflammation. High faecal calprotectin concentrations (FCCs) have been found in several intestinal diseases, but no data are currently available on patients with coeliac disease. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate FCCs in untreated coeliac patients and to correlate them with clinical score and histological characteristics. Material and methods. Twenty-eight consecutive coeliac patients were recruited. Thirty healthy adult volunteers participated as the control group. FCCs were determined by ELISA. Clinical assessment was carried out in all patients. The histological severity of lesions and the infiltration of neutrophil polymorphs in the intestinal mucosa were also evaluated. Mean FCCs in patients and the control group were compared by means of the t-test for independent samples. In coeliac patients, differences in FCCs in subgroups identified by clinical score, lesion severity and neutrophil infiltration were evaluated by the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test. Results. FCCs in untreated coeliac patients were not significantly different from those in controls (p=0.163). Among coeliac patients, FCCs were not significantly different in relation to the level of clinical score, lesion severity or neutrophil infiltration (p=0.92, p=0.96 and p=0.74, respectively). Conclusions. This study shows, for the first time, that FCCs in untreated coeliac patients do not differ significantly from those in controls.


The evolution of the Pontocaspian lakes and seas (Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Aral Sea) is characterised by major changes in water levels, which developed into a pulsating system of connected and isolated basins. During the late Quaternary (Late Pleistocene and Holocene), these basins have hosted a unique endemic biodiversity that experienced species turnover events. There are indications that the Pontocaspian species diversity is now in demise because of anthropogenic modifications of the ecosystem, such as habitat alteration, poaching, pollution and invasive species. Little data is available on faunal changes and resilience of Pontocaspian species to help discerning the effect of natural drivers and anthropogenic drivers on the endemic fauna, which is of direct relevance for conservation strategies.
This thesis aims to characterize species richness and abundance of fossil faunas to establish a baseline for comparison with the changing biodiversity of today. Mollusc species are used as the study group as they easily fossilize and are abundant in the geological record. They inform us about the composition of communities and how they change, and enable us to reconstruct environments ('habitats'). This is necessary in order to compare biodiversity through different time intervals and establish whether comparable habitats existed as those of today. A baseline of Pontocaspian mollusc faunas was achieved by analysing snapshots from the Caspian Sea basin and the Black Sea basin. Caspian mollusc assemblages are analysed from late Pleistocene (corresponding to the late Khazarian, Hyrcanian, early Khvalynian and late Khvalynian regional stages) and pre-20th century Holocene (Novocaspian) assemblages. Black Sea assemblages from the late Neoeuxinian and late Holocene are described. They are both compared with modern day assemblages.
This study shows clear indications of a Pontocaspian mollusc diversity crisis. Overall, in the 20th–21st century, Pontocaspian molluscs have experienced a severe decline in species richness and abundance: a strong turnover towards invasive species in the Caspian basin, a strong habitat decline in parts of the Black Sea basin and a total obliteration in the Aral basin. The late Quaternary mollusc fauna snapshots demonstrate that endemic species dominated the Caspian communities with minor contributions of native species until the late Holocene. The Pontocaspian mollusc species richness in the Caspian Sea basin is higher than in the Pontocaspian habitats of the Black Sea basin, or the Aral Sea basin. Throughout the Late Quaternary, the strong natural fluctuations of Caspian Sea level affected shallow water bivalve species of the genus Didacna, but barely changed the overall composition of the mollusc faunas. Late Quaternary mollusc fauna snapshots of the Black Sea basin show very little change in the Pontocaspian species community since humans impacted the habitats. However, the Black Sea Pontocaspian mollusc communities are currently under severe threat of habitat deterioration and destruction.
This research indicates that the Caspian Sea could act as a source for Pontocaspian biota, hence conservation efforts are imperative there. The deeper parts (>50 m water depth) possibly present a (partial) refuge, and urgent research is required to assess these habitats and their faunas. Future research should focus on improving the taxonomic framework to elucidate the identity of some Pontocaspian cryptic and sister species. We need more distribution and ecological data of current Pontocaspian species and more detailed biodiversity time series coupled with detailed environmental proxies to assess the nature of the Pontocaspian biodiversity crisis more comprehensively and plan conservation actions accordingly.


The goal of the current study was to test a scoring matrix for evaluating and quantifying the difficulty of use of consumer packaging for an older adult population. Scores range from 0 to 100; the lower the score, the less usable the packaging design. Twelve older adults (9 females, 3 males; Mage = 69.5) completed an online survey in which they evaluated 15 everyday packaging types on frequency of use and difficulty of the functional tasks required for use (e.g., pick up and carry, remove seal, open, dispense, close). Blister packaging scored the lowest (M = 71.5) and could benefit the most from redesign. Microwave meal packaging scored the highest (M = 85.8), but this was the only score computed without all participants; only five participants reported using microwave meals. Pull tab cans scored second highest with a mean score of 84.2. In this pilot study, we are laying the groundwork for creating a tool to systematically evaluate and quantify the usability of all packaging types.


Directed C-H functionalisation protocols have attracted significant interest in recent years as they offer the possibility of forming new bonds selectively via C-H bond cleavage, without requiring pre-functionalised substrates whilst reducing waste production. Precious metals such as palladium and rhodium have been utilised to make considerable advancements in the field. However, recently there has been a shift towards the use of more environmentally friendly and cost-effective 3d-transition metals. High valent cobalt (Co)-catalysed C-H functionalisation has emerged as a tool for the development of a variety of protocols for the formation of novel C-C or C-heteroatom bonds. Of particular interest to this thesis is the formation of important C-N bonds using Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation protocols. Furthermore, utilising the products of the C-H amidation reaction for synthesis of new nitrogen-based heterocycles is desirable due to their prevalence in biologically active compounds and agrochemicals. The focus of this thesis is developing efficient routes to valuable nitrogen containing heterocycles starting from a key Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation step. In this context, the use of Cp*Co(III) catalysts for the amidation of benzamide and N-phenylisobutyramide type of substrates is reported using 1,4,2-dioxazol-5-ones as amidating agents. The isolable amidated products are thereafter converted to the valuable 1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)-ones and N-acetylbenzotriazoles utilising tert-butyl nitrite (TBN) under mild conditions. Furthermore, another interest for this thesis is the development of Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation protocols for more challenging alkenyl substrates. There is limited information about the mechanism by which these Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation protocols proceed thus, DFT calculations and experimental mechanistic investigations are employed to elucidate the reaction mechanisms. Lastly, 1,2,3-benzotriazin-4-(3H)-ones are reacted with various coupling partners in an attempt to provide new synthetic starting points for preparation of other potentially valuable heterocyclic compounds via denitrogenation under low-valent metal catalysis. It was posible to develop facile one-pot routes towards the synthesis 1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)-ones and N-acetylbenzotriazoles starting from readily available substrates, using Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation reactions as initials steps. Expanding the scope to alkenyl substrates was more challenging due to limited availability of starting materials and the poor reactivity of the substrates with substituents at the -position. Finally, DFT studies have revealed that the migratory insertion step is most likely the rate limiting step for the Co(III)-catalysed C-H amidation reactions


Melting snow with a hydronic heating system can eliminate the need for snow removal by chemical or mechanical means and provide greater safety for pedestrians and vehicles. So, a preliminary practical feasibility study of using a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system for snow melting on pavements and bridge decks had been performed for the first time in Turkey on the basis of a university study. The objective of this paper is to investigate the practicability of a GSHP system consisting of the vertical type single U-borehole heat exchangers with different lengths for snow melting on pavements and bridge decks. For this purpose, the vertical drilling of the borehole was performed for three different depths (30, 60, and 90 m) in Elazig, Turkey and U-tube heat exchangers were inserted into the corresponding boreholes. Experiments in winter season of 2006-2007 were carried out for melting snow on surfaces of the prototypes of bridge-slab (BS) and pavement-slab (PS) constructed for the experimental study. The effect of the depth of borehole coupled to heat exchanger on the snow melting system performance was experimentally investigated. This way, the snow accumulation on the surfaces of bridge-slab (BS) and pavement-slab (PS) were efficiently heated and thus melted. Development of the model is described in a companion paper.

 Key words: Snow/ice melting, ground source heat pump, bridge, pavement.


The study of the effects of Chara fragilis (fig. 1) on mosquito development reported in 1928 (6) has been continued and expanded during the past season. Our investigations were directed along five principal lines: (a) Continued studies of the effects of Chara fragilis on larval development under experimental conditions. (b) A survey of a portion of the central New York area to determine the distribution of Chara spp. and their effect on mosquito density. (c) The introduction of Chara fragilis into various types of ponds, marshes, etc., to study its rate of growth and effect on future mosquito breeding. (d) A continued study of the food
2
(plankton) in Chara ponds and typical mosquito breeding pools. (e) The effects of other aquatic plants on the larvae of Culicidae.
The results of this season's work can be presented best under these five headings.
Experimental Work With Chara Spp.


Background: The world is still witnessing a largely ongoing spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); therefore, the scientific findings in this area need to be shared promptly. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the usefulness of Atorvastatin treatment in reducing COVID-19 mortality in patients with or without diabetes mellitus (DM) and to correlate them with C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Methods: This study consecutively enrolled patients with pneumonia symptoms, positive lung CT scan, and confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The outcome was defined as intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death. Clinical data and history of atorvastatin administration were evaluated. CRP levels were measured at baseline and repeated after one week in all patients. Results: A total of 200 patients were included. Their mean age was 60.5 (SD=16.5) years, 113 (56.5%) patients were male, 47 (23.5%) with pre-existing diabetes, and 64 (32%) patients were taking atorvastatin routinely. 68 (34%) required ICU admission of all the studied patients. No gender differences were found in ICU admission and death. The baseline CRP was not significantly different, but the secondary CRP was significantly different between DM and non-DM groups. Secondary CRP also showed a significant reduction in patients receiving atorvastatin (P=0.017). The mortality was the same in atorvastatin or non-atorvastatin groups (P=0.715). Conclusion: It seems that taking statin has only some beneficial effects on improving CRP levels in patients with COVID-19. To achieve a reliable result, clinical trials are recommended.


Anti-wear properties of hydraulic fluids are important because hydraulic pump and motor wear is costly. Hydraulic fluid performance specifications represent minimum requirements. International hydraulic fluid performance standards are being developed by ISO/TC28/SC4 committee as draft (ISO DIS 11158 "Specifications for Mineral Oil Hydraulic Fluids"). Performance specifications for non-mineral oil hydraulic fluids are also being developed. Typically, both the user and fluid manufacturer have insufficient information relating to the anti-wear properties of a new fluid to be used in hydraulic equipment, such as axial piston pumps, vane pumps or radial piston motors. Therefore, pump lubrication and operation requirements, preferably pre-existing in pump manufacturer's specifications, must be determined. The required fluid lubrication properties may be determined by either laboratory pump tests or by a field trial, often at the expense of the customer. More preferably, the lubrication properties of the hydraulic fluid should be determined under mechanical conditions equivalent to field practice. In this paper, the use of both the vane pump test and the FZG Gear Test to predetermine the "recommended" hydraulic fluid lubrication performance will be discussed. In this way, fluid performance may be determined at significantly lower cost than more expensive large scale hydraulic pump and motor tests which slower and more energy consuming.


Study of local cerebral blood flow and PO2 in 19 patients with contusion of the brain after they had undergone surgery with removal of intracranial hematoma showed that posthypohyperemia developed in the previously compressed area of the brain which led to the formation of multiple hemorrhages along the vessels and consequent decrease in local blood flow later. It was assumed that the level of hyperemia in stability of general arterial pressure reflects the degree of tissue acidosis which grows with an increase in intracranial pressure. Early operative intervention for correcting the brain compression is most effective in such conditions.


In the rocket motors background the hybrid rocket engines (HREs) exhibit several advantages over the other two configurations, the liquid rocket engines (LREs) and the solid rocket motors (SRMs). There are also some disadvantages such as the low fuel regression rate and the combustion instability. The purpose of this work is to develop a numerical method capable of observing the combustion instability in the HREs with the aid of the previous studies developed about it. In the experimental tests on the HREs, it was found that the chamber pressure increases from its mean value and it oscillates into a nonlinear limit cycle, the so-called "DC shift". Furthermore the chamber pressure oscillates with both low frequency and acoustic frequency, but the instability takes place in the low frequency regime. Unlike LREs and SRMs where the presence of combustion instability may lead to catastrophic events, in the HREs there are not this risks, nevertheless a better knowledge of this phenomenon is needed. A well known theory was developed to study the combustion instability in the LREs and in the SRMs; unfortunately that theory can not be used in the HREs. Thus, in this thesis, it was developed a numerical method based on three principal subsystems coupled. The first one is a computational fluid dynamic code in order to provide the gas dynamic properties inside the combustion chamber and the nozzle of the hybrid rocket system. Since the chemical reactions take place in the combustion chamber, a chemical code it has to be used; for this purpose it was employed the NASA CEA code []. Because of the complexity of the CEA code and in order to reduce the computational cost it was developed a numerical code. It takes as inputs the internal energy, density and molar fractions of the species inside the combustion chamber and it provides the temperature and the pressure at the chemical equilibrium as results. Once this code was validated comparing the results with the CEA code, it was coupled together with the CFD code and a further equation was added to the fluid dynamic system so as to define the quantities of oxidizer and fuel in the mainstream. It was studied the chemical composition in a specific nozzle configuration before using this code to analyse the flow in the combustion chamber and the results were compared with the results achieved in []. Once the code has shown the same results of [], it was able to study the mainstream flow in the combustion chamber of the hybrid rocket system in its steady-state condition.


Wireless Sensor Networks demand energy conserving protocols at all layers of protocol stack in order to achieve increased network lifetime. In this work, we propose a node scheduling protocol for sensor networks that exploits the battery charge recovery property and node level redundancy with respect to sensing, in order to maximize the network lifetime. The protocol forms a virtual grid and periodically elects the active node in a given grid. The primary battery sources of the remaining redundant nodes are completely switched off. The periodic election of active nodes ensures that every redundant node recovers its battery charges during their inactive period. We compare the performance of our protocol with baseline approaches like Strict Alternation, Periodic Alternation which are redundancy aware and also with the standard IEEE 802.11 and T-MAC protocols. The simulation results reveal that our protocol achieves network lifetime as high as 20% to 40% than the other schemes, with un-interrupted sensing and reporting of the events to sink.


The article contains a text analysis of two papers presented by professionals at an adult education course. The analysis was preformed using biographical approach, examining the intersections between learning and breaking down (of old perceptions and physical defenses). The aim of the study is to explore the question of what makes us learn in the process of questioning what we already think we know. The methods used involved a qualitative analysis of secondary data. Through the analysis we can see that biography in learning enables learners to explore their narrative with both emotional and practical knowledge. Moreover, it may trigger change and lead to a process of new learning as long as a facilitator who acknowledges the sentences that hold information of transformation is present.


Automatic small surface feature inspection of highprecision components requires superior measurement and automated analysis systems. Early identification and quantification (depth, area and volume) is a key aspect in quality assurance in order to check the health of the manufactured part. Human visual analysis of surface feature inspection is qualitative, subjective and time consuming. Threedimensional (3D) robotic inspection should provide a more robust and systematic quantitative approach for surface defect measurement. 3D measuring instruments typically generate point cloud data as an output, although via different principles. Data processing of point cloud data is often subject to repeatability issues causing significant concern with data confidence. This research is concerned with the measurement of novel traceable sub-millimetric surface defects and the development of a novel, robust, repeatable and mathematical solution for automatic defect detection and quantification. This is then extended to a surface defect on a plain bearing measured in real-time using a 3D measuring instrument mounted on a 6axis robot and quantified using the novel algorithm. The results show that the new surface defect measurement and quantification is more robust, efficient, and repeatable than existing solutions.


We present a systematic procedure for analyzing cumulants to arbitrary order in the context of heavy-ion collisions. It generalizes and improves existing procedures in many respects. In particular, particles which are correlated are allowed to belong to different phase-space windows, which may overlap. It also allows for the analysis of cumulants at any order, using a simple algorithm rather than complicated expressions to be derived and coded by hand. In the case of azimuthal correlations, it automatically corrects to leading order for detector non-uniformity, and it is useful for numerous other applications as well. We discuss several of these applications: anisotropic flow, event-plane correlations, symmetric cumulants, net baryon and net charge fluctuations.


Abstract In his article 'Malaria eradication and its effect on mortality levels' (Population Studies d21, 3, November 1967) Dr. S. A. Meegama criticised the approach followed by Professor Peter Newman in an earlier investigation of the effects of malaria eradication in Ceylon. In the present series of comments and rejoinders, Professor Newman and Dr. Meegama discuss in detail their interpretations of the data and the methods they have used in assessing the rôle of malaria eradication.


Assuming linear elastic fracture mechanicsl two cracks with the same stress intensity factor will grow with
the same rate, regardless of the geometry of the body. However, at GKN Aerospace test results from fatigue
crack growth testing of C(T) and Kb specimens made from castings have shown distinct differences in fatigue
crack growth rate where cracks in Kb specimens are growing faster than cracks in C(T) specimens. These
observed differences have been studied and quantified. For fatigue crack growth test, cracked Kb specimens
loaded in pulsating tension with R = 0 were growing 3.6 times faster than cracks in C(T) specimen, averaged
over all test temperatures and the materials Ti-64, Ti-6242 and IN-718. New fatigue crack growth testing using
C(T) specimens made from forged Ti-64 and IN-718 has been performed and compared to fatigue crack growth
rates in Kb specimens made from forgings. The difference in fatigue crack growth rates between Kb and C(T)
specimens made from forgings were found to be very small.
In order to investigate why cracks in Kb specimens made from castings are growing faster than cracks in C(T)
specimens, the plastic zone size in Kb and C(T) specimens was evaluated through numerical simulations using
the finite element method. Further, the grain sizes in cast Ti-64 and IN-718 specimens were measured. The
measured grain sizes were found to be approximately 100 times greater in castings than in forgings. The
investigations indicate that cracks in castings may be subjected to crack closure and further work aimed to
measure the closure levels in Kb specimens compared to C(T) specimens is proposed.
Keywords: Fatigue crack growth, FCGR, T-stress, plastic zone size, LEFM, crack closure, Kb specimen, C(T)
specimen


This work is concerned with codes, graphs and their links. Graph based codes have recently become very prominent in both information theory literature and practical applications. While most research has centered around their performance under iterative decoding, another line of study has focused on more combinatorial aspects such as their weight distribution. This is the angle we explore in the first part of this thesis, investigating the trade-off between rate and relative distance. More precisely, we show, using a probabilistic argument, that there exist graph-based codes approaching the asymptotic Gilbert-Varshamov bound, and that are encodable in time O(n1+e) for any e > 0, where n is the block length. The second part is concerned with more practical issues, more specifically the erasure channel. Although the codes mentioned above have been shown to perform very well in this setting, this nonetheless requires their lengths to be quite large. When short blocks are required, certain algebraic constructions become viable solutions. In particular Reed-Solomon (RS-) codes are used in a wide range of applications. However, there do not appear to be any practical uses of the more general Algebraic-Geometric (AG-) codes, despite numerous advantages. We explore in this work the use of very short AG-codes for transmissions over the erasure channel. We present their advantages over RS-codes in terms of the encoder/decoder running times, and evaluate the drawbacks by designing an efficient algorithm for computing the error probabilities of AG-codes. The work was done as part of an industrial collaboration with specific transmission problems in mind, and we include some practical data to illustrate the theoretical improvements. Graphs and codes can be related in different ways, and a graph being a good expander often yields a code with certain desirable properties. In the third part we deal with graph products and their expansion properties. Just as the derandomized squaring operation essentially takes the square of a graph and removes some edges according to a second graph, we introduce the derandomized tensoring operation which removes edges from the tensor product of two graphs according to a third graph. We obtain a bound on the expansion of the product in terms of the expansions of the constituent graphs. We also apply the same ideas to a code product, leading to the derandomized code concatenation operation and its analysis.


Author(s): Shin, Michael | Advisor(s): Branch, William | Abstract: The rational expectations (RE) hypothesis although elegant and useful requires demanding assumptions on part of the agent. A key outcome of the RE hypothesis is that beliefs disappear as an independent force in the model. A branch of the literature focuses on relaxations of the RE hypothesis to allow agents to instead learn the data-generating process (DGP) over time. With adaptive learning, beliefs re-emerge as a key element that influences the DGP. I argue that this relaxation is important for asset pricing settings, which are complex environments where individual beliefs play a key role in decision making. My dissertation will explore instances where learning can improve our understanding of asset pricing. Chapter 1 presents a simple asset pricing model with endogenous participation that can match key volatility moments when agents adaptively learn about both the risk and the return of stocks. With learning about risk, excess volatility of prices is driven by fluctuations in the participation rate that arise because agents' risk estimates vary with prices. I find that learning about risk is quantitatively more important than learning about returns. A calibrated model can jointly match the mean participation rate, the volatility of participation rates, and explain 25% of the excess volatility of stock prices observed in U.S. data. Chapter 2 presents a simplified version of the model in Chapter 1 and tests the model in a laboratory setting. Recent evidence suggests subjective returns play a key role in stock market participation. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that stock market experiences, i.e. realized returns, impact subjective returns. I bring a model into the laboratory and find that learning-driven subjective returns can explain limited participation. Stock market participation is increasing in both subjective returns and past realized returns. I find direct evidence that "learning from experience" generates heterogeneity in subjective returns, where subjects who experience low returns have lower subjective returns than subjects who experience high returns. In particular, subjects over-weigh price trends when they experience high returns and under-weigh it when they experience low returns. Chapter 3 presents an asset pricing model where agents test the specification of their models, while adaptively updating the parameters and find that restricted-perceptions equilibria (RPE) naturally arise. I extend upon recently developed model specification techniques to a multi-agent framework. Multiple agents are endowed with different models which they update and test the specification in real time. When a model is rejected, agents draw a new model from a distribution. I find that the rational expectations equilibrium (REE) is not locally stable with respect to hypothesis testing under reasonable parameterization. With constant-gain learning, the model spends most of its time in a subset of the RPE and in particular, the dominant model used is not the fully-specified model, but a misspecified one.


An understanding of the level of public awareness of disease conditions is helpful for health educators to plan for future programmes. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted for the very first time in the central region of Saudi Arabia; to evaluate the awareness level of diabetes mellitus among non-diabetic population. A total of 2007 Saudi citizens from all 11 provinces of Al-Qassim region were evaluated. The participants' response rate was 91.23% and each participant was asked to answer a total of 21 questions from a pre-piloted questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done utilizing SPSS version 13.0. The mean age (±SD) and age range of the study participants were 26.6±10.2 and 15 to 68 yearsrespectively, and the gender ratio was 1.6 male: 1.0 female. Out of the participants, 77.4% aged between 15 and 33 years. The diabetes knowledge score among the study subjects was 67.4%, whereas general knowledge regarding the disease, risk factors, symptoms and complications were 71.1, 63.4, 80.8 and 47.7% respectively. Furthermore, relatives and friends, in addition to media, were the major sources of information (73.8 and 47.1% respectively). Logistic regression analysis revealed that, males were nearly twice more likely to have better knowledge of disease as compared with females (OR 0.569; 95% CI 0.471 to 0.687). About two thirds of the study subjects believed that, diabetes is a curable disease. Moreover, the study revealed the serious unawareness of diabetes associated secondary complications. Only 19.1% of participants were found to have knowledge about diabetes from the healthcare professionals. This indicates that, there is need of more efforts for educating general population about diabetes and its associated secondary complications.

 Key words: Awareness, knowledge, diabetes mellitus, non-diabetic, young population, Al-Qassim region.


This report describes an enhanced test system (RTS-96) for use in bulk power system reliability evaluation studies. The value of the test system is that it will permit comparative and benchmark studies to be performed on new and existing reliability evaluation techniques. The test system was developed by modifying and updating the original IEEE RTS (referred to as RTS-79 hereafter) to reflect changes in evaluation methodologies and to overcome perceived deficiencies.


R ecently published studies indicate that consumption of red meat may be related to risk of developing stroke. 1–3 This association has been ascribed, at least partly, to heme iron, which is present in red meat. Heme iron can promote oxidative stress, leading to subsequent cell apoptosis and cell death. High doses of iron may lead to increased peroxidation of lipids, 6–8 protein modification, and DNA damage. Elevated iron stores caused by a high iron intake have been positively associated with inflammation, 10 insulin resistance, 11 the metabolic syndrome, 12 and the risk of coronary heart disease, 13,14 type 2 diabetes mellitus, 15 and some types of cancers. To our knowledge, no study has examined heme iron and nonheme iron separately in relation to stroke risk. Only a few studies have investigated the relation between total iron intake and risk of stroke, and the results are inconsistent. 21–23 Identification of nutritional factors that affect the risk of stroke is relevant from a public health point of view. According to the American Heart Association Report, each year about 795 000 individuals experience a new or recurrent stroke, and every 4 minutes in USA someone dies from the disease. 24 Therefore, we conducted a prospective study to investigate the association of heme iron and nonheme iron intake with risk of total stroke and stroke types. We analyzed data from 38 859 participants in the population-based Cohort of Swedish Men followed up during 11.7 years. A questionnaire was sent to all men in the age group from 45 to 79 years living in this area. A total of 48 850 men (49%) returned a completed questionnaire. For the present analysis, we excluded men with an incomplete questionnaire and those with an erroneous or missing national identification number or implausible values for total energy intake (ie, 3 SDs from the mean value for log-transformed energy). Moreover, we further excluded men with a history of stroke, coronary heart disease, or cancer (other than nonmelanoma skin cancer) at baseline. After Background and Purpose—Intake of iron, especially heme iron, has been associated with several diseases. However, epidemiological studies of heme iron and nonheme iron intake in relation to risk of stroke are lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between heme iron and nonheme iron intake and stroke incidence in men. Methods—The population-based prospective Cohort of Swedish Men included 38 859 men, aged …


The aim of this work is to develop an approach to solve optimization problems in which the functional that has to be minimized is time dependent. In the literature, the most common approach when dealing with unsteady problems, is to consider a time-average criterion. However, this approach is limited since the dynamical nature of the state is neglected. These considerations lead to the alternative idea of building a set of cost functionals by evaluating a single criterion at different sampling times. In this way, the optimization of the unsteady system is defined as a multi-objective optimization problem, that will be solved using an appropriate descent algorithm. Moreover, we also consider a hybrid approach, for which the set of cost functionals is built by doing a time-average operation over multiple intervals. These strategies are illustrated and applied to a non-linear unsteady system governed by a one-dimensional convection-diffusion-reaction partial differential equation.


This article seeks to advance our understanding of the convergence of physical activity and public health through a novel theorization drawing upon, applying and developing figurational sociological principles of Norbert Elias. More specifically, we focus on four core aspects of Elias' theoretical corpus: interdependencies; forethought (as an aspect of civilizing processes); the interaction of "fact" and emotion in socially determining knowledge; and the hinge. As such, we argue that contemporary interest in physical activity health promotion (PAHP) can be attributed to the amalgamation of: distinctive figurations of interdependency ties; an associated development in the internalization of human self-control; conceptions of 'truth' which derive from a combination of scientific evidence, ideological desires, and the gratification brought from the 'holding' of such beliefs; and the intersection of social and biological processes on the human body. This paper advances existing figurationally-informed theoretical analyses of health and medicine, in highlighting the essential interconnectivity of Elias's key ideas. This approach is, in turn, more faithful to Elias' advocacy of a radically relational sociological perspective. The result is both an original conceptualization of this increasingly significant social phenomenon, and a more explicit elucidation of the distinctive Eliasian framework


Based on self-determination theory, we examined how new employees' (newcomers) future work selves and perceived level of supervisor support influence newcomers' proactive socialization in the workplace, a factor that leads to better long-term adjustment. We conducted a survey using a 3-wave longitudinal design with 295 people employed in a range of organizations in China. Results indicate that level of perceived supervisor support had a significant influence on the relationship between newcomers' future work selves and their proactive adjustment behavior, such that the relationship became stronger as perceived supervisor support increased. In addition, we found that newcomers' proactive adjustment behavior was positively related to both the quality of their social integration and their job performance. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.


Strain distributions along optical fibers in a 1.3-km-long cable before and after installation are measured using Brillouin optical-fiber time domain analysis. The residual strains in the installed optical fibers were found to vary from zero to 0.07%, depending on the conduit configuration and installation procedure. Strain distribution measurements were carried out on a 24-fiber slotted-core type single-mode optical fiber cable for 1.55- mu m-wavelength transmission, whose length, outer diameter, and weight were 1.3 km, 14 mm, and 0.18 kg/m, respectively. No clear relation between strain distributions and the fiber configuration in the test cable are found. >


Aim and background: Open cholecystectomy has many complications like respiratory dysfunction and stress response because of pain. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of intercostal nerve block added to intravenous infusion of morphine with sole intravenous morphine infusion on pain control after open cholecystectomy. Methods and Materials : 100 patients, candidate for open cholecystectomy, were randomly divided into two groups of 50. The patients underwent elective cholecystectomy by Kocher's (Subcostal) incision and were randomly allocated to any of the following two groups. The intervention group received intercostal nerve block with 0.25 milligram per kilogram of 0.25% bupivacaine which was infiltrated into the subcostal 6th to 10th rib margin. Then intravenous infusion of 0.5 milligram per kilogram morphine was also started for them. In the control Group, patients had intravenous infusion of 0.5 milligram per kilogram morphine. The infusion rate was 5 milliliter per hour in both group. When the patients were transferred to postoperative recovery room, intensity of pain was recorded by response from the patients using 100 mm linear visual analogue scale(VAS) ranging from 0 to 100. The pain scoring was done at 30 minutes, 6 hours, 12 hours, 18 hours and 24 hours postoperatively. Findings: our in study the severity of pain was lower at 30 minutes, 6 hours, 12 hours, and 18 hours in the intercostal nerve block group than the control group. But at 24 hours postoperatively no significant difference was shown between the groups. Conclusions : Adding Intercostal nerve block to intravenous infusion of morphine is better than sole intravenous infusion of morphine in controling pain severity after open cholecystectomy. between the effect of intercostal nerve block to morphine infusion with infusion of intravenous morphine alone on pain control open cholecystectomy 2015;5(3):8-15.


A study was conducted to evaluate the response of broilers to changes in the duration of feeding starter, grower, and finisher diets when grown to 49 days in hot weather conditions. A total of 2560 day-old commercial broiler chicks of mixed sex (straight run) were assigned to 32 pens and 16 treatments were randomly assigned resulting in a completely randomized design. Diets were formulated to meet nutrient levels typical of the current local industry. Diets were changed from starter (222 g CP kg-1, 12.77 MJ ME kg-1) at 10, 15, 20, 25, or 28 days 1 to grower (202 g CP kg-1, 12.76 MJ ME kg-1) and from grower to finisher (198 g CP kg-1, 12.77 MJ ME kg-1) at 36, 41, 43, or 46 days of age or not at all. Broilers grown to 49 days attained the desired weight of 2400 g on all feeding programmes evaluated. Feed consumption responses over time were quadratic for the durations of feeding starter diet (R2 = 0.99), grower diet (R2 = 0.88), and finisher diet (R2 = 0.99). Similarly, responses of live body weight gain were quadratic for the durations of feeding starter diet (R2 = 0.99), grower diet (R2 = 0.96), and finisher diet (R2 = 0.99). It was concluded that the starter diet feeding duration could be reduced from the current practice of 28 days in hot climates to between 15 and 21 days without any effect on final body weight, carcass yield, leg quarter, and breast yield.


Abstract Neural activity in monkey motor cortex (M1) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) can reflect a chosen movement well before that movement begins. The pattern of neural activity then changes profoundly just before movement onset. We considered the prediction, derived from formal considerations, that the transition from preparation to movement might be accompanied by a large overall change in the neural state that reflects when movement is made rather than which movement is made. Specifically, we examined "components" of the population response: time-varying patterns of activity from which each neuron's response is approximately composed. Amid the response complexity of individual M1 and PMd neurons, we identified robust response components that were "condition-invariant": their magnitude and time course were nearly identical regardless of reach direction or path. These condition-invariant response components occupied dimensions orthogonal to those occupied by the "tuned" response components. The largest condition-invariant component was much larger than any of the tuned components; i.e., it explained more of the structure in individual-neuron responses. This condition-invariant response component underwent a rapid change before movement onset. The timing of that change predicted most of the trial-by-trial variance in reaction time. Thus, although individual M1 and PMd neurons essentially always reflected which movement was made, the largest component of the population response reflected movement timing rather than movement type.


Around the world, the electricity industry, which has long been dominated by vertically integrated utilities, is experiencing major changes in the structure of its markets and regulations. Owing to new regulations, it's evolving into a distributed industry in which market forces drive electricity's price. The industry is becoming competitive; a market environment is replacing the traditional centralized-operation approach. This transformation is often called the deregulation of the electricity market. MASCEM, a multiagent simulator system, is a valuable framework for evaluating new rules, new behavior, and new participants in the numerous electricity markets that are moving toward liberalization and competition.


Avner Ben-Zaken reconsiders the fundamental question of how early modern scientific thought traveled between Western and Eastern cultures in the age of the so-called Scientific Revolution. Through five meticulously researched case studies-in which he explores how a single obscure object or text moved in the Eastern world-Ben-Zaken reveals the intricate ways that scientific knowledge moved across cultures. His diligent exploration traces the eastward flow of post-Copernican cosmologies and scientific discoveries, showing how these ideas were disseminated, modified, and applied to local cultures. Never before has a student of scientific traffic in the Mediterranean taken such pains to see precisely which instruments, books, and ideas first appeared where, in whose hands, by what means, and with what implications. In doing so, Ben-Zaken challenges accepted views of Western primacy in this fruitful exchange. He shows not only how Islamic cultures benefited from European scientific knowledge but also how Eastern understanding of classical Greek texts informed developments in the West. Ben-Zaken's mastery of different cultures and languages uniquely positions him to tell this intriguing story. His findings reshape our understanding of scientific discourse in this critical period and contribute to the growing field of cross-cultural Christian-Muslim studies.


Some Indonesian prefer to be called democratic, reformist and
religious. The facts often appear inconsistent, unbearable and not in
accordance with the norm of Pancasila. The purpose of the study tested the
theory of Muchtar Lubis forty years ago about six human characters of
Indonesia : hypocritical, reluctant to be responsible for his action, feudal,
believing in superstition, arstistic and weak character, is still relevant to
today's living conditions.
Research design using ethnographic approach, to examine the deep
perceptions, attitudes, cultures, beliefs and norms of Indonesian people.
Location in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), sample 33 provincial
pavilion communities representating ethnicity, plus ethnic Betawi and four
ethnic offspring : Tionghoa, Arab, Indian and Eurpean settlers in DKI
Jakarta region.
The result of research reinforce the theory of Muchtar Lubis, it turns
out six human characters of Indonesia is still relevan to the dynamics of
social, cultural, political, economic and ideological. (1) Humans
hypocritical, reluctant to be responsible for his actions, weak character, and
feudal spirit not sincerely depend the state, artistic human being sincere,
while the superstitious believers are only half sincere state depenses. (2)
Hypocritical and reluctant to be responsible for his actions, like social
conflicts, human belieces superstition, artistic and weak character disagrees
social conflict, half of the feudal minded people agree to social conflict. (3)
Hypocritical, reluctant to be responsible for his actions and believes
superstition dislike community development, should be artistic people,
weak character and feudal minded nature a gree the development of society
to make a smart, decent and happy income.


This conceptual paper examines the relationship between two academic areas: applied linguistics and Indigenous language revitalization. While the two domains have shared interests, they tend to operate separately. This paper examines: 1) possible reasons for this separateness; 2) mutually beneficial reasons to be in closer conversation and 3) changes necessary for the creation of an ethical space of engagement (Ermine, 2007) between these academic areas. We write from distinct positions: Belinda, a nēhiyaw woman working in Indigenous language resurgence and Andrea, a white settler woman working in language issues related to settler-colonialism. Drawing from our joint and individual experiences, we explore how these research fields can complement each other as well as intersect to create richer interdisciplinary knowledge.


Relation Extraction is key to many downstream tasks. Dialogue relation extraction aims at discovering entity relations from multi-turn dialogue scenario. There exist utterance, topic and relation discrepancy mainly due to multi-speakers, utterances, and relations. In this paper, we propose a consistent learning and inference method to minimize possible contradictions from those distinctions. First, we design mask mechanisms to refine utterance-aware and speaker-aware representations respectively from the global dialogue representation for the utterance distinction. Then a gate mechanism is proposed to aggregate such bi-grained representations. Next, mutual attention mechanism is introduced to obtain the entity representation for various relation specific topic structures. Finally, the relational inference is performed through first order logic constraints over the labeled data to decrease logically contradictory predicted relations. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets show that the F1 performance improvement of the proposed method is at least 3.3% compared with SOTA.


An objective method of extracting respiratory data from lung images is presented, together with a technique for automatically generating regions of interest delineating the anterior and posterior regions of the lungs. The method is used to extract data on the change in lung impedance with frequency, and on calculated Cole parameters, from 19 normal neonates (gestational age 32 to 42 weeks) and 8 normal adults (age 21 to 82 years). A comparison of the impedance properties of neonatal and adult lungs was made. The variation of lung impedance with frequency in neonates, as derived from EIT images, is significantly different from that found for adults. The implications for a model of the electrical impedance of lung tissue are discussed.


This paper reports a new millimeter-wave concurrent dual-band dual-polarization antenna on liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for an active imaging radar sensor. The frequency diversity offered by the proposed concurrent dual-band dual-linearly polarized antenna as part of a concurrent dual-band transceiver enables an extended target recognition for a better imaging. The compact antenna presented in this paper demonstrates 250 MHz of bandwidths centered at 24.5 and 35 GHz. The calculated antenna gain are 1.4 and 2.7 dBi at 24.5 and 35 GHz, respectively, while showing the front-to-back ratio better than 20 dB at both frequency bands. The isolation between the vertical- and horizontal- polarization remain more than 25 dB over the desired bandwidths.


Background The range of opioid dose in patients receiving palliative care is wide and not directly related to response. The levels of opioids in therapeutic and postmortem, population group studies and forensic studies have been studies in published data. Aim To describe the results of studies of opioids levels in living patients receiving palliative care treated for pain, and in postmortem studies between 1970 and 2009. Method Literature review of studies concerning five of the opioids; Diamorphine, Morphine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl and Methadone, by using: Hand Search, Cochrane library (systematic Review) and Medline OvidSP, in english language. The level of evidence on each clinical study or review is determined and the evaluation focuses on the relationship between doses and opioids levels, in overdose and therapeutic use. Results The authors found few studies in palliative care describing fatal events and blood levels in opioid overdose with variation in level, due to differences in drug metabolism. Overall 300 papers were reviewed, 251 of studies were reviewed in therapeutic and postmortem. Number of papers 71 of Studies of ante-mortem/population Group studies/therapeutics (pharmacokinetics, overdose addiction (maintenance),postoperative,cancer pain, tolerance, respiratory depression,withdrawal and data collection(dose finding)). Number of papers 180 of studies of postmortem/cadaver group studies/plasma levels (Fatal suicides, trauma victim, and accident death, coincidental and other conditions). The remaining 49 of studies were concerned with (mechanisms, switching, drug monitoring and controversy over drugs use). Conclusions Measurement of the relationship between fatal events and opioid blood levels is difficult, due to laboratory error, blood contaminants and variations between individual subjects. It does not appear to be wise to infer opioid levels in life from postmortem evidence in cases of therapeutic opioid use.