Over the past decades, digital technology and media had firmly integrated into almost all areas of contemporary culture and society. In this context, the Internet, computers or mobile phones are no longer considered products of new media, but instead are taken for granted. With this background in mind, this paper suggests taking a post-digital perspective on today's media society. The concept of post-digital refers to an aesthetics that no longer regards digital technology as a revolutionary phenomenon, but instead as a normal aspect of people's daily life. More precisely, post-digital aesthetics deals with an environment where digital technology became such a commonplace that its existence is frequently no longer acknowledged. Based on the analysis of contemporary artworks and practices inspired by their surroundings, this paper aims to bring those phenomena into consciousness that became unnoticeable in the contemporary digital environment. For this purpose, this investigation goes beyond the formalaesthetic analysis, but instead focuses on the investigation of the receptive act. Concretely, post-digital aesthetics seeks to describe and analyze the changing modes of perception affected by the increased digitization of one's surroundings. In the context of this analysis, aesthetics is thus understood not as the goal per se, but rather as the means to enhance the understanding of contemporary digital culture. 213 original scientific article approval date 25 07 2015 UDK BROJEVI: 72.038.53 COBISS.SR-ID 220470284


Three main theoretical perspectives have been used to frame the allocation of domestic chores within households, namely the time availability, the relative resources and the doing gender perspective. Using time budget data from Indagine sulle famiglie Italiane: Uso del tempo (2002-2003), we test for the three theories keeping into account both individual and household characteristics. In particular, we test for the effect of belonging to dual or single earner households and for the effect of educational homogamy of the spouses on the amount and share of domestic chores undergone by the couple. Further, we introduce the context as important factor influencing the division of chores and run multilevel models to control for regional variation. We find that Italians follow a traditional division of labor inside the household, with men still wearing the breadwinner's shoes and women mainly responsible for domestic chores and care activities. However, important differences emerge when considering different types of households and different geographical settings. In particular, dual earner couples display a smaller disparity in the division of domestic chores, as relative resources and time availability perspective would predict. Furthermore, highly educated homogamous couples are found to do less domestic work and to share it more equally. However, this effect is strongly influenced by geographical zone: women in the southern regions of the country do not modify their share of chores according to their educational status as women in the north, therefore bringing support to the doing gender perspective in this part of the country.


Variant design of parts for mass customization is a rapidly custom process with standardized and modularized modules. Tabular layouts of article characteristics (TLAC) describe standardization and regularization information of product, and can expediently implement product variant design and variant response of process. On the basis of analyzing TLAC, combined with programming language Visual C++, an approach of part's rapid responding design based on UG NX6.0 and TLAC was presented. The basic principle and the modeling method of master model technology based on TLAC were discussed. Finally, an application example of gear was given to verify the feasibility of the method


This study examines the location of British health visiting in contemporary policy discourses concerned with public health and safeguarding children. It argues that professional identity and orientation can be understood through health visiting's long history of public health work with children and families, which has included an engagement with protecting children. The expansive safeguarding children agenda, which includes the requirement to undertake a progressive universal approach to service provision and which incorporates a broad concept of risk and requires early intervention, has created tensions, particularly given current workforce constraints. The location and visibility of British health visiting in the academic and practice worlds also shape how the profession is understood.


An extensive literature survey revealed that rafting on objects floating at the sea surface is a common dispersal mechanism in marine crustaceans. A great variety of objects including detached macroalgae, plastic items and wood have been found to serve as substrata for rafting organisms. A total of 365 crustacean species from all major taxonomic groups have been reported from floating objects. Amphipods (104 species) represent the most diverse group followed by brachyuran decapods (60 species). 296 species are facultative rafters. These animals usually have a benthic or pelagic life-style and inhabit floating items as a secondary habitat. However, 23 species, mainly represented by barnacles, have been identified as obligate rafters living exclusively on floating substrata. Most rafting crustaceans reproduce sexually, primarily featuring a gonochoric sexual system with few hermaphroditic species. Fertilization mode is internal in all species. Direct development of juveniles without pelagic larvae is the major developmental mode, facilitating the retention of juveniles close to the parental animals. Mobile species able to walk or crawl dominate on natural substrata that are exposed to biological degradation. Persistent substrata, however, are often colonized by sessile animals. Feeding mode of the animals also appears to depend on substratum characteristics. Many grazing species are found on floating macroalgae while suspension feeders and predators dominate on abiotic objects and wood. The high degree of functional and morphological diversity within the Crustacea allows these animals to colonize a great variety of floating substrata making rafting an efficient dispersal mechanism for this group.


Present article is dedicated to the course of life of Dr Dusan Kvapil, the professional career of which was connected with teaching the Czech language at the Philological Faculty of the University of Belgrade. Dr Kvapil was both invincible and irretrievable linguistic practician in the same moment, who has translated from Czech to both Serbian and Croatian dozens of economic, technical texts, scientific studies and articles written by Czech Literature Scholars and Ethnographers. However, his domain as translator involved all Czech and Slovak films, TV, and Radio dramas. Altogether, he has translated and/or subtitled over 120 items! Also, he was acting as an interpreter/translator for top state representatives of former Yugoslavia, being inter alia a personal interpreter of J. B. Tito during his negotiations with Czech delegations. Dr Kvapil spent his life in converging Czech and Serbian nations. He was a vice-chairman of the Society for Czech, Slovak, and Yugoslavian Friendship in Belgrade, he was attending to co-operation of Czech compatriotic societies in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbian Vojvodina. For his lifelong effort focused to convergence and improving mutual cognition of Czechs and Serbs he became the first prizewinner of Frantisek Alexander Zach award in 2007, which used to be awarded annually to persons, who contributed significantly to the progress in Czech-Serbian intercommunity.


Network virtualization has emerged as the most promising approach to overcome the current ossification of the Internet. A key problem in it is how to efficiently and effectively make use of the substrate network resources by embedding multiple virtual networks with various constraints. Due to its NP-hardness, many heuristic approaches have been proposed. However, most of them simplify the problem by relaxing some constraints, resulting in their designs in conflict with practical limitations. Furthermore, some other important design issues, like load balancing and the response time requirements of different applications, have been usually ignored as well. In this paper, we propose FELL, a Flexible virtual network Embedding algorithm with guaranteed Load baLancing for the general problem. Based on simulated annealing, FELL can flexibly control the tradeoff between results accuracy and running time to meet various requirements of different applications by changing parameters. Load balancing enables substrate network to avoid resource fragmentation and further increases the profit of infrastructure providers. A novel cost criterion that reflects the impact of distribution of allocated resources for an embedding is designed to conduct embedding process to guarantee it. The splittable flow is supported to obtain better resource utilization by making use of small pieces of available bandwidth. We also design some key functions including generating initial and neighbor solutions. The effectiveness of our algorithm is finally validated by our simulations.


The phylogenetic relationship of sulphur-oxidising endosymbiotic bacteria from bivalves of the families Vesicomyidae (Calyptogena sp. C1, Calyptogena sp. C3), Solemyidae (Acharax sp.) and Thyasiridae (Conchocele sp.) from cold-seep habitats were determined by 16S rDNA nucleotide sequence analyses. The endosymbiotic bacteria form distinct groups within the gamma-Proteobacteria and are well separated from each other and from free-living sulphur- oxidising bacteria of the genera Beggiatoa, Halothiobacillus and Thiomicrospira. The endosymbiotic bacteria of Acharax sp. from cold seeps off Oregon, Indonesia and Pakistan have sequences highly similar to each other but quite distinct from other thiotrophic endosymbionts. This includes endosym- bionts from Solemya spp., to which they are distantly related. Symbiotic bacteria of Conchocele sp. from a cold seep in the Sea of Okhotsk are similar to those of Bathymodiolus thermophilus and related species, as shown by their overall sequence similarity and by signature sequences. The endosymbiotic bacteria of Calyptogena spp. from cold seeps off Oregon and Pakistan are closely related to those of other vesicomyids. Endosymbiont species found off Oregon corresponded to 2 different clusters of Calyptogena spp. symbionts in the same samples. The results corroborate the hypothesis of a monophyletic origin of the symbionts in vesicomyid clams, and support the existence of deeply branching groups in solemyid symbionts and of divergent lines and distribution for thyasirid symbionts. The results also indicate that certain symbiont species cluster according to the depth distribution of their hosts, and that in consequence host species together with their symbionts may have undergone depth-specific adaptation and evolution.


Zinc–nickel (Zn–Ni) alloys were electrodeposited in a noncyanide alkaline bath containing triethanolamine (TEA) and ethylenediamine (ED) as complexing agents for Ni2+ ions. The microstructure, surface morphology and alloy composition of the electrodeposited zinc–nickel alloys were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. A 23 full-factorial experimental design methodology was applied to identify the main and interaction effects of the variables, and the results were statistically analyzed. The results indicated that ED increased the particle size when the Ni additive concentration was 10 mL/L. When the Ni additive concentration was increased from 10 mL/L to 20 mL/L in the presence of 45 mL/L TEA, ED decreased the particle size and increased the smoothness and compactness of the alloy.


Background: Early detection and timely intervention in IUGR babies can significantly improve perinatal outcome. Bio physical profile and non stress test have been the common modalities used for foetal surveillance but neither of these is accurate in predicting poor perinatal outcome. With the advent of Doppler, it has become much easier to pick up IUGR cases early and with high reproducibility and efficacy for perinatal outcome. Objectives of this study were 1) to correlate clinical findings in IUGR with colour Doppler and perinatal outcome 2) to study prognostic efficacy of Doppler parameters in early detection of foetal compromise. Methods: Sixty singleton pregnancies diagnosed to have IUGR beyond 30 weeks gestation were included in the study and were examined and followed clinically as well as with Doppler findings till delivery. Prognostic efficacy (sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values) of umbilical artery and middle cerebral artery waveforms were studied using percentage. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MCA PI (78%, 93%) as an indicator for extent of foetal compromise in IUGR was highest, though ratios such as MCA PI/UA PI as well as UA SD (>3) were comparably specific predictors for poor perinatal outcome. Absent and reverse end diastolic flow in umbilical artery is associated with definite poor perinatal outcome in terms of mortality. Clinical examination as well as ultrasound biometry has limited accuracy in determining appropriate time of intervention in growth restricted foetuses. Non reactive non stress test was shown to have positive predictive value of only 24% with false positive rate of 75%. Conclusions: Colour Doppler study is a simple, quick, non invasive procedure and multiple vessel study has high accuracy among the other tests for ante partum foetal surveillance.


Hydrodynamic impact tests were made on an elastic model approximating a two-mass spring system to determine experimentally the effects of structural flexibility on the hydrodynamic loads encountered during seaplane landing impacts and to correlate the results with theory. A flexible seaplane was represented by a two-mass spring system consisting of a rigid prismatic float connected to a rigid upper mass by an elastic structure. The model had a ratio of sprung mass to hull mass of 0.6 and a natural frequency of 3.0 cycles per second. The tests were conducted in smooth water at fixed trims and included both high and low flight-path angles and a range of velocity. Theoretical and experimental comparisons indicated that the theoretical results agreed well with the experimental results.


Pyroelectric activity is exhibited by materials which possess a spontaneous temperature-dependent electric polarisation. These materials generate a current as their temperature is changed. Many classes of organic materials exhibit pyroelectric activity but only if processed in such a way that a non-centrosymmetric arrangement of dipole results. When deposited as alternate layers by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique a macroscopically polar assembly is formed. To date, the best performance has been achieved by alternately depositing two materials, one containing acid groups and the other containing amine groups. Calixarenes are one family of materials which are particularly good vehicles for the acid and amine groups. Alternate layer LB films of acid- and amine-substituted calixarenes have high pyroelectric coefficients and form extremely robust films. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a useful tool in examining the properties of thin film samples. Using the FTIR techniques of attenuated total reflection (ATR) and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) it is possible to study the behaviour of the acid and amine groups within the pyroelectric samples.This thesis describes the pyroelectric properties of a series of calix[8]arenes. The dependence of the pyroelectric coefficient on temperature, film thickness and substituent chain length is analysed. The infrared spectra show that the acid and amine groups interact by proton transfer but also that the remaining acid groups form either facing dimers with the amine or sideways dimers between themselves. The spectra do not change with temperature. This demonstrates that the films are thermally stable. Additionally, this invariance shows that the pyroelectric activity in these films does not arise from a change in the proton transfer as has been previously postulated. Theoretical calculations undertaken predict that the source of the dipole change required for the level of pyroelectric activity seen is likely to be a change in distance between the acid and amine groups. Further observations, quantitatively examined by curve fitting techniques, show that the greater the number of proton-transferred pairs, the lower the pyroelectric coefficient. Thus, only the temperature-dependent separation of the acid and amine pairs which have not undergone proton transfer is responsible for the pyroelectric activity in these systems.


The thermophilic cellulolytic bacteria are potential organisms for applications such as in decomposition of organic materials and enzyme technology. One potential organic materials which is very abundant in Indonesia is rice straw, which have not been optimally utilized. The problem is, the composting process of straw in nature is used to take along time, so it needs to add effective decomposer microoroganisms which can adapt on compost termperature rise. The aims of this research were to isolated and selected thermophilic cellulolytic bacteria and Trichoderma harzianum and tested the isolates on rice straw composting. This research is executed in laboratory in faculty of agriculture, University of Alwashliyah Medan. Twenty thermophilic cellulolytic bacteria were isolated from several process composting of rice straw and corn waste at high temperature, from peat land and sidebu-debu hot spring, while Trichoderma harzianum fungi that used in this research was already got from previous research. Cellulolytic activity was determined by ability of bacteria and fungi to degrade carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) substrate. Cellulolytic microorganisms was selected based on clear zone which form surrounding the colonies. Cellulase activity was measured by dinitrosalisilic acid (DNS) method. Results showed that there were 5 isolates (JG12, JG9, JG7 JR2, SD1) showing the best ability to degrade CMC. JG12 isolate had the higest diameter ratio of clear zone and enzyme activity ( 2,6 and 5,07 x 10-3 U/mL), while T. Harzianum had ratio of clear zone 1,22 and enzyme activity 4,02 x 10-3 U/mL).Then the selected bacteria and T. Harzianum were test on rice straw composting. This selection was used complete block Random Design Factorial, which consist of bacteria isolates as the first factor (S0=control, S1= Straw+JG7, S2=Straw+JR2, S3=Straw+JG9, S4=Straw+JG12, S5=Straw+SD1) and T. Harzianum as the second factor( T0=control, T1=Straw+T. harzianum). The result of this research are the highest decreasing of ratio C/N is caused by the treatment combination S4T1 which is consist of JG12 bacteria isolate that isolated from corn waste composting and Trichoderma harzianum (C/N = 17,16).


In order to improve the achievement of high jumpers, this study first approximately launches a jump height model based on the three stage model as the run-up, take-off and crossing bar. In the take-off stage, to accelerate the run-up velocity and strength athleteÂ' the power to jump are two main directions to enhance the performance. And to increase the take-off velocity in the crossing bar stage plays an important role in enhancing the results. Then based on the menÂ's and womenÂ's high jump champion achievement data in the Olympic Games, this study establishes the block growth prediction model of menÂ's and womenÂ's high jump performance and predicts that the scores of menÂ's and womenÂ's high jump champion of the 30th Olympic Games are accordingly 2.3845mand 2.0707m. The predicted results are highly in coincide with the existing 30th Olympic Games results of menÂ's and womenÂ's high jump, which are 2.38mand 2.05mrespectively, indicating that thismodel is suitable for the prediction of high jump performance and can provide a reference for the training work of high jump coaches and athletes..


This paper presents experimental results of the implementation of network steganography method called RSTEG (Retransmission Steganography). The main idea of RSTEG is to not acknowledge a successfully received packet to intentionally invoke retransmission. The retransmitted packet carries a steganogram instead of user data in the payload field. RSTEG can be applied to many network protocols that utilize retransmissions. We present experimental results for RSTEG applied to TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) as TCP is the most popular network protocol which ensures reliable data transfer. The main aim of the performed experiments was to estimate RSTEG steganographic bandwidth and detectability by observing its influence on the network retransmission level.


Two experiments tested hypotheses derived from an interpersonal model of embarrassment. According to this model, people who have suffered a self-presentational predicament are motivated to convey to others that they feel embarrassed as a way of repairing their social image and lowering subjective embarrassment in such situations. In Experiment 1, participants who performed an embarrassing task subsequently expressed greater embarrassment if the researcher did not already know that they were embarrassed than if she was aware of their embarrassment. Experiment 2 showed that embarrassed participants who thought that the researcher did not interpret their blushing as a sign of embarrassment subsequently engaged in alternative self-presentational tactics to improve their damaged social image.


The lipopolysaccharides from fifteen strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa used for serotyping have been isolated and analysed. They all contained heptose, glucose, rhamnose, glucosamine, galactosamine, 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid and alanine. Many of them contained additional sugars and amino compounds, some of which have been shown to be amino sugars. Their composition and structure suggested the existence of a common region of low molecular weight in all the lipopolysaccharides. They could be classified by their chemistry and that of their degradation products into twelve chemogroups, nine of which contained one serotype and three of which contained two serotypes. All the lipopolysaccharides contained the same fatty acids, 3-OH 10 : 0, 2-OH I 2 : 0, 3-OH 12 : o and I 2 : 0. The isolated lipopolysaccharides reacted with the homologous Habs type antisera. The serological specificity was limited to the high molecular weight regions thought to correspond to side chains.


This study examined the role of performance appraisal on improving teacher's job performance systems on teacher's performance in the public schools. It specifically assesses the teacher's evaluation and perception on performance appraisal system, knowledge of teachers on performance appraisal system and performance appraisal management that leads to effective teachers' performance in public primary and secondary schools. This study was used descriptive design in analyzing data from the findings in multiple units of enquiry, also qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in data presentation. Questionnaires, interviews and documentation were the main methods of data collection in which 120 respondents were asked from primary and secondary schools as well as supervisors. Moreover, the data collected were analyzed and processed by using computer software known as Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS.V. 16 .0 ) and the results were indicated clearly on tables and figures. The study assessed and PA for teacher's and the results revealed that OPRAS implementation at schools is not effective and not very well utilized by the supervisors. The majority of the teachers mentioned that they were not received feedback about (90.0%) were not aware of PA and they lack knowledge of OPRAS in their school organizations. They were not involved in discussing individual performance objectives with supervisors, the evidence was shown from the results that about (54.5%) and they were not given enough time to prepare for the meeting as a result, The current OPRAS system is not used by the government authority for making official decision such as demotion, termination of contract, transfer and promotion in this the response of the respondents is about (86.2%).It was recommended that OPRAS should be implemented effectively to fit a particular organization' in order to fulfill organizational objectives.


Abstract. The usage of road atlases is experiencing a decline due to the rise in popularity of modern GPS navigational systems. However, road atlases are still utilised by some individuals, both in combination with mobile navigation and separately when navigating during the trip. Therefore, road atlases continue to be published. They are regularly updated, and they do gradually change, such as when the map symbology changes or when the creation of maps takes new technological possibilities into account. The changes in map symbology are the main essence of the presented paper. Based on the assumption presented by an expert (head of the largest cartographic publishing house in the Czech Republic) during an expert discussion that the 20-year-old road atlas is easier to read and that the required information was more quickly accessible in the old atlas than in the new atlas, a scientific experiment was designed and performed. Within the comparison of the "old" and "new" atlases, three hypotheses were established: (1) Accuracy of responses will be higher for the "old" atlas, (2) Time for task completion will be lower for the "old" atlas, and (3) Orientation in the maps from the "old" atlas will be easier. The eye-tracking testing performed did not confirm the first hypothesis, but the statistics confirmed the second and third hypotheses. The reasons for the different results for the "old" and "new" atlases were sometimes obvious (change in the graphic variables of a particular map symbol). Still, other times the causes were not completely clear. All of the experimental results were provided to the publishing house for further use in practice.


The notion of gap is quite important in combinatorial image analysis and it finds several useful applications in fields as CAD and computer graphics. On the other hand, dimension is a fundamental concept in General Topology and it was recently extended to digital objects. In this paper, we show that the dimension of a 2D digital object equipped with an adjacency relation Aα (α ∈ {0, 1}) can be determinated by the number of its gaps besides some other parameters like the number of its pixel, vertices and edges.


We describe the polymorphous TRIPS architecture, which can be configured for different granularities and types of parallelism. TRIPS contains mechanisms that enable the processing cores and the on-chip memory system to be configured and combined in different modes for instruction, data, or thread-level parallelism. To adapt to small and large-grain concurrency, the TRIPS architecture contains four out-of-order, 16-wide-issue grid processor cores, which can be partitioned when easily extractable fine-grained parallelism exists. This approach to polymorphism provides better performance across a wide range of application types than an approach in which many small processors are aggregated to run workloads with irregular parallelism. Our results show that high performance can be obtained in each of the three modes-ILP, TLP, and DLP-demonstrating the viability of the polymorphous coarse-grained approach for future microprocessors.


Nonzero transaction costs invalidate the Black-Scholes (1973) arbitrage argument based on continuous trading. Leland (1985) developed a hedging strategy which modifies the Black-Scholes hedging strategy with a volatility adjusted by the length of the rebalance interval and the rate of the proportional transaction cost. Leland claimed that the exact hedge could be achieved in the limit as the length of rebalance intervals approaches zero. Unfortunately, the main theorem (Leland 1985, P1290) is in error. Simulation results also confirm opposite findings to those in Leland (1985). Since standard delta hedging fails to exactly replicate the option in the presence of transaction costs, we study a pricing and hedging model which is similar to the delta hedging strategy with an endogenous parameter, namely the volatility, for the calculation of delta over time. With transaction costs, the optimal hedging volatility is substantially different from the stock's volatility under the criterion of minimizing the total absolute replication error weighted by the probabilities that the option is in or out of the money. This model provides a close explanation of the skewness of the implied volatilities for equity options. As a special case, option prices from our model are identical to the Black-Scholes option prices when transaction costs are ignored. Data on S&P500 index cash options from January to June 2002 are used to illustrate the model.


A woman's age at menarche and her age at menopause are the alpha and omega of her reproductive years. The timing of these milestones is critical for a woman's health trajectory over her lifespan, as they are indicators of ovarian function and aging. Both early and late timing of either event are associated with risk for adverse health, in particular risk for hormonal cancers in women, quality of life and lifespan. Thus, the search for a relationship between age at menarche and menopause has consequences for chronic disease prevention and implications for public health. Trends in ages at menarche and menopause worldwide and in sub-populations will be presented, however challenges exist in constructing trends. Among 36 studies that examine the association between the two sentinel events, 10 reported a significant direct association, and two reported an inverse association, while the remaining 26 had null results. Over the life course, exposures to environmental and hormonal factors during the prenatal, postnatal and adolescent periods have the potential to initiate, promote, and/or alter mammary and ovarian changes that may affect both age at menarche and natural menopause. This presentation will focus on epidemiological research from several longitudinal prospective cohort studies of multiple factors including hormonal and environmental exposures, socioeconomic status and stress that are hypothesized to influence the tempo of growth including body size and height, development, menarche, menopause and the aging process in women. Citation Format: Michele Robin Forman. Early life environmental exposures, sentinel reproductive events, and cancer risk in women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PL01-02.


The thermal performance and optical properties of wood–polypropylene composites made from untreated wood material with and without metal-containing pigments, and composites made from heat-treated wood material were studied. The thermal heat buildup and linear shrinkage were determined. The impact of the optical properties of the surface of the composites on the heat buildup was analysed. The wood–polypropylene composites made from untreated wood without pigment were found to have the lowest heat buildup; a similar composite containing grey pigment had the highest heat buildup. The linear shrinkage of the studied wood–polypropylene composites was in the range 0.05–0.16%.


Child maltreatment is a historical and current problem in the United States. Children are exposed to physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse in alarming numbers. In 2014, state agencies found an estimated 702,000 victims of child maltreatment. With two thirds of this group representing child neglect victims, research studies and effective interventions are needed for this group in particular. This study examined the relational nature of child neglect versus child physical abuse. The sample population consisted of 68 girls aged 12 years old at the Midwest site of the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect research project. The secondary analysis was completed with descriptive, correlational, and multiple regression analyses. The results of the analysis revealed the mother–child relationship was significantly related to the presence of neglect and was significantly related to the presence of physical abuse. Peer relationships were not found to be significantly related to the presence of neglect or physical abuse. In the multiple-regression analysis, child neglect versus child physical abuse was more predictive of a negative mother–child relationship. Of note, the outcomes of the study lead to a better understanding of the need for relational interventions in treating victims of child abuse and neglect, as well as the relational nature of abuse and neglect demand interventions that focus on the victim and the caregiver/perpetrator. Such interventions can only result in socially and emotionally connected individuals, improving the functioning of the adolescent and the future adult.


While the Saving Mothers, Giving Life's health systems strengthening approach reduced maternal mortality, respondents still reported significant barriers accessing maternal health services. More research is needed to understand the necessary intervention package to affect system-wide change. While the Saving Mothers, Giving Life's health systems strengthening approach reduced maternal mortality, respondents still reported significant barriers accessing maternal health services. More research is needed to understand the necessary intervention package to affect system-wide change. ABSTRACT Background: Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL), a health systems strengthening approach based on the 3-delays model, aimed to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in 6 districts in Zambia between 2012 and 2017. By 2016, the maternal mortality ratio in SMGL-supported districts declined by 41% compared to its level at the beginning of SMGL—from 480 to 284 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 10.5% annual reduction between the baseline and 2016 was about 4.5 times higher than the annual reduction rate for sub-Saharan Africa and about 2.6 times higher than the annual reduction estimated for Zambia as a whole. Objectives: While outcome measures demonstrate reductions in maternal and perinatal mortality, this qualitative endline evaluation assessed community perceptions of the SMGL intervention package, including (1) messaging about use of maternal health services, (2) access to maternal health services, and (3) quality improvement of maternal health services. Methods: We used purposive sampling to conduct semistructured in-depth interviews with women who delivered at home (n=20), women who delivered in health facilities (n=20), community leaders (n=8), clinicians (n=15), and public health stakeholders (n=15). We also conducted 12 focus group discussions with a total of 93 men and women from the community and Safe Motherhood Action Group members. Data were coded and analyzed using NVivo version 10. Results: Delay 1: Participants were receptive to SMGL's messages related to early antenatal care, health facility-based deliveries, and involving male partners in pregnancy and childbirth. However, top-down pressure to increase health facility deliveries led to unintended consequences, such as community-imposed penalty fees for home deliveries. Delay 2: Community members perceived some improvements, such as refurbished maternity waiting homes and dedicated maternity ambulances, but many still had difficulty reaching the health facilities in time to deliver. Delay 3: SMGL's clinician trainings were considered a strength, but the increased demand for health facility deliveries led to human resource challenges, which affected perceived quality of care. Conclusion and Lessons Learned: While SMGL's health systems strengthening approach aimed to reduce challenges related to the 3 delays, participants still reported significant barriers accessing maternal and newborn health care. More research is needed to understand the necessary intervention package to affect system-wide change.


It has been argued that activity based payment systems make hospitals focus on the diagnostic groups that are most profitable given costs and reimbursement rates. This article tests the hypothesis by exploring the relationship between changes in the DRG reimbursement rates and changes in the number of registered treatment episodes for all DRG-codes and hospitals in Norway between 2006 and 2013. The results show that hospitals increase the number of admissions in a diagnostic group when the reimbursement rate is increased, and decrease it (or increase it less) when DRG-rates are reduced. Across all treatments, during all years included in our primary analysis, the increase in volume is about four times as large for DRG-categories with increased reimbursement compared to DRGs with decreased reimbursement rates. However, the results also show that the number of treatment episodes in a diagnostic category is affected by many other factors in addition to the economic incentives.


Using the universe of the 200 largest corporate pension plans in 1998, the authors report their value at risk (VaR) estimates and perform peer group comparisons on the basis of sector, plan assets, funding status, asset allocation, and performance. The results indicate that VaR estimates differ significantly for this sample, ranging from about 10% to 28%, with a median value of 17%. Also, plan aggressiveness increases more with plan assets than with funding status. More surprising is the finding that plan performance (i.e., actual plan returns) is not related. Although risk profiles differ across sectors, plans in the Healthcare, Technology, and Transportation sectors are the most aggressive (and risk profiles with in sectors are closely aligned). The exceptions are Financials, Capital Goods, and Basic Materials.


Psoriasis is an immune-mediated skin disorder associated with severe systemic co-morbidities. While IL-36 is a key disease driver, the pathogenic role of this cytokine has mainly been investigated in skin. Thus, its effects on systemic immunity and extra-cutaneous disease manifestations remain poorly understood. To address this issue, we investigated the consequences of excessive IL-36 activity in circulating immune cells. We initially focused our attention on generalised pustular psoriasis (GPP), a clinical variant associated with pervasive up-regulation of IL-36 signalling. By undertaking blood and neutrophil RNA-sequencing, we demonstrated that affected individuals display a prominent Type-I IFN signature, which correlates with abnormal IL-36 activity. We then validated the association between IL-36 de-regulation and Type-I IFN over-expression in patients with severe psoriasis vulgaris (PsV). We also found that the activation of Type-I IFN genes was associated with extra-cutaneous morbidity, in both GPP and PsV. Finally, we undertook mechanistic experiments, demonstrating that IL-36 acts directly on plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), where it potentiates Toll-like Receptor (TLR)-9 activation and IFN-α production. This effect was mediated by the up-regulation of PLSCR1, a phospholipid scramblase mediating endosomal TLR-9 translocation. These findings identify an IL-36/Type-I IFN axis contributing to extra-cutaneous inflammation in psoriasis. In we hypothesise that abnormal IL-36 signalling has extra-cutaneous effects in both GPP and PsV, driving acute systemic flares in the former and contributing to a state of chronic systemic inflammation in the latter. To explore this model, we integrated the transcription profiling of patient leukocytes with ex-vivo IL-36 stimulations. We show that IL-36 potentiates Toll-like receptor (TLR)-9 activation and enhances the production of Type-I IFN, a cytokine that contributes to systemic immunity, arthritis and atherosclerosis.


We consider a model of intermediated trade for a financial asset. Agents' valuation for the asset includes both a private and a common value component. A third party posts a price at which trade can occur, and a buyer and seller simultaneously decide whether to accept or reject the trade. We show that trade can be ex post inefficient, in the sense that a high value seller sells the good to a lower value buyer. Under specified conditions, any price at which trade occurs leads to inefficient trade with positive probability. We compare two objectives: volume maximization and welfare maximization. With symmetric priors over agents' private values, these lead to the same outcome, but, in general, imply different prices. Both objectives imply that a consummated trade is inefficient with positive probability. We consider two notions of informativeness, value informativeness and allocative informativeness. There is a tradeoff between informativeness and volume or welfare. In particular, small transactions costs, which reduce the volume of trade, can improve the informativeness of the outcome.


Abstract As age increases, the prevalence of hearing loss significantly increases, reaching up to 89% of those 80 years and older. Hearing loss in older patients is often unrecognized and its consequences are often underappreciated. Hearing loss can interfere with the ability to exchange important health information and to participate in health care decision-making. Hearing loss during hospitalization increases the risk of misdiagnosis. There is a lack of empirical data regarding prevalence and recognition of hearing loss in hospitalized older adults. In this article, we describe a variety of negative outcomes that may result when older inpatients are functioning with unrecognized hearing loss.


Supported by the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, embedded sensor networks have become popular and been widely deployed in recent years. The IEEE 802.15.4 medium access control (MAC) protocol is uniquely designed to meet the desirable requirements of the low end‐to‐end delay, low packet loss, and low power consumption in the low rate wireless personal areas networks (LR‐WPANs). This paper develops an analytical model to quantify the key performance metrics of the MAC protocol in LR‐WPANs with bursty ON–OFF traffic. This study fills the gap in the literature by removing the assumptions of saturated traffic or nonbursty unsaturated traffic conditions, which are unable to capture the characteristics of bursty multimedia traffic in sensor networks. This analytical model can be used to derive the QoS performance metrics in terms of throughput and total delay. The accuracy of the model is verified through NS‐2 (http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/) simulation experiments. This model is adopted to investigate the performance of the MAC protocol in LR‐WPANs under various traffic patterns, different loads, and various numbers of stations. Numerical results show that the traffic patterns and traffic burstiness have a significant impact on the delay performance of LR‐WPANs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


OBJECTIVES
Mpox is a viral disease caused by monkeypox, a highly contagious orthopoxvirus that resulted in a global outbreak beginning in spring 2022. Diagnosis is confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of swabs from mucocutaneous lesions. Rare reports have documented the histologic changes of mpox lesions, but the cytologic features have not been described. We present the cytology findings of samples taken from swabs of mucocutaneous mpox lesions in 3 different patients.

METHODS
The patients were all male, aged 55, 43, and 37 years, all with mpox confirmed by PCR testing. Swabs from chest (cases 1 and 2) and tongue (case 3) lesions were directly sampled and submitted in Aptima (case 1) or PreservCyt solution (cases 2 and 3). Liquid-based preps were prepared and stained using the Papanicolaou method. Specimens were assessed for viral cytopathic changes.

RESULTS
All cases showed nuclear cytopathic changes (enlarged nuclei with open chromatin and prominent red nucleoli), 2 cases demonstrated multinucleated keratinocytes, and 1 case showed potential Guarnieri bodies. The chromatin margination and nuclear molding typical of herpesviruses was not appreciated.

CONCLUSIONS
The cytopathic changes of monkeypox are not specific, but their recognition could prompt appropriate PCR testing. Monkeypox shows distinct cytologic changes compared with herpesviruses.


SiC detectors with active volume dimensions sufficient to stop alpha particles have been manufactured and tested. A linear energy response and excellent energy resolution have been obtained for various alpha emitters in the 3.18-MeV to 8.38-MeV energy range. Evaluation of the contributing factors to the SiC detector energy resolution indicates that the measured values for the full width at half maximum (FWHM) are limited by energy straggling of the alpha particles as they pass through the metallic contact layers that comprise the entrance window to the detector. Even with this component included in the measured FWHM, the measured values are comparable to those achievable with silicon alpha spectrometers. The possibility that the energy resolution that can be achieved with SiC may surpass that of silicon can not be excluded. SiC alpha spectrometers are expected to be useful in many nuclear applications where the ability to operate in high-temperature and high-radiation environments is required. Such applications include monitoring of alpha particles and neutrons in actinide waste-tank environments as well as neutron and gamma-ray monitoring of spent nuclear fuel assemblies


20 Oxidative cleaning agents such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) 21 used in water and wastewater treatment play an important role in the degradation and rapid aging 22 of the polymeric membranes. In addition, when the temperature is above the maximum operating 23 range of the membrane, it negatively affects the membrane performance. H2O2 which is also 24 known as a green and environmentally-friendly strong oxidant because of releasing only water as 25 a byproduct can provide good cleaning efficiency under temperature, but its influence on 26 membrane aging is not fully understood. In this study, the aging of polyethersulfone (PES) 27 ultrafiltration (UF) membrane using H2O2 under high-temperature conditions and degradation of 28 the polymeric membrane was systematically investigated using response surface methodology 29 (RSM). The effects of H2O2 concentration, temperature, and treatment time were tested on 30 membrane flux, contact angle, pore size, and porosity for decomposed membrane. The results 31 showed that normalized permeability was significantly changed approximately 2.34-folds by 32 H2O2 concentration at an exposure dose of 5 mM and 373 K temperature. Moreover, the largest 33 pore sizes as 161.23 nm and 160.73 nm were obtained at the conditions of 2.5 mM H2O2 34 concentration and 373 K temperature. The lowest contact angle (54.76°) and porosity (61.88%) 35 were obtained at the same conditions. The results depicted that H2O2 can be used for membrane 36 cleaning with minimum membrane degradation at moderate conditions. 37 38 39 40 41


We study verification of systems whose transitions consist of accesses to a Web-based data-source. An access is a lookup on a relation within a relational database, fixing values for a set of positions in the relation. For example, a transition can represent access to a Web form, where the user is restricted to filling in values for a particular set of fields. We look at verifying properties of a schema describing the possible accesses of such a system. We present a language where one can describe the properties of an access path, and also specify additional restrictions on accesses that are enforced by the schema. Our main property language, AccLTL, is based on a first-order extension of linear-time temporal logic, interpreting access paths as sequences of relational structures. We also present a lower-level automaton model, A-automata, which AccLTL specifications can compile into. We show that AccLTL and A-automata can express static analysis problems related to "querying with limited access patterns" that have been studied in the database literature in the past, such as whether an access is relevant to answering a query, and whether two queries are equivalent in the accessible data they can return. We prove decidability and complexity results for several restrictions and variants of AccLTL, and explain which properties of paths can be expressed in each restriction.


Abstract The present study aims to determine the relationship of the families of children with childhood behavior disorders. In a sample of 263 students in the age group of 10-12 years studying in 4 th , 5 th and 6 th standards in the elementary schools of Tafila city. The researcher analyzed the family relationship of the three groups of families based on two factors such as cohesion and conflict. Investigator also compared these factors in the families of children with no behavior disorders, with that of families of children with mild and severe behavior disorders.  The results of the study reveals that, a high cohesion and less conflict is found among the families of children with no behavior problems and low cohesion and conflict in the families of children with severe behavior problems. Keywords : family, relationship, children, behavior disorders


By using the full-core plus correlation (FCPC) type wave functions, the accurate charge densities ρ(0) at the nucleus and the radial expectation values of the ground states for the lithium-like systems with Z = 21 to 30 are obtained. The determinantal conditions and the electron-nucleus cusp condition are used to calculate the inequalities of the upper and the lower bounds to ρ(0) with two or more expectation values. These inequalities, derived by Angulo and Dehesa [Phys. Rev. A 44 1516 (1991)], are verified to be also valid for these ions with higher nuclear charge. The present results show that the wave functions used in this paper are satisfactory in the whole configuration space for these ions with higher nuclear charge.


After a brief review of the main differences between New and Old Keynesian economics from the 1960s this paper focuses on a tension between traditional sluggish measures of potential output commonly used by policy-makers and the New Keynesian (NK) notion of this variable which conceptualizes it as the level of output that would have been produced under perfect competition had all prices and wages been flexible. The paper shows that, under monopolistic competition, NK potential output is often more volatile than the level of output produced under sticky prices and wages implying either of the following. Real life policy-makers mistakenly target smooth versions of output or (since actual economies are monopolistically rather than perfectly competitive) the flexible price and wage equilibrium does not necessarily maximize welfare. The paper shows, that depending on the shape of the utility function and of the distribution of productivity shocks either case is possible and proposes a criterion for discriminating between them.


This article presents data from a 15-year, mixed-methods school improvement effort. The High Reliability Schools (HRS) reform made use of previous research on school effects and on High Reliability Organizations (HROs). HROs are organizations in various parts of our cultures that are required to operate successfully "the first time, every time." This is a requirement increasingly placed on our schools. The HRS reform was conducted in all 11 secondary schools in one Welsh (U.K.) Local Authority (LA). Data are provided on the Neath-Port Talbot (NPT) district along with case studies of two of NPT schools. Pre-reform data indicated that students in the LA were performing well below Welsh averages. Over a four-year intervention, NPT's students made gains that were nearly double the national average. Achievement data from five and 11 years post-intervention indicate that the relatively high-poverty schools in the LA have continued to rise to well above the national averages. Qualitative observations and interviews with the schools' and LA's leadership and student groups, combined with analyses of recent school inspectors' reports, indicate that schools are continuing to use HRS principles and are continuing their refinement of them in context. Implications for future school reforms and research are presented.


Is computed tomography (CT) a diagnostic miracle or an expensive and unproven procedure? In the multitude of published studies, critics of CT demand controlled clinical trials, but thus far the efficacy of CT has been judged from clinical experience alone, and few studies have been done on the effect of CT on disease management and patient outcome.


Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic, relapsing and multifactorial disorders of the colonic mucosa, which show increased and unbalanced intestinal immune response to external stimuli. Plant-derived extracts were described to possess the capability in contrasting IBDs-related oxidative stress and inflammatory pathways. In the present study, we investigated the water extract of Harpagophytum procumbens DC. ex Meisn. in an experimental model of IBD. Additionally, a microbiological investigation was carried out to discriminate the efficacy against bacterial and fungal strains involved in IBDs. An untargeted proteomic analysis was also conducted on more than 100 colon proteins involved in tissue morphology and metabolism. The extract showed the ability to blunt the level of selected biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation, including serotonin, prostaglandins, cytokines and transcription factors. Additionally, the extract inhibited the growth of Candida albicans and C. tropicalis, in vitro. The extract was also able to exert a pro-homeostatic effect on the levels of a wide plethora of colon proteins, thus corroborating protective effects against the burden of inflammation and oxidative stress. On the other hand, the supra-physiological downregulation of cytoskeletal-related proteins involved in tissue morphology and antimicrobial barrier function suggests caution in the use of food supplements enriched with H. procumbens.


Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have great potential in the near future to be connected in a large number to the power systems. This will lead to influence the overall dynamic behavior of power systems, specifically when PEVs participate in the primary frequency control (PFC). Modeling a large number of PEVs for PFC can be a complex and time consuming task. In order to reduce computational complexity, in [1], we proposed that a large number of PEVs was represented by an aggregate model which was connected to the transmission system. In [1], in the aggregate model of PEVs for the frequency stability analysis, the distribution network has been neglected, although in reality PEVs will be dispersedly connected to the distribution network. This paper proposes an aggregate model of PEVs that incorporates distribution network characteristics, i.e. the power losses. Thus, the proposed aggregate model represents the active power response of PEVs taking into consideration distribution network power losses (DNPL). To achieve this goal, the DNPL increment, which is caused by the participation of PEVs in the PFC, is mathematically formulated with respect to the active power variation of PEVs following a disturbance. Then, the proposed aggregate model of PEVs is obtained according to the PEV fleet behavior and also the calculated power loss variation. In order to compare the detailed model and the proposed aggregate model, the simulations are carried out in Matlab / Simulink. Finally, the simulation results show high level of correspondence between the detailed and the proposed aggregate model of PEVs following a disturbance in the power system.


This study is devoted to answering two questions: (1) Do individuals' worries and sufferings correlate with the acceptability of corruption from their perspectives? (2) Does this correlation differ by country in terms of corruption levels? We focus on analyzing the correlation between macro and micro worries, on one hand, and individual acceptability of corrupt behavior, on the other hand. This study is based on the data from the 6th-wave World Value Survey. We identified three groups of countries based on the corruption perception index: countries with low-level corruption (Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and Sweden), countries with medium-level corruption (Belarus, China, South Korea, Malaysia, and Romania), and countries with high-level corruption (Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Thailand). For the purposes of our analysis, we used structural equation modeling. We have found that macro and micro worries are significantly correlated with the acceptability of corruption. Our analysis shows that the more the people worry about themselves or their families, the more they accept corruption. The people who worry about society are more likely to disapprove of corruption. However, the significance of these links varies, depending on the group of countries. For the countries with low-level corruption, the correlation is significant only for the link between micro worries and the acceptability of corruption. The countries with high-level corruption show a significant correlation only for the link between macro worries and the acceptability of corruption. For countries with medium-level corruption and for Russia, the acceptability of corruption is significantly correlated with both micro and macro worries.


Irish music transcends all national boundaries, and yet expresses intensely the spirit of the place - that longing of all exiles for their home country. For the story of Irish music is also the story of centuries-long emigration to, especially, America and England. With a blend of social history, interviews with musicians and analysis of technique, this book attempts to chart some of those journeys, to visit some of the places reached - the Appalachians, Chicago, New York, London - and to provide an account of how Irish music eventually wound its way back home again, enriched, re-invigorated and changed. Way back, Irish traditional music belonged to remote rural communities - the hauntingly beautiful "sean nos", unaccompanied songs sung in Irish, the ballads, the jigs, reels, slides and polkas taught by itinerant dancing masters. But it was in America that Irish music re-invented itself, to meet the musical needs of the New World, and 20th-century technology also sent it off in new directions to meld with rock, country, pop, electric folk, blues and the avant-garde. This book chronicles those transformations, from the Clancy Brothers and Bob Dylan, Planxty and Clannad, to the Pogues, Van Morrison, U2, Sinead O'Connor and Christy Moore, and to John Cage's "Roaratorio". It aims to show, too, how modern music has been alchemized by the use of traditional Irish techniques and instruments like the bodhran, the harp and the uilleann pipes to form that unique sound that is so unmistakably Irish. The book ties in with a BBC2 television series in March and April 1991.


Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are a midterm solution to reduce the transportation sector's dependency on oil. However, if implemented in a large scale without control, peak load increases significantly and the grid may be overloaded. Two algorithms to address this problem are proposed and analyzed. Both are based on a forecast of future electricity prices and use dynamic programming to find the economically optimal solution for the vehicle owner. The first optimizes the charging time and energy flows. It reduces daily electricity cost substantially without increasing battery degradation. The latter also takes into account vehicle to grid support as a means of generating additional profits by participating in ancillary service markets. Constraints caused by vehicle utilization as well as technical limitations are taken into account. An analysis, based on data of the California independent system operator, indicates that smart charge timing reduces daily electricity costs for driving from $0.43 to $0.2. Provision of regulating power substantially improves plug-in hybrid electric vehicle economics and the daily profits amount to $1.71, including the cost of driving.


Increasing evidence suggests that angiotensin II (Ang II) may act as a growth factor for the heart. However, direct effects of Ang II on mammalian cardiac cells (myocytes and nonmyocytes), independent of secondary hemodynamic and neurohumoral effects, have not been well characterized. Therefore, we analyzed the molecular phenotype of cultured cardiac cells from neonatal rats in response to Ang II. In addition, we examined the effects of selective Ang II receptor subtype antagonists in mediating the biological effects of Ang II. In myocyte culture, Ang II caused an increase in protein synthesis without changing the rate of DNA synthesis. In contrast, Ang II induced increases in protein synthesis, DNA synthesis, and cell number in nonmyocyte cultures (mostly cardiac fibroblasts). The Ang II-induced hypertrophic response of myocytes and mitogenic response of fibroblasts were mediated primarily by the AT1 receptor. Ang II caused a rapid induction of many immediate-early genes (c-fos, c-jun, jun B, Egr-1, and c-myc) in myocyte and nonmyocyte cultures. Ang II induced "late" markers for cardiac hypertrophy, skeletal a-actin and atrial natriuretic factor expression, within 6 hours in myocytes. Ang II also caused upregulation of the angiotensinogen gene and transforming growth factor-,f1 gene within 6 hours. Induction of immediate-early genes, late genes, and growth factor genes by Ang II was fully blocked by an AT, receptor antagonist but not by an AT2 receptor antagonist. These results indicate that (1) Ang II causes hypertrophy of cardiac myocytes and mitogenesis of cardiac fibroblasts, (2) the phenotypic changes of cardiac cells in response to Ang II in vitro closely mimic those of growth factor response in vitro and of load-induced hypertrophy in vivo, (3) all biological effects of Ang II examined here are mediated primarily by the AT1 receptor subtype, and (4) Ang II may initiate a positive-feedback regulation of cardiac hypertrophic response by inducing the angiotensinogen gene and transforming growth factor-l1 gene. (Circultion Research 1993;73:413-423)


BACKGROUND
New transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) technologies have been developed, but their clinical effectiveness and determinants of diagnostic yield have not been quantified. Prospective data are needed to determine risk-adjusted diagnostic yield.

METHODS
We prospectively enrolled patients undergoing TBNA of mediastinal lymph nodes in the American College of Chest Physicians Quality Improvement Registry, Evaluation, and Education (AQuIRE) multicenter database and recorded clinical, procedural, and provider information. All clinical decisions, including type of TBNA used (conventional vs endobronchial ultrasound-guided), were made by the attending bronchoscopist. The primary outcome was obtaining a specific diagnosis.

RESULTS
We enrolled 891 patients at six hospitals. Most procedures (95%) were performed with ultrasound guidance. A specific diagnosis was made in 447 cases. Unadjusted diagnostic yields were 37% to 54% for different hospitals, with significant between-hospital heterogeneity (P = .0001). Diagnostic yield was associated with annual hospital TBNA volume (OR, 1.003; 95% CI, 1.000-1.006; P = .037), smoking (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.02-2.34; P = .042), biopsy of more than two sites (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38-0.85; P = .015), lymph node size (reference > 1-2 cm, ≤ 1 cm: OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.34-0.77; P = .003; > 2-3 cm: OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.61-3.85; P < .001; and > 3 cm: OR, 3.61; 95% CI, 2.17-6.00; P < .001), and positive PET scan (OR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.39-7.01; P = .018). Biopsy was performed on more and smaller nodes at high-volume hospitals (P < .0001).

CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first bronchoscopy study of risk-adjusted diagnostic yields on a hospital-level basis. High-volume hospitals were associated with high diagnostic yields. This study also demonstrates the value of procedural registries as a quality improvement tool. A larger number and variety of participating hospitals is needed to verify these results and to further investigate other determinants of diagnostic yield.


BACKGROUND
Previous research has shown that persons undergoing certain high-risk surgical procedures at high-volume hospitals (HVHs) have a lower risk of postoperative death than those undergoing surgery at low-volume hospitals (LVHs). We estimated the absolute number of operative deaths that could potentially be avoided if 5 major surgical procedures in Ontario were restricted to HVHs.

METHODS
We collected data on all persons who underwent esophagectomy (613), colon or rectal resection for colorectal cancer (18 898), pancreaticoduodenectomy (686), pulmonary lobectomy or pneumonectomy for lung cancer (5156) or repair of an unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) (6279) in Ontario from Apr. 1, 1994, to Mar. 31, 1999. We calculated the excess number of operative deaths (defined as deaths in the period from the day of the operation to 30 days thereafter), adjusted for age, sex and comorbidity, among the 75% of persons treated in LVHs, as compared with the 25% treated in the highest-volume quartile of hospitals. Bootstrap methods were used to estimate 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS
Of the 31 632 persons undergoing any of the 5 procedures, 1341 (4.24%) died within 30 days of surgery. If the 75% of persons treated at the LVHs had instead been treated at the HVHs, the annual number of lives potentially saved would have been 4 (95% CI, 0 to 9) for esophagectomy, 6 (95% CI, 1 to 11) for pancreaticoduodenectomy, 1 (95% CI, -10 to 13) for major lung resection and 14 (95% CI, 1 to 25) for repair of unruptured AAA. For resection of colon or rectum, the regionalization strategy would not have saved any lives, and 17 lives (95% CI, 36 to -3) would potentially have been lost.

INTERPRETATION
A small number of operative deaths are potentially avoidable by performing 4 of 5 complex surgical procedures only at HVHs in Ontario. In determining health policy, the most compelling argument for regionalizing complex surgical procedures at HVHs may not be the prevention of a large number of such deaths.


Nanowire-assisted low-voltage electroporation enables efficient and energy-conserving bacteria inactivation without byproduct formation. This approach is promising for replacing traditional methods for reliable water disinfection. Nevertheless, studies of applying this approach to different water matrices have not yet been done. Here, we study the effect of primary water quality parameters (pH, ionic strength, ion type, and organic matters) on the effectiveness of bacteria inactivation by low-voltage electroporation. Our results show that while pH, ionic strength, and ion type cause little impact, high concentration (>5 mg L−1) of macromolecular organic matter (>5000 g mol−1) hampers the disinfection performance. These macromolecular organic matters tend to accumulate around or attach to the nanowires and hinder the bacteria from reaching the regions with enhanced electric field strength where inactivation occurs. Electrochemical reduction of the organic matters further reduces their solubility, resulting in more precipitation on the nanowires. To reduce such negative impacts, we have proposed and verified that applying alternating current instead of direct current can slow down the accumulation and electrochemical precipitation.


The electronic structures of a wide range of transition-metal compounds, including Cu, Ni, Co, Fe, and Mn oxides and sulfides, with metal valences ranging from 2+ to 4+, have been investigated by a cluster-type configuration-interaction analysis of the core-level 2p x-ray photoemission spectra. We show that by including the d-d exchange interaction (retaining only diagonal terms) and an anisotropic metal-ligand hybridization in the model, these spectra can be well reproduced, and so can be used to deduce quantitatively values for the ligand-to-metal charge-transfer energy \ensuremath{\Delta}, the on-site d-d Coulomb repulsion energy U, and the metal-ligand transfer integrals T. Systematics for \ensuremath{\Delta} and U are generally consistent with those found from previous valence-band studies and follow expected chemical trends. By using values of \ensuremath{\Delta} and U found from this model, we show that most of the transition-metal compounds studied in this work can be classified in the charge-transfer regime of the Zaanen-Sawatzky-Allen diagram. A few exceptions to these systematics have been found. Small U values found for pyrite-type ${\mathrm{CoS}}_{2}$ and ${\mathrm{FeS}}_{2}$ and large T values for Mn perovskite oxides, as well as the neglect of other mechanisms such as exciton satellites, may indicate a limitation of the local-cluster model.


ABSTRACT A reliable and accurate estimate of the expected hospital length of stay (LOS) of a patient is important to patients, medical providers, and insurance companies. Predicting hospital Length of Stay (LOS) is a complex and ill-structured problem, driven by many factors such as a patient's individual characteristics, treatment plans, and disease-interactions. In this paper, we develop a novel model to predict the expected LOS at the time of admission by combining network science and deep learning. We propose a two-dimensional construct of latent comorbidities comprising historical and probable comorbidities that a patient does not currently manifest but could likely develop during the course of hospital stay. The probable comorbidities are derived from a network comprising relationships among diseases observed in 3.2 million patient records in hundreds of US hospitals. We employ this construct of latent comorbidities in deep learning models to predict patients' LOS using almost 10 million other patient visits belonging to various disease categories. Implementing these models and analyses required a high-performance computing (Big Data) facility. The average mean absolute percent error of our models across all categories of diseases was 29.8%, which is the best in the current state-of-the-art. Our primary contribution is in developing a generalizable method to create a predictor construct for recognizing underlying relationships through network analyses, which can then be used in a deep learning model to predict an exogenous dependent variable.


Background and Purpose— Aging and hypertension, comorbidities prevalent in the stroke population, are associated with poor collateral status and worsened stroke outcome. However, underlying mechanisms by which these conditions affect stroke outcome are not clear. We studied the role of PAI (plasminogen activator inhibitor)-1 that is increased in aging and hypertension on brain and vascular expression of inflammatory factors and perfusion that may contribute to worse stroke outcomes. Methods— Aged (≈50 weeks) and young (≈18 weeks) spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were subjected to ischemia by middle cerebral artery occlusion (2 hours) and reperfusion (2 hours) with or without treatment with the PAI-1 inhibitor TM5441. Changes in middle cerebral artery and collateral perfusion territories were measured by multisite laser Doppler. Reactivity to TM5441 was studied using isolated and pressurized leptomeningeal anastomotic arterioles. Brain injury was determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium staining and quantitative immunohistochemistry of amyloid-&bgr;-42, PAI-1, and hemoglobin. Circulating inflammatory factors were measured by ELISA. Results— Changes in cerebral blood flow during middle cerebral artery occlusion were similar between groups, with both having poor collateral perfusion and incomplete reperfusion. However, aged SHR had greater brain injury versus young (41±2 versus 23±2%, P<0.05) as well as increased brain deposition of amyloid-&bgr;-42 and circulating oxLDL (oxidized low-density lipoprotein). Erythrocyte aggregation and hemorrhage within the injured brain was observed in 50% of aged but no young SHR, with increased circulating PAI-1 in this subgroup of aged SHR (16±3 versus 6±2 ng/mL, P<0.05). PAI-1 inhibition with TM5441 improved brain injury but did not affect hemorrhage. TM5441 increased collateral perfusion by 38±7% and dilated leptomeningeal anastomotic arterioles by 44±10%, which was abolished by nitric oxide synthase inhibition. Conclusions— Increased injury in aged SHR seemed to be related to poor collateral perfusion, hemorrhagic transformation, increased amyloid-&bgr;-42, and oxidative stress. PAI-1 inhibition reduced infarction in both groups of SHR that possibly due, in part, to increased collateral perfusion.


The study aimed at knowing the characteristics of Small- Scale Industries SSIs in the governorate of karak and its important role in local development, Analyzing the relationship between the characteristics of SSIs that include the nature of activity, financing and location and the local development as well as the effect of this sector on the local development of Karak. A statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) program was used for descriptive analysis. All SSIs were selected for the purpose of this study. The main findings indicate that there is a high level of characteristics importance for SSIs. Financing SSIs ranked in the 1 st place and location in the 2 nd place followed by nature of activity in the 3 rd place. There is a significant effect of the characteristics of SSIs on local development in Karak Governorate. There is a significant effect of the nature of the activity and location of the firm on local development in Karak Governorate. But there is no significant effect of finance for SSIs on local development in Karak Governorate.This study has verified further research opportunities that could enrich the understanding of SSIs in the southern region of the kingdom. The paper provides some relevant recommendations to policy makers, development agencies, entrepreneurs, and SSIs managers to ascertain the appropriate strategy to improve the SSIs sector.


Electron beams are playing an increasing role in the areas of intraoral and intraoperative radiotherapy. Because of the way the electron beams are used in these two procedures, they are rarely incident normally on the surface of the tissue to be treated, but are inclined at some angle. Previous work has shown that when low-energy electron beams are used in this way, the per cent depth-dose curves, when measured along the oblique axis (the central axis of the beam) show a decrease compared with normal incidence. To quantify this effect in detail the per cent depth dose distributions of electron beams in the energy range 4-29 MeV have been studied as a function of their angle of incidence with respect to the normal ( phi ) between 0 and 60 degrees . The curves for different phi are compared by plotting the per cent depth dose along the central axis in each case: at low energies, this decreases as phi increases, while at the highest energies, the change is very small. The surface dose also changes, increasing with phi at low energies and decreasing at high energies.


The prehistoric site of Cornia Nou (Menorca) features a number of well-preserved architectural structures belonging to the Talayotic culture. Over the last 6 yr, a team linked to the Museum of Menorca has conducted an archaeological excavation project of a large rectangular building attached to the south side of a substantial and massive talayot, which is considered the western talayot. The main objective of this paper is to present the chronological framework of this building, specifying the period of use and the time of abandonment of the building, as well as the dating of the different phases of its construction. A total of 27 14C analyses were obtained from samples of the stratigraphic layers and architectonic structures inside the South Building (SB). This research has provided new insights concerning the early stages of the Talayotic culture. The 14C dates allow us to place the first recorded occupation phase of the SB in an interval dated within 1100–900 BC (phase 4). A second phase in the occupation of the SB dates to ∼900–800 BC (phase 5). A final occupation phase could be situated between 800–600 BC (phase 6). However, this record provides evidence to suggest that the construction of the west talayot may pertain to a time before the beginning of the 1st millennium cal BC.


Introduction: The Incidence of breast cancer has been found to increase gradually especially among younger women. This could be due to two reasons first is it may be reflecting the true incidence of the tendency of younger women to develop breast cancer or second could be due to increasing awareness and availability of modern screening methods which has led to the detection of cancers in early ages. Methods: We in this cross-sectional study screened n=125 women for breast cancer at RVM Institute of Medical Sciences, Mulugu, Telangana from January 2019 to Dec 2019. A total of n=120 cases were screened for breast cancer. Results: Out of n=125 women screened n=21 cases were detected with breast cancers.The incidence rate was calculated as 21%.Out of the total n=21 cases, n=7(33.33%) cases were found to malignant, n=14(66.67%) cases were benign lesions. Among the malignant lesions diagnosed the Invasive duct cell carcinoma was found in 71.43% of out of the total n = 7 cases of malignancy. In non-neoplastic lesions out of n=14 cases, fibroadenoma was diagnosed in 38.09% cases, followed by proliferative breast disease with atypia 14.28% and Phyllods in 9.52% cases. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for organized breast cancer screening programs especially in rural areas. A multidisciplinary approach is required to create awareness, screening, detection, and treatment. This can help reduce the incidence and mortality in cases of breast cancers.


Due to its buffer property, activity, absorbability and safety, magnesium hydroxide is widely used in environmental protection, pharmaceutics, pulp and paper industry, and as flame-retardant filling in composite materials. The hydrothermal synthesis of magnesium hydroxide at low temperature (< 100°C) needs only simple equipment and is environmentally friendly and energy-saving, so the process is promising and easy for industrialization. In this study, we have investigated the effects of hexamethylenetetramine and ammonia additives on the hydrating synthesis of superfine Mg (OH)2 particles at 70°C. Mg (OH)2 particles formed were of platelet shape and the mean diameter was approximately 200nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied to characterize the crystal phase, size distribution and morphology of the crystal particles. Different morphologies of Mg (OH)2 particles were formed in hexamethylenetetramine and ammonia solutions. The generation velocity of hydroxyl (OH-) was found to play an important role in the distribution and morphology of Mg (OH)2 particles.


EBV, a ubiquitous human herpesvirus, is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with many carcinomas. We have previously shown that the EBV latent genes LMP-1 and LMP-2A (for latent membrane proteins 1 and 2A), transactivate a human endogenous retrovirus (HERV), HERV-K18, in infected B lymphocytes. The envelope (Env) protein of HERV-K18 encodes a superantigen that strongly stimulates a large number of T cells. In this study we report that HERV-K18 env is transactivated even earlier in the infection process, before the establishment of latency; namely, we found that EBV, through its interaction with its cellular receptor CD21, induces the HERV-K18 env gene in resting B lymphocytes. This transactivation is direct and immediate, as up-regulation of transcripts can be detected within 30 min after EBV exposure. Thus, EBV binding to human CD21 on resting B cells triggers the expression of an endogenous superantigen. The biological significance of this superantigen expression for the EBV life cycle is discussed. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 177: 2056–2060.


Counter electrode (CE), as one of the key components of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), plays a significant role in the overall efficiency and cost of the device. Platinum metal has long been considered one of the most efficient CEs for DSSCs, but its scarcity, high cost, and low stability in I − /I 3 − redox couple limit its application in the large scale. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview on porous carbon materials as supreme metal- free counter electrode for DSSCs. In the first part, we concisely discuss on the importance and working principle of DSSCs and then the influence of counter electrode on the pho - tovoltaic performance of DSSCs. Afterward, we review different synthetic methods and precursors of porous carbon materials and their efficiency in DSSCs. In the last section, we discuss in detail with example how to characterize and evaluate the device perfor mance using porous carbon materials as counter electrode. Finally, we finish this chapter with a brief summary and outlook of porous carbon materials as counter electrodes in DSSCs.


In this paper, we present an attributed grammar for parsing man-made outdoor scenes into semantic surfaces, and recovering its 3D model simultaneously. The grammar takes superpixels as its terminal nodes and use five production rules to generate the scene into a hierarchical parse graph. Each graph node actually correlates with a surface or a composite of surfaces in the 3D world or the 2D image. They are described by attributes for the global scene model, e.g. focal length, vanishing points, or the surface properties, e.g. surface normal, contact line with other surfaces, and relative spatial location etc. Each production rule is associated with some equations that constraint the attributes of the parent nodes and those of their children nodes. Given an input image, our goal is to construct a hierarchical parse graph by recursively applying the five grammar rules while preserving the attributes constraints. We develop an effective top-down/bottom-up cluster sampling procedure which can explore this constrained space efficiently. We evaluate our method on both public benchmarks and newly built datasets, and achieve state-of-the-art performances in terms of layout estimation and region segmentation. We also demonstrate that our method is able to recover detailed 3D model with relaxed Manhattan structures which clearly advances the state-of-the-arts of single-view 3D reconstruction.


Internet of Things (IoT) is a system that renders the ability to exchange information and actions in an amalgamated environment consisting of machines and humans over a network. Such extraction of information flow through network will optimize the limitations of the physical world. A key player in the realization of IoT system is power management. In this paper, the need for power management in an application based IoT design is motivated. The paper outlines the factors concerning power management in IoT design for example, aging in battery sources, sleep and shutdown mode of operation, etc. Furthermore, the paper reviews some of the techniques like power grating, maximum power point tracking, etc. for currently used power sources that aid to enhance the performance of the system. The technical challenges faced in the IoT field for circuit power up and battery lives have also been discussed. Since power is imperative in variegated engineering disciplines all around the field of science and also is a fundamental prerequisite for the IoT system design. Wireless sensors, servers, Ethernet, and smart appliances, as a part of an IoT based solution are all affected by the scope of power management. With the novel IoT solutions operating under the absence of human intervention at data collection stage, it is crucial for the devices to be powered up smartly to offer accurate results and good performance.


The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was run as a regional model without data assimilation or nudging (31 36h-simulations) for July and December 2005 over a limited area domain covering Siberia to examine weather formation in an air-mass source region. The WRF-results were compared to NCEP1/NCAR-reanalysis, International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, Global Precipitation Climatology Centre and Canadian Meteorological Centre data to assess model performance and identify shortcomings. WRF is capable of predicting air-mass formation. Simulation errors are within the error range of other models. The timing of best/worst agreement differs among quantities depending on their sensitivity to systematic (model deficiencies) and/or unsystematic errors (e.g. initial conditions). Overall, the WRF-results agree better with reanalysis for July than December. WRF-results and reanalysis agree best under persistent high pressure and worst during frontal passages and transition from one pressure regime to another. In July, WRF provides smaller diurnal amplitudes of 2m-temperature with up to 5.4 K lower, and 3.5 K higher values at 0000 and 1200 UTC than the reanalysis. In December, WRF overestimates 2m-temperature by 1.4 K. WRF-temperatures excellently agree with the reanalysis from 700 hPa to 300 hPa. Except during frontal passages, wind-speed shows positive bias. Typically root-mean-square errors and standard deviation of errors of wind-speed (temperature) increase (decrease) with height. In December, WRF has difficulty predicting the position and strength of the polar jet. WRF underestimates cloudiness and snow-depth, but overestimates precipitation. In July, predicted convective precipitation is related strongly to boundaries between different land-cover. WRF-predicted snow-depth strongly correlates with terrain and misses the observed fine features.


The normal distributions transform (NDT) is an effective paradigm for the point set registration. This method is originally designed for pair-wise registration and it will suffer from great challenges when applied to multi-view registration. Under the NDT framework, this paper proposes a novel multi-view registration method, named 3D multi-view registration based on the normal distributions transform (3DMNDT), which integrates the K-means clustering and Lie algebra solver to achieve multi-view registration. More specifically, the multi-view registration is cast into the problem of maximum likelihood estimation. Then, the K-means algorithm is utilized to divide all data points into different clusters, where a normal distribution is computed to locally models the probability of measuring a data point in each cluster. Subsequently, the registration problem is formulated by the NDT-based likelihood function. To maximize this likelihood function, the Lie algebra solver is developed to sequentially optimize each rigid transformation. The proposed method alternately implements data point clustering, NDT computing, and likelihood maximization until desired registration results are obtained. Experimental results tested on benchmark data sets illustrate that the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance for multi-view registration.


The molecular mechanisms that control male strobilus development in conifers are largely unknown because the developmental stages and related genes have not yet been characterized. The determination of male strobilus developmental stages will contribute to genetic research and reproductive biology in conifers. Our objectives in this study were to determine the developmental stages of male strobili by cytological and transcriptome analysis, and to determine the stages at which aberrant morphology is observed in a male-sterile mutant of Cryptomeria japonica D. Don to better understand the molecular mechanisms that control male strobilus and pollen development. Male strobilus development was observed for 8 months, from initiation to pollen dispersal. A set of 19,209 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) collected from a male reproductive library and a pollen library was used for microarray analysis. We divided male strobilus development into 10 stages by cytological and transcriptome analysis. Eight clusters (7324 ESTs) exhibited major changes in transcriptome profiles during male strobili and pollen development in C. japonica Two clusters showed a gradual increase and decline in transcript abundance, respectively, while the other six clusters exhibited stage-specific changes. The stages at which the male sterility trait of Sosyun was expressed were identified using information on male strobilus and pollen developmental stages and gene expression profiles. Aberrant morphology was observed cytologically at Stage 6 (microspore stage), and differences in expression patterns compared with wild type were observed at Stage 4 (tetrad stage).


The aim was to study the clinical-psychopathological, clinical-follow-up, clinical-dynamic features of mood disorders (MD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) with their comorbidity combinations. Materials and methods. The study included 88 people with AUD and MD: 33 women (37.5%) and 55 (62.5%) men. The first group was 31 patients (35,0%) with AUD without comorbid affective symptoms, the second was 29 patients (33.0%) with MD without alcohol dependence, and the third was 28 patients (32.0%) with comorbid AUD and MD. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups by age and sex composition, by the level of statistical significance of differences (p = 0.115 – by sex, ð = 0.248 – by age). The study used clinical, psychopathological, clinical and follow-up, clinical, dynamic and statistical methods. Statistical processing was performed using Pearson's χ2, Mann – Whitney U-test for comparing independent samples and Spearman's correlation analysis (r). Results. Patients of the second and third groups were diagnosed with dysthymia more rarely in statistically significant values by the level of statistical significance of differences (10.4% and 32.1% respectively, p = 0.023) and this testifies to MD taking chronic course in patients with AUD. The average duration of bout of heavy-drinking in the first group was longer than in the third group – 7 (4; 17) and 5,5 (3.5; 9.5) days accordingly (p = 0.043). Duration of the disease in the first and third groups was 10 (6; 18.5) and 14 (10; 19.75) years, respectively (p = 0.036). It confirms the negative impact of comorbidity on the clinicaldynamic features in the case of co-existing of AUD and MD. Conclusion. The coexistence of alcohol dependence and affective pathology enhances the suicidal risk of certain diseases. A tendency to the early appearance of symptoms of AUD and their rapid dynamics, a shorter duration of light intervals of MD and AUC, a relatively low tolerance to alcohol and pronounced depressogenic effect of alcohol in the case of comorbidity were found.


Natural catastrophes occur frequently around the world and cause severe undesirable impacts on human lives and properties of the communities. The restoration of a human life style after such massive event, consume some significant time and cost, comparatively to the conventional day-to-day constructions. Recovery and rehabilitation of the affected nature have to be completed at extreme cost and within strict time limitations, in order to achieve the project goals up to highest possible level of satisfaction. Whereas, numerous issues and challenges, affecting the reconstruction projects, leading to failures and inefficient outcomes at the project completion stage. Time, cost and quality parameters will always be the highlighted aspects in the process of determination the project performance level in reconstruction projects. Thus, the lack of strategies to enhance the degree of performance status, is addressed as the research gap of the study.

Case study was selected as the most appropriate approach for the study. Six interviews were conducted among Project Engineers and Managers and Client's Representatives. Further, document reviews also conducted in the case study. Consequently, code-based content analysis was used to capture the substantial factors as well as the probable elements that can be implemented to optimise project performance in post-disaster reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka. Thus, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are suggested.

The outcomes of the analysis were able to identify critical issues of post-disaster reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka, and probable attributes which can be implemented for a proper trade-off in time, cost and quality perspectives. The findings would be much effective for developing strategies to implement to achieve the best performance level in reconstruction projects.


Disrupting events are common in construction and can have a significant impact on the successful completion of a project. Disputes concerning disruptive events often arise because no party wants to accept responsibility for the extra cost incurred. The resolution of this kind of disputes lies within the clear demonstration of causation, liability and the quantification of the disrupting event. Purpose of this research is to explore the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in assisting forensic delay and disruption analysis supported by a Graphical User Interface (GUI). An extensive literature review highlighted the shortcomings of current practices and identified the reconstruction of events through incomplete and unstructured documentation as one of the primary challenges faced by the analysis expert. The findings of the literature review formed the basis for the development of a GUI designed to incorporate all the necessary information for the identification of the causal link of events, the liability and the calculation of damages. The usability of the GUI prototype was tested on a case study, indicating an increase in the overall efficiency and reduction of time spent by the forensic analyst in the retrieval of relevant information.


The smart home contains a network that connects home elements like sensors, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), appliances and thermostat. In our previous work, we proposed an approach that used web services to remotely interact with smart home elements in a smart grid environment. These interactions include adjusting the temperature or reading energy consumption. We assumed a smart home with a wireless sensor network based on Zigbee. There was a central computer that could access all home elements. Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) was used to implement the web service on central computer. In this paper, we enhance the system by including new features. The algorithm to sell energy back to the grid has been further developed. Furthermore, a function to optimize energy using dynamic programming is added to the system. The performance and advantage of the communications between user and home elements via web services are demonstrated.


Abstract. We analyze temporal trends of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) retrievals from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) during 2002–2011 in the altitude range 8–23 km over the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) region. The greatest enhancements of PAN mixing ratios in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) are seen during the summer monsoon season from June to September. During the monsoon season, the mole fractions of PAN show statistically significant (at 2σ) positive trends from 0.2 ± 0.05 to 4.6 ± 3.1 ppt yr−1 (except between 12 and 14 km) which is higher than the annual mean trends of 0.1 ± 0.05 to 2.7 ± 0.8 ppt yr−1. These rising concentrations point to increasing NOx (= NO + NO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from developing nations in Asia, notably India and China. We analyze the influence of monsoon convection on the distribution of PAN in UTLS with simulations using the global chemistry–climate model ECHAM5-HAMMOZ. During the monsoon, transport into the UTLS over the Asian region primarily occurs from two convective zones, one the South China Sea and the other over the southern flank of the Himalayas. India and China host NOx-limited regimes for ozone photochemical production, and thus we use the model to evaluate the contributions from enhanced NOx emissions to the changes in PAN, HNO3 and O3 concentrations in the UTLS. From a set of sensitivity experiments with emission changes in particular regions, it can be concluded that Chinese emissions have a greater impact on the concentrations of these species than Indian emissions. According to SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) NO2 retrievals NOx emissions increases over India have been about half of those over China between 2002 and 2011.


Agent technology is becoming more prevalent as the availability of network access, and the demand for the end uses of agents becomes greater. Intelligent agents for information filtering and retrieval applications and tools are being employed in a variety of ways on the Web. A centralized agent for information discovery has usually limited capabilities for finding diverse and distributed information online. The main thrust of the paper is to present a framework that allows distributed adaptive information KODAMA agents to work together to browse and retrieve distributed information based on the preexisting hyperlink structure on the Web and how this community of agents can automatically extract meta-information and cooperate to retrieve online distributed relevant information. We have developed the software architecture, and a working prototype showing the benefits to the Web of interactive architectures based on the coordination of the hyperlink structure on the network. The authors summarize the current results of the project, and discuss some ideas on future work.