A revolution in the field of genomics has produced vast amounts of data and furthered our understanding of the genotypephenotype map, but is currently constrained by manually intensive or limited phenotype data collection. We propose an algorithm to estimate stem width, a key characteristic used for biomass potential evaluation, from 3D point cloud data collected by a robot equipped with a depth sensor in a single pass in a standard field. The algorithm applies a two step alignment to register point clouds in different frames, a Frangi filter to identify stemlike objects in the point cloud and an orientation based filter to segment out and refine individual stems for width estimation. Individually, detected stems which are split due to occlusions are merged and then registered with previously found stems in previous camera frames in order to track temporally. We then refine the estimates to produce an accurate histogram of width estimates per plot. Since the plants in each plot are genetically identical, distributions of the stem width per plot can be useful in identifying genetically superior sorghum for biofuels.


Many policies, such as trade and immigration, bear important consequences for both the size and distribution of surplus. Oftentimes, people are asked to vote on these policies despite not being all that well-informed about the consequences. This paper studies the extent to which an electorate can aggregate information when voters anticipate that some may benefit from a policy reform at a cost borne by others. We show that information aggregation may fail: with high probability, the outcome chosen when voters are privately informed departs from the outcome when all information is public. We identify a form of "negative correlation" -- where voters treat good news for others as bad news for themselves -- that is necessary and sufficient for this informational failure. Commitments to post-policy redistribution can mitigate this inefficiency, and lead voters to select better policies. We characterize features of economic environments that may foster or preclude negative correlation. Our results offer an understanding of how information can amplify electoral status quo bias, or generate popular support for ill-advised reforms that are ex post regretted and subsequently reversed.


1Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram, Chennai, India 2,3,4,5Department of Computer Science, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram, Chennai, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract Face detection and recognition from an image or a video is a popular topic in biometrics research. Face recognition technology has widely attracted attention due to its enormous application value and market potential, such as real-time video surveillance system. It is widely acknowledged that the face recognition has played an important role in surveillance system as it doesn't need the object's co-operation. We design a real-time face recognition system based on IP camera and image set algorithm by way of OpenCV and Python programming development. The system includes three parts: Detection module, training module and recognition module.


In order for a robot hand to grasp objects stably without using object models, tactile feedback from the fingers is sometimes necessary. This feedback can be used to adjust grasping forces to prevent a part from slipping from a hand. If the angle of force at the object-finger contact can be deter mined, slip can be prevented by the proper adjustment of finger forces. Another important tactile sensing task is finding the edges and corners of an object since they are usually feasible grasping locations. This paper describes how this information can be extracted from the finger-object contact using strain sensors beneath a compliant skin. For determining contact forces, strain mea surements are easier to use than the surface deformation profile. The finger is modeled as an infinite linear elastic half-plane to predict the measured strain for several contact types and forces. The number of sensors required is less than has been proposed for other tactile recognition tasks. A rough upper bound on sensor density requirements for a specific depth is presented that is based on the frequency response of the elastic medium. The effects of different sensor stiffnesses on sensor performance are discussed.


Metabolic activity of rat lungs were studied in normal state and in acute hypoxia, caused by an effect of rarefied atmosphere (3 hrs, "height" 10,000 m). Glycolytic splitting of carbohydrates and catabolism of proteins were increased in lungs under hypoxic stress. In hypoxia activities of adlobase, pyruvate kinase, succinate dehydrogenase, 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase were increased, but hexokinase activity was decreased. Activities of lipase, lactate dehydrogenase and NAD-dependent malate dehydrogenase were not altered, whereas the ratio in specific activity of cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase was decreased.


The membrane process is a promising technology for CO2 removal and mitigation. Since the energy consumption and economy of membrane-based carbon capture systems (CCSs) are critical for their large-scale deployments, optimal design and operation of such systems are the primary aims of this study. To achieve these research goals, a numerical model based on the solution-diffusion mechanism for the multicomponent gas separation process with a hollow-fiber membrane module is developed using Aspen Custom Modeler. The model is employed to investigate the effects of important operating and design parameters. Multi-objective process optimization is then performed by linking Aspen Plus and MATLAB and using an evolutionary technique to determine the optimal operating and design conditions. Our results show that by increasing the CO2 concentration in the feed gas, the CO2 capture cost significantly decreases and CO2 removal improves, although the process energy requirement slightly increases. The best achievable tradeoffs between objective functions are generated and analyzed, which substantiate the significant potential for improving the sustainability of the process. The results show that at optimum design and operating conditions, CO2 capture cost and energy consumption of the process could be as low as 13.1 $/tCO2 and 61 MW, respectively. The results of this study provide valuable insights into membrane separation and can be used by decision-makers to achieve the optimal performance of the process for commercial development and deployment of the technology.


The basic descriptive epidemiologic data on stomach cancer occurrence in Italian regions are presented and discussed. Incidence and prevalence were estimated from official mortality and survival data provided by four population-based Italian cancer registries. Age-adjusted mortality, incidence, and prevalence rates are presented by region for the year 1990. Time trends of incidence and their projection for the year 2000 are also presented by region and three broad age classes. Althrough the occurence of stomach cancer has been decreasing in Italy and most western countries over the last decades, a substantial slowing down of this decrease was evidenced in Italy, especially for women under 65 and for the regions of southern Italy. A marked tendency towards a reduction of geographic heterogeneity in stomach cancer occurrence was also shown. Such a phenomenon is consistent with the observed changes of dietary habits in Italian regions. The regions of Umbria and The Marches seem to emerge as new areas at relatively high risk of stomach cancer incidence and mortality. About 45,000 prevalent cases were estimated in Italy by 1990, half of which have been diagnosed before 1984.


Degeneration of the hippocampus is associated with Alzheimer's disease and occurs very early in the progression of the disease. Current options for treating the cognitive symptoms associated with Alzheimer's are inadequate, giving urgency to the search for novel therapeutic strategies. Pharmacologic agents that safely enhance hippocampal neurogenesis may provide new therapeutic approaches. We discovered the first synthetic molecule, named P7C3, which protects newborn neurons from apoptotic cell death, and thus promotes neurogenesis in mice and rats in the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus, the site of normal neurogenesis in adult mammals. We describe the results of a medicinal chemistry campaign to optimize the potency, toxicity profile, and stability of P7C3. Systematic variation of nearly every position of the lead compound revealed elements conducive toward increases in activity and regions subject to modification. We have discovered compounds that are orally available, nontoxic, stable in mice, rats, and cell culture, and capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier. The most potent compounds are active at nanomolar concentrations. Finally, we have identified derivatives that may facilitate mode-of-action studies through affinity chromatography or photo-cross-linking.


In the standard cosmological model, the dimming of distant Type Ia supernovae is explained by invoking the existence of repulsive ''dark energy'' which is causing the Hubble expansion to accelerate. However, this may be an artifact of interpreting the data in an (oversimplified) homogeneous model universe. In the simplest inhomogeneous model which fits the SNe Ia Hubble diagram without dark energy, we are located close to the center of a void modeled by a Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metric. It has been claimed that such models cannot fit the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other cosmological data. This is, however, based on the assumption of a scale-free spectrum for the primordial density perturbation. An alternative physically motivated form for the spectrum enables a good fit to both SNe Ia (Constitution/Union2) and CMB (WMAP 7-yr) data, and to the locally measured Hubble parameter. Constraints from baryon acoustic oscillations and primordial nucleosynthesis are also satisfied.


Purpose Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is caused by mutations in more than 60 genes. Mutation-independent approaches to its treatment by exogeneous administration of neurotrophic factors that will preserve existing retinal anatomy and visual function are a rational strategy. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and oncostatin M (OSM) are two potent survival factors for neurons. However, growth factors degrade rapidly if administered directly. A sustained delivery of growth factors is required for translating their potential therapeutic benefit into patients. Methods Stable and biocompatible nanoparticles (NP) that incorporated with CNTF and OSM (CNTF- and OSM-NP) were formulated. Both NP-trophic factors were tested in vitro using photoreceptor progenitor cells (PPC) and retinal ganglion progenitor cells (RGPC) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells and in vivo using an optic nerve crush model for glaucoma and the Royal College of Surgeons rat, model of RP (n = 8/treatment) by intravitreal delivery. Efficacy was evaluated by electroretinography and optokinetic response. Retinal histology and a whole mount analysis were performed at the end of experiments. Results Significant prosurvival and pro-proliferation effects of both complexes were observed in both photoreceptor progenitor cells and RGPC in vitro. Importantly, significant RGC survival and preservation of vision and photoreceptors in both complex-treated animals were observed compared with control groups. Conclusions These results demonstrate that NP-trophic factors are neuroprotective both in vitro and in vivo. A single intravitreal delivery of both NP-trophic factors offered neuroprotection in animal models of retinal degeneration. Translational Relevance Sustained nanoparticle delivery of neurotrophic factors may offer beneficial effects in slowing down progressive retinal degenerative conditions, including retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma.


: Cu has been widely used as a substrate material for graphene growth. To understand the atomistic mechanism of growth, an efficient and accurate method for describing Cu-C interactions is necessary, which is the prerequisite of any possible large-scale molecular simulation studies. The semi-empirical density-functional tight-binding (DFTB) method has a solid basis from the density functional theory (DFT) and is believed to be a good tool for achieving a balance between efficiency and accuracy. However, existing DFTB parameters cannot provide a reasonable description of the Cu surface structure. At the same time, DFTB parameters for Cu-C interactions are not available. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a set of DFTB parameters that can describe the Cu-C system, especially for surface reactions. In this study, a parametrization for Cu-C systems within the self-consistent-charge DFTB (SCC-DFTB) framework is performed. One-center parameters, including on-site energy, Hubbard, and spin parameters, are obtained from DFT calculations on free atoms. Two-center parameters can be calculated based on atomic wavefunctions. The remaining repulsive potential is obtained as the best compromise to describe different kinds of systems. Test calculations on Cu surfaces and Cu- or C atom-adsorbed Cu surfaces indicate that the obtained parameters can generate reasonable geometric structures and energetics. Based on this parameter set, carbon dimerization on the Cu(111) surface has been investigated via molecular dynamics simulations. Since they are the feeding species for graphene growth, it is important to understand how carbon dimers are formed on the Cu surface. It is difficult to observe carbon dimerization in brute-force MD simulations even at high temperatures, because of the surface structure distortion. To study the dimerization mechanism, metadynamics simulations are performed. Our simulations suggest that carbon atoms will rotate around the bridging Cu atom after a bridging metal structure is formed, which eventually leads to the dimer formation. The free energy barrier for dimerization at 1300 K is about 0.9 eV. The results presented here provide useful insights for understanding graphene growth.


Little is known of its agricultural potential and level of ecological sustainability of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) along the River Nile at Khartoum, the capital city of the Republic of the Sudan. This land use system leads to intensive vegetation in an otherwise arid city landscape and contributes to urban food security. Understanding the role of UPA has increasing importance in Sub-Saharan Africa where it is predicted that more than 50 % of the population will live in urban areas by 2020, with urban population growing from 294 million in 2000 to 724 million in 2030. The study comprised 120 gardens, covering 160 ha at 3 locations. Tuti Island, where production of lime (Citrus aurantiifolia (L.) Swingle) was widespread, had the lowest crop species diversity with a mean species richness of 1.7 and a Shannon index of 0.4. Shambat, where leafy vegetables were common, had higher crop diversity levels with a mean species richness of 4.4 and Shannon index of 1.2. Peri-urban El Halfaya, which was the only location where spices and condiments were produced, had a species richness of 3.7 and a Shannon index of 1.0. The survey identified 84 species from 35 plant families, of which 47 were utilised as crops predominantly for commercial production of fruits, vegetables, spices and condiments, grains, and fodder crops. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed 4 garden groups that were differentiated according to the cropping focus: field crops, orchards, microorchards, and diverse gardens. Despite the fact that46% of garden households rely on off-farm income, that gardens provide only 12% of household food, and that low market prices and high costs were cited as major problems by respondents in the study, the sustainable development of the gardening system has the potential to promote the future viability for UPA in Khartoum in the face of ever increasing pressure on land for multiple purposes other than agriculture.


The motive of this study is to put forward new information concerning the productivity and productive efficiency of the State Road Transport Undertakings (STUs) in India during 2000s. A well-known multilateral index procedure proposed by Caves, Christensen, and Diewert (1982) is used to compute the growth and relative levels of total factor productivity of the STUs. Productive efficiency estimates are then calculated by separating the effects of variations in the variables beyond managerial control from the total factor productivity measures. We also examined the temporal relationship of the cross-sectional rankings of individual STUs' productive efficiency estimates. To address this issue, we calculated Kendall's index of rank concordance along with coefficient of variation of productive efficiency estimates for the sample period. Annual data for a sample of eleven STUs that operated during the period 2000-01 to 2010-11 are used for the purpose of estimation. We find that there is a wide disparity among STUs according to their total factor productivity and productive efficiency levels and growth. Although not very strong, there is a positive relationship between total factor productivity and size of STUs. However, productive efficiency and size of STUs has statistically insignificant relationship, which shows that the productive efficiency of STUs is independent of their size. Comparing productive efficiency with the total factor productivity, it is found that within a firm, productive efficiency has a much larger spread whereas, inter-firm spread is less in case of productive efficiency. Using regression analysis, we found that although the coefficient of variation of productive efficiency estimates is decreasing over time, but decrease is statistically insignificant. According to multi-annual Kendall index, the null hypothesis of no association between productive efficiency ranks is rejected. However, according to binary-Kendall index, the null hypothesis could not be rejected for all the years. In other words, cross-sectional dispersion of STUs' productive efficiency is diminishing over time but not significantly.


Abstract Carbon dioxide fluxes in a dry subarctic heath were examined after 10 and 11 yr of experimental manipulations of temperature, light, and nutrients. The aim was to investigate how growing season carbon (C) balance was affected by the major climatic factors that are expected to change in the future. Carbon flux was measured in closed chambers as uptake through gross ecosystem production (GP), release through ecosystem respiration (ER), and as net ecosystem production (NEP). Diurnal NEP through a day with clear skies at peak growing season was consistently negative through all treatments the first year of measurement, and day-time NEP varied around zero at eight days across the growing season the second year, implying that a net release of C from the ecosystem to the atmosphere may take place during the growing season. Our results suggest that respiration was the main determinant of C balance, and that variations in light levels and temperature could alter the balance between C uptake and C loss. Fertilization strongly enhanced both ER and GP whereas temperature enhancement changed neither ER nor GP. Shading decreased both ER and GP. After harvest of the aboveground plant biomass, the belowground respiration was 72 to 93% of the ER before harvest. The significant treatment effects on belowground respiration after harvest were similar to the effects on ER before harvest. These results suggest that the ER were mainly from belowground respiration, and that the treatments affected the belowground respiration more than the respiration above ground.


The present research investigate with Nondestructive testing (NDT) of high strength concrete (HSC). An experiential work was carried out including both destructive and nondestructive test methods utilized to various concrete mixes with compressive strength ranged from 44 to 84.4MPa.Correlation curves were derived as pulse velocity and modulus of elasticity vs. compressive strength for high strength concrete. Two empirical relations were proposed for foretelling the modulus of elasticity Ec = 0.4141f`c + 8.6077, and compressive strengths fcu = 320.85ln (V) – 467.73 with a good coefficient of determination R2 for these equations 0.94and 0.90 respectively. Obtained from cubic and cylinders using locally available materials, therefore; it has been observed that NDT is rationally good and credible tool to measure the property of concrete and gives acceptable indication of the compressive strength development. Comparisons with the ACI 318 and the ACI 363 empirical equations for the prediction of the modulus of elasticity were performed. It was observed that the ACI 363 equation underestimates the modulus of elasticity, while the ACI 318 equation overestimates


Trust negotiation makes it possible for two parties to carry on secure transactions by first establishing trust through a bilateral, iterative process of requesting and disclosing digital credentials and policies. Credentials, exchanged during trust negotiations, often contain sensitive attributes that attest to the properties of the credential owner. Uncontrolled disclosure of such sensitive attributes may cause grave damage to the credential owner. Research has shown that disclosing non-sensitive attributes only can cause identity to be revealed as well. Consequently, we impose a stronger requirement: our negotiations should have the k-anonymity property the set of credentials submitted by a subject during a negotiation should be equal to k other such sets received by the counterpart during earlier negotiations. In this paper we propose a protocol that ensures k-anonymity. Our protocol has a number of important features. First, a credential submitter before submitting its set of credentials has the assurance that its set will be identical to k other sets already stored with the counterpart. Second, we provide a cryptographic protocol ensuring that the credentials submitted by the submitter during different negotiations cannot be linked to each other. Third, we ensure that the critical data exchanged during the protocol is valid. Fourth, the major part of the protocol involves the negotiating parties only; the protocol invokes the validator only when some critical information needs to be validated


OBJECTIVE: In 2011, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education increased restrictions on resident duty-hours. Additional changes have been considered, including greater work-hours restrictions and lengthening residency. Program directors tend to oppose further restrictions; however, residents' views are unclear. We sought to determine whether residents support these proposals, and if so why. METHODS: We surveyed US pediatric residents from a probability sample of 58 residency programs. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine predictors of support for (1) a 56-hour workweek and (2) the addition of 1 year to residency to achieve a 56-hour week. RESULTS: Fifty-seven percent of sampled residents participated (n = 1469). Forty-one percent of respondents supported a 56-hour week, with 28% neutral and 31% opposed. Twenty-three percent of all residents would be willing to lengthen training to reduce hours. The primary predictors of support for a 56-hour week were beliefs that it would improve education (odds ratio [OR] 8.6, P < .001) and quality of life (OR 8.7, P < .001); those who believed patient care would suffer were less likely to support it (OR 0.10, P < .001). Believing in benefits to education without decrement to patient care also predicted support for a 56-hour-week/4-year program. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric residents who support further reductions in work-hours believe reductions have positive effects on patient care, education, and quality of life. Most would not lengthen training to reduce hours, but a minority prefers this schedule. If evidence mounts showing that reducing work-hours benefits education and patient care, pediatric residents' support for the additional year may grow.


An exact approach is introduced to establish and compare quantitative structure−function relationships in electron transfer proteins. The strategy is based on the idea of an electron transfer contact map and is motivated by reduced descriptions of 3D protein structure that emphasize the folded conformation (ribbon drawings, distance contact maps, and Ramachandran plots). Electron transfer contact maps render the protein-mediated electronic coupling information in a compact and transferable form. The method includes all contributions of multiple interfering tunneling pathways to the tunneling propagation and can be implemented at many levels of electronic structure theory. Contact maps are used to interpret the influence of mutations on electronic propagation in model peptides.


In recent years, economic developments in a number of advanced and developing countries have been marked by a decline in growth. Many studies have shown that a large part of this depreciation is explained by that of potential growth. In this respect, the development of potential growth has become one of the most important economic issues in that it affects the conduct of monetary policy and the management of public finances. The objective of this article is to propose an estimate of potential output in Morocco, based on econometric modeling of the Cobb Douglass function based on three variables: Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Capital Stock (K) and employment level (L). Using annual data covering the period from 1982 to 2019, representing a sample of 38 observations. The results obtained show a decrease in potential output in Morocco from 2011 onwards, mainly due to the slowdown in the rate of change of GFCF to 3.8% on average between 2011 and 2019, the declining employment rate and also the negative contribution of overall factor productivity. From the results of this study it would be possible to determine the output gap, that is, the gap between actual and potential output. The latter is an important variable for the conduct of monetary policy, as it is a major source of inflationary pressures in the economy.


The United States wheat sector leadership in world markets is facing serious challenges. Canada, Australia, Argentina, the European Union (EU), and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) are growing contenders for international wheat markets. Wheat buyers´ concerns about quality specifications and its consistency have intensified without precedents in the last years. The study focuses on identifying the attributes that wheat buyers most value at the moment of purchase. The study will be done in two stages. The first stage will focus in estimating preferences from actual wheat transactions from different grain-sheds in the HRW growing area. The second stage will focus on the demand from Latin American millers and will estimate their attribute preference and elicit willingness to pay. The second stage will start with Mexican millers, given their importance for the HRW exports. A hedonic price model will be used for the first stage. The second part of the study will attempt to elicit miller´s preferences by using a self explicated approach. Expected results are that the "easy-to-measure attributes": test weight, and protein levels; and all functionality characteristics such as bake absorption, farinograph peak time, farinograph stability, alveograph p/l ratio will be the most valued by the wheat customers. We hypothesize that millers will be willing to pay a premium if those attributes are present in desirable levels. The information should provide insight into the efforts being made by wheat marketing agencies and the U.S. Wheat Associates to promote quality-based marketing of wheat to domestic and foreign millers. Discussion may also include the impacts of quality-based marketing on U.S. share of the world wheat market.


In this thesis we make a detailed reconstruction of climate changes based on materials from the Mediterranean Sea. Not only does this provide new insights in climate changes in the Mediterranean region, the aim is to improve our understanding of global climate changes as well. We created a single record from the data of Ocean Drilling Program Sites 967 and 968 in the eastern Mediterranean. Then, we created a detailed age model for the sediments of these sites, by tuning the fingerprint of the North African Monsoon activity to the known variations in solar irradiation caused by Milankovic variables. The monsoon activity is recorded by the elemental ratio of titanium (reflecting dust input from a dry Sahara) over aluminum (reflecting clay input from the river Nile). This is a novel way to date the sediment, which provides an independent age estimate for the climate changes recorded in these cores. With this independent method of dating we review and revise or comment on several aspects of climatic variability, both regional and global, that were measured on these cores. I comment on the ages of sapropels, which are episodic events in the Mediterranean where the deep water becomes devoid of oxygen, and thick layers of organic material are deposited on the sea floor. Also, I measured planktic (surface ocean) and benthic (seafloor) oxygen isotopes, which reflect local temperature and global ice volume. Benthic isotopes are a common method to study the behavior of ice ages. This is the first high-resolution, long term benthic isotope record from the Mediterranean to be published, and this, in combination with its unique age model, puts us in a good position to comment on the relation of the Mediterranean and other reconstructions from the 'open ocean'. Our studies show that, while there is no systematic discernible difference between the Mediterranean response and the open ocean per se, our method of dating the sediment does arrive at different ages than existing literature for certain deglaciations, most notably that of Marine Isotope Stage 16. Our findings suggest that there is much more variability in the global climate response to solar irradiation than generally assumed. The planktic oxygen isotope record from our Sites is integrated in the existing body of planktic isotope data for the Mediterranean surface ocean, filling several gaps in the record. We revise the age model of MedStack according to our Ti/Al based estimates, and comment on the surface/deep ocean contrast. Also included is a climate modelling study using results from Climber-2, a low resolution climate model with great potential for paleoclimate research. We use the model run (representing 650,000 years of climate change) to simulate the existence of wetlands on the Eurasian continent versus the monsoon areas. We simulate the production of natural CH4 – an important greenhouse gas – in these wetlands, and compare them to the data of atmospheric CH4 concentrations found in air bubbles of the Antarctic ice cores.


The problems of development of audit activity have signified a drop of audit companies' business reputation. During the transformations of the global market economy of the last decades of the 21st century, the questions of minimizing costs amidst growing competition and the requirements for high professionalism of auditors, as well as the growing needs of investors and owners due to changing markets and legislation, become highly relevant in the future consideration of the issue. The article discusses and tests the methodology for using statistical research in audit based on audit materials where sampling is used as a main instrument. We analyze the possibilities of selective research utilization during an audit check of a huge amount of accounting data and reports, evaluation of the results of the check and their extrapolation to the entire population of data taking into account the correlation of the elements of the sample. In order to minimize the number of mistakes in the auditor's conclusion, we offer a sampling procedure that takes into account the points of highest risk and a method for risk evaluation. We have developed document templates to provide to auditors aimed to systemize the source data to select the sampling type, auditor's actions when processing accounting data and reports, the results of audit sampling and to reflect all the steps of sampling research at any stage of accounting process. Additionally, we have developed a set of indicators that make up the base for sampling research in audit. The method offered has been approbated on enterprise's data, which has confirmed that using these instruments of digital economics is possible, that it does not reduce the quality of the audit results, and its practical applicability from the point of view of minimization of labor.


Bleomycin is the most commonly used compound in its group of antineoplastic drugs. It works on tumor cells by single and double stranded DNA cleavage after its activation, in which it blocks tumor cells' DNA replication or transcription activities to inhibit tumor cells' growth. Bleomycin sulfate (Blenoxane) is the most popular preparation used in clinical research, and contains Bleomycin fractions of A2 and B2, which causes difficulties in quantitative analysis. This work uses the metal chelating property of Bleomycin as an advantage to simplify and improve sensitivity of existing quantitative methods. Copper was spiked in excess to plasma samples, followed by liquid-liquid extraction. Samples were then subjected to analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry using a quadrupole trap mass analyzer. Samples spiked with copper showed improved selectivity over samples without excess copper, thereby making use of standard mass spectrometers a possibility in the clinic. In comparison with current methods of quantification of Bleomycin in plasma, this method achieved higher percent recoveries of the chemotherapy drug, higher sensitivity of quantification, with lower matrix effects, as well as a more simple preparation method. Linear range in the lower nanogram per milliliter range with a correlation coefficient over 0.99 makes this method promising for improved quantification and monitoring of Bleomycin in plasma.


Microgravity research is an important field in biomedical sciences not only due to our interest in exploring and living in space, but also because of the insights it gives on earthbound health conditions. Using a human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cell line cultured in simulated microgravity (SMG) in combination with high throughput cDNA microarrays and quantitative Northern analysis, 271 differentially regulated genes were identified and 72% of these genes were also reported in the high throughput gene expression data of the recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Twins Study. The identification of the large number of overlapping microgravity sensitive genes between the skin fibroblast in microgravity and astronaut's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) indicated that microgravity alone, without space radiation, was able to elicit an adaptive response involving a set of about 200 genes. Further analysis of the overlapping genes with the same direction of regulation (86 genes) and opposite direction of regulation (108 genes) revealed important pathways and cellular processes in the microgravity adaptation responses.


A battery charger with MPPT function for low-power PV system applications is presented in this study. For effective miniaturization, the battery charger is designed with high frequency operation. Some current-sensing techniques are studied, and their MPPT implementation is compared. A pulse charging method is also designed to prolong battery lifetime. The operation principles and design considerations of the proposed PV charger are analyzed and discussed in detail. A laboratory prototype is implemented and tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme. Experimental results show that high MPPT accuracy and conversion efficiency can be simultaneously achieved under high frequency operation.


We investigated the expression and function of mdr1a p-glycoprotein in peripheral nerves, including the VIIth and VIIIth nerves, using mdr1a p-glycoprotein gene knockout mice [mdr1a(-/-) mice] and wild-type mdr1a(+/+) mice. P-glycoprotein expression in capillary endothelial cells of the peripheral nerve tissues was detected by immunohistochemical and RT-PCR analyses in mdr1a(+/+) mice but not in mdr1a(-/-) mice. Pharmacokinetic analyses indicated that, compared to mdr1a(+/+) mice, mdr1a(-/-) mice showed a significantly higher accumulation of p-glycoprotein substrate drugs such as vinblastine and doxorubicin, which are neurotoxic. Tissue concentrations of vinblastine and doxorubicin were lower in the order of the brain, peripheral nerves and most other organs. However, increased accumulation was not detected after administering another neurotoxic drug, cisplatin, indicating that p-glycoprotein is selective at extruding drugs. These data indicate that mdr1a p-glycoprotein, which acts as an efflux pump, might play an important role in the blood-nerve barrier to prevent side effects induced by neurotoxic p-glycoprotein substrate drugs. The participation of p-glycoprotein in the blood-nerve barrier is considered to represent a new functional mechanism of this barrier.


Combining theories of the goal-derived product evaluation and holistic versus analytic thinking style, the authors investigate the effects of adding novel attributes on new product evaluation. While one may predict that adding novel attributes may be appealing to consumers as it provides new benefits, the authors propose that, in some cases, it may not. The current research investigates consumers' view of new attribute addition depends on the novel attribute's goal congruence with the consumption goals of the base product, which may be hedonic or utilitarian in nature. Further, consumers' holistic versus analytic thinking style moderates the effect of such goal congruence. Study 1 examines the asymmetric evaluation towards new products when a goal-incongruent (vs. congruent) attribute is added to either a hedonic or a utilitarian base product. When the base product is hedonic (vs. utilitarian) by nature, consumers show lower evaluations for new products with the addition of goal-incongruent (utilitarian) attributes compared with the addition of goal-congruent (hedonic) attributes. Study 2 examines the moderating role of thinking style. The results indicate that in promoting products with novel goal-incongruent (vs. congruent) attributes, using a holistic thinking style effectively increases product evaluations compared with using an analytic thinking style. Study 3 replicates studies 1 and 2 to prove the generalizability of the effects by using different stimuli. These findings have implications for new product positioning and promotion strategies.


Emotions change our perception of time. In the past, this has been attributed primarily to emotions speeding up an "internal clock" thereby increasing subjective time estimates. Here we probed this account using an S1/S2 temporal discrimination paradigm. Participants were presented with a stimulus (S1) followed by a brief delay and then a second stimulus (S2) and indicated whether S2 was shorter or longer in duration than S1. We manipulated participants' emotions by presenting a task-irrelevant picture following S1 and preceding S2. Participants were more likely to judge S2 as shorter than S1 when the intervening picture was emotional as compared to neutral. This effect held independent of S1 and S2 modality (Visual: Exps. 1, 2, & 3; Auditory: Exp. 4) and intervening picture valence (Negative: Exps. 1, 2 & 4; Positive: Exp. 3). Moreover, it was replicated in a temporal reproduction paradigm (Exp. 5) where a timing stimulus was preceded by an emotional or neutral picture and participants were asked to reproduce the duration of the timing stimulus. Taken together, these findings indicate that emotional experiences may decrease temporal estimates and thus raise questions about the suitability of internal clock speed explanations of emotion effects on timing. Moreover, they highlight attentional mechanisms as a viable alternative.


Morphological operators are nonlinear transformations commonly used in image processing. Their theoretical foundation is based on lattice theory, and it is a well-known result that a large class of image operators can be expressed in terms of two basic ones, the erosions and the dilations. In practice, useful operators can be built by combining these two operators, and the new operators can be further combined to implement more complex transformations. The possibility of implementing a compact combination that performs a complex transformation of images is particularly appealing in resource-constrained hardware scenarios. However, finding a proper combination may require a considerable trial-and-error effort. This difficulty has motivated the development of machine-learning-based approaches for designing morphological image operators. In this work, we present an overview of this topic, divided in three parts. First, we review and discuss the representation structure of morphological image operators. Then we address the problem of learning morphological image operators from data, and how representation manifests in the formulation of this problem as well as in the learned operators. In the last part we focus on recent morphological image operator learning methods that take advantage of deep-learning frameworks. We close with discussions and a list of prospective future research directions.


Though better known in the Anglophone world as the guru of postmodern "hyperreality", the French philosopher and radical sociologist Jean Baudrillard devoted a great deal of attention to theorizing design. This paper singles out the moment—inspired by a conference he attended in 1972 in New York at MoMA—where he advances the argument that contemporary design, understood as articulating and incorporating the entirety of the artificial environment, is a direct manifestation of the most significant development in political economy since the industrial revolution—what Baudrillard calls the "political economy of the sign." According to Baudrillard the origin of this expanded sense of design is the Bauhaus. That school sought to extend the role and mission of design to all fabricated phenomena, in the process collapsing any distinction between objects (and environments), turning them all into a fusion of art and technology, aesthetics and functionality. In explicating Baudrillard's argument, this paper also traces the missing presence of design in traditional political economy, arguing that Baudrillard was one of the first authors, albeit critically, to identify the now essential role of design in postindustrial capitalism.


OBJECTIVES
To assess perceptions of the importance and educational purpose of hospital grand rounds among physicians with administrative responsibilities, and to examine organizational aspects of grand rounds as educational events.

DESIGN
Descriptive survey by mailed nonanonymous questionnaire.

SETTING
All hospitals of more than 100 beds in Calgary.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 150 residency program directors and directors of departments and divisions in hospitals with differing teaching functions.

RESULTS
A total of 120 questionnaires (80%) were returned, and the responses of 107 physicians were analysed. Each year in Calgary formal grand rounds activities occupy auditoriums and seminar rooms for more than 2000 hours. Most respondents considered grand rounds to be the main hospital-based continuing medical education activity in their discipline. Aspects of grand rounds considered to be important were updates in research, diagnosis and management, and only one third of the respondents felt that actual patient problems should always be the focus of discussion. The organization and planning of grand rounds revealed a paradox: despite the perceived educational importance, only 13% of rounds were based on a curricular structure, and 16% were based on needs assessments. The grand rounds topic was most often the choice of the presenter.

CONCLUSIONS
The quantity of time devoted to grand rounds suggests importance in the routine workings of hospital departments. Grand rounds are used as a showcase for excellence in medical care or recent medical advances. It is paradoxical, therefore, that little interest appears to be shown in educational structure such as curriculum or evaluation of learning. Professional interaction is an inherent objective of traditional grand rounds. Further evaluation of the purpose and educational efficacy of traditional grand rounds is suggested.


The main objective of this study was to implement a spatial model with a multicriteria assessment approach for rice (Oryza sativa L.) land suitability by using geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The land mapping units resulting from the overlay of the selected theme layers had unique land quality information on which land suitability was based. The selected theme layers of rice include topographic factor (slope), soil physical factors (soil depth, soil texture, drainage, stoniness, hydraulic conductivity), and soil chemical factors (pH, electrical conductivity, CaCO3, soil fertility). These theme layers were collected from existing information. Spatial information of soil physical and soil chemical factors were formulated using a soil map database. Each land characteristic was also considered as a thematic layer in the GIS. In addition, each land quality layer associated with attributed data was digitally encoded in a GIS database. After combining these layers, a resultant map was produced. A land suitability rating model applied to the resultant polygonal layer provided the suitability classes for rice cultivation. Results showed that 79% of the study area was highly or moderately suitable for rice cultivation, whereas 21% of the area was unsuitable for rice cultivation due to soil and topographic conditions. The model was also validated with field studies. According to statistical analysis, there was a significant positive relationship between land suitability classes and grain yields. Grain yield was significantly affected by land suitability class at the level of P < 0.001. As for LSD0.05 test results, the highest yield values of the 12 rice species studied were 7899 ha kg–1 (cv. Halil Bey), 7605 ha kg–1 (cv. Osmancik-97), and 7510 ha kg–1 (cv. Duragan) in the 'highly suitable' class, whereas the lowest yield values were found to be 4764 ha kg–1 (cv. Aromatik), 4403 ha kg–1 (cv. Koral), and 4320 ha kg–1 (cv. Gonen) in the 'marginally suitable' class. This study also confirms the ability of GIS to integrate spatial and attributed data and offer a quick and reliable method of land suitability assessment with high accuracy.


We examined the assembly of the membrane domain of the human red cell anion transporter (band 3; AE1) by co-expression of recombinant N- and C-terminal fragments in Xenopus oocytes and in cell-free translation with canine pancreatic microsomes. Co-immunoprecipitation was performed in non-denaturing detergent solutions using antibodies directed against the N- and C-termini of the membrane domain. Eleven of the twelve fragments were expressed stably in oocytes in the presence or absence of their respective partners. However, the fragment containing from putative span nine to the C-terminus could be detected in oocytes only when co-expressed with its complementary partner containing the first eight spans. Co-expression of pairs of fragments divided in the first, second, third and fourth exofacial loops and in the fourth cytoplasmic loop resulted in a concentration-dependent association, but a pair of fragments divided in the sixth cytoplasmic loop did not co-immunoprecipitate. When two complementary fragments were translated separately in the cell-free system and the purified microsomes were then mixed, co-immunoprecipitation was observed only if the membranes were first fused using polyethylene glycol. This shows that co-immunoprecipitation results from specific interactions within the membrane and is not an artefact of detergent solubilization or immunoprecipitation. We demonstrate that band 3 assembly can occur within the membrane after translation, insertion and initial folding of the individual fragments have been completed. We conclude that most band 3 fragments contain the necessary information to fold in the membrane and adopt a structure that is sufficiently similar to the native protein that it permits correct assembly with its complementary partner.


Labeling of concurrently presented vowels generally improves with the F0 difference between vowels (up to a limit of 2 to 4 semitones difference). One interpretation of this finding is that the processing of F0 differences between vowels allows listeners to group spectral components according to a common fundamental and thereby improve identification. However, the benefit of F0 differences may be reduced for hearing‐impaired listeners to the extent that accuracy in processing F0 is compromised by the sensory impairment. In this study, normal‐hearing and hearing‐impaired listeners were tested to determine F0 difference limens for synthetic tokens of five steady‐state vowels. The same stimuli were then used in a concurrent‐vowel labeling task. Preliminary results indicate accurate processing of F0 differences between vowels, with thresholds generally below 2.0 Hz across vowels and listeners. On concurrent‐vowel data collected thus far, hearing‐impaired listeners showed an overall reduction in labeling accur...


Background: Diabetic patients have prolonged cardiac repolarization and higher risk of arrhythmia. Besides, diabetes activates the innate immune system, resulting in higher levels of plasmatic cytokines, which are described to prolong ventricular repolarization. Methods: We characterize a metabolic model of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with prolonged cardiac repolarization. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on a high-fat diet (45% Kcal from fat) for 6 weeks, and a low dose of streptozotozin intraperitoneally injected at week 2. Body weight and fasting blood glucose were measured and electrocardiograms of conscious animals were recorded weekly. Plasmatic lipid profile, insulin, cytokines, and arrhythmia susceptibility were determined at the end of the experimental period. Outward K+ currents and action potentials were recorded in isolated ventricular myocytes by patch-clamp. Results: T2D animals showed insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, and elevated levels of plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, TNFα, and IL-1b. They also developed bradycardia and prolonged QTc-interval duration that resulted in increased susceptibility to severe ventricular tachycardia under cardiac challenge. Action potential duration (APD) was prolonged in control cardiomyocytes incubated 24 h with plasma isolated from diabetic rats. However, adding TNFα and IL-1b receptor blockers to the serum of diabetic animals prevented the increased APD. Conclusions: The elevation of the circulating levels of TNFα and IL-1b are responsible for impaired ventricular repolarization and higher susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmia in our metabolic model of T2D.


While the churches are emptying, other virtual religious places as the religious websites seem to be filling up. The researcher focusing on religion and internet or digital religion as an object of study must seek answers to a number of questions. Is computer-mediated religious communication a particular communication process whose object is what we conventionally call religion? Or is it a modern, independent form of religious expressiveness that finds its new-born status in the web and its particular language? To examine the questions above, and others, the book collects more empirical data, claiming that the Internet will have a specific or novel impact on how religious traditions are interpreted. The blurring of previous boundaries (offline/online, virtual/local, illegitimate/legitimate religion) is another theme common to all the contributions in this volume.


For rappers, "keepin it real" means being true to the rich legacy of rap. For me, "keepin it real" means being true to the rich legacy from which rap music emanates. It is a legacy that goes beyond the verbal volleys of Muhammad Ali, the pulsating poems of The Last Poets, and the Caribbean tradition of toasting. It is a legacy that may go as far back as the griots of West Africa and the ancient societies of Egypt. Rap music belongs to a rich Black tradition of reverence for rhetoric in its written and spoken form. Thus, discussions surrounding rap music must see this art form as part of the Black rhetorical continuum, both borrowing from and expanding this tradition in its creative use of language and rhetorical styles and strategies. Most specifically, rap was created and continues to exist primarily as a young, African American (predominantly male) rhetoric of resistance primarily to issues of race. Though rap artists' approaches differ to these issues, as an art form rap music uniformly draws on and expands the Black rhetorical tradition. In the first chapter of Black Skin, White Masks, "The Negro and Language," Fanon (1967) supports the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity when he writes that a "man who has a language consequently possesses the world expressed and implied by that language" (18; See Carroll, 1956). Asante (1987) echoes Fanon's words, for he maintains that "always the protester must use different symbol, myths, and sounds [my emphasis] than the established order.... The oppressed must gain attention and control by introducing another language, another sound [my emphasis]" (114-115). Similarly, Antonio Gramsci (1971) provides a theoretical framework that is relevant here. Gramsci's concept of ideological hegemony posits that ruling class alliances maintain their power by developing consent among the subordinate class. Force is used only a "final solution." In other words, the best way to achieve control over a subordinate group is by means of cultural domination among all sectors in society. But efforts to maintain hegemony coincide with efforts to dismantle it, because cultural domination inevitably produces its opposite--cultural resistance--from the subordinate classes (Gramsci, 1971). Blacks in the African diaspora have used language and music as a form of cultural resistance. Specifically, this essay examines ways in which rap music was created and continues to be used as a form of cultural resistance. In doing so, Blacks have used sounds different from their oppressors and often tap into a Black rhetorical and cultural tradition to effectuate this resistance. American soil, however, is not the best place to gain an understanding of Black rhetoric. Asante's (1986) "The Egyptian Origin of Rhetoric and Oratory" provides an understanding of rhetoric in general, Black rhetoric in particular. It was the Black Africans of ancient Egypt who expressed deep admiration and respect for the written and spoken word. In fact, as George G. M. James (1989/1956) documents in Stolen Legacy, the ancient Egyptians included rhetoric as part of the seven liberal arts of their curriculum, which formed the foundation for new learners. To be precise, grammar, arithmetic, rhetoric and dialectic (i.e., the quadrivium), and geometry, astronomy, and music (trivium) constituted the curriculum of ancient Egypt (135). The writing system of ancient Egypt was what the Greeks were later to call hieroglyphics, but was what the Egyptians referred to as Medew Netcher (Mdw ntr). Jacob Carruthers (1995) informs us that Medew Netcher in the narrow sense denoted the formal written language of ancient Egyptians, whereas, in a more general sense, Medew Netcher referred to human speech. For the Egyptians, speech was divine in and of itself; in other words, speech was a "gift of the creator" (40). Carruthers further helps us to understand that the ancient Egyptians differentiated between Mdw ntr "Medew Netcher" (God speech) and mdw nfr, "Medew Nefer" (Good speech), which approximate the Greek terms theology (divine speech) and logos (reasoned speech), respectively (39). …


Visualization of uncertainty in datasets is a new field of research, which aims to represent incomplete data for analysis in real scenarios. In many cases, datasets, especially multi-dimensional datasets, often contain either errors or uncertain values. To address this challenge, we may treat these uncertainties as scalar values like probability. For visual representation in parallel coordinates, we draw a small "circle" to temporarily define a dummy vertex for an uncertain value of a data item, at the crossing point between polylines and the axis of certain dimension. Furthermore, these temporary positions of uncertainty could be permuted to achieve visual effectiveness. This feature provides a great opportunity by optimizing the order of uncertain values to tackle another important challenge in information visualization: clutter reduction. Visual clutter always obscures the visualizing structure even in small datasets. In this paper, we apply Sugiyama's layered directed graph drawing algorithm into parallel coordinates visualization to minimize the number of edge crossing among polylines, which has significantly improved the readability of visual structure. Experiments in case studies have shown the effectiveness of our new methods for clutter reduction in parallel coordinates visualization. These experiments also imply that besides visual clutter, the number of uncertain values and the type of multi-dimensional data are important attributes that affect visualization performance in this field.


Patients who undergo open repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAA) may require delayed abdominal wound closure to prevent the adverse consequences of intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome. However, surgeons may be reticent to use delayed abdominal closure techniques due to concern that such management may increase the risk of graft infection. We retrospectively reviewed our patient experience with rAAA and other vascular catastrophes in which vacuum-pack abdominal wound management with delayed closure was used between 2000 and 2007. Eighteen of 23 patients treated with delayed closure survived (78%). In five early deaths, graft infection was not clinically suspected. Sixteen of 20 rAAA patients survived, with abdominal wound closure achieved at a mean of 4 days. Mean follow up was 53 months, the longest among comparable series. Graft infection has not been encountered in this group. Our results suggest that the potential risk of graft infection should not outweigh the benefits of vacuum-pack temporary abdominal wound management with delayed closure in critically ill patients at high risk for intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome after major abdominal vascular procedures.


Writing over 230 years ago, Adam Smith noted the 'juggling trick' whereby governments hide the extent of their public debt through 'pretend payments.' As the fiscal crises around the world illustrate, this juggling trick has run its course. This paper explores the relevance of Smith's juggling trick in the context of dominant fiscal and monetary policies. It is argued that government spending intended to maintain stability, avoid deflation, and stimulate the economy leads to significant increases in the public debt. This public debt is sustainable for a period of time and can be serviced through 'pretend payments' such as subsequent borrowing or the printing of money. However, at some point borrowing is no longer a feasible option as the state's creditworthiness erodes. The only recourse is the monetarization of the debt which is also unsustainable due to the threat of hyperinflation.


24-hour monitoring of arterial pressure has been performed outpatiently in 20 subjects with mild or moderate essential hypertension using portable system Space Labs 90207. The design of the study implied 2 weeks of observation without any treatment followed by a 4-week course of lomir SRO-5 plus a 2-week course of lomir administration in a double dose. Control examination was performed at the end of each period. It was established that a 4-week lomir course results in a lowering of systolic and diastolic pressure by 8.4 + -2.1 and 6.9 + -1.3 mm Hg, respectively. Double-dose lomir was also effective: a fall in both systolic and diastolic pressure by 15.6 + -3.2 and 8.1 + -1.8 mm Hg, respectively, was achieved.


The paper concerns to the so-called "Muscovy crown" ("corona moscoviae") of Polish kings that existed in the 17th century. This insignia emerged in Rzeczpospolita during the Russian Time of Troubles, having until then belonged to the Tsar's treasury in Moscow Kremlin. The adherents of False Dmitry I took it in 1606, upon which it turned up in possession of King Sigismund III and his heirs. It appears that the "Muscovy crown" was made in England for Tsar Ivan the Terrible as a symbol of the Astrakhan Khanate, which had been annexed by the Russian State in 1556. Contemporary evidence from various sources, including diplomatic ones, points to the possibility of the crown being delivered as a token of strengthening trade relations between Moscow and London, where the Moscow company was functioning in this period. The crown was not taken as a gift, it was bought for a large sum. The article includes a detailed survey of English, Polish and Russian sources, both primary and indirect, while looking into the mode of use of such insignia at the court of Russian Tsars and grand princes. The article also mentions, together with Monomach's cap and Kazan cap, both of which are now kept in the Moscow Kremlin, the now-lost first Siberian and Astrakhan caps, the latter of which is identified with the object of study. The crown is also compared to the Eastern and Western jewelry traditions of the time. The article is prefaced with a brief narration of the circumstances in which the insignia had got the name it was since called in Polish historical writings. The author concludes with a hypothesis on why this crown and other similar to it were commissioned from foreign jewelers. This question, however, demands further research, as does the character of the insignia's use at the court of Polish kings.


History and Objectives: Due to problems and limitation associated with active sludge system with continuous and discontinuous current for the disposal of sewage, the present article present an active sludge system, without reversal of sludge with continuous current and continuous cycles and its efficacy in a laboratory scale is assessed. Materials and Methods: The system consists of 2 reservoirs with dimensions, airation equipments, opening for entrance of sewage and exit of filtered water which have the same flow rate and with interchanging airation reservoirs and sedimentation function. MLSS, BOD5, TKN, NH3, SV1, MLVss, COD and DO test for efficiency were performed with the constructed sewage system and with city sewage system. Results: Concentration of MLSS sewage, MLVss, F/M ratio during the operation and in each step was reduced. Efficiency of reduction of COD increase was from 87% to 98% and in the city sewage system from 85% to 91%. Assessment of the efficiency of the variable was positive. Conclusion: The system had a high degree of efficiency. Further study on the final assessment and practical application of the system is recommended.


Aim at the complex background of eggplant image in the growing environment, a image segmentation method based on BP neural network was put forward. The EXG gray values of 3×3 neighborhood pixels were obtained as image features through by analyzing the eggplant image. 30 eggplant images were taken as training samples and results of manual segmentation images by Photoshop were regarded as teacher signals. The improved BP algorithm was used to train the parameter of the neural network. The effective parameter was achieved after 120 times of training. The result of this experiment showed that the eggplant fruit could be preferably segmented from the background by using BP neural network algorithm and it could totally meet the demands of the picking robots after further processing by way of combining mathematics morphology with median filtering.


There are many native species from Cerrado that are used as food supply. However, their nutritional constitution is still unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate and quantify the nutritional composition of coquinho-azedo fruits, obtained from different regions and populations in Northern Minas Gerais, using multivariate analysis. Ripe fruits of various B. capitata populations were obtained from four locations in Northern Minas Gerais. Fruit samples were analyzed for total acidity, total sugars, ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, macro- and microelements. Results show that Butia capitata fruits are acidic given that values of titratable acidity ranged from 1.57 to 2.61, and Brix values ranged from 6.6° to 10.00°Bx. The total sugar content was relatively low with the lowest values observed in groups 4, 5 and 8 from Cristalia (0.65, 0.75 and 0.78%, respectively). Ascorbic acid content also varied among populations and locations; the highest average (92.43) was observed in group 2 from Cristalia and the highest value (821.63 mg/100 g fw) was observed in group 7 from Bonito de Minas. The highest antioxidant activity value (58.39%) was observed in group 7 from Cristalia. Multivariate analysis grouped and separated populations that were genetically similar or dissimilar for ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity, total phenolic compounds and total sugars. The nutritional composition of B. capitata varied widely according to the sampled site and groups of plants. In general, the fruits contain high amounts of ascorbic acid, potassium and iron.

 Key words: Arecaceae, ascorbic acid, antioxidant capacity, dendogram.


Green building, which was formalized only fifteen years ago to promote healthier and more efficient building practices, has exceeded virtually all predictions of its potential. Green building has entered markets in almost every major city in the United States, while developing as a sophisticated basis for investment, human health, and conservation. Stated otherwise, green building is no longer a fringe environmental policy and, as argued in this Article, is even shedding its markings as a political ideology. This Article examines two parallel but distinct consequences of the green building movement. First, by considering the major challenges to green building, this Article examines the conditions for success of the movement – how green building has become acceptable to consumers, the construction industry, and building regulators. Second, this Article explores the relationship between the goals and methods of green building laws and argues that green building compels a transformative, constructivist effect on humans' place and position in nature. This Article ultimately argues that green building is special because of its pluralistic approach to regulation, ethics, and even to nature itself.


Parallel adaptive filters have been proposed for echo cancellation to solve the dead-lock problem, occurring when the echo is detected as near-end speech after a severe echo-path change; causing the updating of the adaptive filter to halt. To control the parallel filters and monitor their performance, estimates of the filter deviation (i.e. the squared norm of the filter mismatch vector) are typically used. This paper presents a modification of a filter mismatch estimator. The proposed modification requires slightly more computational resources than the original measure, but provides a significant improvement in terms of robustness during double-talk. This is shown both analytically and through simulations.


Ten patients with gradually progressive neuromuscular disorders underwent (1) unilateral electric stimulation of anterior tibialis muscles and (2) unilateral stimulation of quadriceps femoris muscles, in combination with voluntary knee extension against ankle weights. After electric stimulation two hours/day, five days/week for two to 14 months, the mean maximum force (muscle strength) of knee extension increased significantly (p less than 0.005), by 108% +/- 56%. The contralateral nonexercised knee extensors also showed some increase in muscle strength. Electric stimulation of ankle dorsiflexors was ineffective; the maximum force of ankle dorsiflexion increased by only 11% +/- 27% (p greater than 0.3). In general, severely weak muscles (less than 10% normal strength) did not improve with either stimulation program. Electric neuromuscular stimulation combined with low-resistance weights can significantly increase muscle strength in patients with neuromuscular disorders if disease progression is gradual and initial muscle strength is greater than 15% normal.


Strategies for the design and construction of non-linear, 2D and 3D conjugated macromolecules are presented in this critical review. The materials, termed here as star-shaped structures, feature a core unit which may or may not provide conjugated links between arms that radiate like spokes from a central axle. The arms of the macromolecules consist of linear oligomers or irregular conjugated chains lacking a formal repeat unit. The cores range from simple atoms to single or fused aromatic units and can provide a high level of symmetry to the overall structure. The physical properties of the star-shaped materials can be markedly different to their simple, linear conjugated analogues. These differences are highlighted and we report on anomalies in absorption/emission characteristics, electronic energy levels, thermal properties and morphology of thin films. We provide numerous examples for the application of star-shaped conjugated macromolecules in organic semiconductor devices; a comparison of their device performance with those comprising analogous linear systems provides clear evidence that the star-shaped compounds are an important class of material in organic electronics. Moreover, these structures are monodisperse, well-defined, discrete molecules with 100% synthetic reproducibility, and possess high purity and excellent solubility in common organic solvents. They feature many of the attributes of plastic materials (good film-forming properties, thermal stability, flexibility) and are therefore extremely attractive alternatives to conjugated polymers (210 references).


We present a novel type of optical strain gage. The strain gage consists of a thin polyimide foil with an integrated optical circuit. The strain sensing elements are optical microresonators. The optical response to strain of these microresonators is a wavelength shift of the resonance wavelength. The optical circuit includes several of these resonators to measure strain in different directions. The strain sensor is read-out using a single-mode optical fiber. Because the different microresonators in the optical circuit have different resonance wavelengths, they can be read out using the same fiber. Our strain sensor is some kind of a cross between electrical resistance foil gages and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. It is a thin foil device, with a thickness of a few tens of micrometers, but it is an optical device and can be read out in a similar way as FBG sensors. We present the working principle, fabrication and first experimental results.


AIM
NGX6, NAG-7 and BRD7 genes are tumor related genes, which have been newly cloned by positional candidate cloning strategy. This study was designed to investigate the expression levels of NGX6, NAG-7 and BRD7 genes in human gastric and colorectal cancer tissues, and their corresponding normal tissues, and to investigate whether these genes play a role in the pathogenesis of gastric and colorectal cancers.

METHODS
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), dot hybridization and Northern blot analysis were used to compare the expression levels of NGX6, NAG-7 and BRD7 genes in 34 gastric cancer tissues and 34 colorectal cancer tissues with their corresponding normal tissues of the same patients, respectively.

RESULTS
Among the 34 colorectal cancer specimens and the 34 gastric cancer specimens, the expression of NGX6 in 25 colorectal cancer tissues was absent or very weak (73.5 %) by RT-PCR analysis. The down-regulation rate of NGX6 in colorectal cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in corresponding normal tissues (26.5 %,9/34) (P<0.005). Moreover, the down-regulation of NGX6 was significantly correlated with lymph node and/or distance metastases. Patients with lymph node and/or distance metastasis had much higher down-regulation rate of NGX6 than patients without metastases (93.8 % vs 55.6 %, P<0.05). However no correlation was found between the expression of NGX6 and pathologic type of colorectal cancer in this study, and also the expression of NGX6 did not display any difference between gastric cancer and corresponding normal tissues (58.8 % vs 70.6 %, P>0.25). Dot hybridization and Northern blot analysis confirmed the results of RT-PCR. Furthermore, NAG-7 and BRD7 mRNA was not up- or down-regulated in gastric and colorectal cancers compared with their corresponding normal tissues in our study.

CONCLUSION
The down-regulation of NGX6 may be closely associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma. However, it may not contribute to the development and progression of gastric carcinoma. In addition, the expression levels of NAG-7, and BRD7 did not alter in gastric and colorectal cancers. This seems to suggest that NAG-7 and BRD7 genes may not play a role in gastric and colorectal carcinogenesis.


BACKGROUND
Although clinical trials testing immunotherapies in glioblastoma (GBM) have yielded mixed results, new strategies targeting tumor-specific somatic coding mutations, termed neoantigens, represent promising therapeutic approaches. We characterized the microenvironment and neoantigen landscape of the aggressive CT2A GBM model in order to develop a platform to test combination checkpoint blockade and neoantigen vaccination.

METHODS
Flow cytometric analysis was performed on intracranial CT2A and GL261 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL). Whole exome DNA and RNA sequencing of the CT2A murine GBM was employed to identify expressed, somatic mutations. Predicted neoantigens were identified using the pVAC-seq software suite and top-ranking candidates were screened for reactivity by IFN-gamma enzyme linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays. Survival analysis was performed comparing neoantigen vaccination, αPD-L1, or combination therapy.

RESULTS
Compared to the GL261 model, CT2A exhibited immunologic features consistent with human GBM including reduced αPD-L1 sensitivity and hypofunctional TIL. Of the 29 CT2A neoantigens screened, we identified neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses in the intracranial TIL and draining lymph nodes to two H2-Kb restricted, Epb4H471L and Pomgnt1R497L, and one H2-Db restricted neoantigen, Plin2G332R. Survival analysis showed that therapeutic neoantigen vaccination with Epb4H471L, Pomgnt1R497L, and Plin2G332R, in combination with αPD-L1 treatment was superior to αPD-L1 alone.

CONCLUSIONS
We identified endogenous neoantigen specific CD8+ T cells within a αPD-L1 resistant murine GBM and show that neoantigen vaccination significantly augments survival benefit in combination with αPD-L1 treatment. These observations provide important preclinical correlates for GBM immunotherapy trials and support further investigation into the effects of multi-modal immunotherapeutic interventions on anti-glioma immunity.


A visually apparent but scientifically untested outcome of land-use change is homogenization across urban areas, where neighborhoods in different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas, and aquatic features. We hypothesize that this homogenization extends to ecological structure and also to ecosystem functions such as carbon dynamics and microclimate, with continental-scale implications. Further, we suggest that understanding urban homogenization will provide the basis for understanding the impacts of urban land-use change from local to continental scales. Here, we show how multi-scale, multi-disciplinary datasets from six metropolitan areas that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ; Miami, FL; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Minneapolis–St Paul, MN; and Los Angeles, CA) can be used to determine how household and neighborhood characteristics correlate with land-management practices, land-cover composition, and landscape structure and ecosystem functions at local, regional, and continental scales.


Allama Usaid-ul-Haq Qadri Usmani (1975-2014) was a great religious scholar, Islamic thinker, researcher. He remained the director of Al-Azhar institute of Islamic studies Badayun. He also served as member of Arabic panel in national council for promotion of Urdu Language govt. of India, New Delhi. Furthermore he was the president of Al-Azhar human welfare Society Badayun. In addition to it he was the coordinator of al-Azhar foundation Maharashtra. Moreover he wrote many Islamic books in which 14 books were on academic and research works. 17 books were arranged and prefaced by him. 12 books were translated and reviewed by him. 22 books were completed under his supervision. His academic contribut-ions would always be remembered in the history of Indo-Pak.


This book is designed to allow the introduction of comparative and transnational law issues into a federal securities law course. It can also be used as a standalone book for a course on global securities regulation. It begins with an overview of the globalization of securities markets and the policy issues this raises for securities regulation, followed by a comparative look at differences in national approaches to the substance of securities regulation, both with regard to mandatory disclosure obligations and with regard to insider trading. It also explores enforcement of securities laws - first looking at comparative approaches to government enforcement, next at the topic of how enforcement agencies in different nations cooperate with each other, and finally a comparative look at different approaches to the highly controversial topic of private enforcement of securities laws. This leads to a look at the reach of United States securities laws to transactions taking place abroad. Finally, it examines emerging securities markets and what lessons nations with such markets can draw from the experience of nations with developed markets. For more information visit the companion site .


A facile and scalable process for the in situ formation of Fe3O4 nanocrystals in a pre-formed carbon foam (CF) (Fe3O4/CF) was developed, which involved impregnation of an aqueous iron nitrate solution onto CF followed by controlled thermal treatment in an inert atmosphere. N2adsorption/desorption and BET measurements showed that the CF was a mesoporous carbon with a high pore volume and specific surface area. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction measurement, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that 5–50 nm Fe3O4 nanocrystals at a high loading of 78.7 wt% were formed preferentially in the confined pores of CF. When tested for anode material in a Li ion half-cell, the Fe3O4/CF composite was far superior to unsupported Fe3O4 nanocrystals, exhibiting significantly improved Coulombic efficiencies and cycling stability and achieving >780 mA h g−1 after 50 deep charge–discharge cycles with >95% cycling efficiency.


Task running in Grids may require multiple types of resources simultaneously. Proposing and designing a resource discovery scheme based on Economic Agent. Base on the economic model and the technique in agent of grouping nodes sharing similar files to improve efficiency, this thesis suggests a resource discovery scheme based on economic agent, which is called EAGRD. Theoretical models on resource discovery are provided, under which EAGRD is compared with existing schemes theoretically. By controlling propagation of message into related communities, EAGRD improves time and network efficiency at the cost of topological maintenance overhead.


Reciprocating compressors are flexible in order to handle wide capacity and condition swings, offer a very efficient method of compressing almost any gas mixture over a wide range of pressure, can generate a high head independent of density, and have numerous applications and wide power ratings. These make them vital components in various units of industrial plants. In this paper the optimum reciprocating compressor configuration regarding inter-stage pressures, the low suction pressure, non-lubricated cylinder, speed of the machine, capacity control system, compressor valve, lubrication system, piston rod coating, liner material, barring device, pressure drops, rod load, pin reversal, discharge temperature, cylinder coolant system, performance, flow, coupling, flywheel, special tools, condition monitoring (including vibration, thermal and rod drop monitoring), commercial points, delivery and acoustic conditions are presented.


The Mediterranean Nephrolepidina lineage has been thoroughly investigated in a number of studies. Here, we investigate biometrically two late Rupelian Nephrolepidina populations (E77', n=54; E76J, n=9) from the northern Majella Mt. (Central Italy), considering three parameters and three factors and their mean values. The A i factor (degree of enclosure of the deuteroconch on the protoconch) and the parameter C (number of adauxiliary chamberlets) suggest that both populations belong to N. praemarginata (R. Douville, 1908). The mean sizes of protoconch and deuteroconch are distinctly larger than other known populations of N. praemarginata . This is interpreted to reflect environmental factors. Increase in embryo size is a general feature among many larger foraminiferal lineages. In addition, studies on recent larger foraminifera indicate that embryo size varies along the depth gradient; however, this variation is poorly investigated. In recent nummulitids, the diameter of the embryonic chambers may either increase up to the ecological optimum and then decrease, or increase linearly with depth. Investigating embryo size may thus be rewarding either in a sequence of populations when sea-level change occurs or when anomalously large values of embryo size are attained in a population. Utilizing evidence from models derived from recent species, although it is uncertain how far they can be extended to extinct radial foraminifers, and sequence stratigraphy, it is inferred that the two populations come from a depth not far from the ecological optimum of the species. Recognition of this ecological optimum in the fossil record is generally hampered by conspicuous transport and mixing along the depth gradient.


The use of antibiotics by one person can profoundly affect the welfare of other people. I will argue that efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance generate a global collective action problem that only a well-designed international treaty can overcome. I begin by describing the problem of resistance and outlining some market-friendly policy tools that participants in a global treaty could use to control the problem. I then defend the claim that these policies can achieve their aim while protecting individual liberty and state autonomy. Finally, I offer some suggestions for a treaty, drawing lessons from the failure of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the success of the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion.


ABSTRACT Aims and objectives Sleep deprivation in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been linked to numerous complications. Light levels might impact the sleep of patients in the ICU. The aim of the study was to measure light levels during sleep-protected time in the ICU and to assess the impact of light intensity on sleep quantity/quality. Materials and methods This prospective, observational study was conducted in a 10-bed, mixed surgical/medical ICU. For measuring light levels, a commercially available smartphone application was used. The measurements were performed between 23:30 and 06:15 hours at 15-minute intervals. To assess sleep quantity, we used Patient's Sleep Observation Behavioral Tool and to assess sleep quality, we used Richards-Campbell Sleep Scale. Results The median number of time points at which patients were asleep was 20 (interquartile range, IQR 14–23) out of 25 (5 hours). The median self-reported quality of sleep (overall score) was 49 (IQR 28–71). The median values for individual questions are: question 1 (sleep depth)—54.0 (IQR 37–78), question 2 (sleep latency)—40.5 (IQR 6–90), question 3 (awakenings)—52.5 (IQR 28–76), question 4 (returning to sleep)—25.5 (IQR 11–78), and question 5 (sleep quality)—67.5 (IQR 5–76). No correlation was found between self-reported sleep quality and time spent asleep (p = 0.36). There was no correlation between average light levels during sleep-protected time and sleep quantity (p = 0.42)/sleep quality (p = 0.13). There was a correlation between average (13 ± 5 lux) light levels before sleep-protected time and sleep quality (p = 0.008). Conclusion Mean light levels of 11 ± 9 lux during sleep-protected time have no negative impact on quantity and quality of sleep in intensive care unit patients. Light levels up to 18 lux directly before falling asleep improve patients' self-reported quality of sleep in the ICU. Clinical significance Finding safe levels of light intensity during sleep-protected time in ICU. How to cite this article Czempik PF, Jarosińska A, Machlowska K, Pluta M. Impact of Light Intensity on Sleep of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Prospective Observational Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(1):33–37.


As a professional and educational service, psychotherapy supervision looms large in importance. Yet if psychotherapy supervision is to most viably advance in the century ahead, a number of pressing measurement, research, and training/practice needs cry out to be better addressed. Ten such needs are identified by drawing on recent major research reviews and other substantive supervision publications. The author concludes that better addressing these needs would expand and fortify the empirical base of psychotherapy supervision and also enhance its training and practice base.


Morphological variation of Astyanax species, subgenus Zygogaster (Teleostei, Characidae).— The diverse Neotropical fish genus Astyanax inhabits a variety of aquatic environments. As with other species in this genus, the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships of species of this subgenus remain largely undetermined. Based on 354 individuals, we analyzed the morphological variation of four species of the subgenus Zygogaster (A. atratoensis, A. caucanus, A. filiferus, and A. magdalenae) using procrustes analysis and compared findings with two species of the sister group: subgenus Poecilurichthys (A. orthodus y A. superbus). The PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and CVA (Canonical Variates Analysis) showed morphological affinity between the subgenera and indicated variance in body depth, anterior trend of dorsal fin origin and humeral spot, depression on the dorsal surface of the skull, and ventral displacement of the orbit and snout. The variation in these structures may provide evidence supporting adaptive speciation as an alternative to speciation driven by geographical isolation.


From 2014-2016 a series of studies were conducted in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam to evaluate the impact of introducing Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) water management to the existing rice management package as a way to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Studies were conducted at two study sites for three planting seasons. Methane gas emissions averaged across locations and seasons was 13 t CO2 eq ha-1 for the conventionally managed fields. Adding AWD to the management package resulted in an average methane emission of 3.6 t CO2 eq ha-1. Nitrous oxide emissions were similar for both systems. Rice grain yields were nonsignificantly greater in the AWD treatment. Global Warming Potential (GWP) was significantly lower in the AWD fields when compared to the conventionally managed fields. These results demonstrate a significant reduction in GHG emissions can be achieved by adding the AWD treatment to existing recommendations. This translated into a significantly lower global warming potential for all locations and plantings.


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Oil production is generally a complicated multiphase flow inside pipelines, with possible water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions present with other usual phases such as free water and free oil. The W/O emulsions formed can present significant hurdles in production facilities for pumping fluids and during pipeline transport. It is well known that high shear rates provided by pumps, chokes, or valves result in stable emulsion behavior for a field in primary production. Several field tests are under way to test the potential of surfactant flooding as a tertiary-recovery mechanism. The effect of addition of surfactants on the emulsion rheology of production fluids, as in alkaline/ surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding, is not very well understood. This understanding of W/O-emulsion rheology in ASP-injection oil recovery is essential for design of pumps and pipelines as well as for handling flow-assurance issues. In this paper, we report results from experiments as well as modeling of W/O-emulsion rheology that can form during ASP injections. We focus here only on the alkaline/surfactant (AS) part of these injections in order to clearly understand the impact of surfactants, removing the uncertainities that come with large rheology changes with polymer addition. The effect of surfactants on the rheology of W/O emulsions was studied by making two different types of emulsions: (1) native-brine W/O emulsions without surfactants to provide a baseline and (2) brine W/O emulsions with surfactants used in ASP injections. This way, the impact of ASP injections on emulsion rheology can easily be quantified. A new correlation is developed, based on in-house historical experimental data, to describe rheology of emulsions without surfactants. This correlation should assist in managing the uncertainties that come from extrapolating emulsion rheology measured in the laboratory to actual field conditions. Further, to understand the effect of ASP injections, new experimental measurements were made by adding surfactants to brine solutions. The addition of surfactants resulted in different rheology as compared with emulsions formed by brine solutions. These differences have been attributed to the W/O interfacial tension (IFT), and IFT was added to modify the original correlation. To our knowledge, this is the first study that explicitly relates emulsion rheology with IFT.


Soils contain a large proportion of the carbon (C) in the terrestrial biosphere, yet the role of soils as a sink or a source of net atmospheric C flux is uncertain. In agricultural systems, soil C is highly influenced by management practices and there is considerable interest in adapting management systems to promote soil C sequestration, thereby helping to mitigate atmospheric CO2 increases. Long-term field experimental sites represent a unique source of information on soil C dynamics, and networks of such sites provide a key ingredient for making large-scale assessments of soil C change across ranges in climate and soil conditions and management regimes. Currently, there are collaborative efforts to develop such site networks in Australia, Europe, and North America. A network of long-term experiments in North America was established to provide baseline information on the effects of management (i.e. tillage, crop rotations, fertilisation, organic amendments) on soil organic matter. Historical data on soils, primary productivity, climate, and management were synthesised by scientists from the individual field sites, representing a total of 35 long-term field experiments. An additional cross-site soil sampling campaign was carried out to provide uniform comparisons of soil C and nitrogen (N), both within and across sites. Long-term field experiments are a principle component necessary for regional assessments of soil C dynamics. We describe a general methodology for combining long-term data with process-oriented simulation models and regional-level, spatially resolved databases. Such analyses are needed to assess past and present changes in soil C at regional to global scales and to make projections of the potential impacts of changes in climate, CO2, and landuse patterns on soil C in agroecosystems.


Background and Objectives:Reactive oxygen species are known to be produced when atrial fibrillation develops. This study was performed to investigate the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the action potential parameters of the mouse atrium. Subjects and Methods:Mouse (ICR) atrial fibers were excised and immersed in cold bicarbonate-containing Tyrode's solution. The preparations were then perfused with oxygenated (95% O2, 5% CO2) Tyrode's solution and driven by an electrical stimuli 1 ms in duration at a frequency of 1 Hz. The transmembrane potentials were recorded at 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 30 minute, and compared between groups I (control), II (H2O2 0.1 mM), III (H2O2 0.5 mM) and IV (H2O2 1 mM). Results:In group I, the maximal diastolic potential (MDP), action potential amplitude (APA), maximal slope at phase 0 depolarization (Vmax), action potential duration until 50% and 90% of repolarization (APD50, APD90) were unchanged with increasing time. In group II, the MDP and APA were unchanged, but the Vmax was decreased, and the APD50 and APD90 prolonged. In group III, the MDP was increased and the Vmax decreased; the APD50 and APD90 were prolonged, but the APA unchanged. In group IV, the MDP was increased, the Vmax and APA decreased And the APD50 and APD90 prolonged. After-depolarization was observed in 40% (8/20) and 54.5% (12/22) of groups III and IV, respectively, and asystole occurred in 18.2% (4/22) of group IV. Conclusion:Hydrogen peroxide changed the action potential parameters in both time and dose dependent manner, and also elicited after-depolarization at higher concentrations. These results suggest reactive oxygen species are involved in the electrical remodeling and arrhythmogenesis in atrial myocardium. (Korean Circulation J 2006;36:108-114)


LiNbO3 film (LNO)/AlGaN/GaN heterostructure was fabricated epitaxially. The preferable C+ oriented domains in LNO film lead to the formation of the spontaneous ferroelectric polarization. As a result, the sheet electron concentration of the 2DEG (ns) decreased from 1.13×1013 cm-2 to 1.04×1013 cm-2 when a LNO film deposited on the AlGaN/GaN. The ns decreased nonlinearly with decreasing the temperature. Additionally, the electron mobility for the LNO/AlGaN/GaN heterostructure decreased greatly compared with that for AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, which was caused by the non-uniform domain structure in the LNO film. By external bias switching the ferroelectric polarization, the relative enhancement of the 2DEG, about 7.68×1011/cm2, could be accessible from capacitance-voltage measurement. These results indicated that ferroelectric films combined with AlGaN/GaN would hold promise for next-generation GaN-based memory devices.


Cost and capital structure are needed to evaluate the feasibility of the investments made by a company. This study aims to estimate and analyze the effect of the component of cost of capital (COC) and capital structure (CS) on firm value. Pulp & Paper companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) became the research sample for the 2013–2020 period. The research method applied is a moderation regression analysis approach. The empirical findings of the study prove that firm value is not influenced by the cost of debt (COD), while the cost of equity (COE) has a negative effect, and COC is positive. COC is a combination of the use of debt and equity, modeling by adding a CS variable as a moderating variable; this leads to the conclusion that COD and COE have a negative effect on firm value, whereas COC and CS have a positive effect. The finding of the role of CS as a moderating variable reveals that CS is a quasi-moderator variable and plays a role in increasing.


In the past few years, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have experienced terrific improvements in both accessibility and hardware capabilities, encouraging the application of these devices across various domains. While researchers have demonstrated the possible advantages of AR and VR for certain data science tasks, it is still unclear how these technologies would perform in the context of exploratory data analysis (EDA) at large. In particular, we believe it is important to better understand which level of immersion EDA would concretely benefit from, and to quantify the contribution of AR and VR with respect to standard analysis workflows. In this work, we leverage a Dataspace reconfigurable hybrid reality environment to study how data scientists might perform EDA in a co-located, collaborative context. Specifically, we propose the design and implementation of Immersive Insights, a hybrid analytics system combining high-resolution displays, table projections, and augmented reality (AR) visualizations of the data. We conducted a two-part user study with twelve data scientists, in which we evaluated how different levels of data immersion affect the EDA process and compared the performance of Immersive Insights with a state-of-the-art, non-immersive data analysis system.