Location systems are seen as a promising technology for tracking people and objects to improve efficiency and quality in the healthcare domain. To increase the chances of success when introducing this new technology there are certain operational capabilities that need to be understood. The purpose of this Thesis is to explore how these operational capabilities can be assessed by experiment. The thesis proposes a method for describing the operational capabilities of a location system using a two-dimensional matrix of purposes of location systems in the healthcare domain, as found in literature. Using this matrix it is possible to assess and predict the requirements for a location system based on a classification of the purpose of the installation. Conversely it is possible to use the same matrix to find purposes that can be solved with a given location system. Using the Sonitor Indoor Positioning System it was also demonstrated how the operational capabilities of a location system could be found through a series of small low cost and low effort experiments. In conclusion three dimensions relating to operational capabilities were identified: granularity, resolution, and concurrency. Granularity and concurrency were shown to be successfully assessed through experiment, while resolution was found analytically. We also found a method to predict the impact of infrastructure size on the operational capability of the location system based on the same small experiments.


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We report two males and one female, aged 71, 81 and 73 years old respectively, previously operated of a renal cell carcinoma. During the follow up of the 71 years old male, the CAT scan showed three lesions in the pancreas. Also, the CAT scan in the female showed one lesion in the tail of the pancreas. The 81 years old male was admitted to the emergency room due to a upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Endoscopy showed a proliferating lesion in the second portion of the duodenum whose biopsy showed a clear cell carcinoma. The CAT scan showed also a tumoral mass in the head of the pancreas. All three patients were subjected to surgical resection of the tumors without postoperative complications or mortality (Rev Med Chile 2001; 129: 86-90).


The temporal variation of cumulative dry matter can be represented by a sigmoidal curve and the temporal variation of nutrient uptake follows this characteristic shape. Therefore, modeling the temporal variation of cumulative dry matter allows estimating nutrient uptake along the crop cycle. The objective of this study was to propose a sine model to estimate dry matter and macronutrient uptake, and to estimate the moments of maximum N and K uptake rates for the rice crop. The field experiment was carried out on a wetland area of Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, consisting of an Humic Haplaquept. The chosen rice variety was IAC 103, a middle season cycle and high yield. Observed variables were dry matter of different plant parts (root, leaf and stem, and panicle) and macronutrient contents per unit dry matter. A sine model was proposed for the cumulative variation of these variables, based on biological events that occurred during the crop cycle. The temporal variation of nutrient uptake was estimated and a lower accuracy was observed for K uptake. The maximum absorption rate for N and K was found at 56% of the relative development of the crop, corresponding to 60 days after emergence in this experiment. The proposed model presented a satisfactory behavior to define the order of magnitude of estimated dry matter and macronutrient uptake by the rice crop and maximum N and K uptake rates.


Recognition of different cell compartments, types of cells, and their interactions is a critical aspect of quantitative cell biology. This provides a valuable insight for understanding cellular and subcellular interactions and mechanisms of biological processes, such as cancer cell dissemination, organ development and wound healing. Quantitative analysis of cell images is also the mainstay of numerous clinical diagnostic and grading procedures, for example in cancer, immunological, infectious, heart and lung disease. Computer automation of cellular biological samples quantification requires segmenting different cellular and sub-cellular structures in microscopy images. However, automating this problem has proven to be non-trivial, and requires solving multi-class image segmentation tasks that are challenging owing to the high similarity of objects from different classes and irregularly shaped structures.

This thesis focuses on the development and application of probabilistic graphical models to multi-class cell segmentation. Graphical models can improve the segmentation accuracy by their ability to exploit prior knowledge and model inter-class dependencies. Directed acyclic graphs, such as trees have been widely used to model top-down statistical dependencies as a prior for improved image segmentation. However, using trees, a few inter-class constraints can be captured. To overcome this limitation, polytree graphical models are proposed in this thesis that capture label proximity relations more naturally compared to tree-based approaches. Polytrees can effectively impose the prior knowledge on the inclusion of different classes by capturing both same-level and across-level dependencies. A novel recursive mechanism based on two-pass message passing is developed to efficiently calculate closed form posteriors of graph nodes on polytrees. Furthermore, since an accurate and sufficiently large ground truth is not always available for training segmentation algorithms, a weakly supervised framework is developed to employ polytrees for multi-class segmentation that reduces the need for training with the aid of modeling the prior knowledge during segmentation. Generating a hierarchical graph for the superpixels in the image, labels of nodes are inferred through a novel efficient message-passing algorithm and the model parameters are optimized with Expectation Maximization (EM).

Results of evaluation on the segmentation of simulated data and multiple publicly available fluorescence microscopy datasets indicate the outperformance of the proposed method compared to state-of-the-art. The proposed method has also been assessed in predicting the possible segmentation error and has been shown to outperform trees. This can pave the way to calculate uncertainty measures on the resulting segmentation and guide subsequent segmentation refinement, which can be useful in the development of an interactive segmentation framework.


Abstract : In this paper, the authors formulate and prove a convex duality theorem for minimizing a general class of Bregman distances subject to linear constraints. The duality result is then used to derive iterative algorithms for solving the associated optimization problem. Their presentation is motivated by the recent work of Collins, Schapire, and Singer (2001), who showed how certain boosting algorithms and maximum likelihood logistic regression can be unified within the framework of Bregman distances. In particular, specific instances of the results given here are used by Collins et al. (2001) to show the convergence of a family of iterative algorithms for minimizing the exponential or logistic loss. Following an introduction, Section 2 recalls the standard definitions from convex analysis that will be required, and presents the technical assumptions made on the class of Bregman distances that the authors work with. They also introduce some new terminology, using the terms Legendre-Bregman conjugate and Legendre-Bregman projection to extend the classical notion of the Legendre conjugate and transform to Bregman distances. Section 3 contains the statement and proof of the duality theorem that connects the primal problem with its dual, showing that the solution is characterized in geometrical terms by a Pythagorean equality. Section 4 defines the notion of an auxiliary function, which is used to construct iterative algorithms for solving constrained optimization problems. This section shows how convexity can be used to derive an auxiliary function for Bregman distances based on separable functions. The last section summarizes the main results of the paper.


Abstract:
 The genus Calliandra is represented in Texas by five species: C. biflora Tharp, a relatively uncommon taxon of southern Texas and Tamaulipas, Mexico; C. conferta Benth., a somewhat uncommon, species of northern Mexico, south-central and southern Texas; C. eriophylla Benth., a widespread variable species of Mexico, represented in Texas by rare outlier populations in Uvalde County; C. humilis Benth. (including C. herbacea Engelm. ex A. Gray), a very distinctive herbaceous species of Mexico, occurring in Texas in mostly montane igneous soils of the trans-Pecos, and C. iselyi B. L. Turner, sp. nov., a newly proposed species from the Big Bend region of trans-Pecos, Texas, this previously included under the descriptive parameters of C. conferta. A key to the Texas species of Calliandra is provided along with dot maps showing their distribution.


This is a scholarly monograph written by a surgeon who has devoted 26 years of consistent study to his subject. As expected, it is detailed, fact filled, and thorough. Many of its major themes such as the relation of polyps to cancer, the pathology and epidemiology of the lesions, and preoperative bowel preparation refer to original work by the author. Every subject and each chapter is annotated in detail and herein lies some of its value. Surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, and medical oncologists will all find this a meticulous source of reference and fact. Spratt is a numbers man, with a clear logical approach to his subject with no unsupported statements. Several of the sections deserve special comment. As one of the pioneer explorers of surgical decision trees, the chapter on the logic of managing colonic polyps and another on decisions in established cancers are classics. The algorithms are punctiliously correct,


This study discusses teacher preparation in relation to encouraging and empowering future teachers to appreciate the potential and value of adopting physical literacy as the goal of physical education (PE). The study addresses the issue of the role of schools and teacher training programs in developing the next generation of PE teachers entering PE teacher education with respect to thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and beliefs that underpin the concept of physical literacy, and providing high-quality learning experiences that are crucial to continuing physical activity throughout the life course for all children, not just those who have a natural aptitude in this area. Many advocates for radical change in PE have repeatedly argued that PE curricula around the world are too focused on a traditional, one size fits all, sport technique based, multiactivity form. Others have argued that the traditional curricula have a primary focus on physical competence in running, jumping, and balls skills rather than providing experience in a wide range of physical activities including, inter alia, those with a focus on aesthetic awareness and those related to outdoor adventure.


Infection of 10 day-old chicken embryos with the recombinant avian leukosis virus (ALV) EU-8 induces a high incidence of rapid-onset B-cell lymphoma by insertional activation of the c-myb gene. LR-9, a related ALV with differences from EU-8 in the gag and pol genes, induces rapid-onset lymphoma at only a low incidence. To localize the viral determinant(s) responsible for this biologic difference, we constructed and tested a series of reciprocal chimeras between EU-8 and LR-9 ALVs. The ability to induce rapid-onset lymphoma efficiently was localized to a 925-nucleotide (nt) region of the EU-8 gag gene. Sequence analysis of the region revealed a 42-nt deletion in EU-8 relative to LR-9, as well as some single-nucleotide changes. A mutant virus, delta LR-9, constructed by deleting these 42 nt from LR-9, also induced rapid-onset lymphoma at a high frequency, confirming the biologic significance of this deletion. This deletion removed nt 735 to 776, which lies within a cis-acting RNA element that negatively regulates splicing (NRS). The deletion was shown to cause an increase in splicing efficiency, which may lead to increased production of a truncated myb gene product from an ALV-myb readthrough RNA.


This book gives you a comprehensive introduction to the processes of quality management. You will find details on installing and using SAP QM in your production environment, and learn about viable solution options for business-related tasks with your SAP system. And you will find real-life examples to help you quickly understand and implement the concepts. In addition to quality planning, quality inspection, and quality control, you will learn about vendor evaluation and test equipment management, which are integrated in other SAP modules and integral to quality management. You will find many useful tips based on the authors practical experience to give you valuable insight into solving complex tasks and customizing to meet your own specific requirements, and you will examine Audit Management and the integration with SAP NetWeaver BI. The 3rd edition of this benchmark work was completely updated for SAP ERP 6.0; however, it is also suitable for users as of Release 4.6C. Highlights: Implementing Management Systems with SAP Modeling QM Business Processes Using the EPC Method Operating SAP ERP Quality Management in the Supply Chain Quality and Inspection Planning Quality Inspection, Planning, and Control Information Systems and Evaluations Test Equipment Management Audit Management Customizing Migration Concepts


The energy consumption pattern of rural, semi-urban and urban domestic sectors of Jorhat district of Assam was examined. Rural sector was so chosen that 100%of the households used fuelwood as cooking fuel and kerosene as space lighting fuel. The per capita fuelwood consumption was found to be 8.531GJ/year and that of kerosene per capita was found to be 0.270 GJ/year. In semi-urban sector, the households use fuelwood and LPG as cooking fuel with kerosene and electricity as space light fuels. The per capita consumption of fuelwood in this sector was found to be0.682GJ/year while the kerosene per capita was estimated as 0.278 GJ/year. In the urban households, consumption per capita was estimated as: LPG 1.903 GJ/year, kerosene 0.332GJ/year and electricity 0.623 GJ/year. The urban households used LPG and kerosene as cooking fuels with electricity and kerosene as space fuels.


In this article, we describe a technique to determine dry snow grain size from optical observations. The method is based on analysis of the snow reflectance in the near-infrared region, in particular, the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) band at 865 nm, which is common to many spaceborne optical sensors, is used. In addition, the algorithm is applied to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 1240 nm band. It is found that bands located at 1020 and 1240 nm are the most suitable for snow grain size remote-sensing applications. The developed method is validated using MODIS observations over flat snow deposited on a lake ice in Hokkaido, Japan.


Abstract. In this study we report measurements of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), methyl hydroperoxide* (MHP* as a proxy of MHP based on an unspecific measurement of total organic peroxides) and formaldehyde (HCHO) from the HO x OVer EuRope (HOOVER) project (HO x = OH+HO 2 ). HOOVER included two airborne field campaigns, in October 2006 and July 2007. Measurement flights were conducted from the base of operation Hohn (Germany, 54° N, 9° E) towards the Mediterranean and to the subpolar regions over Norway. We find negative concentration gradients with increasing latitude throughout the troposphere for H 2 O 2 and CH 3 OOH*. In contrast, observed HCHO is almost homogeneously distributed over central and northern Europe and is elevated over the Mediterranean. In general, the measured gradients tend to be steepest entering the Mediterranean region, where we also find the highest abundances of the 3 species. Mixing ratios of these tracers generally decrease with altitude. H 2 O 2 and CH 3 OOH* show maxima above the boundary layer at 2–5 km, being more distinct over southern than over northern Europe. We also present a comparison of our data with simulations by two global 3-D-models, MATCH-MPIC and EMAC, and with the box model CAABA. The models realistically represent altitude and latitude gradients for both HCHO and hydroperoxides (ROOH). In contrast, the models have problems reproducing the absolute mixing ratios, in particular of H 2 O 2 . Large uncertainties about retention coefficients and cloud microphysical parameters suggest that cloud scavenging might be a large source of error for the simulation of H 2 O 2 . A sensitivity study with EMAC shows a strong influence of cloud and precipitation scavenging on the budget of H 2 O 2 as simulations improve significantly with this effect switched off.


Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common and often devastating occurrence; each year approximately 30 000 Americans have nontraumatic SAH. Despite considerable advances in diagnostic techniques, surgical, and anesthetic techniques and perioperative management, the outcome for patients with SAH remains poor, with overall mortality rates of 25% and significant morbidity among approximately 50% of survivors. The evolution of treatment protocols for patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage has been influenced considerably by large, multicenter prospective cohort analyses and, more recently, multicenter prospective, randomized trials. Nevertheless, several accepted treatment modalities have not been substantiated by rigorous clinical scientific assessment. In many cases specific treatments for SAH are not amenable to testing by randomized, prospective trials because of practical or ethical considerations. To address these issues, the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association formed a task force to develop practice guidelines for the management of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. A consensus committee reviewed existing data in this field and prepared recommendations. The database for this review was the existing literature regarding SAH assembled by the committee; a formal literature review was not conducted. The reports reviewed were selected on the basis of study design, sample size, and relevance to the issue involved. Each report was graded according to existing criteria of scientific merit, and a grading scale derived from these data (Table 1). Recommendations


Enterovirus 70 (EV70) is an emerging viral pathogen that remains viable in final treated effluent. Solar irradiation is, therefore, explored as a low-cost natural disinfection strategy to mitigate potential concerns. EV70 was exposed to simulated sunlight for 24 h at a fluence rate of 28.67 J/cm2/h in three different water matrices, namely, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), treated wastewater effluent, and chlorinated effluent. In the presence of sunlight, EV70 decreased in infectivity by 1.7 log, 1.0 log, and 1.3 log in PBS, effluent, and chlorinated effluent, respectively. Irradiated EV70 was further introduced to host cell lines and was unable to infect the cell lines. In contrast, EV70 in dark microcosms replicated to titers 13.5, 3.3, and 4.2 times the initial inoculum. The reduction in EV70 infectivity was accompanied by a reduction in viral binding capacity to Vero cells. In addition, genome sequencing analysis revealed five nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions in irradiated viruses after 10 days of infection in Vero cells, resulting in amino acid substitutions: Lys14Glu in the VP4 protein, Ala201Val in VP2, Gly71Ser in VP3, Glu50Gln in VP1, and Ile47Leu in 3Cpro. Overall, solar irradiation resulted in EV70 inactivation and an inhibition of viral activity in all parameters studied.


Abstract Movement quality assessed by the Body Awareness Rating Scale (BARS) is used as an indicator of health and self-efficacy in patients with long-lasting musculoskeletal and mental health problems. The objective of the study was to examine reliability and construct validity of the movement quality scale. 25 patients and 25 healthy persons were included. Internal consistency was examined by Cronbach's α, reliability by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCagreement) and measurement error reported by standard error of measurement (SEM) and smallest detectable change (SDC). Construct validity was examined by testing hypotheses of moderate association between the observational scale and the self-report Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) subscales and the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (GPSES). A hypothesis about the difference in scores between groups being expected to differ in health states was tested. Internal consistency (α) was 0.92. Inter-tester reliability was ICC = 0.99 and SEM = 0.8. The test–retest reliability was ICC = 0.96 and SEM = 1.4, implying that improvement should be above 3.3 (SDC) to claim a treatment effect. BARS was moderately correlated (0.30 ≤ rs < 0.60) with most SF-36 subscales and GPSES. The patients demonstrated less movement quality than healthy persons. Evidence was provided of high internal consistency and reliability in qualified testers. Construct validity was indicated, as BARS reflected various aspects of health and self-efficacy.


Three decades of ethno-nationalist war in Sri Lanka has contributed to a major social change for Tamil women in Jaffna. An important component of this change has been the recruitment of women in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This thesis explores the role of the women combatants from a gender perspective to identify how gender is constructed for women within the revolutionary movement, and the impact that construction has on civic society. The research is based on the narrative life histories of seven combatant women, one ex-combatant woman and seven civic women. In undertaking this research, the methodology had to take into account the researcher's positionality through reflexivity, and the multiple identities that link and separate the researcher and participants. Through these life histories, the thesis investigates the link between displacement to LTTE controlled areas and women's recruitment. It identifies the LTTE as providing an 'alternative' familial kinship founded upon friendship, which transcends caste and religion. It further enquires into the role of women suicide bombers, revealing a self-image of unselfish givers of a 'gift' to those they care for, including the Tamil nation. The main argument of the thesis is that combatant women's paradoxical equality may differ from Western feminist notions of emancipation but represents a profound change within Jaffna's patriarchal society. The engagement in armed conflict has transformed combatant women into female slayers of injustice and protectors of the Tamil nation, with a (re)constructed gender identity and empowerment (Ah-lu-mai). The combatant women and the war are a powerful force for change, and combatant women's alternative roles radically alter the perceptions of women in civic society. The Gender (re)construction and form of equality that both combatant and civic women achieve accelerates a social change towards a new gender identity, 'new' women (Puthumai Pen).


The indoor air quality sensing indicators introduce people to novel concepts necessary for being aware and analysing of the indoor environments and help them to recognise and address indoor environmental quality problems in the building environments and the link to health, comfort and productivity of the occupants.It is known that people spend most of their time indoors, thus healthy air where they live, work and play is very critical. The European Lung Foundation (ELF) has estimated that respiratory illness in Europe costs some EUR 102 billion a year in poor inefficiency and absenteeism from work [1]. In addition, according to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air pollution is ranked as the highest risk to human health among all types of environmental problems [2]. The important factor and indicator for indoor air quality (IAQ) in room environment is the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is detected and measured in this study. Moreover, light delivered by the indoor air quality sensing indicators guide people to healthy space, which then increase comfort and work performance. Ultimately, wirelessly connected indoor air quality indicators will become an integral part of the Internet-ofThings infrastructure. They will not only produce light. They will form an essential part of the indoor environment quality, providing decoration and serving as context-detecting sensors delivering semantic information, such as wellbeing, to other systems, such as building ventilation. The indoor air quality sensing indicators in this paper utilise low energy radio network operating at Bluetooth Smart waveband in wireless communication. The radio system provides link to a smartphone app. The CO2 sensing is based on an integrated COTS (commercial-offthe-self) sensor platform engine. The system operation is based on a microcontroller which decodes the CO2 sensor signal, and PWM (pulse width modulation) module which controls operations for light output of LED foil. In the first demonstrator, thin film LED foil is based on the green, yellow and red light emitting InGaN bare die LEDs. And in the second demonstrator, it is based on COTS RGB LED components with built in control IC, which allows individual addressable RGB LEDs. Furthermore, the RGB LED foil is injection moulded into thermoplastics to form a product with improved durability and usability. In this paper, the demonstrators as well as VTT's pilot environment - roll-to-roll (R2R) MAXI pilot printing line, Datacon 2200 EVO pick-and-place bonding machine and ENGEL hybrid in-mould integration line - will be presented.


Recently published results regarding South Africa's cropping potential show that about one third of the arable land is of low potential, located mainly in semi-arid areas, with the main problem being water shortage.  This is therefore an appropriate time to review priorities and procedures, for selecting benchmark ecotopes to represent marginal areas, and for research needs with regard to water conservation strategies to mitigate the problems of low yields.  Relevant international principles encapsulated in the words agro-ecology, sustainability and socio-economic conditions, are discussed. Relevant new technologies are described, namely: digital soil mapping that will facilitate the identification of benchmark ecotopes; a stochastic procedure to predict rainfall intensity data from daily rainfall that will facilitate runoff predictions; a crop yield cumulative probability procedure that enables sustainability to be described quantitatively. As a case study, results from a successful field experiment using the infield rainwater harvesting production technique on benchmark ecotopes in a semi-arid area, inhabited by subsistence farmers, are presented.  The objectives of the study, procedures used and the method of expressing the results are recommended as guidelines for contributing towards mitigating the problem of low crop productivity across a large portion of the arable area in South Africa.


This SiC diodes and switches provide greatly enhanced performance at higher operating voltage, but the base material provides a high barrier to adoption in commercial systems. Commercial adoption has not occurred by adopting SiC components in place of Si devices, but only when the characteristics of SiC components can successfully leverage system performance and cost. Doing so requires a close look at current roadblocks and examining topologies and techniques that can bring more optimal system performance (density, efficiency, cost) with SiC components. High density converters using conventional components are becoming limited by the volume and cost of passive components, particularly the EMI filters and bulk filter capacitors. To address this and demonstrate the performance capabilities of SiC in SMPS, a PWM isolation converter is proposed using the resonant reset forward converter in an interleaved configuration. This topology can extend energy recovery from the primary bulk bus capacitor used for hold up time, as well as minimizing filtering requirements for input and output capacitors. The interleaved converter is developed from cascode switches using experimental SiC JFETs, in a configuration derived from previous work with a single switch converter. Overall performance as well as design issues will be discussed.


Care, Eros, Happiness. On Plato's Anthropology Various currents of thought and individual thinkers recently refer to Plato's epimeleia heautou: the so-called philosophical practices, important philosophers in the XXth Century (Patoĉka, Hadot, Foucault) and the authors reflecting upon contemporary technological medicine (Jaspers, Gadamer). However the notion itself of "cure" needs today to be clarified, first recalling the different meanings already recognized by Heidegger to his Sorge. Moreover, we must distinguish the current purely therapeutic notion of "cure" and a wider, promotive notion of "care", whose model is to be found in ancient Greek medicine and in Plato's epimeleia. Just in Phaedr. 270b Gadamer finds a basic analogy between medicine, granting health and strength to the body through pharmaka and good foods, and philosophical rhetoric, giving to the soul persuasion and virtue through good discourses and right actions. Both medicine and philosophy aim then at caring their objects, body and soul, making them to flourish and to become as best as they by nature can be. However Plato's relation between body and soul is not the sharp opposition imagined by the tradition, his heauton is properly or primarily – not solely - psyche (Alc. I 128a-130d) and this psyche is a dynamis, whose basic purpose is assuring life. Going by these notions, we can deepen the three most important features of his epimeleia heautou. We can take care of ourselves: i) within dialogical relations; ii) when we know ourselves and live as structurally non wise beings; iii) most of all, when we know ourselves and live as erotic beings. All of us is an Eros' son, structurally poor and lacking, but also lifelong researching and creating by himself (giving birth to) the kalokagathon he naturally loves. This is, according to Plato, the proper origin of the epimeleia all of us can act and needs to offer to himself, insofar as, in this life, he is by nature a psycho-somatic compound. And, as Socrates facing with death says (Phaed. 115b-c), only such an epimeleia can allow all us to gain the desired happiness.


Medulloblastoma is a malignant embryonal tumour of the cerebellum which most
commonly affects children. A subset of tumours is thought to arise from cerebellar granule
cell precursors (GCPs) that fail to undergo normal neuronal development, following the
hyper-activation of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling pathway.
To identify candidate genes that might be important for medulloblastoma
pathogenesis, I investigated patterns of gene expression and alternative splicing in 14
paediatric medulloblastoma and five normal cerebellar samples using Affymetrix Human
Exon arrays. Statistical analysis of the gene expression data identified a group of
medulloblastomas with a molecular signature of Shh pathway activation. These tumours
showed higher expression levels of genes involved in spindle formation, cytokines, and cell
cycle regulation. Further studies using an in vitro mouse GCP cell culture model, in which
Shh is necessary for the maintenance of the progenitor state, showed that a selection of
candidate genes was also over-expressed when GCPs were cultured in the presence of Shh,
as compared to control cells, as well as in human medulloblastoma cell lines. Ongoing and
future in vitro experiments will investigate the potential role of candidate genes in
sustaining the growth of precursor and tumour cells.
Exon-level analysis of gene expression showed that abnormal expression of
different transcript variants is likely to occur in medulloblastoma. I selected several
examples of differential exon usage and validated these using an independent set of normal
and tumour specimens. Tumour-associated splicing alterations were highly consistent,
enabling clear separation of normal and cancer samples and in some cases of different
medulloblastoma molecular subgroups. Interestingly, Shh-treated GCPs recapitulated the splicing patterns observed in the tumour samples for six out of the eight genes analysed,
suggesting that the preferential expression of specific transcript forms is regulated during
normal cerebellar development. The possible relationship between inappropriate splicing
and medulloblastoma pathogenesis will be the subject of future investigation.


This thesis discusses the change process towards 'the new way of working' for organizational units within the Dutch central government. Because of goals like cost savings, a better position on the labor market and provide better integral services in a more efficient way, the Dutch central government decided to stimulate the implementation of 'the new way of working' within their organizational units. The main question of this research is: What is the recommended approach to implement 'the new way of working' within organizational units of the Dutch central government?
Organizational change often fail because the implications for employees are overlooked. A literature study shows several implications for employees when 'the new way of working' is implemented. The main implications are empowerment, work-life balance, effectiveness of communication and losing the social contexts of work. These implications raise job demands and are a potential source of resistance to change. To prevent this resistance, additional job resources are identified. In the last phase of the literature study, six steps for successful organizational change are presented. In addition to the literature study, a mindmap session was performed. These sources of information were the input for 'rough answers' to my research question.
The next phase was to test these answers in practice. Fourteen interviews with project managers and experts in the field of 'the new way of working', mostly from within the Dutch central government, were performed. Besides, I also took my experiences and observations from my Internship within the Dutch central government into account.
By using a grounded theory approach, the data is processed through coding. 'The new way of working' is split up into three categories: flexible offices, working independently of time and place and better cooperation. The development of the mental work environment of individual employees and organizational units seems to be the crucial success factor for implementing 'the new way of working' and thus making ways of working more effective, efficient and enjoyable.
The plan of approach is based on a teleological change process where consensus is the driver. Four sequential events of teleological change are described. The outcomes of these events are fostering consensus and developing the mental work environment of employees. This environment consists of the individual mindset of 'the new worker' and the (sub)culture of the organizational unit.
The first event is focused on how the categories of 'the new way of working' can support the mission, vision and strategic goals of the organization. The next event is about involvement of employees in the change process by communication and a dialogue. The third event is about implementing goals. Because of developments within or outside the organization, dissatisfaction about the situation can occur; this is the fourth event of teleological change.
The assumptions about job demands and job resources are less relevant within this plan of approach, because these characteristics seem to be hard to generalize over different contexts.
'The new way of working' is related to concepts in the existing literature, like social innovation, process innovation and high performance work systems. Systems of HR practices can support the mindset of 'the new worker'. Therefore it is recommended to investigate whether these systems are worth full the investments.
'The new way of working' can be conflicting with organizational structures within the Dutch central government. It is recommended to research whether conflicting structures can be adjusted.


An important aspect in electronic packaging is the heat dissipation. Flip-chip technology is widely being used to increase the rate of heat transfer from the chip. A method to further enhance the thermal conductivity is by the use of a thermal interface material between the device and the heat sink attached to it in the flip-chip technology. Percolation theory holds a key to understanding the behavior of thermal interface materials. Percolation, used widely in electrical engineering, is a physical phenomenon in which the highly conducting particles distributed randomly in the matrix form at least one continuous chain connecting the opposite faces of the matrix. This phenomenon was simulated using the matrix method, to study the effect of different shapes and size of the filler particles. The different shapes considered were spherical, vertical or horizontal rods, and flakes in horizontal or vertical orientation. The effect of the size of these particles was also examined. The results indicate that the composites with particles having the largest side in the direction of heat flow will always have a better conductivity than the particles oriented normal to it. Also, from the results, we can choose the best filler size in the composite if we know the filler concentration we are aiming at.


Denmark exemplifies the puzzle of socio-economic success in Scandinavia. Populations are thriving despite the world's highest levels of tax and generous social benefits. Denmark would appear to be a land of paradise for free-riders and those who want 'money for nothing'. However, the national personality is characterized both by cooperation in everyday life and the numerous 'hard-riders' who make extraordinary contributions. Applying Bourdieuconomics, the authors focus on contemporary case studies to explain how social capital and trust are used to counteract free-riding and enable the flight of the Scandinavian welfare state 'bumblebee'.


During the Fall of 2021, I conducted seven structured interviews with Barnard College students to explore patterns of reception of selections of the work of Adrian Piper, Kara Walker, Elia Alba, and Ana Mendieta. This paper analyzes how the comments made by participants expanded, limited, or did not impact the "imagination" of boundaries of identification. The work of Pierre Bourdieu and David Halle and their perspectives on reception as a means for understanding the production of culture is relevant to my findings. While developing this study and my analysis, the work of Bettina Love, Sarah Lawerence-Lightfoot, and bell hooks has been particularly inspiring. Ultimately my conclusion is that the method and findings serve as grounds for arguing that "isolation, identification and imagination" could serve as a pedagogical tool for teaching and working through the "social" nature of systems of power and oppression that exist in the USA with youth of various ages and backgrounds.


The DISCOV (DImensionless Shunting COlour Vision) system models a cascade of primate colour vision cells: retinal ganglion, thalamic single opponent, and two classes of cortical double opponents. A unified model formalism derived from psychophysical axioms produces transparent network dynamics and principled parameter settings. DISCOV fits an array of physiological data for each cell type, and makes testable experimental predictions. Properties of DISCOV model cells are compared with properties of corresponding components in the alternative Neural Fusion model. A benchmark testbed demonstrates the marginal computational utility of each model cell type on a recognition task derived from orthophoto imagery. 1. COLOUR VISION PHYSIOLOGY AND MODEL PREDICTIONS


Early and Late Stage Mechanisms for Vocalization Processing in the Human Auditory System William James Talkington The human auditory system is able to rapidly process incoming acoustic information, actively filtering, categorizing, or suppressing different elements of the incoming acoustic stream. Vocalizations produced by other humans (conspecifics) likely represent the most ethologically-relevant sounds encountered by hearing individuals. Subtle acoustic characteristics of these vocalizations aid in determining the identity, emotional state, health, intent, etc. of the producer. The ability to assess vocalizations is likely subserved by a specialized network of structures and functional connections that are optimized for this stimulus class. Early elements of this network would show sensitivity to the most basic acoustic features of these sounds; later elements may show categorically-selective response patterns that represent high-level semantic organization of different classes of vocalizations. A combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological studies were performed to investigate and describe some of the earlier and later stage mechanisms of conspecific vocalization processing in human auditory cortices. Using fMRI, cortical representations of harmonic signal content were found along the middle superior temporal gyri between primary auditory cortices along Heschl's gyri and the superior temporal sulci, higher-order auditory regions. Additionally, electrophysiological findings also demonstrated a parametric response profile to harmonic signal content. Utilizing a novel class of vocalizations, human-mimicked versions of animal vocalizations, we demonstrated the presence of a left-lateralized cortical vocalization processing hierarchy to conspecific vocalizations, contrary to previous findings describing similar bilateral networks. This hierarchy originated near primary auditory cortices and was further supported by auditory evoked potential data that suggests differential temporal processing dynamics of conspecific human vocalizations versus those produced by other species. Taken together, these results suggest that there are auditory cortical networks that are highly optimized for processing utterances produced by the human vocal tract. Understanding the function and structure of these networks will be critical for advancing the development of novel communicative therapies and the design of future assistive hearing devices.


Background and aim: Several factors, including the nature of the clinical examination and patient satisfaction, influence the success of complete denture treatment. In the past, methods that do not necessarily represent complete denture quality have been used to assess patient satisfaction with complete dentures. A valid and reliable multidimensional self-assessment instrument, which includes various factors that influence perceived treatment outcomes, is needed to assess patient satisfaction with complete dentures. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of an Indonesian vision of the Patient's Denture Assessment (PDA) questionnaire (PDA-Id) as a tool to measure patient satisfaction (and the cause of patient dissatisfaction) with complete dentures. Patients and methods: In total, 101 patients (50 men and 51 women) aged 45 years and older participated in this study. The reliability of the PDA-Id questionnaire was determined by examining its internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The internal consistency of all the questionnaire items in the six subscales of the PDA was measured by determining Cronbach'sα values and average inter-item correlation coefficients among the 101 participants. The test-retest reliability was determined in 25 of the 101 patients by administering the questionnaire two weeks after the initial completion of the PDA-Id. The PDA-Id questionnaire was validated using factor analysis, and its convergent validity was determined by examining the correlation between the summary score of the PDA questionnaire and masticatory ability, which was evaluated using color-change able chewing gum, of the 101 patients. Results: The results of the validation and reliability test of the PDA were satisfactory (Cronbach's α summary score: 0.708). The Cronbach's α score for each of the PDA components ranged from 0.765–0.834, and the intra class correlation coefficient (ICC) in the test-retest was 0.797. Spearman's correlation analysis of the correlation between masticatory performance and patient satisfaction revealed values of p=0.001 r=0.0633. Conclusion: The reliability of the PDA-Id questionnaire was good, as determined by the assessment of its internal consistency and test-retest reliability. It also showed good validity, as demonstrated by the results of the factor analysis and convergent validity. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2017; 10(Special Issue): pp. 449-453)


This paper is concerned with the inverse problem of recovering the unknown signal components, along with extraction of their instantaneous frequencies (IFs), governed by the adaptive harmonic model (AHM), from discrete (and possibly non-uniform) samples of the blind-source composite signal.
None of the existing decomposition methods and algorithms, including the most popular empirical mode decomposition (EMD) computational scheme and its current modifications, is capable of solving this inverse problem.
In order to meet the AHM formulation and to extract the IFs of the decomposed components, called intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), each IMF of EMD is extended to an analytic function in the upper half of the complex plane via the Hilbert transform, followed by taking the real part of the polar form of the analytic extension.
Unfortunately, this approach most often fails to resolve the inverse problem satisfactorily.
More recently, to resolve the inverse problem, the notion of synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SST) was proposed by Daubechies and Maes, and further developed in many other papers, while a more direct method, called signal separation operation (SSO), was proposed and developed in our previous work published in the journal, Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, vol. 30(2):243-261, 2016.
In the present paper, we propose a synthesis of SSO using a deep neural network, based directly on a discrete sample set, that may be non-uniformly sampled, of the blind-source signal.
Our method is localized, as illustrated by a number of numerical examples, including components with different signal arrival and departure times.
It also yields short-term prediction of the signal components, along with their IFs.
Our neural networks are inspired by theory, designed so that they do not require any training in the traditional sense.


The vanadium redox flow battery, which was first suggested by Skyllas-Kazacos and co-workers in 1985, is an electrochemical storage system which allows energy to be stored in two solutions containing different redox couples. Unlike commercially available batteries, all vanadium redox flow batteries have unique configurations, determined by the size of the electrolyte tanks. This technology has been proven to be an economically attractive and low-maintenance solution, with significant benefits over the other types of batteries. Moreover, the soaring demand for large-scale energy storage has, in turn, increased demands for unlimited capacity, design flexibility, and good safety systems. This work reviews and discusses the progress on electrodes and their reaction mechanisms as key components of the vanadium redox flow battery over the past 30 years. In terms of future outlook, we also provide practical guidelines for the further development of self-sustaining electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries as an attractive energy storage system.


Based on summarizing a stand-alone running strategy of distributed power inverter and analyzing the possibility to control grid-connected power inverter with the same strategy, a novel micro-grid power inverter control method is proposed in this paper. While applying this method, the power inverter can not only output power in the grid- connected scenario, but also automatically produce power to satisfy the power demand or non-power demand about the load and power-sharing among inverters when the islanding and stand-alone events take place. It overcomes some traditional power inverter shortcoming that it can not make micro-grid smooth transition from grid-connected to islanding and to stand-alone status, due to the delay during different strategies being switched. At last, the effectiveness of the proposed method was proved by simulation results.


In order to reveal the social stability degree of local province in China, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is used in this paper. By the old reference analysis, evaluation indicator choice, evaluation indicator system construction and judgment matrix, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model can effectively research provinces' social stability condition. For illustration, 7 first-level indicators, 30 second-level indicators as well as one 146 third-level indicators are designed, in which seven indicators include the violent terrorist crimes, the domestic and foreign hostile forces, three noncampaign, extremism, national identity deviation, ethnic differences, incomeconsumption- social security and so on. The empirical results show that the total score of social stability is 71.13 in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The empirical research has revealed that the first countermeasure is to conduct the maintenance of social stability for a long time in Xinjiang, the second one is to do a good job in the field of national unity, the third one is to finish the religious work well in Xinjiang, and the fourth is to improve people's livelihood in Xinjiang


We report an in situ preparation of ultrasmall Co–Mn–O spinel nanoparticles (4.4 nm) supported on non-oxidized carbon nanotubes (denoted as CMO@CNTs) as a bifunctional catalyst for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR/OER). The preparation process involves the oxidization of divalent metal ions under alkaline conditions and the decomposition of nitrates in aqueous solution containing dispersed non-oxidized CNTs. The synthesized CMO nanoparticles strongly couple with the non-oxidized CNTs, which facilitates electron transfer and improves the catalytic activity. Other composites such as CMO@reduced graphene oxide, CMO@Vulcan X-72R, CMO@oxidized CNTs, and a physical mixture of CMO and CNTs were also prepared for comparison. Remarkably, CMO@CNTs exhibit a half wave potential of 0.91 V in 1 M KOH and higher kinetic current and better catalytic durability than Pt/C. Moreover, CMO@CNTs afford an electrocatalytic OER current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low potential of 1.5 V and a small Tafel slope of 81.1 mV dec−1. Furthermore, CMO@CNTs display lower discharge/charge overpotential and more stable voltage plateau on cycling than that of Pt/C when employed as a cathode material in rechargeable Zn–air cells. This work indicates that CMO@CNTs are a promising, cheap and efficient bifunctional ORR/OER electrocatalyst for rechargeable metal–air batteries.


Specific members of complex microbiota can influence host phenotypes, depending on both the abiotic environment and the presence of other microorganisms. Therefore, it is challenging to define bacterial combinations that have predictable host phenotypic outputs. We demonstrate that plant–bacterium binary-association assays inform the design of small synthetic communities with predictable phenotypes in the host. Specifically, we constructed synthetic communities that modified phosphate accumulation in the shoot and induced phosphate starvation–responsive genes in a predictable fashion. We found that bacterial colonization of the plant is not a predictor of the plant phenotypes we analyzed. Finally, we demonstrated that characterizing a subset of all possible bacterial synthetic communities is sufficient to predict the outcome of untested bacterial consortia. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to infer causal relationships between microbiota membership and host phenotypes and to use these inferences to rationally design novel communities.


Objectives: It is not yet clear whether dietary protein could help maintaining a healthy blood pressure (BP). We investigated the association between total protein intake, estimated from 24-h urinary urea excretion, and incident hypertension in Dutch men and women. Methods: We analyzed data of 3997 men and women (aged 28–75 years) who participated in the Prevention of Renal and Vascular Endstage Disease (PREVEND) study, a prospective cohort study. Urea excretion was assessed in two consecutive 24-h urine collections at baseline and approximately 4 years later, from which total protein intake was estimated using the Maroni method. Participants were followed for 9 years for hypertension incidence, defined as BP at least 140/90 mmHg or initiation of antihypertensive medication. Hazard ratios (HR) were obtained in sex-specific quintiles of protein intake using time-dependent Cox regression, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, and 24-h urinary excretions of sodium and potassium. Results: Baseline BP was on average 119/70 mmHg and 976 participants developed hypertension during follow-up. Mean protein intake (in g/kg ideal body weight) was 1.18 ± 0.26 for men and 1.12 ± 0.25 for women. Estimated protein intake was nonlinearly inversely associated with incident hypertension in the fully adjusted model, with nonsignificant HR of 0.77, 0.75, 0.82, and 0.83 in consecutive quintiles compared with the lowest quintile (P-trend: 0.52). Conclusion: Protein intake, as assessed by urinary urea excretion, was not significantly associated with 9-year hypertension incidence in Dutch men and women.


Supplier evaluation activities play a key role in the organization because they can significantly reduce the price of goods and increase company competitiveness. On the other side demands for aspects of quality, delivery time, and costs in increasingly globalized market competition add to the complexity of supplier selection decisions.This research proposes to build a mobile-based decision support system of supplier evaluation using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method. VIKOR method focuses on ranking by compromising from existing alternative results. The system will produce output in the form of supplier evaluation rankings and will use as a recommendation for management to assist supplier evaluation. Evaluation results show that the system is useful and suit for the users.


The current price of mud crabs in the local market is relatively higher than fish and mollusks and is projected to increase in the world market. This increasing trend in domestic and export markets is expected to step-up the demand for crab seeds. In the Philippines, the technology of mud crab grow-out culture is already being transferred to resource-poor fisherfolks for adoption as an alternative livelihood. However, buying competition among big and small crab farmers is foreseen to be disadvantageous to small farmers. There is a need to hasten the development and transfer of technology on mud crab breeding and hatchery to stabilize the supply and price of crab seeds. This paper discusses the economic viability of four grow-out culture methods for mud crabs namely; pond monoculture, polyculture with milkfish, culture in mangroves, and fattening in ponds. The marketing system of mud crabs covers product development, pricing, distribution channels, and promotion activities.


The voyage of the Mexican commission to observe the transit of Venus on 8 December 1874 in Japan is briefly recounted. The five-man expedition was led by Francisco Díaz Covarrubias. They succeeded in establishing two observing stations near Yokohama, one in Nogue-no-Yama and one on a hill called "The Bluff", and also in determining precise geographical positions for them. Clear skies allowed the observation of the transit at both stations. The results were presented in Paris in 1875, and published on the same year. They were meant as a contribution to be processed along with all other data obtained by different missions. The importance of the expedition for the development of early modern science in Mexico – particularly astronomy – is examined in the broad context of the social and political conditions then prevailing in the country. The relevance of the mission for the establishment of scientific, cultural and even commercial ties between Japan and Mexico is emphasized.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


SUMMARY Between August 1978 and July 1979, freshwater gastropods were collected at monthly intervals from 9 different non-lacustrine habitats in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. Of a total of 11708 gastropods representing 14 species, 1748 (14–9%) were infected with trematode sporocysts and/or rediae. Altogether 38 morphologically distinguishable 'species' of cercariae were recovered (13 furcocercous, 10 xiphidiocercaria, 6 echin-ostome, 4 cystophorous, 3 gymnocephalous and 2 amphistome species), 22 of which did not conform to previously described African species. The majority (63–8%) of all mature infections were xiphidiocercariae. Biomphalaria pfeifferi, B. sudanica and Ceratophallus natalensis each yielded 11 species of cercariae. Lymnaea natalensis had the highest overall prevalence of infection (36–9%). Cercaria guttera from L. natalensis accounted for 20–4% of all recovered trematode infections and C. blukwa from Biomphalaria accounted for 18–4% of all infections; the high prevalence of these two xiphidiocercariae may alter the transmission patterns of Fasciola gigantica and Schistosoma mansoni, respectively. S. mansoni was recovered from both B. sudanica (22 of 2393 infected) and B. pfeifferi (79 of 1913 infected); S. haematobium (or related species) was recovered from Bulinus (Physopsis) nasutus (50 of 1503 infected) and to a lesser extent from B. (P.) africanus (6 of 186 infected). The findings are discussed in relation to the biological control of trematode diseases in Tanzania.


Title: Mathematical meaning making in children's play? Verbal and non-verbal forms of expressions Abstract: I analyze an episode from field work in a multilingual day-care centre in Oslo. I examine verbal and non-verbal expressions. The children are 5 years old, and the mathematics is about classification. The children are creating structure and are seeking meaning. This is a key part of their play. My findings indicate that mathe- matical order and structure become conscious experiences to the children. I argue that we cannot know about the children's mathematical and communicative competence without knowing the physical context, the play in the sandpit, and the friendship between the boys.


Understanding how animals interact with their physical and social environment is a major question in ecology, but separating between these factors is often challenging. Observed interaction rates may reflect social behaviour – preferences or avoidance of conspecifics or certain phenotypes. Yet, environmental spatiotemporal heterogeneity also affects individual space use and interaction rates. For instance, clumped and ephemeral resources may force individuals to aggregate independently of sociality. Proximity‐based social networks (PBSNs) are becoming increasingly popular for studying social structures thanks to the parallel improvement of biotracking technologies and network randomization methods. While current methods focus on swapping individual identities among network nodes or in the data streams that underlies the network (e.g. individuals movement paths), we still need better tools to distinguish between the contribution of sociality and other factors towards those interactions. We propose a novel method that randomizes path segments among different time stamps within each individual separately (Part I). Temporal randomization of whole path segments (e.g. full days) retains their original spatial structure while decoupling synchronization among individuals. This allows researchers to compare observed dyadic association rates with those expected by chance given explicit space use of the individuals in each dyad. Further, since environmental changes are commonly much slower than the duration of social interactions, we can differentiate between these two factors (Part II). First, an individual's path is divided into successive time windows (e.g. weeks), and days are randomized within each time window. Then, by exploring how the deviations between randomized and observed networks change as a function of time window length, we can refine our null model to account also for temporal changes in the activity areas. We used biased‐correlated random walk models to simulate populations of socially indifferent or sociable agents for testing our method for both false‐positive and negative errors. Applying the method to a data set of GPS‐tracked sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) demonstrated its ability to reveal the social organization in free‐ranging animals while accounting for confounding factors of environmental spatiotemporal heterogeneity. We demonstrate that this method is robust to sampling bias and argue that it is applicable for a wide range of systems and tracking techniques, and can be extended to test for preferential phenotypic assortment within PBSNs.


The stability of the mining is important for coal, and stability of the current status of coal was analyzed, selecting appropriate indicators that evaluate the importance of stability of the coal seam is so significant. Using GIS Spatial database to achieve a unified data management for spatial data and attributes, and analyze of coefficient of variation of coal thickness and correlation dimension of coal thickness, and use of these two indicators of a coal mine in the coal seam to analyze stability evaluation. Finally, developed stability assessment system of coal based on component-based GIS MapX. The results show that quantitative evaluation of the stability of the coal is reliable, can provide a theoretical basis for coal mining.


Abstract This paper examines individual differences in constraints on linguistic variation in light of Labov's (2007) proposal that adult change (diffusion) disrupts systems of constraints and Tamminga, MacKenzie, and Embick's (2016) typology of constraints. It is shown that, in pooling data from multiple speakers, some of the complexity in structured community variation may be overlooked. Data on rhoticity from speakers of Bristol English are compared to 34 previous studies of rhoticity in varieties of English around the world. Constraints found to be consistent across varieties are also found to be consistent across speakers of Bristol English, whereas those that differ between varieties also differ between individuals, implying that only those which differ are truly part of the grammar, and that these are indeed disrupted by diffusion.


s, 46 IPS, Mangalore, 15-18 Nov 2018 The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Volume 18 | Supplement 2 | November 2018 S87 40. Efficacy of mandibular 2-implant overdenture: an updated meta-analysis on patient-based outcomes Balendra Pratap Singh King George's Medical University, Lucknow Aim: To provide an update on the existing. Evidence from randomized controlled. Trials assessing the efficacy of. The mandibular 2-implant overdenture. In regard to patientbased outcomes.. Methodology: electronic searches were carried out. To september 2015 through medline,. Embase, the cochrane central register. Of controlled trials, and the cochrane. Systematic reviews. Only randomized. Controlled trials that compared conventional. Dentures with mandibular. 2-implant overdentures were included.. Patient-based outcomes were assessed,. Including patient satisfaction and oral. Health– and general health–related. Quality of life. Random effects models. Were used to pool the effect sizes of. All included studies. . Result: a random effects model. Showed that, when compared with. Conventional dentures, mandibular. 2-implant overdentures significantly. Improved patient satisfaction (pooled. Effect size = 0.87, z = 5.31, 95%. Confidence interval: 0.55 to 1.19,. P < 0.0001, ?2 = 41.82, df = 8, p <. 0.0001, i2 = 81%) and oral health–. Related quality of life (pooled effect. Size = –0.66, z = 2.72, 95% confidence. Interval: –1.13 to –0.18, p = 0.007,. ?2 = 21.26, df = 4, p = 0.0003, i2 =. 81%). . Knowledge transfer statement: this. Meta-analysis shows that mandibular. 2-implant overdentures are significantly. More satisfactory to the general edentate. Populations than new conventional. Dentures. The results also show that. Mandibular 2-implant overdentures. Provide significantly better oral health–. Related quality of life than do new. Conventional dentures. These results. Should be shared with edentate patients. In planning their treatment. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.246713 41. Robotics in dental implantology precision and automation


Natural language understanding (NLU) models tend to rely on spurious correlations (i.e., dataset bias) to achieve high performance on in-distribution datasets but poor performance on out-of-distribution ones. Most of the existing debiasing methods often identify and weaken these samples with biased features (i.e., superficial surface features that cause such spurious correlations). However, down-weighting these samples obstructs the model in learning from the non-biased parts of these samples. To tackle this challenge, in this paper, we propose to eliminate spurious correlations in a fine-grained manner from a feature space perspective. Specifically, we introduce Random Fourier Features and weighted re-sampling to decorrelate the dependencies between features to mitigate spurious correlations. After obtaining decorrelated features, we further design a mutual-information-based method to purify them, which forces the model to learn features that are more relevant to tasks. Extensive experiments on two well-studied NLU tasks demonstrate that our method is superior to other comparative approaches.


The problem of denoising a 1D signal possessing varying degrees of smoothness is ubiquitous in time-domain astronomy and astronomical spectroscopy. For example, in the time domain, an astronomical object may exhibit a smoothly varying intensity that is occasionally interrupted by abrupt dips or spikes. Likewise, in the spectroscopic setting, a noiseless spectrum typically contains intervals of relative smoothness mixed with localized higher frequency components such as emission peaks and absorption lines. In this work, we present trend filtering, a modern non-parametric statistical tool that yields significant improvements in this broad problem space of denoising spatially heterogeneous signals. When the underlying signal is spatially heterogeneous, trend filtering is superior to any statistical estimator that is a linear combination of the observed data – including kernel smoothers, LOESS, smoothing splines, Gaussian process regression, and many other popular methods. Furthermore, the trend filtering estimate can be computed with practical and scalable efficiency via a specialized convex optimization algorithm, e.g. handling sample sizes of n ≳ 107 within a few minutes. In a companion paper, we explicitly demonstrate the broad utility of trend filtering to observational astronomy by carrying out a diverse set of spectroscopic and time-domain analyses.


Matricaria recutita is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. The present study reports the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of M. recutita essential oil and its main compounds. The essential oil was obtained from the aerial parts of the M. recutita by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The major components were α-bisabolol oxide (38%), followed by camphene (9.11%), sabinene (4.87%), limonene (6%),1,8-cineole (7.12%), camphor (6.54%), and α-pinene (6%). Essential oil of chamomile was evaluated for its antibacterial activities against three gram-positive and four gram-negative pathogenic bacteria. The essential oil and its main compounds were particularly active against Bacillus cereus, with the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration value (0.022 and 1.5 μg /mL). In conclusion, these results support the use of the essential oil and its main compounds for their antimicrobial properties.


Van de Ven and Poole contend that all the specific theories of organizational change and development used in management research come back to four basic theories: life cycle theory, evolution theory, dialectic theory, and teleology, and that most of the organizational theories are some kind of combination of these four. In outsourcing research most of the researchers implicitly assume that an outsourcing process follows the life cycle theory. In this study we analysed a software outsourcing partnership model and found out that the model indeed followed life cycle theory.


In this paper the four-dimensional dynamic diffusing mechanism and the enhancement in Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) of intrinsic nitric oxide (NO) in nervous system are studied computationally. A novel unsupervised Diffusing Self-Organizing Maps (DSOM) model is presented on the union of SOM with NO diffusing mechanism. Based on the spatial prototype mapping, temporal enhancement is introduced in DSOM and the fine-tuning manner is improved by the simplified NO diffusing mechanism. Furthermore, the quantization error of optimal weights is valuated and the detailed noise analysis of DSOM is presented. Finally some typical stimulation experiments are presented to illustrate how DSOM gracefully handles time warping and multiple patterns with overlapping reference vectors.


: This paper describes the social characteristics of venereal disease patients aboard a US Navy destroyer. The research team administered questionnaires to 247 crew members at the outset of the ship's 7 month-overseas deployment. When the ship returned to home port, the research staff gathered demographic and occupational information plus disciplinary records, job performance ratings, and complete dispensary visit information for the deployment period. The morbidity data indicated that 48% of the entire crew experienced at least one case of VD, and of these VD patients, 38% had multiple infections. A set of variables that best predicted VD incidence was determined by means of multiple regression analysis. These variables included disciplinary record, pay grade, division or type of job ("blue-collar" versus "white-collar"), and education. Other variables that correlated with VD incidence were age, length of service, marital status, performance ratings, and verbal aptitude scores.


An introductory study of the perception of stochastically specified events is reported. The initial problem was to determine whether the perceiver can split visual input data of this kind into random and determined components. The inability of subjects to do so with the stimulus material used (a filmlike sequence of dot patterns), led to the more general question of how subjects code this kind of visual material. To meet the difficulty of defining the subjects' responses, two experiments were designed. In both, patterns were presented as a rapid sequence of dots on a screen. The patterns were more or less disturbed by "noise," i.e. the dots did not appear exactly at their proper places. In the first experiment the response was a rating on a semantic scale, in the second an identification from among a set of alternative patterns. The results of these experiments give some insight in the coding systems adopted by the subjects. First, noise appears to be detrimental to pattern recognition, especially to patterns with little spread. Second, this shows connections with the factors obtained from analysis of the semantic ratings, e.g. easily disturbed patterns show a large drop in the semantic regularity factor, when only a little noise is added.


Clustering refers to the method grouping the large data into the smaller groups based on the similarity measure. Clustering techniques have been applied on numerical, categorical and mix data. One of the categorical data clustering technique based on the soft set theory is Maximum Attribute Relation (MAR). The MAR technique allows calculating all of pair multi soft set made. However, the computational complexity is still an issue of the technique. To overcome the drawback, the paper proposes the alternative algorithm to decrease the complexity so get the faster response time. In this paper, to get the similar results as MAR without calculating all pair of soft set is proved. The alternative algorithm is implemented in MATLAB Software, and then experimental is run on the 10 benchmark datasets. The results show that the alternative algorithm improves the computational complexity in term of response time up to 36.46%


The advancement in technology has increased the quest of automation among people. The government has also laid a bill on making the country smarter in terms of technology front. Making a city smarter is not only in terms of managing electricity, water resources and car parking but also includes the automated shops with the virtual view of things. Even a normal person should experience this advancement. The concept of smart city has influenced us to come up with the idea of virtual reality in the jewellery shops. This paper aims to provide virtual try-on of a jewellery in a real world. This provides customer satisfaction and reliability.


Background: Although communication disorder among the Moroccan population is prevalent, information readily available on this issue is scarce. National statistical information is the official authority that estimates the magnitude of this disorder. With the help of an online survey among the Speech-Language therapist (SLT) in 15 major cities of the kingdom of Morocco, the present study aims at estimating the prevalence of communication disorders among Moroccan population. The study is particularly keen in estimating the factors like age of the affected population and the tools the language therapists are using in addressing the issue. On analyzing the data, the study concludes with the outcome that speech disorders are top in the list of communication disorders and there must be early screening in detecting the issue to treat it effectively. The study also feels the need to apply appropriate tools in addressing the issue that suits the socio-cultural context of Morocco Material and Methods: A questionnaire based online survey was conducted among a fairly representative sample of Speech-Language therapist (SLT) covering 15 major cities of the kingdom of Morocco. Results: The questionnaires were completed by 68SLTs. Within the studied sample, 53.8% show oral communication disorders; 16.7% have written communication disorders, 11.2% show disabilities (deafness, autism, mental disability and other Rare Diseases), 10.5% have Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) disorders, and the rest (7.8%) has neurological disorders. It is estimated that 5.62% of the Moroccan population are affected with speech disorders, 1.74% are unable to communicate in writing, 1.17% are disabled, 1.09% are affected with ENT disorders, and 0.81% have neurological disorders. Thus, in this study, we found that the estimated prevalence of communication disorders were 10.43% for overall the population, among them speech disorder found to be very prominent. Conclusion: In the selected sample, we found that oral language disorders are more prevalent than the other kinds of communication disorders. And the prevalence of delayed language is higher than the other kinds of oral language disorders.


Although dissimilarities between men's and women's voices are often attributed to biological differences between the sexes, a great deal of research shows that many of the phonetic indices of speaker gender are socially learned. A number of questions remain, however, surrounding the exact process through which speakers acquire these features. In this paper I present findings from an ongoing study of the voices of English-speaking female-to-male transsexuals. Although the voices of male-to-female transsexuals have been studied fairly extensively, work on female-to-male speakers is virtually nil. However, these speakers' voices present an ideal testing grounds for understanding the relationship between biology, socialization, and identity in the development of phonetic styles associated with women and men. My findings, which reveal that female-to-male transsexuals' voices are in most ways comparable to other men's, demonstrate that identity, along with biology and socialization, makes a crucial contribution in shaping the gendered characteristics of the voice.


The core of the Internet's timekeeping system are the Stratum-1 timeservers, those connected to reference hardware, that anchor the server hierarchy. It is essential that these root servers are accurate and reliable, and this it is typically taken as a given. We examine this premise through an examination of 102 prominent Stratum-1 servers, using 3 datasets spanning 6 years, collected in reference testbeds with authoritative timestamping. We describe a methodology capable of rigorously removing congestion related variability, allowing server errors to be unambiguously revealed. We use the data and methodology to assess the health of public network timing, and how it varies over time, by reporting on the type, severity, duration, and prevalence of server errors, and how they relate to protocol level information. We present conclusive evidence that the system has problems. We find that errors are widespread, significant, often endemic, consistent over time, and typically come with no warning at the protocol level. Our results highlight the lack of oversight in the current system, and provides the foundation of a server health monitoring capability, necessary to restore and maintain trust in network timing. We describe three specific applications where our results can have an impact. Our data, detailed results and software are publically available.


Abstract Efforts to transfer research findings on autism into public schools would benefit from further evaluation of teacher preparation models. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a model program that was designed to prepare current teachers in evidence-based practices for children with autism. Drawn from the extensive literatures on caregiver teaching and behavioral interventions, this relatively comprehensive program was designed to be feasible within the constraints of typical school settings. Four certified special education teachers and a teacher-in-training participated in an intensive university-based summer program that incorporated both didactic and performance-based instruction. The teachers were taught a relatively large number of specific skills within three areas that have been the focus of extensive study for children with developmental disabilities (preference assessment, direct teaching, and incidental teaching). Results suggested that the teachers mastered all of these skills during role play and then implemented them successfully with 6 children who participated in the program. Teacher preparation also was associated with increases in correct task responses and communication among the children.


In this paper we describe the structure of a multiprocessor control system for a gas sensing array, inspired to the IEEE 1451 standard. The system (Smart Transducer Interface Module, STIM) features a simplified Transducer Independent Interface (TII) based on a 3-wire RS232 communication and is conceived as a cluster between identical monosensor subsystems and a central Controller. After a brief illustration of the modular system architecture, an overview on the basic monosensor modules and of the simplified TII will be given. Then, the design and implementation of a gateway acting as an interface between the system and the Ethernet (Network Capable Application Processor, NCAP) will be described. Finally, experimental results will be presented.


Graphene nanomeshes (GNMs) with nanoscale periodic or quasi-periodic nanoholes have attracted considerable interest because of unique features such as their open energy band gap, enlarged specific surface area, and high optical transmittance. These features are useful for applications in semiconducting devices, photocatalysis, sensors, and energy-related systems. Here, we report on the facile and scalable preparation of multifunctional micron-scale GNMs with high-density of nanoperforations by catalytic carbon gasification. The catalytic carbon gasification process induces selective decomposition on the graphene adjacent to the metal catalyst, thus forming nanoperforations. The pore size, pore density distribution, and neck size of the GNMs can be controlled by adjusting the size and fraction of the metal oxide on graphene. The fabricated GNM electrodes exhibit superior electrochemical properties for supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) applications, including exceptionally high capacitance (253 F g−1 at 1 A g−1) and high rate capability (212 F g−1 at 100 A g−1) with excellent cycle stability (91% of the initial capacitance after 50 000 charge/discharge cycles). Further, the edge-enriched structure of GNMs plays an important role in achieving edge-selected and high-level nitrogen doping.


Transparent insulation systems (TI‐systems) of less than 20cm thick have been developed as an alternative to opaque wall insulation and windows, which provide a financial return to building occupants when applied to building façades. Lack of detailed cost analysis of TI‐systems is a major constraint to the application of TI‐wall and TI‐glazing in buildings. A goal directed life cycle costing (LCC) technique and sensitivity analysis used to evaluate the economic feasibility of TI‐applications in office buildings form the basis of this research. It was undertaken as part of research to determine optimum energy and cost performance of TI‐systems for external cladding of high‐rise and low‐rise office buildings in temperate and tropical climates. The LCC of the buildings with conventional façades were compared with those with TI‐façades. The results show that LCC can be used to evaluate the economic feasibility of low carbon technologies such as TI‐systems effectively. A detailed account is provided of how different sources of cost data can be captured, collected and integrated to perform selective goal directed LCC analysis in the absence of detailed historical LCC data. The use of the goal directed LCC method and cost influence diagram presented in this research can be adopted as a standard method for assessing the economic feasibility of applying low carbon technologies to buildings.


Buyer-based clothing brand is a new type of brand operating mode. Fashion buyers as the core of the new mode influence the circulation of products. This paper aims to find the role of fashion buyers in helping the brand development for the enterprise. This paper reveals the evolution rules of clothing fashion buyers and discusses its basis characteristics, compares the development of fashion buyers at home and abroad. It suggests the basic knowledge for fashion buyers and ways to improve their comprehensive abilities. Finally it puts forward measures to promote the sound development of brands by making the buyers system perfect.


Agriculture sector plays crucial role in the economy of Uzbekistan. However, the reduction of the share of agriculture sector in national GDP can be explained by increasing the share of other sectors in national economy. There is growth in gross production of agriculture but, agricultural sector is still characterized by unsustainable production patterns and agricultural institutions of the country are controlled to a large extent through government intervention. Two crops have strategic significance for Uzbekistan: wheat for domestic consumption and cotton for export. The Government decides to grow cotton and wheat as well as fix the output prices. Uzbekistan Farmers receive lower prices for the main crops than world prices, but they also receive inputs such as fertilizers or fuel at cheaper prices. The partial implementation of reforms such as privatization and liberalization of agricultural markets affect the development of agriculture and agricultural trade in Uzbekistan (UZB). This paper highlights the major effects of market and price liberalization (50% and 100%) on agricultural trade using the partial equilibrium model AGRISIM which is based on the "Static World Policy Simulation Model" (SWOPSIM) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). With the help of this model, changes in general economic conditions, policy intervention in agricultural markets and foreign trade are simulated. This study suggests that the issues of sustainable agriculture development and food security in Uzbekistan can be achieved through, liberalization of agricultural markets and trade specially wheat and cotton.


Objective
The most important indication for EEGs is the investigation of epileptic and nonepileptic seizures. However, it is unclear whether EEG in the emergency depatment (ED) can be useful in managing other conditions. Our objective was to investigate the usefulness of EEGs in the ED.

Methods
We performed an observational, descriptive, retrospective study based on clinical records between 2018 and 2019. We evaluated patients admitted to our ED or hospital wards who underwent an EEG. We defined the EEG results as useful when they prompted changes in antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment or clinical management.

Results
We gathered information from 236 patients with a mean age of 59.23 years (SD ±22.6), of whom 47.9% were women. In patients with seizures, 18.2% were generalized, 27.1% were focal, and 18.6% were unknown. Overall, 25.8% of the EEGs were abnormal. However, in patients with a history of predisposing conditions for epileptic seizures or encephalopathies, the tracing was abnormal in 47.5%. The most frequent alteration on the abnormal EEGs was generalized slowing (18.2%). The EEG was useful in 76.7% of patients: AEDs changed in 8.4% and clinical management changed in 76.2% of patients. The usefulness of EEGs associated with acute ischemic lesions on CT (p = 0.023) and with the diagnosis of vasovagal syncope (p = 0.022).

Conclusions
Routine EEG is useful in the ED, even in patients with a normal CT or MR brain image, because it helps determine clinical management or AED changes.


In Part 2 of "Astrology and Science: A Precarious Relationship", the results of a population survey are first presented to reveal definitory problems in determining astrology. When investigating "astrology", of crucial importance are which concepts and practices to include. After definitional clarification, the anomalistic aspects of astrology or astrological practice are attended to with a distinction made between the above-below-theorem as the traditional basic assumption of astrology and possible psi phenomena that can occur in astrological counseling practice. Further sections describe problems in scientific studies on the validity of astrology. Such problems could have led to the failure of these efforts. Furthermore, specific methodological problems in the investigation of the above-below-theorem and in matching tests are addressed. In a final step, various scientific approaches to astrology are listed with their respective specific questions, methodological approaches and relevance for the scientific world view or astrological practice.


Abstract Although meningiomas are common benign intracranial tumors which grow slowly, we occasionally encountered aggressive or malignant ones. One of these cases showed an interesting relationship to vascular endothelial growth factor (VECF). A 39-year-old woman underwent resection of a sphenoid ridge meningioma; the residual tumor showed evidence of malignant transformation 14 years later. We immunohistochemically examined six successive surgical specimens plus the autopsy specimen of this patient's tumor for proliferative potential, vascularity, and expression of various growth factors. In the latter stage of clinical courses, proliferative potential and vascularity was seen to increase year by year. Expression of VEGF was upregulated and correlated with vascularity. On the other hand, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were not overexpressed in this tumor. This case suggests that overexpression of VEGF and increased angiogenic potential might be involved in malignant transformation of meningiomas. [Neurol Res 2000; 22: 189-193]


Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is responsible for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a leading cause of death worldwide infecting millions of people each year. Despite intensive research in vaccine development, therapies against HIV-1 infection are not curative and the huge genetic variability of HIV-1 challenges drug development. Current animal models for HIV-1 research present important limitations, impairing the progress of in vivo approaches. Macaques require CD8+ depletion or large portions of the genome to be replaced by sequences derived from simian immunodeficiency viruses to progress to AIDS, and the maintenance cost is high. Mice are a cheaper alternative, but need to be 'humanized' and breeding is not possible and knockout experiments are difficult.

The development of an HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice is a challenging proposal. The lack of human co-factors in mice impedes function of the HIV-1 accessory proteins Tat and Rev, hampering HIV-1 replication. The Tat and Rev function can be replaced by constitutive/chimeric promoters, codon-optimized genes and the constitutive transport element (CTE), generating a novel HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice without disrupting the amino acid sequence of the virus. By minimally manipulating the genomic 'identity' of the virus, we propose the generation of an HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice to assist in antiviral drug development. My results have determined that murine NIH 3T3 cells are able to generate pseudotyped HIV-1 particles, but they are not infectious. Codon-optimized HIV-1 constructs are efficiently made in human HEK-293T cells in a Tat and Rev independent manner and capable of packaging a competent genome in trans. CSGW (an HIV-1 vector genome) efficiently generates infectious particles in the absence of Tat and Rev in human cells when 4 copies of the CTE are placed preceding the 3'LTR. HIV-1 replication competent genomes lacking tat expression and encoding different promoters are functional during the first cycle of replication when Tat is added in trans. Finally, we developed a replication competent HIV-1 clone lacking tat and rev genes and encoding 4CTEs that could be a future candidate for HIV research.

My results shown that the development of an HIV-1 Tat-Rev independent clone could become a candidate for HIV research in a near future, but further investigations are necessary before proposing our model as an alternative yet.


Abstract. As the most recent time in Earth history when global temperatures were warmer than at present, the peak of the last interglacial (Marine Isotope Substage [MIS] 5e; ∼120,000 years ago) can serve as a pre-anthropogenic baseline for a warmer near-future world. Here we use a new compilation of 22 fossil localities in California that have been reliably dated to MIS 5e to establish baseline expectations for contemporary bivalve species movements by identifying and analyzing bivalve species with "extralimital" ranges, that is, species that occupied the California region during MIS 5e but are now restricted to adjacent regions. We find that 15% of species (n = 142) found in MIS 5e localities have extralimital ranges and currently occupy warmer waters to the south of the California region. The majority of extralimital occurrences occur in paleo-embayments, suggesting that these sheltered habitats were more suitable habitats for warm-water species than exposed coasts during the MIS 5e. We further find that extralimital species now tend to occur in cooler, more seasonally productive coastal waters and to occupy more offshore islands when compared with the broader species pool immediately south of California. These findings suggest that high dispersal potential and preexisting tolerances to environmental conditions similar to California's comparatively cool and seasonally productive environments may have enabled extralimital bivalves to colonize the California region during MIS 5e.


Due to the time-consuming nature of traditional snowpit measurements, and the large spatial variability that often exists in alpine snowpacks, tools which can rapidly characterize snowpack properties are in great need. Microwave radar has an additional advantage in that it is non-destructive and measurements can be made remotely, providing the opportunity to make measurements over large areas rapidly from an airborne platform. Signal interpretation can be difficult, however recently several ground-based studies have shown that the technique can be used to accurately measure snow depth, snow water equivalent, and snow stratigraphy. Accurate measurements of these properties from the air is much more challenging, especially in steep terrain. We present results from two field campaigns near Valdez, Alaska, in which measurements in mountainous terrain were made from a helicopter with two different FMCW radar systems. Snow depth and stratigraphy was visible at altitudes of less than 100 feet, while steep terrain made interpretation difficult at typical flying altitudes, due to the footprint size of the radar. Refinements of helicopter-based radar measurements may eventually provide a useful tool to assist in stability evaluations for helicopter ski operators.


This article uses a leadership as process framework to examine the degree of mutuality that existed between EU and Kenyan responses to Somali piracy between roughly 2008 and 2012. In so doing, it seeks to comprehend whether regional and extra-regional actors had similar experiences of and responses to the situation. This is important because the voices of regional actors are largely marginalised and implicitly subsumed to those of more powerful global actors. This article focuses on the EU (as an extra- regional actor) and Kenya (as a regional actor). It undertakes an analysis of official and non-official documents available in the public domain to understand the interactions and exchanges of influence that underpinned the crafting and implementation of counter piracy measures. Overall, the article concludes that the EU and Kenya had different experiences of the piracy threats which then led to them each having different sets of priorities. On paper there seems to be mutuality between the EU and Kenya concerning the naval response: the need to solve the problem on land in Somalia and capacity building in the region. However, an analysis of interactions surrounding their counterpiracy measures reveals a more complex picture of discords. This article shows that, in fact, there was a low degree of mutuality between EU and Kenya in their responses to Somali piracy which hindered the formation of a strong common response incorporating regional and extra-regional actors.


Joint Session with the Geological Society of America, December 28 The Mineralogical Society of America held a joint session with the Geological Society of America at 2 p. m., Monday, December 28, in the Sterling Chemistry Laboratory. President William B. Scott, of the Geological Society, was in charge, and petrological papers of the Geological Society were presented. At the close of the afternoon Dr. Arthur S. Eakle, of the Mineralogical Society, delivered his presidential address, "Needed extension in mineralogic instruction" which will be published in full in the March number of the American Mineralogist. Session of Tuesday Morning, December 29 The Mineralogical Society of America held its sixth annual meeting at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in conjunction with the Geological Society of America. At 9 a. m. the meeting was called to order by President Arthur S. Eakle in Room 2 of the Sterling Chemistry Laboratory. On motion of . . .