In this paper, we address the problem of data description using a Bayesian framework. The goal of data description is to draw a boundary around objects of a certain class of interest to discriminate that class from the rest of the feature space. Data description is also known as one-class learning and has a wide range of applications. The proposed approach uses a Bayesian framework to precisely compute the class boundary and therefore can utilize domain information in form of prior knowledge in the framework. It can also operate in the kernel space and therefore recognize arbitrary boundary shapes. Moreover, the proposed method can utilize unlabeled data in order to improve accuracy of discrimination. We evaluate our method using various real-world datasets and compare it with other state of the art approaches of data description. Experiments show promising results and improved performance over other data description and one-class learning algorithms.


Billfishes are genetically and morphologically distinct enough from scombroids to merit placement in a separate suborder, Xiphioidei. Two extant families are usually recognized: Xiphiidae (swordfish, Xiphias) and Istiophoridae, currently containing three genera, Istiophorus (sailfishes), Makaira (marlins), and Tetrapturus (spear fishes, white, and striped marlins). Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data from mi tochondrial and nuclear gene sequences (mitochondrial control region, ND2, 12S, and nuclear MN 32 regions) show a different picture of relationships. Makaira is not monophyletic: blue marlin cluster with sailfish and placement of black marlin is un stable. Accepting the molecular phylogeny gives two possible classifications: (1) two genera: blue marlin + sailfish (as Istiophorus) and all the rest (as Tetrapturus), or (2) five genera: blue marlin (), sailfish (), black marlin ( Istiompax), striped and white marlin (Kajikia), and four spearfishes ( Tetrapturus). We prefer the latter possibility. There is no genetic evidence to support recognition of separate species of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific sailfishes or blue marlins. Atlantic white marlin, Kajikia albida (Poey, 1860) is closely related to Indo-Pacific striped marlin, Kajikia audax (Philippi, 1887). The four spearfishes are closely related: the three Atlantic species, longbill ( Tetrapturus pfluegeri Robins and de Sylva, 1963), Mediterranean (Tetrapturus belone Rafinesque, 1810), and roundscale ( Tetrapturus georgii Lowe, 1841), and the one Indo-Pacific species, shortbill ( Tetrapturus angustirostris Tana ka, 1915). The roundscale is the most divergent of the spearfishes. A fifth putative Tetrapturus sp., the "hatchet marlin" clusters with roundscale spearfish but these two "species" could not be differentiated in this analysis.


Single-cell functional proteomics assays can connect genomic information to biological function through the use of quantitative and multiplex protein measurements. Tools for single-cell proteomics have developed rapidly over the past 5 years, and are providing approaches for directly elucidating phospho-protein signaling networks in cancer cells, or for capturing high-resolution snapshots of immune system function in cancer patients participating therapies that involve immune system engineering and manipulation. We discuss advances in single cell proteomics platforms, with an emphasis the types of data that can be obtained, and how analysis of that data can provide deep insights into either designing therapies, or understanding patient responses to therapies. I will provide illustrative examples of how microchip-based single cell functional proteomics platforms are being applied to both fundamental biology and clinical studies. Citation Format: James R. Heath, Wei Wei, Young Shik Shin, Min Xue, Jing Zhou, Alex Sutherland, Jing Yu. Nanotechnology and single cell proteomics as a diagnostic tool. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr SY23-02. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-SY23-02


Introduction: Leptin is thought to play an important role in the regulation of the immune system. In patients, leptin is inversely proportional to interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels. Thus, the objective of our study was to evaluate a dose-dependent therapeutic impact of leptin with possible IL-6-dependency on immune actions and outcome in a trauma/sepsis model. Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine wild-type and 63 IL-6−/− mice were subdivided into three groups: trauma/sepsis group (first hit: femur fracture and hemorrhage; second hit: cecal ligation and puncture 2 days later), trauma group (first hit and laparotomy), sham group (laparotomy only). Each group received vehicle or leptin (2.5 &mgr;g/g (leptin1) or 5 &mgr;g/g (leptin2)) subcutaneously and was observed for 8 days after induction of the first hit. Mortality, humoral, and cellular immune markers were determined. Results: We revealed a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect of exogenous leptin in the sepsis groups and to some extent a pro-inflammatory effect in the sham groups. Leptin administration resulted in a decreased mortality in septic wild-type mice (trauma/sepsis vehicle group: 36.4%, trauma/sepsis leptin1 group: 25%, trauma/sepsis leptin2 group: 0%) and in an increased mortality in septic IL-6−/− mice (53.8%, 83.4%, 100%). All mice of the trauma groups and sham groups survived. In wild-type trauma/sepsis mice, exogenous leptin led to increased levels of CD4+ and CD8+ in the spleen, and a less pronounced type IV hypersensitivity (P ⩽ 0.039). Furthermore, it decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor-&agr; and IL-6, not reaching statistical significance. Conclusions: Due to the fact that leptin administration to traumatized and septic mice seems to have a positive effect on their outcome via IL-6 and does not negatively impact their medical condition if applied preventively, leptin might be a therapeutic agent for the prevention, or treatment of sepsis-related detrimental outcome after initial trauma.


This study examined the effect of bank credit to the private sector on economic growth in Nigeria using data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and bank credit to private sector (BCPS). Inflation and interest rates were included in the study as control variables. All data were obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and span across 1981 to 2010. Data stationarity were ensured using the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) statistic, while the OLS were applied to ascertain the impact of bank credit to the private sector on economic growth. Results of the analysis showed that bank credit to private sectors has a statistical strong positive relationship with GDP and that as expected, bank credit to the private sector has statistically significant effect on economic growth. The paper recommends that the CBN should lower its minimum rediscount rate to a moderate level that will enable banks fix low interest rates on their loanable funds while adopting direct credit control to favour preferred sectors like Agriculture and manufacturing. Finally, monetary authorities should through monetary policy reduce legal reserves requirement for banks to enable the banking sector to create more credit for the economy. This will enhance investment, job and employment opportunities which on the other hand will boast economic growth in the


This article examines the field of remote interpretation in both signed and spoken languages. Remote interpreting is used throughout a range of specializations including medical, mental health, education, conference, and legal environments. Video interpreting is here to stay, despite obstacles that continue to pose a challenge; many who fight this technology do so against the natural paradigm shift that the field will take. I propose that rather than resist the expansion of technology, interpreter educators instead teach interpreters how to use it effectively. In this article I identify important topics for educators to address, to help interpreters make ethically wise decisions in this setting and to improve the provision of services.


This paper presents a meta-analysis of theory and research about writing and writing pedagogy, identifying six discourses – configurations of beliefs and practices in relation to the teaching of writing. It introduces and explains a framework for the analysis of educational data about writing pedagogy in which the connections are drawn across views of language, views of writing, views of learning to write, approaches to the teaching of writing, and approaches to the assessment of writing. The framework can be used for identifying discourses of writing in data such as policy documents, teaching and learning materials, recordings of pedagogic practice, interviews and focus groups with teachers and learners, and media coverage of literacy education. The paper also proposes that, while there are tensions and contradictions among these discourses, a comprehensive writing pedagogy might integrate teaching approaches from all six.


Alcohol abuse prevention and mental sport performance programming are becoming increasingly significant in collegiate athletics. There are certainly advantages in the integrated provision of these intervention approaches. However, substance abuse professionals rarely address sport performance, and sport performance experts rarely address alcohol abuse prevention. Therefore, in this clinical trial, 201 NCAA athletes were randomly assigned with a significant other to participate in brief assessment, goal development, and contingency contracting or a wait-list control after completing the Sport Interference Checklist (SIC) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results indicated that participants who were randomly assigned to the experimental program, as compared with participants who were assigned to the control group, reported significant decreases in alcohol consumption (AUDIT), dysfunctional thoughts and stress in competitive sporting events and academic and injury management factors that interfere with training, from baseline to 2 months post-baseline. No differences were found between the experimental groups in other SIC subscales. Future directions are discussed in light of the results.


An automatic tool changer (ATC) is one of the most important subsystems of a computerized numerical control (CNC) lathe. The field failure analysis is very important to improve the reliability of the ATC. The structure and mechanism of an ATC is briefly introduced. Its brief reliability block diagram is set up. With this understanding, through the collection of the field failure data, a coding system to code failure data is devised and a failure analysis database of CNC lathes is accrued. The failure mode and cause are analyzed to indicate the weak subsystem of the ATC. Some suggestions on improving the reliability have been proposed.


Negative mental imagery has been shown to be involved in the onset and maintenance of numerous clinical disorders and as a result there has been growing scientific study of the therapeutic role of positive mental imagery, with studies reporting favourable results. However, with regard to social anxiety (SA) disorder the conventional approach to induce positive mental imagery has been suggested to be too demanding due to impairment in the retrieval of such episodes. Therefore, researchers have called for controlled studies to explore alternative inducement techniques with specific focus upon future orientated methods (a method more suitable for patients with SA). In the current study, we compare the conventional inducement technique (past) to a future orientated inducement technique (future) and a control condition (no imagery) and measure the impact upon self-reported levels of anxiety in a non-clinical population. Seventy-Eight younger students were randomly allocated to one of the two imagery inducement techniques or the control condition (and completed anxiety scales before and after imagery inducement or control task). To capture situational anxiety, phobia and broader short and long term (state versus trait) dysfunction the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were the chosen measures. Results confirmed that positive mental imagery reduces feelings of anxiety and demonstrated, for the first time, the effectiveness of a hypothetical future orientated technique to induce positive mental imagery. These data will provide the groundwork for intervention development in clinical populations with known difficulties capitalising on past based mental imagery.


A polyphasic approach was used to characterize a novel marine bacterial strain, designated LS-811T, isolated from seawater of the South China Sea (Taiwan). Cells of strain LS-811Twere Gram-staining negative, aerobic and rod-shaped with polar flagella. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of strain LS-811T showed highest sequence similarity to Actibacterium mucosum (96.5 %) and Actibacterium atlanticum (95.6 %), and lower sequence similarity (<96.0 %) to members of all other related genera. Strain LS-811Twas able to grow at 15-40 °C and pH 5.0-9.0. The quinone system was ubiquinone (Q-10), and the DNA G+C content was 60.1 mol%. The major fatty acids (>5 %) found in strain LS-811T were C18 : 0, C10 : 0 3-OH, C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c and C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c. The major polar lipid profile consisted of glycolipids, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified aminolipid. Based on the distinct phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic traits together with results of comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain LS-811T is considered to represent a novel species in the genus Actibacterium, for which the name Actibacterium ureilyticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LS-811T (=BCRC 80823T=JCM 30681T).


School-based health centers (SBHCs) are an essential part of a comprehensive approach to address the health needs of youth. SBHCs that provide sexual health services (SHS) show promising results in improving reproductive health outcomes among youth. Despite the positive impact SBHCs can have, few school districts have SBHCs, and even fewer provide SHS. This article describes a successful 5-year project to provide SHS through SBHCs in a large county in the southeast United States. A community collaborative, including the schools, health department, community agencies and a local university, was created to address the project goals and objectives. Various steps were taken to plan for the SBHCs, including documenting community support for SHS offered through SBHCs, identifying school sites for SBHCs, and the process for offering pregnancy, STD (sexually transmitted disease), and HIV testing, treatment, and referrals. Protocols for clinic flow, testing, staffing, training, and student recruitment were developed. The staff at the SBHCs were successful in recruiting students to attend educational sessions and to receive testing and treatment. Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Lessons learned about the importance of the partnership's collaboration, using recommended clinic protocol, ensuring clear communication with school staff, and employing youth friendly recruitment and clinic practices are shared.


Background and Objective: Lung cancer is the most rapidly developed cancer in terms ofmorbidity and fatality rate. The presence of EGFR mutations is a useful tool to determine NSCLC patients9 prognosis. But there are differences in Eastern Asian and European and American. The aim of this study is to discoveryand validate the new EGFR drug targets in Northern Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) via bioinformatics analysis, molecular biology experiments and clinical outcomes, and raise new possibilities for designing personalized treatments for patients carrying specific mutations. Methods: In this study, a new computational method and drug model was firstly established by referring to the HotSpot3D[1], which was applied to process mutagenesis data and identify new drug targets. We subsequently applied the computationaltool to more than 500 tumors of NSCLC patients in North China.The captured target DNAs were analyzed by next-generation sequencing using a nine gene lung cancer panel to find somatic variations. We then validated our predictions in cell-line-based experimental combining the results of the clinical follow-up. Results: We used a new computational tool to analyze more than 500 tumors data of NSCLC patients in North China, discovering several rarely reported druggable mutations, including EGFR mutations (p.Val742Ile, p.Ile789Met, p.Asn842His) with erlotinib, gefitinib, lapatinib and EGFR mutations (p.Ser811Cys) with afatinib. Furthermore, we performed an experiment examining the sensitivity of the EGFR proteins with these variants to the target drugs mentioned above. We found that EGFR with the p.Ile789Metvariant was sensitive to gefitinib, consistent with a previous report [1]. In parallel, of the 500NSCLC patients, 200 were treated with the above targetdrugs, and clinical outcomes of treated patients were collected. The results were consistent with the cell-line-based experiments. Verification of other EGFR variants is still in progress. Conclusion: In this study, severalnew EGFR druggable mutations were for the first time found and validated in NorthernChinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Our results will provide better treatment options for patients carryingthese specific mutations. [1] Niu B, Scott A D, Sengupta S, et al. Protein-structure-guided discovery of functional mutations across 19 cancer types[J]. Nature Genetics, 2016, 48(8). Citation Format: Geng Tian. Four noval activating and resistance mutations of EGFR drug response targets were discovered in northern Chinese patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-277. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-LB-277


Rehabilitation for any cochlear implant (CI) recipient is a process having the aim of taking the necessary steps to enable users to achieve their best possible auditory outcome. It involves all stages of interaction including evaluations for candidacy, device selection, preoperative counseling, surgical intervention, device activation, post-implant support, evaluations of progress, and hearing training. Since rehabilitation is an ongoing process, it becomes critical to determine what is sufficient, that is, how intense the follow-up program must be, especially since there is substantial variability for results on outcome measures that assess progress in hearing function and abilities after implantation.


To protect the health of sows and gilts, significant investments are directed toward the development of vaccines against infectious agents that impact reproduction. We developed an intrauterine vaccine that can be delivered with semen during artificial insemination to induce mucosal immunity in the reproductive tract. An in vitro culture of uterine epithelial cells was used to select an adjuvant combination capable of recruiting antigen-presenting cells into the uterus. Adjuvant polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), alone or in combination, induced expression of interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and select chemokines. A combination adjuvant consisting of poly I:C, host defense peptide and polyphosphazene (Triple Adjuvant; TriAdj), which previously was shown to induce robust mucosal and systemic humoral immunity when administered to the uterus in rabbits, was combined with boar semen to evaluate changes in localized gene expression and cellular recruitment, in vivo. Sows bred with semen plus TriAdj had decreased γδ T cells and monocytes in blood, however, no corresponding increase in the number of monocytes and macrophages was detected in the endometrium. Compared to sows bred with semen alone, sows bred with semen plus TriAdj showed increased CCL2 gene expression in the epithelial layer. These data suggest that the adjuvants may further augment a local immune response and, therefore, may be suitable for use in an intrauterine vaccine. When inactivated porcine parvovirus (PPV) formulated with the TriAdj was administered to the pig uterus during estrus along with semen, we observed induction of PPV antibodies in serum but only when the pigs were already primed with parenteral PPV vaccines. Recombinant protein vaccines and inactivated PPV vaccines administered to the pig uterus during breeding as a primary vaccine alone failed to induce significant humoral immunity. More trials need to be performed to clarify whether repeated intrauterine vaccination can trigger strong humoral immunity or whether the primary vaccine needs to be administered via a systemic route to promote a mucosal and systemic immune response.


A total of 142 subjects have been examined; of these 49 healthy relatives of patients with manifest porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) (group 1), 48 subjects with melanodermal skin changes characteristic of PCT abd with anamnesis aggravated for alcoholism (group 2), and 45 patients with chronic liver diseases (group 3). None of the examinees has developed photosensitization symptoms. The findings have been compared to the results of examinations of 24 normal subjects and of 145 patients with manifest PCT. Minimal abnormalities of porphyrin metabolism have been detected in 43 subjects (30.2%). In group 1 subjects these abnormalities presented as increased levels of uroporphyrin and fecal coproporphyrin, in Groups 2 and 3 as secondary coproporphyrinuria and a symptomatic rise of fecal protoporphyrin level. Latent PCT has been diagnosed in 18 patients (12.7%). In latent PCT the total porphyrin excretion with the urine has been 10-fold lower than in manifest PCT, not exceeding 1000 nmol/day; in has been associated with a relative elevation of uroporphyrin level (up to 42-65% of the total porphyrin content). Increased coproporphyrin concentrations have been recorded, with coproporphyrin share making up over 60% of the total amount. It is possible that the minimal shifts of porphyrin metabolism anticipate the development of the biochemical syndrome of latent PCT. The author suggests criteria for the early diagnosis of the latent forms of the disease. He considers that the examinees should be referred to a group at risk of developing manifest PCT.


MECP2 (Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) has been shown to have a critical role in regulating DNA methylation against smoke exposed lung injury. However, the biological function of MECP2 and the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. Human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) and alveolar type II epithelial cells (AECII) were exposed to increasing concentrations of cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) solution to establish CSE-induced lung epithelial cell injury models. Our findings revealed that MECP2 was down-regulated, while CYP1B1 was up-regulated in CSE-induced lung epithelial cell injury models by quantitative real time PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. Down-regulated CYP1B1 was ascribed to the demethylation of its promoter by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). The in vitro experiments further showed that MECP2 overexpression significantly attenuated CSE-triggered cell growth attenuation, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and ROS generation in lung epithelial cells by CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays. In molecular level, we further demonstrated that MECP2 overexpression obviously suppressed the expression of CYP1B1 through enhancing DNA methylation. Therefore, our data suggest that MECP2 protects against CSE-induced lung epithelial cell injury possibly through down-regulating CYP1B1 expression via elevating its methylation status.


In the tropical zone, cocoa-based agroforest systems (CAFS) are considered as a mean to maintain and conserve biodiversiy. In the sub-humid zone of Togo (West Africa), agroforest plant species are key components of the landscape and agricultural lands. Cocoa and coffee agroforest systems contribute directly and indirectly to the livelihoods of an estimated one million people in Togo. Despite this fact, there is only few informations regarding their structure, and typology. The current study assessed the typology, tree structure and diversity of cocoa-based agroforest systems. 213 random plots across the study area were sampled using variable areas (25 × 25 m2, 50 × 50 m2 and 100 × 100 m2) for the survey. 4766 non-cocoa trees belonging to 195 plant species, 140 genera and 47 families were identified. Only woody trees were recorded during this study. The estimated average tree density was 159.21 ± 97.58 trees/ha, whereas the basal area was 54.19 m²/ha. Based on the Importance Value Index (IVI), the floristic composition, and the frequency of species, six groups (from G1 to G6) were discriminated. Each group was a particular type of CAFS. These results are similar to those obtained in the CAFS of West, Central Africa and other tropical zones, confirming CAFS key role in forest trees diversity conservation.

 Key words: Cocoa-based agroforest system, typology, sub-humid, forest tree diversity, Togo.


OBJECTIVE
To document the various clinical manifestations, lab parameters, complications and outcomes of Falciparum Malaria. The above data would be correlated with the parasitic index to deduce whether it would be an effective measure of the same.

METHODS
This was a prospective study among 183 inpatients aged above 18 from Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from May 2009 to January 2011. Ethical clearance was taken. Statistical analysis was done with the independent paired t test, linear correlation and Chi square test using SPSS 16.

RESULTS
In this study 78% cases were males. Most cases occurred during the monsoons. Fever was the major presentation with others being jaundice, vomiting and head ache. 50.8 % had complications, including hepatic dysfunction (40.9%), renal failure (19.13%), shock (7%), altered sensorium (9%), ARDS (3.27%) and severe anemia (1.63%). Hypoglycemia and gram negative sepsis were rare. Parasitic index, renal parameters and death were correlating positively. ESR was significantly related (P<0.003) to complications and not to cerebral malaria. There were 12 mortalities out of which 9 were due to MODS and 3 due to ARDS.

CONCLUSIONS
50.8% cases conformed to the WHO definition of severe malaria indicating most present with complications. High parasite index and abnormal renal function are predictors of mortality and complications. Early diagnosis, anticipation of complications, close monitoring and combination therapy to over come drug resistance helps to contain the extent of mortality.


A complete multivitamin mineral herbal omega 3 supplement infused with essential oils (product name Lifelong Vitality, LLV) has been reported by its users to increase energy levels, decrease pain, strengthen immunity and improve mental focus. This study was designed to quantitatively evaluate these effects through serum biomarkers and qualitatively by survey. Sixteen participants were recruited to take LLV as directed for two months. A blood sample was provided and a survey taken both before and after the 2 month supplementation period. The following were shown to improve significantly (p < 0.05): HDL cholesterol, LDL/HDL ratio, fasting insulin, homocysteine, serum vitamin E, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and arachidonic acid (AA)/EPA ratio. This demonstrated that the LLV had significant positive effects on biochemical indicators for cardiovascular health, antioxidant status, markers of inflammation, and blood sugar regulation. In the 16 ‐ item qualitative survey, after two months of LLV supplementation all results were improved positively; 12 of them were statistically significant. The participants reported more mental clarity, energy, motivation, control, balance, and happiness, while reporting less back pain, muscle pain, colds and flu occurrence, anxiety, frustration and irritation at the end of 2 ‐ month supplementation. These results suggest that the supplement may provide a broad range of health benefits for its users in a short period of time, though a larger study should be conducted to verify.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain in-depth understandings of the stages involved in the case of a romance scam victim who was unknowingly used as a drug mule. The work compares this case with established research in this field. It also seeks to learn more about the strategies used by these cybercriminals.

Design/methodology/approach
The research presents a case study of a victim of a romance scam who was arrested for drug trafficking. The research involves a grounded theory analysis of interviews with the victim, legal team and family members and analysis of her instant messenger chat logs and email communications.

Findings
The analysis identified a variation on previous stage models of romance scams and re-names this as the "romance scammers" strategy model. It also replicates previous work on scammers' techniques and highlights some new strategies, including positively and negatively framing messages, unconditional positive regard, activating norms of romantic relationships, cognitive immersion, manipulating role, sleep deprivation and signing is believing.

Practical implications
These findings could be used to help guide future similar court cases. Moreover, they can be drawn upon to advance future research on romance scams, as well as scams in general.

Originality/value
This is the first in-depth case study of a romance scam victim involved in drug trafficking and is the first research on romance scams to examine in depth a case, taking into account textual exchanges. While not undermining previous research, this paper provides valuable insights that are lacking in previous qualitative work on cyber scam victims.


The present investigation was undertaken on data of Murrah buffaloes from Buffalo Research Centre (BRC), Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar distributed over 20 years (1987 to 2006). The sire effects and ranks of 38 sires were estimated on the basis of their daughters' performance. The progeny group size of the sires ranged from 3 to 17. The sires were evaluated for the different first lactation production efficiency traits, viz. first lactation milk yield (FLMY), first lactation peak yield (FPY), persistency of first lactation milk yield (P), average yield per day of lactation (MY/FLL), milk yield per day of first calving interval (MCI) and milk yield per day of age at second calving (MSC). Sire's breeding values were estimated by the best linear unbiased procedure (BLUP). The estimated breeding values (EBV) for FLMY, FPY, P, MY/FLL, MCI and MSC ranged from –288.42 to 362.20 kg; -1.44 to 4.36 kg; -14.72 to 21.09; –0.44 to 0.63 kg/day; -0.40 to 0.52 kg and -0.09 to 0.16 kg, respectively. FLMY had high and significant productmoment and rank correlations with all other traits. The highest product-moment and rank correlations were obtained between FLMY and MSC to the tune of 0.863±0.043 and 0.835±0.050, respectively. The results indicated that sire coding 33 was the best and can be used for future breeding purpose.


Abstract Shell morphology affects multiple aspects of the biology of ectocochleate cephalopods (e.g., floatability, life habit, post mortem behavior of the shell, etc.), so it should impact the establishment and development of sclerobiont faunas as well. In this study, the sclerobiont faunas of Weavericeras vacaense (a spherocone) and Holcoptychites agrioensis (a discocone), two early Hauterivian ammonites from the Agrio Formation (Neuquén Basin, Argentina) were compared. The coeval nautilid Cymatoceras perstriatum (studied previously), was contrasted with both ammonites. Results show that the three sclerobiont faunas had similar abundance, taxonomic composition and distribution of individuals across the shells, but H. agrioensis showed a markedly reduced richness, with a fauna almost entirely composed by the oyster Amphidonte (Ceratostreon) sp. The more evolute and compressed H. agrioensis sank more quickly than W. vacaense and C. perstriatum, which may have undergone longer periods of flotation and exposure on the sea bottom. This agrees with the lower taxonomic richness of the sclerobiont fauna and a better overall preservation of H. agrioensis specimens. Differences in the sclerobiont faunas are greater across variations in shell inflation and coiling degree than across nautilids and ammonites; therefore, the latter are important parameters for the sclerobiont fauna as well since they impact how long shells will float and be exposed on the seafloor, and therefore on their time of exposure. The presence of an almost monospecific fauna in H. agrioensis, despite its rapid sinking and burial, indicates that Amphidonte (Ceratostreon) sp. was the earliest settler, and could abundantly colonize hard substrates in a short time.


At the end of the 19th century, substances such as bromides began to be used to induce deep sleep in people with mental disorders. The use of barbiturates for the same purpose was reported by Epifanio in 1913, but it was Klasi, in the early 1920s, who most successfully fostered the administration of such agents, particularly Somnifen, for what he called "sleep cure" or "prolonged narcosis" (dauernarkose). In 1934 Cloettal, a mixture of barbiturates and other compounds, was introduced to replace Somnifen. The use of this procedure declined with the appearance of other therapeutic methods, but continued for several decades. In the Soviet Union, sleep cure was influenced by the Pavlovian doctrine, and used for both mental disorders and conditions considered as psychosomatic. The method's greatest discredit occurred at Chelmsford Hospital in Australia, where 25 deaths associated with its use were reported during the period 1963-1979. In 2009, the Royal College of Psychiatrists of Australia and New Zealand concluded that "deep sleep therapy and the administration of intravenous barbiturates has no place in the treatment of psychiatric disorders". Even though, currently it is not part of any conventional treatment, sleep cure is still offered and requested.


Several studies have demonstrated the potential of plant growth-promoting bacteria, including their use as inoculants, in the contexts of both agriculture and enhanced phytoremediation. Despite their promise, there is still a need to characterize and identify plant growth-promoting bacteria amidst isolates cultured to date. Therefore the purpose of this study was to i) screen bacterial endophytes isolated from plants growing in both a chronically nutrient-deficient agricultural soil and a hydrocarbon-contaminated soil for plant growth-promoting potential in vitro and ii) assess the plant growth-promoting capabilities of isolates in vivo. Bacterial isolates belonging to genera common to both environments were screened for plant growth-promoting genotypes and phenotypes including ACC deaminase activity (acds), hydrocarbon degradation (alkB and CYP153), alkaline phosphatase activity (phoD), and nitrogen fixation (nifH). After screening, 28 isolates from 16 genera were subjected to further study in vivo. After using seed germination and root elongation screening in wheat (Trictum aestivum) and sweet clover (Melilotus alba), four isolates were selected for further study—A3 (Pseudomonas sp.) and A9 (Delftia sp.) in sweet clover and A12 (Kluyvera sp.) and B34 (Luteimonas sp.) in wheat—as they promoted early plant growth and development. Plant growth-promoting capabilities were then assessed by inoculating wheat and sweet clover seeds and growing plants in a growth chamber for 60 days in either a marginal agricultural soil or the same soil amended with diesel. Isolates A12 (Kluyvera sp.) and B34 (Luteimonas sp.) increased the acquisition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) by plants when growing in the marginal agricultural soil. However, plant growth-promoting effects were lost when diesel fuel was added. Further, no effect was observed in sweet clover in either soil condition. Initial screening for plant growth-promoting potential highlighted the importance of including functionality screening as the presence or absence of a plant growth-promoting genotype did not always indicate a positive phenotype. Further, this work exemplified the importance of in vivo screening assays to identify potential plant growth-promoting bacteria. Finally, results showed bacteria with plant growth-promotion potential can be isolated from stressed environments and may promote wheat growth in a marginal agricultural soil.


This paper highlights the face-to-face interactions between parents and teachers in parent–teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and how they talk about the behaviours and characters those not are appropriate and not expected for children in a preschool setting. The focus of the paper concerns how teachers talk about the children's resistance to the social order in preschool and specially how children show resistance to the teachers. The empirical material consists of twenty audio-taped conferences included in a larger study of parent-teacher conferences in a Swedish preschool setting. The analysis reveals five different strategies concerning the talk about children's´ resistance to the practitioners and the institution: physical resistance, emotional resistance, social resistance, verbal resistance and resistance through repulsion and avoidance. In addition, the article discusses what is expected of a "normal" preschool child. The empirical material consists of twenty audio-taped conferences included in a larger study of parent-teacher conferences in a Swedish preschool setting. The analysis reveals five different strategies concerning the talk about children's´ resistance to the practitioners and the institution: physical resistance, emotional resistance, social resistance, verbal resistance and resistance through repulsion and avoidance. In addition, the article discusses what is expected of a "normal" preschool child.


In many remote sensing applications it is important to use multiple sensors to be able to understand the major spatio-temporal distribution patterns of an observed phenomenon. A particular remote sensing application addressed in this study is estimation of an important property of atmosphere, called Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD). Remote sensing data for AOD estimation are collected from ground and satellite-based sensors. Satellite-based measurements can be used as attributes for estimation of AOD and in this way could lead to better understanding of spatio-temporal aerosol patterns on a global scale. Ground-based AOD estimation is more accurate and is traditionally used as ground-truth information in validation of satellite-based AOD estimations. In contrast to this traditional role of ground-based sensors, a data mining approach allows more active use of ground-based measurements as labels in supervised learning of a regression model for AOD estimation from satellite measurements. Considering the high operational costs of ground-based sensors, we are studying a budget-cut scenario that requires a reduction in a number of ground-based sensors. To minimize loss of information, the objective is to retain sensors that are the most useful as a source of labeled data. The proposed goodness criterion for the selection is how close the accuracy of a regression model built on data from a reduced sensor set is to the accuracy of a model built of the entire set of sensors. We developed an iterative method that removes sensors one by one from locations where AOD can be predicted most accurately using training data from the remaining sites. Extensive experiments on two years of globally distributed AERONET ground-based sensor data provide strong evidence that sensors selected using the proposed algorithm are more informative than the competing approaches that select sensors at random or that select sensors based on spatial diversity.


Rivalries may affect ingroup and outgroup (rival or nonrival) representations as well as students' identification with their home school. This study examines how subtle linguistic changes in question comparison, between the home school and another school, rival or nonrival, and between the self and other home school students, provide access to changes in these cognitive representations. Data were collected shortly before a rival football game or during a nongame week. The linguistic changes, manipulations in the direction of comparison (e.g., home school to rival school vs. rival school to home school), were designed from Tversky's (1977) model of similarity judgment. The results suggest that sport rivalries increase students' perceptions of unique features of home school students, but do not increase perceptions of unique (even unique, negative) features of rival school students. The increase in ingroup unique features before a rivalry game is strong enough to reverse the usual observation that the self is seen as less similar to others than others are to the self. Applications and implications for question design, e.g., sports polls, and this central topic of campus community conversations is discussed.


The fatigue truck model is an important parameter in a fatigue evaluation, a 3-axle fatigue truck model was developed based on the weigh-in-motion traffic data and an analytical bridge model in the montane highway of Southwest China. The truck traffic data shows that the fatigue damage was dominated by the 6-axles trucks,a 3-axle fatigue truck model was developed based on the 6-axle truck statistic data,the damage accumulations caused by the Proposed fatigue truck righty meet the actual damage accumulations. Based on the cumulative probabilitie of the moment ranges, the peak stress range is suggested to be a stress level at 3 times of the effective stress range because of overload,however,the ratio of the effective stress in AASHTO was 2 times.The damage accumulations obtained from the simulation of the truck database were compared with BS5400,AASHTO and Proposed fatigue truck, Proposed fatigue truck and AASHTO fatigue truck with the actural daily flow of trucks are suggested in the montane speedway of Southwest China ,BS5400 is impropriety which relatively overestimate the damage.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the potential impact of exposure to anti epileptic medications during the first-trimester of pregnancy on major malformations.

STUDY DESIGN
A retrospective cohort study comparing all pregnancies of women with and without exposure to antiepileptic medications during pregnancy was performed. A computerized database of medications dispensed from 1998 to 2008 to all women registered in the "Clalit" health maintenance organization, was linked with computerized and non computerized databases containing maternal and infant hospitalization records from the district hospital. Exposed women were further analyzed by mono and poly- antiepileptic therapy during pregnancy. Stratified analyses, using multiple logistic regression models were performed to control for confounders.

RESULTS
During the study period 99,724 deliveries and 1012 pregnancy terminations occurred; of those, 421 (0.42%) were exposed to one or more antiepileptic medications during the first trimester. A higher rate of major congenital malformations was detected among women who were exposed, as compared to those unexposed to antiepileptic medications during the first-trimester (10.0% vs. 7.0%; P=0.02). The association remained significant after adjusting for maternal age, ethnicity, smoking, diabetes and parity (adjusted OR= 1.50; 95% CI 1.06-2.12; p=0.02). Specifically, the risk was significant for antiepileptic anti folate drugs (n=210; adjusted OR= 1.95; 95% CI 1.25-3.03; P=0.003). Poly-antiepileptic therapy was significantly associated with major congenital malformations (26.5% vs. 5.7%, P<0.001). Using a multiple logistic regression model, controlling for ethnicity, diabetes, smoking, maternal age and parity, poly-antiepileptic therapy was an independent risk factor for major congenital malformations (adjusted OR= 7.98; 95% CI 3.4-18.7; P<0.001), while mono-therapy lost its independent association with major congenital malformations (adjusted OR= 1.23; 95% CI 0.8-1.8; P=0.28).

CONCLUSION
First-trimester exposure to antiepileptic medications is an independent risk factor for major congenital malformations. The risk is significantly higher for anti folate antiepileptic drugs and for poly-antiepileptic therapy.


Optimizing the number, distribution, and accessibility of Brønsted acid sites in zeolite-based catalysts is of a paramount importance to further improve their catalytic performance. However, it remains challenging to measure real-time changes in reactivity of single zeolite catalyst particles by ensemble-averaging characterization methods. In this work, a detailed 3D single molecule, single turnover sensitive fluorescence microscopy study is presented to quantify the reactivity of Brønsted acid sites in zeolite H-ZSM-5 crystals upon steaming. This approach, in combination with the oligomerization of furfuryl alcohol as a probe reaction, allowed the stochastic behavior of single catalytic turnovers and temporally resolved turnover frequencies of zeolite domains smaller than the diffraction limited resolution to be investigated with great precision. It was found that the single turnover kinetics of the parent zeolite crystal proceeds with significant spatial differences in turnover frequencies on the nanoscale and noncorrelated temporal fluctuations. Mild steaming of zeolite H-ZSM-5 crystals at 500 °C led to an enhanced surface reactivity, with up to 4 times higher local turnover rates than those of the parent H-ZSM-5 crystals, and revealed remarkable heterogeneities in surface reactivity. In strong contrast, severe steaming at 700 °C significantly dealuminated the zeolite H-ZSM-5 material, leading to a 460 times lower turnover rate. The differences in measured turnover activities are explained by changes in the 3D aluminum distribution due to migration of extraframework Al-species and their subsequent effect on pore accessibility, as corroborated by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) sputter depth profiling data.


The major bottleneck for widespread realization of fuel cells has been the usage of precious-metal-based electrocatalysts, such as Pt/C or Pt-alloy/C, at the cathode. Owing to the high cost and limited natural resources of platinum, nonprecious metal catalysts, such as iron-doped carbons, have emerged as promising substitute catalyst materials. Protic salts and protic ionic liquids can provide a simple, quick, and cost-effective approach for fabricating iron-doped carbons without any additives or high-surface-area carbon supports. We demonstrate here the fabrication of an efficient electrocatalyst based on a protic salt, 1,10-phenanthrolinium dihydrogen sulfate ([Phen][2HSO4]), in combination with iron(III) chloride, FeCl3, via nanocasting. A predominantly mesoporous architecture with a narrow pore size distribution was achieved owing to the suitability of the precursors and silica template. The material also exhibited in situ formation of Fe–N bonds in the nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbons. We found that maximizing the content of this motif was beneficial towards efficient conversion of oxygen into water in alkaline media. The prototype catalyst after post treatment (acid leaching and 2nd carbonization) also exhibited efficient reduction of oxygen in acidic media. The contribution of Fe–N bonds to the observed activity in acidic solution was less than in alkaline solution. The simplicity of the synthesis of the protic salt and the versatility of the ionic liquid platform make this molecular-level carbon precursor a unique candidate for future development of iron doped catalysts for fuel cells.


The dynamics of Rydberg wave packets in NO are investigated in the regime where the electronic period is comparable with the rotational motion of the molecular ion core. The presence of a rotating molecular core manifests itself in the wave packet dynamics as a series of peaks separated by the rotational beat period TRot, but offset by ΔμTRot, where Δμ is the difference in quantum defect between the two dominant Rydberg series in the superposition. We rationalize this by treating the dynamics of a wave packet created from a coherent superposition of two interleaved Rydberg series as two separate electron wave packets, which interfere with one another when they overlap spatially. There is a periodic phase difference between the two wave packets that depends on the rotational energy of the core in each Rydberg series and also on the quantum defects. The resulting interference pattern in the Rydberg population manifests itself as peaks in the wave packet spectrum at the stroboscopic period.


The snow layer on sea ice has high importance for polar climate as it affects heat, radiation, and fresh-water budgets. Additionally, snow loading is a critical parameter for the sea-ice freeboard-to-thickness conversion for satellite radar and laser altimeters. Despite its importance, there is a lack of snow observations spanning different spatial and temporal scales, thus introducing a significant source of uncertainty to altimetric sea-ice thickness retrievals. The ultra-wideband microwave radar (UWBM) Snow Radar, a 2–18 GHz airborne frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar developed by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) at the University of Kansas, can accurately detect the air/snow and snow/ice interfaces to measure snow thickness. Since 2009, an airborne Snow Radar has been operated onboard NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) campaigns. In 2017, the UWBM Snow Radar was operated for the first time on an Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) research aircraft, together with an airborne laser scanner for surface topography and freeboard measurements and an electromagnetic induction sounding instrument (EM Bird) to measure total ice thickness. The AWI airborne surveys operate at a low survey altitude (60 m a.g.l.) and slow aircraft speed, enabling fine-resolution mapping of the snow layer. Furthermore, the unique instrument setup on board the AWI research aircraft and the concurrent measurements of snow freeboard, total sea-ice thickness and snow depth allow us to directly investigate the freeboard-to-thickness conversion on regional scales for the first time. Here, we evaluate the performance of the radar installation and present radar-derived snow depth retrieved with a wavelet technique from recent airborne campaigns, PAMARCMiP2017 and IceBird winter 2019, over Arctic sea ice in the Greenland, Lincoln, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and the central Arctic Ocean in March–April of the respective years.


This study employed hierarchical piecewise growth modeling and two interrupted time series models to examine the effect of introducing an Advanced Placement (AP) school accountability incentive on AP access in Pennsylvania. Specifically, we examined whether adoption of an advanced course access accountability indicator was associated with an increase in AP course offerings initially and in the three years after the policy intervention. We also analyzed if the indicator differentially affected schools we hypothesized as sensitive or nonsensitive to the policy and examined demographic differences between those school groups. Pennsylvania's AP accountability incentive was associated with an initial increase in schools' AP course offerings, but the trajectory of change during the post-policy intervention period did not differ from the pre-policy baseline period. Also, the sizeable gap between schools with the most and fewest AP course offerings did not narrow across time. Instead, the gap widened. Our results suggest that adoption of AP school accountability incentives may not be a long-term solution to improving AP access for all schools or narrowing disparities in access between schools. We call for examinations in other states to determine if, and under what conditions, AP accountability incentives increase AP course offerings while narrowing access disparities.


Since the first case of AIDS was found among male homosexuals, the AIDS related problem has been in the male homosexual population, but the AIDS trend is changing from homosexuals to heterosexuals, with the majority of cases in the general population. Even though currently the reported HIV/AIDS cases in Korea are only 324 in Korea, the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS is projected to increase greatly over the next few years. As the number of these cases increases, there will be a major strain on nursing care resources. Since there is no known cure, the only way of halting this epidemic is through the prevention of further infection. In various stages of HIV infection, different problems occur, calling for various specific services and nursing skills. Nurses must develop a strategy to alleviate the negative attitudes related to care of AIDS patients and anxiety and dislike for care of terminally ill patients. Also, nurses must be prepared for teaching the general population about prevention of AIDS, counseling individuals in risk of HIV infection, HIV testing, and transmission risks, and caring for AIDS patients using Hospice concepts in various settings.


Attribute recognition is a crucial but challenging task due to viewpoint changes, illumination variations and appearance diversities, etc. Most of previous work only consider the attribute-level feature embedding, which might perform poorly in complicated heterogeneous conditions. To address this problem, we propose a hierarchical feature embedding (HFE) framework, which learns a fine-grained feature embedding by combining attribute and ID information. In HFE, we maintain the inter-class and intra-class feature embedding simultaneously. Not only samples with the same attribute but also samples with the same ID are gathered more closely, which could restrict the feature embedding of visually hard samples with regard to attributes and improve the robustness to variant conditions. We establish this hierarchical structure by utilizing HFE loss consisted of attribute-level and ID-level constraints. We also introduce an absolute boundary regularization and a dynamic loss weight as supplementary components to help build up the feature embedding. Experiments show that our method achieves the state-of-the-art results on two pedestrian attribute datasets and a facial attribute dataset.


Abstract. Muzaki FK, Saptarini D, Ibadah AC. 2019. Juvenile and small fish diversity in mangroves of different root types in the Labuhan Coastal Area, Bangkalan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 1537-1543. The complexities of mangrove root types are well known to have effect on communities of fish including larval, juvenile and adult stages. This study aimed to access the difference on species composition and diversity of juvenile and small fish from mangrove area of different root types, especially in mangroves of the coastal area of Sepulu, Bangkalan which is a mangrove protection area. The samples were collected from November 2016 to June 2017 using modified centipede nets and scoop nets. Four types of sampling locations were used. Areas with pneumatophores (S), stilt roots (R), a combination of both types (C) and areas without mangroves (T). At least 32 species from 16 families of juvenile and small fish were identified. Families of fish with highest number of species were Gobiidae with 13 species, followed by Ambassidae, Mugilidae, Eleotridae and Siganidae with 2 species each. Fish species with highest abundance in all sampling sites and periods were Oryzias javanicus (F. Adrianichthyidae, 22.039%), Ambassis kopsii (F. Ambassidae, 17.878%), Liza vaigiensis (F. Mugilidae, 9.613%), Am. buruensis (F. Ambassidae, 9.261%), Terapon jarbua (F. Terapontidae, 7.562%), L. subviridis (F. Mugilidae, 7.385%) and Pseudogobius javanicus (F. Gobiidae, 7.385%), respectively. Result of two-way Anova (p=0.05) suggest that area with stilt roots (R) which were dominated by mangrove Rhizophora have relatively higher abundance and species richness of juvenile and adult small fish. In addition, average Shannon-Weaner diversity index (H') value in areas with stilt roots was 2.031 and highest compared to the other sampling sites.


OBJECT
The authors report on the use of a recently developed microscope-integrated fluorescent module using low-dose intravenous fluorescein for videoangiography during arteriovenous malformation (AVM) surgery.

METHODS
The authors analyzed the application of a low-dose intraoperative fluorescein in 4 consecutive patients undergoing AVM surgery. The ability to distinguish the associated vessels of the AVM from normal vessels and to assess the degree of AVM obliteration based on videoangiography of venous drainage was specifically analyzed.

RESULTS
All 4 patients underwent fluorescein angiography without complication. In each case, videoangiography confirmed recognition of feeding arteries and draining veins through the operating oculars under the fluorescent mode. In one case involving a large frontal AVM, videoangiography demonstrated mainly cortical veins on the surface of the AVM and alerted the senior author to first tackle the feeding arteries in the interhemispheric space. While evaluating the flow within the different draining veins after most of the AVM was disconnected, videoangiography also prioritized the order for disconnection of large draining veins to allow mobilization the AVM and exposure of the remaining deep arterial feeders. In the other 3 cases, videoangiography allowed easy recognition of the angioarchitecture of the AVMs, estimated its cortical boundaries, and most importantly, assessed the flow within the draining veins before their disconnection.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors found fluorescein videoangiography to be a useful adjunct in resection of AVMs. This technology offers the unique ability to visualize fluorescent vessels and nonfluorescent tissues in near-natural colors simultaneously and permits microsurgical manipulation of relevant structures under the fluorescent mode. Larger-scale studies are needed to establish its efficacy and wider applicability.


Airborne pollen is a major cause of allergic rhinitis, affecting between 10 and 30% of the population in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux). Allergenic pollen is produced by wind pollinating plants and released in relatively low to massive amounts. Current climate changes, in combination with increasing urbanization, are likely to affect the presence of airborne allergenic pollen with respect to exposure intensity, timing as well as duration. Detailed analysis of long-term temporal trends at supranational scale may provide more comprehensive insight into these phenomena. To this end, the Spearman correlation was used to statistically compare the temporal trends in airborne pollen concentration monitored at the aerobiological stations which gathered the longest time-series (30–44 years) in the Benelux with a focus on the allergenic pollen taxa: Alnus, Corylus, Betula, Fraxinus, Quercus, Platanus, Poaceae, and Artemisia. Most arboreal species showed an overall trend toward an increase in the annual pollen integral and peak values and an overall trend toward an earlier start and end of the pollen season, which for Betula resulted in a significant decrease in season length. For the herbaceous species (Poaceae and Artemisia), the annual pollen integral and peak values showed a decreasing trend. The season timing of Poaceae showed a trend toward earlier starts and longer seasons in all locations. In all, these results show that temporal variations in pollen levels almost always follow a common trend in the Benelux, suggesting a similar force of climate change-driven factors, especially for Betula where a clear positive correlation was found between changes in temperature and pollen release over time. However, some trends were more local-specific indicating the influence of other environmental factors, e.g., the increasing urbanization in the surroundings of these monitoring locations. The dynamics in the observed trends can impact allergic patients by increasing the severity of symptoms, upsetting the habit of timing of the season, complicating diagnosis due to overlapping pollen seasons and the emergence of new symptoms due allergens that were weak at first.


Coral reefs are important ecosystems that are increasingly negatively impacted by human activities. Understanding which anthropogenic stressors play the most significant role in their decline is vital for the accurate prediction of future trends in coral reef health and for effective mitigation of these threats. Here we present annually resolved boron and carbon isotope measurements of two cores capturing the past 90 years of growth of the tropical reef‐building coral Siderastrea siderea from the Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. The pairing of these two isotope systems allows us to parse the reconstructed pH change into relative changes in net ecosystem productivity and net ecosystem calcification between the two locations. This approach reveals that the relationship between seawater pH and coral calcification, at both a colony and ecosystem level, is complex and cannot simply be modeled as linear or even positive. This study also underscores both the utility of coupled δ11B‐δ13C measurements in tracing past biogeochemical cycling in coral reefs and the complexity of this cycling relative to the open ocean.


BACKGROUND
Child-parent screening for familial hypercholesterolemia has been proposed to identify persons at high risk for inherited premature cardiovascular disease. We assessed the efficacy and feasibility of such screening in primary care practice.

METHODS
We obtained capillary blood samples to measure cholesterol levels and to test for familial hypercholesterolemia mutations in 10,095 children 1 to 2 years of age during routine immunization visits. Children were considered to have positive screening results for familial hypercholesterolemia if their cholesterol level was elevated and they had either a familial hypercholesterolemia mutation or a repeat elevated cholesterol level 3 months later. A parent of each child with a positive screening result for familial hypercholesterolemia was considered to have a positive screening result for familial hypercholesterolemia if he or she had the same mutation as the child or, if no mutations were identified, had the higher cholesterol level of the two parents.

RESULTS
The use of a prespecified cholesterol cutoff value of 1.53 multiples of the median (MoM, corresponding to a percentile of 99.2) identified 28 children who had positive screening results for familial hypercholesterolemia (0.3% of the 10,095 children; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2 to 0.4), including 20 with a familial hypercholesterolemia mutation and 8 with a repeat cholesterol level of at least 1.53 MoM. A total of 17 children who had a cholesterol level of less than 1.53 MoM also had a familial hypercholesterolemia mutation. The overall mutation prevalence was 1 in 273 children (37 in 10,095; 95% CI, 1 in 198 to 1 in 388). The use of an initial cholesterol cutoff value of 1.35 MoM (95th percentile) plus a mutation, or two cholesterol values of at least 1.50 MoM (99th percentile), identified 40 children who had positive screening results for familial hypercholesterolemia (0.4% of the 10,095 children, including 32 children who had a familial hypercholesterolemia mutation and 8 who did not have the mutation) and 40 parents who had positive screening results for familial hypercholesterolemia.

CONCLUSIONS
Child-parent screening was feasible in primary care practices at routine child immunization visits. For every 1000 children screened, 8 persons (4 children and 4 parents) were identified as having positive screening results for familial hypercholesterolemia and were consequently at high risk for cardiovascular disease. (Funded by the Medical Research Council.).


Introduction Chronic venous leg ulcer (VLU) healing is a complex clinical problem. It requires intervention from skilled, costly, multidisciplinary wound-care teams, working with patients to manage their care. Compression therapy has been shown to help heal venous ulcers and to reduce recurrence, with some evidence suggesting the value of exercise as well. These activities require health education and health literacy (HL) as patients must process, understand and consistently apply health information for successful self-management. Research suggests that those most vulnerable to VLUs also tend to have limited HL, but there have been no reviews examining the state of HL in patients with previous or active VLUs. This scoping review aims to examine the level of HL in VLU patients and how HL may link to self-management behaviours (particularly exercise and compression adherence), and their VLU healing generally. Methods and analysis We will use Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Review guidelines and the Levac methodology framework to explore eligible papers that examine the effect of HL on their exercise and compression adherence. Electronic databases will be searched (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, PsycInfo and Health, OpenGray), examining for all papers on these subjects published between 2000 and 2020. All studies describing compression and or exercise during VLU management will be included. Study characteristics will be recorded; qualitative data will be extracted and evaluated. Quantitative data will be extracted and summarised. Ethics and dissemination We will disseminate results through peer-reviewed publications. We will use data (ie, journal articles) from publicly available platforms; so, this study does not require ethical review. The consultation step will be carried out with patients, carers and health professionals as part of an established wound consumer group.


Age and petrographic data from the buried basement of the midcontinent region of North America, integrated with information from exposed rocks and magnetic- and gravity-anomaly maps, allow much of the Proterozoic history of the region to be assembled. The Superior craton may be traced into the subsurface on the basis of characteristic magnetic patterns and limited age data. The region between the Superior craton and the Wyoming craton to the west is evidently underlain by southerly extension of the Trans-Hudson orogen of Canada. The Penokean orogen formed on the southern margin of the Superior craton 1890–1830 Ma, but is not inferred west of northwestern Iowa in the subsurface. Between 1780 and 1720 Ma, a major orogen developed along the southern margin of the continent and is exposed in Arizona and Colorado. These rocks are volcanogenic and, for the most part, juvenile additions to the crust; they can be traced beneath the plains as far as eastern Kansas and Nebraska. Another orogen formed farther to the south about 1700–1630 Ma and is exposed in southern Arizona and New Mexico; rocks of this age and type have beer, traced as far east as central Missouri but may extend as far as central Michigan. A major geophysical feature of the midcontinent is a system of northwest-trending magnetic and gravity anomalies in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska; the origin of these is not currently understood. The tectonic history of the midcontinent between 1480 and 1340 Ma was dominated by extensional formation of two widespread granite-rhyolite terranes that evidently were formed from, and overlie, the orogenic provinces. The older, formed 1450–1480 Ma, underlies the eastern midcontinent, whereas the younger, formed 1340–1400 Ma, underlies the southwestern midcontinent. The latest Proterozoic events were the formation of the midcontinent rift system and the collisional Grenville and Llano provinces about 1100 Ma.


This paper studies a text mining problem, comparative sentence mining (CSM). A comparative sentence expresses an ordering relation between two sets of entities with respect to some common features. For example, the comparative sentence "Canon's optics are better than those of Sony and Nikon" expresses the comparative relation: (better, {optics}, {Canon}, {Sony, Nikon}). Given a set of evaluative texts on the Web, e.g., reviews, forum postings, and news articles, the task of comparative sentence mining is (1) to identify comparative sentences from the texts and (2) to extract comparative relations from the identified comparative sentences. This problem has many applications. For example, a product manufacturer wants to know customer opinions of its products in comparison with those of its competitors. In this paper, we propose two novel techniques based on two new types of sequential rules to perform the tasks. Experimental evaluation has been conducted using different types of evaluative texts from the Web. Results show that our techniques are very promising.


Abstract In a ninth-century manuscript now in St Gallen (Stiftsbibliothek, 254) are found three Latin poems in three different metres dedicated by a poet who names himself as Lutting, in memory of his master Bede who, according to the first of the poems, died in AD 681 (and cannot, therefore, have been the much better known Bede of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow). In the St Gallen manuscript the poems are transmitted alongside Cuthbert's Epistola de obitu Bedae; judging from the language of Bede's 'Death Song' which it contains, the Epistola was copied from a Northumbrian exemplar, and the same is apparently true of the three Latin poems. The fact that the names of Lutting and his master Bede are found near to each other in the Durham Liber Vitae raises the possibility that they were together at Lindisfarne; and detailed metrical analysis indicates that two of the poems follow Hiberno-Latin metrical practice in significant ways, which also points to the Irish cultural milieu of Lindisfarne. In an Appendix, the poems are edited for the first time, with translation and commentary.


Introduction Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a critical goal under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health. Achieving this goal for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) service coverage will require an understanding of national progress and how socioeconomic and demographic subgroups of women and children are being reached by health interventions. Methods We accessed coverage databases produced by the International Centre for Equity in Health, which were based on reanalysis of Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Reproductive and Health Surveys. We limited the data to 58 countries with at least two surveys since 2008. We fitted multilevel linear regressions of coverage of RMNCH, divided into four main components—reproductive health, maternal health, child immunisation and child illness treatment—to estimate the average annual percentage point change (AAPPC) in coverage for the period 2008–2017 across these countries and for subgroups defined by maternal age, education, place of residence and wealth quintiles. We also assessed change in the pace of coverage progress between the periods 2000–2008 and 2008–2017. Results Progress in RMNCH coverage has been modest over the past decade, with statistically significant AAPPC observed only for maternal health (1.25, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.61) and reproductive health (0.83, 95% CI 0.47 to 1.19). AAPPC was not statistically significant for child immunisation and illness treatment. Progress, however, varied largely across countries, with fast or slow progressors spread throughout the low-income and middle-income groups. For reproductive and maternal health, low-income and lower middle-income countries appear to have progressed faster than upper middle-income countries. For these two components, faster progress was also observed in older women and in traditionally less well-off groups such as non-educated women, those living in rural areas or belonging to the poorest or middle wealth quintiles than among groups that are well off. The latter groups however continue to maintain substantially higher coverage levels over the former. No acceleration in RMNCH coverage was observed when the periods 2000–2008 and 2008–2017 were compared. Conclusion At the dawn of the SDGs, progress in coverage in RMNCH remains insufficient at the national level and across equity dimensions to accelerate towards UHC by 2030. Greater attention must be paid to child immunisation to sustain the past gains and to child illness treatment to substantially raise its coverage across all groups.


The dietary habits of red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) and stone marten ( Martes foina ) were studied in central Greece in period 2003 - 2005. The stomach contents of 219 red fox and 106 stone marten were characterised for their various prey items. The prey species were classified depending on their origin in six diet groups (mammals, birds, plants, arthropods, reptiles – amphibians and others). The samples were collected from regions where hunting is practised and in regions where hunting is not practised and classified across seasons and habitats (shrubs, agriculture, oaks). Plants, arthropods and mammals dominated the diet of the two carnivores in all seasons. The carnivores took birds and reptiles – amphibians at low levels, accounting for less than 11% of the food items for any season. Manmade items were more common in the red fox diet than for the other carnivore Using tree analysis, the only dependent variable included in the final model was "season", indicating that "season" was the best predictor of "diet group", while food habits were not significantly different with respect to "year", "habitat" and "hunting".


Arthur Schnitzler became famous as a dramatist and he was a member of the group of young Viennese writers «Jung Wien». This group of young authors was influenced by the period of social identity crisis and radical change in the direction of a new fast-moving time, but also of a focus on intrinsic values of individuals. To treat this in their work, they developed also new literary forms like Interior Monologue and Free Indirect Discourse. Also members of the group were other contemporary literary figures like Hermann Bahr, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Felix Salten, Leopold von Andrian and Richard Beer-Hofmann. They usually met in the typical Viennese Cafés, and one of them, the Café «Griensteidl» became their favorite meeting place and developed to a literary center of the Viennese Modernism. In this environment, the literary form of the Viennese Feuilleton was resurrected, which focused on the sensitivities and emotional state of the protagonists instead of some action. The period bore also a new close relationship between literature and sciences like philosophy and psychology, which was reflected by the treated themes like dream, gender identification and sexuality. Arthur Schnitzler and Sigmund Freud for example attended at lectures of the same professors. They shared an intense interest in dreams, but they had fundamental differences in the findings concerning this issue. Schnitzler took an exceptional position within the group «Jung Wien», because his scenarios and protagonists were often sited outside the higher bourgeoisie and his characters spoke an informal language near the Viennese dialect.


This paper considers treatment effects under endogeneity with complex heterogeneity in the selection equation. We model the outcome of an endogenous treatment as a triangular system, where both the outcome and first-stage equations consist of a random coefficients model. The first-stage specifically allows for nonmonotone selection into treatment. We provide conditions under which marginal distributions of potential outcomes, average and quantile treatment effects, all conditional on first-stage random coefficients, are identified. Under the same conditions, we derive bounds on the (conditional) joint distributions of potential outcomes and gains from treatment, and provide additional conditions for their point identification. All conditional quantities yield unconditional effects (e.g., the average treatment effect) by weighted integration.


Central pit craters (CPCs) are complex craters that exhibit depressions within their floors or central uplifts. Some proposed models for central pit formation can be grouped by similar mechanism: (A) explosive volatile release, (B) central peak collapse, and (C) drainage of subsurface melted volatiles. We test these groups of mechanisms for central pit formation on Mars based on morphometries expected from each mechanism. Volatiles in the target (A and C) would be expected to result in a correlation with layered ejecta, also formed from volatiles, for CPCs over non‐CPCs. Central peak collapse (B) should result in larger diameters for pit rims than central peaks due to outward flow. Explosive volatile release (A) should yield smaller volumes for pit rims than pits due to mass loss. Data were collected on Context Camera images and digital elevation models for random samples of CPCs to assess the presence of these expected morphologies. Results of a Fisher exact test showed no preference in layered ejecta with CPCs over non‐CPCs, inconsistent with volatiles in the target. Results of an independent t test showed that central pit rim diameters are larger than central peak diameters, supporting some component of central peak collapse, although measurement uncertainty makes this interpretation tentative. Central pit rim volumes were not found to be statistically smaller than their pits, weighing against formation by explosive volatile release. Thus, our findings do not support any single group of formation mechanism tested here, although they allow for formation by some combination of these (or other) processes.


In this paper, we propose the deep reinforcement relevance network (DRRN), a novel deep architecture, to design a model for handling an action space characterized using natural language with applications to text-based games. For a particular class of games, a user must choose among a number of actions described by text, with the goal of maximizing long-term reward. In these games, the best action is typically what fits the current situation best (modeled as a state in the DRRN), also described by text. Because of the exponential complexity of natural language with respect to sentence length, there is typically an unbounded set of unique actions. Even with a constrained vocabulary, the action space is very large and sparse, posing challenges for learning. To address this challenge, the DRRN extracts separate high-level embedding vectors from the texts that describe states and actions, respectively, using a general interaction function, such as inner product, bilinear, and DNN interaction, between these embedding vectors to approximate the Q-function. We evaluate the DRRN on two popular text games, showing superior performance over other deep Q-learning architectures.


Abstract Recent studies have shown that α-damage in titanite influences He diffusivity and thus the closure temperature of the (U-Th)/He system in titanite. We compare different methods for measuring the α‑dose in titanite by Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra of randomly oriented titanite fragments from the Archean Karelian domain in eastern Finland along with some well-studied young titanites and U-Pb standard reference materials were analyzed and related to the concentration of α-emitting elements (U and Th) that generated damage in the respective grains. Automated curve-fitting was performed by the IFORS software and different curve-fitting protocols were tested and compared. The Raman bands at 424 and 465 cm-1 show a good correlation of full-width at half maximum (FWHM) and position with the α-dose. However, these bands are not always present because titanite is highly anisotropic implying that Raman spectra are sensitive to orientation. The intensity-weighted mean FWHM (iw-FWHM) of all Raman bands of a spectrum proves to be the most robust measure of the α-dose. A simplified fitting approach considering 15 peaks is sufficient to describe the accumulated α-dose. For α-doses below 5 × 1016α/g the iw-FWHM is independent of α-dose and ranges from 25 to 50 cm-1. Above this value the iw-FWHM increases linearly with increasing α-dose up to 3 × 1018α/g. The linear correlation can be described as iw-FWHM[cm-1] ≈ 39(±1.2)[cm-1] + 3.84(+0.61,–0.26) × 10-17[cm-1/(α/g)] × α-dose[α/g]. The approach provides a pre-selection method to optimize the range of α-doses of titanite crystals to be dated by (U-Th)/He thermochronology.


The capacities of laser biophotometry in the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylitis and its complications were studied in 42 patients with this disease and in controls. There was a definite significant trend of changes in the reflection coefficient of a laser signal in patients with an active inflammatory process in the vertebrae, which makes it possible to establish a differential diagnosis of the above conditions and to determine the time course of changes in the specific process in the vertebral column during therapy. Comparative analysis of the proposed method with the thermographic technique used in clinical practice demonstrated that the validity of laser biophotometry was highly competitive with that of thermography.


Introduction The presence of lymphatic dissemination in oesophageal cancer affects prognosis. The relevance of location of an involved solitary lymph node is unclear. The concept of sentinel node guided lymphadenectomy to reduce surgical stress of a transthoracic operation has some advocates. However, the site of solitary lymph node metastasis, is unpredictable. Similarly, metastases to anatomically distant lymph nodes, known as skip lesions, could develop in the early phase of lymphatic invasion. The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of a single named lymph node metastasis in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma (AC) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) who underwent resection with curative intent. No study to date has investigated this concept. Method Results of consecutive patients from a prospectively maintained database were analysed. All patients with potentially curable AC or SCC who underwent a radical two-field, two-stage, transthoracic oesophagectomy were included. Ex-vivo surgical dissection of the specimen was carried out post-operatively by the surgeon, with harvested lymph node stations labelled. This permitted accurate 'lymph node mapping'. All harvested lymph nodes were examined by a consultant histopathologist. Results Between 1995 and 2014 a total of 120 patients with one positive lymph node who had undergone a radical two-field, two-stage oesophagectomy were identified. A median age of 65 (45–80) was observed. Seventy three ACs and 47 SCCs were noted. Twenty three middle oesophageal (19.2%), 54 lower oesophageal (45%) and 43 (35.8%) junctional tumours were resected. There was no difference between patterns of solitary lymphatic metastases between AC and SCC. The pattern and number of solitary lymph node metastasis is as follows: paracardial 34 (28.3%); paraoesophageal 31 (25.8%); left gastric 28 (23.3%); subcarinal/bronchial 10 (8.3%) and truncal/coeliac/splenic 9 (7.5%). Tumour location and corresponding single node metastasis are summarised in Table 1.Abstract PTH-141 Table 1 Location of tumour Single positive node location Frequency (n) Percent (%) Middle oesophageal N = 23 Abdomen 8 34.8 Chest 15 65.2 Lower oesophageal N = 54 Abdomen 36 66.7 Chest 18 33.3 Junctional N = 43 Abdomen 27 62.8 Chest 16 37.2 Median survival for patients with AD and SCC were similar at 45 months and 52 months respectively (p = 0.84). Conclusion This study provides further support to the concept that metastasis to anatomically distant lymph nodes (skip metastasis), could develop even in the early phase of lymphatic invasion in oesophageal carcinoma. This unpredictability necessitates a radical resection. This can only be achieved with an extended transthoracic operation to allow a complete two-field lymphadenectomy in order to provide locoregional clearance and a potentially curative resection. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


The integration of recent technological advances into modern business processes has allowed for greater efficiency and productivity. However, while such improvements are immensely beneficial, the modeling and coordination of these activities offers a unique set of challenges that must be addressed. Automated Enterprise Systems for Maximizing Business Performance is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the modeling and application of automated business systems. Featuring extensive coverage on a variety of topics relating to the design, implementation, and current developments of such systems, this book is an essential reference source for information system practitioners, business managers, and advanced-level students seeking the latest research on achievements in this field. This publication features timely, research-based chapters within the context of business systems including, but not limited to, enterprise security, mobile technology, and techniques for the development of system models.


: Based on the morphological and clinical investigations, the authors defined various placental structures of 68 females with multiple pregnancies. The correlation between the structure of the placenta and the type of the prenatal development of the fetuses was established.


Purpose: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a main subtype of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The fi ve-year survival rates of lung cancer patients are still comparatively low. Therefore, potential therapeutic targets are urgently needed to improve the survival of lung cancer patients. In this study, we identi fi ed FAM111B as an oncogene and potential therapeutic target for LUAD. Methods: The TCGA database and tissue microarray analysis were used to compare the expression of FAM111B in tumor tissue and normal tissues and evaluate the relationship between FAM111B expression and clinical survival. FAM111B was knocked down and overexpressed to observe whether FAM111B could affect the proliferation, migration, cell cycle, and apoptosis of LUAD cells in vivo and in vitro. Results: FAM111B was highly expressed in tumor tissues compared with normal tissues ( P <0.01). LUAD patients with hyper-expression of FAM111B had a lower recurrence-free survival ( P <0.01) and shorter overall survival ( P <0.01). Knocking down FAM111B inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Silencing FAM111B could arrest LUAD cells at G2/M phase and increase apoptosis. Overexpression of FAM111B promoted the growth of lung cancer cells. FAM111B was identi fi ed as a direct target of p53 in existing researches by chip-seq analysis. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that FAM111B could directly bind to BAG3 (BCL2 associated athanogene 3). When FAM111B was down-regulated, both expression of BAG 3 and BCL2 were signi fi cantly reduced, whereas decreasing the expression of BAG3 had no effect on FAM111B. Conclusions: Our study indicated that FAM111B might be an oncogene and potential therapeutic target in LUAD which could be involved in the regulation of tumor cells by p53 signaling pathway and play an important role in the process of cell cycle and apoptosis by in fl uencing the expression of BAG3 and BCL2.


The ability of plants to take up amino acids is widespread among plants, but the ecological and physiological implications of this ability are not fully understood. Therefore, in the investigations this thesis is based upon, key aspects of the uptake of amino acids by agricultural plants were explored in field studies (to ensure ecological relevance) and laboratory analyses (to ensure precision). Small tension lysimeters were used to collect soil solution from several agricultural soils with minimal disturbance. Concentrations of free amino acids were found to be low (0- 12.7 μM). However, they may be continuously replenished from bound amino acid pools and were found to be sufficiently high (generally) for uptake by hydroponically grown barley, Hordeum vulgare L., and Arabidopsis, Arabidopsis thaliana L. Hence, the effective minimum concentrations for uptake by these species do not seem to exceed most of the field-measured concentrations. The uptake affinity in both barley and Arabidopsis was found to be comparable to reported values for nitrate at corresponding concentrations and for uptake of amino acids by soil micro-organisms. The amino acid transporters lysine histidine transporter 1 (LHT1) and amino acid permease 5 (AAP5) were found to be largely responsible for amino acid uptake in Arabidopsis at these concentrations. These transporters have complementary affinities for amino acids with differing properties; LHT1 transporting acidic and neutral amino acids, and AAP5 basic amino acids. Furthermore, the gene expression of LHT1 and AAP5 clearly increased after roots were exposed to amino acids, even in the presence of inorganic nitrogen, resulting in up to 15-fold increases in the rate of amino acid uptake. The induced amino acid uptake rates were up to 10-fold higher than nitrate uptake rates in Arabidopsis. According to standard textbooks, nitrate and ammonium are the major nitrogen sources for plants. However, the results of these studies indicate that plants have the capacity to take up amino acids at field concentrations in presence of nitrate and ammonium. This capacity requires gene expression, synthesis and regulation of amino acid transporters, and the ability of plants to sense and respond to amino acid concentrations at ambient concentrations. There is, therefore, little doubt that plants can take up amino acids in their natural environment. Thus, it is time to reconsider traditional views of the nitrogen compounds used by agricultural plants.Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana, barley, Bound amino acids, Free amino acids, Induction, Inorganic nitrogen, Lysimeter, Nitrogen, Amino acid transporter


Given the competing demands on librarian's time, teaching and instruction are often a professional responsibility experienced in isolation with minimal colleague feedback beyond summative assessment. This article will describe a peer coaching pilot designed to increase teacher reflection, teacher collaboration, and to indentify future training and professional development needs. The article will report on the program's assessment facilitated by participant surveys. The peer coaching program described offers a model for fostering a community of teachers who are intent on improving and invigorating teaching practice.


This paper explores how Cuba has remained politically stable despite economic crisis. Prior to the crisis, the regime had accumulated considerable political capital reserves, and had developed institutional mechanisms capable of monitoring and controlling discontent. However, the 1990s saw an increasing distancing between state and society, and growing disillusion. Yet the Cuban state has succeeded in maintaining the political opposition marginalized from society, and has responded by seeking ways of re-securing popular support.


This article examines the current legislative structures in Victoria for compensating non-economic losses for personal injuries under the tort of negligence. It first provides a background on the tort of negligence in general and damages for non-economic losses in particular. It then outlines the changes that have swept through Victoria and in the rest of Australia for comparative purposes. This article offers a critique of the rationale and justification for those changes, analyses the implications of the changes at both Victorian and Commonwealth levels across the public, professional and product liability areas, and concludes with a discussion of the overall effect of the Victorian reforms.


In the latest years, more and more structured data is published on the Web and the need to support typical Web users to access this body of information has become of crucial importance. Question Answering systems over Linked Data try to address this need by allowing users to query Linked Data using natural language. These systems may query at the same time different heterogenous interlinked datasets, that may provide different results for the same query. The obtained results can be related by a wide range of heterogenous relations, e.g., one can be the specification of the other, an acronym of the other, etc. In other cases, such results can contain an inconsistent set of information about the same topic. A well known example of such heterogenous interlinked datasets are language-specific DBpedia chapters, where the same information may be reported in different languages. Given the growing importance of multilingualism in the Semantic Web community, and in Question Answering over Linked Data in particular, we choose to apply information reconciliation to this scenario. In this paper, we address the issue of reconciling information obtained by querying the SPARQL endpoints of language-specific DBpedia chapters. Starting from a categorization
of the possible relations among the resulting instances, we provide a framework to: (i) classify such relations, (ii) reconcile information using argumentation theory, (iii) rank the alternative results depending on the confidence of the source in case of inconsistencies, and (iv) explain the reasons underlying the proposed ranking. We release the resource obtained applying our framework to a set of language-specific DBpedia chapters, and we integrate such framework in the Question Answering system QAKiS, that exploits such chapters as RDF datasets to be queried using a natural language interface.


Cross-flow tidal turbines (CFTTs) have proven advantages over horizontal axis turbines in terms of high power density per unit area, simplicity of design, and operation independence from inflow direction. However, they suffer from an unsteady flow regime which can comprise dynamic blade stall and thus problems of material fatigue or even failure. Active pitch control mechanisms on blade level have been shown to provide a potential solution, when continuously adjusting the pitching angle of each individual blade during the whole rotational cycle of the turbine.
As part of the research of the OPTIDE project, in this study, electric drive systems embedded in the blades of a CFTT flume model are proposed aiming to realize an active pitch control with high efficiency and fast response. The blade embedded actuation allows for reasonable flow conditions. For full scaled on-site applications this is required to reduce hydrodynamic losses and to protect the actuators and electronics from the harsh environmental and operation conditions. Based on the expected hydrodynamic loads from numerical flow simulations (CFD), several types of actuators are considered. The first type has brushless DC motors installed at both sides of each blade. Along with a gear box with proper reduction ratio, the actuators are able to provide required torque within expected cycle period. The second type of actuator drives the blade directly, which always results in faster pitching action, higher drive efficiency, more accurate positioning of blades, as well as simpler structure. Specifically, the shaft of each blade is designed as the primary of a limited angle torque motor, while the blades are used as the secondary with magnets inside. To mitigate the potential saturation effect on the iron of the primary, the blade can also be used as the primary, where there always exists much larger space for windings. In this case, the magnets are now located at the shaft. By doing this, it is expected to output larger torque in a wider range of pitching angle as compared with the original one, while almost the same power is required. An experimental test bench for a single blade with both types of actuators is built to verify their ability of a fast and accurate pitching control. This also lays the foundation of identifying the optimal pitching angle for the control and inhibition of dynamic blade stall at various flow conditions and blade positions within the rotational cycle of the turbines. After successful optimization and testing of the model scaled mechatronical design, the actuators will be up scaled for realistic applications.


A conflict is a disagreement between two or more parties (people/group). Conflict management has become a key criterion in understanding how an individual handles stressful situations and indeed comes out with a "win-win" solution for both of the conflicting parties. Emotional intelligence is often linked with an individual's conflict managing style. One of the determinants/variables in creating the conflict management corpus in an individual is considered to be education. The researches have shown a dependent relationship between the stream of education and the conflict management techniques promptly availed by an individual. Hence, the purpose of this research was to explore a relationship between the two. A sample of 200 final year undergraduate students was selected to aggregate the results of this study, while specific focus was on the field of computer engineering and management. This will allow for more psychological consideration while grooming the potential human resource for their future endeavors. The Thomas–Kilmann conflict mode instrument; a standardized instrument, was employed to collect the primary data necessary to complete the research. A rendezvous with each of the subjects was conducted in a quiet environment where they filled up the questionnaire and asked questions regarding the same (if any). It was made sure that the effect of environmental factors on the subjects was as minimal as possible; however, due to human factors, it is not completely avoidable. This as such resulted in a quantitative research. The findings of this research would materialize a framework for training the students for organizational conflicts, and subsequently, its managing techniques while they are in the university itself. This would ameliorate the circumstances for both them as well as their prospective employer. Aus. Aca. Busi & Eco. Rev Vol 3(1), January 2017, P 13-26