BACKGROUND
Cervical kyphosis may occur with neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) and is often associated with vertebral dysplasia. Outcomes of cervical spinal fusion in patients with NF1 are not well described because of the rarity of the condition. We aimed to (1) characterize the clinical presentation of cervical kyphosis and (2) report the outcomes of posterior and anteroposterior cervical fusion for the condition in these children.

METHODS
The medical records and imaging studies of 22 children with NF1 who had undergone spinal fusion for cervical kyphosis (mean, 67°) at a mean age of 11 years and who had been followed for a minimum of 2 years were reviewed.

RESULTS
Thirteen children presented with neck pain; 10, with head tilt; 9, with a previous cervical laminectomy or fusion; and 5, with a neurologic deficit. Two patients had spontaneous dislocation of the mid-cervical spine without a neurologic deficit. Eleven had scoliosis, with the major curve measuring a mean of 61°. Nine patients underwent posterior and 13 underwent anteroposterior surgery. Twenty-one received spinal instrumentation, and 1 was not treated with instrumentation. Preoperative halo traction was used for 9 patients, and it reduced the mean preoperative kyphosis by 34% (p = 0.0059). At the time of final follow-up, all spinal fusion sites had healed and the cervical kyphosis averaged 21° (mean correction, 69%; p < 0.001). The cervical kyphosis correction was significantly better after the anteroposterior procedures (83%) than after the posterior-only procedures (58%) (p = 0.031). Vertebral dysplasia and erosion continued in all 17 patients who had presented with dysplasia preoperatively. Thirteen patients had complications, including 5 new neurologic deficits and 8 cases of junctional kyphosis. Nine patients required revision surgery. Junctional kyphosis was more common in children in whom ≤5 levels had been fused (p = 0.054).

CONCLUSIONS
Anteroposterior surgery provided better correction of cervical kyphosis than posterior spinal fusion in children with NF1. Erosion of vertebral bodies continued during the postoperative follow-up period in all patients who had presented with dysplastic changes preoperatively. The cervical spine should be screened in all children with NF1. Fusion should include at least 6 levels to prevent junctional kyphosis.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


This PhD thesis examines and evaluates the importance of urban services in environmental quality using economic evaluation techniques. It is a consensus that one of the features of countries that are under development is the rapid growth of urbanization. Rapid urbanization is followed by an intense demand for qualitative and quantitative development in physical dimensions and urban systems. An efficient urban management system is required to tackle and solve the problems of urbanization, using appropriate policies, methods and data to ensure that not only has the urban population got access to the labour market, housing and urban services, but also urban environments are organized to enhance the quality of life for its citizens. Consequently, this research seeks to assess and define a method to help local authorities and policy makers in affective decision making and efficient city management. Thus, the main objective of this thesis is to establish a non-market benefits valuation models for use in current and future policy applications with the aim of better built environment quality and promoting sustainable development. This research shows that allocating appropriate urban services plays a key role in promoting urban environmental quality, and fostering essential amenities such as comfort, safety, aesthetic, attractiveness etc. to citizens. Distribution and accessibility of urban services plays an important role in people's movements, forming the city size, shape, and density, and importantly living quality in the city. This research reveals how economic valuation techniques can be used to define the market and the value of the urban services and assesses public preferences by determining willingness to pay for better access to preferred urban services. By employing the perspective of welfare economics to identify the structure of public preferences, including preference differences between socioeconomic groups, this study provides valuable information which should help to inform public policy deliberations over city management and land use planning objectives of promoting sustainable development and increasing quality of life and environment.


Abstract. Three-year high-resolution wind observations of the wind profiler have been utilized to characterize the diurnal and seasonal features of the monsoon Low-Level Jet (LLJ) over a tropical station, Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E), with a focus on the diurnal variability of low-level winds. The Boreal summer monsoon winds show a conspicuously strong westerly LLJ with average wind speed exceeding 20 m s−1. The L-band wind profiler measurements have shown an advantage of better height and time resolutions over the conventional radiosonde method for diurnal wind measurements. An interesting diurnal oscillation of LLJ core has been observed. It is varying in the height range of 1.8±0.6 km with the maximum and minimum intensity noticed during the early morning and afternoon hours, respectively. The jet core (wind maxima) height is observed to coincide with the inversion height. Strong wind shears are normally located beneath the LLJ core. The sole wind profiler observations are capable of identifying the monsoon phases, such as onset, break and active spells, etc. The mutual influence between the LLJ and the boundary layer has been discussed. One notices that the observed LLJ diurnal structures depend on the local convective activity, wind shears and turbulence activity associated with boundary layer winds. The day-to-day change in the LLJ structure depends on the latitudinal position of the LLJ core.


In recent years, the European Union has been working towards harmonizing legislation thus allowing for easier cross-border access to, exchange and reuse of legal information. This initiative is supported via standardization activities such as the European Law Identifier (ELI) and the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI), which provide technical specifications for web identifiers and vocabularies that can be used to describe metadata pertaining to legal documents. Unfortunately, to date said initiative has only been partially adopted by EU member states, possibly due to themanual effort involved in curating themetadata. As a first step towards streamlining this process, we propose a cross-jurisdictional legal framework that demonstrates how legal information stored in national databases can be linked at a European level using Natural Language Processing together with external knowledgebases to automatically populate the knowledge base.


Abstract. The morphological and ecological diversity of lemurs and lorisiformes once rivaled that of the rest of the primate order. Here, we assemble a dataset of 3D models representing the second mandibular molars of a wide range of extant and fossil strepsirrhines encompassing this diversity. We use these models to distill quantitative descriptors of tooth form and then analyze these data using new analytical methods. We employ a recently developed dental topography metric (ariaDNE), which is less sensitive to details of random error in 3D model quality than previously used metrics (e.g., DNE); Bayesian multinomial modeling with metrics designed to measure overfitting risk; and a tooth segmentation algorithm that allows the shapes of disaggregated tooth surface features to be quantified using dental topography metrics. This approach is successful at reclassifying extant strepsirrhine primates to known dietary ecology and indicates that the averaging of morphological information across the tooth surface does not interfere with the ability of dental topography metrics to predict dietary adaptation. When the most informative combination of dental topography metrics is applied to extinct species, many subfossil lemurs and the most basal fossil strepsirrhines are predicted to have been primarily frugivorous or gummivorous. This supports an ecological contraction among the extant lemurs and the importance of frugivory in the origins of crown Strepsirrhini, potentially to avoid competition with more insectivorous and folivorous members of Paleogene Afro-Arabian primate faunas.


Background Hematopoietic stem cells located in the bone marrow interact with a specific microenvironment referred to as the stem cell niche. Data derived from ex vivo co-culture systems using mesenchymal stromal cells as a feeder cell layer suggest that cell-to-cell contact has a significant impact on the expansion, migratory potential and 'stemness' of hematopoietic stem cells. Here we investigated in detail the spatial relationship between hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stromal cells during ex vivo expansion. Design and Methods In the co-culture system, we defined three distinct localizations of hematopoietic stem cells relative to the mesenchymal stromal cell layer: (i) those in supernatant (non-adherent cells); (ii) those adhering to the surface of mesenchymal stromal cells (phase-bright cells) and (iii) those beneath the mesenchymal stromal cells (phase-dim cells). Cell cycle, proliferation, cell division and immunophenotype of these three cell fractions were evaluated from day 1 to 7. Results Phase-bright cells contained the highest proportion of cycling progenitors during co-culture. In contrast, phase-dim cells divided much more slowly and retained a more immature phenotype compared to the other cell fractions. The phase-dim compartment was soon enriched for CD34+/CD38− cells. Migration beneath the mesenchymal stromal cell layer could be hampered by inhibiting integrin β1 or CXCR4. Conclusions Our data suggest that the mesenchymal stromal cell surface is the predominant site of proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells, whereas the compartment beneath the mesenchymal stromal cell layer seems to mimic the stem cell niche for more immature cells. The SDF-1/CXCR4 interaction and integrin-mediated cell adhesion play important roles in the distribution of hematopoietic stem cells in the co-culture system.


The skin is the largest and most exposed organ of the human body, therefore subject to diseases and alteration of its appearance. Among these alterations, the cutaneous hyperchromia may be cited. Currently, the market offers numerous products with depigmenting action to the treatment of such disorders. The aim of this work was to analyze depigmenting products commercialized in establishments in the city of Bento Goncalves (RS, Brazil) and websites of cosmetic companies. It was found 45 products with depigmenting action and, from these, 59 different active agents were identified. The main active compounds found were kojic acid, arbutin, ascorbic acid, hydroquinone and glycolic acid. Another observed data was that in 78% of the studied productsthe active substances were being used in combination. The most used vehicles were also studied as a reference to the use of sunscreen in the treatment of cutaneous hyperchromia. The present work had identified in the market a variety of products with depigmentation action and, because of this, it aims to serve as a reference to the healthcare professionals, especially at the prescribing moment, looking for the best results, with regards to treatment efficiency and safety.


When asked to create two-dimensional paper model communities without adequate analysis of the US lifestyles and architectural development, elementary education teacher candidates (TCs) in the Mid-west created residential areas with very little civic architecture, public transportation or amenities. The communities emulated suburban sprawl and reflected the students' memories and lifestyles. A redesigned project included in-depth class discussion of social, economic, and ecological issues, along with a critical review of suburban history. Through democratic action TCs designed and created more socially and environmentally equitable model environments. Within the study the author reflects on the initial practice and pedagogy that she employed and then revised to enable TCs to think and organize civically, rather than materialistically. The author recommends built environment education within the pre-service education classroom to prepare students to be critically knowledgeable citizens. The practice can be extended to the public school classroom.


This paper examines the role of the global institutional frameworks on the national processes of innovation diffusion. we focus on the influence of the Kyoto mechanisms on the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in the BRICS countries i.e. Brazil, China India, Russia and South Africa. Our preliminary analysis suggests that the Kyoto Mechanisms may support the diffusion of some simple, low cost and mature technologies which are already diffused in the host countries, rather than the diffusion of new renewable energy technologies. This observation raises questions about the extent to which the Kyoto Mechanisms at its present state create major incentives for the diffusion of new renewable energy technologies in the BRICS, in the absence of a indigenous technological efforts and capabilities in new renewable technologies and national policy initiatives to attract and leverage the implementation of Kyoto Mechanism projects to support technology diffusion. We analyse these issues theoretically as well as empirically making use of national aggregated data from the World Development Indicators, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and secondary sources.


Urbanization is one of the most important processes shaping our environment, which causes habitat reduction and alteration which are, in turn, the main reasons for the reduced structural and functional diversity in urbanized environments. Predation is one of the most important ecological functions because of its community-structuring effects. Quantification of predation on invertebrate prey is difficult, because the attacks are mostly cryptic and it is rare when evidence is present. Using dummy prey, which is fixed to a surface, the marks left by predators allows us to identify them. Current evidence indicates that predation pressure is lower in urban than rural areas. According to the natural flow-regime paradigm, extreme events (e.g. floods) constitute a primary adaptive pressure in riparian habitats. We tested the validity of the paradigm in urbanized habitats. Our study site was in and around the city of Szeged (Hungary), along two urbanization gradients selected according to the Globenet protocol along the banks of the river Tisza and Maros. Data collection was conducted from April to October, 2014-2016. Both urbanization gradients included rural, suburban and urban areas, each characterised by an increase in the built up area (0%-25%-50%), intensity of forest management, and visitation rates by city residents. Overall 12672 dummy caterpillars ware placed, 6336 were on the ground level and 6336 on tree trunks. The dummy caterpillars (20 mm long, 3 mm thick) were made of light green plasticine, using a modified garlic press, fixed to the bark of trees or on a suitable surface on the ground with superglue, exposed for 24 h. The marks were identified using a hand-held magnifying glass (10 x). Overall the most active predator group was small mammals, followed by insects and birds. Urban predation activity on ground level, caused mainly by carabid beetles was significantly lower than the suburban or rural ones. Carabid predation pressure was higher in suburban than in rural habitats, while all other predator groups (other insects, birds and small mammals) had a decreasing trend towards urban habitats. This means, that all studied predator groups act according to the Gray's increasing disturbance hypothesis, while carabid beetles react to urbanization according to Connell's intermediate disturbance hypothesis. We found no evidence for the natural flow-regime paradigm along the examined urbanization gradients.


Flock-based microfluidics are created by depositing hydrophilic microfibers on an adhesive-coated substrate using an electric field. This enables the fabrication of self-powered microfluidics from one or more different kinds of fibers that form 2D and 3D flowpaths, which can wick 40 microliters of liquid per square centimeter. With this approach, large areas of functional wicking materials can be produced at extremely low cost.


We present an estimation-theoretic approach to curve evolution for the Mumford-Shah problem. By viewing an active contour as the set of discontinuities in the Mumford-Shah problem, we may use the corresponding functional to determine gradient descent evolution equations to deform the active contour. In each gradient descent step, we solve a corresponding optimal estimation problem, connecting the Mumford-Shah functional and curve evolution with the theory of boundary-value stochastic processes. In employing the Mumford-Shah functional, our active contour model inherits its attractive ability to generate, in a coupled manner, both a smooth reconstruction and a segmentation of the image. Next, by generalizing the data fidelity term of the original Mumford-Shah functional to incorporate a spatially varying penalty, we extend our method to problems in which data quality varies across the image and to images in which sets of pixel measurements are missing. This more general model leads us to a novel PDE-based approach for simultaneous image magnification, segmentation, and smoothing, thereby extending the traditional applications of the Mumford-Shah functional which only considers simultaneous segmentation and smoothing.


Concerns over climate change and rising costs and demand of energy have fueled interest in various renewable and high efficiency energy technologies in recent years. The energy demand associated with ventilation in high rise multifamily buildings can be quite significant. A number of technologies have been developed with the aim of reducing the demand associated with the maintenance of acceptable levels of indoor air quality and comfort in residential buildings. Two such technologies were studied here. The unglazed transpired solar collector (UTSC) represents a radical shift from earlier collector designs with its perforated metal cladding and the absence of glazings and covers. It acts as a ventilation air preheater by delivering warmed air to a conventional makeup air heater which supplies any necessary supplemental heating prior to building delivery. The perforated design allows the boundary layer to be sucked into the collector, resulting in very high thermal efficiencies. A model consisting of a UTSC system and the building on which it is installed was developed. The model computes hourly performance based on TMY2 weather data. Results indicated the importance of the control system in maximizing energy capture and validated the realistic option of a nighttime bypass mode. Results of simulations in seven locations across the state of New York indicated that, while substantial energy capture was possible, economic performance appeared to be marginal. Recovery ventilation (including both heat and energy recovery ventilation) offers another potentially attractive method of offsetting ventilation energy demand by preconditioning ventilation air. Heat and/or moisture are transferred between the exhaust and supply streams of the ventilation system, allowing the capture of "waste" heat and moisture (or the lack of these two, depending on the season) from the exhaust stream. Recovery ventilation, which can also achieve very high efficiencies, has the advantage over solar technologies of operating continuously and unimpeded during both day and night and throughout the entire year since the heat/moisture exchange proceeds in either direction and is useful in both. Unfortunately, serious problems hampering the field performance of recovery ventilation systems have included low system flows and pressures and even flow reversal at exhaust terminals. A model of a typical high rise residential building was developed based on an existing Albany building involved in a recovery ventilation case study and exhibiting these problems. The model successfully predicted the key field observations of low pressures and flows along with flow reversal under certain conditions. Factors found to significantly affect ventilation system performance included stack effect, opening of windows, and duct leakage. Possible solution strategies were investigated including increasing system pressure, compartmentalization, and leakage reduction. An important finding was that typical operating pressures are most likely too low to resist external disturbances such as stack effect. However, significant duct leakage can pose a formiddable obstacle to achieving higher pressure systems. These results indicate the importance of considering both the necessary pressures for immunization against uncontrollable disturbances and the duct leakage present (in retrofit applications) in order to maximize the performance of recovery ventilation systems in the field.


NOTE: Before purchasing, check with your instructor to ensure you select the correct ISBN. Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, and registrations are not transferable. To register for and use Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products, you may also need a Course ID, which your instructor will provide. Used books, rentals, and purchases made outside of Pearson If purchasing or renting from companies other than Pearson, the access codes for Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products may not be included, may be incorrect, or may be previously redeemed. Check with the seller before completing your purchase. For introductory courses in computer science and engineering.This package includes MyProgrammingLab Learning to Program with ANSI-C Problem Solving and Program Design in C teaches readers to program with ANSI-C, a standardized, industrial-strength programming language known for its power and probability. The text uses widely accepted software engineering methods to teach readers to design cohesive, adaptable, and reusable program solution modules with ANSI-C. Through case studies and real world examples, readers are able to envision a professional career in programming. Widely perceived as an extremely difficult language due to its association with complex machinery, the Eighth Edition approaches C as conducive to introductory courses in program development. C language topics are organized based on the needs of beginner programmers rather than structure, making for an even easier introduction to the subject. Covering various aspects of software engineering, including a heavy focus on pointer concepts, the text engages readers to use their problem solving skills throughout. Personalize Learning with MyProgrammingLab MyProgrammingLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with this text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students practice what they learn, test their understanding, and pursue a personalized study plan that helps them better absorb course material and understand difficult concepts. MyProgrammingLab allows you to engage your students in the course material before, during, and after class with a variety of activities and assessments. 0134243943 / 9780134243948 Problem Solving and Program Design in C Plus MyProgrammingLab with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package, 8/e Package consists of: 0134014898 / 9780134014890 Problem Solving and Program Design in C 013425399X / 9780134253992 MyProgrammingLab with Pearson eText -- Access Code Card -- for Problem Solving and Program Design in C


Based on the analysis of the experiment, a statistical damage model can be established according with Weibull distribution from the basic characteristics of rocks, the statistic theory of heterogeneity and the microscopic principles of damages, analyze the constitutive relationship of rocks through the stress-strain relationship, heterogeneity, and the element sizes. According to the analysis of rock strength and failure models in numerical simulation, it is acquired the influence of heterogeneity and element sizes on rock mechanics properties. The results of numerical simulation provide a new way for the study of the medium macro behavior on the deformations and fractures.


This paper studies the design of robust H∞ controller for stochastic wind power generation systems. Assuming the system is convex uncertain,this article presents the H∞ performance criterion for uncertain stochastic system , deduces sufficiency conditions of the existence of H∞ controller with state feedback, and expresses them into a form of the linear matrix inequality (LMI), then utilizes schur complement lemma to transform them into LMIs which can be solved. At last we utilize standard digital software to get the disturbance attenuation level and the state feedback matrix.


There is a lack of cliometric literature addressing the characteristics of Mexican migration during the Age of Mass migration (1850–1914). To fill this void, I analyze an original data set—the Mexican Border Crossing Records (MBCRs) publication N° A3365—to disentangle the initial mechanics of Mexican migration in the early twentieth century. I first offer a historical overview on Mexican migration to the United States in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, I introduce these novel micro data that record individual characteristics of migrants that crossed the Mexico-US border from 1906 to 1908.

In Chapter 3, I address the initial determinants of the Mexican-American migration stream. I use the migrant's location of last residence and final destination to identify migration corridors at the local level (migration streams between Mexican municipalities and US counties). In addition, I provide a quantitative assessment of the push and pull factors that may explain differences in migration intensity across corridors. These factors include the US-Mexico wage gap, market potentials, living standards and access to railways.

In Chapter 4, I use the migrant's height—a proxy for physical productivity of labor—to quantify the selectivity of Mexican migration. In addition, I exploit the Panic of 1907 as a natural experiment of history to study the speed that migrant self-selection adjust and change to both environmental and economic factors. This financial crisis provides me with exogenous variation in height to evaluate if unexpected shocks affecting the demand of immigrant workers can induce short-run changes in migrant self-selection. To explain shifts in selection patterns, I focus on labor institutions as mechanism of adjustment. Specifically, I study the enganche, a system of labor recruiting that neutralized mobility and job-search costs. In Chapter 5, I exploit the reported locations of birth, last residence and destination to classify migrants based on their chosen migration method: direct or stage migration. The micro data reveal that forty percent of the migrants moved within Mexico before crossing the border. I estimate correlations between stage migration and potential wage at the destination controlling for the immigrants' age, literacy, sex, marital status and birthplace. In Chapter 6, I offer some concluding remarks. My findings expand our knowledge about the initial patterns of Mexican migration using micro data not analyzed previously. They show that in the early twentieth century, the decision to migrate was a function of diverse forces, which effects and magnitudes varied across Mexican regions. Also, Mexican migration was characterized by an intermediate or positive selection, and labor institutions involved in the migration process shaped migrant self-selection. Finally, Mexicans used stage migration to reach the US border, and it was associated with a significant wage premium at the destination.


Among the facultative bacteria capable of growth on mesquite wood which were isolated from the asceptically dissected hind-gut of the termite Reticulitermes hesperus were two strains of Bacillus cereus, one strain each of Arthrobacter, Alcaligenes and Serratia, and a very small Gram-negative fermentative rod. The B. cereus strains, the Serratia marcescens strain and the Arthrobacter sp. grew well on a mineral salts alpha-cellusose agar. One of the Bacillus cereus strains and Serratia marcescens hydrolysed gels of carboxymethylcellulose. All isolates grew well with mesquite wood as the carbon source. The Serratia marcescens isolate produced prodigiosin but differed from a typed strain both in size and in some physiological characteristics.


The 19th century can be characterized as a time of avid public interest in team and spectator sports. As diverse and challenging new sports were developed and gained popularity, many articles on a rudimentary sport psychology began to appear in cultural magazines in the United States and Great Britain. Athletes, physicians, educators, journalists, and members of the public wrote on topics such as profiles and psychological studies of elite athletes, the importance of physical training, exercise and health, and the detrimental effects of professional sports to the role of age, gender, and culture in sports. Although a scientific foundation for such observations was largely absent, some of the ideas expressed in early cultural magazines anticipate contemporary interests in sport psychology.


Background Among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), adherence to recommended self-care activities is suboptimal, especially among racial and ethnic minorities with low income. Self-care nonadherence is associated with having worse glycemic control and diabetes complications. Text messaging interventions are improving the self-care of adults with T2DM, but few have been tested with disadvantaged populations. Objective To develop Rapid Education/Encouragement And Communications for Health (REACH), a tailored, text messaging intervention to support the self-care adherence of disadvantaged patients with T2DM, based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral skills model. We then tested REACH's usability to make improvements before evaluating its effects. Methods We developed REACH's content and functionality using an empirical and theory-based approach, findings from a previously pilot-tested intervention, and the expertise of our interdisciplinary research team. We recruited 36 adults with T2DM from Federally Qualified Health Centers to participate in 1 of 3 rounds of usability testing. For 2 weeks, participants received daily text messages assessing and promoting self-care, including tailored messages addressing users' unique barriers to adherence, and weekly text messages with adherence feedback. We analyzed quantitative and qualitative user feedback and system-collected data to improve REACH. Results Participants were, on average, 52.4 (SD 9.5) years old, 56% (20/36) female, 63% (22/35) were a racial or ethnic minority, and 67% (22/33) had an income less than US $35,000. About half were taking insulin, and average hemoglobin A1c level was 8.2% (SD 2.2%). We identified issues (eg, user concerns with message phrasing, technical restrictions with responding to assessment messages) and made improvements between testing rounds. Overall, participants favorably rated the ease of understanding (mean 9.6, SD 0.7) and helpfulness (mean 9.3, SD 1.4) of self-care promoting text messages on a scale of 1-10, responded to 96% of assessment text messages, and rated the helpfulness of feedback text messages 8.5 (SD 2.7) on a scale of 1-10. User feedback led to refining our study enrollment process so that users understood the flexibility in message timing and that computers, not people, send the messages. Furthermore, research assistants' feedback on the enrollment process helped improve participants' engagement with study procedures. Conclusions Testing technology-delivered interventions with disadvantaged adults revealed preferences and concerns unique to this population. Through iterative testing and multiple data sources, we identified and responded to users' intervention preferences, technical issues, and shortcomings in our research procedures.


At the heart of the WTO are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the majority of the world's
trading nations and ratified at their parliaments. One of these agreements is the GATS. These contracts
are binding governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits as they form the legal groundrules
for international commerce. The study analyses the effects of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS) on Kenya. The research analyses the impact on Kenya after adapting the GATS
recommendations from 1995 to the present. The GATS is the only agreement at the international level,
which regulates and liberalises trade in financial services as well as investment of financial services
providers. The GATS agreement was negotiated in the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) and since 1995 had
to be applied by the entire WTO membership. GATS are part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The WTO is a multilateral organisation whose rules have a powerful effect on the trade and domestic
policies of member states and on the livelihoods and lives of their people. Kenya made commitments
under the GATS in various service sectors, which includes communication, banking and finance,
education, tourism and many other service sectors. The paper analysed the positive and negative
consequences to the various service sectors that were liberalised under the GATS in Kenya. The main
areas that the researcher used as a yardstick include environmental, political, economic, technological
and social effects of liberalising the service market under the GATS in Kenya.


Uncertainty has recently become a major concern for policymakers and academics. Spikes in uncertainty are often associated with recessions and have detrimental effects on the aggregate economy. This paper analyzes the effects of uncertainty on firms' hiring and investment decisions, both empirically and theoretically. Empirically, VAR estimates show the negative effects of uncertainty on economic performance and in particular on the labor market. Counterfactual experiments highlight the significant role of hiring decisions as a transmission channel for uncertainty. The empirical findings are rationalized through a DSGE model with search and matching frictions in the labor market and stochastic volatility. The model is able to replicate the observed co-movement among consumption, investment, output and labor market outcomes generated by an uncertainty shock. Price stickiness greatly amplifies the reaction of the economy. Simulations show that monetary policy can mitigate the adverse effects of uncertainty by adopting a strong anti-inflationary policy.


Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase β (CaMKKβ) is a serine/threonine-directed kinase that is activated following increases in intracellular Ca2+. CaMKKβ activates Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV, and the AMP-dependent protein kinase in a number of physiological pathways, including learning and memory formation, neuronal differentiation, and regulation of energy balance. Here, we report the novel regulation of CaMKKβ activity by multisite phosphorylation. We identify three phosphorylation sites in the N terminus of CaMKKβ, which regulate its Ca2+/calmodulin-independent autonomous activity. We then identify the kinases responsible for these phosphorylations as cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3). In addition to regulation of autonomous activity, we find that phosphorylation of CaMKKβ regulates its half-life. We find that cellular levels of CaMKKβ correlate with CDK5 activity and are regulated developmentally in neurons. Finally, we demonstrate that appropriate phosphorylation of CaMKKβ is critical for its role in neurite development. These results reveal a novel regulatory mechanism for CaMKKβ-dependent signaling cascades.


Various improvements were made to a state-of-the-art aerosol-cloud model and it was validated against observations from field campaigns. The robustness of this
aerosol-cloud model is in its ability to explicitly resolve all the known modes of heterogeneous cloud droplet activation and ice crystal nucleation. The model links
cloud particle activation with the aerosol loading and chemistry of seven different aerosol species. Continental and maritime cases were simulated for the purposes of
validating the aerosol-cloud model, and investigating the salient microphysical and dynamical mechanisms of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) from anthropogenic solute
and solid aerosols, focusing mainly on glaciated clouds.

The results showed that increased solute aerosols reduced cloud particle sizes and inhibited warm rain processes, thus, enhancing chances of homogeneous cloud droplet and aerosol freezing. Cloud fractions and their optical thicknesses increased quite substantially in both cases. Although liquid mixing ratios were boosted, there
was however a substantial reduction of ice mixing ratios in the upper troposphere owing to the increase in snow production aloft. Convective updrafts became weaker
mainly in the continental case, while weak vertical velocities strengthened slightly in the upper troposphere. With an increase in solid aerosols, clouds became slightly
more extensive over the continents, while the cloudiness diminished over the oceans.

The total AIE of clouds from solute aerosols was two times higher in the oceanic than in the continental case, because the sensitivity of the cloud properties to perturbation
in aerosol concentrations diminishes with increasing background aerosol concentrations. Also, the AIEs of glaciated clouds were greater than those of water-only
clouds by a factor of two in the continental case while both cloud types were equally important in the maritime case. The radiative importance of glaciated clouds lied
in their large collective spatial extent and existence above water-only clouds. The glaciation AIE from solid aerosols had a cooling effect in continental clouds because
of an increase in cloud fraction and a warming effect in maritime clouds because of a decrease in cloud fraction. In addition to the traditional AIEs (glaciation, riming
and thermodynamic), sedimentation, aggregation and coalescence were new AIEs identified. Importantly, it was discovered that these individual AIEs interact, compensate
and buffer each other, hence, the relative importance of contributions from responses of various processes vary during the climate change. Finally, meteorology
was identified to have little effect on the mechanisms of aerosol-cloud interaction.


It remains unclear why acute depletion of CTCF and cohesin only marginally affects expression of most genes despite substantially perturbing 3D genome folding at the level of domains and structural loops. To address this conundrum, we used high-resolution Micro-C and nascent transcript profiling to find that enhancer-promoter (E-P) interactions are largely insensitive to acute (3-hour) depletion of CTCF, cohesin, and WAPL. YY1 has been proposed to be a structural regulator of E-P loops, but acute YY1 depletion also had minimal effects on E-P loops, transcription, and 3D genome folding. Strikingly, live-cell single-molecule imaging revealed that cohesin depletion reduced transcription factor binding to chromatin. Thus, although neither CTCF, cohesin, WAPL, nor YY1 are required for the short-term maintenance of most E-P interactions and gene expression, we propose that cohesin may serve as a "transcription factor binding platform" that facilitates transcription factor binding to chromatin.


Background:  Following the corporate failures of the 1990s, factors identified as evidence for these failures extended beyond just weak or ineffective corporate governance models, codes and legislation. Poor management and oversight of information technology (IT) systems were also identified as sources of failure as a result of organisations' significant utilisation and reliance on IT. For more control and regulations, existing corporate governance codes of practice and the development thereof were reviewed and reformed. Information technology governance reforms were then incorporated into corporate governance codes, and IT governance established as a board-level responsibility. Over the years, studies into board-level IT governance have been limited, and thus the nature of board-level IT governance and its constitutional aspects are not fully known. Objectives:  The aim of this study was to identify and assess aspects of IT governance implemented by the boards of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa. Method:  In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interview data was thematically analysed and key themes identified. Results:  Boards have been effective in terms of IT investments and budgeting, which were identified as key factors in effecting IT oversight. Boards have delegated most aspects of their IT governance oversight to board-level risk and audit committees, thus limiting the level and depth of interrogation of IT oversight by the board. The oversight of board IT governance is weak in outsourced IT arrangements. Conclusion:  The implementation of board-level IT governance goes beyond prescribed IT governance principles within corporate governance codes. In effecting their IT governance, boards consider IT projects that contribute to organisational sustainability and those that positively add value to stakeholders, such as employees and consumers.


We present a convex nondifferentiable minimization algorithm of proximal bundle type that does not rely on measuring descent of the objective function to declare the so-called serious steps; rather, a merit function is defined which is decreased at each iteration, leading to a (potentially) continuous choice of the stepsize between zero (the null step) and one (the serious step). By avoiding the discrete choice the convergence analysis is simplified, and we can more easily obtain efficiency estimates for the method. Some choices for the step selection actually reproduce the dichotomic behavior of standard proximal bundle methods but shed new light on the rationale behind the process, and ultimately with different rules; furthermore, using nonlinear upper models of the function in the step selection process can lead to actual fractional steps.


The authors deal with the design of high-rate, full-diversity, low-maximum likelihood (ML) decoding complexity space-time block codes (STBCs) with code rates of 2 and 1.5 complex symbols per channel use for multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems employing three and four transmit antennas. The authors fill the empty slots of the existing STBCs from coordinate interleaved orthogonal designs (CIODs) in their transmission matrices by additional symbols and use the conditional ML decoding technique, which significantly reduces the ML decoding complexity of non-orthogonal STBCs while ensuring full-diversity and high coding gain. First, two new schemes with code rates of 2 and 1.5 are proposed for MIMO systems with four transmit antennas. The authors show that our low-complexity rate-2 STBC outperforms the corresponding best STBC recently proposed by Biglieri et al. (2008) for quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), due to its superior coding gain while our rate-1.5 STBC outperforms the full-diversity quasi-orthogonal STBC (QOSTBC). Then, two STBCs with code rates of 2 and 1.5 are proposed for three transmit antennas, which are shown to outperform the corresponding full-diversity QOSTBC. The authors prove by an information-theoretic analysis that the capacities of new rate-2 STBCs for three and four transmit antennas are much closer to the actual MIMO channel capacity than the capacities of classical OSTBCs and CIODs.


The intergeneric relationships of Listeria monocytogenes have been examined by both classic taxonomic criteria and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polynucleotide sequence homology. Analysis of characters according to Adansonian principles indicated that Listeria rnonocytogenes 19303 was phenotypically most closely related to streptococci, Staphylococcus aureus, and Diplococcus pneumoniae. DNA:DNA hybridization studies, however, failed to reveal significant relatedness between the listeriae and Corynebacteriaceae, Micrococcaceae, or Lactobacillaceae. It is recommended, on the basis of the results reported here and the results of a previous hybridization study, that Listeria grayi and Listeria murrayi be transferred to a new genus, Murraya, as M. grayi, and M. grayi subsp. murrayi, respectively. A new family, Listeriaceae, is proposed for the genera Listeria and Muwaya.


"Virtual Sama" is an interactive multimedia installation that connects computationally abstracted ethnographic documentation of a Sufi Dhikr ritual with viewers through an artistic artificial intelligence (AI) abstraction process and interactive rhythmic full body movement. In this paper, we describe how the installation is designed to elicit reflection on the implications of transforming intangible heritage into digital heritage through digital documentation and storage, and to encourage exploration of questions around privacy and safeguarding of sensitive cultural practices. Against the context of detailed fieldwork with Uyghur Sufi practitioners in Xinjiang, China, we explore how AI processes and embodied interaction might be mobilised to present alternative representations of anonymity, while drawing attention to the complexities of representation, access and transmission of intangible cultural practices in the digital age.


Gender roles in agriculture can be quite specific, not only in view of particular labor inputs during the production cycle but also in terms of who farms and who trades certain crops. Using data collected over ten years in West Africa, this study looked at market-oriented urban vegetable production in West Africa and Ghana in particular. Gender disaggregated data on key issues such as access and control of resources, division of tasks, decision-making process and challenges faced was collected from farmers and traders. With several exceptions, a clear gender distinction emerged across the sub-region: men dominate urban vegetable farming, while women manage vegetable marketing. The general differentiation is attributed to societal norms, but other factors play a role as well. Female farmers, for example, feel constrained by existing irrigation practices that are energy-intensive and conflict with household duties. Male farmers, on the other hand, feel significantly oppressed by their dependency on credit and prices dictated by market women, and feel disadvantaged when entering the vegetable retail market. Improved irrigation technology could facilitate a better gender balance on the farm, but mainstreaming gender balance in vegetable wholesale and retail is likely to disadvantage women.


This paper draws upon today's information organizations – libraries, archives and museums and how these cultural entities should be equipped to manage and usher in change, keeping pace with the fast changing web environment to realize their mission, relevance and purpose. The information services industry is undergoing a turbulent phase in our times, wherein the information is produced, traded, repacked, copied, reproduced, rehashed and re-sold. While information products and services are conveyed through conventional ways, it is the liaison program – which takes the place of classical ways of marketing by becoming the brand ambassador of 'information marketing.' Library liaisons are trained and engaged in such a way that they take on the role of aggressive salesman to marshal information and to promote the library services and information literacy. It also examines the role of librarians in the emerging digital economy to envisage and foster academic and research activities in learning organizations through library liaisons maximizing better results as a knowledge nerve centre.


The spectroscopic parameters and partial widths of the strong decay channels of the vector meson $ Y(4660)$ are calculated by treating it as a bound state of a diquark and antidiquark. The mass and coupling of the $J^{PC}=1^{--}$ tetraquark $ Y(4660) $ are evaluated in the context of the two-point sum rules method by taking into account the quark, gluon and mixed condensates up to dimension ten. The widths of the $Y(4660)$ resonance's strong $S$-wave decays to $J/\psi f_{0}(980)$ and $\psi(2S) f_{0}(980)$, as well as to $J/\psi f_{0}(500)$ and $\psi(2S) f_{0}(500)$ final states are computed. To this end, strong couplings in the relevant vertices are extracted from QCD sum rules on the light-cone supplemented by the technical methods of the soft approximation. The obtained result for the mass of the resonance $m_Y=4677^{+71}_{-63}\ \mathrm{MeV}$, and prediction for its total width $\Gamma_{Y}= (64.8 \pm 10.8)\ \mathrm{MeV}$ are in nice agreements with the experimental information.


High powered lasers have been portrayed as being able to cut through almost anything, but a simple mirror seems to easily reflect them. The purpose of a mirror is to reflect optical light but surely there is a limit to the energy it can do so before it begins to deform and melt. Thorough research into this showed us that if we consider a mirror with an optical coating of silver and a 500 nm laser was applied to it, it would take 11.65 J to destroy the illuminated area, if conductivity and scattering were not considered.


The biggest obstacle of automated software testing is the construction of test oracles. Today, it is possible to generate enormous amount of test cases for an arbitrary system that reach a remarkably high level of coverage, but the effectiveness of test cases is limited by the availability of test oracles that can distinguish failing executions. Previous work by the authors has explored the use of unsupervised and semi-supervised learning techniques to develop test oracles so that the correctness of software outputs and behaviours on new test cases can be predicated [1], [2], [10], and experimental results demonstrate the promise of this approach. In this paper, we present an evaluation study for test oracles based on machine-learning approaches via dynamic execution data (firstly, input/output pairs and secondly, amalgamations of input/output pairs and execution traces) by comparing their effectiveness with existing techniques from the specification mining domain (the data invariant detector Daikon [5]). The two approaches are evaluated on a range of mid-sized systems and compared in terms of their fault detection ability and false positive rate. The empirical study also discuss the major limitations and the most important properties related to the application of machine learning techniques as test oracles in practice. The study also gives a road map for further research direction in order to tackle some of discussed limitations such as accuracy and scalability. The results show that in most cases semi-supervised learning techniques performed far better as an automated test classifier than Daikon (especially in the case that input/output pairs were augmented with their execution traces). However, there is one system for which our strategy struggles and Daikon performed far better. Furthermore, unsupervised learning techniques performed on a par when compared with Daikon in several cases particularly when input/output pairs were used together with execution traces.


Due to their energy density and softness that are comparable to human muscles dielectric elastomer (DE) transducers are well-suited for soft-robotic applications. This kind of transducer combines actuator and sensor functionality within one transducer so that no external senors to measure the deformation or to detect collisions are required. Within this contribution we present a novel self-sensing control for a DE stack-transducer that allows to control several different quantities of the DE transducer with the same controller. This flexibility is advantageous e.g., for the development of human machine interfaces with soft-bodied robots. After introducing the DE stack-transducer that is driven by a bidirectional flyback converter, the development of the self-sensing state and disturbance estimator based on an extended Kalman-filter is explained. Compared to known estimators designed for DE transducers supplied by bulky high-voltage amplifiers this one does not require any superimposed excitation to enable the sensor capability so that it also can be used with economic and competitive power electronics like the flyback converter. Due to the behavior of this converter a sliding mode energy controller is designed afterwards. By introducing different feed-forward controls the voltage, force or deformation can be controlled. The validation proofs that both the developed self-sensing estimator as well as the self-sensing control yield comparable results as previously published sensor-based approaches.


PURPOSE
Activation of phospholipase Cγ1 (PLCγ1) by vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2 is necessary for proliferation and tube formation of endothelial cells in vitro. Previous work has demonstrated that Casitas B-lineage lymphoma (c-Cbl) promotes ubiquitination of PLCγ1 and suppression of its tyrosine phosphorylation. This study was designed to evaluate the importance of PLCγ1 and c-Cbl in experimental choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

METHODS
The role of PLCγ1 was studied in three models of angiogenesis: the endothelial cell culture system, the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, and the laser-induced CNV model. Endothelial cells were analyzed for the role of PLCγ1 in promoting tube formation. CAMs were incubated with pharmacologic agents that either inhibit or stimulate PLCγ1. CNV was induced in wild-type and c-Cbl-knockout mice, and the progression of CNV was evaluated by fluorescein angiography.

RESULTS
Activation of PLCγ1 was necessary for tube formation of endothelial cells. PLCγ1 stimulation increased the growth of blood vessels and conversely, PLCγ1 inhibition decreased the growth of blood vessels in the CAM model. CNV lesions in the c-Cbl-knockout mice were significantly greater in number, more confluent, and increased in size with time, compared with those in the control wild-type mice.

CONCLUSIONS
The data show that PLCγ1 plays an important role in angiogenesis. Loss of c-Cbl results in enhanced CNV in the eye. The study also shows that c-Cbl plays an important role in ocular angiogenesis, suggesting that modulation of c-Cbl activity or inhibition of PLCγ1 would be a compelling target for antiangiogenesis therapy.


Building AI agents can be costly. Consider a question answering agent such as Jill Watson that automatically answers students' questions on the discussion forums of online classes based on their syllabi and other course materials. Training a Jill on the syllabus of a new online class can take a hundred hours or more. Machine teaching – interactive teaching of an AI agent using synthetic data sets – can reduce the training time because it combines the advantages of knowledge-based AI, machine learning using large data sets, and interactive human-in-loop training. We describe Agent Smith, an interactive machine teaching agent that reduces the time taken to train a Jill for a new online class by an order of magnitude.


Objective: To explore the relationship between the presentation of suffering and support for euthanasia in the British news media. Method: Data was retrieved by searching the British newspaper database LexisNexis from 1996 to 2000. Twenty-nine articles covering three cases of family assisted suicide (FAS) were found. Presentations of suffering were analysed employing Heidegger's distinction between technological ordering and poetic revealing. Findings: With few exceptions, the press constructed the complex terrain of FAS as an orderly or orderable performance. This was enabled by containing the contradictions of FAS through a number of journalistic strategies: treating degenerative dying as an aberrant condition, smoothing over botched attempts, locating the object of ethical evaluation in persons, not contexts, abbreviating the decision making process, constructing community consensus and marginalising opposing views. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the view that news reporting of FAS is not neutral or inconsequential. In particular, those reports presenting FAS as an orderly, rational performance were biased in favor of technical solutions by way of the legalisation of euthanasia and/or the involvement of medical professionals. In contrast, while news reports sensitive to contradiction did not necessarily oppose euthanasia, they were less inclined to overtly support technical solutions, recognising the importance of a trial to address the complexity of FAS.


Objective For various reasons, people of Chinese (China, Hong Kong or Taiwan) and South Asian (Indian subcontinent) ancestry (the two largest ethnic minority groups in Ontario, Canada) may be less likely to register for deceased organ donation than the general public, and their families may be less likely to consent for deceased organ donation at the time of death. Methods We conducted two population-based studies: (1) a cross-sectional study of deceased organ donor registration as of May 2013, and (2) a cohort study of the steps in proceeding with deceased organ donation for patients who died in hospital from October 2008 to December 2012. Results A total of 49 938 of 559 714 Chinese individuals (8.9%) and 47 774 of 374 291 South Asians (12.8%) were registered for deceased organ donation, proportions lower than the general public (2 676 260 of 10 548 249 (25.4%). Among the 168 703 Ontarians who died in a hospital, the families of 33 of 81 Chinese (40.1%; 95% CI: 30.7%-51.6%) and 39 of 72 South Asian individuals (54.2%; 95% CI: 42.7-65.2%) consented for deceased organ donation, proportions lower than the general public (68.3%; 95% CI: 66.4%-70.0%). Conclusions In Ontario, Canada Chinese and South Asian individuals are less likely to register and their families are less likely to consent to deceased organ donation compared to the remaining general public. There is an opportunity to build support for organ and tissue donation in these two large ethnic communities in Canada.


In article experience of perfection of ecological education of the schoolboys in the system educational establishments of the Saratov region from project activity are generalized. Necessity of the further development ecological medium of educational institutions and ecological space of region for efficiency rising of the formation ecological consciousness, ecological culture of young generation across the formation of ecological competence of subjects ecological process is underlined.


Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes present at the ends of chromosome to maintain its integrity. Telomere length is maintained by an enzyme called "telomerase". Thus, telomerase activity and telomere length are crucial for the initiation of cancer and tumors survival. Also, oxidative stress will cause DNA, protein, and/or lipid damage, which end with changes in chromosome instability, genetic mutation, and may affect cell growth and lead to cancer. Some genetic diseases such as chromosomal instability syndrome, overgrowth syndrome, and neurofibromatosis make the patients at higher risk for developing different types of cancers. Therefore, we aimed to estimate telomerase activity and oxidative stress in these patients. Blood samples were collected from 31 patients (10 with neurofibromatosis, 11 with chromosomal breakage, and 10 with overgrowth syndrome) and 12 healthy subjects. Blood hTERT mRNA was detected by real time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). All patients were subjected to chromosomal examination and chromosome breakage study using diepoxybutane method. Moreover, serum glutathione (GSH), glutathione-s-transferase (GST) activity and nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured among the control and patients groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the efficiency of telomerase activity as a biomarker for the prediction of cancer occurrence. The relative telomerase activity in neurofibromatosis patients was significantly higher than controls (P = 0.014), while it was non-significantly higher in chromosomal breakage and overgrowth patients (P = 0.424 and 0.129, respectively). NO levels in neurofibromatosis, chromosomal breakage and overgrowth patients significantly increased with respect to control (P = 0.021, 0.002, 0.050, respectively). GSH levels were non-significantly lower in neurofibromatosis and chromosomal breakage patients in comparison with the control group, while it remained unchanged in overgrowth patients. The GST activity was significantly upregulated in neurofibromatosis, chromosomal breakage and overgrowth groups in comparison with the control group (P = 0.001, 0.009, and 0.025, respectively). Chromosomal examination revealed normal karyotype in all four chromosomal breakage patients with positive diepoxybutane test. The results of the present study revealed altered telomerase activity and oxidative stress in the studied genetic disorders. More research studies with a larger number of patients are required to confirm whether this alteration is related to cancer occurrence risk or not.


Sialolithiasis is a common disease of the salivary gland. This disease mainly involves the major salivary gland. Sialolithiasis of the minor salivary gland is rare. A case of sialolithiasis of the upper lip was reported, and relevant literature was reviewed in this paper.


Big Data collections derived from medical records present regulatory and privacy challenges while holding significant promise for advancements in biomedical research. The growth of Big Data has been spurred by technological advances and the increasing use of electronic medical records. In this article, we explore how the concept of a rights to privacy and confidentiality for research subjects has developed, through both HIPAA and the Common Rule, as well as in the European Community's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We analyze how developments in regulations governing human subjects research reflect both a heightened societal concern for individual privacy and confidentiality and a recognition that research may be of sufficient importance to society to outweigh those individual concerns. We review how new efforts to improve informed consent procedures in the Common Rule fall short and propose a more frank and straightforward approach. *David Parker is Of Counsel within the Health Care and Higher Education practices of K&L Gates LLP, Research Triangle Park, NC. **Steven Pine is an Associate within the Health Care practice of K&L Gates LLP, Research Triangle Park, NC. ***Zachary Ernst is an Associate within the Health Care practice of K&L Gates LLP, Research Triangle Park, NC. 704 PENN STATE LAW REVIEW Vol. 123:3


The research described in this chapter analyses two-dimensional potential problems for the multi-body systems, transverse electromagnetic wave propagation along multi-conductor transmission lines and two-dimensional plane wave scattering by various arrays. All conductors may be of arbitrary cross-sections; the only restric‐ tion on the system geometry is a smooth parameterization. These problems are mathematically modelled by Dirichlet boundary value problems for either the Lap‐ lace or the Helmholtz equation, with the classical integral representation of the sol‐ utions in the form of single-layer potential. The analytical-numerical algorithm presented here is based on the method of analytical regularization. The key idea be‐ hind this technique is an analytical transformation of the initial ill-posed integral equations to a well-conditioned Fredholm second kind matrix equation. The result‐ ing system of infinite linear algebraic equations is effectively solved using the trun‐ cation method: the solution of the truncated system converges to the solution of the infinite system with the guaranteed accuracy that only depends on the truncation number and thus may be pre-specified. The solution obtained is applied to the accu‐ rate analysis of 2-D electrostatic- and electrodynamic-field problems for multi-con‐ ductor systems with arbitrary profiled conductors. Examples of some conceptual shielded transmission lines incorporating various configurations of conductors and scattering problems for the arrays of thick strips establish the utility of our method and its reliability in various situations


A summary is presented of the initial experience acquired at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in developing computer graphics teaching aids for use in undergraduate education. The basic approach used was to produce computer-graphics-based modules consisting of a 5-10 min computer-generated movie together with an accompanying written text to provide background information and a running description of the movie, together with sample frames taken from it. The system developed to record the computer movie directly onto video tape using a computer-controlled recorder is described, and the kinds of modules which have been produced are discussed. Topics covered include graphics opportunities in education and engineering, the VAX-based movie generation system, and the symbolic visualization of abstract and physical phenomena. >


Adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni live in the bloodstream, employing immune evasion strategies and exposing few antigens to the immune system. The tegumental surface of adult worms presents Sm60, a mannose-binding protein, which induces neutrophil migration and mast cell degranulation. Here we demonstrated that Sm60 is able to block the in vitro antigen-specific or polyclonal spleen cell proliferation induced by keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) or con- canavalin A (Con A), respectively. To address the mechanism of inhibition, we evaluated some cytokines in culture and observed that Sm60 decreased significantly the synthesis of interleukin (IL)-2 induced in response to KLH, but not other cytokines. To block the suppression triggered by Sm60, exogenous IL-2 or α-methyl-mannoside were added to KLH- stimulated cultures pulsed with Sm60. Only IL-2 abolished the Sm60 effect, suggesting that Sm60 blocked the lymphop- roliferation through the inhibition of IL-2 production, in a carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD)-independent mecha- nism. Our results suggest that Sm60 could participate in the immune evasion mechanisms of S. mansoni.


Implementing the almost limitless possibilities of a software-defined network requires additional study of its infrastructure level and assessment of the telecommunications aspect. The aim of this study is to develop an analytical model for analyzing the main quality indicators of modern network switches. Based on the general theory of queuing systems and networks, generated functions and Laplace-Stieltjes transforms, a three-phase model of a network switch was developed. Given that, in this case, the relationship between processing steps is not significant, quality indicators were obtained by taking into account the parameters of single-phase networks. This research identified the dependencies of service latency and service time of incoming network packets on load, as well as equations for finding the volume of a switch's buffer memory with an acceptable probability for message loss.


These comments approach the topic of tax exemption for non-profit hospitals from the perspective of the 46 plus million Americans who have no health insurance and the significant additional number who are underinsured. In essence, persons who are underinsured have some form of health coverage but they remain at serious risk for significant out-of-pocket expenditures when they become sick. From this perspective, the key question is what role, if any, do the non-profit health care sector and, more particularly, non-profit hospitals have to play in addressing the vexing problems posed by the large number of uninsured and underinsured. These problems tend to be discussed primarily, although not exclusively, as problems of access. To put the question in specific terms: Is tax exemption for non-profit hospitals a tool that could be used effectively to address, or at least to help to address, these problems? Should we try to fashion tax exemption standards for non-profit hospitals into a tool for responding to some of the challenges posed by the growing number of uninsured in our society?


Renal angiomyolipoma, once considered a rare benign renal tumour, is relatively common these days. They account for 0.3-3.0% of all renal masses. Histologically, it is composed of adipose tissue, smooth muscles and blood vessels. Here, we wish to highlight five cases of renal angiomyolipomas which were presented to the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over a two-year period between June 2005 and June 2007. This study wish to illustrate its varied clinical presentation and the management undertaken for each underlying condition. These cases were presented in the form of spontaneous perirenal haemorrhage, a large asymptomatic renal mass, a small asymptomatic renal mass, a symptomatic renal angiomyolipoma and a case of renal angiomyolipoma mimicking a renal tumour. Each of these cases varied in its clinical presentation; thus, management has become very challenging to clinicians ranging from conservative management to active intervention, be it operatively or nonoperatively. (JUMMEC 2009; 12 (1):39-43)


This session seeks to identify a range of broader considerations that are necessary to move learning analytics beyond being just the next fashion. It proposes three likely paths Australian universities may take in their adoption of learning analytics. It will argue that at least one of these paths is dominant and that the best outcomes will be achieved when institutions combine all three paths into a contextually appropriate strategy. It will identify a range of pitfalls specific to each path and another set of pitfalls common to all three paths. This is informed by experience from a four year old project exploring learning analytics within an Australian university (Beer, Clark, & Jones, 2010; Beer, Jones, & Clark, 2009; Beer, Jones, & Clarke, 2012), broader experience in e-learning, and insights from the learning analytics, education, management and information systems literature. This work will inform the next round of design-based research that is seeking to explore how and with what impacts academics can be encouraged to use learning analytics to inform individual pedagogical practice.


While grievance arbitration is the most common method of resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements, the author proposes that there is also a place for grievance mediation. The author compares mediation to arbitration and negotiation, and describes the strengths and weaknesses of mediation. She explains how mediation clauses in labor agreements could be enforced under section 301 of the LMRA, to protect rights created by those agreements, and proposes that mediation clauses be a basis for injunctions against strikes during the term of an agreement in certain situations. However, the author suggests that courts and the National Labor Relations Board should still have primary responsibility for enforcing non-waivable statutory rights. The author discusses the legal standards for review of arbitration and mediation in Title VII cases, in which the courts generally do not defer to prior findings. She then analyzes the Board's deferral doctrines in depth, and suggests that agreements to mediate should be given deference by the Board when the rights at issue are waivable. The author concludes that, under that standard, mediation could help maintain the relationships necessary for effective collective bargaining without sacrificing protections guaranteed by the law.


Poultry production is one of the most important economic activities to the smallholder farmers of Kenya. However, constraints are evident which have resulted in low production of poultry and poultry products to meet population demand and for socio-economic sustainability of the livelihoods. The objective of the study was to determine resource use efficiency, optimal production levels, production systems of small-scale poultry farmers in Bureti district, Kenya. Primary data were obtained using a set of structured questionnaires from 300 representative farmers drawn from the study area using cross-sectional sampling techniques. Data were analyzed by Cobb-Douglas production function. The results showed that the resources used in poultry production were underutilized while others were over utilized. The efficiency indicators for poultry feeds (0.0603) showed that poultry feeds were inefficiently used. Labour efficiency indicator (-0.091) showed that farmers were not only grossly inefficient in the use of the resource but also over utilized it while the efficiency indicator (60.86) for poultry equipment implied the resource was inefficiently utilized. It is recommended that farmers should use inputs more efficiently (particularly feeds which were being inefficiently utilized) by reducing their levels of employment.


Geological investigations, archeological studies, and radiocarbon dates indicate a similarity of events around Hudson Bay, commencing at the time Hudson Bay Basin was freed of glacier ice. The sea that then spread around Hudson Bay 7000 to 8000 years ago is here named "Tyrrell Sea." The subsequent rate of land emergence decreased exponentially.


The spectral filtering of a field with strong quantum correlations is studied. The changes in the correlation characteristics of a field, produced by a down converter, passing through a strongly dispersive element like a Fabry-Perot cavity, are calculated. In the special case when the central frequency of the idler and signal photons coincides with the resonance frequency of the cavity, there is a cancellation of the dispersive effects of the cavity. Detailed numerical results for the two-photon joint counting rate are presented. The effects of the absorption in the medium on the two-photon correlations are also discussed.


This paper reports on a comparative study performed in the field of Corpus Linguistics. The objective of the research was to analyze the distributional pattern of interactive and interactional metadiscourse features in two modes of academic spoken and written English. For this reason, a list of metadiscourse characteristics was gathered. By using the Sketch engine software, all the words were scrutinized in the corpus and their concordance lines were analyzed one by one in both corpora (British Academic Written English Corpus and British Academic Spoken English Corpus). As the data can show, in both corpora, the general propensity of the authors was towards the interactive metadiscourse features. In addition, in the written corpus, the transitions and endophoric markers were used more often; while in the spoken, endophoric markers and transitions were the most frequently applied metadiscourse features. In the interactional metadiscourse features, hedges and self-mentions were the most frequent in the written form; whereas in the spoken, self-mentions and boosters were used moe often.


This report describes a system of programs which performs natural language processing based on an underlying language free (conceptual) representation of meaning. This system is used to produce sentence paraphrases which demonstrate a form of understanding with respect to a given context. Particular emphasis has been placed on the major subtasks of language analysis (mapping natural language into conceptual structures) and language generation (mapping conceptual structures into natural language), and on the interaction between these processes and a conceptual memory model.


Utilizing a crustal velocity model that includes the complexity of the irregular subsurface structure of the Kanto basin, we have performed three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference (FD) simulations of near-source long-period strong ground motions in the Tokyo metropolitan area for the 1990 Odawara ( MJ 5.1) and the 1923 Kanto ( MS 8.2) earthquakes. Constraints on the development of the 3D velocity model come from available geological and geophysical data, as well as our previous 1D waveform modeling results (Sato et al. , 1998a). The simulation of the moderate-sized Odawara earthquake demonstrates that the 3D velocity model works quite well at reproducing the recorded long-period ( T > 3.33 sec) strong motions, including basin-generated surface waves, for a number of sites located throughout the Kanto basin region. Using this validated 3D model along with the variable-slip rupture model of Wald and Somerville (1995), we then simulate the long-period ( T > 4 sec) ground motions in this region for the 1923 Kanto earthquake. The simulation results for the 1923 event show that the largest ground motions occur east of the epicenter along the central and southern part of the Boso Peninsula. These large motions arise from strong rupture directivity effects and are comprised of relatively simple, source-controlled pulses with a dominant period of about 10 sec. North of the epicentral region, in the Tokyo area, 3D basin-generated phases are quite significant, and these phases produce large-amplitude late-arriving pulses in the ground motions. At station Hongo (HNG), which is the only site having digitized and restored near-fault strong-motion records for this event, our 3D simulations compare quite well with the ground motions of the restored Imamura seismogram. For the restored Ewing record, our 3D simulations reproduce the phase and amplitude of the initial pulses of motion; however, the dominant period of the large-amplitude later phases is noticeably shorter in the simulations (about 5 to 6 sec) than in the observation (13 sec). These results suggest that the restored Imamura seismogram may be a better representation of the gross features of the actual motion than the restored Ewing seismogram, although the first (clipped and restored) part of the Imamura seismogram may still underestimate the strength of the actual motion.


practice is no better than that supporting the other treatments reviewed. The two studies cited are both retrospective surveys without randomised controls." There really is insufficient evidence on the dose-response relation of inhaled steroids in terms of either wanted or unwanted side effects to allow a firm statement in the context of patients taking oral steroids. We do not know whether 5 mg of oral prednisolone is more than 2 mg of inhaled beclomethasone in terms of osteoporosis or other serious systemic side effects. It is worth remembering that beclomethasone is many times more potent dose for dose than prednisolone and that most of the inhaled drug is swallowed. We agree with Dr Wilkinson that treating psychological factors may have a role in managing this type of patient. However, in a disease such as asthma, which is associated with such a strong placebo effect, only rigidly controlled prospective studies can prove the efficacy of a particular approach to treatment. Sadly, these trials are lacking.


The Danube is the second largest river in Europe, going through fourteen countries, and it is consider to be "the Gate" of Europe. The Rhine- Main- Danube canal enables the navigation from Rotterdam to the Black Sea. It is therefore very important to have a competent fleet able to meet schedules, to adapt to draught and to be resource efficient, to decrease the harmful exhaust emissions, as well as the fuel consumption. These advantages are compiled in the novel container ship NEWS, as well as logistical innovation to grant costumers satisfaction.
As the topic of the thesis is the regional divergence regarding transport flows, the expected results of the thesis will be the analysis of the good flows between the regions of study. Although the Danube passes through fourteen counties, this thesis will focus on the region from Austria to Hungary, passing through Slovakia. The main result is a complete and competent analysis showing the amount carried by cargoes through the region of study, comparing the goods transported between countries and the way these goods are being transported. Therefore it will be taken into account the modal split of the transportation in the area of study, considering the importance of the road, rail and inland waterway transportation. A more specific study will be developed about the last mode of transport, considering if the transportation is done with or without containers, the capacity of the vessels and their type, etc.
This thesis aims to prove the expected results being as accurate as possible. The results are expected to be useful and enable a conclusion that can be used for forthcoming studies and projects. Moreover this thesis aims to reach the expected results to know the regional divergence within Austria and Hungary.
Concerning to the methodology a deskwork is expected. As the aim is to realize a competent and serious analysis it would be necessary to study real data to understand, and therefore we able to prove, the modes of transport in the three countries of study, focusing in the inland shipping. Thus, the database will be taken by the Eurostat data provided of the last years, enabling the knowledge of the goods transported in the different countries, the capacity of their cargoes and similar data required in the project.
As said above, the development of NEWS can mean the development of the region of the Danube and also a growth oh the GDP of its countries. Furthermore, it should also be considered that a modernization and improvement of the Danube fleet could be one of the basis for the development of East-Europe / Balkan countries, a region with a potential development. Thus, it is indispensable to know how the transportation of goods is working nowadays and its regional divergence, to have a basis to develop the logistical aspects that the main project will have to face.


The Cretaceous-Paleogene Kangerlussuaq basin in southern East Greenland represents a unique outcrop analog for the frontier petroleum provinces along the deep-water volcanic margins of the northern North Atlantic. The 1-km-thick sedimentary succession comprises six facies associations: (1) alluvial plain and shallow marine (late Aptian?), (2) fluvio-estuarine (late Aptian-early Albian), (3) offshore marine (Late Cretaceous-early Paleocene), (4) submarine fan and channel-levee (early Paleocene), (5) fluvial (mid-Paleocene), and (6) volcanic (late Paleocene). Sedimentation was terminated in the late Paleocene by extrusion of flood basalts related to continental breakup. The basin fill is divided into two depositional megasequences related to regional tectonic events and sea level changes. The oldest megasequence (SQ1) spans the late Aptian to the earliest Paleocene with sea level rise in the late Aptian and maximum flooding in the late Albian-Cenomanian, followed by sea level highstand in the Late Cretaceous-early Paleocene. SQ1 is truncated by a basin-wide unconformity related to regional uplift and basin reorganization in the mid-Paleocene. The upper megasequence (SQ2) spans the mid- to late Paleocene and comprises sediments deposited during early sea level rise. Extensive volcanic deposits and continental flood basalts overlie it. Deep burial (> 6 km) and middle Eocene-early Oligocene(?) uplift excludes the Kangerlussuaq basin as a petroleum basin in itself; however, to evaluate the petroleum potential of similar volcanic influenced offshore basins, such as the West Shetland, Faeroe, More, and Voring basins, we discuss three conceptual play models based on the Kangerlussuaq basin: (1) early Albian stratigraphic trap, (2) early Paleocene structural trap, and (3) Paleocene stratigraphic trap.


Insurance is a tool for diversifying risks and reducing losses, and is also a reasonable means for risk management under market economy conditions. In daily life, individuals and companies are also exposed to infringement or litigation risks when they exercise intellectual property rights. This will bring huge economic burdens to individuals or businesses. Currently, intellectual property infringement cases in China are on the rise every year. Intellectual property insurance is an insurance system established for the purpose of infringement of intellectual property rights, compensation for intellectual property litigation costs and damages. At present, intellectual property insurance is practiced in many countries. The author introduces foreign intellectual property insurance legal system such as United States, Britain and Japan, also the present situation of intellectual property insurance in China, especially a series of practices in intellectual property insurance field in China. Therefore, under this background, the studies and analyzes current situation of intellectual property insurance of these countries are necessary for China to establish a legal system, which will help China to form a protective system of intellectual property rights of legal relief, administrative arbitration and economic compensation, it has some advantages, it should be as an important part of China's intellectual property strategy.


Digital transformation has enabled easier tradability of traditional services across borders and the emergence of new services that create value from data. But the benefits derived from digitalisation risk being derailed by existing and emerging trade barriers. The OECD Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (Digital STRI) is a new tool that identifies, catalogues, and quantifies cross-cutting barriers between 2014 and 2018 that affect trade in digitally-enabled services across all G20 countries. This index is comprised of a regulatory database of existing trade barriers based on publicly available laws and regulations, as well as composite indices that measure the trade restrictiveness of these policies. The Digital STRI shows that the regulatory environment is complex and diverse across G20 countries, and that there is scope to reduce trade barriers, particularly with respect to communications infrastructure and burdensome measures that affect cross-border data transfers. The Digital STRI can also map regulatory heterogeneity across the G20, and help monitor regulatory convergence, e.g. from regulatory cooperation in trade agreements.


We present an efficient dynamic programming algorithm to solve the problem of optimal multi-location robot rendezvous. The rendezvous problem considered can be structured as a tree, with each node representing a meeting of robots, and the algorithm computes optimal meeting locations and connecting robot trajectories. The tree structure is exploited by using dynamic programming to compute solutions in two passes through the tree: an upwards pass computing the cost of all potential solutions, and a downwards pass computing optimal trajectories and meeting locations. The correctness and efficiency of the algorithm are analyzed theoretically, while a continuous robot arm problem demonstrates the algorithm¿s practicality.


Objective. Development of differentiated method for selection of antihypertensive drugs in hypertensive patients based on assessment of individual features of autonomic cardiovascular dysfunction evaluated by spectral parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) and synchronization of 0,1 Hz oscillation in heart rate and microcirculation. Design and methods. 105 patients with arterial hypertension stage 1–2 aged 47 ± 8 years were examined. 0,1 Hz oscillations in heart rate and microcirculation were registered during passive tilt test under spontaneous breathing. The signals were recorded before and after three-week treatment by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (fosinopril or enalapril) and β-blockers (atenolol or metoprolol). Phase differences between 0,1 Hz oscillations were used to measure the synchronization index S. Power of low(LF) and high-frequency (HF) bands of HRV spectrum was also assessed. Results. ACE inhibitors are preferred for treatment of hypertensive patients with initially severe systemic autonomic dysfunction (index S is < 25 % in vertical body position) and suffi ciently intact autonomic heart regulation (power of LF band of HRV spectrum is > 250 ms2 in supine position). β-blockers are recommended for patients with initially severe systemic autonomic dysfunction and dysfunction of autonomic heart regulation (index S < 30 % and power of LF band of HRV spectrum < 350 ms2 in vertical body position). If severe autonomic dysfunction (index S is > 25 % and power of LF band of HRV spectrum is > 250 ms2) is not present the treatment by ACE inhibitors and β-blockers is not recommended. Conclusions. The type of antihypertensive drugs (ACE inhibitors or β-blockers) should be selected based on individual features of autonomic cardiovascular dysfunction. Sensitivity and specifi city of this method was 65 and 73 %, respectively.


The study aims to investigate the factors that influence South Korean non-Muslim customers' intention of purchasing Halal restaurants "cooked foods". There are three factors. This study indicated the intention of the non-Muslim customers to purchase Halal restaurant cooked foods is influenced by the healthiness, safety, and cleanness of foods and the Suwon area of South Korea. The attitude and subjective norm can help non-Muslim consumers form positive attitude towards Halal restaurant cooked foods. The finding will benefit both the academics and entrepreneurs who manage Halal business on how to improve their business. The outcome of the study supports a valuable situation applicable to non-Muslim legal bodies on the present purchasing intention of non-Muslim customers towards Halal restaurant's program. This will likewise help manufacturers and advertisers to serve their clients better to amplify their benefit. It defines a total base for non-Muslim government officials to underwrite the inclusion of non-Muslim business visionaries in the Halal cooked foods administration industry to improve the financial branches of its supporters and fulfilling their strict duties to Halal food restrurants.


Thunhorst, Robert L., Terry G. Beltz, and Alan Kim Johnson. Effects of subfornical organ lesions on acutely induced thirst and salt appetite. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 46): R56–R65, 1999.—We examined the role of the subfornical organ (SFO) in stimulating thirst and salt appetite using two procedures that initiate water and sodium ingestion within 1–2 h of extracellular fluid depletion. The first procedure used injections of a diuretic (furosemide, 10 mg/kg sc) and a vasodilator (minoxidil, 1–3 mg/kg ia) to produce hypotension concurrently with hypovolemia. The resulting water and sodium intakes were inhibited by intravenous administration of ANG II receptor antagonist (sarthran, 8 μg ·kg21 ·min21) or angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitor (captopril, 2.5 mg/h). The second procedure used injections of furosemide (10 mg/kg sc) and a low dose of captopril (5 mg/kg sc) to initiate water and sodium ingestion upon formation of ANG II in the brain. Electrolytic lesions of the SFO greatly reduced the water intakes, and nearly abolished the sodium intakes, produced by these relatively acute treatments. These results contrast with earlier findings showing little effect of SFO lesions on sodium ingestion after longer-term extracellular fluid depletion.


Recently, stock valuation model using the Earning Multiplier Approach (PER) is more popular among investors and analysts. This popularity has caused this model to seem to be the most perfect model among other valuation models. in response to the fact above, this research tries to give empirical evidence whether PER's model can be used in determining the fairness of stock price traded in
• Jakarta Stock Exchange.
• Evaluation of the capability of PER's model in determining the common stock price was conducted by developing two regression models from different time periods, namely the years of 1997, 1998 and 1999. One of the regression
models was used by Whitbeck — Kisor (1963) and for the other one was modified of results by Akhmad Rizqoni (1995), Amiruddin — Sonny (1997) and Kaziba A — Agus S (1997) which investigated of the determinants of Price Earning Ratio. The model of regression's one employed growth (g), dividend payout ratio (d) and standard deviation of growth (SD) as independent variables and the model of regression's two employed growth (g), dividend pay-out ratio (d), leverage (L.EV) and firm size (PS) as independent variable. The employment of two regression models which used in this research was formulated in the same market condition (bearish).
This research was intended to test the consistency of the regression models in assessing stock prices when the Indonesian capital market was bearish which started from middle of 1997 to March 1999. The result of this research showed that each model developed of different time periods gave different result though with the same sample, method and market condition (bearish)
The differences were in the significance level and in the weight of influence of independent variabels to the corresponding dependent variabels. As a stock valuation model, a regression model should perform consistently from period to period, so normal PER of a stock could be predicted based on the model that was developed by historical data.
The result of this research conclude that the models cannot be used to determine PER or value the common stock in 1998 and 1999 because the situations was unpredictable. in other words, there were other factors out of models that gave more affects significantly to PER in this periods. The employment of regression analysis can be helpful in finding the variabel and setting the weight that determines the PER of apoint of times Stock volution that was using Earning Multiplier Approach is appropriate, If investors have an assumption that the taste market, situation and market condition at the valuation period was the same as the period when the model was developed. This research showed that the models formulated base on the same market conditions haven't gave the same result. The differences is caused more by the change of market taste.

ABSTRAKS
Model penilaian saham dengan menggunakan Earning Multiplier Approach (PER), belum lama ini begitu populer diantara para investor dan pare analis saham di Pasar ModaL Karena model penilaian ini dinilal lebih akurat dibandingkan dengan metode penllaian saham lainnya. Melihat hal tersebut diatas maka perlu diadakan penelitian dalam rangka memberikan sumbangan berupa jawaban ilmiab mengenai persamaan model PER dalam menilal harga saham yang sesungguhnya sebagai salah satu masukkan da!am men gambil suatu keputusan investasi pada Bursa Efek Jakarta (BEJ).
Penelitian yang dilakukan dengan maksud untuk melihat sampai seberapa jauh persamaan model PER tersebut mampu dalam menilai harga suatu saham dengan periode waktu pengamatan berbeda yaitu tahun 1997, 1998, dan 1999. Model Persamaan PER yang digunakan pada penelitian ini adalah merupakan hasil penelitian dan beberapa penelitian terdahulu seperti persamaan PER model 1 yang merupakan model persamaan hasil penelitian dari Whitbeck Kisor (1963) dan persamaan PER model 2 yang merupakan gabungan mode! persamaan hasil penelitian dari Akhmad Rizqoni (1995) dan Kaziba A Agus S (1997) yang masing-masing meneliti mengenai faktor-faktor yang berpengaruh kepada PER.


Mining and understanding patients' disease-development pattern is a major healthcare need. A huge number of research studies have focused on medical resource allocation, survivability prediction, risk management of diagnosis, etc. In this article, we are specifically interested in discovering risk factors for patients with high probability of developing cancers. We propose a systematic and data-driven algorithm and build around the idea of association rule mining. More precisely, the rule-mining method is firstly applied on the target dataset to unpack the underlying relationship of cancer-risk factors, via generating a set of candidate rules. Later, this set is represented as a rule graph, where informative rules are identified and selected with the aim of enhancing the result interpretability. Compared to hundreds of rules generated from the standard rule-mining approach, the proposed algorithm benefits from a concise rule subset, without losing the information from the original rule set. The proposed algorithm is then evaluated using one of the largest cancer data resources. We found that our method outperforms existing approaches in terms of identifying informative rules and requires affordable computational time. Additionally, relevant information from the selected rules can also be used to inform health providers and authorities for cancer-risk management.


This study attempts to investigate the antecedents of tourist satisfaction. The focus of the study is Langkawi Island, a well-known tourist destination in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 500 tourists in Langkawi Island. Descriptive statistic, factor analysis and multiple regressions were run on the 482 useable data. The results indicate that 295 (61.2%) of the respondents were repeat visitors and the remaining 187(38.8%) were first-timers. More than half (56.8%) of the respondents had high levels of satisfaction with the mean items score of 3.90 and above. When factor analysis was run, seven factors emerged from the 33 items used to measure the contructs. Apart from tourist expectations, perceived quality, destination image, cost and risks, and perceived value, a new variable known as social-security was identified as a predictor. Regression analysis revealed that destination image, tourist expectations, costs and risks, and social-security have positive and significant influence on tourist satisfaction. Social-security was found to be the most important predictor of tourist satisfaction, followed by tourist expectations, destination image, and costs and risks. The findings of this study could provide guidelines for tourism managers and destination operators to further develop better strategies to satisfy travellers to Langkawi.