While boardroom networks should act as a conduit for resource sharing between firms, and in doing so improve firm performance, recent evidence on the value of connected boards is limited and inconclusive. This study aims to provide additional evidence on the impact of board connectivity on firm performance by exploring Australian listed firms between 2001 and 2011. We employ four dimensions of connectivity; measuring the quantity, speed and quality of information flow and resource sharing, and a firms access to the best-connected boards. We also employ a factor of the four connectivity dimensions. Our findings show more connected boards have lower firm performance, measured with Tobin's Q. The results remain consistent after controlling for alternative measures of firm performance, and model specifications. The results suggest that boardroom networks are not a value-enhancing tool for boards.


Previous studies have shown that hydrolysis of membrane inositol phospholipids in rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells depended on the rate and extent of the aggregation of receptors of IgE. This response was used as an experimental probe to study the role of IgE receptors in initiating stimulatory and inhibitory processes within the cell. The response was amplified markedly by increasing the concentration of external Ca2+ from 0 to 1 mM, but the concentration required to support half-maximal response varied from less than 0.1 mM for the most potent cross-linking reagent, DNP24BSA (24 molecules of DNP attached to 1 molecule of BSA) to 0.5 mM for the least potent reagent, aggregated OVA. The dependency of phosphoinositide hydrolysis on external Ca2+ was reduced to zero once hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids was underway but secretion of histamine remained totally dependent on the presence of 0.5 to 1 mM external Ca2+. The stimulatory response persisted as long as receptors remained aggregated but it was modulated by a biochemical process, possibly the activation of protein kinase C, that targeted specifically aggregated receptors, or an associated protein. For example, when cells had become desensitized to high concentrations of one Ag, a normal response could be evoked with a second Ag. Also cells that had become desensitized could be reactivated by permeabilizing the cells. Interestingly, bell-shaped Ag dose-response curves, which were characteristic for both the phosphoinositide and secretory responses, were transformed to sigmoid-shaped curves once cells were permeabilized and dialyzed.


In recent years, ITM 399 series tractor has been manufactured in Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company (ITM), which can be suitable for small farms operations. For big farms operations, minimizing energy consumption, decreasing the time losses and increasing work efficiency, a heavy duty tractor of ITM 8200 series was started to design in the same Company. The gearbox selection, design and analysis for this tractor with the engine power of 154 horse power is studied in this research. The mechanical gearbox equipped with mechanical-hydraulic dynashift system was used in ITM 8200 power transmission system. The dynashift system produces four cases (A, B, C and D) with 8 speeds that produced by main gearbox, which altogether produces 32 forward speeds and 32 reverse speeds for this new tractor. To design the gearbox, with recommended speeds, gearbox ratios and gears ratios was calculated. Then by using the engine torque and slip torque on tractor gearbox, the exerted loads on gears were calculated. After this, by using of American Gear Manufacturing Association (AGMA) method and computer programming design, the gears have been designed. Finally one of the gears in ANSYS software analyzed. The results of this analysis show that: The gears have been designed for tractor gearbox can endure loading and transfer the power requirement of new tractor. The design safety factor of gears has been obtained by ANSYS software approximately equals with safety factor of AGMA methodology. In gear analysis, for applying load to one of gear tooth (unit contact ratio), stress distribution will produce in gear body and especially on neighboring teeth body. For tractor gearbox design, it would be necessary to include slip torque, which will decrease the gear width and gearbox volume.


We investigated the effect of long-term ingestion of dietary medium-chain triacylglycerols (MCT) on body weight and fat in humans. Using a double-blind, controlled protocol, we assessed the potential health benefits of MCT compared with long-chain triacylglycerols (LCT) in 78 healthy men and women [body mass index (BMI) > or = 23 kg/m(2): n = 26 (MCT), n = 30 (LCT); BMI < 23 kg/m(2): n = 15 (MCT), n = 7 (LCT)]. Changes in anthropometric variables, body weight and body fat during the 12-wk MCT treatment period were compared with those in subjects consuming the LCT diet. The subjects were asked to consume 9218 kJ/d and 60 g/d of total fat. The energy, fat, protein and carbohydrate intakes did not differ significantly between the groups. Body weight and body fat in both groups had decreased by wk 4, 8 and 12 of the study. However, in the subjects with BMI > or = 23 kg/m(2), the extent of the decrease in body weight was significantly greater in the MCT group than in the LCT group. In subjects with BMI > or = 23 kg/m(2), the loss of body fat in the MCT group (-3.86 +/- 0.3 kg) was significantly greater than that in the LCT group (-2.75 +/- 0.2 kg) at 8 wk. In addition, in subjects with BMI > or = 23 kg/m(2), the decrease in the area of subcutaneous fat in the MCT group was significantly greater than that in the LCT group at wk 4, 8 and 12. These results suggest that the MCT diet may reduce body weight and fat in individuals (BMI > or = 23 kg/m(2)) more than the LCT diet.


Distillation column is one of the most important equipment in a chemical industry. It is quite a challenge to control both the composition of the bottom and top product without affecting the composition of one another. By designing a good controller and a good tuning for a controller, a distillation column can be controlled efficiently and a product with a high quality can be obtained. A few methods are applied in this project which is by first designing a controller which is a PID controller and a MPC controller. Once the designing of the controller is done, an algorithm is developed to make sure that the tuning of distillation column control can be done efficiently. Then, the controller tuning setting is tested using matlab and the result of each approach is compared and the best result is selected to control the distillation column. Lastly, a performance evaluation is done in order to make sure that the controller tuning does not damage the valve. Therefore, by studying on tuning of distillation column control the composition of the bottom and the top product can be control and the product of a distillation column can be obtain according to the desired value


FoodEx2 is a comprehensive food classification and description system developed by FESA that needs to be actively maintained, remain up to date as well as flexible to accommodate data collections in different domains. To this end regular maintenance of the system is needed. A first maintenance was carried out in 2015 and a second during the years 2016-2018 in order to evaluate further comments and proposals provided to EFSA by users and stakeholders. This technical report describes the outcome of the third maintenance process done during 2019 which entailed addition of new terms, deprecation of terms and amendments to existing terms including enrichment of implicit facets.


The effects of a shading paint containing NIR-reflecting pigments applied to the roof of an experimental greenhouse on greenhouse microclimate, plant response of a tomato crop and fruit yield and quality were studied under the tropical climate conditions of Central Thailand. One experiment was carried out in the rainy (2006) season and in the dry (2005/2006) season. The maximal reduction of the air temperatures inside the greenhouse with the NIR reflecting roof paint was observed during the dry season. At this time the temperature in this house was 2.8 °C lower than in the control greenhouse without shading paint. On average the temperature reduction was 2 °C in the dry and 0.6 °C in the rainy season. The magnitude of the temperature reduction was influenced by the time of application in relation to stage of plant growth. Cumulative water consumption between the 4 th and 17 th week after transplanting was reduced by 8.8 % and 6.2 % during the dry and rainyseason, respectively. However, this did not significantly influence overall water use efficiency. Reduction in the transmission of the photosynthetic active radiation did not significantly influence yield. Shading had only negligibly small influence on plant height, number of trusses, leaf area index and dry matter partitioning.


This work investigates the modeling and control of a new dissipative passive haptic display that uses magnetorheological (MR) brakes as actuators. The device is energetically passive, meaning that it can only remove energy from the system. All motive force must be generated by the user, which guarantees stability of the system and safety of the human operator. A first order system approach is presented as a tool for modeling MR fluid behavior in a low-speed braking device. A simulation was developed that uses the brake model and the equations of motion to predict robot motion based on force input and actuator commands. The accuracy of these models was demonstrated with comparisons to experimental data. Two forms of path following velocity control were successfully implemented and shown to significantly reduce path error in preliminary experiments with human operators.


The developing cerebral cortex undergoes a period of substantial cell death. The present studies examine the role of the suicide receptor Fas/Apo[apoptosis]-1 in cerebral cortical development. Fas mRNA and protein are transiently expressed in subsets of cells within the developing rat cerebral cortex during the peak period of apoptosis. Fas-immunoreactive cells were localized in close proximity to Fas ligand (FasL)-expressing cells. The Fas-associated signaling protein receptor interacting protein (RIP) was expressed by some Fas-expressing cells, whereas Fas-associated death domain (FADD) was undetectable in the early postnatal cerebral cortex. FLICE-inhibitory protein (FLIP), an inhibitor of Fas activation, was also expressed in the postnatal cerebral cortex. Fas expression was more ubiquitous in embryonic cortical neuroblasts in dissociated culture compared to in situ within the developing brain, suggesting that the environmental milieu partly suppresses Fas expression at this developmental stage. Furthermore, FADD, RIP, and FLIP were also expressed by subsets of dissociated cortical neuroblasts in culture. Fas activation by ligand (FasL) or anti-Fas antibody induced caspase-dependent cell death in primary embryonic cortical neuroblast cultures. The activation of Fas was also accompanied by a rapid downregulation of Fas receptor expression, non-cell cycle-related incorporation of nucleic acids and nuclear translocation of the RelA/p65 subunit of the transcription factor NF-κB. Together, these data suggest that adult cortical cell number may be established, in part, by an active process of receptor-mediated cell suicide, initiatedin situ by killer (FasL-expressing) cells and that Fas may have functions in addition to suicide in the developing brain.


In the last years great attention has been paid to graphene-based devices for optoelectronic applications such as photodetection. In this work, we report on Graphene Field Effect Transistors (GFETs) photoelectrical response due to the photo-transistor effect. Photoelectrical measurements were performed using a 1.55 μm erbium fiber laser. Optical measurements as a function of both the incident laser power and the DC bias of the fabricated devices have been carried out and show that photocurrent increases with the power of the IR beam illuminating the sample.


Results of kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the formation of a hollow nanosphere by interdiffusion from a core-shell binary system are presented for the first time. The faster diffusing species is located in the core whilst the slower diffusing species form the shell. With its self-generated vacancy composition all stages of the hollow sphere formation process are observed in our model: interdiffusion, the supersaturation of the core of the nanosphere by vacancies, precipitation of pores and eventual void formation. Results of this simulation confirm the experimental conclusions that interdiffusion accompanied by the Kirkendall effect and Kirkendall porosity is one of the mechanisms responsible for the formation of hollow nano-objects.


Health promotion activities on the Recognition of the Symptoms of Depression "Stop Suicide" in Junior High School of Al-Aziziyah is one form of community service in the form of counseling aimed at increasing students' knowledge about how to recognize depression symptoms which are frequent events that cause death. The implementation of these activities on November 27, 2019 took place at Junior High School of Al-Aziziyah, Kebonsari, Candi Sub-District, Sidoarjo. The target of this event was the students of Junior High School of Al-Aziziyah, Kebonsari, Candi Sub-District, Sidoarjo. Before the activity is carried out, there is a process of compiling the activity for approximately 3 weeks before the activity is carried out, starting from determining the theme of counseling to submitting permits to the parties concerned. As a form of evaluation, the activity was attended by 27 students and 1 teacher, participants participated in the activity happily and looked very enthusiastic, health promotion activities could run on time and smoothly. Keywords: Depression symptoms, adolescent, health promotion.


We develop an algorithm that can detect pneumonia from chest X-rays at a level exceeding practicing radiologists. Our algorithm, CheXNet, is a 121-layer convolutional neural network trained on ChestX-ray14, currently the largest publicly available chest X-ray dataset, containing over 100,000 frontal-view X-ray images with 14 diseases. Four practicing academic radiologists annotate a test set, on which we compare the performance of CheXNet to that of radiologists. We find that CheXNet exceeds average radiologist performance on the F1 metric. We extend CheXNet to detect all 14 diseases in ChestX-ray14 and achieve state of the art results on all 14 diseases.


Across the US and around the world, a growing number of public sector, educational, and nonprofit organizations have been sharing data with one another. These organizations hope to increase transparency, enhance efficiency and service quality, improve communities, encourage public participation, develop new knowledge, and foster civic innovation. While there are many success stories around data sharing, there is a growing awareness that the act of publishing data will not always result in community impact. Data intermediaries are often needed to help people extract value from data, and to help producers make good decisions about what and how they publish.
In Pittsburgh, our local civic data ecosystem is unique in that both public and academic librarians are actively involved as data intermediaries, and they work in close collaboration with other intermediaries, data publishers and users in a variety of ways. Librarians play a number of roles, including helping people discover information, building data literacy and technical skills, providing technical assistance in data management and documentation, creating feedback mechanisms to publishers, convening and hosting events, and connecting data users.
Our experience shows that libraries and librarians should be key actors in the continuing development of data ecosystems and act as core data intermediaries; their expertise adds value to a wide range of issues that affect both data publishers and users. In this talk, I will share insights gained through the Civic Switchboard project, which aims to develop the capacity of libraries in civic data ecosystems.


Miniaturization and cost, two of the main attractive factors of swarm robotics, have motivated its use as a solution in object collecting tasks, search & rescue missions, and other applications. However, in the current literature only a few papers consider energy allocation efficiency within a swarm. Generally, robots recharge to their maximum level every time unconditionally, and do not incorporate estimates of the energy needed for their next task. In this paper we present an energy efficiency maximization method that minimizes the overall energy cost within a swarm while simultaneously maximizing swarm performance on an object gathering task. The method utilizes dynamic thresholds for upper and lower battery limits. This method has also shown to improve the efficiency of existing energy management methods.


The solid microstructure built in the solid governs the properties of materials elaborated from the melt. In order to clarify the dynamical mechanisms controlling solidification processing, we use in situ and real-time synchrotron X-ray radiography at ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) to analyze microstructure formation in thin aluminum alloys solidified in the Bridgman facility installed at the ID19 beamline. During directional solidification of Al - 3.5 wt% Ni alloys, global mechanical constraints induced by the shape are found to act on the solid microstructure. In particular, radiography videos of dendritic growth show disorientations of sidebranches induced by mechanical stresses. In the solidification of AlPdMn quasicrystals, live imaging reveals that facetted growth proceeds by the lateral motion of ledges at the solid-melt interface. When the solidification rate is increased, the kinetic undercooling becomes sufficient for grain nucleation and growth in the liquid. These grains develop specific features that can be attributed to grain competition and concomitant poisoning of growth caused by the rejection of aluminum in the melt.


The Western Antarctic Peninsula experiences a temperature increase that is higher than in other parts of Antarctica. Within the last 50 years the tidewater glaciers in the tributary fjords of Maxwell Bay (King George Island) have retreated landwards with increasing speed. Meltwaters mobilize fine-grained sediments and transport those in plumes out of the coves into Maxwell Bay.
Our hypothesis is that meltwater sediments characterize warmer climate periods of the Holocene. Marine sediment cores recovered along a profile of the eastern slope of Maxwell Bay were studied. The cores were taken in high-accumulation areas at the entrances of Collins Harbor, Marian and Potter coves. We measured the grain-size distribution in 1-cm steps in each core with a Laser diffraction particle analyzer (range 0.04–2500 μm) in order to resolve shifts in grain size compositions in very high resolution. We undertook different approaches for reliable age determination of the sediments. Since marine biogenic carbonate suitable for radiocarbon age determination is sparse, radiocarbon dating of the extracted humic acid fraction of the bulk sediment was included. Unfortunately, these age determinations turned out to be not reliable, likely because they are overprinted by an unknown older radiocarbon source. Preliminary results suggest that the cores cover approximately the last 2000 years. The magnetic susceptibility (MS) parameter fluctuates throughout the cores. It is negatively correlated to the amount of total organic carbon (TOC) and biogenic opal, suggesting dilution of the MS signal through higher input of organic material.
Together with the bathymetry data, sub-bottom profiles reveal information on the interior of the topography and the geometry of the deposited sediments. The profiles obtained in Potter Cove show almost no sediment penetration suggesting either a very thin sediment cover and/or highly reworked unsorted sediments. The sub-bottom profiles from Maxwell Bay penetrate approximately 30 m beneath seafloor and show clearly stratified sediment layers in water depths >250 m.
In conclusion we observe fluctuations in grain size, MS, TOC and biogenic opal that are most likely the result of tidewater glacier and ice sheet dynamics, the presence or absence of meltwater sediments and the variations in bioproductivity. Thus the cores reveal the history of climate-controlled sedimentation in Maxwell Bay including the history of deglaciation from adjacent coves of the upper Holocene.


OBJECTIVE Type 2 diabetes results from a combination of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion. To directly address the effects of hepatic insulin resistance in adult animals, we developed an inducible liver-specific insulin receptor knockout mouse (iLIRKO). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Using this approach, we were able to induce variable insulin receptor (IR) deficiency in a tissue-specific manner (liver mosaicism). RESULTS iLIRKO mice presented progressive hepatic and extrahepatic insulin resistance without liver dysfunction. Initially, iLIRKO mice displayed hyperinsulinemia and increased β-cell mass, the extent of which was proportional to the deletion of hepatic IR. Our studies of iLIRKO suggest a cause-and-effect relationship between progressive insulin resistance and the fold increase of plasma insulin levels and β-cell mass. Ultimately, the β-cells failed to secrete sufficient insulin, leading to uncontrolled diabetes. We observed that hepatic IGF-1 expression was enhanced in iLIRKO mice, resulting in an increase of circulating IGF-1. Concurrently, the IR-A isoform was upregulated in hyperplastic β-cells of iLIRKO mice and IGF-1–induced proliferation was higher than in the controls. In mouse β-cell lines, IR-A, but not IR-B, conferred a proliferative capacity in response to insulin or IGF-1, providing a potential explanation for the β-cell hyperplasia induced by liver insulin resistance in iLIRKO mice. CONCLUSIONS Our studies of iLIRKO mice suggest a liver-pancreas endocrine axis in which IGF-1 functions as a liver-derived growth factor to promote compensatory pancreatic islet hyperplasia through IR-A.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the survey was to estimate the prevalence, duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding (AS) in the province of Rieti, using standardized indicators, for further assessment.

METHODS
this is an observational prospective study, through questionnaires self-administered to parents of children receiving the first two vaccinations mandatores. The survey was conducted in the outpatient paediatric vaccine clinics and attended by parents of 198 children born in 2010, who carried out the vaccinations required by law in the first six months of life. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding (AE), predominant breastfeeding (AP), partial breastfeeding (AC) and with formula feeding only (not AS) after three and six months in postpartum. Have been also studied a number of factors that may affect the ability of the mothers to breastfeed and its continuation.

RESULTS
At 3 months of age, the proportion of infants who were being breastfed was 65.5%, (AE 39.7%, AP 11.7%, 14.1% AC), while, after 5 months in postpartum the proportion of any AS was 51.7% ( AE 18.5%, AP 15.6% and 17.9% AC). Based on the regression model, significant associations were observed between AS complete at the 3rd and 5th month, and natural delivery (OR 2.6, respectively, and OR 1.9); having breastfed her son during the first 48 hours of birth was associated with increased prevalence of AS at 3rd month (OR 3.5), but it was not significant associated at the 5th month. Pre-term birth reduces significantly the probability of BF (OR 0.3) at the first vaccination. The use of pacifiers has been associated with reduced prevalence and early discontinuation of BF (respectively, OR 0.2 at 3rd month and OR 0.3 at 5th month).

CONCLUSION
The survey confirms the need to assist the new mothers in the postpartum to promote the practice of exclusive breastfeeding and its continuation. The identification of specific risk groups, such as women who have caesarean delivery or who started late lactation, allows health professionals to act with greater awareness and achieve greater efficiency in interventions.


Synopsis of the following thesis: Student attitudes in the Business Initiative Program of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus toward franchises, Analysis of the implementation and function of 401(K) retirement plans in Puerto Rico, Exploratory study: The effect of music on client enjoyment while waiting for dental service, Client Consideration in Designing Senior Housing: An In-Depth Exploration.


In this thesis we model and analyze a series of closed loop supply chains to study the relationships among remanufacturability and profitability of each member of the supply chain. We also study the relationships among remanufacturability, government subsidy, and government penalty. In each model, we assume that the closed loop supply chain consists of a manufacturer who manufactures as well as collects used products and remanufactures and a retailer who in turn sells the products to her consumers. Also, we assume that the level of remanufacturability is a variable that is controllable via the level of investment of remanufacturing technology and equipment. Furthermore, in the case of government subsidy and penalty, we assume that the government provides a level of subsidy per remanufactured product and finances the subsidy by collecting an advance recovery fee per unit sold from the retailer. Throughout this thesis, we also assume that the manufacturer behaves as the leader and the retailer as the follower under a Stackelberg game framework and the model environment is captured in a static framework regarding manufacturing and remanufacturing. Numerous managerial insights and economic implications are obtained. For example, the manufacturer's profit may actually decrease with respect to the collection rate if the collection rate is low in the case of no government intervention in the form of the subsidy and penalty. Also, the government may be able to increase the total surplus consisting of all the profits of the supply chains and the consumer surplus by determining the appropriate level of the fee unit remanufactured subsidy and the fee unit sold advance recovery fee.


This paper presents FinGTrAC, a system that shows the feasibility of fine grained finger gesture tracking using low intrusive wearable sensor platform (smart-ring worn on the index finger and a smart-watch worn on the wrist). The key contribution is in scaling up gesture recognition to hundreds of gestures while using only a sparse wearable sensor set where prior works have been able to only detect tens of hand gestures. Such sparse sensors are convenient to wear but cannot track all fingers and hence provide under-constrained information. However application specific context can fill the gap in sparse sensing and improve the accuracy of gesture classification. Rich context exists in a number of applications such as user-interfaces, sports analytics, medical rehabilitation, sign language translation etc. This paper shows the feasibility of exploiting such context in an application of American Sign Language (ASL) translation. Noisy sensor data, variations in gesture performance across users and the inability to capture data from all fingers introduce non-trivial challenges. FinGTrAC exploits a number of opportunities in data preprocessing, filtering, pattern matching, context of an ASL sentence to systematically fuse the available sensory information into a Bayesian filtering framework. Culminating into the design of a Hidden Markov Model, a Viterbi decoding scheme is designed to detect finger gestures and the corresponding ASL sentences in real time. Extensive evaluation on 10 users shows a recognition accuracy of 94.2% for 100 most frequently used ASL finger gestures over different sentences. When the size of the dictionary is extended to 200 words, the accuracy is degrades gracefully to 90% thus indicating the robustness and scalability of the multi-stage optimization framework.


Detailed heat transfer distributions of multiple microscaled tapered jets orthogonally impinging on the surface of a high-power density silicon wall is presented. The tapered jets issued from two different impingement setup are studied—(a) single circular nozzle and (b) dual circular nozzles. Jets are issued from the inlet(s) at four different Reynolds numbers {Re = 8000, 12,000, 16,000, 20,000}. The spacing between the tapered nozzle jets and the bare die silicon wall (z/d) is adjusted to be 4, 8, 12, and 16 jet nozzle diameters away from impinging influence. The impact of varying the nozzle to the silicon wall (z/d) standoff spacing up to 16 nozzle jet diameters and its effects on flow fields on the surface of the silicon, specifically the entrainment pattern on the silicon surface, is presented. Heat transfer characteristics of impinging jets on the hot silicon wall is investigated by means of large eddy simulations (LES) at a Reynolds of 20,000 on each of the four z/d spacing and compared against its equivalent Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) cases. Highest heat transfer coefficients are obtained for the dual inlet system. A demarcation boundary region connecting all the microvortices between impinging jets is prominently visible at smaller z/d spacing—the region where the target silicon wall is within the sphere of influence of the potential core of the jet. This research focuses on the underlying physics of multiple tapered nozzles jet impingement issued from single and dual nozzles and its impact on turbulence, heat transfer distributions, entrainment, and other pertinent flow-field characteristics.


Real-Time Visual Multi-Target Tracking in Realistic Tracking Environments Jacob Harley White Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science This thesis focuses on visual multiple-target tracking (MTT) from a UAV. Typical state-ofthe-art multiple-target trackers rely on an object detector as the primary detection source. However, object detectors usually require a GPU to process images in real-time, which may not be feasible to carry on-board a UAV. Additionally, they often do not produce consistent detections for small objects typical of UAV imagery. In our method, we instead detect motion to identify objects of interest in the scene. We detect motion at corners in the image using optical flow. We also track points long-term to continue tracking stopped objects. Since our motion detection algorithm generates multiple detections at each time-step, we use a hybrid probabilistic data association filter combined with a single iteration of expectation maximization to improve tracking accuracy. We also present a motion detection algorithm that accounts for parallax in non-planar UAV imagery. We use the essential matrix to distinguish between true object motion and apparent object motion due to parallax. Instead of calculating the essential matrix directly, which can be time-consuming, we design a new algorithm that optimizes the rotation and translation between frames. This new algorithm requires only 4 ms instead of 47 ms per frame of the video sequence. We demonstrate the performance of these algorithms on video data. These algorithms are shown to improve tracking accuracy, reliability, and speed. All these contributions are capable of running in real-time without a GPU.


Naturalness in translation is a very important point in relation to translation product quality. This paper is
a research-based article on the translation of English-novel into Indonesian. This research investigated the
naturalness of the Indonesian language used by the translator in the translation of Anna Frank's The Diary
of a Young Girl into Indonesian. The theories employed to help the analysis of data in this research meaningbased

and componential analysis and of those by other scholars that are related to factors that can help
identifying the naturalness of translation. Grammar of both languages involved can also be employed to
help the sharp analysis of the data. Translation then should make sense; convey the spirit of manner of the
original; have a natural and easy to comprehend form of expression; and produce a similar respond to that
of the original. Beyond that, it is expected that some other factors triggering the less natural translation in
target language be partially if not fully identified. The contrast between two languages involved in the
translation, the cultural discrepancies, and the nature of meaning of each word make the translation process
difficult. The use of different register, style, and targeted reader seem also to have role in influencing the
naturalness of translation.


Shorea species is the largest subfamily of Dipterocarpaceae and are the source of resveratrol oligomers (oligostilbene), sesquiterpenes and triterpenes. Shorea bracteolate also called white meranti is locally known as "Meranti Pa'ang" and is widely distributed in Sumatera, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapura. The tree is up to 50m in height and the timber is light hardwood. The study was undertaken to extract and isolate the chemical constituents from the stembark of Shorea species namely Shorea bracteolate and to elucidate the structures of the chemical constituents isolated by using modern spectroscopic methods and evaluated their antioxidant chemiluminescence. The structure of the isolated compounds was determined based on analysis of spectroscopic data, including NMR, UV, IR and comparison with previous reported studies. Five oligomers resveratrol were isolated from the acetone extract of stem bark Shorea bracteolate namely hemsleyanol E (1), vaticanol A (2), ampelopsin H (3), hopephenol (4) and hopeaphenol A (5). The result showed that in antioxidant chemiluminescence, compound (3) and (2) showed moderate activity ( IC50:6.7μmol/ml and 10.7μmol/ml) as compared to ascorbic acid (IC50:1.71 μmol/ml). However, compound (1), (2) and (3) displayed low activity IC50: 17.1 μmol/ml, 15.8 μmol/ml and 14.3 μmol/ml.


The availability of umbilical arterial and venous blood for sampling has led to a number of studies on the oxygen content of the blood of the human infant at birth,1and considerable emphasis has been placed on the importance of such data for deducing certain facts of neonatal physiology. Actually, evidence from umbilical cord blood must be applied with some care, because of the numerous factors inherent in the process of normal delivery and its obstetric modifications, all of which focus their varying effects on the condition of the fetal blood. Thus a wide variation is observed in any series of measurements of the oxygen content of cord blood. With one or two exceptions,1c,f however, there has been a fairly close agreement in the average figures obtained. Thus, the average blood from the umbilical vein, the content of which is, of course, "arterial" blood flowing from the placenta to


OBJECTIVETo evaluate the orbitopterional approach to anterior communicating artery (AComA) aneurysms, on the basis of the quantification of this surgical exposure, compared with the pterional approach, in a cadaveric study and a retrospective review of data for 40 patients who underwent clipping of AComA aneurysms via the orbitopterional approach. METHODSIn an anatomic study, four cadaveric heads underwent pterional craniotomies on the left side and orbitopterional craniotomies on the right side. A fifth head was initially subjected to bilateral pterional craniotomies and then underwent bilateral orbital osteotomies, for direct comparison of these approaches. Using frameless stereotaxy, we quantified the angles of exposure and surgical field depths provided by the pterional and orbitopterional craniotomies. In a clinical study, 40 patients who underwent clipping of AComA aneurysms via orbitopterional approaches were evaluated for basal brain injury, the need for resection of the gyrus rectus, dissection of the sylvian fissure, and approach-related complications. The incidence of postoperative hydrocephalus among patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage who underwent lamina terminalis fenestration was also reviewed. RESULTSThe angles of observation were increased 46% in the axial plane (orbitopterional, 72.92 ± 6.57 degrees; pterional, 49.75 ± 2.27 degrees;P < 0.01) and 137.5% in the projection plane (orbitopterional, 8 ± 2.19 degrees; pterional, 19 ± 1.78 degrees;P < 0.01). The surgical window depth was decreased 13% with the orbitopterional approach (P < 0.05). Clinically, there was no incidence of frontobasal hypodensities on postoperative computed tomographic scans. Three patients (7.5%) required resection of the gyrus rectus. No patient required sylvian fissure dissection for aneurysm exposure. Two of 29 patients (6.9%) who survived subarachnoid hemorrhage required ventriculoperitoneal shunts despite lamina terminalis fenestration. No approach-related complications were recognized. CONCLUSIONThe orbitopterional approach improved the observation of the AComA complex and seemed to decrease the risk of intraoperative brain damage.


Understanding object motions and transformations is a core problem in computer science. Modeling sequences of evolving images may provide better representations and models of motion and may ultimately be used for forecasting or simulation. Diagrammatic Abstract Reasoning is an avenue in which diagrams evolve in complex patterns and one needs to infer the underlying pattern sequence and generate the next image in the sequence. For this, we develop a novel Contextual Generative Adversarial Network based on Recurrent Neural Networks (Context-RNN-GANs), where both the generator and the discriminator modules are based on contextual history and the adversarial discriminator guides the generator to produce realistic images for the particular time step in the image sequence. We employ the Context-RNN-GAN model (and its variants) on a novel dataset of Diagrammatic Abstract Reasoning as well as perform initial evaluations on a next-frame prediction task of videos. Empirically, we show that our Context-RNN-GAN model performs competitively with 10th-grade human performance but there is still scope for interesting improvements as compared to college-grade human performance.


BACKGROUND
The lack of universally agreed criteria has hampered population studies of the prevalence and causation of soft-tissue disorders of the upper limb.

OBJECTIVES
To establish core variables for classification of the commonest disorders seen in population samples.

METHODS
Consecutive new cases seen in clinical practice in five different centres were evaluated with respect to 30 variables shown to have discriminatory value in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression modelling was carried out with these as the independent variables and with the clinical diagnosis as the dependent variable.

RESULTS
A total of 1382 cases of soft-tissue disorder were recorded and only those diagnostic groups with 50 or more cases were included. In multivariate logistic regression, significant variables positively discriminating for each disorder were identified for carpal tunnel syndrome (n = 56), lateral epicondylitis (n = 87), tenosynovitis (n = 63), shoulder tendonitis (n = 157), non-specific upper limb disorder (n = 458), fibromyalgia (n = 124) and inflammatory arthritis (n = 100), which was used for comparison purposes. Significant discrimination for each model was demonstrated by the construction of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and appropriate area under the curve statistics.

CONCLUSIONS
This approach to classification criteria is based on multivariate modelling rather than on a consensus statement. This includes the effects of negative as well as positive associations. Further work is required on both the reproducibility of the clinical signs and the application of the criteria to other datasets.


This paper deals with the design of slotted waveguide arrays at Ka-band (38 GHz). Practical machining tolerances are considered. In order to achieve low sidelobes throughout it is critical that the centre line of the waveguide broad wall is determined very accurately. An error in this position results in systematic errors in the excitation of the slots. This leads to grating lobe like side lobes, the level of which depends on the amount of misplacement. However, the angle at which the side lobe occurs is independent of the position error.


Abstract This paper discusses three approaches in economics which take a position on the definition of well-being and which use insights from psychology to support their positions: Scitovsky's Joyless Economy, happiness economics, and the constitutional approach to happiness in economics. The paper shows first that the definition of well-being by each approach, which is a normative step, is revealed by the choice of a psychological theory or method rather than resulting from the application of a theory or method. Secondly, this paper demonstrates that personal judgement by the authors is often needed in the positive realm, in order to interpret psychological results and to then translate them into practical recommendations. Both of these issues have implications for those theories that define well-being as something other than the fulfillment of individual preferences whatever their content, and which therefore yield a potential justification for paternalism. This paper argues that the potential paternalistic implications of these approaches are not based on positive science only, but rely on normative choice and personal judgement.


Nowadays, the information is exchanged among the computer network. These data and information are involved in business, military, academic education, research and etc. which are shared around the world in both private and public network. Since, many categories of data are required restriction on authorization of access, modify, delete and insert, security in communication is increasingly important to the network communication. Currently, computer security applies mathematic theory to computer security for encrypting and decrypting on both sender and receiver. To use security attack with high performance computer (e.g. quantum computer), attacker can find a key and then obtains the data in feasible period. Quantum cryptography is one of the solutions that use property of polarization to ensure that transmitted data is not trapped by eavesdropper. Quantum cryptography is improved significantly in the last decades including the most two dominant protocol BB84 and BB92.


The aim of the current study was to encapsulate nepafenac (NP) in in situ hydrogel modified nanostructured lipid carrier (NP-NLC-Gel) nanoparticles as an efficient ocular delivery system to improve its transcorneal penetration and precorneal retention. NP-NLC nanoparticles were prepared by a melt emulsification method. The synthesized hydrogel, composed of poloxamer 407 and carboxymethyl chitosan, was a liquid solution at low temperature and pH and then turned to a semisolid on the surface of the cornea. The enhanced transcorneal penetration of the NLC was evaluated using isolated rabbit corneas, with a significant increase of 2.36-fold in the apparent permeability coefficient compared to that of the NP eye drops (p < 0.05). Precorneal retention assessed by fluorescence imaging technology in vivo showed that NP-NLC-Gel had a longer retention time on the corneal surface compared with the NP eye drops. The in vivo ocular tolerance study indicated that there was no difference in irritation between the NP eye drops and NP-NLC-Gel. The concentration of nepafenac in the aqueous humor and lacrimal fluid was determined using HPLC. The AUC0−∞ of NP-NLC-Gel was increased up to 6.3- and 1.9-fold in the aqueous humor and lacrimal fluid, respectively, as compared with the eye drops. In conclusion, NP-NLC-Gel possesses a greater potential as an ocular drug delivery system compared with the NP eye drops.


Objective—HIV combination therapy using protease inhibitors is associated with elevated plasma levels of atherogenic lipoproteins and increased risk for atherosclerosis. We investigated whether the HIV entry inhibitor TAK-779 affects lipoprotein levels and atherogenesis in low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice. TAK-779 is an antagonist for the chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR3, which are expressed on leukocytes, especially T-helper 1 cells, and these receptors may be involved in recruitment of these cells to atherosclerotic plaques. Methods and Results—TAK-779 treatment of low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice did not elevate the levels of atherogenic lipoproteins, whereas it dramatically reduced atherosclerosis in the aortic root and in the carotid arteries. The number of T cells in the plaque was reduced by 95%, concurrently with a 98% reduction in the relative IFN-&ggr; area. TAK-779-treated animals showed a decreased percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood and in mediastinal lymph nodes compared with control-treated animals. Conclusions—TAK-779 not only suppresses HIV entry via blockade of CCR5 but also attenuates atherosclerotic lesion formation by blocking the influx of T-helper 1 cells into the plaque. TAK-779 treatment may be especially beneficial for young HIV patients as they face lifelong treatment, and this drug impairs atherogenesis.


We describe and illustrate a new species of Besleria (Gesneriaceae) from the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. This new species is morphologically similar to B. florida, B. microphylla, B. silverstoneana, and B. solanoides. We include a morphological key to distinguish B. brevisepala from similar species. We also studied pollen morphology to provide support for taxonomic differences among Besleria species from the Andean forest of Colombia. We investigated the pollen characteristics of the genus and assessed their use for taxonomic differentiation in this group through light and electron microscopy. Pollen grains were subjected to acetolysis, measured, photographed, and described qualitatively. We analyzed qualitative and quantitative data using descriptive and multivariate statistics. The pollen grains of Besleria were monad, isopolar, small, with circular amb; oblate to suboblate, 3-porate, with circular to oval pores, without annulus, operculate, and with vestibulum. The exine was tectate, perforate, and microreticulate with narrow muri and small lumina of slightly different shape and dimension. Our results confirm that Besleria is a eurypalynous genus, which allowed the identification of pollen morphological characteristics that are important for species differentiation.


Surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithms have played an important role in expensive optimization where a small number of real-objective function evaluations are allowed. Usually, the surrogate models are used for the same purpose, e.g., to approximate the real-objective function or the aggregation fitness function. However, there is little work on surrogate-assisted optimization by model fusion, i.e., different surrogate models are fused for different purposes to improve the performance of the algorithm. In this work, we propose a surrogate-assisted approach by model fusion for solving expensive many-objective optimization problems, in which the Kriging assisted objective function approximation method is fused with the classifier assisted approach. The proposed algorithm is compared with some state-of-the-art surrogate-assisted algorithms on DTLZ problems and a real-world problem, and some encouraging results have been achieved by our proposed model fusion based approach.


The paper analyses how company-specific financial factors and country-specific institutional and cultural factors affect the extent to which companies disclose Non-GAAP Financial Measures (NGFMs) in their financial communications. Our study is based on the analysis of 1,731 quarterly financial reports from 120 companies located in 23 countries and listed in Standard & Poor's Global Oil Index. The results provide evidence that supports both the informative theory on NGFMs (asserting that NGFMs are disclosed to provide the investors with higher quality information) and the opportunistic theory (affirming that NGFMs are disclosed to mislead investors). On one side we see that highly indebted companies more frequently disclose NGFMs, but they are conservative in their adjustments, which is consistent with the informative theory. On the other side, low profitability is a driver of positive adjustments providing evidence of an opportunistic behaviour. The regulation on NGFMs has a positive effect on disclosure and does not increase conservatism. It increases the transparency of adjustments, but more in a formal way than substantially. Also the specific set of accounting standards adopted has a relevant effect on the disclosure of NGFMs. The cultural factors play a role partially consistent with this theory, but on average their impact is negligible. Our study was the first to analyse the use of NGFMs including companies from different continents and considering the impact of cultural variables. From a theoretical point of view, the results provide evidence that an informative and opportunistic use of NGFMs coexist and that different factors (mainly company-specific financial factors and institutional factors) lead to different practices. From a practical point of view the analysis provides interesting evidence for the evolution of regulations on NGFMs.


Strategic information systems planning (below SISP) is one of the most important IT processes and must be best adapted to the context in which it is implemented. This means that it must be consistent with the properties of the internal environment, especially with other management practices, as well as with the external business and IT environment. The SISP process is adapted to the context by the SISP meta-planning process, which consists of three phases: context analysis, process design and success evaluation. The meta-planning process is also very important to the success of SISP and its growth of maturity over time.

The SISP process consists of two phases, whose processes should be continuously executed: plan development and plan implementation management. The aim of plan development is to analyse the existing situation and, based on the results, to identify IT strategic objectives, a future enterprise architecture and IT projects that can adequately meet business objectives. The purpose of the implementation phase is to successfully carry out the strategic IT plan. Since a planning horizon lasts from two to five years, the implementation should be continuously controlled and the strategic IT plan (and its artefacts) updated according to changes that have occurred during this time.

From the above, it appears that SISP is a very complex process that is difficult to manage, as evidenced by numerous studies as well as our own practical experience. In particular, many problems arise in the implementation phase, which remains neglected in existing SISP approaches and research studies. Since the successful design and execution of plan implementation management processes is clearly associated with a higher SISP success, this is the main focus of this thesis.

Therefore, the main purpose of the thesis was to analyse the factors which, according to the literature, impact SISP success, and to construct a comprehensive SISP framework that will enable appropriate management of SISP in both phases. The most important parts of the developed SISP framework are definitions of the SISP meta-planning process and implementation phase processes, whose execution has a positive effect on SISP success. A very important achievement is also the integration of an enterprise architecture (below EA) approach into a SISP framework. Since SISP process improvement requires periodic measurement of its success, we also developed a multidimensional model of SISP success.

Thus, the core of the thesis presents a framework for comprehensive management of the SISP process in a changing environment, which contains three contributions to the science. The first contribution is a comprehensive review of factors that impacts SISP success. Collected SISP success factors represent a good practice that can be utilized in implementing or improving the SISP process, regardless of the approach adopted. A broader definition of SISP, which covers both SISP phases, and an SISP method represent the second contribution. A core component of the framework is this SISP method, which is also the key contribution of this thesis. The method encompasses definitions of the SISP meta-planning process, as well as processes of plan development and implementation, which are linked together through various events. The SISP method is also integrated with an enterprise architecture approach. The integration is meaningful due to their overlapping activities and artefacts. An important element of integration is a common repository of the enterprise, which consists of several interconnected repositories. From the perspective of the field studied, the most important repositories are those of strategic planning and enterprise architecture. Models of SISP success evaluation and of IS contribution to business performance evaluation are also important parts of the SISP method. These models are used in the SISP meta-planning process.

Statistical analysis confirmed that the more comprehensive the execution of all the SISP processes from the proposed SISP method, the higher the SISP success, and in turn, the higher the contribution of IS to business performance. This demonstrates additional scientific value of the proposed SISP framework (contribution to the science). The data for statistical analysis were gathered with a survey on IT management. The central part of the survey was dedicated to the SISP and EA fields. The questionnaire was sent to 1000 of the largest Slovenian companies and 100 government institutions, being addressed to the CIO's of these organizations. We received 95 fully completed questionnaires (response rate: 8.6%).

The proposed SISP framework has already been partially tested in several organizations with which we were involved as consultants in establishing the SISP process and developing a strategic IT plan. The IT and business management confirmed the usefulness of the SISP framework and its artefacts in a variety of management activities as well as in external audits.


OBJECTIVES
The EBIIA (Etude épidémiologique Bactério-clinique des Infections Intra-Abdominales) study was designed to describe the clinical, microbiological and resistance profiles of community-acquired and nosocomial intra-abdominal infections (IAIs).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From January to July 2005, patients undergoing surgery/interventional drainage for IAIs with a positive microbiological culture were included by 25 French centres. The primary endpoint was the epidemiology of the microorganisms and their resistance to antibiotics. Multivariate analysis was carried out using stepwise logistic regression to assess the factors predictive of death during hospitalization.

RESULTS
Three hundred and thirty-one patients (234 community-acquired and 97 nosocomial) were included. The distribution of the microorganisms differed according to the type of infection. Carbapenems and amikacin were the most active agents in vitro against Enterobacteriaceae in both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, amikacin, imipenem, ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin were the most active agents in community-acquired infections, while imipenem, cefepime and amikacin were the most active in nosocomial cases. Against the Gram-positive bacteria, vancomycin and teicoplanin were the most active in both infections. Against anaerobic bacteria, the most active agents were metronidazole and carbapenems in both groups. Empirical antibiotic therapy adequately targeted the pathogens for 63% of community-acquired and 64% of nosocomial peritonitis. The presence of one or more co-morbidities [odds ratio (OR) = 3.17; P = 0.007], one or more severity criteria (OR = 4.90; P < 0.001) and generalized peritonitis (OR = 3.17; P = 0.006) were predictive of death.

CONCLUSIONS
The principal results of EBIIA are a higher diversity of microorganisms isolated in nosocomial infections and decreased susceptibility among these strains. Despite this, the adequacy of treatment is comparable in the two groups.


In this thesis we study thoroughly sentence retrieval and novelty detection. We analyze the strengths and weaknesses of current state of the art methods and, subsequently, new mechanisms to address sentence retrieval and novelty detection are proposed.
 Retrieval and novelty detection are related tasks: usually, we initially apply a retrieval model that estimates properly the relevance of passages (e.g. sentences) and generates a ranking of passages sorted by their relevance. Next, this ranking is used as the input of a novelty detection module, which tries to filter out redundant passages in the ranking.
 The estimation of relevance at sentence level is difficult. Standard methods used to estimate relevance are simply based on matching query and sentence terms. However, queries usually contain two or three terms and sentences are also short. Therefore, the matching between query and sentences is poor. In order to address this problem, we study in this thesis how to enrich this process with additional information: the context. The context refers to the information provided by the surrounding sentences or the document where the sentence is located. Such context reduces ambiguity and supplies additional information not included in the sentence itself. Additionally, it is important to estimate how important or central a sentence is within the document. These two components, the context and the centrality of the sentences, are studied in this thesis following a formal framework based on Statistical Language Models. In this respect, we demonstrate that these components yield to improvements in current sentence retrieval methods.
 In this thesis we work with collections of sentences that were extracted from news. News not only explain facts but also express opinions that people have about a particular event or topic. Therefore, the proper estimation of which passages are opinionated may help to further improve the estimation of relevance for sentences. We apply a formal methodology that helps us to incorporate opinions into standard sentence retrieval methods. Additionally, we propose simple empirical alternatives to incorporate query-independent features into sentence retrieval models. We demonstrate that the incorporation of opinions to estimate relevance is an important factor that makes sentence retrieval methods more effective. In the course of our study, we also analyze query-independent features based on sentence length and named entities.
 The combination of the context-based approach with the incorporation of opinion-based features is straightforward. We study how to combine these two approaches and the impact of such combination. We demonstrate that context-based models are implicitly promoting sentences with opinions and, therefore, opinion-based features do not help to further improve context-based methods.
 The second part of this thesis is dedicated to novelty detection at sentence level. Because novelty is actually dependent on a retrieval ranking, we consider here two approaches: a) the perfect-relevance approach, which consists of using a ranking where all sentences are relevant (this is an ideal approach); and b) the non-perfect relevance approach, which consists of applying first a sentence retrieval method (therefore, the ranking may contain sentences that are not relevant).
 We first study which baseline performs the best and, next, we propose a number of variations. One of the mechanisms proposed is based on vocabulary pruning. We demonstrate that considering terms from the top ranked sentences in the original ranking helps to guide the estimation of novelty. The application of Language Models to support novelty detection is another challenge that we face in this thesis. We apply different smoothing methods (Dirichlet and Jelinek-Mercer) in the context of alternative mechanisms to detect novelty (Aggregate and Non-Aggregate Models). Additionally, we test a mechanism based on mixture models that uses the Expectation-Maximization algorithm to obtain automatically the novelty score of a sentence.
 In the last part of this work we demonstrate that most novelty methods lead to a strong re-ordering of the initial ranking. However, we show that the top ranked sentences in the initial list are usually novel and re-ordering them is often harmful. Therefore, we propose different mechanisms that determine the position threshold where novelty detection should be initiated. In this respect, we consider query-independent (a fixed position for all queries) and query-dependent approaches (cluster-based and normalized-score approaches).
 Summing up, we identify important limitations of current sentence retrieval and novelty methods and, along this thesis, we propose alternative methods that are novel and effective.
 The thesis is available for download at http://www.gsi.dec.usc.es/ir/.


The existence of cavities (voids) in a solid insulating material will cause partial discharge when the insulation burdened by voltage. Cavity in the material usually results from defects at the time of production. The process of insulation at the time of production becomes very important to consider that partial discharge is happening can be reduced. In this study, the transformer is processed by three different processes: model 1, without impregnation and oven process; model 2, without impregnation but with oven process and model 3; with impregnation and oven process. Impregnation  process carried out by dipping transformer coils for  Naskah ini diterima pada tangal 4 Februari 2009, direvisi pada tanggal 10 Maret 2009 dan disetujui untuk diterbitkan pada tanggal 20 April 2009 a few hours into the liquid varnish. Oven process conducted at a temperature of 100 0 C for 24 hours by using a Furnace tool. This study shows that the impregnation and oven process was affect existing cavity in insulation. This was shown by differences in the pattern of partial discharge that occurs namely; magnitud (pC) and number of partial discharge (n). These results show that model 3 is better than model 1 and model 2 of the transformer.


Background: Chronic telogen effluvium (CTE) may be primary or secondary to various causes, including drug reaction, nutritional deficiency and female pattern hair loss (FPHL). Oral minoxidil stimulates hair growth, and topical minoxidil is used in the treatment of FPHL and male androgenetic alopecia. minoxidil has not been used to treat CTE. This study aimed to assess the treatment of CTE with once daily oral minoxidil. Methods: Women with a diagnosis of CTE based on >6 month history of increased telogen hair shedding, no visible mid frontal scalp hair loss (Sinclair stage 1) and no hair follicle miniaturization on scalp biopsy were treated with once daily oral minoxidil. Hair shedding scores (HSS) at baseline, 6 and 12 months were analysed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test for pair-wise comparisons. Results: Thirty-six women were treated with oral minoxidil (range, 0.25-2.5 mg) daily for 6 months. Mean age was 46.9 years (range 20-83), HSS at baseline was 5.64, and duration of diagnosis was 6.55 years (range 1-27). There was a reduction in mean HSS scores from baseline to 6 months of 1.7 (p<0.001) and baseline to 12 months of 2.58 (p<0.001). Five women who described trichodynia at baseline, noted improvement or resolution within 3 months. Mean change in blood pressure was minus 0.5 mmHg systolic and plus 2.1 mmHg diastolic. Two patients developed transient postural dizziness that resolved with continued treatment. One patient developed ankle oedema. Thirteen women developed facial hypertrichosis. For 6 patients this was mild and did not require treatment; 4 had waxing of their upper lip or forehead; 3 had laser hair removal. No patients developed any haematological abnormality. All 36 women completed 12 months of treatment. Conclusions: Once daily oral minoxidil appears to reduce hair shedding in CTE. Placebo controlled studies are recommended to further assess this response.


The purpose of the study was to establish head teachers' characteristics influencing instructional supervision in public primary schools in Ruiru Sub County of Kiambu County. Specifically the study aimed at determining the extent to which head teacher's in service training influence instructional supervision; to establish the extent to which the head teacher's academic qualifications influence instructional supervision; to find out the extent to which head teacher's administrative experience influence instructional supervision, and to find out whether head teachers' gender influence instructional supervision in public primary schools in Ruiru sub county. The study employed descriptive survey design. The target population consisted of thirty public primary schools, thirty head teachers and six hundred teachers. The sample size consisted of nine head teachers and one hundred and eighty teachers from nine public schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the schools and the teachers while the head teachers of the sample schools were picked purposively. The study adopted the Path Goal Theory that states that a leader's behavior is contingent to the satisfaction, motivation, and performance of his or her subordinates. The research instrument were own constructed questionnaires that were administered to the head teachers and the teachers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistic in form of frequency tables, percentages and charts. The study established that head teachers' in service training, academic qualifications, and administrative experience influence instructional supervision. The study also established that, head teacher's gender had no influence on instructional supervision. The study recommended that due to the importance of instructional supervision curriculum developers should incorporate the aspect of instructional supervision in pre service teachers' training syllabus. KEMI and the MoEST should organize more in service and refreshers courses focusing on instructional supervision to all administrators. The policy makers should stipulate the minimum number of years that the teacher should teach before getting head ship positions. The study concluded that most of the head teachers had high academic and professional qualifications which were important in instructional supervision. On the other hand majority of the head teachers had attended various in-service training courses which were related to instructional supervision. The study recommended more research to be carried out in Ruiru Sub County in order to find out other factors which may influence instructional supervision in public primary schools.


Globalization is, directly and indirectly, contributing to its effect in all sectors of an economy. The agricultural sector is not exempted from the effect of change due to globalization as a component of the primary sector and a prime sector for human survival needs. The status of self-sufficient in the production of food grain will lead a nation to make a walk of pride among the other member globally. India is an agro-economy. In other words, agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. So the production of food grain and its cultivation and yield should be normally high to meet out the demand of a growing population. Also, with the implementation of a policy of globalization, there might be some change in cultivation, production, and yield of food grains in India. In this paper, an attempt was made to examine/ identify the change in area under cultivation, yield, and production by using the secondary sources of data from 1970 to 2017. The selected breakeven point of time was 1991-1992. The annual growth rate pictured the change in a particular point of time; the linear and quadratic model gave the growth over the period selected for the study, and dummy used regression model presented the difference in structural change. AGR results dominated by the negative growth rate; the linear growth model for production depicts that 3.6 percentage of tons of production will be move when a year moves upward. The area under cultivation is deteriorating in AGR, and other models used gave a weakness in explanatory level concerning time for the area under cultivation of food grain. Regarding the obtained results for yield reflect that a positive change exists after globalization, even though a reduction in area under cultivation.


Adequate and reliable funding of agricultural R&D is critical for sustaining research activities. A breakdown in funding arrangements can be detrimental to the long-term existence of R&D organisation/systems. This paper first, reviews the trends in funding arrangements for agricultural R&D in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in recent years. Second, the paper explores the extent to which political influence affects funding arrangements for agricultural R&D in PNG in terms of a case study. Third, with insights from the case study, which are alleged to reflect the general nature of the way agricultural R&D has been funded in PNG, implications are assessed and suggestions are made about the need to diversify funding sources away from avenues that are dependent directly on political influence. The paper concludes with a brief summary.


In recent years, wireless technology with its sub standard 802.11 gaining popularity in deploying for positioning system. With development of mobile computing devices and wireless technique, location detection system is used to determine users' location either in indoor or outdoor environment that relies on Wi-Fi signal strength. The aim of this project is to analyze the wireless signal services of different position from access point based on signal strength that broadcast by access point. Beside that this project also apply application is very helpful to detecting the access point strength cover up the areas to provide signal strength which is can determine the signal strength of access point where the signal is good at certain distant . In this project, I used different software. That is very helpful for me determining the signal strength and the detection access point and realizing the quality of the signal software used net stumbler and peed pro test net-stumbler software is used to detecting the access point in the area. It also provides other information of signal strength bandwidth of signal and nearest access point speed pro test is used for Wi-Fi graphical representation of Wi-Fi signals.
These experimental results that demonstrate the ability of Wi-Fi Positioning system to estimate location of the devices at different measurable distances and result in application part is shown based on highest percentage accuracy of providing signal strength.


article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for non-commercial use, provided the original author and source are credited. DOI: 10.18261/issn.1894-86932016-01-05 Security Governance


The discovery of subsets with special properties from binary data hasbeen one of the key themes in pattern discovery. Pattern classes suchas frequent itemsets stress the co-occurrence of the value 1 in the data. While this choice makes sense in the context of sparse binary data, it disregards potentially interesting subsets of attributes that have some other type of dependency structure.
 We consider the problem of finding all subsets of attributes that have low complexity. The complexity is measured by either the entropy of the projection of the data on the subset, or the entropy of the data for the subset when modeled using a Bayesian tree, with downward or upward pointing edges. We show that the entropy measure on sets has a monotonicity property, and thus a levelwise approach can find all low-entropy itemsets. We also show that the tree-based measures are bounded above by the entropy of the corresponding itemset, allowing similar algorithms to be used for finding low-entropy trees. We describe algorithms for finding all subsets satisfying an entropy condition. We give an extensive empirical evaluation of the performance of the methods both on synthetic and on real data. We also discuss the search for high-entropy subsets and the computation of the Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension of the data.


Dental Tribune UK Ltd makes every effort to report clinical information and manufacturer's product news accurately, but cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims, or for typographical errors. The publishers also do not assume responsibility for product names or claims, or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune International.


It can be argued that the aim of Information Systems (IS) evaluation research is to produce ever more detailed answers to the question of why and how an IS initiative works for whom and in what circumstances. This paper presents an alternative to traditional IS evaluation research approaches and perspectives. The alternative, realist IS evaluation research, is based on the philosophy of critical realism. Realist IS evaluation research attends to how and why an IS initiative has the potential to cause (desired) changes and seeks to understand for whom and in what circumstances (contexts) an IS initiative works through the study of contextual conditioning. The paper also discusses problems with traditional IS evaluation research approaches and perspectives and how realist IS evaluation research overcomes the problems.


Abstract Out of 1,343 mutant lines of rice mutated by sodium azide from the parental Japonica-type variety 'Tainung 67' (TNG67), a paraquat-susceptible line 1192 and a paraquat-tolerant line 72 were selected using whole seedlings at the four-leaf stage and leaf segments at the tillering stage as test materials. Further selection from progenies of these two mutant lines yielded the susceptible 1192-11 (S) and tolerant 72-16 (T), which were studied herein. Chlorophyll fluorescence, electrolyte leakage, and lipid peroxidation were measured for leaf segments of rice following treatment with 0.1 mM paraquat. A comparison of these responses among the three rice lines (TNG67, 72-16, and 1192-11), revealed a higher tolerance to paraquat in the tolerant mutant line 72-16 and the parental variety TNG67 than in the susceptible mutant 1192-11. Analysis of the antioxidative system in paraquat-treated leaf segments showed that the reduced form of glutathione (GSH) and the ratio of GSH to total glutathione increased by 3.5-fold within 6 h after treatment (HAT) and up to 5-fold 9 HAT in the T line, as compared with the S line. In view of the high activities of both dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) in paraquat-treated leaves of TNG67 and the T line, the antioxidative effect of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle is hereby proposed to play an essential role in paraquat tolerance of rice. Pretreatment of rice segments with spermine enhanced DHAR and GR activities as well as paraquat tolerance of the S line. These results suggest that the activity of ascorbate–glutathione cycle induced by spermine is involved in rice tolerance to this herbicide. Although kinetics studies showed no significant difference among the three rice lines in paraquat inhibition of GR, a lower affinity of enzyme to substrate (Km) in TNG67 and the T line and a higher maximal reaction rate (Vmax) in the T line for the oxidized glutathione substrate (GSSG) were detected. These observations further implicate the importance of glutathione reductase in paraquat tolerance of rice. Nomenclature: Paraquat; rice, Oryza sativa L.


This study explored the relationship between Turkish mothers' style of interaction and the engagement of their preschool-aged children with autism. Data were collected from fifty mother-child dyads in which all children had diagnoses of autism. Video recordings of mother-child interaction were analyzed using the Turkish versions of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale and the Child Behavior Rating Scale (O. Diken, 2009 ). Similar to mothers from Western countries, Turkish mothers tended to engage in highly directive interactions with their children. However, a cluster analysis revealed considerable variability in mothers' style of interaction. This included a directive nonengaged style, a directive/achievement-oriented style, and a responsive style of interaction. Children's level of engagement was associated with differences in mothers' style of interaction. Children were least engaged with directive/nonengaged mothers and most engaged with responsive mothers. However, children's engagement was only associated with their mothers' responsiveness, not with their directiveness. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for early intervention.


Breech presentation affects 3-4% of women pregnant with a single baby after 37 weeks of pregnancy. These women face two key decisions: firstly, whether or not to attempt to turn their baby by external cephalic version (ECV). Secondly, if they decide not to attempt this, or it is unsuccessful, then they need to decide how to give birth to their baby, either by planned caesarean section (CS) or vaginal breech birth (VBB). This thesis explores the process of decision making about breech presentation from both women's and health professionals' perspectives and documents the development of a patient decision aid (PDA), consisting of an animated film and website, for women facing these decisions in the future. In this qualitative study, data were collected using observed consultations, semistructured interviews, with both women and professionals, and user-centred design workshops. Thirty nine women and 30 health professionals were respondents. Data were analysed using constant comparison. The results show that the diagnosis of breech presentation often comes late in pregnancy and begins with uncertainty, partly because many professionals are reluctant to provide information about options until the diagnosis is confirmed by ultrasound examination. Professionals are concerned about causing unnecessary anxiety to women who do not have a breech presentation confirmed, but such an approach fails to take account of women's clear preference for information as soon as the possibility of breech presentation is raised. Women report researching options online and amongst their social contacts, as they strongly value experiential accounts. However they may struggle to find trustworthy information from these sources as they are frequently told horror stories. Women may also be directively counselled by professionals who have a clear preference for attempting ECV. In response to these themes, a PDA was developed which is freely available to women and includes a website summarising the evidence about the different options. In relation to decision making, women described five key values: wanting to keep their baby safe; wanting to experience a natural birth and to breastfeed; preferring to avoid surgery; needing to be able to care for other children; and wanting to have control. Postnatally, they shared vivid accounts of their experiences of ECV and birth, which were used to inform the script for the animated film that aims to provide the experiential information women wanted and also help them to explore their own values about decision making.


A novel potentiometric sensor based on an ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) has been developed for selective recognition and determination of Cu(II) ions. The IIP is synthesized by precipitation polymerization using Cu(II) ions as template, methacrylic acid as functional monomer and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate as cross-linking agent. The IIP based plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode exhibits a Nernstian response (27.5 mV/decade) to Cu(II) ions over a wide concentration range of 1.0 x 10(-7)-1.0 x 10(-2) mol/L with a detection limit of 4.3 x 10(-8) mol/L. The selectivity of the electrode has been characterized and the logarithmic Nikolskii coefficients for Cu(2+) over Ca(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), Pb(2+) and Al(3+) have been determined as -3.40, -3.75, -2.90, -2.45 and -3.87, respectively. The sensor shows rapid response, good reproducibility and satisfactory long-term stability.


Agricultural extension in Indonesia has undergone major policy changes, depending on the government in power. In particular, since 1998, the government passed Law No 16/2006, aimed at making the extension system more democratic and participatory, especially for smallholder farmers. Law No. 16/2006 is in line with the "pluralistic and demand-driven extension approach" adopted by many developing countries since 2000, which allowed public and private extension systems to exist side-byside. Success of the new extension approach rests on the degree to which extension workers are able to mobilize smallholder farmers for "demand-driven" development that bases extension on smallholder farmers' needs. This survey of 78 public extension workers in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia examined challenges in implementing the pluralistic and demand-driven extension approach, including training needed to help extension workers deal more effectively with these challenges. The study found that the challenges relate to agreeing on extension goals; eliciting collaboration with non-government agencies and other development partners; and using ICTs to narrow the farmers-to-agent ratio. In general, the study found that extension workers need training in communication and development, also known as communication for development (C4D) to effectively facilitate development and navigate the increasing complexity of development programming in the 21st century. Thus, we recommend C4D training for extension workers as a way of enhancing their effectiveness. Fortunately, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are promoting this strategy. Therefore, we urge the government of Indonesia to explore C4D as a strategy for strengthening extension in the country.


It is known from the literature that: -The application of chilling as a means of food preservation has frequently resulted in food borne infections with psychrotrophic micro-organisms, such as Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes and Aeromonas hydrophila; - The injurious effect on human health of an infection with Y. enterocolitica should not be underestimated because of the risk of serious post-infective complications; - Almost all micro-organisms respond to an abrupt temperature down shift (within their growth range) by a temporary cessation of growth, and the concomitant transient synthesis of a set of specific proteins, called 'cold-shock-proteins'; - Many psychrotrophic micro-organisms synthesize at low temperatures a set of proteins, called 'cold-acclimation-proteins', whose expression is either enhanced or specifically induced at these temperatures; - To explain the induction and function of the cold-shock response, a model called the Cold-Shock Ribosomal Adaptation (CSRA-) model has been proposed; - This model comprises four steps, i.e. (1) cancelling of the regular translation of 'household' gene mRNA's, in favour of the translation of cold-shock gene mRNA's, (2) specific modification of the ribosome by the cold-shock proteins, (3) the re-initiation of regular mRNA translation, and (4) the concomitant down regulation of the expression of cold-shock genes; - The CSRA-model does not explain why the production of cold-shock and/or cold acclimation proteins does not cease in psychrotrophs; - The inability of mesophiles to sustain growth at temperatures below 7 degrees C has been explained as a result of insufficient cold-shock response, compared to psychrotrophs; -Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) , one of the two essential 3'-5'exoribonucleases in E. coli, is a cold-shock protein, but the gene is not cold-inducible by its own promoter. The other 3'-5'exoribonuclease, RNaseII, is not cold induced; - PNPase is able to interact with the ribosome, and PNPase is better at the degrading of mRNA's which contain secondary structures, compared to its counterpart RNaseII; - PNPase uses a relatively energy-saying mode of mRNA degradation, compared to RNaseII, and has in that way a central position in the efficient turnover of the essential DNA-precursor cytosine diphosphate (CDP) ; - Energy levels are growth limiting for E, coli at low temperatures.
It has been shown in the present study that:
The emergence of Y. enterocolitica as a human pathogen in our era can at least partly be explained as a result of the enormously increased application of refrigeration in the preservation of foods; - The ability of Y. enterocolitica to grow at refrigerator temperatures is dependent on expression of the bacterial pnp gene, encoding the exoribonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase); The cellular concentration of PNPase in Y. enterocolitica is increased during growth at refrigeration temperatures; -. The cold-induced rise of the PNPase concentration in Yersinia enterocolitica is accompanied by an increase in pnp mRNA, and this is mediated by a cold-inducible promoter of the pnp gene; - A similar cold-induced increase in PNPase concentration occurs in all other, invariably psychrotrophic, species of the genus Yersinia; - In all other Yersinia species, the organization of the regulatory regions of the pnp gene is identical to that in Y. enterocolitica.
It is concluded that: PNPase is an essential factor for adaptation to reduced temperatures, presumably not only in Y. enterocolitica, but also in other, mesophilic bacteria; Due to its ability to interact with ribosomes, PNPase fits well in the CSRA-model. Its mode of action may be in the enhanced decay of those mRNA's which have lost their polysomes, resulting in a more efficient synthesis as well as in increased translation of the mRNA's of the cold-shock genes; - . According to this function in the CSRA-model, PNPase might be a restrictive factor for efficient cold-adaptation. Consequently, an insufficient enhancement at 7 degrees C or below, or a subsequent decline of PNPase expression, might be the cause of the definitive cessation of growth of mesophiles at this temperature; - In view of the cellular difficulties in liberating sufficient energy under cold-stress conditions, it is not unlikely that the lower temperature limit for growth is set by the cellular capacity to maintain the catabolism under these conditions; - On behalf of its energy-saving mode of mRNA decay, PNPase could be the key factor that is needed under energy-limiting conditions to provide the cell with the obligatory DNA-precursor cytosine diphosphate (CDP) ; - Further studies are needed to unravel how pnp-expression is regulated and what role is played by PNPase in the process of cold-adaptation, in order to elucidate the mechanism(s) which set the lower temperature limit for growth of micro-organisms.


Interior wooden surfaces have the capacity to buffer the maxima and minima of relative humidity (RH) indoors. Especially in high performance buildings, where high airtightness levels as well as high indoor air quality (IAQ) are required, there is great potential for energy savings by reducing the mechanical ventilation demand. The last decade, the moisture buffer phenomena has been widely researched. Relevant findings showed that the moisture buffering effect is reduced when the ventilation rates increase. The air infiltration is usually taken into consideration simply as an additional fraction of air exchange. However, infiltration has a rather complex nature and can result into more localized effects compared to ventilation (mechanical) that mostly applies globally to a room. In this paper, the moisture buffering phenomena linked to the variation of air infiltration rates are studied in a cross laminated timber (CLT) test house. Both CO2 and moisture are released in the room. The infiltration rates are calculated using tracer gas techniques (CO2 decay method), while the air exchanges are calculated based on the decay of RH as well and the results are compared. In addition, the indoor relative humidity (RH) and moisture content in the construction elements are measured in different monitoring positions. The impact of airtightness and infiltration rates on the overall ('global') moisture buffer capacity is studied. Furthermore, the influence of the leakage location on the 'local' moisture buffer capacity of each monitoring position / element is also tested. Finally, the potential of using moisture is as 'tracer gas' for estimating the air exchanges in a room is researched.


1. Slices of mouse brain grey matter were incubated with [(32)P]phosphate and [1-(14)C]acetate. Doubly labelled phospholipids were extracted from subcellular fractions prepared from the slices in a mixture of metabolic inhibitors, under conditions where there was negligible change in radioactive labelling during the preparation. Two tissue fractions were studied in detail; one contained a high proportion of mitochondria and the other was mainly microsomal. 2. In all tissue fractions the highest incorporations of both [(32)P]phosphate and [1-(14)C]acetate occurred into phosphatidylcholine. 3. After incubation for 1hr., the (32)P/(14)C ratios for phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidic acid in the mitochondrial fraction were similar to those in the microsomal fraction. 4. The (32)P/(14)C ratios were similar in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine and much lower than those in phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylinositol.


This report is a summary of the research project on the 'Adequacy and Sustainability of Old-Age Income Maintenance' (AIM). Thirteen institutes from across the EU have collaborated on the task of assessing the situation of today's pensioners and providing insights into future trends and policy options for securing adequate income for EU pensioners.The AIM project produced several state-of-the-art additions to the debate on EU pension reforms. Among others, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the UK calculated cohort spending for a sample of European countries to show how much countries need to save to take care of future pensioners. The team led by the Belgian Federal Planning Bureau developed the first EU, multi-country, dynamic simulation model for pension expenditure called MIDAS. A group of research institutes led by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research provided a current map of the social exclusion of the elderly in the EU.The report starts with a discussion on what pensions we can consider adequate. Indicators of adequacy are proposed. Then, to determine the different pension mechanisms in existence in the EU and the prevalence of various kinds of schemes, the report provides an up-to-date classification of pension systems. This classification section is followed by an analysis of public opinion on pension reforms. While the public is generally in favor of the status quo, certain segments of the population fear and resist changes for diverse reasons.The bulk of the study entails a statistical description of the material situation of the elderly in the EU-15 and the new member states, simulations of assorted policy scenarios and discussions on incentives to retire or stay in the labor force. The broad conclusion of the report is that the pension incomes of future generations are under threat everywhere, mostly owing to demographic developments. Yet policy-makers have a range of reform options at their disposal that, when implemented with careful regard for the political and social context, can ensure adequate incomes of the elderly in the future.


In this dissertation, we investigate the privacy-preserved data publication problems towards pervasively existing linkable social-physical contents. On the one hand, data publication has been considered as a critical approach to facilitate numerous utilities for individuals, populations, platform owners, and all third-party service providers. On the other hand, the unprecedented adoption of mobile devices and the dramatic development of Internet-of-Thing (IoT) systems have pushed the collection of surrounding physical information among populations to a totally novel stage. The collected contents can provide a fine-grained access to both physical and social aspects of the crowds, which introduces a comprehensively linkable and potentially sensitive information domain. The linkage includes the related index like privacy, utility, and efficiency for sophisticated applications, the inherent correlations among multiple data sources or information dimensions, and the connections among individuals. As the linkage leads to various novel challenges for privacy preservation, there should be a body of novel mechanisms for linkable social-physical data publications. As a result, this dissertation proposes a series of mechanisms for privacy-preserved linkable social-physical data publication. Firstly, we study the publication of physical data where the co-existing useful social profiles and the sensitive physical profiles of the data should be carefully maintained. Secondly, we investigate the data publication problem jointly considering the privacy preservation, data utility, and resource efficiency for task completion in crowd-sensing systems. Thirdly, we investigate the publication of private contents used for the recommendation, where contents of a user contribute to the recommendation results for others. Fourthly, we study the publications of reviews in local business service systems, where users expect to conceal their frequently visited locations while cooperatively maintain the utility of the whole system. Fifthly, we study the acquisition of privacy-preserved knowledge on cyber-physical social networks, where third-party service providers can derive the community structure without accessing the sensitive social links. We also provide detailed analysis and discussion for proposed mechanisms, and extensively validate their performance via real-world datasets. Both results demonstrate that the proposed mechanisms can properly preserve the privacy while maintaining the data utility. At last, we also propose the future research topics to complete the whole dissertation. The first topic focuses on the privacy preservation towards correlations beneath multiple data sources. The second topic studies more privacy issues for the whole population during data publication, including both the novel threats for related communities, and the disclosure of trends within crowds. INDEX WORDS: Privacy Preservation, Data Publication, Sensitive Information, Social-Physical Data, IoT, Community, Cooperation, Fairness PRIVACY-PRESERVED LINKABLE SOCIAL-PHYSICAL DATA PUBLICATION


A hybrid (reservation/random) medium access control protocol based on code division multiple access is described and analyzed under multimedia traffic load. The protocol meets the quality of service requirements of the different users and applications by following proper reservation policies and through a multi-priority mechanism which is embedded in its collision resolution algorithm. The priority mechanism is implemented and controlled explicitly by the users and without any involvement from the network. This makes the allocation of priority transparent to the network infrastructure and adds to the simplicity and practical value of the proposed scheme. The evaluation shows that the protocol is able to achieve high levels of utilization and is capable of supporting relatively large numbers of video/voice users and relatively high volumes of data traffic.


This paper uses annual data for Taiwan from 1970 to 2003 to examine the factors affecting medical expenses. The results are as follows: (1) after the implementation of the National Health Insurance system, the average per capita health care spending increased significantly, by about 16%. (2) The income elasticity of health care spending is greater than 1, which means that it is a luxury good. This is in contrast with the findings of other Taiwanese studies, but supports the results in the foreign literature. (3) Increasing the number of physicians may cause "supply-induced demand†, but other explanatory variables may also affect this. (4) Taiwan has an aging population, and the proportion of ageing population has a positive correlation with health care expenditure. (5) Universal health insurance might lead to an ex post moral hazard.


The paper discusses the importance of Real-Time Data Analysis (RTDA) with innovative fluid business models for the tourism industry. The study uses a conceptual approach to identify innovative fluid tourism business models and their relationships with RTDA based on the problematisation of the crucial need for a holistic, macro understanding of the tourism ecosystem approach rather than framing the issue from a micro point of view. The paper highlights that the current digital era makes it no longer possible for the tourism ecosystem stakeholders to use static models that collect, store, analyse data and make decisions accordingly. Innovative business models should be fluid structural models that use instant data and provide continuous, multiple, and variable decisions with RTDA. The real-time analysis of macro (e.g., countries), meso (e.g., destinations), and micro (e.g., tourists) data obtained from the tourism ecosystem is vital for innovative business models which facilitate the offerings of individualised services and provide increased cooperation between stakeholders using open innovation opportunities in the ecosystem. To date, the tourism industry has not adequately grasped the outcomes and benefits of big data analytics (BDA). While a growing body of literature on big data has focused extensively on technical aspects (e.g., infrastructure, intelligence, and analytical tools), the issue of how and under what conditions BDA can generate value and impacts for various stakeholders