In this work the Authors are dealing with the utilization of mineral fillers used in the Hungarian road construction. Six different types of mineral fillers – andesites, basalt, dolomite and limestone – were tested. In the purpose of the applicability of mineral aggregates in road construction XRD, BET specific surface test, as well as SEM tests were made and hydrophilic coefficient of fillers were also determined. The results of the XRD, BET specific surface test, SEM and hydrophilic coefficient tests show that all of the examined fillers are suitable for asphalt-technological applications, particularly limestone filler (Alsózsolca) and dolomite filler (Pilisvörösvár).


The hemispheric and regional atmospheric circulation influences the Southern Ocean in many and profound ways, including intense air-sea fluxes of momentum, energy, fresh water and dissolved gases. The Southern Ocean ventilates a large fraction of the world ocean and hence these influences are spread globally. We use the NCEP-2 reanalysis data set to diagnose aspects of the large-scale atmospheric structure and variability and explore how these impact on the Southern Ocean. We discuss how the 'Southern Annular Mode' and the 'Pacific-South American' pattern influence the Southern Ocean, particularly in the eastern Pacific. We review the importance of atmospheric eddies in Southern Ocean climate, and the role they play in the transport of mechanical energy into the ocean. The fluxes of fresh water across the air-sea boundary influence strongly the processes of water mass formation. It is shown that climatological precipitation exceeds evaporation over most of the Southern Ocean. When averaged over the ocean from 50°S to the Antarctic coast the annual mean excess is 0.80 mm day−1. The magnitude of the flux displays only a small measure of seasonality, and its largest value of 0.92 mm day−1 occurs in summer.


This paper explores the dynamics of rural and non-rural job growth to investigate if job growth starts in rural places, making it one of the leading indicators of economic growth. Empirical results provide mixed evidence. The mixed results of the Granger non-causality tests could be sensitive to the non-rural area definition. The relationship between rural job growth and non-rural job growth is not restricted to post-recession periods. Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggests the spillover effects of non-rural growth are larger than the spillover effect of rural growth on non-rural areas. But this positive response of rural growth disappears over time and turns sharply negative. In the long run, "backwash" effects outweigh "spread" effects.


This volume pays homage to the icons of Mexican painting: Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Known as the three leading Mexican muralists, these artists, along with Gunther Gerzso and Luis Nishizawa, also produced relatively small scale works in which the harsh life of the Mexican peasant and the brutality of civil war is portrayed with a directness and honesty not always seen in the murals. "Mexican Masters" expresses the hopes, desires, idealism, and culture of early twentieth-century Mexico through its artists.


In this article, we present a novel analysis of time-evolving networks, based on a thermodynamic representation of graph structure. We show how to characterize the evolution of time-varying complex networks by relating major structural changes to thermodynamic phase transitions. In particular, we derive expressions for a number of different thermodynamic quantities (specifically energy, entropy and temperature), which we use to describe the evolutionary behaviour of the network system over time. Since in the real world no system is truly closed and interactions with the environment are usually strong, we assume an open nature of the system. We adopt the Schrödinger picture as the dynamical representation of the quantum system over time. First, we compute the network entropy using a recent quantum mechanical representation of graph structure, connecting the graph Laplacian to a density operator. Then, we assume the system evolves according to the Schrödinger representation, but we allow for decoherence due to the interaction with the environment in a model akin to Environment-Induced Decoherence. We simplify the model by separating its dynamics into (a) an unknown time-dependent unitary evolution plus (b) an observation/interaction process, and this is the sole cause of the changes in the eigenvalues of the density matrix of the system. This allows us to obtain a measure of energy exchange with the environment through the estimation of the hidden time-varying Hamiltonian responsible for the unitary part of the evolution. Using the thermodynamic relationship between changes in energy, entropy, pressure and volume, we recover the thermodynamic temperature. We assess the utility of the method on real-world time-varying networks representing complex systems in the financial and biological domains. We also compare and contrast the different characterizations provided by the thermodynamic variables (energy, entropy, temperature and pressure). The study shows that the estimation of the time-varying energy operator strongly characterizes different states of a time-evolving system and successfully detects critical events occurring during network evolution.


The aim of this study was to study bone marrow quality from various location and species for reconstruction of segmental critical size defect in irradiated weigh bearing bone. Sample of bone marrow aspirates from rabbits and Beagle dog were analyzed. Rabbits were implanted with a composite associating resorbable collagen membrane plus micro macroporous biphasic calcium phosphate (MBCP®) and autologous bone marrow (BM) injected after irradiation. Bone marrow samples were found to be significantly less rich in tibia than in humerus and ilium in Dog and less rich in Dog than in Rabbit (p<0,05). Successful osseous colonization bridging of the defect were obtain at 16 weeks in all animals. Identical repartition of bone ingrowth and residual ceramic at the different levels of the implant suggest an osteoinduction role of the bone marrow graft in the center of the defect. This model succeeded in reconstruct a large segmental defect in weight bearing and irradiated bone in rabbit.


Providing high-level, intuitive explanations of the performance of IR systems is generally difficult due to their complexity, and the various low-level implementation details involved. We present I-REX, a tool built on top of Lucene, that is intended to provide a systematic view into the inner workings of retrieval models and methods (specifically query expansion). This should help researchers study, compare, understand and explain the performance of these models and methods. I-REX can be run either as a Web service accessible through a browser, or as a terminal-based tool with a shell-like interactive interface. In this article, we describe a session that illustrates how I-REX can be used to explain the observed difference in the performance of two variants of the Language Model.


Electrical degradation processes in epoxy resins, such as electrical treeing, were found to be dependent on the temperature at which the experiments were carried out. Therefore, it is of considerable research interest to study the influence of temperature on the dielectric properties of the polymers and to relate the effect of temperature on these properties to the possible electrical degradation mechanisms. In this work, the dielectric properties of two different epoxy resin systems have been characterized via dielectric spectroscopy. The epoxy resins used were bisphenol-A epoxy resins Araldite CY1301 and Araldite CY1311, the later being a modified version of the former with added plasticizer. The CY1301 samples were tested below and above their glass transition temperature, while the CY1311 were tested well above it. Both epoxy systems possess similar behaviour above the glass transition temperature, e.g. in a flexible state, which can be characterized as a low frequency dispersion (LFD). On the other hand, it was found that below the glass transition temperature CY1301 samples have almost "flat" dielectric response in the frequency range considered. The influence of possible interfacial features on the measured results is discussed.


Many philosophers have worried about what philosophy is. Often they have looked for answers by considering what it is that philosophers do. Given the diversity of topics and methods found in philosophy, however, we propose a different approach. In this article we consider the philosophical temperament, asking an alternative question: what are philosophers like? Our answer is that one important aspect of the philosophical temperament is that philosophers are especially reflective: they are less likely than their peers to embrace what seems obvious without questioning it. This claim is supported by a study of more than 4,000 philosophers and non-philosophers, the results of which indicate that even when we control for overall education level, philosophers tend to be significantly more reflective than their peers. We then illustrate this tendency by considering what we know about the philosophizing of a few prominent philosophers. Recognizing this aspect of the philosophical temperament, it is natural to wonder how philosophers came to be this way: does philosophical training teach reflectivity or do more reflective people tend to gravitate to philosophy? We consider the limitations of our data with respect to this question and suggest that a longitudinal study be conducted.


This paper studies the location-based web search and aims to build a unified processing paradigm for two purposes: (1) efficiently support each of the various types of location-based queries (kNN query, top-k spatial-textual query, etc.) on two major forms of geo-tagged data, i.e., spatial point data such as geo-tagged web documents, and spatial trajectory data such as a sequence of geo-tagged travel blogs by a user; (2) support interactive search to provide quick response for a query session, within which a user usually keeps refining her query by either issuing different query types or specifying different constraints (e.g., adding a keyword and/or location, changing the choice of k, etc.) until she finds the desired results. To achieve this goal, we first propose a general Top-k query called Monotone Aggregate Spatial Keyword query-MASK, which is able to cover most types of location-based web search. Next, we develop a unified indexing (called Textual-Grid-Point Inverted Index) and query processing paradigm (called ETAIL Algorithm) to answer a single MASK query efficiently. Furthermore, we extend ETAIL to provide interactive search for multiple queries within one query session, by exploiting the commonality of textual and/or spatial dimension among queries. Last, extensive experiments on four real datasets verify the robustness and efficiency of our approach.


Although a number of nanoscale metallic materials exhibit interesting mechanical properties the fabrication paths are often complex and difficult to apply to bulk structural materials. However a number of steels which exhibit combinations of plasticity and phase transitions can be deformed to produce ultra high strength levels in the range 1 to 3 GPa. The resultant high stored energy and complex microstructures allow new nanoscale structures to be produced by combinations of recovery and recrystallisation. The resultant structures exhibit totally new combinations of strength and ductility to be achieved. In specific cases this also enables both the nature of the grain boundary structure and the spatial variation in structure to be controlled. In this presentation both the detailed microstructural features and their relation to the strength, work-hardening capacity and ductility will be discussed for a number of martensitic and austenitic steels.


During Late Cretaceous time a broad north-trending epicon tinental sea covered much of the western interior of North America and extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The sea was bounded on the west by a narrow, unstable, and constantly rising cordillera which extended from Central America to Alaska and which separated the sea from Pacific oceanic waters. The east margin of the sea was bounded by the low-lying stable platform of the central part of the United States. Rocks of the type Montana Group in Montana and equiva lent rocks in adjacent States, which consist of eastward-pointing wedges of shallow-water marine and nonmarine strata that enclose westward-pointing wedges of fine-grained marine strata, were deposited in and marginal to this sea. These rocks range in age from middle Santonian to early Maestrichtian and rep resent a time span of about 14 million years. Twenty-nine dis tinctive ammonite zones, each with a time span of about half a million years, characterize the marine strata. Persistent beds of bentonite in the transgressive part of the Claggett and Bearpaw Shales of Montana and equivalent rocks elsewhere represent periods of explosive volcanism and perhaps concurrent subsidence along the west shore in the vicinity of the Elkhorn Mountains and the Deer Creek volcanic fields in Mon tana. Seaward retreat of st randlines, marked by deposition of the Telegraph Creek, Eagle, Judith River, and Fox Hills For mations in Montana and the Mesaverde Formation in Wyo ming, may be attributed to uplift in near-coastal areas and to an increase in volcaniclastic rocks delivered to the sea. Rates of transgression and regression determined for the Montana Group in central Montana reveal that the strandline movement was more rapid during times of transgression. The regression of the Telegraph Creek and Eagle strandlines aver aged about 50 miles per million years compared with a rate of about 95 miles per million years for the advance of the strandline during Claggett time. The Judith River regression aver aged about 60 miles per million years compared with movement of the strandline during the Bearpaw advance of about 70 miles per million years. The final retreat of marine waters from Montana, marked by the Fox Hills regression, was about 35 miles per million years at first, but near the end of the regression it accelerated to a rate of about 500 miles per million years. Rates of sedimentation range from less than 50 feet per mil lion years in the eastern parts of North and South Dakota to at least 2,500 feet in western Wyoming. The low rates in the 'Deceased July 1972. Dakotas correspond well with modern rates in the open ocean, and the rates in western Wyoming approach the rate of present coastal sedimentation.


Polishing pad plays a key role in determining polish rate and planarity of a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). The properties of the pad would deteriorate during polishing because of pad surface grazing, which results in reduced removal rates and poorer planarity of wafer surface. Pad conditioning and its influence on pad surface structure and CMP process is introduced and discussed in this paper. The study shows that the surface structure can be regenerated by breaking up the glazed areas with conditioner, MRR(Material Removal Rate) can be maintained at high level with proper pad conditioning, and UN(Non-uniformity)can also improved. Orthogonal experiments design is employed in this study to determine the best conditioning parameters.


The most established model which is notably used in the design of baghouse was developed by Marti Crawford and names as Crawford Mathematical Model. As the model involved a lot of trial and error calculation, attempt was made in this paper to simulate the model on the microcomputer. A program was written in FOTRAN 77 and it was successfully simulated in the design of baghouse to capture the fly-ash from the typical Malaysia's Palm Oil Mill Boiler. Based on the simulation output three profiles. That include pressure drop, flowrate and weight of dust cake were plotted against the operating time. The graphs generated showed that the length of cleaning cycle is 28.5 minutes if the length of the cleaning process specified is 5 minutes and the maximum pressure drop is 4н Hi€‡O. The Simulation also deduced that one baghouse with three compartments of 140.6 m² each is required in the design of baghouse to capture fly-ash with a loading concentration of 0.0076 k g/m³ and 3 m³/s air flow rate.


Archaeology in San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile) contributes significantly to our understanding of the Middle Horizon
Tiwanaku polity, its iconography, regional interaction spheres, and other pivotal themes in Andean Studies. New AMS C14 dates,
however, allow us to revisit San Pedro chronological phases and the associated ceramics that often define them. This paper extends
previous important contributions to ceramic analysis in the area by presenting the ceramic material found in newly dated tombs
and the temporal relationship of red, black, and grey polished vessels. The results suggest that these key San Pedro ceramic styles
may be more contemporary in time than previously thought. Color variation may therefore be the result of different symbolic
and contextual uses rather than temporal production developments. This leads to a reevaluation of the accepted phase structure
as a linear sequence of key ceramic types and of the current understanding of cultural fluorescence during the late Formative and
Middle Period (ca. AD 100-900).


Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water balance, which influences hydrometeorology, water resources, carbon and other biogeochemical cycles, and ecosystem diversity. This study aims to investigate the spatio-temporal variations of ET at the East River watershed in Colorado and analyze the factors that control these variations. ET was acquired using the community land model (CLM) simulations and was compared with the values estimated using Fu's equation and a watershed-scale water balance equation. The simulation results showed that 55% of annual precipitation in the East River is lost to ET, in which 75% of the ET comes from the summer months (May to September). We also found that the contribution of transpiration to the total ET was ~50%, which is much larger than that of soil evaporation (32%) and canopy evaporation (18%). Spatial analysis indicated that the ET is greater at elevations of 2950–3200 m and lower along the river valley (<2750 m) and at the high elevations (>3900 m). A correlation analysis of factors affecting ET showed that the land elevation, air temperature, and vegetation are closely correlated and together they govern the ET spatial variability. The results also suggested that ET in areas with more finely textured soil is slightly larger than regions with coarse-texture soil. This study presents a promising approach to the assessment of ET with a high spatiotemporal resolution over watershed scales and investigates factors controlling ET spatiotemporal variations.


This paper discusses a computational model of situation awareness (SA) for military command and control in complex battle situations. Cognitive modeling is a research method that does not forgive vagueness. How do military commanders create awareness in a highly complex and uncertain world? The model described in this paper simulates computationally some of the cognitive operations performed by commanders during the evaluation of a complex battle situation. Although the set of cognitive processes that support SA are still not well understood, we have hypothesized a metaarchitecture involving: information gathering, assessment, and alternative generation. The cognitive model reported here paves the road towards a more complete and valid representation. The model was implemented using ACT-R, a cognitive architecture, and tested with scenarios running in OTB, a simulation tool for war scenarios.


The brain, as a very high energy consumer, is completely reliant on molecular oxygen but because oxygen is dangerous due to toxicity [1], there are mechanisms which allow the brain to exist under low oxygen conditions when 'idling' but increase oxygen delivery when activated. This situation means that the brain can respond naturally to mild hypoxia with acute and chronic adaptive mechanisms. These mechanisms involve systemic and central metabolic and vascular processes that are mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1. HIF-1-mediated cerebral angiogenesis is completed within 3 weeks of exposure onset and is reversible over the same time frame if normoxia is restored. Hypoxic acclimatizing responses may be significantly impaired with aging and metabolic or vascular disease.


The favorable mortality rate of adult women compared with that of men is well known in western countries. The sex difference varies in different population groups. In Israel there is a low male:female ratio, as compared with Greece, Holland, and England and Wales. This is due to the relatively high female mortality rates in Israel. Within Israel, the Jewish population of North African origin has a relatively low male:female ratio. In this group, the marked increase in mortality due to ischemic heart disease has occurred in both women and men, in contrast to various western countries in which the male:female ratio increased during the 20th century with the rise in the death rate from ischemic heart disease, especially in middle-aged men. Social disequilibrium, especially family disorganization with its selective stressful effects on women, is suggested as an hypothesis on which to base further study in communities with a low male:female ratio associated with high mortality rates in women.


Abstract: Anticlines of the Lurestan Province in the Zagros fold–thrust belt have been studied by integrating field-based analysis with the use of high-resolution satellite images and data available from the literature. The distribution of folds in the southeastern Lurestan Province, expressed in terms of axial length and wavelength distribution, shows a direct link with the characteristics of the sedimentary multilayer in which the folds developed. Within the carbonate deposits of the Late Cretaceous Bangestan Group the transition from pelagic to neritic facies determines a threefold increase in anticline spacing and promotes the development of thrust structures in the forelimb of anticlines. The Oligocene–Miocene Shahbazan–Asmari unit folds harmonically with the Bangestan Group, except in the areas where the Palaeogene deposits interposed between the two units exceed 1300 m of thickness. In these areas the Shahbazan–Asmari carbonates display short-wavelength folds indicating a complete decoupling from the underlying folds of the Bangestan Group. It is suggested that this decoupling occurs because the summed thickness of the incompetent units separating the two carbonate units exceeds the extension of the zone of effective contact strain of the Bangestan Group folds.


Insulating deposits are formed on operating relay and switch contacts when silicone oils are present on them. The characteristics of these tenaceous black films are discussed. Potential sources of silicone contamination are discussed and precautions which should be taken to avoid contact failures from the use of silicone materials are outlined


Organic extracts from leaves and stems of Stillingia oppositifolia Baill. ex Müll. Arg., Euphorbiaceae, were screened for antifungal and cytotoxic properties. The extracts presented Minimum Inhibitory Concentration values around 250 μg.mL-1 against Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis, and around 63 μg.mL-1 for Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. They were tested on three human cell lines (UACC-62, MCF-7, and TK-10), disclosing GI50 values, (concentration able to inhibit 50% of the cell growth) ranging from 50 to 100 μg.mL-1. Organic extract from stems furnished hexanic, dichloromethanic and aqueous phases after partition. Chromatographic fractionation of the hexanic soluble phase of the stems yielded aleuritolic acid 3-acetate, β-sitosterol, 3-epiβ-amyrin, β-amyrone and palmitic acid. These compounds showed antifungal and cytotoxic activities in the same range as the organic crude extract and low toxic effect against mononuclear cells obtained from human peripheral blood. This is the first report on chemical and biological potential of S. oppositifolia.


The location of hyperthermophilic organisms in the tree of life has been the source of many exciting discussions during the last two decades. It inspired not only novel hypotheses for the early evolution of the organisms, but also the isolation of many new species of Archaea and Bacteria from hot environments, as well as microbial genome sequencing and phylogenomic analyses. In view of the new wealth of genetic information generated from several analysed genomes of the hyperthermophiles, we can only conclude that the question of their exact phylogenetic location and evolutionary origin is presently as open as ever before.


A visual model that gives a distortion measure for blocking artifacts in images is presented. Given the original and reproduced image as inputs, the model output is a numerical value that quantifies the visibility of blocking error in the reproduced image. The model is derived based on the human visual sensitivity to horizontal and vertical edge artifacts that result from blocking. Psychovisual experiments have been carried out to measure the visual sensitivity to these artifacts. In the experiments, typical edge artifacts are shown to subjects and the sensitivity to them is measured with the variation of background luminance, background activity, edge length, and edge amplitude. Synthetic test patterns are used as background images in the experiments. The sensitivity measures thus obtained are used to estimate the model parameters. The final model is tested on real images, and the results show that the error visibility predicted by the model correlates well with the subjective ranking.


Broad patterns in distribution and abundance can elucidate processes of evolution. A positive association between local abundance and the size of the geographic range has been demonstrated for closely related species across many taxa. This pattern is usually explained by assuming that species with smaller ranges are ecologically inferior (e.g., poor competitors or dispersers). Many areas of high endemism support local species that have evolved recently. The distribution of these neoendemics may reflect historical processes not accounted for by ecological, equilibrium hypotheses. We asked whether such traditional macroecological hypotheses also applied to the local abundance of seven narrowly endemic species and ecologically similar widespread congeners in the northern Rocky Mountains. For each of the 14 species, we estimated abundance of five randomly chosen populations by counting plants in 10 randomly located plots. The association between range size and local abundance was not positive. Instead, all seven narrow endemics were more abundant than their widespread congeners. Ecological specialization or differences in dispersal ability are not likely explanations for our results. We believe the local abundance of narrowly endemic species may be a sign of recent speciation. Most or all of our narrowly distributed species have probably not yet had time to spread to their full potential. Furthermore, theory predicts that speciation is more likely to occur in locally abundant populations. Our results suggest that strictly ecological mechanisms cannot explain abundance and distribution in regions with high neoendemism.


Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental brain disorder characterized by two core behavioral symptoms, namely impairments in social communication and restricted/repetitive behavior. The molecular mechanisms underlying ASD are not well understood. Recent genetic as well as non-genetic animal models contributed significantly in understanding the pathophysiology of ASD, as they establish autism-like behavior in mice and rats. Among the genetic causes, several chromosomal mutations including duplications or deletions could be possible causative factors of ASD. In addition, the biochemical basis suggests that several brain neurotransmitters, e.g., dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), acetylcholine (ACh), glutamate (Glu) and histamine (HA) participate in the onset and progression of ASD. Despite of convincible understanding, risperidone and aripiprazole are the only two drugs available clinically for improving behavioral symptoms of ASD following approval by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Till date, up to our knowledge there is no other drug approved for clinical usage specifically for ASD symptoms. However, many novel drug candidates and classes of compounds are underway for ASD at different phases of preclinical and clinical drug development. In this review, the diversity of numerous aetiological factors and the alterations in variety of neurotransmitter generation, release and function linked to ASD are discussed with focus on drugs currently used to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms related to ASD. The review also highlights the clinical development of drugs with emphasis on their pharmacological targets aiming at improving core symptoms in ASD.


Most multivariate variance or volatility models suffer from a common problem, the " curse of dimensionality ". For this reason, most are fitted under strong parametric restrictions that reduce the interpretation and flexibility of the models. Recently, the literature has focused on multivariate models with milder restrictions, whose purpose was to combine the need for interpretability and efficiency faced by model users with the computational problems that may emerge when the number of assets is quite large. We contribute to this strand of the literature proposing a block-type parameterization for multivariate stochastic volatility models. The empirical analysis on stock returns on US market shows that 1% and 5 % Value-at-Risk thresholds based on one-step-ahead forecasts of covariances by the new specification are satisfactory for the period includes the global financial crisis.


Introduction A significant proportion of Crohn's disease (CD) patients have been treated with two biologic therapies. Follow-up from current published retrospective or prospective open-label studies on patients who have already received 2 biologics does not extend beyond 1 year (1-4). Methods Our aim was to collect "real-life", long-term data on the tolerability and efficacy of the second biologic agent in (re)-capturing response, and to assess whether the reason for stopping the first agent impacted on the successful use of the second agent. We carried out secure data collection from three teaching IBD centres on CD patients currently on, or already failed a second biologic. We collected data on disease duration, distribution and behaviour, and report on the aetiology in the failure of the first biologic and the subsequent outcome of the second biologic agent. Response to biologics was assessed by Harvey Bradshaw Index or Physicians Global Assessment. Results We collected data on 66 patients (F 46%, mean age at diagnosis: 25). The disease distribution was characterised as L1: 11%, L2:32% L3:56% L4:1% and the behaviour as B1:41% B2:35% B3:24%. 17% had perianal involvement. 36 patients have had a total of 41 resectional operations. First biologic: 64/66 patients had infliximab (IFX) first-line, followed by adalimumab (ADA), and 2/66 patients had ADA followed by IFX. Reasons for swapping were failure in 23%, secondary-loss of response in 38%, intolerance to the first agent in 29%, and fear of hypersensitivity reaction due to previous episodic exposure to IFX in 10% (irrespective of efficacy or tolerance). Second biologic: 70% of patients remained on the second biologic after a median follow-up of 22 months. Reasons for discontinuing therapy were 1o failure in 35%, secondary loss of response in 25%, intolerance (or patient concerns regarding potential side-effects) in 25%, and achieving remission in 5%; no reason provided for the remainder 5%. Neither the demographics, disease characteristics nor the reason for failing the first biologic had a statistically significant bearing in predicting the initial response to and subsequent outcome of the second biologic. Conclusions (1) We report an overall 70% retention on the second biologic at 22 months following all-cause failure of the first agent in CD patients from England and Ireland. (2) Patients responded equally well to the second biologic, irrespective of the reason for the failure of the first biologic.


Kernel methods are fundamental in machine learning, and faster algorithms for kernel approximation provide direct speedups for many core tasks in machine learning. The polynomial kernel is especially important as other kernels can often be approximated by the polynomial kernel via a Taylor series expansion. Recent techniques in oblivious sketching reduce the dependence in the running time on the degree $q$ of the polynomial kernel from exponential to polynomial, which is useful for the Gaussian kernel, for which $q$ can be chosen to be polylogarithmic. However, for more slowly growing kernels, such as the neural tangent and arc-cosine kernels, $q$ needs to be polynomial, and previous work incurs a polynomial factor slowdown in the running time. We give a new oblivious sketch which greatly improves upon this running time, by removing the dependence on $q$ in the leading order term. Combined with a novel sampling scheme, we give the fastest algorithms for approximating a large family of slow-growing kernels.


This paper develops a new approach to change-point modeling that allows for an unknown number of change points in the observed sample. Our model assumes that regime durations have a Poisson distribution. The model approximately nests the two most common approaches: the time-varying parameter model with a change point every period and the change-point model with a small number of regimes. We focus on the construction of reasonable hierarchical priors both for regime durations and for the parameters that characterize each regime. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo posterior sampler is constructed to estimate a change-point model for conditional means and variances. We find that our techniques work well in an empirical exercise involving U.S. inflation and GDP growth. Empirical results suggest that the number of change points is larger than previously estimated in these series and the implied model is similar to a time-varying parameter model with stochastic volatility.


This paper investigated the changes in competitive behaviour of banks in sub-Saharan Africa, following the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. Using 481 bank-year observations from an unbalanced panel of 83 banks from six countries over the period 2008–2013. We employed the Panzar-Rosse model of firm competition, and found that the degree of competition among banks in Sub-Saharan Africa increased. This increase is due to the effect of reform/liberalisation policies, largely initiated in the pre-crisis era. The success that followed via the development of banking systems, nonetheless moderated at the onset of the 2007/2008 financial crisis. System instabilities, which were characteristic of a post-crisis period, exposed deficiencies in regulation and asymmetric incentives for bank management. A significant recalibration of prudential policies followed, as regulators sought to restore system stability, which again had an impact in altering competitive conduct of banks. Policymakers should continue to develop and promote policies geared towards the development of financial intermediation and improved competitive conduct of banks in sub-Saharan Africa.

JEL Classifications: D41, D42, D43, E32, E44, F36


Background: The very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) has been recently proposed as an appealing nutritional strategy for obesity management. The VLCKD is characterized by a low carbohydrate content (<50 g/day), 1–1.5 g of protein/kg of ideal body weight, 15–30 g of fat/day, and a daily intake of about 500–800 calories. Objectives: The aim of the current document is to suggest a common protocol for VLCKD and to summarize the existing literature on its efficacy in weight management and weight-related comorbidities, as well as the possible side effects. Methods: This document has been prepared in adherence with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Literature searches, study selection, methodology development, and quality appraisal were performed independently by 2 authors and the data were collated by means of a meta-analysis and narrative synthesis. Results: Of the 645 articles retrieved, 15 studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed, revealing 4 main findings. First, the VLCKD was shown to result in a significant weight loss in the short, intermediate, and long terms and improvement in body composition parameters as well as glycemic and lipid profiles. Second, when compared with other weight loss interventions of the same duration, the VLCKD showed a major effect on reduction of body weight, fat mass, waist circumference, total cholesterol and triglyceridemia as well as improved insulin resistance. Third, although the VLCKD also resulted in a significant reduction of glycemia, HbA1c, and LDL cholesterol, these changes were similar to those obtained with other weight loss interventions. Finally, the VLCKD can be considered a safe nutritional approach under a health professional's supervision since the most common side effects are usually clinically mild and easily to manage and recovery is often spontaneous. Conclusions: The VLCKD can be recommended as an effective dietary treatment for individuals with obesity after considering potential contra-indications and keeping in mind that any dietary treatment has to be personalized. Prospero Registry: The assessment of the efficacy of VLCKD on body weight, body composition, glycemic and lipid parameters in overweight and obese subjects: a meta-analysis (CRD42020205189).


Obesity is a major health problem worldwide that is associated with the increased risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. Sasa veitchii, which belongs to the Gramineae family, has various properties including anti-obesity properties. However, detailed mechanism of anti-obesity was not reported. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of Sasa veitchii leaf extract (SE) on obesity characteristics induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) such as hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and inflammatory response. Four-week-old male ddY mice were freely fed a HFD or a normal diet (control) for 12 weeks. During the experimental 12-week period, treatment with saline or SE, 0.2 mL twice per day by oral gavage, was conducted, and body weight was measured weekly. At the end of the experiment, the mice were euthanized after a 16-hr fasting period, and their plasma was collected. Liver and epididymal adipose tissue samples were collected and weighed. Moreover, after 10 weeks of feeding, oral glucose tolerance test was performed. Treatment with SE significantly decreased body weight, adipose tissue weight, plasma glucose, insulin, leptin, and pro-inflammatory cytokines compared with HFD groups, and markedly reduced the impairment of glucose tolerance in obese mice. Furthermore, HFD-induced adipocyte hypertrophy was improved by treatment with SE. Moreover, adipocyte differentiation marker such as proliferator-activated receptor γ was activated by SE treatment. Our findings demonstrate that SE may reduce obesity-induced glucose and insulin tolerance, presumably by the induction of the proliferator-activated receptor γ.


We have studied using traveltimes of P- and S-waves and initial seismic-pulse rise-time measurements from natural microearthquakes to derive 3D P-wave velocity VP information (mostly structural) as well as P- and S-wave velocity VP/VS and P-wave quality factor QP information (mostly lithologic) in a known hydrocarbon field in southern Albania. During a 12-month monitoring period, 1860 microearthquakes were located at a 50-station seismic network and were used to obtain the above parameters. The data set included earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from –0.1 to 3.0 R (Richter scale) and focal depths typically occurring between 2 and 10 km. Kohonen neural networks were implemented to facilitate the lithological classification of the passive seismic tomography (PST) results. The obtained results, which agreed with data from nearby wells, helped delineate the structure of the reservoir. Two subregions of the investigated area, one corresponding to an oil field and one to a gas field, were correlated with the ...


During water immersion in humans, the use of changes in hematocrit (Hct) and hemoglobin concentration (Hb) underestimates the relative changes in plasma volume (PV) as measured directly with Evans blue (EB). It is not known whether the same is the case during posture changes. Therefore, changes in PV were determined with an EB dilution technique in 10 males before, during, and after an acute posture change from seated to 6° head-down tilt (HDT). The EB method was improved to take into account changes in transcapillary escape rate of albumin-bound EB. Furthermore, blood was sampled from a central venous catheter. Hct and Hb were simultaneously measured. During HDT, PV determined with EB increased by 9.3 ± 2.0% but increased only 4.5 ± 0.9% when calculated with the Hct/Hb method ( P < 0.05 vs. EB measurements). Thus use of the Hct/Hb method in humans leads to underestimation of the change in PV by as much as 50% during an acute change in posture. Therefore, a direct tracer-dilution method must be used for accurate estimations of changes in PV during changes in posture or other antiorthostatic maneuvers.


Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease that selectively affects optic nerves and spinal cord. It is considered a severe variant of multiple sclerosis (MS), and frequently is misdiagnosed as MS, but prognosis and optimal treatments differ. A serum immunoglobulin G autoantibody (NMO-IgG) serves as a specific marker for NMO. Here we show that NMO-IgG binds selectively to the aquaporin-4 water channel, a component of the dystroglycan protein complex located in astrocytic foot processes at the blood-brain barrier. NMO may represent the first example of a novel class of autoimmune channelopathy.


Dan Miron-widely recognized as one of the world's leading experts on modern Jewish literatures-begins this study by surveying and critiquing previous attempts to define a common denominator unifying the various modern Jewish literatures. He argues that these prior efforts have all been trapped by the need to see these literatures as a continuum. Miron seeks to break through this impasse by acknowledging discontinuity as the staple characteristic of modern Jewish writing. These literatures instead form a complex of independent, yet touching, components related through contiguity. From Continuity to Contiguity offers original insights into modern Hebrew, Yiddish, and other Jewish literatures, including a new interpretation of Franz Kafka's place within them and discussions of Sholem Aleichem, Sh. Y. Abramovitsh, Akhad ha'am, M. Y. Berditshevsky, Kh. N. Bialik, and Y. L. Peretz.


The Kaliningrad region stands out for its history and geographical location. In the post-war period, the region was completely repopulated. People from many parts of Russia and other republics of the former USSR were recruited to develop the new territory. Although demographic processes and migration in the Kaliningrad region have been studied in detail, we believe that census and micro-census data can significantly advance the current knowledge of this unique region. This holds true for the data relating to the results of pre-survey migration. This approach differs markedly from traditional migration studies in Russia, which rely on migration flow data, in both data sources and migration criteria employed. Our study uses the place of birth data from the 1989, 2002, and 2010 censuses and the 1994 and 2015 microcensuses. We conclude that the proportions of residents born locally and in post-Soviet Asian countries have been increasing in recent decades. At the same time, the contribution of the natives of Belarus and Ukraine to the region's population is rapidly declining, largely due to the change of generations having a different migration history.


Abstract Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of an outpatient protocol with vaginal misoprostol to treat delayed miscarriage. Methods Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on women medically treated for missed abortion with an outpatient protocol. The inclusion criteria were: ultrasound-based diagnosis of missed abortion with less than 10 weeks; no heavy bleeding, infection, inflammatory bowel disease or misoprostol allergy; no more than 2 previous spontaneous abortions; the preference of the patient regarding the medical management. The protocol consisted of: 1) a single dose of 800 µg of misoprostol administered intravaginally at the emergency department, after which the patients were discharged home; 2) clinical and ultrasonographic evaluation 48 hours later – if the intrauterine gestational sac was still present, the application of 800 µg of vaginal misoprostol was repeated, and the patients were discharged home; 3) clinical and ultrasonography evaluation 7 days after the initiation of the protocol – if the intrauterine gestational sac was still present, surgical management was proposed. The protocol was introduced in January 2012. Every woman received oral analgesia and written general recommendations. We also gave them a paper form to be presented and filled out at each evaluation. Results Complete miscarriage with misoprostol occurred in 340 women (90.2%). Surgery was performed in 37 (9.8%) patients, representing the global failure rate of the protocol. Miscarriage was completed after the first misoprostol administration in 208 (55.2%) women, with a success rate after the second administration of 78.1% (132/169). The average age of the women with complete resolution using misoprostol was superior to the average age of those who required surgery (33.99 years versus 31.74 years; p = 0.031). Based on the ultrasonographic findings in the first evaluation, the women diagnosed with fetal loss achieved greater success rates compared with those diagnosed with empty sac (p = 0.049). Conclusions We conclude this is an effective and safe option in the majority of delayed miscarriage cases during the first trimester, reducing surgical procedures and their consequences.


This paper examines the potential of Africa's international boundaries as sources of conflict and future threats to peace and security on the continent. It argues that although border-related inter-state conflicts have been displaced by governance-related intra-state conflict, Africa's poorly demarcated boundaries are still potent sources of conflict, particularly as far as the spilling over of intra-state conflicts to neighbouring countries is concerned. Despite the artificial and unviable character of the borders of many African states, the continent's governing elite has over the years stuck to a policy of maintaining the status quo of the continent's internationally recognised borders. However, a number of persistent pressures have recently forced a rethink on the approach to be taken to the management of Africa's boundary problems, with the focus being on the proper delineation and demarcation of borders.


In this paper, we proposed the techniques that can lead to have the real happiness, which can be established by two ways, where one is obtained by the meditation, in which the concentration and mindfulness are the final outcomes. The other one is obtained by the high level meditation, in which the nirvana state is the desire target. In the meditation, the happiness state can be achieved by the stopping mind (spirit) condition, which is known as the neutral mind condition, where there is the localized gap between the suffering and happiness state, which is very small in time and approached zero. Finally, the aura light is spreading out and seen during the stopping condition. The other happiness state is obtained by the live nirvana state, where in this case the high level meditation can lead to obtain the mind stopping and collapsed states, where in this case the shiny aura is seen by the Čerenkov radiation within the stopping condition, where the aura light and relics are the obtained results.


This book on hypertension is by authors whose names are well known for their investigations into experimental hypertension in animals. It is regrettable that the expectations thus aroused are hardly realized, for its qualify is decidedly uneven. There is to start with an aetiological classification, but the range of this is so wide that it has no, practical value; angina pectoris should hardly find a place. " Neurogenic hypertension " is then described, with an account of a diencephalic syndrome which is unfamiliar. The early stages of essential hypertension are considered to be mainly due to psychoneurosis. Then follow apparently the structural changes; but no very clear line of thought is put forward. The section on physical examination omits any reference to the state of the peripheral arteries, the heart sounds, and the apex beat. The cold pressor test receives a good deal of discussion, which rather outweighs its practical value. Great stress is laid on the retinal examination, and quite rightly, but it is doubtful whether any but the expert ophthalmologist can distinguish the minute differences described. The section on pathology is superficial and the description of arterial diseases obscure ; calcification, for instance, is not mentioned. The section on psychotherapy contains a lot of good common-sense advice, but also a good deal of superficial statement. There are considerable chapters on angina pectoris and coronary thrombosis which have little direct bearing on the subject; and the special relevance to hypertension they might have is not brouglht out. Congestive heart failure is hardly approached in a modern way, for the characteristics of left ventricular failure which are such a feature of hypertension are not given. Alternation of the pulse is not mentioned at all, and the reference to gallop rhythm is inadequate; the description of it as a " cry for help " is surely a misquotation which should refer to alternation. The electrocardiograms are few and appear to be incorrectly described. The best section, as one might expect, is that on the kidneys, and here is something very well worth reading. All the latest information is clearly set forth in the light of the most recent views of renal physiology. There are some good illustrations. The part played by the kidneys in the later phases of hypertension and the vicious circles set up are described in an interesting and intelligible manner. -There follow chapters on treatment, with some disctission of svmpathectomy and thiocyanate therapy, but here there is as yet little scope. In their renal experimental work the authors are good, but most of the rest is off the point and unlikely to be of much use to the practitioners for whom the book was written.


Probabilistic modeling with latent variables is a powerful paradigm that has led to key advances in many applications such natural language processing, text mining, and computational biology. Unfortunately, while introducing latent variables substantially increases representation power, learning and modeling can become considerably more complicated. Most existing solutions largely ignore non-identifiability issues in modeling and formulate learning as a nonconvex optimization problem, where convergence to the optimal solution is not guaranteed due to local minima. In this thesis, we propose to tackle these problems through the lens of linear/multi-linear algebra. Viewing latent variable models from this perspective allows us to approach key problems such as structure learning and parameter learning using tools such as matrix/tensor decompositions, inversion, and additive metrics. These new tools enable us to develop novel solutions to learning in latent variable models with theoretical and practical advantages. For example, our spectral parameter learning methods for latent trees and junction trees are provably consistent, local-optima-free, and 1-2 orders of magnitude faster than EM for large sample sizes. In addition, we focus on applications in Natural Language Processing, using our insights to not only devise new algorithms, but also to propose new models. Our method for unsupervised parsing is the first algorithm that has both theoretical guarantees and is also practical, performing favorably to the CCM method of Klein and Manning. We also developed power low rank ensembles, a framework for language modeling that generalizes existing n-gram techniques to non-integer n. It consistently outperforms state-of-the-art Kneser Ney baselines and can train on billion-word datasets in a few hours.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the effect of a silane and an adhesive containing MDP, used alone or combined in the same solution, on the microshear bond strength (μSBS) to lithium disilicate ceramics immediately and after 1-year water storage, and compare the bond strength results with the Raman spectra of the treated lithium disilicate surfaces.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 30 CAD/CAM blocks of lithium disilicate (LD; IPS e.max CAD) were cut into four square sections (6 x 6 x 6 mm; n = 60 per group) and processed as recommended by the manufacturer. The LD specimens were divided into 12 groups according to the following independent variables: silane coupling agent (no silane; silane without 10-MDP [MBS, Monobond S]; silane with 10-MDP [MB+, Monobond Plus]) and adhesive + luting composite (no adhesive + Enforce; no adhesive + RelyX Ultimate; Prime & Bond Elect [PBE], a silane- and MDP-free universal adhesive + Enforce; Scotchbond Universal Adhesive [SBU], a silane- and MDP-containing universal adhesive + RelyX Ultimate). After each treatment, cylindrical, transparent matrices were filled with a luting composite and light cured. Specimens were stored in water (37°C for 24 h or 1 year) and submitted to the microshear bond strength (μSBS) test. The failure pattern and μSBS were statistically evaluated (α = 0.05). In addition, specimens were examined for chemical interaction using Raman spectroscopy.

RESULTS
The use of the adhesive PBE alone showed higher mean μSBS compared with both groups with silane (MSB or MB+) without PBE (p < 0.001) at 24 h. The use of the SBU adhesive or MBS silane alone, as well as MB+ associated with SBU, showed higher mean μSBS (p < 0.001) at 24 h. After 1-year water storage, all groups showed a significant decrease in mean μSBS. However, the application of PBE or SBU associated with MB+ silane showed higher 1-year mean μSBS (p < 0.001). In terms of chemical interaction, when silane (MSB or MB+) was applied, only a slight decrease of Si-O peaks occurred. Otherwise, when PBE or SBU adhesives were applied, methacrylate peaks were only observed in the SBU groups.

CONCLUSION
The best results in terms of bond strength after water storage were obtained when an MDP-containing silane was associated with a universal adhesive. The use of a simplified bonding protocol that includes either a silane or a universal adhesive is not recommended.


The paper aims to explore the fundamental concepts of structuralism and post-structuralism as philosophical approaches, literary differences between structuralism and post-structuralism, and the implication of these two approaches in Library and Information Science (LIS). Several published literature was consulted to achieve the study objectives. It was found that structuralism and post-structuralism have a significant impact on the functioning of modern libraries and, therefore, their importance should be given consideration. Structuralism and post -structuralism as philosophical approaches provide insights into research and development in LIS. The study gives numerous recommendations for LIS professionals to adopt these two philosophical approaches in modern library practices .


ABSTRACT From Paris' capture of Helen in Homer's Iliad, and the resulting 10-year war in retaliation, Western literature has a long tradition of narrativising the turn to war as a dispute in service of a woman. Yet in contemporary Western legal accounts it is assumed that legal arch-positivism now governs the decision to go to war, and so any such action can be considered rational and just. However, contemporary turns to war are increasingly invoking just war theory that is wrapped in a similar patriarchal gender narrative. George RR Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' evokes the European tradition of war in the middle ages, but also explores modern aspects of liberalism, statehood, and international relations. This paper explores how the turn to war is narrativised and understood by various characters in the novels. It does so in order to demonstrate how calls to war rooted in chivalry and protectionism can gain more currency than those rooted in legalist language, but outlines how this then perpetuates and cements a regressive view of women as passive and helpless. This article ultimately calls for an alternative account of law's understanding of war which does not invoke the rescuer paradigm, and so offers potential reimagining of contemporary justifications for war.


Three-stage redundancy-free multilevel inverter and its innovative control method have been presented. Logic comparators have been implemented in order to ease calculations and to ensure simplicity as well as to improve resultant voltage waveforms. The multistage inverter is formed by high, medium and low voltage stages, connected in series. Six-switch conventional inverter represents the main high-voltage stage. Cascaded H-bridge units are used to build the medium and low voltage stages of the inverter. The proposed control strategy is to keep the state of the high voltage stage if it can lead to the target voltage vector or medium and low approximations otherwise, are triggered. Hysteresis Comparators are used in high and medium voltage stages to hold switching states or to decide the next change. The low voltage stage works to reach the reference voltage vector by using integer rounding and comparators to achieve the best approximations. The designed control technique is verified by simulations as well as testing to prove its advantages over previous control methods.


Benefit‐cost analyses of R&D activity in agriculture increasingly form part of the decision‐making process of allocating R&D funds. This article describes how institutional and social influences can affect the rigour and quality of R&D evaluations. The article explores some possible mechanisms for quality control in benefit‐cost analysis so that appraisals are more likely to be accountable and credible assessments rather than false advertising or biased assessments.


We describe the use of C60 fullerene molecules as the charge storage medium in an insulating poly-vinyl-phenol (PVP) polymer. The simple metal–organic–metal (MOM) sandwich structure devices deposited from solution exhibit distinct high and low conduction states, which can be used to program read, write and erase memory operations. The charge transfer and retention in C60 molecules at room temperature has been confirmed by capacitance–voltage and Raman spectroscopy measurements. Conducting atomic force microscopy has been used to demonstrate that high and low conductance states persist even at the nanoscale.


METAFONT is Donald E. Knuth''s system for alphabet design. The system allows an entire family of fonts or "meta-fonts" to be specified precisely and mathematically so that it can be produced in different sizes and styles for different raster devices. We present a new technique for defining Chinese characters hierarchically with METAFONT. We define METAFONT subroutines for commonly used portions of strokes and then combine some of these into routines for drawing complete strokes. Parameters describe the skeletons of the strokes and the stroke routines are carefully designed to transform themselves appropriately. This allows us to handle all of the basic strokes with only 14 different routines. The stroke routines in turn are used to build up groups of strokes and radicals. Special routines for positioning control points ensure that the strokes will join properly in a variety of different styles. The radical routines are parameterized to allow them to be placed at different locations in the typeface and to allow for adjusting their size and shape. Key points are positioned relative to the bounding box for the radical, and the special positioning routines find other points that must be passed to the stroke routines. We use this method to design high quality Song style characters. Global parameters control the style, and we show how these can be used to create Song and Long Song from the same designs. Other settings can produce other familiar styles or even new styles. We show how it is possible to create completely different styles, such as Bold style, merely by substituting different stroke routines. The global parameters can be used to augment simple scaling by altering stroke width and other details to account for changes in size. We can adjust stroke widths to help even out the overall darkness of the characters. We also show how it is possible to experiment with new ideas such as adjusting character widths individually. While many of our characters are based on existing designs, the stroke routines facilitate the design of new characters without the need to refer to detailed drawings. The skeletal parameters and special positioning routines make it easy to position the strokes properly. In our previous paper, in contrast to this, we parameterized the strokes according to their boundaries and copied an existing design. The previous approach made it very difficult to create different styles with the same METAFONT program.


The Tirúa-Mocha Island area (38.2°-38.4° S) in southern Chile has been affected by two megaearthquakes in only 50 years: the 1960 Mw=9.5 Valdivia earthquake and 2010 Mw=8.8 Maule earthquake. We studied in the field the vertical ground movements occurred during the interseismic period between both earthquakes and the coseismic period of 2010 Maule earthquake and 2011 Mw=7.1 Araucanía earthquake. During the 1960 earthquake, vertical coseismic ground movements are typical of subduction related earthquakes with Mocha Island, located close to the trench, experienced bigger ground uplift (150 cm) than that occurred in Tirúa (-20 cm), place located in the continental margin at the latitude of Mocha Island. Then during the 1960-2010 interseismic period, the 1960 coseismic uplift remained at Mocha Island unlike the normal interseismic subsidence that occurred northward at Arauco Peninsula and Santa María Island. Also Tirúa experienced the biggest interseismic uplift (180 cm) in all the area affected later by 2010 Maule earthquake. Then during the 2010 Mw=8.8 Maule earthquake an anomalous vertical coseismic ground uplift occurred in the study area, opposite to that of 1960 since Mocha Island experienced lower (25 cm) ground uplift than Tirúa (90 cm). Subsequently, during the Araucanía 2011 earthquake a ground uplift in Mocha Island (50 cm) and subsidence at Tirúa (20 cm) occurred. These unexpected vertical ground movements can be explained by the existence of an upper plate splay fault located below the sea bottom between Tirúa and Mocha Island: the Tirúa-Mocha splay fault. Considering the last seismic cycle, the activity of this fault would have started after the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. During 2010 Maule earthquake, the main slip occurred at Tirúa Mocha splay fault. Finally during 2011 Araucanía earthquake, the slip occurred mainly at the updip of Wadati-Benioff plane with probable normal activity of Tirúa-Mocha splay fault. Simple elastic dislocation models considering the Wadati-Benioff plane and the Tirúa-Mocha splay fault activity, can account for all the vertical ground movements observed during 1960 earthquake, the 1960-2010 interseismic period, the 2010 Maule earthquake and the 2011 Araucanía earthquake.


We describe a highly sensitive and precise radioimmunoassay for thyrotropin in dried blood spots on filter paper cards. In a screening program for congenital hypothyroidism, blood-spot thyrotropin concentrations are measured in infants whose blood-spot thyroxine concentrations are in the lower 10%, and this strategy has reduced the recall rate from 1.7% (thyroxine assay alone) to 0.17%. Thyrotropin assay samples consist of discs 4.5-mm in diameter, containing about 6 zL of blood, punched from blood spots. By appropriate attention to assay conditions, a mean least-detectable thyrotropin concentration equivalent to 2.5 milliunits/L plasma has been achieved. Concomitant measurement of thyrotropin by plasma and blood-spot assays in 91 subjects yielded a Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.9732. An analysis of variance of the distribution volume of thyrotropin in blood spots and a co-varianceanalysisof factors affecting blood-spotthyroxine results are presented.


Many loads acting on a vehicle depend on the condition and quality of roads
traveled as well as on the driving style of the motorist. Thus, during vehicle development,
good knowledge on these further operations conditions is advantageous.
For that purpose, usage models for different kinds of vehicles are considered. Based
on these mathematical descriptions, representative routes for multiple user
types can be simulated in a predefined geographical region. The obtained individual
driving schedules consist of coordinates of starting and target points and can
thus be routed on the true road network. Additionally, different factors, like the
topography, can be evaluated along the track.
Available statistics resulting from travel survey are integrated to guarantee reasonable
trip length. Population figures are used to estimate the number of vehicles in
contained administrative units. The creation of thousands of those geo-referenced
trips then allows the determination of realistic measures of the durability loads.
Private as well as commercial use of vehicles is modeled. For the former, commuters
are modeled as the main user group conducting daily drives to work and
additional leisure time a shopping trip during workweek. For the latter, taxis as
example for users of passenger cars are considered. The model of light-duty commercial
vehicles is split into two types of driving patterns, stars and tours, and in
the common traffic classes of long-distance, local and city traffic.
Algorithms to simulate reasonable target points based on geographical and statistical
data are presented in detail. Examples for the evaluation of routes based
on topographical factors and speed profiles comparing the influence of the driving
style are included.


Gene related to anergy in lymphocytes (GRAIL) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that regulates energy in T-lymphocytes. Whereas, the relevance of GRAIL to T lymphocyte function is well established, the role of this protein in other cell types remains unknown. Given that GRAIL is abundant in the liver, we investigated the potential function of GRAIL in nutrient metabolism by generating mice in which the expression of GRAIL is reduced specifically in the liver. Adenovirus-mediated transfer of a short hairpin RNA specific for GRAIL mRNA markedly reduced the amounts of GRAIL mRNA and protein in the liver. Blood glucose levels of the mice with hepatic GRAIL deficiency did not differ from those of control animals in the fasted or fed states. However, these mice manifested glucose intolerance in association with a normal increase in plasma insulin levels during glucose challenge. The mice also manifested an increase in the serum concentration of free fatty acids, whereas the serum levels of cholesterol and triglyceride were unchanged. The hepatic abundance of mRNAs for glucose-6-phosphatase, catalytic (a key enzyme in hepatic glucose production) and for sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1 (an important transcriptional regulator of lipogenesis) was increased in the mice with hepatic GRAIL deficiency, possibly contributing to the metabolic abnormalities of these animals. Our results thus demonstrate that GRAIL in the liver is essential for maintenance of normal glucose and lipid metabolism in living animals.


The reactivity of the Ti(8)C(12)(+) met-car cation toward thiophene was investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and mass selective ion chemistry. It is shown that the experimentally observed mass spectrum can be well described by the DFT calculations. In contrast to the weak bonding interactions seen for thiophene on a TiC(001) surface, the Ti(8)C(12)(+) met-car cation is able to interact strongly with up to four thiophene molecules with the cluster staying intact. In the most stable conformation, the thiophene molecules bond to the four low-coordinated Ti(0) sites of Ti(8)C(12)(+) via a eta(5)-C,S coordination. The stability and the activity of the Ti(8)C(12)(+) met-car is observed to increase with an increasing number of attached thiophene molecules at the Ti(0) sites, which is associated with a significant transfer of electron density from thiophene to the cluster. The additional electron density on the Ti(8)C(12)(+) cation cluster, however, is not sufficient to cleave the C-S bonds of thiophene and the dissociation reaction of thiophene is predicted to be a highly activated process. By contrast, DFT calculations for the neutral Ti(8)C(12) met-car predict that the dissociation reaction leading to adsorbed S and C(4)H(4) fragments is energetically favorable for the first thiophene molecule. The binding behavior for subsequent addition of thiophene molecules to the neutral met-car is also presented and compared to that of the cation.


: The basics and the technique of intraarterial digital subtraction arteriography with carbon dioxide (CO2) are presented. The procedure turned out to be a good and relatively poor-risk alternative to conventional angiography with iodinated contrast media in 26 peripheral arteriographies and in 6 peripheral angioplasties in hyperthyroid patients. Using a 9-inch amplifier, arteriograms from the infrarenal abdominal aorta down to the lower leg arteries were performed with five series of insufflation of 20-25 cc CO2 each. With regard to the image quality, there is no difference between CO2 arteriograms and those performed with intraarterial application of iodinated contrast media.


Antibodies mediating post-attachment virus neutralisation (PN), inhibition of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-induced cell fusion in the glioblastoma cell line U373 (IF) and global neutralising activity (NA) were quantified in sera from healthy immunocompetent individuals, asymptomatic HIV-1-infected subjects and AIDS patients to further characterise the neutralising antibody response to HCMV in these population groups and to assess whether HIV-1-infected individuals exhibited an abnormal functional antibody profile. PN and IF antibodies accounted for a minor fraction of the NA activity of sera from all population groups. Sera from HIV-1-infected individuals (particularly AIDS patients) displayed higher levels of PN and IF antibodies than those from the healthy control group; however, the relative contribution of these antibodies to the global serum NA activity appeared to be lower in the former individuals than in immunocompetent controls. Serum antibodies preventing HCMV cell-to-cell spread (IP) were then measured to determine whether a specific deficiency could be detected in the HIV-1-infected group population. Serum IP antibody titres were significantly higher in HIV-1-infected individuals (particularly in AIDS patients) than in controls. The potential implications of the data for explaining the pathogenesis of HCMV infection are discussed.


This paper provides a novel perspective in the Protein Structure Prediction (PSP) problem. The PSP problem focuses on determining putative 3D structures of a protein starting from its primary sequence. The proposed approach relies on a multi-agents approach, where concurrent agents explore the folding of different parts of a protein. The strength of the approach lies in the agents' ability to apply different types of knowledge (expressed in the form of declarative constraints) to prune the local space of folding alternatives. The paper demonstrates the suitability of a GPU approach to implement such multi-agent infrastructure, with significant improvements in speed and quality of solutions w.r.t. other methods (e.g., based on fragments assembly approaches).


Purpose: To describe the retinal peripheral vascular morphology and to elucidate its relationship to microvascular abnormalities in normal fundus using ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography. Methods: A total of 242 eyes from 167 consecutive patients were categorized into 3 groups: bilateral normal (n = 64), normal with contralateral eye affected with vascular disease (n = 82), and early diabetic eyes (n = 96). Peripheral vascular morphology was described and classified according to the shape. Microvascular abnormalities such as capillary telangiectasia, microaneurysm, or vascular leakage were documented, and the relationship between those abnormalities in each groups were analyzed. Results: There were two distinctive peripheral vascular morphologies—loop and branching patterns. Microvascular abnormalities were more frequently found as loop patterns; this difference was most prominent when both eyes were normal. In case of normal eyes with contralateral eye affected with vascular disease or diabetic eyes, branching pattern microvascular abnormalities were relatively increased, whereas loop pattern still showed a large degree of microvascular abnormalities. Conclusion: In normal retinal periphery, we observed microvascular abnormalities and their relationship with vascular morphology, which could be influenced by the condition of the contralateral eye or systemic disease such as diabetes mellitus.


The photolytic decomposition of the insecticide imidacloprid (1) in HPLC grade water and of imidacloprid as the formulated product Confidor insecticide in tap water was studied using HPLC methodology. The structures of several degradates have been determined in aquatic medium, and the DT(50) values of imidacloprid and Confidor have been measured. In addition, the influence of TiO(2) on the photodegradation of Confidor was studied. The photoproduct 1-(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)methyl-2-imidazolidinone (5) has been identified as the main degradate in each of the three series of experiments by several analytical techniques. The photolytic half-lives for imidacloprid under the conditions of this study were 43 min in HPLC grade water, 126 min formulated as Confidor in tap water, and 144 min formulated as Confidor in tap water in the presence of TiO(2).


Last month, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology, a research team reported cloning a gene that, when mutated, helps make some types of cells immortal. The team doesn9t know exactly how the new gene, called
 MORF4 , works, but its structure suggests that it makes a transcription factor, a protein that controls the activity of other genes. The hope is that it will be possible to track down those genes, shedding light on both the cellular causes of immortality and its opposite number, senescence and aging. The work could also help provide a better understanding of cancer, because
 MORF4 may act as a tumor-suppressor gene--one whose loss or inactivation contributes to cancer development.


This article is an abridged version of a paper prepared for an address to the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, on January 27, 2006.1 It examines three major global developments that have occurred in recent years and discusses their impact on the New Zealand economy in terms of their effect on relative prices. These developments include (i) closer integration of China and other emerging economies with large pools of labour, (ii), a housing market boom in some OECD countries, and (iii) recent geopolitical and biosecurity events. The monetary and financial stability policy implications of these developments are discussed as are some lessons for households, businesses and public policymakers.


Intravenous mineral acid infusions into fetal sheep stimulate increases in plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol concentrations that correlate to the induced changes in arterial pH (pHa). We have recently demonstrated that ACTH and cortisol responses to mineral acid infusion in adult sheep are mediated by thromboxane A2 (TxA2). We designed the present experiments to test the hypothesis that fetal ACTH and cortisol responses are also mediated by TxA2. We infused chronically instrumented fetal sheep with 1 N HCl (0.5 ml/min i.v.) for 60 min, with or without pretreatment with the cyclooxygenase inhibitor flunixin-N-methylglucamine. HCl infusion significantly decreased pHa and significantly increased the arterial partial pressure of O2 (PaO2) and CO2 (PaCO2). Flunixin pretreatment significantly decreased fetal plasma thromboxane B2 (TxB2) concentrations but did not significantly alter the blood gas and pH response to HCl. TxB2 is a stable metabolite of TxA2 and was measured as an index of TxA2 generation. HCl increased fetal heart rate only in the flunixin group. Plasma ACTH and cortisol concentrations were increased significantly in both groups; flunixin did not significantly alter the responses. HCl infusion did not significantly alter plasma TxB2 concentrations. We conclude that the fetal ACTH and cortisol responses to HCl infusion are not mediated by TxA2 or other prostanoids whose synthesis depends on cyclooxygenase activity.


'The big challenge for the twenty-first century is the promotion of freedom of thought. The destructive mechanism of the crisis has ensured that exuberance, radicalism and even the longing for utopia have been demolished among architects. I believe these are precisely the qualities we now need in order to innovate.' Interview with Floris Alkemade, the Chief Government Architect, ArchiNed, 29 March 2016. Although demands for a new, social role for architecture are growing louder, central government's time-honoured role as a guiding force has been marginalised and new strategies are called for. Chief Government Architect Floris Alkemade presents his vision and agenda for the coming four years. Central to his talk is the search for the social element within the architecture brief and innovation through design. How can architects and planners engage with social issues such as population decline, migration, vacant buildings and an ageing population? What role does research play in this? What are the conditions under which design can have a real influence? What does this mean for the discipline?


At the beginning of the digital age new and complex problems for media system, in particular for journalism, are setting up. Online platforms – the new digital intermediaries - are introducing automated systems for distributing content and information through technologies that control access to online news via search engines, news aggregators and social networks. These are new algorithmic systems of information and news management that become authentic "gatekeepers" of the news. This "algorithmic turn" is a great challenge for the future of journalism whose problems and consequences we address in more detail in this paper.


In The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil is usually viewed as either a silly and unimportant interruption or as a character with only a very minor function, but certainly not as a character of importance like Gandalf. Recently, scholars have shown the importance of laughter and humor in J.R.R. Tolkien's works. This essay continues the discussion by showing how Bombadil is important and necessary to the narrative of The Lord of the Rings as an embodiment of joy, and more broadly demonstrates the essential revivifying importance of joy to the entire tale. Additional


Abstract The pine engraver, Ips pini (Say), colonizes jack, red, and white pines in the Great Lakes region. Males select suitable hosts, bore through the bark into phloem tissue, and emit aggregation pheromones. Pheromones attract conspecifics, which aid in overcoming tree defenses, and predators, which exploit these cues as kairomones. Sampling was conducted over 2 yr to characterize the assemblage of insects that arrive at and reproduce in trees colonized by I. pini, and how this assemblage is partitioned by host species, time after colonization, and seasonal phenology. Over 70 species from three orders were obtained. I. pini was most abundant, especially during late summer. The first natural enemy to arrive was Medetera bistriata Parent, which came simultaneously with I. pini. Other Diptera such as Lonchaea corticis Taylor and Zabrachia polita Coquillett were also abundant. Roptrocerus xylophagorum (Ratzeburg), a late instar parasitoid, arrived last. Its emergence most closely coincided with I. pini emergence, whereas the other species emerged substantially after I. pini. Host species did not affect total I. pini emergence but strongly affected natural enemies. Most R. xylophagorum and Monochamus spp. emerged from white pine, and most Z. polita emerged from red pine. I. pini had the highest ratio of emergence to arrival per log. Only the predator T. dubius and the parasitoid R. xylophagorum showed numerical responses to the number of emerging I. pini. Exclusion of insects during the first 2 wk of colonization decreased reproduction of I. pini and other wood borers in the spring, but not summer.


The intercostal flap has many uses for torso reconstruction, whether employed as an island flap or a free flap. With modifications, it can be used as a sensory skin flap, or as a compound osteocutaneous flap to restore stability in a chest wall construction, or as a skin flap with a permanent blood supply to provide stable cover after excision of radiation ulcers.


With the scarcity of freshwater in some parts of the world, water desalination is becoming a necessity. Water desalination is a process that converts saltwater into drinkable potable freshwater is becoming human necessity. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a hybrid-water desalination system using vacuum tubes solar collector and supplemented by electrical energy. We will be using thermal evaporation/condensation method. The water evaporator is a modified 40-gallon water heater in which we inserted a copper coil and pumping glycol to a vacuum tube solar collector located on the building roof. Through solar radiation, the vacuum tubes heats up the glycol which in return heats up the seawater in the 40-gallon hopefully to boiling temperatures. The tank is also equipped with two inserted heating elements to supplement the solar energy needed for evaporate the seawater. The boiling tank is further equipped with two insulated drum heater - fixed Temp 145 F as a supplement heat source on the evaporation thank. In the condensation tank, the water vapor flowing in another copper coil heat exchanger will be cooled by the seawater being pumped from the source, causing the vapor inside the tube to condense and be stored separately from any brine byproduct.. The timing of the pumps, solenoid pumps, heating elements and other system components controlled by a Raspberry Pi controller.


This paper describes a calculation of the statistical distribution of energy deposition events in small spherical sites in water (with diameters of 1 pm or smaller in unit density material) irradiated by protons. The calculation is based on the use of a semiempirical differential ionisation cross section for water vapour given by Wilson and Miller, and takes into account proton energy loss straggling and the transport of energy by secondary electrons. Results are given for irradiations by monoenergetic protons with energies from 1 to 20 MeV, and for irradiations with protons set in motion by interactions of 14 and 20 MeV neutrons with hydrogen.


Analyses were made of concentrations of six elements ( the micronutrients copper, iron, manganese and zinc, and the macronutrients calcium and magnesium ) in samples of Triticum spetta and the soil they were grown on to investigate relationships between the two, and the possibility of sourcing material found in the archaeological record. Charred and fresh grains of geographically and geologically diverse locations were broken down in nitric acid using a microwave digestion technique. The resultant solutions were analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Soil extractions using nitric acid and diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid allowed analyses of total and available elements. The results of soil / grain digests were investigated but no consistently significant relationships could be discerned. Growth experiments were performed by growing grain samples from various locations on one soil type to assess which factors were primarily important in elemental uptake. Calcium and magnesium uptake appears strongly influenced by the growing environment, but that of the micronutrients is additionally affected by genetic factors. In order to assess changes in elemental concentration due to burial, diagenetic experiments were carried out using grain from various locations and a series of differing burial periods. It was found that there was a trend for concentrations of the micronutrients and magnesium to decrease, whilst calcium concentrations increased substantially. On completion of work with modem grain, samples from the archaeological record were analysed. Elemental concentrations were found to be very different in ancient material and more significantly related to the burial environment. It appears possible to differentiate between leached, rural and waterlogged / urban sites.


In speaker recognition, where speech segments are mapped to embeddings on the unit hypersphere, two scoring backends are commonly used, namely cosine scoring or PLDA. Both have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the context. Cosine scoring follows naturally from the spherical geometry, but for PLDA the blessing is mixed -- length normalization Gaussianizes the between-speaker distribution, but violates the assumption of a speaker-independent within-speaker distribution. We propose PSDA, an analogue to PLDA that uses Von Mises-Fisher distributions on the hypersphere for both within and between-class distributions. We show how the self-conjugacy of this distribution gives closed-form likelihood-ratio scores, making it a drop-in replacement for PLDA at scoring time. All kinds of trials can be scored, including single-enroll and multi-enroll verification, as well as more complex likelihood-ratios that could be used in clustering and diarization. Learning is done via an EM-algorithm with closed-form updates. We explain the model and present some first experiments.


Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are proliferating globally. The submerged parts of their structures act as artificial reefs, providing new habitats and likely affecting fisheries resources. While acknowledging that the footprints of these structures may result in loss of habitat, usually soft sediment, we focus on how the artificial reefs established by OWFs affect ecosystem structure and functioning. Structurally, the ecological response begins with high diversity and biomass in the flora and fauna that gradually colonize the complex hard substrate habitat. The species may include nonindigenous ones that are extending their spatial distributions and/or strengthening populations, locally rare species (e.g., hard substrate-associated fish), and habitat-forming species that further increase habitat complexity. Functionally, the response begins with dominant suspension feeders that filter organic matter from the water column. Their fecal deposits alter the surrounding seafloor communities by locally increasing food availability, and higher trophic levels (fish, birds, marine mammals) also profit from locally increased food availability and/or shelter. The structural and functional effects extend in space and time, impacting species differently throughout their life cycles. Effects must be assessed at those larger spatiotemporal scales.


AIMS
Oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) are involved in the regulation of pathological myocardial hypertrophy (MH). We hypothesize that both ER are also involved in physiological MH. Therefore, we investigated the role of ER in exercise-induced physiological MH in loss-of-function models and studied potential mechanisms of action.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We performed 1 and 8 weeks of voluntary cage wheel running (VCR) with male and female C57BL/6J wild-type (WT), ERα- and ERβ-deleted mice. In line with other studies, female WT mice ran more than males (P ≤ 0.001). After 8 weeks of VCR, both sexes showed an increase in left ventricular mass (females: P ≤ 0.01 and males: P ≤ 0.05) with more pronounced MH in females (P < 0.05). As previously shown, female ERα-deleted mice run less than female WT mice (P ≤ 0.001). ERβ-deleted mice showed similar running performance as WT mice (females vs. male: P ≤ 0.001), but did not develop MH. Only female WT mice showed an increase in phosphorylation of serine/threonine kinase (AKT), ERK1/2, p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and ribosomal protein s6, as well as an increase in the expression of key regulators of mitochondrial function and mitochondrial respiratory chain proteins (complexes I, III, and V) after VCR. However, ERβ deletion abolished all observed sex differences. Mitochondrial remodelling occurred in female WT-VCR mice, but not in female ERβ-deleted mice.

CONCLUSION
The sex-specific response of the heart to exercise is modulated by ERβ. The greater increase in physiological MH in females is mediated by induction of AKT signalling, MAPK pathways, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial adaptation via ERβ.


There has been a search for more effective and safe hypnotic drugs in the last decades. Zolpidem, zaleplon, zopiclone, eszopiclone (the z-drugs) and indiplon are GABA-A modulators which bind selectively α1 subunits, thus, exhibiting similar mechanisms of action, although recent evidence suggests that eszopiclone is not as selective for α1 subunit as zolpidem is. Ramelteon and tasimelteon are new chrono-hypnotic agents, selective for melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors. On the other hand, the consumption of sedative antidepressant drugs is significantly increasing for the treatment of insomnia, in the last years. As an experimental drug, eplivanserin is being tested as a potent antagonist of serotonin 2-A receptors (ASTAR) with a potential use in sleep maintenance difficulty. Another recent pharmacological agent for insomnia is almorexant, which new mechanism of action involves antagonism of hypocretinergic system, thus inducing sleep. Finally we also discuss the potential role of other gabaergic drugs for insomnia.


programme, at least in the key risk group of middle aged men. In short, contrary to their conclusions, their papers show that community screening for cholesterol does not contact the main risk groups and that, even when it does, it does not lead to benefit in reducing cholesterol levels. This has implications for public health strategies regarding cholesterol risk reduction and possibly other screening activities. Bruce Hocking, FACOM Director, Occupational MediCine, Corporate Human Resources Telecom Australia. 199 William Street. Melbourne. VIC 3000 1 van Beurden EK. James R. Henrikson D. et al The North Coast Cholesterol Check Campaign Med J Aust 1991: 154.385·391 2 Hennkson D. James R. van Beurden E. Screening for carer avascular fisk factors In an industnal setting, J Occup Health Safety Aust N Z 1990: 6 15·21


Scale deposition on heat transfer surfaces from water containing dissolved salts reduces the efficiency and performance of heat transfer equipments considerably. Scale deposition could be reduced through physical or chemical methods. In some cases, chemical methods are unacceptable, due to cost, contamination issues, etc. In these cases, physical methods are the only acceptable choices. Surface energy of the heat exchanger has been thought to be one important factor affecting the growth of fouling. Applying low energy surfaces to reduce scaling deposition is one of the effective physical methods. The formation and the characteristics of the calcium carbonate scaling on low energy surfaces have been studied in this paper. Copper and stainless steel surfaces were modified by micro-scale (μm thickness) PTFE (Poly-Tetrofluorethylene) films and nano-scale (nm thickness) thiolate SAMs (Self-Assembly Monolayers). The resulting surface energy of PTFE films and SAMs layers based on copper and stainless steel were significantly reduced compared with the original metal surfaces. To study the formation of the calcium carbonate scale, a recirculation cooling water system was used. The formation of the calcium carbonate scale on PTFE surfaces, SAMs surfaces, polished copper surfaces, and polished stainless steel surfaces were investigated respectively. The rate of calcium carbonate scale formation was decreased and the induction period was prolonged with the decrease of the heat transfer surface energy. The characteristics of the calcium carbonate scale formed on heat transfer surfaces with different surface energies was analyzed with fractal theory after taking photos with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). The fractal dimension values of the calcium carbonate scale on different heat transfer surfaces with different surface energies were calculated. The results showed that the fractal dimension values of calcium carbonate scale formed on lower energy PTFE and Cu-SAMs surfaces were greater than those that formed on higher energy Cu and stainless steel surfaces. Results of this study clearly indicated that the formation of calcium carbonate scaling on lower energy heat transfer surfaces is reduced.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


S. Mason's signal flow graph technique is applied to the analysis of ladder networks. Briefly, the flow graph of a ladder is developed using Ohm's and the two Kirchhoff's equations. The graph is then reciprocated so that it contains only forward paths. The transfer function, in the case of a simple ladder, is the reciprocal of the sum of all distinct paths from the output to the input node. In the case of ladders containing internal generators, independent or dependent, the transfer function can be found in a similar way with slight modifications. Other relations, such as the input impedance, transfer admittance, etc., can also be found directly from the flow graph. In essence, instead of writing mesh equations or applying recursion formulas of continuants, we construct a flow graph by inspection and analyze the network from the graph. In the last part of the paper, the striking similarities between the flow graph of a network and its analog computer simulation are pointed out. Indeed, the flow graph is the computer set-up in a schematic form.