Interference is the major limiting factor when evaluating the performance of cellular radio systems. Sources of interference could be another mobile at the same cell, a call in progress in a neighboring cell or other base stations operating in the same frequency band. Interference on voice channels causes cross talk due to an undesired transmission. On control channels, interference leads to missed and blocked calls due to errors in the digital signaling. Interference is more severe in urban areas, due to the large number of base stations and mobiles. Interference has been recognized as a major bottleneck when looking for increasing capacity and is often responsible for dropped calls. The two major types of system-generated cellular interference are co-channel interference and adjacent channel interference. Even though interfering signals are often generated within the cellular system, they are difficult to control in practice (due to random propagation effects). Even more difficult to control this interference caused out-of-band users, which arises without warning due to front end overload of subscriber equipment or intermittent inter-modulation products. In practice, the transmitters from competing cellular carriers are often a significant source of out-of-band interference, since competitors often locate their base stations in close proximity to one another in order to provide comparable coverage to customers. This paper presents study of co and adjacent channel interferences in second and third generations of cellular radio systems.


This article discusses the potential of multidisciplinary peer-mentoring groups to facilitate individual and institutional change. To do this, we view peer mentoring as a form of critical education praxis (Mahon et al. 2019), the purpose of which is to create a space for reflexive thinking and asking critical questions. The data were collected by interviewing all thirteen participants – doctoral students and more established scholars – of a multidisciplinary peer-mentoring pilot project. The results show a variety of both individual changes and desired changes within the university, which were brought into view as a result of the sharing of experiences, views and ideas in an open, confidential, multidisciplinary space. Based on these results, we argue that multidisciplinary peer mentoring has a high potential to offer an excellent space for collaborative, critical dialogue, which could ultimately facilitate change among individual academics, but also potentially more widely within higher education institutions.


Power transformers are the most expensive and important component in the power system, and may be subjected to breakdown due to mechanical and/or electrical faults. It is difficult to obtain the condition of the power transformer by only one test method, so transformer fault diagnosis based on different experimental and simulation methods is widely recommended. In this paper, the transformer winding faults diagnosis based on FEM simulation and on-site experiments is described. Based on the FEM simulation, it is necessary to analyze the effect of the winding faults on the change of the electrical parameters. The typical types of winding faults, such as axial displacement, and radial deformation, etc. are taken into consideration. Different fault degrees are investigated in the simulation analysis. Using the parameters calculated in the FEM model, an equivalent circuit of the power transformer is present in ATP/EMTP to study the performance of typical on-site experiments, such as frequency response analysis (FRA) and short-circuit impendence (SCI) test. The frequency bands, which might be treated as the diagnostic bands in the FRA, are simulated and compared. It is found that the resonances in the frequency bands of 200–250 kHz and 350–450 kHz are able to describe the situation, where the displacement percentage of the winding is varying from 0% to 9%. The SCI values under different fault severity are also obtained and compared. Therefore, the diagnosis method can directly bridge the types and degrees of the winding faults with the experiment results. The operating states of several 110 kV power transformers are tracked, and it can be found that the simulation results show a better consistency with the on-site experiment results, and the proposed diagnosis method will help to discriminate the winding faults.


Various studies have reported an important association between depressive symptoms and alcohol abuse. However, the topic had not been investigated in Colombian students. This study focused on the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol abuse among high school students in Bucaramanga, Colombia. A self-reported anonymous questionnaire was answered by 560 15-19-year-olds. The survey included the Zung Self-Reported Depression Scale, CAGE Questionnaire for Alcohol Use, and VESPA questionnaire (Epidemiological Surveillance of Psychoactive Drugs). Logistic regression was used to establish associations. Prevalence was 5.7% for alcohol dependence and 39.5% for depressive symptoms. Associations were found between alcohol abuse and depressive symptoms (PR = 3.33; 95%CI: 1.41-7.83), poor self-perceived academic achievement (PR = 2.59; 95%CI: 1.16-5.37), and smoking (PR = 2.47; 95%CI: 1.13-5.40). The authors conclude that there is a strong association between depressive symptoms and alcohol abuse in Colombian high school students. Preventive programs are needed to identify early depressive disorders and alcohol abuse.


Magnetic tunnel junctions with a flux-closed sandwich replacing the single-soft layer have been proposed for increasing the magnetic stability of the junctions. Such flux-closed soft layers have two antiferromagnetic ground states and reverse by spin-flop switching. They are expected to essentially eliminate the critical issue of thermally activated reversal under half-select fields and ease the scaling of the emerging technology of magnetic random access memory. High-speed pulse measurements of such submicron spin-flop junctions performed over nine decades in time are reported here. The switching probability as a function of the pulse field amplitude and duration is analyzed to estimate the energy barrier to thermal activation. This activation energy is found to be substantially enhanced compared to the single-free layer case, and agrees well with the single-domain model prediction.


Two well defined, modifiable risk factors for kidney allograft failure are acute rejection and poor graft function at one year post-transplant. Regulatory bodies and expert panels in the USA and Europe have recognized that both acute rejection and one-year graft function should be assessed when evaluating immunosuppressive regimens. TRANSFORM (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01950819) is one of the first trials to adopt this approach and the first that applies a novel combined clinically meaningful endpoint to take the first step towards changing the paradigm for immunosuppression in kidney transplant patients. Everolimus with reduced-exposure calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) therapy is a strategy designed to reduce the risk of chronic nephrotoxicity and other dose-dependent complications associated with CNI therapy. In TRANSFORM, de novo kidney transplant patients are randomized to everolimus with reduced-exposure CNI, or mycophenolic acid with standard-exposure CNI, both with induction therapy and maintenance steroids. The primary endpoint is a composite of treated biopsy-proven acute rejection or estimated glomerular filtration rate ,50 mL/min/1.73 m 2 at month 12 post-transplant, which is expected to be sensitive both to the effects of acute and chronic allograft rejection and nephrotoxic side effects of immunosuppressive therapies. The construct of this endpoint allows the integration of a continuous outcome (graft function) with a logistic outcome (rejection). The trial uses a randomized, multicenter, open-label, two-arm design. After completion of a 2-year core study, patients enter a further 3-year prospective observational study. By capturing follow-up to 5 years, TRANSFORM will provide substantial data on the incidence of graft loss, graft dysfunction, cancer, cardiovascular events, and other patient-relevant outcomes. TRANSFORM will determine whether de novo CNI reduction with an everolimus-based regimen achieves short-term outcomes compared with standard CNI. As the largest clinical trial undertaken to date in kidney transplantation, recruiting more than 2,000 patients, and with extended follow-up to 5 years, TRANSFORM will provide critical data required to help maximize long-term outcomes.


We show that inactivation of the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) results in a drastic increase in efficiency of precise genome editing with CRISPR enzymes in human stem cells, allowing up to 79% of chromosomes to carry an intended nucleotide substitution when a single genomic site is targeted. When three different genes are simultaneously targeted, 12% of the isolated cells carry the targeted amino acid-changing substitutions in homozygous forms. These substitutions represent the first step towards resurrecting the proteome ancestral to Neandertals and modern humans. DNA-PKcs inactivation will greatly facilitate multiplexed precise genome editing in animal cells.


The COVID‐19 pandemic has had far‐reaching consequences beyond the disease itself, including economic, social, political, religious, and psychological implications. This novel coronavirus has been shown to have cardiovascular manifestations in the form of arrhythmias, conduction disturbances, myocarditis, stress cardiomyopathy, myocardial injury and myocardial ischemia or infarction from increased microvascular and/or macrovascular coagulopathy. However, in addition to these direct effects, we are now starting to recognize indirect cardiovascular effects of COVID‐19 in the form of increased incidence of Takutsobo cardiomyopathy in patients without any evidence of coronavirus infection presumably due to the increased psychological stress of social isolation and societal turbulence. In this case series, we present two post‐menopausal women, presenting with chest pain and acute coronary syndrome, who are finally diagnosed with stress cardiomyopathy, triggered by increased emotional stress‐related to the pandemic. There is data from a retrospective cohort analysis showing a fourfold increase in the incidence of acute coronary syndrome resulting from stress cardiomyopathy during the pandemic period compared to similar times periods before the pandemic. Hence, health care providers need to be cognizant of the emotional ramifications of the ongoing pandemic in the form of increased risk of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Moreover, urgent measures need to be taken to help the at‐risk population cope with the ongoing stressors to help decrease the incidence of this cardiomyopathy.


The hydration process of alkali-activated slag cement, especially at early-age, was studied by FT-IR, compared with that of Portland cement. The results show that during the hydration of alkali activated slag cement, two processes have taken place, the dissolution of Al3+ from the slag and then the recombination of Al3+ ions with the silicate anions. The former associated with the break of the glass network of slag and the later with the re-polymerization of the silicate and aluminosilicate anions. The rate of break of the glass network increases with the dosage of water glass, which completed in 24 h when the dosage of the water glass solution equivalent to Na2O exceeds 6% of the slag powder. It is confirmed by the IR study that Ca(OH)2 is absent in the hardened alkali activated slag cement paste.


This is a presentation of audit theory and practice. Written in understandable language, it is appropriate for students with little auditing experience. It presents auditing concepts and attempts to make the relationship between auditing and accounting understandable. Case studies, new to this edition, focus on specific industries to emphasize the importance of having a thorough knowledge of the audit client's business and end-of-chapter questions require students to use the Internet to perform audit research. The book also includes discussion of international auditing standards and adopts a balance-sheet approach to auditing.


Changes in the cellular carbohydrate metabolism are a hallmark of malignant transformation and represent one of the earliest discernible events in tumorigenesis. In the early stages of certain epithelial cancers, a metabolic switch is regularly observed, in which slowly growing glycogenotic cells are converted to highly proliferating basophilic cells. This step is accompanied by a rapid depletion of the intracellular glycogen stores, which in liver carcinogenesis results from the activation of the enzyme acid α-glucosidase by an as yet unknown mechanism. We show here that acid α-glucosidase is a target for the E7 protein encoded by human papillomavirus type 16, a human tumor virus that plays a key role in the genesis of cervical carcinoma. We show that expression of E7 induces the catalytic activity of acid α-glucosidase in vivo and wild type E7, but not transformation-deficient mutants bind directly to acid α-glucosidase and increase the catalytic activity of the enzyme in vitro. The data suggest that the E7 protein encoded by human papillomavirus type 16 can act as an allosteric activator of acid α-glucosidase.


Over time, technical systems such as automobiles or spacecraft have grown more complex due to the incorporation of increasingly more and different components. The integration of these components, which are frequently designed and constructed within separate departments and companies may lead to malfunctioning systems as their interplay cannot be tested within the earlier phases of development. This paper introduces compatibility management as one solution to the problems of late component integration. Compatibility management is carried out on a common crossdomain model of the system and therefore allows to test compatibility early on. We show how compatibility management can be embedded into the phased development of ECSS-M-30A and present the (Unified) Compatibility Modeling Language ((U)CML), which is used for the underlying cross-domain model. A case study demonstrates the application of (U)CML in the development of a small satellite and explains different degrees of compatibility.


Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) vectors have now been developed and enable the efficient delivery of foreign genes under the control of appropriate promoter elements into non-dividing neurons in vitro and in vivo. Their use is based on the natural ability of HSV-1 to spread throughout the nervous system and to establish a lifelong latent infection in neurons. HSV is present in an episomal form in the neuronal nucleus, and normal neuronal functions remain unaltered. A wide variety of foreign genes can theoretically be packaged into the large HSV genome. A number of technical problems will need to be overcome to ensure the stable expression of the foreign gene products, adequate control of the levels of their expression, the safety of the vectors and the correct targeting of the vectors to the appropriate neuronal cell populations. Such vectors have the potential to replace missing gene products in neurons in patients with a variety of metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, and also to insert growth factors or enzymes into the local vicinity of neurological lesions to promote neuronal repair. HSV-1 vectors also have the potential to define the genetic basis of various neurophysiological functions which may prove to be useful in evaluating altered neuronal function encountered in disease.


This thesis begins with the observation that portions of words may be separated out and interpreted across a distance, as illustrated by the following examples:(1) These text tiers had boundaries that corresponded with the onset and offset of pre- and post-boundary syllables as well as the onset and offset of consonants and vowels that made up these syllables. (COCA, 2011: ACAD: JSpeechLanguage)(2) My distinction between the pre- and the post-paradigm periods in the develop- ment of a science is, for example, much too schematic. (Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions)This observation plays into a longstanding debate within the community of linguistic researchers concerning the nature of words. Lexicalists argue that words are formed in the lexicon and are opaque to the syntactic component of the grammar. Alternately, non-lexicalist approaches to morphology and syntax contend that both words and larger phrases are generated in a single component of the grammar by the same means. It is therefore fruitful, in seeking to resolve this debate, to examine closely sentences in which elements which are smaller, in some sense, than words appear to undergo syn- tactic manipulation. Early investigations of examples like (1) have suggested that they might not be as revealing on this point as they look, as it is not obvious that such ex- amples involve syntactic displacement. If we concede that words and larger phrases are superficially very similar, than the fact coordination appears to be present in both domains may simply be another superficial similarity. It is quite difficult, however, to extend this argument to examples like (2), because the elements on either side of the coordinator and are not constituents. Something beyond coordination must be occurring.Sentences like (2) exhibit what is known in syntactic analysis as Right Node Rais- ing (Ross, 1967). There are numerous, highly contentious analyses if Right Node Rais- ing, ranging from coordination plus deletion (ellipsis), to coordination with multiple constituents that share one or more elements (multidominance), to "across-the-board" syntactic displacement (movement). Hankamer (1971), looking at Right Node Raising in Turkish, observes several ways in which Right Node Raising and ellipsis may be distinguished in the data. Turning to English and German, Barros and Vicente (2011) suggests that at least some of these distinctions cannot be upheld for apparent instances of Right Node Raising. At least some of the time, they conclude, Right Node Rais- ing and ellipsis may be two instances of the self-same phenomenon. This matters in part because some analysts, like Hartmann (2000) and Chaves (2008), view ellipsis as a purely phonological (i.e., extra-syntactic) phenomenon. If discontinuous affixation instantiates ellipsis and ellipsis is extra-syntactic, then evidence of Right Node Raising below the word says nothing about the nature of word-formation and its relationship (or lack thereof) to the syntactic component of the grammar.This thesis begins with a very close look at the phenomena at hand and carefully catalogs and details the various properties of sentences like (1) and (2). The findings of that investigation are then used to evaluate the viability of an analysis of sentences like (2) as ellipsis. I show that while many of the insights from Barros and Vicente (2011) remain intact, the overall conclusion must be false: It is not the case that Right Node Raising and ellipsis overlap analytically, but rather that certain constructions are analytically ambiguous between the two analyses. Turning to the sublexical domain, I demonstrate that for at least some cases, an analysis in terms of ellipsis is not possible. Separately, I consider non-syntactic approaches to ellipsis like those offered in Hartmann (2000) and Chaves (2008), and conclude that such approaches lack the clarity and definition that might allow them to account for differences in ellipsis above and below the word. We are left with the conclusion that a non-syntactic analysis of examples like (1) is not possible, and consequently, such examples do provide evidence of syntactic manipulation below the word.


Extracts of carrot, garlic and ginger as selective agents in basal bacteriological media were carried out on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 15313, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 2522,Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 using a standard method. Ethanolic extracts, aqueous cold and hot extracts of the experimental plant products were made at the concentration of 200 mg/ml (2 g/10 ml). The ethanolic extracts inhibited the growth of all the test bacterial isolates. The cold aqueous extracts of garlic had inhibitory effects on the S. aureus and L. monocytogenes bacterial isolates but selectively allowed the growth of E. coli. The hot aqueous extract of ginger had no effect on any of the test bacteria. The hot garlic extract selectively allowed the growth of L. monocytogenes and E. coli. Phytochemical analysis of the carrots, garlic and ginger contained saponnin, resins, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids and terpenes in varied proportions. We assume these products may have influenced the actions of the extracts on the test organisms. The results of this preliminary study suggest that aqueous extracts of carrots, garlic and ginger when incorporated in appropriate concentrations can serve as alternative selective agents in bacteriological culture media for bacterial isolation from highly contaminated biological specimens or separation of mixed cultures of bacteria in the laboratory.

 Key words: Carrot, garlic, ginger, selective agents, bacteria, culture media


Background An important role for canonical Wnt signalling in osteoarthritis pathology has been established. However, the role of Wnt1-induced secreted protein-1 (WISP1), which we found increased in experimental and human OA, remains to be elucidated. Here, we determined the relation between WISP1 expression and OA-progression in early OA patients. Additionally, we determined how WISP1 might be involved in OA pathology using experimental OA models. Methods WISP1 expression levels, determined with microarray analysis on synovial biopsies obtained from patients enrolled in the CHECK study of early OA patients, were coupled to OA-progression. Progression was defined as ≥1mm decrease in joint space width and ≥4x increased osteophyte size after 5 years. Human OA synovium was stimulated with WISP1. Joint pathology was assessed after induction of experimental OA models (DMM, ACLT and CIOA) in WT or WISP1-deficient mice. Immunohistochemical staining was used to visualise NITEGE aggrecan neoepitopes resulting from protease activity. Gene expression was evaluated using qRT-PCR. Results WISP1 expression at baseline was significantly higher in CHECK patients that showed OA-progression between baseline and the five-year follow-up measurement compared to non-progressors. Stimulation of human OA synovium with WISP1 increased the expression of the proteases MMP-2/-3/-9/-13 and ADAMTS-4/-5. To further pinpoint the role of WISP1 during OA, we induced three experimental OA models with different characteristics in WT and WISP1-deficient mice. We observed significantly decreased cartilage damage in the tibio-femoral joints of WISP1-deficient mice, compared with the WT controls in all models. Accordingly, we found decreased expression of MMP-3/-9 and the aggrecanases ADAMTS-4 and -5 in synovial tissue from WISP1-deficient mice. Moreover, we observed decreased expression of IL-1 and IL-6, which have the potential to induce protease expression, but not of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in the WISP1-deficient mice. Finally, the protease activity in the cartilage, as assessed by the staining of the neoepitope NITEGE, was decreased in the WISP1-deficient mice. Conclusions Increased WISP1 expression in OA joints may play an important role in OA pathology via increased expression of MMPs and ADAMTSs in the synovium. Specific downregulation of WISP1 may avoid undesired side-effects that are likely to occur after targeting upstream Wnt signalling.


We present a transformer-based sarcasm detection model that accounts for the context from the entire conversation thread for more robust predictions. Our model uses deep transformer layers to perform multi-head attentions among the target utterance and the relevant context in the thread. The context-aware models are evaluated on two datasets from social media, Twitter and Reddit, and show 3.1% and 7.0% improvements over their baselines. Our best models give the F1-scores of 79.0% and 75.0% for the Twitter and Reddit datasets respectively, becoming one of the highest performing systems among 36 participants in this shared task.


Abstract Corpora of Early Modern English have been collected and released for research for a number of years. With large scale digitisation activities gathering pace in the last decade, much more historical textual data is now available for research on numerous topics including historical linguistics and conceptual history. We summarise previous research which has shown that it is necessary to map historical spelling variants to modern equivalents in order to successfully apply natural language processing and corpus linguistics methods. Manual and semiautomatic methods have been devised to support this normalisation and standardisation process. We argue that it is important to develop a linguistically meaningful rationale to achieve good results from this process. In order to do so, we propose a number of guidelines for normalising corpora and show how these guidelines have been applied in the Corpus of English Dialogues.


The three primary objectives of the Effectiveness Study are to: (1) identify groups being served by FSA direct farm loan programs, (2) examine the length of time borrowers remain in the programs and the proportion of borrowers who exit or 'graduate' from the programs, and (3) measure and identify ways of reducing loan subsidy rates. The study found that direct Farm Loan Programs (FLPs) appear to be serving their intended clientele. Recent FLP borrowers are more financially stressed than non-borrowers and would be generally considered as family farms. About 78 to 92 percent would qualify as small family farms using USDA's Small Farms Commission definition. FLP credit market penetration is relatively high among farms likely to be eligible for these credit programs, despite the fact that these programs represent a relatively small proportion of total outstanding agricultural debt. Increasing market penetration or the share of farms served by the program would require greater obligation funding and hence greater budgetary costs. Conversely, implementing more rigorous loan eligibility criteria would likely lower the number of operators receiving loans and hence loan loss occurrences and subsidy rates would likely fall. The majority of FSA Direct borrowers from FY 1994-1996 used FLPs as a transitional tool. At time of origination, FSA Direct borrowers had fewer years of farming experience than the farming population at large. More than half of these borrowers no longer had active FLP loans by the end of November 2004. So for the majority of borrowers, FLPs are not a lifetime credit source. FLPs are helping farmers move to commercial credit or aiding farmers who subsequently leave farming completely, as is common among U.S. farmers. Not surprisingly, farmers in stronger financial condition originating FSA Direct loans are more likely to exit and have fewer outstanding loans with FSA. FSA experiences higher loan loss rates than conventional agricultural lenders. This is to be expected because commercial lenders can be more selective in choosing borrowers and price loans to match risk profiles which FSA does not do. In essence, FSA's mission is to provide credit to riskier 'creditworthy' borrowers. The agency is accomplishing this goal. The natural consequence is that FSA loan loss rates are higher than for conventional lenders. Whether the current borrowers are too risky or should even riskier borrowers be included are policy questions. The analysis indicates that attempts to cut losses systematically would imply denying credit to some current borrowers.


Abstract. The intrinsic small spatial scales and low-reflectivity structure of oceanic warm precipitating clouds suggest that millimeter spaceborne radars are best suited to providing quantitative estimates of cloud and rain liquid water paths (LWPs). This assertion is based on their smaller horizontal footprint; high sensitivities; and a wide dynamic range of path-integrated attenuations associated with warm-rain cells across the millimeter wavelength spectrum, with diverse spectral responses to rain and cloud partitioning. State-of-the-art single-frequency radar profiling algorithms of warm rain seem to be inadequate because of their dependence on uncertain assumptions about the rain–cloud partitioning and because of the rain microphysics.
Here, high-resolution cloud-resolving model simulations for the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean field study and a spaceborne forward radar simulator are exploited
to assess the potential of existing and future spaceborne radar systems for quantitative warm-rain microphysical retrievals. Specifically, the detrimental effects of nonuniform beam filling on estimates of path-integrated attenuation (PIA), the added value of brightness temperature (TB) derived adopting radiometric radar modes, and the performances of multifrequency PIA and/or TB combinations
when retrieving liquid water paths partitioned into cloud (c-LWPs) and rain (r-LWPs) are assessed. Results show that (1) Ka- and W-band TB values add useful constraints and are effective at lower LWPs than the same-frequency PIAs; (2) matched-beam combined TB values and PIAs from single-frequency or multifrequency radars can significantly narrow down uncertainties in retrieved cloud and rain liquid water paths; and (3) the configuration including PIAs, TB values and near-surface reflectivities for the Ka-band–W-band pairs in our synthetic retrieval can achieve an RMSE of better than 30 % for c-LWPs and r-LWPs exceeding 100 g m−2.


Abstract Pressing problems of environmental degradation are typically argued to require coordination, primarily through state intervention. Social scientists are struggling to understand how attitudes toward such state interventions are formed, and several drivers have been suggested, including education. People with university degrees are assumed to have certain values as well as the analytical skills to understand complex issues such as climate change. By using a unique panel data-set with students in different university programs (economics, law and political science), this study provides a better understanding of whether and how education affects environmental policy acceptance. One important finding is that university studies generate variation in support and scepticism toward different types of policy measures. For example, economics students tend to develop more positive attitudes toward market-based policy measures. This indicates a potential for education to increase the societal support often hindering the implementation of such policy tools.


In this paper we apply biological indices of environmental quality and conservation, based on biological monitoring conducted between 2003 and 2009 in five localities of the Bajo Urubamba River. Communities of plankton, benthos and fishes were studied. The diversity of plankton was 170 species, mainly based on Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta. The benthos included 112 species, mainly larvae and adults of Arthropoda (Insecta). 176 fish species were recorded, represented by 26 families and six orders. The quality of the study area ranged from normal to very good, according to the index %ETP. The conservation index of aquatic environments (IBI) gave the higher values for Miari and Sepahua. The high diversity of the communities studied could be related to the heterogeneity of habitats and greater resources than are observed in the lower part of the study area. Palabras claves: biological communities, richness, fishes, aquatic habitats, conservation


This work embodies the overspeed protection and safe headway control into an iterative learning control (ILC) based train trajectory tracking algorithm to satisfy the high safety requirement of high-speed railways. First, a D-type ILC scheme with overspeed protection is proposed. Then, a corresponding coordinated ILC scheme with multiple trains is studied to keep the safe headway. Finally, the control scheme under traction/braking force constraint is also considered for this proposed ILC-based train trajectory tracking strategy. Rigorous theoretical analysis has shown that the proposed control schemes can guarantee the asymptotic convergence of train speed and position to its desired profiles without requirement of the physical model aside from some mild assumptions on the system. Effectiveness is further evaluated through simulations.


This paper describes an undergoing experiment to compare two tagsets for Named Entities (NE) annotation. We compared Klue 2 tagset, developed by IBM Research, with HAREM tagset, developed for tagging the Portuguese corpora used in Second HAREM competition. From this report, we expected to evaluate our methodology for comparison and to survey the problems that arise from it.


In a previous paper by the authors a procedure is given for the optimum design of single mass, anchored wave energy generators. The anchoring problem is generally regarded as one of the major obstacles of developing practical systems due to the high cost of implementation. This paper presents a procedure for the design of supporting platforms for wave generators which are essentially self-positioned and require minimum anchoring. The optimum design and control for such systems is given for a selected ocean condition. The study shows that an unanchored platform in an optimally designed two-mass system can provide appropriate support for the wave generator without any significant loss of conversion efficiency.


A series of asymmetric tris-urea receptors with electron withdrawing group (EWG) or electron donating group (EDG), L1–L4, were synthesized and characterized by high resolution mass spectroscopy (HRMS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Receptors with EWG substituent showed different visible colorimetric response to fluoride and hydroxide anions. Binding studies toward various monovalent anions were performed by UV-Vis and NMR titration experiments. The experimental results revealed that these tris-urea receptors underwent stepwise deprotonation of the three N–H protons in the presence of varying excess of fluoride and hydroxide anions. This phenomenon was signalled by the development of vivid colours. These findings were also supported by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) theoretical calculations. DFT studies proved that the deprotonation of receptors with EWG substituent was energetically favourable in comparison with the receptor containing EDG substituent. TDDFT calculations for molecular orbital distribution, oscillator strength, and the electron transition process between the ground state and excited state of receptors and their corresponding deprotonated receptors were performed to elucidate the different absorption properties.


This study is about changing culture. It deals with the acquisition of a mobile phone by young people in Yaounde (Cameroon), its level of usage or of social connectivity, and the role it might have in HIV transmission. I examine how the use of a mobile phone impacts courtship, and how it creates and facilitates not only flirtatious behavior, but also unwanted sexual solicitations. Data results prove that young people embark on social connectivity to attain three social goals, (1) to increase longer-term life chances, (2) to increase means to gain material support and (3) to increase means to maintain self-status in the eyes of peers. They use mobile phones to create social ties that might result in sexual relations where barriers to condom use are involved, and as such it might lead to unsafe sexual encounters. Due to the economic and socio-cultural factors that obstruct the communication for safer sex between young people and their sexual partners – especially sugar daddies/mummies or mbomas – the power to enforce condom use is rarely equal. Data results prove that in Yaounde, young people's risky sexual practices are exacerbated by the mboma syndrome. Through a cross-cultural conceptual approach, I compare sexual risk behaviors related to the use of mobile phone among young people of Yaounde with those of Ghent (Belgium), enabling me to assess distinctive sexual values that exist in different cultural backgrounds.


We demonstrate the possibility to master the negative electrode/electrolyte interface reactivity of a TiO2 based electrode with a protecting fluorinated layer, synthesized by a safe process applied for a first time on electrode materials. Pure XeF2 has been used as fluorinating agent with two different fluorination rates (LowF and HighF). This prospective study provides new insights of the surface fluorination benefits thanks to extreme surface spectroscopy analysis. Indeed, enhanced electrochemical performances have been correlated with the surface reactivity of fluorinated electrodes by the means of the Scanning Auger Mapping analysis (SAM) and to the X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). As shown by the XPS results, fluorinated electrodes exhibit thinner and stabilized solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, providing more effective passivating properties. The SAM chemical mappings confirm this trend. The fluorination of the active material leads to fade the reactivity toward the electrolyte, consequently the products of the electrolyte degradation are deposited in lower quantities on the fluorinated electrode surface, especially the species originated from the salt degradation. Both of the fluorinated electrodes exhibit improved specific capacity by 10% after ten cycles. The polarization is reduced by 12.4% and 17% for LowF and HighF electrodes, respectively.


A polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) has been reported to have functional significance and to be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, other studies have generated confounding results. A study was undertaken to re-evaluate this association in subjects drawn from the relatively genetically homogeneous Afrikaner population of South Africa. Fifty-four OCD patients of Afrikaner descent and 82 ethnically matched control individuals were phenotyped and genotyped. No significant association was found between the distribution of the 5-HTTLPR genotypes at the SLC6A4 locus and OCD. A similar result (p = 0.108) was generated when a meta-analysis of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, combining the current study with a previously reported Caucasian group, was performed; the meta-study comprised 129 OCD patients and 479 control individuals. However, both studies lacked power. Therefore, evidence that variation in SLC6A4 plays a significant role in the development of OCD in the population groups studied is inconclusive. Future association studies in Caucasian populations may extend the power of such meta-analyses and assist in delineating the role of SLC6A4 in OCD.


EDITOR,-In their audit of 14 149 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies (Gut 1995; 36: 462-7), Quine et al identified 104 deaths occurring within 30 days. The authors hope their findings will encourage endoscopists to examine their own practices, but we are concerned that the information provided is insufficient to make true comparisons with this 30 day mortality of 0 74%. The audit reports on all upper gastrointestinal endoscopy but without specifying the proportion of inpatients compared with outpatients and the numbers done for bleeding. Such data are important as we have recently found that within our hospital, inpatients accounted for a significant proportion (38%) of new referrals for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and that the 30 day 'all cause' mortality in these inpatients was 12%.1 Inpatients tended to be older and have multiple medical problems. The death rate was even higher in patients who were already in hospital for other reasons and subsequently had upper gastrointestinal bleeding, but even in 251 established inpatients who were endoscoped for reasons other than haemorrhage, mortality was 8%. Regarding gastrointestinal bleeding, a recent national audit studying a population of 12-5 million found an incidence of 103 upper gastrointestinal haemorrhages/100 000 people/year, ofwhich 75% were endoscoped.2 Fourteen per cent died within 30 days and again, established inpatients fared worse (death rate 33%) than acute admissions with gastrointestinal bleeding. Applying these figures to the population (5 533 225) covered by the audit of Quine et al, 1420 gastroscopies would have been done for upper gastrointestinal bleeding during the four month period. Assuming a similar death rate (14%) from gastrointestinal haemorrhage, 199 deaths would have been expected. This expected 30 day mortality is almost twice that reported by Quine et al, and yet only includes endoscopies done for gastrointestinal bleeding (approximately 10% of the total 14 149 endoscopies). This suggests that in the audit by Quine et al, gastrointestinal haemorrhage or its associated mortality was less than expected, or that the 30 day mortality was underestimated. Thus, without data on numbers of inpatients and numbers of gastrointestinal bleeds, endoscopists may be unable to adequately compare their own figures for morbidity/mortality with those provided by this audit. D A GORARD M NEWTON W R BURNHAM Department of Gastroenterology, Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, Essex RM7 OBE


To reduce human risk and maintenance costs, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are involved in subsea inspections and measurements for a wide range of marine industries such as offshore wind farms and other underwater infrastructure. Most of these inspections may require levels of manoeuvrability similar to what can be achieved by tethered vehicles, called Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). To extend AUV intervention time and perform closer inspection in constrained spaces, AUVs need to be more efficient and flexible by being able to undulate around physical constraints. A biomimetic fish-like AUV known as RoboFish has been designed to mimic propulsion techniques observed in nature to provide high thrust efficiency and agility to navigate its way autonomously around complex underwater structures. Building upon advances in acoustic communications, computer vision, electronics and autonomy technologies, RoboFish aims to provide a solution to such critical inspections. This paper introduces the first RoboFish prototype that comprises cost-effective 3D printed modules joined together with innovative magnetic coupling joints and a modular software framework. Initial testing shows that the preliminary working prototype is functional in terms of water-tightness, propulsion, body control and communication using acoustics, with visual localisation and mapping capability.


Background Substance use amongst high school learners is common in South Africa, with related risky behaviours and outcomes. Because of the social and geographical trends, studies in various parts of the country are essential to contribute to the understanding of the overall picture. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of substance use, as well as the factors associated with substance use in a sample of high school learners in a suburb south of Johannesburg. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional survey, by using a self-administered questionnaire, was conducted amongst 308 learners in four high schools. The parents of all the learners provided consent for their children to participate in the study. Results The sample consisted of 308 learners who were in grades 8–12, with a mean age of 16.3. The majority (57%, n = 177) were females and 43% (n = 131) were males. The prevalence of substance use was 31% (n = 94), with 52% (n = 49) of those who use substances being male, compared with 48% (n = 45) females. Of those who used substances, 69% (n = 65) used alcohol, 10% (n = 9) smoked dagga, 5% (n = 5) smoked cigarettes, 7% (n = 7) used other substances and 46% (n = 43) were polyusers. Age, missing school because of illness, use of leisure time and friends using substances were significantly associated with the use of substances (p < 0.05). Conclusion The prevalence of substance use was high at 31%, which is of concern because the use of legal psychoactive substances remains illegal for minors. The risky factors associated with the use of substances highlight the threat that this behaviour has on the social well-being and educational outcomes of the learners.


Salmonella surveillance‐and‐control programs in pigs are highly resource demanding, so alternative cost‐effective approaches are desirable. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a tool for predicting the Salmonella test status in pig herds based on herd information collected from 108 industrial farrow‐to‐finish pig herds in Portugal. A questionnaire including known risk factors for Salmonella was used. A factor analysis model was developed to identify relevant factors that were then tested for association with Salmonella status. Three factors were identified and labelled: general biosecurity (factor 1), herd size (factor 2) and sanitary gap implementation (factor 3). Based on the loadings in factor 1 and factor 3, herds were classified according to their biosecurity practices. In total, 59% of the herds had a good level of biosecurity (interpreted as a loading below zero in factor 1) and 37% of the farms had good biosecurity and implemented sanitary gap (loading below zero in factor 1 and loading above zero in factor 3). This implied that they, among other things, implemented preventive measures for visitors and workers entering the herd, controlled biological vectors, had hygiene procedures in place, water quality assessment, and sanitary gap in the fattening and growing sections. In total, 50 herds were tested for Salmonella. Logistic regression analysis showed that factor 1 was significantly associated with Salmonella test status (P = 0.04). Herds with poor biosecurity had a higher probability of testing Salmonella positive compared with herds with good biosecurity. This study shows the potential for using herd information to classify herds according to their Salmonella status in the absence of good testing options. The method might be used as a potentially cost‐effective tool for future development of risk‐based approaches to surveillance, targeting interventions to high‐risk herds or differentiating sampling strategies in herds with different levels of infection.


Under the denomination primary chronic daily headache (CDH) there are different types of headache which present daily or near-daily, during long spells. This concept refers to temporality and not to a specific kind of headache. It is important to know the CDH and its natural history, as well as some factors that possibly turn it into chronic. They are critically reviewed here.


Previous research on topics such as atomic structure and chemical bonding indicates that students' mental models are often inconsistent with the scientific models, which may impede learning of advanced concepts. International research suggests that model- based teaching and learning in science education shows promise in overcoming student misconceptions, but research about modelling for chemical reactions is sparse. In an attempt to redress this schism, this study took the form of an inquiry into a cross-age study of 67 students drawn from secondary schools and universities to investigate their mental models of chemical reactions. This naturalistic qualitative inquiry was based within an interpretive paradigm and constructivist epistemology, in which data were generated from interviews with the participants. The data for this inquiry were derived from semi-structured interviews, incorporating the Interview-About-Instances (I.A.I) technique to probe students' mental models of chemical reactions for various chemical phenomena. Thematic analysis of the students' discourse of their mental models revealed different types of mental models, named Model A, B, and C. Each of the mental models was characterised based on features of energy change and the process of chemical reactions at the submicro level. Model A was considered as an initial mental model, which was based on students' experience with changes of matter in their daily life. This model was also attributed with the notion of agent-driven chemical change as its core characteristic. Basically, Model A explained most of the properties of chemical reactions, including the rate, spontaneity and reversibility of reactions. Although, it can be considered a 'causality model', it seemed essential for young students in making sense of the chemical phenomena that surround them. On the other hand, Model B was based on either the attributes related to kinetic theory of particles or attributes related to chemical bonding but this type of mental models seemed to share some characteristics of Model A. However, Model C was likely to incorporate the attributes related to both kinetic theory of particles and chemical bonding as core ideas used in explaining chemical reactions. Students' preference towards a given model in their mental models is consistent with previous studies. This preference is probably because of their early exposure to the kinetic theory, and it is simplistic but powerful in explaining the nature of chemical phenomena. Nonetheless, the model of chemical bonding was considered  an 'enabling' model for understanding of the chemical phenomena in terms of rearrangement of atoms and as an affordance to make sense of energy change. Students' mental models were also compared according to their level of education. Generally, most senior university students were found to hold Model C, while junior university and Form 6 students' mental models were mostly Model B, and all secondary school students' mental models were Model A. It seemed then that the more exposed the students are to formal education in chemistry, the more consistent their mental model become with the scientific view. Although students' mental models were categorised in such a manner, all of the mental models shared common attributes, such as the role of reacting agents in reaction spontaneity, energy as a part of reactions, and irreversibility presumptions. This finding indicates that students' initial mental models were not 'erased' but rather coexisted with the advanced mental models, which were developed through formal education. This relationship is similar to how science operates, where superseded models co-exist with more sophisticated models and are still used for practical purposes although scientists are aware of an old model's limitations and discrepancies. A general conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that students' mental models were found to be lacking in attributes that relate to scientific ideas such as particle model, particle collisions, activation energy, and entropy despite these ideas having been introduced in their formal learning. Therefore, it is recommended that students should be engaged in developing mental models that enable them to link between macro and submicro levels through modelling an instruction approach that emphasises the understanding, application and construction of models.


The photophysics and photochemistry of flavin dyes determine the functional dynamics of a series of blue light photoreceptors that include the so‐called BLUF (blue light sensors using flavin) domains. To enable molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies of such signaling processes, we derived molecular mechanics (MM) models of flavin chromophores from density functional theory (DFT). Two 300 K ensembles of lumiflavin (LF) in aqueous solution were generated by extended MM‐MD simulations using different MM potentials for the water. In a DFT/MM hybrid setting, in which LF was treated by DFT and the polarizing environment at atomistic resolution by MM, we applied instantaneous normal mode analyses (INMA) to these ensembles. From these data we determined the inhomogeneously broadened solution spectra as mixtures of Gaussian bands using a novel automated procedure for mode classification. Comparisons with vibrational spectra available in the literature on native and isotopically labeled flavins in aqueous solution serve us to determine suitable frequency scaling factors and to analyze the accuracy of our scaled DFT/MM‐INMA approach. We show that our approach not only agrees with established computational descriptions but also extends such methods substantially by giving access to inhomogeneous line widths and band shapes.


Patients with end stage renal failure consider the pain caused by recurrent fistula cannulations as the most intense stress they experience from their treatment and the biggest concern in their lives. One of the fundamental objectives of the nursing procedures is to relieve this pain. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the impact of two topical medications, namely Piroxicam and EMLA cream, on the pain caused by fistula cannulation among hemodialysis patients. This was a clinical trial conducted on 75 patients referring to the dialysis unit of the Shohadaye Ashayer Hospital of Khorramabad, West of Iran, in 2013. The patients were randomly divided into three groups: group A (Piroxicam), group B (EMLA cream), and group C (placebo). The data collection instrument was a questionnaire consisting of three parts: demographic information, the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain assessment, and a checklist for the likely side effects of the medications. The severity of pain during fistula cannulation was assessed in the three groups in two stages (before and after the intervention). To analyze the data, the Kruscal-Wallis and the Mann-Whitney statistical tests and SPSS 19 were used. The median for pain relief was obviously higher in the EMLA cream group than in either the Piroxicam or the placebo group and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Comparing the Piroxicam and the placebo showed that the pain reduction median was much higher in the Piroxicam group than the placebo group, but the difference was not significant. The results of this study showed that the EMLA cream is more effective than the Piroxicam gel in the reduction of pain caused by fistula cannulation among hemodialysis patients. Therefore, based on the results of the present study, it can be suggested that the EMLA cream, as a simple treatment method which can be applied by the patient himself/herself, be used to relieve pain during fistula cannulation of hemodialysis patients.


This paper investigates advanced parallel processing techniques and innovative hardware/software architectures that can be applied to boost the performance of supercomputers. Critical issues on architectural choices, parallel languages, compiling techniques, resource management, concurrency control, programming environment, parallel algorithms, and performance enhancement methods are examined and the best answers are presented. We cover advanced processing techniques suitable for supercomputers, high-end mainframes, minisupers, and array processors. The coverage emphasizes vectorization, multitasking, multiprocessing, and distributed computing. In order to achieve these operation modes, parallel languages, smart compilers, synchronization mechanisms, load balancing methods, mapping parallel algorithms, operating system functions, application library, and multidiscipline interactions are investigated to ensure high performance. At the end, we assess the potentials of optical and neural technologies for developing future supercomputers.


Maxwell's first equation dealt only with electric fields, saying nothing about magnetism. That changes with the introduction of Maxwell's second equation. A review of the mathematical development of the divergence, covered in detail in Chapter 2, may be helpful. 3.1 Introduction A magnet is any object that produces a magnetic field. That's a rather circular definition (and saying such is a bit of a pun, when you understand Maxwell's equations!), but it is a functional one; a magnet is most simply defined by how it functions. As mentioned in previous chapters, technically speaking, all matter is affected by magnets. It's just that some objects are affected more than others, and we tend to define "magnetism" in terms of the more obvious behavior. An object is magnetic if it attracts certain metals such as iron, nickel, or cobalt, and if it attracts and repels (depending on its orientation) other magnets. The earliest magnets occurred naturally and were called lodestones, a name that apparently comes from the Middle English "leading stone," suggesting an early recognition of the rock's ability to point in a certain direction when suspended freely. Lodestone, by
the way, is simply a magnetic form of magnetite, an ore whose name comes from the Magnesia region of Greece, which is itself a part of Thessaly in central eastern Greece bordering the Aegean Sea.


The pollution of groundwater and waste streams by nitrate is an increasing problem. The electrochemical reduction of nitrate is a viable technology to convert nitrate to a less harmful species such as N2. However, Rh, a rare precious metal is the most active catalyst for the electrochemical reduction of nitrate. The discovery of new electrocatalysts is required for this technology to be commercially viable. As nitrate is a complex reaction with up to eight different reaction products it is vital to be able to determine the product distribution. From the viewpoint of environmental remediation it is undesirable to form species such as NH3, which are more toxic than nitrate itself. Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) was highlighted as a useful technique to determine the gaseous reaction products. A DEMS system was designed and implemented to be used in conjunction with a high through-put electrochemical screening array. Samples were deposited on this electrochemical array featuring 100 electrodes by using a high through-put physical vapour deposition methodology [A] to create libraries of electrocatalyst materials. This method is highly versatile and was used to produce binary alloys over a wide composition range, as well as nanoparticles of Pt and alloy particles of PdCu. The advantage of high through-put methods is the fast synthesis and screening of potential electrocatalysts to determine active compositional ranges or particle size. The electrocatalysts prepared in this manner were characterised using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction prior to the electrochemical screening. The development of DEMS has allowed the activity of the electrocatalysts to be screened whilst monitoring the reaction products. Using the methods described above the activity and product selectivity of PdCu and PdSn alloy electrocatalysts are discussed in detail for the electrochemical reduction of nitrate in both acid and alkaline electrolyte. The PdCu and PdSn alloy systems which are frequently discussed in the literature were used to demonstrate the capabilities of the DEMS technique. These electrocatalysts still utilise a relatively expensive metal, Pd. Therefore further systems presented in this work include Pt nanoparticles, PdCu alloy nanoparticles (which reduce the precious metal loading) in addition to alloys of WCu and WC. References: [A] Guerin, S., Hayden, B., Physical Vapour Deposition Method for the High Through-put Synthesis of Solid-State Material Libraries, J. Combi. Chem. 2006, 8, (1), 66-73


Introduction: Traffic accidents represent a serious public health problem, because they kill approximately 1.24 million persons annually, and leave another 20 to 50 million with non-fatal lesions and traumatisms worldwide. In Brazil, in the year 2011, motorcyclists alone were responsible for one third of these deaths. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the years of potential life lost due to motorcycle accidents, according to sex and age group, and analyze the trend of the indicator for the state of Pernambuco in the period from 2005 to 2014.
Methods and Results an ecological study based on data from the System of Information about Mortality was used. The indicator and rate were calculated by using the age limit of 70 years. The linear regression model and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used, at the level of significance of 5% and confidence of 95%. The most affected sex and age-range were men between 20-29 years of age. The rates followed a trend of growth in both sexes, in the young population with the exception of those from 10 to 19 years of age.
Conclusions: This context points out the magnitude and precociousness of motorcycle accidents in both sexes and the young population.


The brilliant red pigments prodiginines are natural secondary metabolites that are produced by select species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. These molecules have received significant attention due to their reported antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive, and anticancer activities. In this study, a Serratia marcescens SER1 strain was isolated and verified using 16s rDNA. The prodigiosin was purified using silica chromatography and was analyzed by (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. The cell cytotoxic effects of the purified prodigiosin on multiple drug resistant cell lines that overexpress MDR1, BCRP, or MRP2 pumps were analyzed. Prodigiosin had nearly identical cytotoxic effects on the resistant cells in comparison to their parental lines. In agreement with the same prodigiosin cytotoxicity, FACS analysis of prodigiosin accumulation and efflux in MDR overexpressing cell lines also indicated that this pro-apoptotic agent operates independently of the presence of the MDR1, BCRP, or MRP transporter and may be a potential treatment for malignant cancer cells that overexpress multidrug resistance transporters.


Structural vibrations of machine tools and machine components are one of the limiting factors in high-speed machining. The structural vibrations reduce the surface quality of parts and reduce the positioning accuracy of the tool. In the worst case scenario, disturbances caused by machine vibrations can lead to process destabilization and component failure. Currently, the industry uses passive components to reduce certain machine vibrations. These passive components are specially designed for specific operating points and do not allow rapid compensation of a wide range of vibrations. Current research is focused on mechatronic damping systems that actively compensate structural vibrations. The mechatronic damping systems are able to detect structural vibrations with integrated sensors. System models are used to calculate the actuating forces required to compensate these vibrations. This enables a faster response to disturbances caused by machine vibrations. The further development and research of these mechatronic damping systems is the next step towards a further degree of machine tool autonomy. In the vision of autonomous machine tools, the machine configures itself and executes the production process independently. Autonomous machine tools require machine components and auxiliary systems which react autonomously and in a structurally-integrated manner to external disturbances. In this paper, two examples of mechatronic damping systems are presented to demonstrate how these systems work. By means of active jerk decoupling system, vibrations of the machine frame are actively damped. Moreover, a motor-integrated spindle damping concept allows for the active damping of chatter vibrations. The mechatronic damping systems are classified in the following according to the level of autonomy of their respective machine components and further steps are discussed to increase the degree of autonomy.


Quantization has emerged as one of the most prevalent approaches to compress and accelerate neural networks. Recently, data-free quantization has been widely studied as a practical and promising solution. It synthesizes data for calibrating the quantized model according to the batch normalization (BN) statistics of FP32 ones and significantly relieves the heavy dependency on real training data in traditional quantization methods. Unfortunately, we find that in practice, the synthetic data identically constrained by BN statistics suffers serious homogenization at both distribution level and sample level and further causes a significant performance drop of the quantized model. We propose Diverse Sample Generation (DSG) scheme to mitigate the adverse effects caused by homogenization. Specifically, we slack the alignment of feature statistics in the BN layer to relax the constraint at the distribution level and design a layerwise enhancement to reinforce specific layers for different data samples. Our DSG scheme is versatile and even able to be applied to the state-of-the-art post-training quantization method like AdaRound. We evaluate the DSG scheme on the large-scale image classification task and consistently obtain significant improvements over various network architectures and quantization methods, especially when quantized to lower bits (e.g., up to 22% improvement on W4A4). Moreover, benefiting from the enhanced diversity, models calibrated with synthetic data perform close to those calibrated with real data and even outperform them on W4A4.


INVESTIGATION OF AN INTEGRATED REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL WATERSHED METHODOLOGY by Marshall R. Boggio Recent public awareness of the environment has placed increased emphasis on the health and current state of the regional watershed. The watershed has been defined as that area in which water flowing across and beneath a given land surface drains into a specific stream or river, ultimately flowing through a single point or outlet on that stream or river. Since the processes involved are many and are analyzed in the literature on an individual basis, the current investigation attempts a more holistic approach by suggesting a methodology that integrates all elements of the hydrologic cycle. The investigation utilizes the area topography in the form of a digital elevation model (DEM) as the base for analysis. Basic to any watershed model is a characterization of the water flow in streams by a mathematical function expressed through the hydrograph. The investigation explores the hydrograph and proposes that it can be constructed from hydrological components in a feedback concept with precipitation as input and the volume of flow as output. Feedback, for example, is represented as ground water and infiltration. An approach is presented to develop the watershed hydrograph from a Taylor series expansion using the derivatives of measured flow as parameters. The expansion result is transformed through LaPlace techniques into a representation of the hydrograph. Once done, the resulting time function can be transformed by the Fourier operator and a unique spectral signature of the stream obtained. It is further asserted that the national network of stream gages can be a useful source of data for this construct. Included in the research is an investigation of the framework needed to package the information describing the watershed model. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is suggested as the ideal method to organize and provide clarity to the watershed model. Particularly important is the structured relational database required in this approach. Added to this are spatial geographic capabilities, which did not exist in the past. Lastly, an investigation into the project management tasks necessary for the successful pursuit of a watershed-monitoring program is outlined. Emphasis here is placed on the inclusion of all the interested parties in the care taking of the watershed. The analysis and modeling of watersheds are gaining increasing attention as managers and custodians become more acutely aware of the interactions of human activity and the environmental health of the watershed. Government investment in the streamgaging networks will contribute to this process by providing improved physical data to be used as input into the modeling efforts. The future holds greater promise to manage our natural resources through more comprehensive models of the environment. INVESTIGATION OF AN INTEGRATED REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL WATERSHED METHODOLOGY by Marshall R. Boggio A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering


Morality is fast becoming an integral part of the mandate for business through both societal and regulatory pressures. Collusive tendering is one of the moral choices facing decision-makers in the construction industry. This paper describes an empirical investigation of the attitudes and behavioural intent towards collusive tendering of key individuals in the tendering process. It also explores the factors that determine these attitudes. The results of the empirical investigation indicate that there is a minority of decision-makers that admit they would consider participating in some form of collusive tendering agreement under certain circumstances. These people form a distinct group in their demographic as well as decision-making profile.


This article draws on the formal and aesthetic qualities of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictée as a critical model for theorizing the transnational legacies of colonialism and empire embedded in the acts of language learning and as an opening for Asian American literary studies to engage with the previously understudied genre of Thai American and Thai poetry. Foregrounding aesthetics and unique, translingual poetic practices, the readings in this article explore rich connections between Dictée and two experimental collections of Thai and Thai American poetry: Padcha Tuntha-obas's trespasses (2006) and Jai Arun Ravine's แล้ว and then entwine (2011a). Thai American cultural production is uniquely situated to offer aesthetic insights into the history of US presence in Southeast Asia from the mid-twentieth century onward, which in Thailand took the form of allyship and soft power as Thailand's formally uncolonized status obscured the violent codifications of gender, racial, and sexual norms to align with Western, imperial worldviews. The author argues that, just as Dictée marked a revolutionary period in Asian American literary studies as the field grappled with the role of poststructural theory, experimental literary forms, and transnational, decolonial politics in the United States and Asia, a more sustained engagement with Thai American and Thai poetry can offer a critical entry point to address US informal empire building in Southeast Asia, including activities often occluded in mainstream historical narratives by a singular focus on Vietnam during the Cold War era.


: The cochleovestibular tract is seldom involved by sarcoidosis (about 50 cases have been described since 1948). As a clinical expression of sarcoidosis, deafness is fluctuant in 50% of all cases, bilateral, and most often associated with facial palsy and uveitis, the vestibular reflexes being reduced. The histological studies demonstrate lesions at all levels from the cochlea to be brain stem, but the main mechanism is an infiltration of the arachnoid vessels. The prognosis of sarcoidosis deafness is usually poor in spite of corticosteroid therapy. This paper is illustrated by 3 cases observed in Avicenne Hospital.


Neighbor-Every-Theta (NET) graphs are such that each node has at least one neighbor in every theta angle sector of its communication range. We show that for thetas < pi, NET graphs are guaranteed to have an edge-connectivity of at least floor (2pi)/thetas, even with an irregular communication range. Our main contribution is to show how this family of graphs can achieve tunable topology control based on a single parameter thetas. Since the required condition is purely local and geometric, it allows for distributed topology control. For a static network scenario, a power control algorithm based on the NET condition is developed for obtaining k-connected topologies and shown to be significantly efficient compared to existing schemes. In controlled deployment of a mobile network, control over positions of nodes can be leveraged for constructing NET graphs with desired levels of network connectivity and sensing coverage. To establish this, we develop a potential fields based distributed controller and present simulation results for a large network of robots. Lastly, we extend NET graphs to 3D and provide an efficient algorithm to check for the NET condition at each node. This algorithm can be used for implementing generic topology control algorithms in 3D.


Terahertz-based nano-networks are emerging as a groundbreaking technology able to play a decisive role in future medical applications owing to their ability to precisely quantify figures, such as the viral load in a patient or to predict sepsis shock or heart attacks before they occur. Due to the extremely limited size of the devices composing these nano-networks, the use of the Terahertz (THz) band has emerged as the enabling technology for their communication. However, the characteristics of the THz band, which strictly reduce the communication range inside the human body, together with the energy limitations of nano-nodes make the in-body deployment of nano-nodes a challenging task. To overcome these problems, we propose a novel in-body flow-guided nano-network architecture consisting of three different devices: i) nano-node, ii) nano-router, and iii) bio-sensor. As the performance of this type of nano-network has not been previously explored, a theoretical framework capturing all its particularities is derived to properly model its behavior and evaluate its feasibility in real medical applications. Employing this analytical model, a thorough sensitivity study of its key parameters is accomplished. Finally, we analyze the terahertz flow-guided nano-network design to satisfy the requirements of several medical applications of interest.


In this paper, we estimate agricultural productivity change at country level based on the same data employed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the current reference data source, using a stochastic frontier model instead of the growth accounting method. The use of a stochastic frontier model is motivated by the opportunity to overcome the limitation of USDA estimates which rely on approximated and imputed input cost shares, and of the growth accounting method in general, which ignores technical inefficiency. We found that, in general, USDA estimates are higher in absolute value than ours but in substantial agreement, confirming the different theoretical foundations of the two methods and suggesting the empirical validity of both of them. Furthermore, our results show that the assumption of constant returns to scale made by many authors appears just a simplification and not a real property of the production processes of the various countries. This work has the value to provide, for the first time in the literature, a comparison between agricultural productivity changes estimated with different methodologies, and an additional data source that can be employed in a large variety of longitudinal economic analyses at country level.


Transferring a low-dynamic-range (LDR) image to a high-dynamic-range (HDR) image, which is the so-called inverse tone mapping (iTM), is an important imaging technique to improve visual effects of imaging devices. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning-based iTM method, which learns an inverse tone mapping network with a generative adversarial regularizer. In the framework of alternating optimization, we learn a U-Net-based HDR image generator to transfer input LDR images to HDR ones, and a simple CNN-based discriminator to classify the real HDR images and the generated ones. Specifically, when learning the generator we consider the content-related loss and the generative adversarial regularizer jointly to improve the stability and the robustness of the generated HDR images. Using the learned generator as the proposed inverse tone mapping network, we achieve superior iTM results to the state-of-the-art methods consistently.


Experiments were conducted to fabricate the Al4C3 particles by powder in-situ synthesis process under argon atmosphere and examine the grain refinement of AZ91D magnesium alloy with the addition of 0.6%Al4C3(hereafter in mass fraction,%). By means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), the results show the successful fabrication of Al4C3 particles. After adding 0.6%Al4C3, the average grain size of AZ91D magnesium alloy decreased from 360μm to 243μm. Based on the differential thermal analysis (DTA) results and calculations of the planar disregistry between Al4C3 and α-Mg, Al4C3 particles located in the central regions of magnesium grains can act as the heterogeneous nucleus of primary α-Mg phase.


Machine learning allows detecting specific physical activities using data from wearable sensors. Such a quantification of patient mobility over time promises to accurately inform clinical decisions for physical rehabilitation. There are two strategies of setting up the machine learning problem: detect one patient's activities using data from the same patient (personal model) or detect their activities using data from other patients (global model), and we currently do not know if personal models are necessary. Here we consider the problem of detecting physical activities from a waist-worn accelerometer in patients who use a knee-ankle-foot orthosis (KAFO) to walk. We show that while a model based on healthy subjects has low accuracy, the global model performs as well as the personal model. This is encouraging because it suggests that condition-specific activity recognition algorithms are sufficient and that no data from individual patients is necessary.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping modern society by allowing a decent number of RF devices to connect and share information through RF channels. However, such an open nature also brings obstacles to surveillance. For alleviation, a surveillance oracle, or a cognitive communication entity needs to identify and confirm the appearance of known or unknown signal sources in real-time. In this paper, we provide a deep learning framework for RF signal surveillance. Specifically, we jointly integrate the Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and Quickest Detection (QD) to form a sequential signal surveillance scheme. We first analyze the latent space characteristic of neural network classification models, and then we leverage the response characteristics of DNN classifiers and propose a novel method to transform existing DNN classifiers into performance-assured binary abnormality detectors. In this way, we seamless integrate the DNNs with parametric quickest detection. Finally, we propose an enhanced Elastic Weight Consolidation (EWC) algorithm with better numerical stability for DNNs in signal surveillance system to evolve incrementally, we demonstrate that the zero-bias DNN is superior than regular DNN models considering incremental learning and decision fairness. We evaluated the proposed framework using real signal datasets and we believe this framework is helpful in developing a trustworthy IoT ecosystem.


In K-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channels, it was shown that interference alignment (IA) achieves a full spatial multiplexing gain when perfect channel state information (CSI) is available at each transmitter in the network. When the CSI is fed back from receivers using the limited number of feedback bits, a significant performance loss is inevitable in the IA due to quantized channel knowledge. In this paper, we propose a new channel quantization strategy to optimize the performance of the IA with limited feedback. In our proposed scheme, we introduce an additional receive filter to minimize the chordal distance which accounts for the quantization error on Grassmann manifold. Besides, we analyze a reduction in terms of the chordal distance in our scheme compared to conventional methods. Simulation results verify that the proposed scheme provides substantially better performance than the conventional method as the number of feedback bits is increased. We show that our scheme exhibits 30% and 40% sum rate gains compared to the conventional scheme when the numbers of the feedback bits are 10 and 15, respectively, with two antennas per node.


This collection of essays provides new perspectives on the nature of character and moral education by utilizing insights from the disciplines of moral psychology, moral philosophy, and education. The volume draws from personality and developmental research as well as educational and ethical theory. Character Psychology and Character Education distinguishes itself by bringing moral philosophers, who believe that ethical reflection about virtue and character must be tied to defensible notions of personality and selfhood, into dialogue with academic psychologists, who believe that the developmental study of the moral self requires adequate grounding in various psychological literatures. The first group embraces a "naturalized" ethics, while the second group favors a "psychologized" morality. Among the topics explored in this volume are the constructs of moral selfhood, personality, and identity, as well as defensible models of character education. One of the primary arguments of the volume is that problems of character education cannot be addressed until an adequate model of character psychology is developed. In addition to the excellent theoretical essays, this collection includes applied chapters that consider the challenge of character education in the context of schools, families, and organized sports. This book will be an invaluable resource both for scholars and practitioners in the fields of psychology and education.


BACKGROUND
The primary purpose was to assess if VAS or Likert was relatively more suitable when assessing self-ratings of voice and speech in patients treated for laryngeal cancer. An additional purpose was to investigate whether the scales differed in measuring change after treatment.

MATERIAL/METHODS
Using both VAS and Likert, 71 patients answered three questions at baseline and 12 months after treatment began. For test-retest analyses, additional data were used from 21 subjects. Non-parametric statistical methods suitable for comparing scales with different numbers of response alternatives were applied.

RESULTS
Test-retest reliability was strongest for the Likert scale. From baseline to follow-up, both scales detected significant improvements. However, for some Likert scores the associated VAS values varied across a wide range, and this was true for assessments at baseline, at follow-up, and for score changes. At baseline the inter-scale concordance showed a greater number of disordered pairs than at follow-up and on both occasions the older group produced a greater number of disordered pairs.

CONCLUSIONS
No support for the superiority of VAS over Likert was found. However, VAS may produce instability in response patterns. When using self-ratings of voice and speech to identify a need of further rehabilitation, Likert scales seem better suited.


Trisomy 21 is associated with an increased incidence of hematologic disorders such as polycythemia, transient myeloproliferative disorder, and acute leukemia.1There are only rare reports in the literature of an association with isolated neonatal thrombocytopenia.2-5Based on consultations for mild thrombocytopenia in otherwise well newborns with trisomy 21, our clinical impression is that this is a common finding. This review compares the incidence of thrombocytopenia in neonates with trisomy 21 with that found in normal full-term newborns. Methods.Medical records of all children with trisomy 21 undergoing evaluation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn, from 1985 to 1993 were reviewed (N=110). Thirty-one full-term infants had platelet counts measured within 48 hours of birth. Capillary blood samples were obtained for platelet enumeration, in most instances by heel puncture. Six patients were excluded from study for either neonatal illnesses involving destruction of platelets (ie, disseminated intravascular coagulation, sepsis, and


Next-generation integrated fiber-wireless access networks will require low-cost and high-capacity deployment to meet customer demand. A new configuration of radio over fiber–passive optical network (RoF-PON) architecture, including two 60 GHz multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) based on a 5G universal filtered multicarrier waveform and wired signal utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), is described. At the optical line terminal, MIMO signals are integrated as upper and lower sidebands of the wired OFDM signal. This integration approach, employing single-sideband frequency translation, reduces the complexity of the transceiver design and provides high spectral efficiency because the two MIMO-RoF and wired signals transmit at the same frequency. Improved techniques are also employed to upconvert and downconvert the 60 GHz millimeter wave (MMW), being remote optical heterodyning and self-heterodyning, respectively. The MIMO-RoF signals are therefore transmitted at low frequency over the standard single-mode fiber to avoid the impairments induced at higher frequencies, and the remote optical local oscillator is reused to downconvert the two 60 GHz MMWs, producing a cost-effective system. Simulation results demonstrate very satisfactory network performance when using a downstream link over a 20 km span standard PON.


We describe the isolation and characterization of a Pediococcus cerevisiae thymidine-requiring mutant and its thymidine-independent revertant. The mutant strain lacked thymidylate synthetase activity and had an absolute requirement for low concentrations (2 micrograms/ml) of thymidine in addition to a requirement for N-5-formyl tetrahydrofolic acid (folinate). Even at high concentrations (up to 500 micrograms/ml), thymine could not replace thymidine. In contrast to its wild-type parent, which grows only on folinate, the thymidine-requiring mutant (Thy- Fol+) was able to take up and grow on picogram quantities of unreduced folic acid. When both strains were grown on folinate, the Thy- Fol+ strain was at least 10(3)-fold more resistant to the folic acid analogs aminopterin and methotrexate than the wild-type strain. On the other hand, when grown on folic acid, the Thy- Fol+ strain was as sensitive to the folic acid analogs as the Thy+ Fol+ strain and was 10(2)-fold more sensitive than the wild-type strain grown on folinate. The thymidine-independent revertant (Thy+ Fol+) regained the wild-type level of thymidylate synthetase activity, but maintained the ability to take up and grow on unreduced folic acid like its Thy- Fol+ parent.


The author describes an efficient data structure called the G-tree (or grid tree) for organizing multidimensional data. The data structure combines the features of grids and B-trees in a novel manner. It also exploits an ordering property that numbers the partitions in such a way that partitions that are spatially close to one another in a multidimensional space are also close in terms of their partition numbers. This structure adapts well to dynamic data spaces with a high frequency of insertions and deletions, and to nonuniform distributions of data. We demonstrate that it is possible to perform insertion, retrieval, and deletion operations, and to run various range queries efficiently using this structure. A comparison with the BD tree, zkdb tree and the KDB tree is carried out, and the advantages of the G-tree over the other structures are discussed. The simulated bucket utilization rates for the G-tree are also reported. >


The present article provides an overview of some recent research in bilingual first language acquisition with special reference to Romance languages. It addresses two language contact phenomena, language mixing at the lexical level and crosslinguistic influence at the syntactic level. For both contact phenomena, there is evidence that they are unrelated to language dominance (as measured in terms of MLU). Language mixing is negatively correlated with the number of utterances per minute, a measure for language fluency. Cross-linguistic influence at the syntactic level is due to computational complexity which is caused for example by the invasive interplay of pragmatics and syntax. This kind of interplay will be discussed on the basis of the presence or absence of the null-subject property, comparing Italian and German, and by studying the presence or absence of object clitics, comparing French and German. Since cross-linguistic influence affects bilingual individuals to different degrees (sometimes referred to as individual variation), we discuss the assumption that the degree to which the influence manifests itself differs as a function of fluency (measured in words produced per minute). The more fluent the child is in the language with the computationally complex analysis, the less the effect of cross-linguistic influence. In sum, the language which exhibits influence is determined by computational complexity as defined, for example, by the invasive interplay between pragmatics and syntax. The degree of manifestation of the influence depends on fluency in the computationally complex language.


Abstract Tourist promotional texts function like advertising texts in that they aim to "persuade, lure, woo, and seduce" (Dann 1996). In the context of global marketing, tourists can be considered consumers who seek to escape from ordinary life carrying their culturally embedded mindsets with them. Although cultural differences have been widely discussed in the literature on tourism translation, few studies have focused on the deeper level 'out-of-awareness' culture through which tourists travelling abroad interpret what they see. This paper investigates cultural localisation as a strategy to adapt the source text of a French wine tourism website to the hidden cultural values of British tourists in order to preserve the persuasive function of the target text. Using Hall's anthropological iceberg model and Hofstede's cultural dimensions as the framework, a small sample of French source texts and their English translations are compared to demonstrate the link between the stylistic features of tourism language and the psychological motivations of tourists, highlighting the interplay between all levels of the cultural iceberg. The findings suggest that culturally localised tourism websites are more likely to succeed as instruments of persuasion, with ego-targeting discussed as an effective strategy when adapting the text to appeal to the British market.


To develop a suitable scaffold for tissue-engineered bone regeneration, we compared the efficiency of tissue-engineered bone regeneration according to the porous structure of calcium metaphosphate (CMP) ceramic scaffolds. Each scaffold was prepared with a sponge method and a foam-gel method, respectively. Both scaffolds, having either interconnected trabecular pores formed by the sponge method or fully interconnected globular pores formed by the foam-based technology, were not cytotoxic and elicited neither an immune nor an inflammatory response regardless of geometry and fabrication method. The fully interconnected globular porous scaffold showed more favorable compression strength and facilitated osteogenic repair by favoring cellular attachment and osteogenic differentiation with good osteoconductivity compared to the interconnected trabecular pore structured scaffold. These results suggest that the fully interconnected globular porous structure would be more suitable for both a bone substitute and scaffold for bioactive material-based or cell-based tissue bone regeneration.


There are remarkable molecular and embryological similarities in cardiogenesis between Drosophila and vertebrates. Cells comprising the Drosophila heart can be subdivided into individual identities based on differences in morphology, function and gene expression patterns. Recent studies have shown that differential modifications of histone proteins, in vivo transcription factor (TF) binding, and the presence of particular TF binding motifs can be used as predictive signatures of the enhancers that govern cell-specific gene expression. Here we used discriminative training methods within an integrative, multi-species framework to uncover the motifs, enhancers and genes underlying cardiac cell fate decisions. As an initial step, we undertook a large-scale validation of Drosophila heart enhancers, which revealed enhancer activities in distinct subpopulations of cardiac cells. To identify related cell-specific regulatory elements, we used the validated enhancers as a training set in a machine learning approach that integrated TF motifs with ChIP data for both TF binding and histone modifications. Empirical validation of candidate enhancers predicted by this method confirmed activity in the appropriate cardiac cells. By clustering the motifs derived from the individual cardiac classifiers, we identified and validated sequence features which discriminate specific cellular identities. Next, we asked if similar predictive signatures underlie mouse and human cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation from embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We show that the distribution of histone marks found within differentiating human and mouse ESCs indeed predict genes potentially critical for CM differentiation, with the best predictions provided by the overlapping mouse and human candidates. We evaluated this result in a large-scale RNAi-based screen of Drosophila orthologs of the mammalian genes, which uncovered dozens of novel cardiogenic regulators whose function is being tested in differentiating human ESCs. In total, these results document the utility of computational modeling combined with empirical testing to uncover the enhancers, TF motifs and genes which characterize individual cardiac cell fates in both invertebrate and mammalian species.


Our communication aims to explain how, into a small and medium companies' panel, whom observation is included into, and based on, a PhD research disposal, we are planning to reveal fields of creativity then following by skills, so revealed. Because small and medium organization show their own specific characteristics in this time, and despite they are facing up some difficulties, as usual in an open and wide market, they create, in Western Europe, most of the wealth, create most of jobs and make more than half the productive investments in European countries.We think although, thanks to their size, their history and their flexibility, they are often the melting pot for innovation and sources of information coveted by competitors. In creative project mode, it is the player within a structured organization, as the one that uses their products, that has a major role to play in information management and the emergence of new ideas. The importance of strategic monitoring and competitive intelligence, as translation, mediation and, finally, interactions, in their development, diversification, innovation and decision-making processes no longer needs to be demonstrated. This is why we integrate and stress our contribution into the field of communication sciences linked with information.


The traumatic events experienced by survivors of sex trafficking are not unlike the experiences of victims of state-sanctioned torture. Injuries sustained during the period of exploitation leave scars on the body and the spirit that can prevent the survivor from having any semblance of a happy life unless practitioners understand the culture not only of the patient, but of the street or brothel. This paper presents clinical implications derived from life histories of women who had been trafficked in the sex trade. Recommendations are given for how to provide services framed within a cultural context. One of many challenges in working with sex trafficking victims is that they may actively resist being rescued. Traffickers are expert manipulators who create a new family structure of rigid rules and norms with the girls they exploit. Street pimps might use the "Romeo" approach in which they seduce the girl into loving them, creating a powerful loyalty. Others simply exert control by threatening to harm the girls'families. This technique is particularly effective with young women who come from cultures that value the family above the individual and would do anything to protect their families, even if the parents sold the girl into early marriage or prostitution. Providing culturally based care is critical to working in collaborative networks including law enforcement, prosecutors, medical and social services, and the business community.


Malonic acid injection causes an increase in the survival of rats with acute hypoxic hypoxia. Endogenic malonic acid is supposed to be of great importance in stimulating tissue resistance to hypoxia.


Abstract : Mixing of two streams of compressible fluid having arbitrary properties at the start of mixing results in one of two possible states upon conclusion of the mixing process. These two final states can be differentiated by the fact that the Mach Number of the fully mixed flows are related in the same manner as are the Mach Numbers across a normal shock wave. One of these states is always representative of a subsonic flow and the other a supersonic flow. Since both solutions represent flows which satisfy the laws of mass flow and energy conservation and the momentum theorum in a channel of uniform cross-section, the physical possibility of achieving these end states must be corroborated by examination of the process in terms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Therefore the total entropy change of the flows from the initial to the final state have been determined. It is shown that both solutions correspond to flows which have a positive entropy change in certain ranges of the initial conditions while in other ranges the solution corresponding to a supersonic end state may violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Applications of these solutions to the flow through an ejector provide a means for design optimization which results in high thrust augmentating capability at any given flight speed. (Author)