Variability in sea surface temperature (SST) at seasonal, inter-annual and longer timescales reflect changes in both atmospheric and oceanic processes. SST is a key parameter that influence the heat transfer between the ocean and atmosphere and therefore it is important for regulating climate and its variability, both regionally and globally. SST also have a major influence on marine ecosystem function. Monthly SST and SST anomaly data, derived from satellite data between 1993 and 2018, were used to examine the SST variability in the East Australian and Leeuwin Current regions and indicated strong seasonal and inter-annual variability. There were periods of warm and cool periods where the mean monthly SST changed by up to 2oC at inter-annual scales that were mainly associated with El Niño and La Niña events. In the south-east, the SST has been increasing at a rate of ~1oC per decade whist no longer term changes have been observed along the west coast. 1 Oceans Graduate School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia 2 UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia State and Trends of Australia's Oceans Report


— Big Data and Cloud Computing are two major concepts which have been constantly growing since their emergence. Big data is generated in enormous scales daily in online activities, which are used in analytics related to many fields of study such as banking, healthcare, chemistry, data mining, finance, marketing etc. Consumer behavior analysis can be done through analyzing the big data which is generated through transactions. Effective application and management of resources is important in IT implementations related to this subject, for which cloud computing can effectively contribute. This paper presents technology used in big data and cloud computing, how they are used in consumer behavior analysis, existing barriers and possible future directions in which these technologies will be used in consumer behavior analysis.


This paper deals with convergence parameters determination of adaptive algorithms, which are used in adaptive L-filters design. Firstly the stability of adaptation process, convergence rate or adaptation time, and behaviour of convergence curve belong among basic properties of adaptive algorithms. L-filters with variety of adaptive algorithms were used to their determination. Convergence performances finding of adaptive filters is important mainly for their hardware applications, where filtration in real time or adaptation of coefficient filter with low capacity of input data are required.


The transient process of heat transfer between a high-temperature emulsion packet and the wall of an immersed surface is simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). From these simulations, the total heat transfer coefficient and its radiant contribution due to the emulsion (dense) phase are evaluated. The results are compared with experimental data (Ozkaynak et al., "An experimental investigation of radiant heat transfer in high temperature fluidized beds," in Fluidization IV, 1983:371–378) and with predicted values from the generalized heterogeneous model (GHM), (Mazza et al., "Evaluation of overall heat transfer rates between bubbling fluidized beds and immersed surfaces," Chem Eng Commun., 1997;162:125–149). The CFD simulations are in good agreement with both, experimental data and theoretical GHM predictions and provide a reliable way to quantify the studied heat transfer process. Also, the GHM is validated as a practical tool to this end. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 412–426, 2012


Sophisticated cyber security threats, such as advanced persistent threats, rely on infecting end points within a targeted security domain and embedding malware. Typically, such malware periodically reaches out to the command and control infrastructures controlled by adversaries. Such callback behavior, called beaconing, is challenging to detect as (a) detection requires long-term temporal analysis of communication patterns at several levels of granularity, (b) malware authors employ various strategies to hide beaconing behavior, and (c) it is also employed by legitimate applications (such as updates checks). In this paper, we develop a comprehensive methodology to identify stealthy beaconing behavior from network traffic observations. We use an 8-step filtering approach to iteratively refine and eliminate legitimate beaconing traffic and pinpoint malicious beaconing cases for in-depth investigation and takedown. We provide a systematic evaluation of our core beaconing detection algorithm and conduct a large-scale evaluation of web proxy data (more than 30 billion events) collected over a 5-month period at a corporate network comprising over 130,000 end-user devices. Our findings indicate that our approach reliably exposes malicious beaconing behavior, which may be overlooked by traditional security mechanisms.


Background An epidemic of syphilis persists in UK men who have sex with men (MSM), often with unusual manifestations. We report a case of syphilis mimicking a lymphoproliferative disorder. Case A 29-year-old previously well MSM was admitted with 3 weeks of generalised painless lymphadenopathy. He reported malaise, night sweats and joint pain while travelling recently in the Middle East. He was apyrexial and routine bloods were normal apart from mildly raised liver enzymes. Paul Bunnell and HIV antibody tests were negative. His GP screened for STIs but did not include syphilis serology despite the patient describing penile lesions. Clinicians felt that the presentation was highly suggestive of lymphoma. A CT scan showed multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the neck and small bowel mesentery. An open cervical lymph node biopsy was performed. Histopathology showed suppurating granuloma in a reactive lymph node with no evidence of lymphoma. Stains for HIV p24, acid-fast bacilli and fungi were negative. The suggested differential included lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV), cat scratch disease and melioidosis. At GU medicine review he reported sex with multiple partners in the preceding 6 months. He had a blotchy maculopapular rash on his penis and scrotum, though this was treated as "fungal" by junior staff. Molecular tests for chlamydial and gonococcal infections were negative, including throat swabs. Treponema pallidum (TP) antibodies were positive, RPR = 1:256. He was recalled and started on doxycycline for both secondary syphilis and possible LGV. Two weeks later his lymphadenopathy had greatly reduced in size. His original lymph node biopsy was retrieved and TP immunostaining was performed, which revealed a profuse infiltrate of spirochetes. Conclusion This case highlights the need for clinicians from all specialities to be alert for the many clinical manifestations of syphilis currently prevalent in MSM. Wider use of TP immunostaining in relevant specimens is warranted.


The article investigates the timber enterprises' integration in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra as a way to improve the efficiency of the timber industry. Currently, in the region, only 10 of 130 timber enterprises are large and mediumsized enterprises. The other companies are small and chronically underfunded. These small enterprises use outdated equipment and production technology, are unable to organize wood processing and reforestation; to develop forest infrastructure. However, the integration of timber industry enterprises can become the way to address this situation. The article discusses various types of possible enterprises' integration, such as vertical and horizontal integrations, the combined and unrelated diversification (financial integration). The combined diversification is a mixed type of the integration of enterprises from related and unrelated industries. This type of integration is most in keeping with the characteristics of the development of timber industry of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra. The combined diversification will maximize the effect from the association of enterprises. The author has justified the rationale for establishing six integrated industrial and financial associations (IIFA) according to improved forest and economical zoning of Okrug area. I defined the profile of each IIFA taking into account of special aspects of forest resources as well as social and economical development characteristics of the area and demand for the products. In Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, the integrated industrial and financial associations will address four critical challenges of the socio-economic development of the region. Firstly, these associations will contribute to the diversification of the economy. Secondly, they will enable the production of new types of forest products. Thirdly, the creation of the integrated industrial and financial associations will increase the efficiency in use of wood raw materials (including low-grade wood and wood waste). And last, it will enhance job creation and wage increases for the employees in the forest industry. The integration in the timber industry of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug can be applied by other regions of Russia. However, technologies of integration have to be adapted to socio-economic and forest vegetation conditions of a certain region.


This paper discusses the development and subsequent validation process of generic multi-body models for commercial vehicle combinations. The model is intended for performance assessment and improving of current and future combinations for the European road network. A second goal is to employ the model for the development of driver support systems and active steering strategies for both low speed manoeuvrability and high speed stability. The model is developed in SimMechanics, which is part of the MATLAB/Simulink software. Due to its modularity, one can quickly modify the model to the desired configuration and dimensions; therefore various multi articulation vehicle models can be created. The paper further illustrates the simplified and generic modelling methods used to build particular components such as chassis, tyres or suspension in the multibody domain. A stepwise approach of the model validation is presented, followed by a sensitivity analysis illustrating the effect of the selected vehicle parameters on particular vehicle states. To conclude, the approach is applied to the validation of the simulation model using measurement data obtained from experimental testing of two different vehicle combinations.


Multiple paternity has been demonstrated in a variety of sharks with different reproductive modes (i.e., viviparous, ovoviviparous, adelphophagy, oviparous), although the number of sires per litter varies considerably among species. To date, such analyses have focused mainly on coastal and nearshore shark species due to the difficulty in sampling oceanic sharks. In the present study, we observed multiple paternity in the oceanic shark Isurus oxyrinchus from seven polymorphic microsatellite loci and three litters collected from Nanfangao Fishing Port. Paternity tests showed that an average of 4.6 sires were assigned to each litter of I. oxyrinchus using COLONY software, and that the average number of sires dropped to 2.5 when using GERUD. These findings suggest that multiple paternity could be a common reproductive strategy used by the shortfin mako shark, and that this mating system should be integrated into a demographic model to make more accurate population projections and risk analyses in the future.


For research in audiovisual interview archives often it is not only of interest what is said but also how. Sentiment analysis and emotion recognition can help capture, categorize and make these different facets searchable. In particular, for oral history archives, such indexing technologies can be of great interest. These technologies can help understand the role of emotions in historical remembering. However, humans often perceive sentiments and emotions ambiguously and subjectively. Moreover, oral history interviews have multi-layered levels of complex, sometimes contradictory, sometimes very subtle facets of emotions. Therefore, the question arises of the chance machines and humans have capturing and assigning these into predefined categories. This paper investigates the ambiguity in human perception of emotions and sentiment in German oral history interviews and the impact on machine learning systems. Our experiments reveal substantial differences in human perception for different emotions. Furthermore, we report from ongoing machine learning experiments with different modalities. We show that the human perceptual ambiguity and other challenges, such as class imbalance and lack of training data, currently limit the opportunities of these technologies for oral history archives. Nonetheless, our work uncovers promising observations and possibilities for further research.


PURPOSE
To report the results of the first pharmacokinetic study in pediatric patients of O(6)-benzylguanine (O(6)BG), which irreversibly inactivates the DNA repair protein alkylguanine-alkyltransferase, thus enhancing the cytotoxicity of nitrosoureas.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
As part of a Pediatric Oncology Group Phase I study, 120 mg/m(2) of O(6)BG was administered i.v. over 1 h, before 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea administration in children with recurrent or refractory brain tumors. Serial blood samples for plasma pharmacokinetic studies were obtained. Concentrations of O(6)BG and its active metabolite O(6)-benzyl-8-oxoguanine (8-oxo-O(6)BG) were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. A pharmacokinetic model and additional first-order elimination rate constants for each compound were developed.

RESULTS
O(6)BG concentration versus time data were evaluated for 25 patients. The peak concentration of O(6)BG (mean +/- SD) was 11 +/- 4 microm, and the peak concentration of its active metabolite, 8-oxo-O(6)BG, was 35 +/- 10 microm. O(6)BG was rapidly eliminated with a half-life of 85 +/- 140 min, area under the curve of 795 +/- 320 microm. min and clearance of 760 +/- 400 ml/min/m(2). The area under the curve of 8-oxo-O(6)BG when extrapolated to infinity was 22,700 +/- 11,800 microm. min. The clearance and terminal half-life of 8-oxo-O(6)BG were 30 +/- 15 ml/min/m(2) and 360 +/- 220 min, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
There is rapid elimination of O(6)BG after i.v. administration over 1 h. In contrast, the terminal half-life for the active metabolite, 8-oxo-O(6)BG, is 4-fold longer. The pharmacokinetic parameters for O(6)BG and 8-oxo-O(6)BG are similar to those reported previously in adults.


Vanda for the past decade has been the primadonna of ornamental orchids in the south and southeast Asia, along with Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium. Along with the increase in demand for Vanda, this genus has faced several threats from illegal collection to habitat loss. Mass propagation through in vitro culture is a promising strategy to make ensure sustainable business in horticulture, as well as for conservation purposes. This review provides an overview and synthesizes of various Vanda in vitro culture literature. We showed the researchers' preferences on several aspects for growing Vanda, including species, basal medium, plant growth regulators, explant, and culture conditions. The most commonly used as explants are seeds or protocorms, growing on Murashige & Skoog or Vacin & Went medium. This medium can be added banana homogenate to increase its nutritional value. Vanda seedlings can be incubated at 25 ± 1-3oC, with a lighting intensity of 50 μmol m-2 s-1 at 12/16 h PP. Choosing a medium that is cheaper but still rich in nutrients and its additives especially during the subculture phase; selection of explants that are responsive and minimizing the possibility of contamination; as well as seeing the target market in particular, can make Vanda's propagation efforts more effective, efficient, and profitable.


Abstract Research has developed empirical models and procedures for analyzing factors which influence rural land markets; however, there have been limited efforts in developing procedures for identifying rural land submarkets. Principal component analysis is used here to detect the presence of multiple rural land submarkets. Cluster analysis is then used as a basis for identifying eight contiguous rural land submarkets in Louisiana. As opposed to single-attribute procedures that have been based largely on subjective judgment, multivariate procedures illustrated in this analysis provide a means for capturing the combined effects of physical and socioeconomic influences in delineating rural land submarkets.


Abstract: This paper presents a study of the hunting activities on Xerente Indigenous Land (XIL) in the Brazilian Cerrado. We used data from a Hunting Monitoring Program from eight villages to evaluate the effects of village age, distance from village to town and season (wet and dry) on the composition of hunted species, animals and biomass killed and availability of preferred game-species. We also assessed for any indication of fauna depletion around the villages. Distance from village to town and season were the only variables which affected composition. Preferred species occured more often in villages closer to the town. However, these villages present strong indications of local game-species depletion. The hunters' great capacity for spatial movement can eliminate this effect. Animals and biomass killed was high in the dry season. Game-species composition between seasons can avoid the overexploitation of some sensitive species, such as low-land tapir. These results are important in the design of local management and conservation plans. Our results also contribute to further understanding the impacts of hunting in open Neotropical environments.


One of the more remarkable developments in translingual literature over the past decade has been the rise of a new wave of Soviet-born authors writing in languages other than their native Russian. Autobiographical elements have always figured prominently in their fiction, and some of these authors have recently crossed the boundary into non-fiction by writing memoirs. The process of writing in a second language about becoming a writer in a second language gives these books a particular self-referential quality. This essay surveys the latest memoirs and auto-fiction (published 2012-14) of five Soviet-born immigrant novelists in the U.S. and Germany—Gary Shteyngart, Lena Gorelik, Lara Vapnyar, Olga Grjasnowa, and Maxim Shrayer. It argues that constructing a narrative of the self for a foreign audience serves as a crucial step in the gestation of a translingual novelist. This narrative urge often predates the actual mastery of the new language. Rather than as the result of an already-achieved acquisition of a new linguistic medium, telling one's story in a non-native language emerges as a means toward language learning and integration.


As the study of biology has increasingly utilized high- throughput experimental platforms, the need for rigorous, computational analysis of systems biology data has never been greater. Here I present three aims towards solving important computational problems in the field of high- throughput genetic interaction mapping and screening. In Chapter 1, I review the context of my work and describe the technologies I build upon. Chapter 2 is a reproduction of published work in which we present a novel, quantitative differential interaction score, which performs favorably compared to previous differential scores. We also discuss the added utility of differential genetic-similarity in differential network analysis. Chapter 3 is a reproduction of published work in which we present an ultra-high-density, 6144-colony arraying system and analysis toolbox. Using budding yeast as a benchmark, we find that these tools boost genetic screening throughput 4-fold and yield significant cost and time reductions at quality levels equal to or better than current methods. We conclude that the new ultra-high- density screening tools enable researchers to significantly increase the size and scope of their genetic screens. In Chapter 4, I present work being prepared for publication, in which we utilize the new 6144-colony agar format to perform genome-wide time-lapse analysis of the yeast gene deletion collection to quantify dynamic growth phenotypes and identify key biological processes involved in adaptation to metabolic stress through nutrient depletion. We then apply our method to study the dynamic response to UV-radiation and observe that growth profiles recapitulate key biological processes in DNA repair and suggest novel relationships. I conclude in Chapter 5 with a review of my thesis and a discussion of the possibility my work enables in the future. As a whole, this thesis is a combined work of both computational and biological research. In Aim 1, I develop a new statistical score and make biological insights from genetic interaction profiles. In Aim 2, I developed an image analysis toolkit that supports the emerging 6144-colony format. In Aim 3, I use the new 6144 format and image analysis toolkit to develop a novel experimental platform using time-lapse imaging of yeast on agar


1. Net photosynthetic capacity (Amax, defined as light-saturated net photosynthesis under near optimal ambient environmental conditions) of mature leaves often depends on the level of leaf nitrogen (N), but an assortment of relationships between these variables has been observed in studies of diverse plant species. Variation in leaf structure has been identified as an important factor associated with differences between the area- and mass-based expressions of the Amax–N relationship. In this paper we test the hypothesis that leaf structure, quantified using a measure of leaf area displayed per unit dry mass invested [specific leaf area (SLA)], is more than just a conversion factor, but itself can influence Amax–N relationships. We test this using several kinds of comparisons, based on field data for 107 species from sites representing six biomes and on literature data for 162 species from an equally diverse set of biomes.

2. Species and genera with thicker and/or denser leaves (lower SLA) consistently have flatter slopes of the Amax–N (mass-based) relationship than those with higher SLA. These and all other contrasts usually applied as well using area-based expressions, although such relationships were less consistent and weaker overall. A steeper slope indicates greater incremental change in Amax per unit variation in N.

3. Functional groups (e.g. needle-leafed evergreen trees, broad-leafed trees or shrubs, forbs) show the same patterns: groups with lower SLA have lower Amax–N slopes. Functional groups differ in mean leaf traits as well as in Amax–N relationships. Forbs have the highest SLA and mass-based N and Amax, followed by deciduous species (whether needle-leafed or broad-leafed, shrub or tree), with lowest values in evergreen species (again regardless of leaf type or functional group).

4. Interspecific variation in mass-based Amax is highly significantly related to the combination of leaf N and SLA (r2 = 0·86). At any value of leaf N, Amax increases with increasing SLA and at any value of SLA, Amax increases with increasing leaf N. Because this relationship, between Amax and the combination of N and SLA, is similar in two independent data sets, and as well, across broad taxonomic and geographic gradients, we hypothesize that it is universal in nature. Therefore, for broad interspecific contrasts among dicotyledons in any biome, we can reasonably well predict Amax based on the combination of SLA and leaf N. These findings have important implications for convergent evolution of leaf adaptation and great potential utility in models of global vegetation functioning.


In the present paper, we review and discuss current developments and challenges in the field of droplet-based microfluidics. This discussion includes an assessment of the basic fluid dynamics of segmented flows, material requirements, fundamental unit operations and how integration of functional components can be applied to specific biological problems.


The rising number of road injuries is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today. One of the main causes of traffic accidents were unsafe and inattentive driving. Drowsiness or a loss of focus on the part of the driver is believed to be a significant factor in such incidents. Driver drowsiness tracking research can assist in the reduction of road accidents.This journal presents a good approach for applying a driver's sleepiness alarm system that uses Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques to identify and track the driver's yawning and sleepiness. For face detection and recognition, the device utilises the Histogram Centred Gradient (HOG) function descriptor, which is widely used in image processing. The SVM is then used to determine if the image being identified is a face or not. It also checks the driver's Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) and Mouth Aspect Ratio (MAR) up to a certain countable frames to see whether he or she is sleepy or yawning. Since the driver's drowsiness or fatigue is proportional to the number of hours spent behind the wheel, an extra element for changing theface and mouth reference frames have been added. This increases the sensitivity to detect drowsiness. This also necessitates the introduction of face recognition so that each driver can be tracked individually.This Project aims to provide a Driver Alert System consisting of three sections Face Recognition to unlock vehicle, traffic light detection and Drowsiness alert system.


South Africa is an open economy, and, therefore, it is affected by what happens in foreign markets. Exports and export growth are cornerstones of South African economic development policy. One of the implications of an export-orientated economy is that many of its SMME manufacturers must, of necessity, conform to the technical requirements in export markets. South Africa will have to follow international conformity assessment trends and adapt to the highest common denominator in many of these markets. The challenges for local compliance with the technical standards, regulatory and conformity assessment regimes are substantial, even when they are transparent; however, when compared to what might be faced by local SMME's addressing technical requirements both closer to home within the local SADC region and in the rest of Africa, the challenges mount exponentially.


Research in Wireless Mesh Networking has been really active in the last years, with the birth of various ideas and the protocols that implement them. Nevertheless all the currently most deployed protocols have a lot of room for improvement and there are still open challenges that are meant to bring the performance to higher levels. Wireless Mesh Networks are involved in several studies also because of their applications which can be particularly useful in all those situations where wired infrastructures are not feasible. Common implementations rely on Layer-3 addressing and routing, but doing Mesh networking on Layer-2 address space is probably the best way for building a protocol needed to handle this kind of networks, since this task is not strictly related to the network (IP) layer. In particular, efficient client managing is not possible in case of a mesh routing protocol implemented on Layer-3 and this is probably one of the most important tasks of the routing protocol (after establishing routes, of course). This technical report focuses on the client announcement and the roaming problems that a protocol, embedded between Layer-2 and Layer-3, has to face. In particular, it focuses on B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced and defines new mechanisms that are meant to improve the protocol performance in client management and roaming. The current client announcement mechanism suffers from several problems, in particular from a high protocol overhead. The new strategy described in this technical report is meant to reduce such overhead and to increase the robustness of the whole announcement strategy. Up to now B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced hasn't ever provided a real mechanism to handle the roaming procedure, so this is the first one accounting this issue in the protocol. Performance are increased dramatically thus making it possible to measure real benefits in the user communications. This is probably the most prominent result obtained in this work which actually brings new possibilities for further improvements and for designing new mechanisms. The B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced protocol is actually transparent to the network layer by design, so the base idea behind the new roaming mechanism is to keep such transparency providing an on-time re-routing of the batman encapsulated data packets to the new destination. In this way it is possible to avoid affecting upper layers keeping them unaware of roaming, thus keeping all the connections active. The new mechanisms have been tested in the worst case roaming scenario for B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced. Such scenario consists in a topology made up by a chain of nodes of length $N$ (the longer the chain, worse the performance) on top of which a client served by the first node and one served by the last one are communicating. In case of any client movement (e.g. roaming to an adjacent node) the time needed by the new routing information to be spread among the network, and consequently make the connection work again, is proportional to the number of links that separate the two involved nodes. The experimental results, that are reported at the end of the technical report, show that even in this particular scenario the performance improvement given by the new mechanism is significant. The tests have been performed in an emulated environment where virtual machines, which acted as nodes, were created using QEMU-KVM. Therefore it has been possible to use the real B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced code instead of a possible error-prone implementation for any of the known network simulators (NS-2, NS-3, OMNET++, etc.).


Purpose To investigate the general sleep stage classification performance of deep learning networks, three datasets, across different age groups, mental health conditions, and acquisition devices, comprising adults (SHHS) and children without mental health conditions (CCSHS), and subjects with mental health conditions (XJ), were included in this study. Methods A long short-term memory (LSTM) network was used to evaluate the effect of different ages, mental health conditions, and acquisition devices on the sleep stage classification performance and the general performance. Results Results showed that the age and different mental health conditions may affect the sleep stage classification performance of the network. The same acquisition device using different parameters may not have an obvious effect on the classification performance. When using a single dataset and two datasets for training, the network performed better only on the training dataset. When training was conducted with three datasets, the network performed well for all datasets with a Cohen's Kappa of 0.8192 and 0.8472 for the SHHS and CCSHS, respectively, but performed relatively worse (0.6491) for the XJ, which indicated the complexity effect of different mental health conditions on the sleep stage classification task. Moreover, the performance of the network trained using three datasets was similar for each dataset to that of the network trained using a single dataset and tested on the same dataset. Conclusion These results suggested that when more datasets across different age groups, mental health conditions, and acquisition devices (ie, more datasets with different feature distributions for each sleep stage) are used for training, the general performance of a deep learning network will be superior for sleep stage classification tasks with varied conditions.


School Age Care (SAC) in Australia has seen exponential growth over the last decade as families increasingly use services to provide care for their children both before and after school. In turn, this demand for services is being challenged as SAC practitioners have to negotiate the expectations of their role and responsibilities with children in providing play activities. This small qualitative project engaged five children from a SAC service in a collaborative research venture. It was intended to examine children's experiences of play in SAC using photographic data collected by the children themselves. Their photographs identified the natural environment and prohibited spaces as appealing play opportunities, contrary to the researchers' expectations. Overall, the findings in this study emphasise that children's perspectives are different from adults, and 'stepping back' needs to be a starting point for service providers in provisioning play opportunities in SAC. The children's sense of agency was highlighted, and the need for more in-depth investigations of their play experiences in SAC.


Background: Different scenarios have emerged with the advent of minimally invasive approaches; transoral endoscopic parathyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOEPVA) is a technique with promising results.Objective: The aim of this study is to describe the surgical technique and the experience gained.Material and methods: We describe 3 patients with asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism due to parathyroid adenoma and one case of tertiary hyperparathyroidism with parathyroid hyperplasia with clinical signs and presence of lesions in imaging tests.Results: In 3 patients operative time was 202.5 minutes. The patients had adequate tolerance to pain and remained hospitalized for 24 hours. One patient with ectopic parathyroid adenoma required conversion to open surgery that was complicated with an accidental esophageal injury. Intraoperative parathormone levels decreased by >50% compared by baseline values in all the cases.Conclusions: This minimally invasive procedure is reproducible but should be used in selected cases as it is not free of complications.


Vispute, SS, Smith, JD, LeCheminant, JD, and Hurley, KS. The effect of abdominal exercise on abdominal fat. J Strength Cond Res 25(9): 2559–2564, 2011—The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of abdominal exercises on abdominal fat. Twenty-four healthy, sedentary participants (14 men and 10 women), between 18 and 40 years, were randomly assigned to 1 of the following 2 groups: control group (CG) or abdominal exercise group (AG). Anthropometrics, body composition, and abdominal muscular endurance were tested before and after training. The AG performed 7 abdominal exercises, for 2 sets of 10 repetitions, on 5 d wk for 6 weeks. The CG received no intervention, and all participants maintained an isocaloric diet throughout the study. Significance was set at p = 0.05 for all tests. There was no significant effect of abdominal exercises on body weight, body fat percentage, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal circumference, abdominal skinfold and suprailiac skinfold measurements. The AG performed significantly greater amount of curl-up repetitions (47 6 13) compared to the CG (32 6 9) on the posttest. Six weeks of abdominal exercise training alone was not sufficient to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat and other measures of body composition. Nevertheless, abdominal exercise training significantly improved muscular endurance to a greater extent than the CG.


A significant topic within the behavioral finance literature is the notion of perceived risk pertaining to novice investors (i.e. individuals, finance students) and investment professionals (i.e. financial planners, security analysts). The author provides an overview of the concepts of risk, perception, and risk perception with the financial scholar in mind. There is also a presentation on the behavioral finance concepts and themes that might influence an individual's perception of risk for different types of financial services and investment products. The next section presents a discussion of the significant risk perception research in the social sciences namely from psychology. This research work from psychology (i.e., risk perception studies in risky situations and hazardous activities) is the behavioral foundation for a substantial amount of the current contributions within the behavioral accounting and behavioral finance literature. In particular, the work of the Decision Research scholars including Paul Slovic and his co-authors on risk perception studies that have crossed over from psychology to the disciplines of behavioral accounting and behavioral finance (i.e. behavioral risk characteristics from psychology that are applied within a financial/investment decision making context). Within the last section of this paper, the author reveals the first of its kind thorough review of the academic research studies on perceived risk/risk perception from the disciplines of behavioral accounting since 1975 and behavioral finance since the late 1960s. This literature review incorporates 12 works from behavioral accounting and 71 endeavors from behavioral finance. In addition, the behavioral finance literature review section also includes approximately 10 narrative research reviews from risk perception studies in behavioral economics. A major facet of this paper was to bring together all the previous studies in the risk perception literature for the purpose of conducting a study based on the academic foundation of the main themes, research approaches, and findings from this collection of studies.


In this paper we demonstrate how thumb-to-finger tap interaction can be employed to perform eyes-free discrete symbolic input in virtual and augmented reality environments. Our DigiTap device is worn on the wrist to keep the hand free from any instrumentation such that tactile sense and dexterity are not impaired. DigiTap senses the jerk that is caused by a tap and takes an image sequence to detect the tap location. The device is able to recognize taps at twelve different locations on the fingers, and at some positions it can even distinguish between different tap strengths. We have conducted an extended user study to evaluate users' ability to interact with the device and to perform symbolic input.


Objectives: This study analyzes the major defect factors that influence the defective percentage of an engine manufacturing processes and to find the processes that influence other defect factors. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This study uses the process data from actual manufacturing sites, and analyzes the major defect factors occurring in the manufacturing processes using the data mining techniques. Analysis on the process data has two steps: The first step is to preprocess to reorganize the raw data into accurate data, and the second step is to analyze for each defect factor to classify defects by factors. Findings: As a result of the analysis, it found defects of LEAK during operation of the engine, defects in components of the inlet and outlet systems of the engine and defects in components of the electronic system of the engine influence the percent defective. This study also analyzes the main defect types of product using big data from the engine manufacturing process. To solve the problem that was hard to find analytic data or useful information out of the huge data collected in real time, the data mining technique was employed. It is a practical methodology to offer beneficial information for decision making in the database marketing field. In terms of product quality management, estimating the defect types in the manufacturing process stage will shorten the time consumption in resolving the problems. By reducing the defective products in advance, it also lowers the cost accompanied with defect occurrences and raw materials. Improvements/Applications: This study suggests methods to control quality in manufacturing processes with an application of preventing defects in advance and further to control the future defects.


An optimal state feedback control strategy is proposed for processes described by non-linear, distributed-parameter models. For different values of a given parameter susceptible to upsets, the strategy involves off-line computation of a repository of optimal open-loop control, state, and the gain needed for the feedback adjustment of control. The gain is determined by minimizing the perturbation of the objective functional, state and control due to an upset. When an upset is encountered in a running process, the repository is utilized to obtain the control adjustment required to steer the process to the new optimal state. The strategy is successfully applied to a highly non-linear, heavy oil recovery process with the state depending non-linearly on time and two spatial directions inside a moving boundary, and subject to pressure upsets. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy is able to determine control adjustment with negligible time delay, and navigate the process to the new optimal state when disturbed by a pressure upset.


In this work we present the first scalable distributed information system, i.e., a system with low storage overhead, that is provably robust against Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks by a current insider. We allow a current insider to have complete knowledge about the information system and to have the power to block any ξ-fraction of its servers by a DoS-attack, where ξ can be chosen up to a constant. The task of the system is to serve any collection of lookup requests with at most one per non-blocked server in an efficient way despite this attack. Previously, scalable solutions were only known for DoS-attacks of past insiders, where a past insider only has complete knowledge about some past time point t0 of the information system. Scheideler et al. [2, 3] showed that in this case it is possible to design an information system so that any information that was inserted or last updated after t0 is safe against a DoS-attack. But their constructions would not work at all for a current insider. The key idea behind our IRIS system is to make extensive use of coding. More precisely, we present two alternative distributed coding strategies with an at most logarithmic storage overhead that can handle up to a constant fraction of blocked servers.


The universality of Islamic teaching in fulfilling the needs of human life and managing human society have always been an interest of religious scholars and researchers. In this regard, preservation and expansion of Islam has preoccupied Ulama's mind throughout the history. For this reason, the revival of Islamic values and thoughts has been recognized as a crucial issue for and a heavy burden on Muslim's scholars. Imam Khomeini has achieved successes in continuance of the movement of religious revivalism, that other Islamic reformists have achieved less. Imam Khomeini is one of significant revivalists who led the Islamic revolution in Iran and consequently brought about changes in Muslim society and civilization. He proved that dignity and civilization of Muslims can be restored in the light of Islamic doctrine and its transcendental values. In this article, the researcher first attempts to discuss the concept of revivalism and its application in Islamic culture and the activities of some of contemporary Muslim revivalists comparatively. Finally, distinctive features of Imam Khomeini's revivalism will be examined.


This paper presents an empirical study the factors that influence financial performance of enterprises' industrial diversification. The method of empirical analysis is comparing the good performance diversified companies with the bad to test which factor affects the financial performance of industrial diversification significantly. Basing on the theoretical analysis, we selected variables that measure corporate governance, diversification strategy, and enterprise management. We ran logistic regression with the data from Chinese listed companies. The result shows that more meetings of the board of directors, less unrelated diversification degree, higher total assets turnover and stronger ability to obtain operating cash inflow will increase the financial performance of enterprises' industrial diversification.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To review evidence that muscle-derived interleukin-6 (IL-6) mediates some of the beneficial effects of exercise on cancer treatment-related fatigue (CTRF).

DATA SOURCES
Electronic nursing, psychology, and medicine databases.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Fatigue is a common and often debilitating symptom associated with cancer treatment. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying CTRF have yet to be fully elucidated, it may be akin to the fatigue associated with "sickness behavior," which is initiated by the production of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). Physical exercise has been shown to decrease fatigue levels in patients with cancer undergoing treatment. Skeletal muscle selectively produces IL-6 during exercise, and muscle-derived IL-6 can decrease the production and activity of IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha. Thus, the anti-inflammatory effects of muscle-derived IL-6 may be a mechanism underlying the observed beneficial effects of exercise on CTRF.

CONCLUSIONS
Further studies are needed to determine whether the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise underlie its beneficial effects on CTRF.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Nurses have proven to be leaders in the field of cancer symptom management. An understanding of potential mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of exercise on CTRF may help to fine-tune exercise interventions to maximize symptom control and to identify new treatment strategies for fatigued patients with cancer who are unable to participate in an exercise program.


Integrin-bound Src tyrosine kinase mediates αIIbβ3 out-side-in signaling to the cytoskeleton required for platelet adhesion and thrombus formation. Src activation (signal initiation) by phosphorylation of Tyr-418 occurs at lamellipodia leading edges. However, little is known about Src inactivation mediated by C-terminal Src kinase (Csk) Tyr-529 phosphorylation. In an established platelet model cell line (A5-Chinese hamster ovary), we studied the inactivation of Src during αIIbβ3-mediated adhesion to fibrinogen with live cell fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy. Imaging revealed highly dynamic Src-Csk interactions at the leading edges of active lamellipodia. The Src-Csk interaction followed a highly dynamic pattern. Every 2–3 min, Src-Csk complexes moved inward in the cell, reorganized, and formed stable focal adhesions. These accumulations were primarily seen during retraction of lamellipodia, whereas no interaction was observed during protrusions. Western blot analysis during the run time of FRET signaling revealed an increase in Csk-mediated SrcTyr-529 phosphorylation with a parallel decline of tyrosine 418 phosphorylation. Mutation analysis provided additional insights into the role of Src. Although inactivation of Csk (CskK222R) had no effect on cell adhesion and spreading efficiency, cells with constitutively active expressed Src (SrcY529F) exhibited hardly any adhesion and no spreading. The few adherent cells showed weak focal adhesions that were disorganized and oversized. The data clearly demonstrate the important role of tight Src control by Csk for functional cell adhesion and spreading. The novel experimental FRET approach reported here for the inactivation of Src can be readily applied to other integrin and signaling pathways, including closely related Src family kinase members.


Rapid development in GPS tracking techniques produces a large number of spatio-temporal trajectory data. The analysis of these data provides us with a new opportunity to discover useful behavioural patterns. Spatio-temporal periodic pattern mining is employed to find temporal regularities for interesting places. Mining periodic patterns from spatio-temporal trajectories can reveal useful, important and valuable information about people's regular and recurrent movements and behaviours.

Previous studies have been proposed to extract people's regular and repeating movement behavior from spatio-temporal trajectories. These previous approaches can target three following issues, (1) long individual trajectory; (2) spatial fuzziness; and (3) temporal fuzziness. First, periodic pattern mining is different to other pattern mining, such as association rule ming and sequential pattern mining, periodic pattern mining requires a very long trajectory from an individual so that the regular period can be extracted from this long single trajectory, for example, one month or one year period. Second, spatial fuzziness shows although a moving object can regularly move along the similar route, it is impossible for it to appear at the exactly same location. For instance, Bob goes to work everyday, and although he can follow a similar path from home to his workplace, the same location cannot be repeated across different days. Third, temporal fuzziness shows that periodicity is complicated including partial time span and multiple interleaving periods. In reality, the period is partial, it is highly impossible to occur through the whole movement of the object. Alternatively, the moving object has only a few periods, such as a daily period for work, or yearly period for holidays.

However, it is insufficient to find effective periodic patterns considering these three issues only. This thesis aims to develop a new framework to extract more effective, understandable and meaningful periodic patterns by taking more features of spatio-temporal trajectories into account.

The first feature is trajectory sequence, GPS trajectory data is temporally ordered sequences of geolocation which can be represented as consecutive trajectory segments, where each entry in each trajectory segment is closely related to the previous sampled point (trajectory node) and the latter one, rather than being isolated. Existing approaches disregard the important sequential nature of trajectory. Furthermore, they introduce both unwanted false positive reference spots and false negative reference spots.

The second feature is spatial and temporal aspects. GPS trajectory data can be presented as triple data (x; y; t), x and y represent longitude and latitude respectively whilst t shows corresponding time in this location. Obviously, spatial and temporal aspects are two key factors. Existing methods do not consider these two aspects together in periodic pattern mining.

Irregular time interval is the third feature of spatio-temporal trajectory. In reality, due to weather conditions, device malfunctions, or battery issues, the trajectory data are not always regularly sampled. Existing algorithms cannot deal with this issue but instead require a computationally expensive trajectory interpolation process, or it is assumed that trajectory is with regular time interval.

The fourth feature is hierarchy of space. Hierarchy is an inherent property of spatial data that can be expressed in different levels, such as a country includes many states, a shopping mall is comprised of many shops. Hierarchy of space can find more hidden and valuable periodic patterns. Existing studies do not consider this inherent property of trajectory.

Hidden background semantic information is the final feature. Aspatial semantic information is one of important features in spatio-temporal data, and it is embedded into the trajectory data. If the background semantic information is considered, more meaningful, understandable and useful periodic patterns can be extracted. However, existing methods do not consider the geographical information underlying trajectories.

In addition, at times we are interested in finding periodic patterns among trajectory paths rather than trajectory nodes for different applications. This means periodic patterns should be identified and detected against trajectory paths rather than trajectory nodes for some applications. Existing approaches for periodic pattern mining focus on trajectories nodes rather than paths.

To sum up, the aim of this thesis is to investigate solutions to these problems in periodic pattern mining in order to extract more meaningful, understandable periodic patterns. Each of three chapters addresses a different problem and then proposes adequate solutions to problems currently not addressed in existing studies. Finally, this thesis proposes a new framework to address all problems.

First, we investigated a path-based solution which can target trajectory sequence and spatio-temporal aspects. We proposed an algorithm called Traclus (spatio-temporal) which can take spatial and temporal aspects into account at the same time instead of only considering spatial aspect. The result indicated our method produced more effective periodic patterns based on trajectory paths than existing node-based methods using two real-world trajectories. In order to consider hierarchy of space, we investigated existing hierarchical clustering approaches to obtain hierarchical reference spots (trajectory paths) for periodic pattern mining. HDBSCAN is an incremental version of DBSCAN which is able to handle clusters with different densities to generate a hierarchical clustering result using the single-linkage method, and then it automatically extracts clusters from a hierarchical tree. Thus, we modified traditional clustering method DBSCAN in Traclus (spatio-temporal) to HDBSCAN for extraction of hierarchical reference spots. The result is convincing, and reveals more periodic patterns than those of existing methods.

Second, we introduced a stop/move method to annotate each spatio-temporal entry with a semantic label, such as restaurant, university and hospital. This method can enrich a trajectory with background semantic information so that we can easily infer people's repeating behaviors. In addition, existing methods use interpolation to make trajectory regular and then apply Fourier transform and autocorrelation to automatically detect period for each reference spot. An increasing number of trajectory nodes leads to an exponential increase of running time. Thus, we employed Lomb-Scargle periodogram to detect period for each reference spot based on raw trajectory without requiring any interpolation method. The results showed our method outperformed existing approaches on effectiveness and efficiency based on two real datasets. For hierarchical aspect, we extended previous work to find hierarchical semantic periodic patterns by applying HDBSCAN. The results were promising.

Third, we apply our methodology to a case study, which reveals many interesting medical periodic patterns. These patterns can effectively explore human movement behaviors for positive medical outcomes.

To sum up, this research proposed a new framework to gradually target the problems that existing methods cannot handle. These include: how to consider trajectory sequence, how to consider spatial temporal aspects together, how to deal with trajectory with irregular time interval, how to consider hierarchy of space and how to extract semantic information behind trajectory. After addressing all these problems, the experimental results demonstrate that our method can find more understandable, meaningful and effective periodic patterns than existing approaches.


In order to ensure the integrity of structures such as gas turbines and nuclear power plants, the materials used should have excellent toughness. Especially in the case of nuclear piping materials applied to leak before break (LBB) design, high toughness materials are used to meet the stringent fracture toughness criteria and integrity must be verified through static J-R curve testing using the compliance method, one of the measurement techniques for fracture toughness. The measured and estimated values for the crack extension length during the test should also match, within a certain tolerance. However, in the case of materials with high toughness, rotation of the specimen becomes significant, because the test is performed until the crack open displacement (COD) is relatively large to ensure sufficient crack extension. In this case, it is not easy to satisfy these conditions due to the rotational effect on the specimen. Even though ASTM E1820 suggests a method for correcting the crack length for the rotational effect on these specimens, it has been found that there are substantial differences for high toughness materials. To solve this problem, a new crack length correction formula considering the rotation effect is proposed. Through analysis of the data from J-R curve testing with this proposed method, it was confirmed that the accuracy of crack extension length estimation is improved compared to the existing method. The proposed method well explains the variation of crack extension length due to rotation and is suitable as a correction equation for rotation of compact tension specimens.


Colloidal nanocrystals have unique physical, optical, and transport properties compared to both molecular systems and bulk materials. Nanocrystals of noble metals such as copper, for example, exhibit a size- and shape-dependent optical response known as the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). We have found that the plasmon response in solution-based copper nanocrystals is solvent-dependent, with solvents containing π-bond significantly damping the LSPR signal until a monolayer of copper oxide forms on the nanocrystal surface and causes the plasmon signal to return, due to electron donation from the solvent. In addition, the copper LSPR signal can be monitored in-situ and in real time using UV-vis absorbance spectroscopy to study the oxidation of copper to copper oxide. We have determined the oxidation kinetics for Cu as a function of temperature (50-300°C) and, through application of a reaction-diffusion model for oxidation, quantified temperature-dependent diffusion parameters in the Cu/Cu2O system. The Cu2O nanoparticles were also characterized structurally and were found to form hollow shells upon oxidation via a phenomenon known as the nanoscale Kirkendall effect. The hollow Cu2O nanoparticles were formed at temperatures from ~100 to 200°C, but were thermodynamically unstable and collapsed to solid nanoparticles at higher temperatures. Cadmium selenide (CdSe) and semiconductor nanocrystals also are of great interest because their absorption at UV-vis wavelengths is size- and shape-dependent making them well suited for photovoltaics. Most of the shape control demonstrated for the wurtzite crystal structure of CdSe has previously centered on high aspect ratio rods and tetrapods, due to the inherently elongated unit cell of wurtzite. We have synthesized new nanocrystal morphologies in wurtzite CdSe, including cubes and hexagonal platelets, by controlling reaction conditions such as temperature, precursor concentrations, and the nucleation process through the use of a seeded-growth mechanism. A new algorithm based on the Fourier descriptor method was developed to classify the nanocrystal shapes from transmission electron micrographs and provided high-throughput, quantitative information about shape for each synthetic condition.


Salmonella is a major cause of enteric illness in both humans and animals. The ability of Salmonella isolates to cause disease in animals and humans encompasses a spectrum of host specificity and disease severity. In terms of evolution Salmonella isolates have remained relatively similar in terms of genetic content. It would therefore seem paradoxical that the diversification of many ecological niches and the invocation of very different disease symptoms by Salmonella have been possible. This infers great importance on differences in gene content between Salmonella isolates. Consultation of genomic sequence data from various Salmonella isolates has confirmed that a large proportion of strain-specific DNA is laterally transferred. More specifically a large proportion of this laterally transferred DNA was found to be bacteriophage-associated. The assertion could therefore be made that infections of isolates by temperate phages may play a significant role in Salmonella evolution and differentiation. Indeed, it has been suggested that a variable assortment of prophages provides a transferable repertoire of pathogenic determinants in Salmonella. The temperate phages present in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates have been most extensively investigated to date. However, how variable is the excisable prophage content between different Salmonella species, subspecies, serovars and individual isolates? In the current study the temperate phages present in 102 Salmonella isolates from a wide variety of species, subspecies and serovars were characterised by various methods. To assess the diversity of excisable temperate phages present in Salmonella isolates phages were induced with mitomycin C and viewed by electron microscopy. Temperate phages were identified in 81.4 % of 102 Salmonella isolates and the most commonly isolated phages belonged to the Myoviridae morphology family. The host ranges of the induced phages varied greatly. Sixty-five lysates contained phages that could infect one other Salmonella isolate from a panel of 24 indicator isolates. Six different methods of phage DNA extraction were tested. The amount of phage DNA extracted from lysates varied considerably depending on the Salmonella isolate from which the lysate was made. Fifty-three Hind III restriction digest profiles were obtained from eighty-six lysates and thirty-seven of these profiles were found to be unique. Phages with identical restriction profiles were identified and one of these phages was associated with clinical Salmonella isolates. Finally PCR profiling of the phage DNA and chromosomal DNA obtained from Salmonella isolates was used to assess the diversity of functional and defective phages present in the isolates. Genes associated with the ST64B phage were most commonly identified in the phage DNA extracted from lysates and in the chromosomal DNA from Salmonella isolates. Great diversity was observed in the temperate phage content of Salmonella isolates for all of the characterisation methods utilised. PCR profiling was determined to be the most sensitive method to identify temperate phages in Salmonella isolates. Assessment of the inducible and non-inducible prophage content of isolates by PCR profiling was also shown to have potential for the characterisation of Salmonella strains.


Record reviews of public figure, primary/secondary school, and workplace threateners and attackers displayed the importance of noticing pre-incident behaviors and intervening to prevent violence. General crime prevention strategies did not appear applicable. Similarly, campus threat assessment research has considered targeted violence as distinctive and unable to be reviewed within general collegiate samples, which has related to questions about the prevalence, predictiveness, applicability, and reporting of pre-incident behaviors. This article applies general criminological and crime prevention findings to these questions and presents campus threat assessment methodologies informed by these fields. With college student surveys, pre-incident behaviors have appeared predictive of general physical assault, which promotes investigation of the generalizability of campus threat assessment across collegiate bullying, intimate partner, stalking, and workplace violence concerns. In college student surveys, the majority of observed pre-incident behavior has not been reported to campus authorities and has been impacted by students' personal victimization, assessment of dangerousness, and relationship with the perpetrator. Efforts to enhance reporting in general criminological and crime prevention fields could be applied to improving pre-incident authority notification. Thus, viewing campus threat assessment within the broader violence prevention framework can advance the efficiency, effectiveness, and applicability of the approach.


We discuss how the location information provided by GPS can be used at different layers of the protocol stack of a mobile host. Our discussion focuses an application of the two GPS based networking protocols we have designed and implemented. The network topology we are considering is composed of fixed Internet with base station at the edges connected with an ad hoc networks of mobile nodes that are connecting information from sensors spread through a region. In the network, base stations and mobile nodes are GPS equipped. The idea is to leverage the information of the mobile and base station positions, obtained via the GPS, to improve performance of the ad hoc routing, to adaptively determine the appropriate base station capacity to be reserved strictly for handoffs, to collect data from sensors scattered in the medium and to inform mobiles about the prospective future location.


Actions of molecular species, for example binding of transcription factors to chromatin, are intrinsically stochastic and may comprise several mutually exclusive pathways. Inverse Laplace transformation in principle resolves the rate constants and frequencies of superimposed reaction processes, however current approaches are challenged by single molecule fluorescence time series prone to photobleaching. Here, we present a genuine rate identification method (GRID) that infers the quantity, rates and frequencies of dissociation processes from single molecule fluorescence survival time distributions using a dense grid of possible decay rates. In particular, GRID is able to resolve broad clusters of rate constants not accessible to common models of one to three exponential decay rates. We validate GRID by simulations and apply it to the problem of in-vivo TF-DNA dissociation, which recently gained interest due to novel single molecule imaging technologies. We consider dissociation of the transcription factor CDX2 from chromatin. GRID resolves distinct, decay rates and identifies residence time classes overlooked by other methods. We confirm that such sparsely distributed decay rates are compatible with common models of TF sliding on DNA.


Wetlands, lakes, soils and sediments are the most important biological sources as well sinks of the greenhouse gas methane. However, the dynamics, variability and uncertainty in methane emission models from these systems is high necessitating better knowledge of the underlying microbial processes. The impact of nitrogenous fertilizers and atmospheric nitrogen deposition on methane production and consumption in freshwater ecosystems (wetlands, lakes, rice paddies) as well as in upland soils has been the subject of intense research the past decades. However, our mechanistic understanding of the observed effects on methane and nitrogen cycling interactions in these ecosystems is poor which is even more so considering the novel microbial groups and pathways discovered. This chapter gives an overview of the main ways the nitrogen cycle interacts with the microbial methane cycling in freshwater wetlands, soils and sediments and summarizes the main current metagenomic studies that carried out on microbial groups involved. It can be concluded that metagenomic techniques developed and applied have the potential to obtain an integrative view of microbial communities and interactions and bear the potential to discover new pathways and organisms. The way forward is to apply these techniques in replicated, manipulative experimental set ups to obtain mechanistic understanding of methane-nitrogen cycle interactions.


This document briefly describes the upcoming standard IEEE 1500 [1], titled "Standard Testability method for Embedded Core-based Integrated Circuits". IEEE P1500 defines a mechanism for the test of digital aspects of core designs within a System-onChip (SoC). This mechanism is a scaleable standard architecture for enabling test reuse and integration for embedded cores and associated circuitry.


Driver fatigue is internationally recognized as a significant factor in approximately 15%--20% of commercial road transport crashes. In their efforts to increase road safety and improve working conditions of truck drivers, governments worldwide are enforcing stricter limits on the amount of working and driving time without rest. This paper describes an effective optimization algorithm for minimizing transportation costs for a fleet of vehicles considering business hours of customers and hours of service regulations. The algorithm combines the exploration capacities of population-based metaheuristics, the quick improvement abilities of local search, with forward labeling procedures for checking compliance with complex hours of service regulations. Several speed-up techniques are proposed to achieve an overall efficient approach. The proposed approach is used to assess the impact of different hours of service regulations from a carrier-centric point of view. Extensive computational experiments for various sets of regulations in the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Australia are conducted to provide an international assessment of the impact of different rules on transportation costs and accident risks. Our experiments demonstrate that European Union rules lead to the highest safety, whereas Canadian regulations are the most competitive in terms of economic efficiency. Australian regulations appear to have unnecessarily high risk rates with respect to operating costs. The recent rule change in the United States reduces accident risk rates with a moderate increase in operating costs.


This paper analyses the parallel words that occur in various poems of Hamid Khan in the collection, "Velvet of Loss". These words are: night, bird, dream, dawn, life, mist, dusk, and hope. The analysis of the words is based on foregrounding that is subcategorized as deviation and parallelism. Here, for the sake of brevity and restrictions of the space, only parallelism is taken into consideration and that too is delimited to the frequency of the above mentioned words in various poems of the entire collection, "Velvet of Loss". These words are tabulated with the page numbers of the book and frequency of repetition. Moreover, these words are also shown in the 3-D pi-chart so that their frequency could be highlighted in percentage as well. This is done in order to make it reader-friendly. In addition, the words are contextualized and taken into consideration with reference to the time frames of past, present and future. Lastly, the socio-cultural implications that are foregrounded are also mentioned. This article will lead other researchers to novel directions to probe into Pakistani poetry in English. This will add to their methods of objective analysis.


This paper describes a power supply designed for charging a 6.66 /spl mu/F capacitor to 30 kV in approximately 40 ms. The power supply should be capable of recharging the capacitor several times within a time frame of a few minutes. The primary supply would be a 500 VDC source, which could ultimately be supplied by a thermal battery. The major components of the power supply are a high-power inverter in H-bridge configuration followed by a step-up transformer. The switches for the H-bridge are high power isolated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). Control of the circuit is achieved by controlling the IGBTs by pulse width modulation (PWM). A microcontroller is being used to generate the required PWM signals. Use of the microcontroller provides a wide range of control flexibility and will allow for adaptation to the characteristics of the primary DC source. In order to minimize the volume of the transformer and at the same time limit the switching losses in the IGBTs, a switching frequency of 10 kHz was chosen. Circuit simulations show that 30 kV is reached after about 38 ms.


Purpose: In this paper, through a novel Bayesian specification, we test whether the exchange rates are affected by the current crisis caused by the Covid-19 spread. Design/Methodology/Approach: we set out a novel Bayesian vector autoregressive model and compare it in terms of forecasting ability with the existing literature's econometric models. Findings: Based on our findings, the novel Bayesian model proposed in the present paper, is better in terms of forecasting ability than the econometric models, and more importantly, it can unveil the impact of the Covid-19 spread on the exchange rates, while the econometric models failed to shed light on this relationship. Practical Implications: The Covid-19 has affected the overall economic system, in many ways, leading to its disorganization. Such an impact is highlighted by the present paper, examining the exchange rates. Originality/Value: The Bayesian framework proposed in the present paper has novel technical components and can unveil hidden effects of an exogenous variable on a system of endogenous variables, that the classical econometric approaches fail to unveil.


The New Virtual Classroom draws on the most current research in multimedia learning as well as practitioner experience to show how to effectively harness the power of the virtual classroom. Written by Ruth Clark, co-author of the best selling e-Learning & the Science of Instruction, and Ann Kwinnrecognized experts in instructional design and workforce learning, this important resource includes guidelines, research, and illustrative examples that clearly show how to leverage the powerful instructional features in the new virtual classroom.


: Pseudohainanensine (HH08) is a synthetic compound which is active against L-1210. In order to study the pharmacokinetic characteristics of this compound in rats, 3', 4'-dideuteropseudohainanensine (DH08) was synthesized and used as internal standard in GC-MS determination for quantitative analysis of alkaloid HH08 in the blood of rats that had been given HH08 at a dosage of 10 mg/kg intravenously. Experiments demonstrated that the detection limit of HH08 was 3 micrograms/ml and the peak concentration in the blood was 13.1 +/- 0.2 micrograms/ml after a single intravenous injection (one min. after injection). The biological half life time can be divided into two phases; the fast phase (alpha) 2.61 min, and the slow phase (beta) 42.59 min. Two hours after the injection no drug could be detected in the blood.


ABSTRACT Positive outcomes of social networking use in both informal and non-educational settings have attracted significant research attention. These benefits include social capital formation, higher job performance and satisfaction, an increased sense of belonging, improved knowledge management skills, and enabling of life-long learning opportunities. Compulsive use of social networking, however, remains a major issue among the younger users, potentially leaving a long-lasting impact on the younger population. Concerns have been raised regarding links between the compulsive use of social media and individual academic, social and physical performance. This study explores the motivations for social networking use, their relations to compulsive use, and implications for academic, physical and social performance, in an effort to inform strategies for the appropriate adoption and utilisation of social networking technologies. The study employs a finite mixture approach to segmenting the sample, and results show that two distinct groups motivated by utilitarian and social objectives respectively drive compulsive use by British students. Unlike previous studies, the UK sample does not display differences in terms of age or gender. This finding highlights the trend of gender agnostic views of social platforms by developers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice and future research.


Australian sweetpotato production has grown remarkably (1700%) in the last 16 years. Growers currently market 75000 t per annum, worth $80-90 million at farm gate. Gold-fleshed dessert types dominate (90% of total production), almost exclusively cultivar 'Beauregard', bred at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) in the USA. Australian sweetpotato growers desire alternative cultivars, to reduce risks associated with relying on one genotype. They also wish to expand demand, by offering diverse products. Recent research identified 'Evangeline', another LSU AgCenter cultivar, as an alternate gold sweetpotato possessing attributes desired by consumers (regular, smooth shape; highly coloured skin and flesh). In experimental and grower evaluations across key Australian growing regions in Queensland and New South Wales, 'Evangeline' produced marketable yields similar to 'Beauregard'. 'Evangeline' had a high proportion of premium small-medium sweetpotatoes. In sandy locations, 'Evangeline' also demonstrated superior root-knot nematode resistance to 'Beauregard'. However, compared to 'Beauregard', 'Evangeline' had greater risks of splitting, or over-purple skin colouration, at harvest, particularly when dug in Winter/Spring. Initial evidence suggested splitting was more common with increased fertiliser nitrogen inputs. Split roots or off-specification colours are unmarketable; the associated risks are currently substantial impediments to adoption of 'Evangeline' by Australian sweetpotato growers. Scientists from Agri- Science Queensland and Central Queensland University are currently partnering with Australian Sweetpotato Growers (Inc.) to develop strategies for maximising performance and mitigating risks of growing 'Evangeline' in Australian conditions. This will enhance industry profitability and resilience; improve understanding of sweetpotato physiology; and increase diversity and quality of sweetpotato products available to consumers.


1. The specific activity of monoamine oxidase was found to be greater in liver mitochondria from ob/ob mice than from lean mice. The activities of marker enzymes were similar in both tissues. 2. Experiments with various substrates (5-hydroxytryptamine, benzylamine and tyramine) and inhibitors (clorgyline and deprenyl) indicated that, unlike rat liver mitochondria, mouse liver mitochondria contain a predominance of the B-form of monoamine oxidase. 3. The Km values for lean and ob/ob mice were the same for any given substrate and were in the increasing order 5-hydroxytryptamine less than tyramine less than benzylamine. Vmax. was approximately 50% greater in obese than in lean mice. 4. Extraction of liver mitochondria with acetone/water or acetone/water/NH3 to remove lipids decreased the enzyme activity relatively more in obese- than in lean-mice preparations, but residual activity was the same in both preparations.


OBJECTIVE
The primary aim of our study was to determine the interobserver agreement of defecography in diagnosing enterocele, anterior rectocele, intussusception, and anismus in fecal-incontinent patients. The subsidiary aim was to evaluate the influence of level of experience on interpreting defecography.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Defecography was performed in 105 consecutive fecal-incontinent patients. Observers were classified by level of experience and their findings were compared with the findings of an expert radiologist. The quality of the expert radiologist's findings was evaluated by an intraobserver agreement procedure.

RESULTS
Intraobserver agreement was good to very good except for anismus: incomplete evacuation after 30 sec (kappa, 0.55) and puborectalis impression (kappa, 0.54). Interobserver agreement for enterocele and rectocele was good (kappa, 0.66 for both) and for intussusception, fair (kappa, 0.29). Interobserver agreement for anismus: incomplete evacuation after 30 sec was moderate (kappa, 0.47), and for anismus: puborectalis impression was fair (kappa, 0.24). Agreement in grading of enterocele and rectocele was good (kappa, 0.64 and 0.72, respectively) and for intussusception, fair (kappa, 0.39). Agreement separated by experience level was very good for rectocele (kappa, 0.83) and grading of rectoceles (kappa, 0.83) and moderate for intussusception (kappa, 0.44) at the most experienced level. For enterocele and grading, experience level did not influence the reproducibility.

CONCLUSION
Reproducibility for enterocele, anterior rectocele, and severity grading is good, but for intussusception is fair to moderate. For anismus, the diagnosis of incomplete evacuation after 30 sec is more reproducible than puborectalis impression. The level of experience seems to play a role in diagnosing anterior rectocele and its grading and in diagnosing intussusception.


Hyper-polarization and tendency to embrace "alternative facts" on just one end of the political spectrum has implications for judicial review of administrative agencies. A principal rationale for deferential judicial review is that agencies are technocratic experts. Courts, as non-experts, defer to agencies in part because they trust the integrity of agencies' technical analyses and judgment. But in an age of hyper-polarization – and at minimum a partial rejection of the scientific method in favor of alternative facts – deference based on agencies' technical competence is less justified. Instead, courts cannot as readily assume that agencies' technical, expert, "factual" analyses and conclusions are well-supported. Deference based on technocratic expertise is particularly questionable when an agency shifts its position after an election by rejecting the previous administration's policy and adopting a dramatically different one. Such policy swings typically occur around focal points of partisan hyper-polarization – it is with respect to such focal point issues that the assumption of technocratic competence is least tenable.
Building on this insight about the effects of hyper-polarization, we argue for a re-assessment of how courts review administrative agency changes in policy. While some precedent suggests that agencies face an especially "hard look" when they deviate from past practices or approaches, the United States Supreme Court's decision in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. is generally read as establishing the same level of deferential review when an agency shifts course as when it stays the course or addresses an issue for the very first time. And, as a normative matter, scholars have argued for deferential review regarding agency shifts so as to avoid agency "ossification" and bureaucratic inertia – to give effect to the values of the party that just won power because, in a democracy, elections must matter.
Nonetheless, we believe that Fox need not – and should not – be read to preclude courts from adopting the kind of judicial review our age of hyper-polarization justifies. In particular, Fox supports courts holding agencies to a high standard in explaining why the facts that a previous administration relied upon are no longer true or relevant or no longer weigh heavily in favor of conclusions reached by the previous administration. Notably, nothing in Fox prevents courts from either seriously questioning an agency about what new facts support its recent policy change, or from interrogating the basis for those newly claimed facts. A broad but fair reading of Fox also supports courts calling on agencies to meaningfully explain how their shifts will affect reliance interests, broadly understood, and how the agencies sought, if they did, to meaningfully take account of those reliance interests. One of our goals here is to rebut the claim recently made by Trump's EPA that current case law allows an agency almost unlimited discretion to discard the rules adopted during a previous Presidential Administration.


The research was conducted to examine the effect of fed with calcium soap made from palm fatty acid distillate (Ca-PFAD) in the ration on the performance and blood lipid prifile of male bali ducks ( Anas sp ). The design used in this study was a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 6 replications, and each experimental unit used 10 male bali ducks aged two weeks with homogeneous body weight. The four types of treatment, namely: A: ration without added Ca-PFAD as a control; B: feed with the addition of 1.5% Ca-PFAD; C: feed with the addition of 3.0% Ca-PFAD; and D: feed with the addition of 4.5% Ca-PFAD, respectively. The rations were prepared isocalorically (ME: 2900 kcal/kg) and isoprotein (CP:17%). The results showed that the administration of 1.5-4.5% Ca-PFAD in the diet significantly ( P < 0.05) increased feed consumption, final body weight, body weight gain, dry matter and organic matter digestibility, and feed efficiency compared to control. On the other hand, decreased significantly ( P < 0.05) on total cholesterol, total pad-fat, and abdominal fat in ducks. It can be concluded that 1.5-4.5% Ca-PFAD in feed can improve performance of male bali and decreased total cholesterol concentration in serum of bali ducks.


Technology scaling and program/erase cycling result in an increasing bit error rate in NAND flash storage. Some solid state drives (SSDs) adopt overlong error correction codes (ECCs), whose redundancy size exceeds the spare area limit of flash pages, to protect user data for improved reliability and lifetime. However, the read performance is significantly degraded, because a logical data page and its ECC redundancy are stored in two flash pages. In this article, we find that caching ECCs has a large potential to reduce flash reads by achieving higher hit rates, compared to caching data. Then, we propose a novel s cheme to efficiently c ache o ve r long E CCs, called SCORE, to improve the SSD performance. Exceeding ECC redundancy (called ECC residues) of logically consecutive data pages are grouped into ECC pages. SCORE partitions RAM to cache both data pages and ECC pages in a workload-adaptive manner. Finally, we verify SCORE using extensive trace-driven simulations. The results show that SCORE obtains high ECC hit rates without sacrificing data hit rates, thus improving the read performance by an average of 22% under various workloads, compared to the state-of-the-art schemes.


In France in 2009-10, several managers announcing redundancies were held hostage by workers. Although the global economic crisis and an attendant rise in unemployment may provide a catalyst for "bossnappings," the real explanations for the phenomenon have to be found partly in the institutional make up of French industrial relations that have resulted in weak, divided unions and weak and conflictual collective bargaining mechanisms. However, such institutional factors cannot provide the whole explanation. Ideas also matter, and these underlying structural weaknesses have been unable to contain radical outbursts of anger when allied to pre-existing concerns over globalization—which appeared to be vindicated by the current economic crisis—, the reactions of the government to crisis, and the incapacity of unions or the state to respond to it.


This paper describes an automatic termination checker for a generic first-order call-by-value language in ML style. We use the fact that value are built from variants and tuples to keep some information about how arguments of recursive call evolve during evaluation. The result is a criterion for termination extending the size-change termination principle of Lee, Jones and Ben-Amram that can detect size changes inside subvalues of arguments. Moreover the corresponding algorithm is easy to implement, making it a good candidate for experimentation.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To compare the clinical and management aspects of tracheobronchial aspirated foreign body (AFB) removal in children and adults; to assess the influence of the operator's experience on the outcome of the procedure.

DESIGN
A retrospective review of a 20-year experience (from 1976 to 1996).

SETTING
A 900-bed university hospital.

PATIENTS
Eighty-four children up to 8 years old (the child group) and 28 adult patients (the adult group).

RESULTS
The peak incidence of foreign body aspiration occurred during the second year of life in the child group and during the sixth decade in the adult group. The symptoms at presentation were similar in both age groups, but the diagnosis was significantly delayed in the adults. The AFBs were lodged preferentially in the right bronchial tree only in the adults; a central location was predominant (but not at all exclusive) in the children. Atelectasis was more common in the adults, and air trapping was more common in the children. The most frequent procedure was rigid bronchoscopy; when a flexible bronchoscope was used, it was always in the adult patients. When the operator was less experienced, a failed first attempt at bronchoscopy and the need for a second procedure were significantly more frequent.

CONCLUSIONS
At presentation, the symptoms seen with AFBs do not differ according to the age of the patient; however, the delay to diagnosis, the location of the AFBs, and the radiographic images differ between child and adult populations. The removal of AFBs in patients of all ages can be performed by the same operators. Because the outcome associated with these procedures improves when the operator is experienced, the removal of AFBs should be performed in medical centers that are capable of acquiring and maintaining the necessary expertise.


Sensitivity to motion was measured by the percentage of trials in which an observer reported seeing motion of briefly presented high-contrast sinusoidal gratings moving over a range of velocities. The psychometric curve was remeasured following adaptation to a grating moving in one direction for an extended period of time. Adaptation shifted the minimum of the psychometric curve towards the direction of the adapting stimulus and made the curve asymmetric. The shift was smaller when the adapting field was larger than the test. In a second set of experiments we measured the effect of motion adaptation on contrast thresholds for moving gratings of different sizes. Threshold elevation was maximal when adapting and test sizes matched. We present a mechanistic model of the motion aftereffect that consists of independent multiplicative gain controls in motion-sensing mechanisms tuned to different rates of motion. In addition, we discuss a model of size effects in motion adaptation that invokes diffuse inhibitory connections among motion-sensing mechanisms.


The neoplasms of bladder are an important part of genitourinary tumors. Superficial forms represent 70-80% of their overall number. We have carried out a retrospective clinical and epidemiological study of 250 patients seen in our service during a 12-year period. We found that the disease was more common in males aged 60-70 years, usually being multiple tumors and mostly in the lateral walls of the bladder. Most tumors were in grades 1 and 2 of UICC and in stage O of Jewett's classifications, with a clear association between the degree of cell differentiation and the stage of infiltration. There was no correlation of age and sex with the number of tumors, their localization, cellular degree and tumor stage. There was a correlation between the number of tumors and their localization; thus, single tumors had a preference for lateral walls, while multiple tumors predominated in the bladder fundus.


The concept of fuzzy uniform structure was introduced in [7] as a fuzzy counterpart of the concept of gauge associated with a uniformity. In fact, the category of fuzzy uniform structures is isomorphic to that of uniform spaces. Here, we introduce  two other concepts of fuzzy uniform structures which allow to establish two categories isomorphic to the categories of probabilistic uniform spaces and Lowen uniform spaces, respectively. This sheds light on the relationship between these fuzzy uniformities and classical uniformities. Furthermore, we obtain a factorization of Lowen's adjoint functors $\omega_\ast$ and $\iota$ which establish a relationship between the categories of uniform spaces and Lowen uniform spaces.


ABSTRACT Upscaling ground albedo is challenged by the serious discrepancy between the heterogeneity of land surfaces and the small number of ground-based measurements. Conventional ground-based measurements cannot provide sufficient information on the characteristics of surface albedo at the scale of coarse pixels over heterogeneous land surfaces. One method of overcoming this problem is to introduce high-resolution albedo imagery as ancillary information for upscaling. However, due to the low frequency of updating of high-resolution albedo maps, upscaling time series of ground-based albedo measurements is difficult. This paper proposes a method that is based on the idea of conceptual universal scaling methodology for establishing a spatiotemporal trend surface using very few high-resolution images and time series of ground-based measurements for spatial-temporal upscaling of albedo. The construction of the spatiotemporal trend surface incorporates the spatial information provided by auxiliary remote sensing images and the temporal information provided by long time series of ground observations. This approach was illustrated by upscaling ground-based fine-scale albedo measurements to a coarse scale over the core study area in HiWATER. The results indicate that this method can characterize the spatiotemporal variations in surface albedo well, and the overall correlation coefficient was 0.702 during the study period.


Background : The need for intensive care exceeds its availability most times because resources are limited. Our objectives were to determine the incidence of admission refusal and factors associated with such in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Methods : The following information was obtained from patients referred to our ICU over a 6-week period: age, gender, date and time of referral, source of referral, reason for referral, whether ICU was full or not full at the time of referral, and modified early warning score (MEWS). Others included; whether admitted or not, and if not admitted, reasons for admission refusal. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to determine predictors of ICU admission refusal. Results : Patients admitted and those denied admission were 37(50.7%) and 36(49.3%) respectively. Following univariate analysis, there were no statistical differences in the age and MEWS of patients in the admitted and not admitted groups respectively. Refusal was highest for sepsis (80%) and respiratory failure (71.4%) and lowest for severe head injury (18.2%), no difference was found in the MEWS for patients with sepsis and those with severe head injury. Lack of ICU bed was the only independent predictor of ICU admission refusal. Conclusions : The crude ICU admission refusal rate was 49.3% and unavailability of ICU bed independently predicted ICU admission refusal. To ensure reduction in ICU admission refusals, the ratio of ICU beds over the population must be appropriate. Key words : ICU, Admission refusal, Bed availability


We consider the problem of constructing abstract representations for planning in high-dimensional, continuous environments. We assume an agent equipped with a collection of high-level actions, and construct representations provably capable of evaluating plans composed of sequences of those actions.

We first consider the deterministic planning case, and show that the relevant computation involves set operations performed over sets of states. We define the specific collection of sets that is necessary and sufficient for planning, and use them to construct a grounded abstract symbolic representation that is provably suitable for deterministic planning. The resulting representation can be expressed in PDDL, a canonical high-level planning domain language; we construct such a representation for the Playroom domain and solve it in milliseconds using an off-the-shelf planner.

We then consider probabilistic planning, which we show requires generalizing from sets of states to distributions over states. We identify the specific distributions required for planning, and use them to construct a grounded abstract symbolic representation that correctly estimates the expected reward and probability of success of any plan. In addition, we show that learning the relevant probability distributions corresponds to specific instances of probabilistic density estimation and probabilistic classification. We construct an agent that autonomously learns the correct abstract representation of a computer game domain, and rapidly solves it.

Finally, we apply these techniques to create a physical robot system that autonomously learns its own symbolic representation of a mobile manipulation task directly from sensorimotor data---point clouds, map locations, and joint angles---and then plans using that representation. Together, these results establish a principled link between high-level actions and abstract representations, a concrete theoretical foundation for constructing abstract representations with provable properties, and a practical mechanism for autonomously learning abstract high-level representations.