Ocean waves store an enormous amount of energy that is still untapped. Several wave energy converter (WEC) prototypes have already been suggested by different developers, but none of these prototypes has demonstrated economical viability, meaning that none of them is ready to compete in the energy market against other energy sources.
In order to improve the economical viability of WECs, two main actions have been identified: (i) the energy absorption capability of the devices must be enhanced, for which the design of advanced energy maximising control strategies is crucial; and (ii) cost reduction is a key action, meaning that more reliable prototypes must be designed with an economic perspective. In the traditional design process, the most critical aspects of WECs, the floater, the power take-off system, and mooring lines, are optimised based on the energy absorption capabilities and the loading on critical elements under a simplified control strategy: commonly, an unconstrained passive resistive control. Once the design is determined, an advanced control strategy is developed for that design to maximise energy absorption and generation capabilities.
However, the implementation of more advanced control actions significantly alters the behaviour of the device, substantially enhancing its motion. As a consequence, the pre-defined system may not suit the behaviour of the WEC under such control strategies. As a solution to this design imbalance, the control strategy is adapted so that it can extract the maximum energy allowed by the design, which is far from optimal. However, it is likely that the characteristics of the design include unnecessary overdesigns.
To avoid such problems, an alternative design approach has been suggested, which articulates the information about advanced control actions from the early stages of the design: Control co-design (CCD). The design of the WEC can be decided considering the behaviour of the device under the final control actions. However, analysing and redesigning geometry variations within a CCD loop requires a recomputation of hydrodynamic coefficients, which implies running a boundary element method (BEM) software at each iteration, which can render the computational demand of the CCD optimisation loop prohibitive. In that case, the only solution may be reducing the resolution of the BEM simulation in order to make the CCD optimisation numerically feasible. Another potential solution is computing an extensive pre-defined hydrodynamic coefficient database covering all the potential geometry variations in advance or having a reduced database combined with an interpolator.
The present paper suggests an efficient solution for the computation of hydrodynamic coefficient in CCD loops, which avoids the need for using BEM methods in CCD schemes. Based on an advanced data-based interpolation model for identifying the hydrodynamic coefficients for any variation of a base case geometry. To that end, the interpolation model is provided with hydrodynamic data for an extended base case, including the coefficients for the base case geometry and a limited range of expected variations. Based on this extended space, the data-based interpolator provides accurate information on any variations beyond the original base case, significantly reducing the computational cost of the CCD approach.


Hundreds of materials, such as drugs, explosives, makeup, food additives, are in the form of powder. Recognizing such powders is important for security checks, criminal identification, drug control, and quality assessment. However, powder recognition has drawn little attention in the computer vision community. Powders are hard to distinguish: they are amorphous, appear matte, have little color or texture variation and blend with surfaces they are deposited on in complex ways. To address these challenges, we present the first comprehensive dataset and approach for powder recognition using multi-spectral imaging. By using Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) multi-spectral imaging together with visible light (RGB) and Near Infrared (NIR), powders can be discriminated with reasonable accuracy. We present a method to select discriminative spectral bands to significantly reduce acquisition time while improving recognition accuracy. We propose a blending model to synthesize images of powders of various thickness deposited on a wide range of surfaces. Incorporating band selection and image synthesis, we conduct fine-grained recognition of 100 powders on complex backgrounds, and achieve 60%~70% accuracy on recognition with known powder location, and over 40% mean IoU without known location.


Multiple cellular components are involved in the complex pathological process following central nervous system (CNS) injury, including neurons, glial cells and endothelial cells. Previous studies and neurotherapeutic clinical trials have assessed the molecular mechanisms that underlie neuronal cell death following CNS injury. However, this approach has largely failed to reduce CNS damage or improve the functional recovery of patients. Erythropoietin-producing human hepatocellular (Eph) receptors and ephrin ligands have attracted considerable attention since their discovery, due to their extensive distribution and unique bidirectional signaling between astrocytes and neurons. Previous studies have investigated the roles of Eph/ephrin bidirectional signaling in the developing central nervous system. It was determined that Eph/ephrin bidirectional signaling is expressed in various CNS regions and cell types, and that it serves diverse roles in the adult CNS. In the present review, the roles of Eph/ephrin bidirectional signaling in CNS injuries are assessed.


Increasingly, consumer electronic devices utilize power supplies that have switching frequencies up to several tens of kilohertz. Consequently, emission in the frequency range 2 to 150kHz ('supraharmonics') is continuously increasing. Cases of conducted interference in LED lamps using switched mode power supplies, from supraharmonics have been reported over the past three years. This paper presents results from experiments where supraharmonic voltage distortion was applied to commercially available LED driver circuits. Variations of light output were obtained in some cases, along with evidence pointing to reduced converter efficiency and influence of point on wave of the distortion, on the light output. Importantly, it was shown that electromagnetic compatibility is not converter topology dependent, nor influenced by galvanic isolation. The results demonstrate that converters with similar topology can have vastly different behavior and there is a marked dissimilarity in performance among different topologies.


213 July 2015 T HE distinctive physiologies of aortic stenosis and dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (DLVOTO) manifest as characteristic Doppler tracings. Either condition may be occult, presenting first as unexpected profound hypotension.1 The orifice area of aortic stenosis changes little during systole leading to a parabolic continuous-wave Doppler tracing that peaks in mid-systole2 (fig. A, which is a transesophageal deep transgastric long-axis view, yellow outline). The diminishing orifice in DLVOTO leads to a late-peaking "dagger"-shaped envelope (fig. A, red outline). This obstruction is exacerbated by conditions causing a small left ventricular cavity: decreased preload, increased contractility, and tachycardia. Figure B is a mid-esophageal five-chamber view showing the pathologies responsible for the continuous-wave tracings. The dynamic nature of the obstruction is demonstrated in Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/ALN/B82, which is the video from which the figure was taken. Because of differences in the underlying physiology of these conditions, their managements are similar but not identical. Both require maintenance of preload and afterload while avoiding tachycardia and arrhythmias. Both phenylephrine and norepinephrine will increase blood pressure, but norepinephrine may be preferable in aortic stenosis where support of contractility is helpful rather than detrimental as it is in DLVOTO.3 β-Blockade may control tachycardia and arrhythmias but decrease contractility, beneficial in dynamic obstruction but not in fixed obstruction. Because the degree of DLVOTO depends on preload and contractility, it may go unrecognized during the preoperative evaluation. The first indication of DLVOTO may be an exaggerated hypotensive response that is unresponsive to inotropes and exacerbated by tachycardia.1


The distribution pattern of pressure over the bovine claw was investigated to test the hypothesis that the ground reaction force is unevenly distributed and makes some regions of the claw more prone to overloading and injury than others. In eight recently trimmed Holstein Friesian cows, the distribution of vertical pressure was measured during square standing with a spatial resolution of 2.6 sensors/cm2 and a temporal resolution of 313 measurements/s. In each animal, the localization of maximum pressure per foot and per claw was determined during five trials. In the front limb, maximum pressures were normally found on the medial claw; in the hindlimb they were located on the lateral claw. In both claws, the highest pressures were found on the sole of the foot and not on the wall. In the front limbs, maximum pressures were located in the posterior portion of the sole; in the hind limb in the anterior portion. There was no difference in the location of the maximum pressure between the medial and lateral claw in either limb. The regions in which these maximum pressures occur are known to be relatively susceptible to injuries. This could indicate a causal relation between the location of pressure concentrations and claw diseases found in clinical observations.


Assembly performance test bed is an indispensable equipment in the development and production of air compressor assembly. The test bed studied is a mechanical, electronic and hydraulic integrated equipment and its measuring and controlling system mainly consist of computer system, process channel, control object and measuring and controlling software. Guided by the "soft hardware" design conception, two "soft" subsystems was adopted in a one-level computer system to replace the generally adopted two-level "hard" system consisting of measuring and controlling subsystem and management subsystem. This improvement allows the more applications of integrated sensor and intelligent controller, resulting in a simpler hardware and greater openness. The practice indicated that, with rapid parameter adjustment, accurate measuring, large testing scope and high automation, the system meets all the technical indexes of test requirement.


The ML-Schema, proposed by the W3C Machine Learning Schema Community Group, is a top-level ontology that provides a set of classes, properties, and restrictions for representing and interchanging information on machine learning algorithms, datasets, and experiments. It can be easily extended and specialized and it is also mapped to other more domain-specific ontologies developed in the area of machine learning and data mining. In this paper we overview existing state-of-the-art machine learning interchange formats and present the first release of ML-Schema, a canonical format resulted of more than seven years of experience among different research institutions. We argue that exposing semantics of machine learning algorithms, models, and experiments through a canonical format may pave the way to better interpretability and to realistically achieve the full interoperability of experiments regardless of platform or adopted workflow solution.


H19 is an imprinted oncofetal non-coding RNA recently shown to be the precursor of miR-675. The pathophysiological roles of H19 and its mature product miR-675 to carcinogenesis have, however, not been defined. By quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, both H19 and miR-675 were found to be upregulated in human colon cancer cell lines and primary human colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues. Subsequently, the tumor suppressor retinoblastoma (RB) was confirmed to be a direct target of miR-675 as the microRNA suppressed the activity of the luciferase reporter carrying the 3#-untranslated region of RB messenger RNA that contains the miR-675-binding site. Suppression of miR-675 by transfection with anti-miR-675 increased RB expression and at the same time, decreased cell growth and soft agar colony formation in human colon cancer cells. Reciprocally, enhanced miR-675 expression by transfection with miR-675 precursor decreased RB expression, increased tumor cell growth and soft agar colony formation. Moreover, the inverse relationship between the expressions of RB and H19/miR-675 was also revealed in human CRC tissues and colon cancer cell lines. Our findings demonstrate that H19-derived miR-675, through downregulation of its target RB, regulates the CRC development and thus may serve as a potential target for CRC therapy.


In this paper we develop linear-programming (LP) based route optimization techniques for networks of relays that employ mutual-information accumulation at the physical layer. Motivated by applications to unicast transmission in ultra wideband communications we concentrate on the regime where each node has a fixed bandwidth and transmission power. Our goal is to find the cooperative route that minimizes the source- to-destination transmission duration subject to a sum-energy constraint. We tackle this problem by solving a sequence of LP-based route optimizations under increasingly tight energy constraints, revealing a trade-off between energy consumption and delay. An initial route is found by "flooding" the network, resulting in the smallest delay, but largest energy consumption. Successive routes are found by initializing the LP with the optimum route found at the (slightly higher) previous energy constraint. Through this iterative procedure we explore a massive parameter space to find locally (and often globally) optimum solutions very efficiently. We illustrate our method for a network consisting of 50 nodes and compare the results to classic routing approaches. We comment on the applicability of our framework to other bandwidth and energy constraints, objective functions, and to multicasting.


Studies involving the Ames Salmonella mutagenicity test and the Bacillus subtilis comptest have demonstrated that the soluble organic fraction of diesel particulate is potentially mutagenic and DNA damaging. The soluble organic fraction was extracted from exhaust particulate samples collected from four different diesel engines operated at specified conditions. For each fraction collected, an increase in the concentration of the organic material resulted in a subsequent increase in the number of histidine prototrophs obtained when this material was added to the histidine auxotrophic strains that comprise the Ames Salmonella test. Specifically, the number of induced revertants, for strains TA98 and TA100, ranged from less than one revertant per microgram of sample to 29 revertants per microgram of sample. The ability of these organic fractions to induce bacterial SOS functions also was determined by exposing competent cultures of Bacillus subtilis strain RUB827 to increasing concentrations of these extracts. With varying efficiencies, these samples were positive in their ability to induce the SOS system of B subtilis. Significantly, the toxicity of these mutagenic and DNA damaging samples never resulted in more than 95% killing, even for the highest concentrations tested in the Salmonella and B subtilis assay.


IntroductionCongenital heart defects (CHD) are diagnosed up to age 6 in 8-12/1,000 births annually in Western Australia. Recent improvements in management of infants with CHDs has significantly increased survival; approximately 85\% of infants with CHDs live beyond childhood. However, children with CHDs may have increased risk of life-long intellectual disabilities.
Objectives and ApproachWe conducted a study of 20,997 children to determine risk of intellectual disability (ID). All singleton, live born infants with CHDs born 1983-2010 were identified from the Western Australian Register for Developmental Anomalies, a statewide birth defects registry (n=6,968). Infants without CHDs born 1983-2010 were randomly selected from birth records (n=14,029). All data were linked to the Western Australia Midwives Notification System to obtain maternal and infant information. Children with ID were identified by linkage to the statewide Intellectual Disability Exploring Answers database. Risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated from multivariable logistic regression analyses.
ResultsOf 20,997 children, 965 (4.6%) had an ID; 1.3% of children without CHDs and 11.2% of children with CHDs had an ID (P<0.001). 0.2% of children without CHDs and 0.4% of children with CHDs had autism. Three percent of children with CHDs had a known biomedical cause for ID (excluding trisomy 21) and 4.4% of children with CHDs had trisomy 21. Children with CHDs had 9 times the risk of ID compared to children without CHDs (RR=9.30; 95% CI: 7.91, 10.94). Children with CHDs almost had a twofold increased risk of autism compared to children without CHDs (RR=1.78; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.95). The greatest risk of ID among children with CHDs was associated with trisomy 21 (RR=166.0; 95% CI: 78.5, 350.8).
Conclusion/ImplicationsChildren with CHDs have higher risk of ID than children without CHDs. Although the greatest risk for ID was for trisomy 21, children with CHDs still had increased risk of ID from other causes and all causes overall. Future research should elucidate the underlying etiology of ID in these children.


Among the various severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes, high pressure torsion (HPT) has several unique characteristics. These are applicability of very large strain and deformation under high pressure. Due to these abilities of HPT, several unique phenomena have been observed. In the present paper, three topics were reviewed; 1) work-softening in pure Cu, 2) high pressure phase formation in pure Ti and 3) synthesis of Cu-NbC composite. Work softening in pure Cu was observed when low strain rate and high pressure were applied. In Ti high pressure ω phase is obtained after unloading only when the deformation at high pressure was applied. The volume fraction of ω phase increased with the increase in the amount of strain. In pure Fe, high pressure ε phase was not retained at ambient pressure. The bulk Cu-NbC composite was synthesized starting from elemental powders. This demonstrates that HPT is an efficient tool for mechanical alloying and cold consolidation.


Design and optimization of 65nm CMOS passive devices which are used in the implementation of a 60GHz Power Amplifier (PA) are presented. The targeted application is the low cost Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). A new optimized Radio Frequency (RF)-pad is used to minimize the losses of the PA access. The PA is matched via balun and Transmission Lines (T-Lines). T-Lines ensure both broadband inter-stage matching and biasing. S-parameters and large signal measurement results are demonstrated and compared with electromagnetic simulations. The PA achieves a maximum output power Psat of 7.3dBm with a gain of 8.5dB while consuming 96mA from a 1.2V supply. The active die area of the chip is 0.065mm2. Additionally, innovative technique is adopted in the balun design to improve the balanced-to-unbalanced mode conversion and PA performances.


** The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with social support in a rural, homeless population. Ninety-six (N= 96) individuals voluntarily agreed to participate in an evaluation examining effectiveness of enhanced substance use and mental health services provided to homeless individuals. The primary variables of interest were: demographics, substance use, mental and physical health, and social support. We used bivariate analyses to examine the sample using two different indicators of past-thirty-day social support: (1) family/friend social support [no support/support] and (2) self-help group social support [no support groups/support groups]. We used two multivariate logistic regressions to examine the relationships between explanatory variables (demographics, substance use, and health) and the dependent variable social supports (i.e., family/friend support and self-help group support). Significant predictors of receiving family/friend social support were education and nonreligious self-help group attendance. Factors significantly associated with self-help group attendance were marital status, education, anxiety, and family/friend support. Although strides have been taken to increase resources among homeless individuals, efforts should continue, including assessments to identify those efforts that are most effective.


In a tradition extending back for centuries, and eventually becoming part of English law, all boys were to be provided with a bow and two arrows at the age of six to begin archery training. When the longbow gave way to firearms in the sixteenth century, the ancient statute was relaxed. At that point, rather than disappear, the longbow began a new life as the centerpiece of recreational archery. Quickly abandoned by villagers, the longbow found itself in the hands of gentlemen who formed social clubs around the bow. These clubs and societies of thernsixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries--tightly regulated by social distinction--offered members an opportunity to meet their peers in pleasant concourse. Target and range competitions were natural events at club functions, but roving also became popular, with archers walking across vast swathes of open estate country followingrntheir arrows in golflike fashion. Initially men-only, archery clubs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries began accepting women members. rnrnIt was then, as Hugh Soar relates in The Romance of Archery: A Social History of the Longbow, that the longbow literally became an arm of cupid, with recreational archery providing a setting for prospective partners to meet in a socially acceptable environment, a ritual known from the time of Jane Austen to Edith Wharton. With thernparticipation of women, the longbow opened up another phase in its centuries-old career, with women welcome to shoot in the Olympic Games. With his characteristic blend of erudition and wit, Hugh D. H. Soar leads the reader on a fascinating journey through the latter history of the venerable longbow.


Objective: To investigate the relationship between viral load suppression and baseline viral load as well as that between viral load suppression and baseline CD4 + cell count. Design: Meta-analysis of published and presented studies. Methods: Trials of two nucleoside analogs plus nevirapine, indinavir, nelfinavir, or efavirenz as therapy for antiretroviral treatment-naive patients with HIV infection or AIDS who were followed-up for at least 6 months were included in the meta-analysis. The proportion of patients with viral loads of <200-500 copies/ml at 6 and 12 months (total number of patients, 1619 and 761, respectively) was regressed to the mean or median baseline viral load and CD4 + cell count. Results: Thirty-six treatment arms from 30 studies were identified. Multivariate regression demonstrated a significant correlation between baseline CD4 + cell count and virologic suppression at 6 and 12 months (t = 2.85, p =.008; and t = 3.08, p =.010, respectively) but not between baseline viral load and virologic suppression (t = 0.92, p =.365; and t = 1.31, p =.215, respectively). The same pattern was seen in a subanalysis of trials of nevirapine-containing therapy (CD4 + cell count: t = 2.89, p =.014 at 6 months; viral load suppression: t = 0.84, p =.415). Conclusions: Baseline CD4 + cell count was a better predictor of virologic suppression induced by triple combination therapy than was baseline viral load.


The authors model a parallel processing system comprising several homogeneous computers interconnected by a communication network. Jobs arriving to this system have a linear fork-join structure. Each fork of the job gives rise to a random number of tasks that can be processed independently on any of the computers. Since exact analysis of fork-join models is known to be intractable, the authors resort to obtaining analytical bounds to the mean job response time of the fork-join job. For jobs with a single fork-join and, probabilistic allocation of tasks of the job to the N processors, they obtain upper and lower bounds to the mean job response time. Upper bounds are obtained using the concept of associated random variables and are found to be a good approximation to the mean job response time. A simple lower bound is obtained by neglecting queueing delays. They also find two lower bounds that include queueing delays. For multiple fork-join jobs, they study an approximation based on associated random variables. Finally, two versions of the join-the-shortest-queue (JSQ) allocation policy (i.e., JSQ by batch and JSQ by task) are studied and compared, via simulations and diffusion limits. >


Singular values of a data in a matrix form provide insights on the structure of the data, the effective dimensionality, and the choice of hyper-parameters on higher-level data analysis tools. However, in many practical applications such as collaborative filtering and network analysis, we only get a partial observation. Under such scenarios, we consider the fundamental problem of recovering spectral properties of the underlying matrix from a sampling of its entries. We are particularly interested in directly recovering the spectrum, which is the set of singular values, and also in sample-efficient approaches for recovering a spectral sum function, which is an aggregate sum of the same function applied to each of the singular values. We propose first estimating the Schatten $k$-norms of a matrix, and then applying Chebyshev approximation to the spectral sum function or applying moment matching in Wasserstein distance to recover the singular values. The main technical challenge is in accurately estimating the Schatten norms from a sampling of a matrix. We introduce a novel unbiased estimator based on counting small structures in a graph and provide guarantees that match its empirical performance. Our theoretical analysis shows that Schatten norms can be recovered accurately from strictly smaller number of samples compared to what is needed to recover the underlying low-rank matrix. Numerical experiments suggest that we significantly improve upon a competing approach of using matrix completion methods.


Invited papers from a joint Associations specialised conference held at Napier University, Edinburgh on 6-7 September 1993 by The Freshwater Biological Association, The Ferry House, Far Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 OLP, England and The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, England and The Scottish Association for Marine Science, PO Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland


The effectiveness of many widely used conservation interventions is poorly understood because of a lack of high-quality impact evaluations. Randomized control trials (RCTs), in which experimental units are randomly allocated to treatment or control groups, offer an intuitive way to calculate the impact of an intervention by establishing a reliable counterfactual scenario. As many conservation interventions depend on changing people's behaviour, conservation impact evaluation can learn a great deal from RCTs in fields such as development economics, where RCTs have become widely used but are controversial. We build on relevant literature from other fields to discuss how RCTs, despite their potential, are just one of a number of ways to evaluate impact, are not feasible in all circumstances, and how factors such as spillover between units and behavioural effects must be considered in their design.We offer guidance and a set of criteria for deciding when RCTs may be an appropriate approach for evaluating conservation interventions, and factors to consider to ensure an RCT is of high quality. We illustrate this with examples from one of the few concluded RCTs of a large-scale conservation intervention: an incentive-based conservation programme in the Bolivian Andes. We argue that conservation should aim to avoid a rerun of the polarized debate surrounding the use of RCTs in other fields. Randomized control trials will not be feasible or appropriate in many circumstances, but if used carefully they can be useful and could become a more widely used tool for the evaluation of conservation impact.


Based on "physical field coupling" finite element method, the generation of residual stress and interactive coupling effect were analyzed during the forming process of aluminum alloy thick-plate. Therefore, comprehensive residual stress generated from rolling, quenching and stretching was obtained. The finite element model was proved effective by comparing the results of simulation and experiment. Results show that percent reduction has significant influence to the distribution and magnitude of rolling stress; There is a coupling effect between rolling stress and quenching stress, which represents a basic state; Furthermore, after stretching the distribution of coupling stress remains, but the value reduces greatly; The residual stress has got the minimum, when stretching is near 3%.


Let G be a Polish topological group, let X be a Polish space, let J: G × X → X be a Borel-measurable action of G on X, and let A ⊂ X be a Borel set which is invariant with respect to J, i.e., a Borel set of orbits. The following statement, or various equivalent versions of it, is known as the Topological Vaught's Conjecture. Let (G, X, J, A) be as above. Either A contains only countably many orbits, or else, A contains perfectly many orbits. We say that A contains perfectly many orbits if there is a perfect set P ⊂ A such that no two elements of P are in the same orbit. (Assuming ¬CH, A contains perfectly many orbits iff it contains 2ℵ0 orbits.) The Topological Vaught's Conjecture implies the usual, model theoretic, Vaught's Conjecture for Lω1ω, since the isomorphism classes are the orbits of an action of the group of permutations of ω; we give details in §0. The "Borel" assumption cannot be weakened for either A or J. Given a Borel-measurable Polish action (G,X,J) and an invariant Borel set B ⊂ X, we say that B is a minimal counterexample if (G,X,J,B) is a counterexample to the Topological Vaught's Conjecture and for every invariant Borel C ⊂ B, either C or B\C contains only countably many orbits. This paper is concerned with counterexamples to the Topological Vaught's Conjecture (of course, there may not be any), and in particular, with minimal counterexamples. First, there is a theorem on the existence of minimal counterexamples. This theorem was known for the model theoretic case (it is due to Harnik and Makkai), and is here generalized to arbitrary Borel-measurable Polish actions. Second, we study the properties of minimal counterexamples. We give two different necessary and sufficient conditions for a counterexample to be minimal, as well as some consequences of minimality. Some of these results are proved assuming determinacy axioms.This second part seems to be new even in the model theoretic case.


: In this study, we established a method for the quantitative measurement of native adrenal steroids with GC-MS equipped with capillary column (cross-linked methyl silicone 25 m X 0.2 mm I.D., 0.11 m thin film). 1 ml of serum sample containing 5 alpha-cholestane as internal standard (IS) was elicited by organic solvent using extrelunt column. These samples were derived by n-butylboronic acid, o-methylhydroxylamine and trimethyl-silylating agents, then were finally applied to GC-MS. The intensities of molecular ions were used for the measurement of the serum concentration of steroids. The molecular ion peaks of steroids were obtained at m/z460 (17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone; 17OHP), m/z548 (corticosterone; B), m/z470 (11-deoxycortisol; S), m/z417 (pregnenolone; PL), m/z372 (progesterone; PT), m/z558 (cortisol; F), m/z389 (dehydroepiandrosterone; DHEA), m/z371 (estrone; E1), m/z416 (estradiol; E2), m/z504 (estriol; E3), m/z389 (testosterone; T), m/z344 (androstenedione; A) and m/z372 (IS). The curve of calibration for each steroid showed good linearity. The sensitivities of the GC/MS method were less than 5pg/one shot of each sample. The coefficients of variations of accuracies and precisions in this GC/MS method were less than 15% of each steroid. The samples from normal subjects after metyrapone and ACTH loading tests, and the patients of congenital adrenal hyperplasia showed a good correlationship between the data of GC/MS and the data of RIA after sephadex LH-20 column-chromatography. These results implied the usefulness of our system in clinical application. Moreover, this assay takes only 3 hrs. Thus it saves much time in comparison with the time-consuming radioimmunoassay system.


We address the problem of algorithmic fairness: ensuring that the outcome of a classifier is not biased towards certain values of sensitive variables such as age, race or gender. As common fairness metrics can be expressed as measures of (conditional) independence between variables, we propose to use the Rényi maximum correlation coefficient to generalize fairness measurement to continuous variables. We exploit Witsenhausen's characterization of the Rényi correlation coefficient to propose a differentiable implementation linked to f -divergences. This allows us to generalize fairness-aware learning to continuous variables by using a penalty that upper bounds this coefficient. Theses allows fairness to be extented to variables such as mixed ethnic groups or financial status without thresholds effects. This penalty can be estimated on mini-batches allowing to use deep nets. Experiments show favorable comparisons to state of the art on binary variables and prove the ability to protect continuous ones 1.


Debrisoquin sulfate, a postganglionic sympathetic blocking agent, was administered to 28 patients with sustained diastolic hypertension. The total daily dose, which ranged from 20 to 140 mg, averaging 69 mg, was given in divided doses at 6- to 12-hour intervals. A significant reduction in mean blood pressure (MBP) (20 mm Hg or more) was achieved with administration of debrisoquin alone in five of the 25 patients when recumbent and in 12 patients when standing, and on the addition of hydrochlorothiazide for six of the 14 patients when recumbent and 11 patients when standing. Debrisoquin would appear to have definite but limited utility as an antihypertensive agent, affecting primarily orthostatic blood pressure. It produces few unpleasant symptoms and no overt toxic effects upon kidney, liver, or bone marrow. Its ultimate usefulness will be found in combination with other drugs.


Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an important tool for structure characterization of zeolite materials. Structural information can be obtained by different TEM techniques, for example electron diffraction (ED), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron tomography (ET), each with its own advantages and limitations. These techniques are briefly introduced. Examples are given to show how these techniques can be used to solve various structure-related problems in zeolites. With this review we will describe the basic principles of transmission electron microscopy techniques for structural characterization, including recent methodological advancements. Advantages as well as challenges of using TEM for structural characterization will be described in relation to other methods. Examples of structural characterization of zeolites will be given for each of the methods.


Abstract. The Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS) is the global version of the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS), which is a multi-scale chemical transport model used for air quality forecast and atmospheric environmental research. In this study, we present the porting and optimisation of GNAQPMS on a second-generation Intel Xeon Phi processor, codenamed Knights Landing (KNL). Compared with the first-generation Xeon Phi coprocessor (codenamed Knights Corner, KNC), KNL has many new hardware features such as a bootable processor, high-performance in-package memory and ISA compatibility with Intel Xeon processors. In particular, we describe the five optimisations we applied to the key modules of GNAQPMS, including the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry, advection, convection and wet deposition modules. These optimisations work well on both the KNL 7250 processor and the Intel Xeon E5-2697 V4 processor. They include (1) updating the pure Message Passing Interface (MPI) parallel mode to the hybrid parallel mode with MPI and OpenMP in the emission, advection, convection and gas-phase chemistry modules; (2) fully employing the 512 bit wide vector processing units (VPUs) on the KNL platform; (3) reducing unnecessary memory access to improve cache efficiency; (4) reducing the thread local storage (TLS) in the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry module to improve its OpenMP performance; and (5) changing the global communication from writing/reading interface files to MPI functions to improve the performance and the parallel scalability. These optimisations greatly improved the GNAQPMS performance. The same optimisations also work well for the Intel Xeon Broadwell processor, specifically E5-2697 v4. Compared with the baseline version of GNAQPMS, the optimised version was 3.51 × faster on KNL and 2.77 × faster on the CPU. Moreover, the optimised version ran at 26 % lower average power on KNL than on the CPU. With the combined performance and energy improvement, the KNL platform was 37.5 % more efficient on power consumption compared with the CPU platform. The optimisations also enabled much further parallel scalability on both the CPU cluster and the KNL cluster scaled to 40 CPU nodes and 30 KNL nodes, with a parallel efficiency of 70.4 and 42.2 %, respectively.


This fourth volume of the National Assessment of Educational Achievement series is comprised of two parts and provides step-by-step details on how to analyze data collected in a national assessment. Part I provides a general introduction to statistical analyses normally carried out in large-scale assessments, measuring central tendency and dispersion of student scores and relationships between variables. Part II describes IATA (Item and Test Analysis) software, which uses classical test and item response theories to establish scales on which to report student scores. Steps in the analysis of pilot and final test administrations are described in detail. Today's global knowledge economy requires governments, education systems, and schools to closely monitor a variety of educational outcomes, including student achievements. A national assessment of student achievement in key curriculum areas contributes to this effort by addressing issues relating to: quality; equity; provision; and change.


We studied the expression of 9E3 mRNA, which is known to be induced in chicken embryo fibroblasts by p60V-srC activity and by serum. In addition to full-length 9E3 mRNA, we identified several smaller RNAs that hybridized with 9E3 cDNA. One of these RNAs hybridized with a 5' 9E3 cDNA probe but not with a 3' cDNA probe. The other hybridized with a 3' cDNA probe but lacked 5' sequences, including the entire 9E3 coding region. Only the latter RNA was polyadenylylated, as determined by RNase H digestion in the presence of oligo(dT). The level of the small RNAs increased after treatment with cycloheximide and actinomycin D, indicating that the small RNAs were produced by processing of preexisting transcripts. The derivation of the small RNAs from 9E3 mRNA rather than from a related gene was confirmed by Si nuclease analysis. The 3' terminus of the 5' RNA and the 5' terminus of the 3' RNA mapped to the same position, which suggested that the small RNAs were formed by endonucleolytic cleavage of 9E3 mRNA at a specific site in the 3' noncoding region. We also found that the stability of 9E3 mRNA was increased after serum stimulation and was greater in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed than in uninfected cells. The relative amount of the small RNAs as compared with the full-length transcript was greatest under conditions in which the full-length transcript was least stable. These data suggest that site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage regulates the stability of 9E3 mRNA.


Copyright resides with the authors in terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 South African License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/za Condition of use: The user may copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work, but must recognize the authors and the South African Journal of Animal Science. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) and valine (Val) supplementation will improve growth performance, carcass traits, hormonal profile and meat quality in broilers. To evaluate this hypothesis, based on a 2×4 factorial arrangement, 480 male broilers (Ross 708) were randomly placed in eight treatment groups for two levels of COS (C1: 100 mg/kg, and C2: 150 mg/kg) and four levels of valine (V1: 0.57%, V2: 0.72%, V3: 0.87% and V4: 1.02%) with three replicates (n=24) with 20 birds in each (ni=60; i=1, 2, 3,..., 8.). The results showed that live bodyweight (BW), weight gain (WG), and carcass weight increased, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased with increased supplemental levels of dietary Val at C1 and C2. Abdominal fat reduced linearly for both COS and Val, with a higher reduction response value at C2 and V4. The serum levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), testosterone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) presented a linear effect for COS and Val. The proximate composition of breast and leg meat showed that crude fat content decreased linearly for COS and Val with higher reduction response values at V3 for both levels of COS. The ash content rose linearly with increasing concentration of Val at C1, but showed the highest value at V2 when birds were offered C2. There was an interaction between COS and Val for T3, T4, IGF-1, ash content and crude fat. In conclusion, supplementation exerted a significant influence on the growth performance, hormonal profile and meat composition of broilers. ______________________________________________________________________________________


This paper aims to assess undergraduate students' satisfaction within the Arab International University (AIU). The results were addressed by conducting a questionnaire to a total of 228 of the undergraduate students of AIU, and by undertaken 8 interviews with the librarians involved to understand users' expectations and requirements of the AIU. The findings showed: a) a statistical significance of students' ability to find and use the information; b) a relationship between students' expectations and received materials; c) students were satisfied with library services' quality in terms of accessibility; d) a relationship between providing the newest and valuable collections and students' satisfaction; e) the most difficulties facing students were a lack of time and the ability to visit libraries; and f) the main services for students were borrowing books and references services. Furthermore, the findings illustrate statistically important differentiations on the satisfaction level on library collections between participants and faculties. A statistical significance between students' profiles and their satisfactions was indicated in terms of selecting the information resources.


Abstract Objective: To examine associations between diet and risk of developing gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Design: Prospective cohort with a median follow-up of 15·8 years. Baseline diet was measured using a FFQ. GERD was defined as self-reported current or history of daily heartburn or acid regurgitation beginning at least 2 years after baseline. Sex-specific logistic regressions were performed to estimate OR for GERD associated with diet quality scores and intakes of nutrients, food groups and individual foods and beverages. The effect of substituting saturated fat for monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat on GERD risk was examined. Setting: Melbourne, Australia. Participants: A cohort of 20 926 participants (62 % women) aged 40–59 years at recruitment between 1990 and 1994. Results: For men, total fat intake was associated with increased risk of GERD (OR 1·05 per 5 g/d; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·09; P = 0·016), whereas total carbohydrate (OR 0·89 per 30 g/d; 95 % CI 0·82, 0·98; P = 0·010) and starch intakes (OR 0·84 per 30 g/d; 95 % CI 0·75, 0·94; P = 0·005) were associated with reduced risk. Nutrients were not associated with risk for women. For both sexes, substituting saturated fat for polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fat did not change risk. For both sexes, fish, chicken, cruciferous vegetables and carbonated beverages were associated with increased risk, whereas total fruit and citrus were associated with reduced risk. No association was observed with diet quality scores. Conclusions: Diet is a possible risk factor for GERD, but food considered as triggers of GERD symptoms might not necessarily contribute to disease development. Potential differential associations for men and women warrant further investigation.


Marine sponges are diverse, abundant and provide a crucial coupling point between benthic and pelagic habitats due to their high filtration rates. They also harbour extensive microbial communities, with many microbial phylotypes found exclusively in sponge hosts and not in the seawater or surrounding environment, i.e. so-called sponge-specific clusters (SCs) or sponge- and coral-specific clusters (SCCs). We employed DNA (16S rRNA gene) and RNA (16S rRNA)-based amplicon pyrosequencing to investigate the effects of sublethal thermal stress on the bacterial biosphere of the Great Barrier Reef sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile. A total of 8381 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (97% sequence similarity) were identified, affiliated with 32 bacterial phyla from seawater samples, 23 bacterial phyla from sponge DNA extracts and 18 bacterial phyla from sponge RNA extracts. Sublethal thermal stress (31°C) had no effect on the present and/or active portions of the R. odorabile bacterial community but a shift in the bacterial assemblage was observed in necrotic sponges. Over two-thirds of DNA and RNA sequences could be assigned to previously defined SCs/SCCs in healthy sponges whereas only 12% of reads from necrotic sponges could be assigned to SCs/SCCs. A rapid decline in host health over a 1°C temperature increment suggests that sponges such as R. odorabile may be highly vulnerable to the effects of global climate change.


The Surface Limited Redox Replacement (SLRR) method in one-cell configuration has been used to grow Pt ultra-thin films on Au using two different sacrificial underpotentially deposited (UPD) layers: Cu and Pb. The Pt films grown by multiple Pb UPD-SLRR cycles (1–10) exhibit comparable roughness as determined by integration of the H UPD charge. In contrast to that, due to the 2:1 stoichiometry of the replacement between Cu UPD layer and PtCl4 ions, the Pt films grown by Cu UPD-SLRR show a steady increase of the roughness with the number of deposition cycles (1–10). The differences in the structure of the films have been used as a platform to study the stripping of pre-adsorbed CO and the formic acid oxidation (FAO) reaction as a function of their thickness. On Pt films of comparable roughness grown by SLRR of Pb UPD, the CO stripping peak shows no significant changes in the onset potential and a small peak maximum shift of 7 mV between the film of lowest (1 ML) and all higher thicknesses (2–10 ML). However, Pt films grown by SLRR of Cu UPD show a larger potential window of differences of 26 mV over which the peak maximum potentials shift more negative with the number of deposition cycles. The most positive CO stripping potential obtained for a sub-ML Pt ( 0.56 ML) grown by a single SLRR cycle suggests CO is more strongly bonded than on films grown by multiple replacements that completely cover the Au substrate. The measured activity toward FAO is in agreement with the CO electro-oxidation results. No significant differences in the activity for FAO have been observed on Pt films of comparable roughness grown by SLRR of Pb UPD which show activity close to that of pure Pt. However, a more significant change of FAO reactivity has been measured for Pt films grown via SLRR of Cu UPD with the highest activity measured for a sub-ML Pt deposit. Following subsequent replacements, the FAO activity tends towards that of pure Pt. The observed differences in the catalytic behaviour of Pt films grown by SLRR are the result of the differences in their morphology and the nanocluster structure of the films. On sub-monolayer Pt films, the behaviour is dominated by nanocluster size and coverage of the deposit. For a completely covered surface of Au, the effect of roughness of Pt films and nanocluster nature of the deposit has a dominant role in the behaviour and activity. ã 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


We develop a model and derive behavioral predictions for a multiproduct sales force subject to goals set based on past performance. We test these predictions using a field experiment in which 53 salespersons from a Chilean beverage company face exogenous variations in monthly sales goals. Confirming our predictions, we found that (1) absent strategic considerations—no goal ratcheting—salespersons increase (decrease) sales in the product category for which the return to effort increases (decreases), (2) including strategic considerations behavior reverses: salespersons who expect high goal ratcheting decrease (increase) sales in the category for which the return to effort increases (decreases), (3) sales did not change for the average salespersons, reflecting heterogeneity in the expectations of goal ratcheting rather than unresponsiveness to incentives. Our study points at the importance of the dynamics of incentive design, in particular, the importance of understanding the dynamics of goal setting in fir...


We present a low cost microfluidic chip integrating 3D micro-chambers for the capture and the analysis of cells. This device has a simple design and a small footprint. It allows the implementation of standard biological protocols in a chip format with low volume consumption. The manufacturing process relies on hot-embossing of cyclo olefin copolymer, allowing the development of a low cost and robust device. A 3D design of microchannels was used to induce high flow velocity contrasts in the device and provide a selective immobilization. In narrow distribution channels, the liquid velocity induces a shear stress that overcomes adhesion forces and prevents cell immobilization or clogging. In large 3D chambers, the liquid velocity drops down below the threshold for cell attachment. The devices can be operated in a large range of input pressures and can even be handled manually using simple syringe or micropipette. Even at high flow injection rates, the 3D structures protect the captured cell from shear stress. To validate the performances of our device, we implemented immuno-fluorescence labeling and Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH) analysis on cancer cell lines and on a patient pleural effusion sample. FISH is a Food and Drug Administration approved cancer diagnostic technique that provides quantitative information about gene and chromosome aberration at the single cell level. It is usually considered as a long and fastidious test in medical diagnosis. This process can be easily implanted in our platform, and high resolution fluorescence imaging can be performed with reduced time and computer intensiveness. These results demonstrate the potential of this chip as a low cost, robust, and versatile tool adapted to complex and demanding protocols for medical diagnosis.


Most literature on job shops assumes that an infinite storage space is available on the shop floor. But in practice, storage space is limited or finite. The job shop control problem with finite storage space has received little attention; it is a complex problem for which optimised scheduling may lead to unfeasible and poor quality solutions. The alternative to a scheduling solution is the use of controlled order release. This study uses simulation to assess the performance of four order release control rules. Results indicate that the best results are achieved by the workload control order release (WLCOR) rule. This rule produces results comparable to the optimum solution identified by analytical modelling in terms of the storage space required to achieve a certain production rate. The advantage of WLCOR is that it does this while simultaneously controlling lead times and the percentage of tardy jobs. Results have significant implications for practice, particularly where space is at a premium.


This amply and beautifully illustrated volume is an important addition to the convincing new scholarship that insists that the "great" Manchu emperors be viewed not simply as consummate converts to Chinese high culture, but also as consummate imperial politicians with non-Chinese cultural interests of their own. Patricia Berger's focus is on Hongli, the Qianlong emperor (who reigned 1735–96), as disciple of Tibetan Buddhism, as selfabsorbed art patron and collector, and as master of a multiethnic empire. Her attitude towards Qianlong is largely sympathetic, which is troubling if one associates him with the summary beating to death of leaders of foot riots, or (as Philip Kuhn has shown) the widespread judicial torture that resulted from a court-led witch-hunt. The author nonetheless does scholarship a major service with her thoughtful exploration of the ideological, religious and political rationales reflected in the art and architecture that Qianlong commissioned. Conventional Sinocentric wisdom expects Chinese Confucians to have served as a great emperor's instructors and advisers. A constant theme in Berger's book, however, is the role that the Tibetan Rolpay Dorje played as Qianlong's spiritual and, on occasion, temporal adviser. Here, indeed, is Berger's challenge: to take putative peripheries (a doubly non-Chinese religion, geographically frontier territories) and turn them into a new centre from which to view the realm of Qianlong's Chinese cultural commitments. She begins by reading the imperialist symbolism of a multiculturally inspired painting, resplendent on the book's dust jacket, of a court reception of submissive Mongol tribesmen at transmural Chengde in 1771. There follows a discussion of translation – of language, of images, and of identities (as with Qianlong's assumed identity as the bodhisattva Mañjuśrı̄). Then come two chapters that address "the buildup of things in the Qing palace" (p. 11), from the cataloguing of Qianlong's multifaith art collection to the extraordinary parades of tantric and other deities housed in special buildings in the palace compound. An exploration of the Qing imperial "culture of the copy" investigates political correction of past masterpieces by the palace imitators, while the concluding chapter probes the meaning of Qianlong's encounter with the Sixth Panchen Lama, for whom the grandest quasi-replica of all (the Chengde copy of his home monastery) was built. The most interesting parts of the analysis, at least to this reader, are those that directly address the political significance of Qianlong's self-inscription in his court's artistic enterprises. This monarch, capable of ordering the use of tantric magic against enemies, stood to benefit politically from projections of his aura as a self-styled cakravartin (pp. 156–57). Asian Studies Review June 2004, Vol. 28, pp. 185–210


In this study, a new functional is obtained for folded plates with geometric (kinematic) and dynamic (natural) boundary conditions. This functional is the combination of two different functionals. Both functionals are obtained for thick plates which carry in-plane and lateral forces. A new mixed finite element is developed with nodal parameters for folded plates (REC52). Forces and moments which are the necessary unknowns in engineering problems are obtained directly using the technique suggested here. The use of the global co-ordinate system causes time consuming operations and therefore the Lagrange multiplier method is used to relate the components of the parameters on the fold line. Numerical results are presented for folded plates and compared with experimental results.


A cooperative wireless communication system is generally consists of a source node, a destination node, and a one or more relay(s) nodes. Relay nodes can be useful to enhance the robustness of the desired transmission to channel fading and interference. For a single relay system, the simplest relaying techniques are the amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF). In the study, we will explain the single relay systems and analyze the performance of those structures.


The results of magnetostratigraphic investigations in the Upper Berriasian Zavodskaya Balka section (Feodosiya, Crimea) are presented: magnetic polarity information, data on magnetic susceptibility, its anisotropy (AMS), frequency dependence (FD-factor) and other petromagnetic parameters. The analysis of the thermomagnetic and magnetic saturation curves has proved the presence of magnetite, being the main carrier of the remanent magnetization. Magnetic cleaning with alternating field and with temperature mostly has revealed the two-component composition of the magnetization, and the magnetostratigraphy is based on the directions of the most stable of them, with unblocking field from 35-50 mT and temperature from 300 to 540°C. The palaeomagnetic column presented specifies four heteropolar magnetozones analogous to the M16 and M15 magnetic chrons (full M16n and M15r, parts of M16r and M15n). The existence of the M16n.lr subchron ("Feodosiya") is substantiated, and it should be included into the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale. By bioand mag netostratigraphic correlation, the section studied is an age analogue of the Paramimounum, Picteti and Alpillensis (probably Otopeta) subzones of the Boissieri Zone. The calculated sedimentation rate varied from 26.6 to 29.5 m/My.


Eczema (syn. atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema) accounts for the largest global burden of disability due to skin disease (1) . Eczema affects up to 20% of children (1) , and is associated with impaired quality of life (QoL) of a similar magnitude to cancer and epilepsy. Yet, although eczema is common in children, little is known about long-term outcomes such as educational attainment (EA) of those affected. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Pelz, Kristi L. (Ph.D., Chemical and Biological Engineering) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Experimental and Modeling Studies on Catalysis for Photocatalytic Reactions and Detection of Trace Gases Thesis directed by Professors John L. Falconer and J. Will Medlin The first part of this thesis focuses on the accelerating effects of water on formic acid photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) and decomposition (PCD) rates on TiO2 and Pt/TiO2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicated that formic acid adsorbed molecularly on a dry anatase (101) surface, but dissociated to monodentate formate when water adsorbed, depending on formic acid and water coverages. For 1⁄4 monolayer (ML) formic acid coverage, O-H dissociation required a 1:1 ratio of water to formic acid, and for 1 ML formic acid coverage, 2 monolayers of water were required to stabilize the adsorbed formate species. The 2nd layer of water also induced dissociation of the 1st layer water creating OH groups. DFT calculations also showed that water co-adsorption increased the reactivity by decreasing the adsorbate's effects on the surface through hydrogen bonding. Details of how adsorbates altered the electronic structure though bond breaking and electron transfer were examined. FTIR spectroscopy and TPD studies indicated that the addition of water to TiO2 displaced adsorbed formic acid. However, FTIR spectroscopy also showed that water addition caused a change in the adsorbed structure of formate that may be associated with iv the higher reactivity. These transformations can have an important influence on elementary steps in PCD and PCO of formic acid on TiO2 and Pt/TiO2. The second part of this thesis focuses on the effect of the metal gate composition in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices on acetylene response in hydrogen/acetylene mixtures. A number of bimetallic compositions were tested at different temperatures, and the largest reproducible response was observed for a 15% Ag/Pd sensor at 398 K. Kinetic modeling of the relevant surface reactions on Pd and PdAg provided insights into how temperature, feed concentration, and percent Ag in the bimetallic affected response. The accumulation of carbon species influenced the final response, and appeared to be responsible for dynamic trends in response. Response increased with carbon species fouling until a critical concentration of carbon species, where response decreased due to a lower hydrogen consumption rate.


The HELA Training Coordination portal was launched in October 2001. Initially it was developed as a means to facilitate the national coordination of training for Local Authority (LA) based health and safety enforcement officers. Subsequently a second phase, commencing in February 2002 and concluding in August 2003, sought to extend and augment the outcomes of phase 1 by expanding the functions of the web portal and developing its content to include a dedicated area for Priority Programme (PP) communications. A third and final phase (commencing in September 2003 and finishing in February 2005) was designed to build on and develop the use of the portal to assist LAs in their contribution towards achievement of the revitalising targets.

The aims of the phase 3 project were to:

Consolidate the operation of the portal in order to enable the improved communication facility between LAs, and between LAs and HSE, to 'bed' down and its advantages be realised in relation to both training coordination and the PP areas.
Investigate the potential offered by the portal to assist in addressing training needs arising from the priority programme initiative.
Explore the potential of the web portal to be further developed to support knowledge management for LA based health and safety enforcement teams.
Two evaluations were undertaken. The first, a process evaluation, aimed to assess the effectiveness of user interface improvements to the portal and the impact of the enhancements specifically designed to encourage further collaboration. The second, an output evaluation, assessed the effectiveness of the portal in terms of facilitating training in the PP areas for LA based health and safety enforcement officers and support for knowledge management and knowledge sharing by LA based health and safety enforcement officers.


Nurse is important worker in providing health services at a hospital. High quality of effective and efficient nursing services can be reached by supports of adequate nurse manpower both quantitatively and qualitatively. Optimal quality of nursing services can be obtained by balancing work burden and number of nurses. Therefore, it needs to determine number of nurse manpower in order to obtain effective and efficient officialdom.
Calculation of nurse need based on category of patient is more effective because it considers effective hour of nurse. Aim of this research was to know number of nurses based on category of the patient at Inpatient Room of Dr. Amino Gondohutomo Hospital in Semarang.
Type of this research was descriptive-analytic using Cross-Sectional approach. Collection of data used daily log. Number of sample was 22 persons.
In terms of the sample characteristics, higher percentages of the respondents are females (63.7%), the younger age group/25-30 years of age (50.0%), D-III of Nursing (77.3%), government officer (86.4%), length of work more 4 years (59.1%), training of modality therapy (100%) and training of nursing management (13.6%). Classification of patient outlined here are minimal care (47.9%), partial care (38.9%), and total care (13.2%). Nursing services hour in which is needed in the category of the minimal care is 2.3 hours, in the category of the partial care is 3.8 hours, and in the category of the total care is 6.7 hours. The time average of daily work burden is 12.8 hours. It is comprised of 8 hours directly nursing services (33.4%), and 4.8 hours indirectly nursing services (20.0%). Nurses have 11.2 hours to do their personal business (46.6%).
Calculation of nurse need uses Gillies Formula, Nursing Standard, and Douglas Formula. Result of the calculation at the Kresno Room based on the Giilies Formula is 13 persons, based upon the Nursing Standard is 13 persons, and based upon the Douglas Formula is 11 persons. Result of the calculation at the Larasati Room based on the Gillies Formula is 9 persons, based upon the Nursing Standard is 9 persons, and based upon the Douglas Formula is 8 persons.

Sumber Utama : www.mikm.undip.ac.id


Background: The definition of retrosternal goitre is unclear and not uniform among the authors. As most of the authors defined retrosternal goitre as the goitre with its greater mass is inferior to thoracic inlet. Haller described the first retro-sternal goitre in 1749. Reported incidence of the retrosternal goitres is 1% to 20%. There are no clear guidelines for pre-operatively identifying those patients that may require an intrathoracic approach. Material and methods: During a period of 30 years from 1986 to 2016 nearly 36 cases of retro-sternal goitres were encountered in various institutions by a single surgeon. Results: Retrosternal goitres were resected after a median sternotomy in all the 36 cases. There were 2 minor complications and no mortality. There was a clear and highly significant association between the extent and definition of RSG and reported complications, as well as the approach used. Mean age at diagnosis was 55.3 ± 3.58 years, and most cases were found in women (83.3%). The clinical picture of retrosternal goitre was dominated by compressive disorders. The length of stay in the hospital was 8.6 days (range, 4-11 days) and mean follow up was 24.3 months (range, 4-39 months). Conclusions: In all the patients the symptoms caused by the Retrosternal goitre were disappeared following the resection of the swelling. Decision making in such patients should be individualized.


The mine ventilation program Ventgraph has been utilized and validated extensively in coal mines in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Ventgraph is used for studying coal mine fires, fighting fires with inert gases, spontaneous combustion, and mine emergency exercises. However, it has been used to a much lesser extent in metal/non-metal (M/NM) mines. Its application to hardrock mining methods would be beneficial for studying M/NM ventilation effects, mine evacuation training, risk analysis of potential mine ventilation changes, airborne contaminants, recirculation, and mine fires. In order to determine its applicability to M/NM mine fire modelling, Ventgraph was utilized to simulate the 1972 Sunshine Mine fire, where 91 miners perished. The Sunshine Mine was selected due to its deep, complex ventilation system, involving ventilation thermal effects and recirculation not normally found in single-level coal mines. Information sources such as the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) accident reports, ventilation surveys, books, and publications were examined to recreate the pre-fire Sunshine Mine ventilation system. Next, Ventgraph's network and fire simulation were run using assumptions from a USBM contract report to re-create the early stages of the mine fire and contaminant flow. Options to better control the ventilation system, evacuation, and early mine rescue attempts were tested. Calibration of Ventgraph's fire simulation module to known events of the fire showed close correlation to contaminant levels observed and real-time movement of fire combustion products through the mine. This study's conclusions validate the use of Ventgraph in a deep M/NM mine fire and illustrate its use as a valuable tool in mine ventilation, fire, and evacuation planning.


The fauna of myrmecophilous rove beetles associated with Aenictus laeviceps (sensu Wilson 1964) at Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia was investigated. Eight species belonging to six genera of the subfamily Aleocharinae including the following new taxa are recorded and/or described: Myrmecosticta exceptionalis Maruyama gen. et sp. nov., Aenictocleptis hirsutoides Maruyama sp. nov., Aenictocleptis lambirensis Maruyama sp. nov., Mimaenictus matsumotoi Maruyama sp. nov., Procantonnetia opacithorax Maruyama sp. nov., Weissflogia pubescens Maruyama sp. nov. Three morphotypes (L1, L2 and S) are recognized in A. laeviceps, and strict host specificity by the rove beetles for the morphotypes was observed. Myrmecosticta exceptionalis is the first known myrmecoid species of the tribe Aleocharini and belongs to the Tetrasticta generic group.


The UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has launched a public consultation on the ethical and social implications of new in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques designed to avoid the maternal transmission of mitochondrial disease.

Mitochondrial disease affects around one in 200 births each year in the United Kingdom, the HFEA says, and can affect a number of different organs with varying severity.

Two new techniques, maternal spindle transfer and pro-nuclear transfer, could enable women to avoid passing these diseases on to their offspring. Both use a donor's mitochondria to create a healthy embryo that would then be used in normal IVF treatment. Offspring would thereby share DNA with three people and have an altered germ line such …


Appropriate amounts of l-arginine monohydrochloride and barium chloride were dissolved in double distilled water at room temperature. Transparent and defect less bulk crystal of LAMBC with dimension 6 x 5 x 3 mm3 have been grown by solution growth method. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that LAMBC crystal belongs to orthorhombic crystal system and the measured lattice parameters values are a=8.28 A, b=9.37 A, c=14.938 A, α=β=γ=900 and volume V=1158.94 A.. In Powder XRD, the powdered sample was scanned over in the range of 10 to 80o at a scan rate of 1o per minute. Thus the powder XRD pattern observed well defined Bragg's peaks reveal that the LAMBC crystal is in good crystalline nature. FT-IR analysis was carried out to identity the various functional groups present in LAMBC. In the recorded optical transmission spectrum, the UV transparency cut-off wavelength at 307 nm and high transmission percentage of LAMBC crystal from 307 nm to 1000 nm are observed. The powder SHG efficiency of LAMBC crystal is 0.55 times that of standard inorganic KDP. Microhardness study of grown crystal of LAMBC reveals that the grown crystal possesses high mechanical strength. The dielectric properties of LAMBC crystal shows high dielectric constant in lower frequency region and decreases with increase in frequency. The surface of the grown crystal LAMBC has examined by chemical etching analysis.


This paper reports and reflects on the use of journal writing to engage higher education students in active learning processes in history education programmes at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Beginning in the first semester of the academic year 2008-2009, journal writing was systematically included both as an on-going teaching/learning tool as well as a form of assessment in two history education programmes. The inclusion of this teaching/learning and assessment tool required students to purposely document, reflect on and evaluate their learning experiences. From a selection of journal writings done by students and their responses to open-ended questionnaire items, data were obtained on the usefulness of journal writing as a teaching/learning and assessment tool and in promoting active learning in history education. The main findings of this investigation showed that journal writing does facilitate students' engagement in reflecting on their early pre-teacher education beliefs about teaching. Journal writing also allows for active engagement in their learning.


Background: Recent studies find a correlation between attentional threat avoidance under stress and posttraumatic stress symptoms. In this study, we assessed this association longitudinally in exposed and unexposed individuals. The degree of threat avoidance during exposure was expected to predict levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms 1 year later. Methods: Thirty‐two participants were recruited and followed for 12 months, including 18 subjects exposed to rocket attacks and 14 nonexposed subjects. At 1‐year follow‐up, participants completed self‐reports and an attention dot‐probe task assessing threat‐related bias. Results: State anxiety decreased at follow‐up in exposed participants, though posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms remained higher in exposed than in the nonexposed group. Attentional threat avoidance during imminent danger in the exposed group changed to threat attendance a year later, such that both the exposed and the nonexposed group exhibited similar threat bias patterns. As hypothesized, in the exposed group, stronger attentional threat avoidance during stress exposure predicted higher levels of PTSD symptoms 1 year later. Conclusions: Attention bias away from threat during acute stress may relate to risk for PTSD. This suggests that neurocognitive measures may index risk for PTSD. Depression and Anxiety, 2011.  © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Much research has been devoted to the area of one-dimensional autoregressive (1-D AR) and autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model order selection. The most well-known solutions for this problem are the Akaike information criterion (AIC), MDL, and the minimum eigenvalue (MEV) criteria. On the other hand, all works in the 2-D case have focused on the problem of parameter estimation. In this correspondence, we extend the previous criteria to the 2-D AR model order determination. The model is assumed causal, stable, and spatially invariant with p/sub 1//spl times/p/sub 2/ quarter-plane (QP) support. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of each method.


The long-term outcomes of reform processes in the public sector remain understudied in the literature. This study investigates the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) employees' and managers' translation and internalization of their new role as societal developers. Since the STA's founding in 2010 and until 2018, the STA head office neither guided nor centrally determined how to define and understand the STA's role as a societal developer. We examine this internalization process through the lens of Czarniawska's translation model of the distribution of ideas as a collective creation through local translation and adaptation. The study shows that the ongoing friction that occurs when the concept and role of a societal developer are discussed and disseminated within an organization is influenced by prevailing identities and local action nets. It also shows that the translation of this new role eventually failed, due to either it being submerged within already-existing concepts or it having a perceived lack of relevance. We conducted this mixed-method study over six years (2016–2021) using documentary analysis, workshop participation, interviews and a survey.


This essay argues that limitations on campaign expenditures by individuals or associations are unconstitutional and would damage economic growth. First, campaign expenditure limitations lack neutrality and would empower the media and other groups whose business is influencing politics at the expense of citizens who engage in other enterprises. There is no justification under the First Amendment for the government to prevent citizens from renting the media to make political statements, while owners of media enjoy the right to influence elections as they please. Campaign finance limitations would also limit economic growth because they would create a monopoly politics dominated by the scribal class ? the media, academics and Hollywood - with barriers to entry against the materially productive. Second, the essay argues that campaign expenditures limitations offend both the original understanding of the First Amendment and modern First Amendment doctrine. Third, the essay also responds to some criticism of my position from Frank Michelman of Harvard Law School and Samuel Issacharoff of Columbia Law School. Finally, the essay addresses the validity of the current limits on how much money individuals and associations may contribute to others' campaigns.


At present, Nigeria is undertaking a broad reform program process of its water resources. In order to complement this effort, this paper examines the challenges to managing water resources along the hydrological boundaries in Nigeria. It reviews the present situation of participatory approach in Nigeria using official regulatory documents and other relevant materials and complements it with primary information sources. Findings indicate that: (1) there are no legal regimes or provisions for a river basin-based participatory approach in Nigeria and (2) there is/are no stakeholder management platform(s) that consist(s) of both government and non-government bodies in practice, but conditions do exist for the implementation of a participatory approach in Nigeria, which range from political willingness to socio-economic, environmental and sustainability issues. The paper closes with suggestions about possible interventions, which also stand as challenges on their own, to remedy the identified policy gaps in Nigeria.


The ubiquinone precursors, 2-octaprenyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone and 2-octaprenyl-3-methyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, were isolated from ubiquinone-deficient mutants of Escherichia coli and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. Mutants accumulating 2-octaprenyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone and 2-octaprenyl-3-methyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone were shown to carry mutations in genes designated ubiE and ubiF, respectively. The ubiE gene was shown to be cotransducible with metE (minute 75) and close to two other genes concerned with ubiquinone biosynthesis. The ubiF gene was located close to minute 16 by cotransduction with the lip, gltA, and entA genes.


This thesis is the first to study female characters from Western Malayo-Polynesian oral tradition. It is also the first to apply an evolutionary literary analysis to these stories. The aim was to analyse the life history cycle of women as portrayed in oral stories from the Western Malayo-Polynesian language group, which includes languages spoken across southern Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the island states of western Micronesia, and Madagascar.

The general principle behind evolutionary literary theory is that any knowledge (including stories) generated by the mind is a biological phenomenon and worthy of scientific study. This tenet is then compounded with an evolutionary understanding of life whereby all animals, including humans, are driven to ensure somatic success through the preservation of life, and reproductive success through the proliferation of genes. It is argued that oral stories contain implicit evolutionary 'lessons' that may assist humans in obtaining somatic and reproductive success.

The most recurring evolutionary theme in female-led Western Malayo-Polynesian oral stories revolves around reproductive success, with approximately 90% of stories in this thesis focusing either on family life or the search for a partner. In the section 'Tales of Family Life', stories portray the complexity of family dynamics, showing how family members must sacrifice their selfish interests for the sake of their kin in order to maximize the propagation of their genes. In 'Tales of Searching for a Partner', heroines take part in complex mate attraction and retention strategies, showing that the search for a 'Happily Ever After' (or evolutionary fitness) is not always a straightforward journey. Unsurprisingly, themes without direct correlations with evolutionary fitness form only 10% of the entire corpus. 'Tales Beyond Family and Partners' attempt to explore stories of evolutionary anomalies through the phenomenon of childfree and heroic women. Evolutionary studies, however, have yet to provide a satisfactory theory on women whose behaviour seems to hold little or no reproductive advantages, and analysis of these types of stories would benefit from further research.

As a multidisciplinary study, this thesis is able to impact future research in three different ways. Firstly, it is hoped that it will bring attention to and increase knowledge of the lesser known and under-studied Western Malayo-Polynesian oral traditions. Secondly, the thesis can also serve as a model for the application of evolutionary theory to the folkloric study of oral stories. Finally, it shows the potential of applying evolutionary literary theory to non-Western cultures. It is hoped that future research will be able to expand the findings of this thesis either through larger or more concentrated pools of data, with the aim of emphasizing the universal drives that underlie our common humanity.


Semi-annual surveys carried out by J. Livingston on a panel of experts have enabled us to compute the expected returns over the time span 1-semester and 2-semesters ahead on a portfolio made up of US industrial stocks. We calculated about 3000 individual ex-ante equity risk premia over the period 1952 to 1993 (82 semesters) defined as the difference between these expected stock returns and the risk-free forward rate given by zero coupon bonds. Unlike any other study, our contribution is to analyse premia deduced from surveys data, at the micro level, per date and over a long period. Three main conclusions may be drawn from our analysis of these ex-ante premia. First, the mean values of these premia are closer to the predictions derived from the consumption-based asset pricing theory than the ones obtained for the ex-post premia. Second, the experts' professional affiliation appears to be a significant criterion in discriminating premia. Third, in accordance with the Arbitrage Pricing Theory, individual ex-ante premia depend both on macroeconomic and idiosyncratic common factors: the former are represented by a set of macroeconomic variables observable by all agents, and the latter by experts' personal forecasts about the future state of the economy, as defined by expected inflation and industrial production growth rate.


In this work the effect of assumption of plane state of stress (plane stress or plane strain) on the predictability of the experimental results observed during the in-plane shearing mode (mode II) stable crack growth (SCG) through 8 mm thick compact tension shear (CTS) specimen of a workhardening aluminium alloy (D16AT) has been studied. Experimental results include load-sliding displacement diagrams, extent of SCG, fracture surface fractographs, scanning electron micrographs, crack front geometry and variation of plastic zone in the thickness direction. The experimental observations show that the crack extends in its own plane, the fracture surface is flat, smooth, and free of any shear lip, the crack front geometry, which is mostly straight initially, remains so throughout the SCG. Furthermore, the plastic zone size is the same along the specimen thickness and the constraint on the plastic zone does not develop near the mid thickness. Numerical simulations based on the assumptions of plane stress and plane strain have been performed using a 2D elastic-plastic finite element scheme and the COA/COD criterion as the criterion governing the crack growth. Finite element results on the load sliding displacement diagrams, J-resistance curves, plastic zone sizes and variation of equivalent stress and strain along the crack-line ahead of the crack tip are presented. The resistance curve is a straight-line and the magnitudes of equivalent stress and strain show a tendency to increase as the crack extension proceeds. In general, experimental observations indicate that a plane stress state prevails throughout the thickness and the predictions based on the assumption of state of plane stress are closer to the experimental observations for the examined thickness.


The rapid expansion of the ART programme in South Africa has placed an additional
service demand on an already stretched public health infrastructure. The main aim of this
study was therefore to analyse the implementation of the ART programme in KwaZulu-
Natal province using the Donabedian Model of structure, process and outcome in order
to develop an ART delivery model. Ethical approval to conduct this research was issued by
the University's Senate Research Committee. The first phase of the study used a
descriptive quantitative approach to review existing data from government departments
to analyse the ART programme. A checklist with the list of indicators for the three
elements of the study; the structure, process and outcome were used to collect data. A
pilot study was conducted and the Cronbach Alpha test was used to determine the rigour
of the study. In the second phase, a systematic review of studies on implementation of
the existing models of ART programme was conducted using quantitative descriptive
approach. The Quality Appraisal Tool was used to determine the validity of the research
findings from the literature. In phase 3, both qualitative and quantitative approaches
were used to conduct the Delphi study which included a group of experts in the field of
HIV and ART programme. Responses from the participants were modified to determine
the reliability of the study. The study found that there were structural problems such as
shortages of antiretroviral drugs and delays in the return of laboratory results. The
systematic literature review found that there were only two community-based ART
models in South Africa, namely; the adherence clubs and community-based adherence
clubs. These two models of ART delivery were implemented only in Cape Town.


Model checking is known as an automatic verification technique which can be applied very efficiently. Formalisation of medical guidelines in Asbru enables us to apply formal verification on medical guidelines. In this deliverable we show, how model checking can be applied to Asbru plans. After a short survey, which model checking techniques are suitable for verification of Asbru, we show how a finite state model can be constructed from Asbru plans and how they can automatically compiled. Further, we discuss what kind of properties can be verified with model checking.


The present note presents and explains the results of a study dealing with the germination of seeds subjected to heat. Seeds of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana) were exposed to a range of temperatures (70, 90, 110, 130, and 150 ◦ C) for different exposure times (1 and 5 min). Germination rates were similar for all treatments and control at 1 min exposure for Anatolian black pine seeds, and almost no germination took place for all treatments at 5 min exposure. Similar results were obtained for Scots pine seeds, with the exception of a sharp decrease in the number of seeds germinated above 110 ◦ C.The effect of increasing the exposure time to 5 min was immediate, and no germination took place above 90 ◦ C. Results obtained indicate that seeds of the two species do not necessarily need fire for successful regeneration, but fires may have a positive effect on the germination by removing crown cover, thereby providing more light for the seeds deposited to the ground.


The dual heuristic programming (DHP) approach has a superior capability to solve approximate dynamic programming problems in the family of adaptive critic designs (ACDs). In this paper, a DHP based controller is developed for vibration isolation applications. In the specific case of an active-passive isolator, a multilayer feedforward neural network is pre- trained as a differentiable model of the plant for the adaptation of the critic and action networks. In addition, in order to avoid plunging in the local minima during the training process, pseudorandom signals, which represent the vibrations of the base, are applied to the vibration isolation system. This technique greatly improves the robustness of the DHP controller against unknown disturbances. Moreover, the "shadow critic" training strategy is adopted to improve the convergence rate of the training. Simulation results have shown that the developed DHP controller alleviates vibration disturbances more effectively and have better control performance in comparison with the passive isolator. Additionally, as compared with the one adapted on-line, the pre-trained model network leads the training to be more efficient. Therefore, it further demonstrates the effectiveness of the DHP controller designed with the pre-trained model network even in the presence of unmodeled uncertainties.


The crystallinity of polyethylene, which significantly affects the properties of the polymer, is quite sensitive to the concentration of its branches. Thus, it is necessary to estimate branch concentration with reasonable accuracy. Currently, (13)C NMR and gel permeation chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are widely-used analysis methods for the analysis of branch concentration. Despite several advantages, these methods sometimes have limitations. For instance, the preparation of samples for (13)C- NMR is tedious because high-concentration samples are required and the time for analysis is greater than 12 h. To more efficiently estimate the branch concentration of polyethylene, we developed a new high-field (1)H NMR method with an improved peak resolution by employing (1) homonuclear decoupling and (2) 2D heteronuclear correlation. The new method was observed to significantly reduce the experimental time to ∼ 30 min; furthermore, sample preparation was relatively simple because the method did not require high-concentration samples.


A 65-year-old retired professional boxer presented with progressively worsening shortness of breath, peripheral oedema and mild abdominal swelling over a period of 6 months. His only past medical history was hypertension. Subsequent investigations revealed chylous ascites, pericardial constriction and bilateral chylothorax. He had uneventful pericardectomy, and post-operatively the chylothorax resolved only after administration of octreotide for 10 days. The histopathological features of fibrosis, haemosiderin deposition in the pericardium and abundant haemosiderin-laden macrophages are consistent with chronic resolving haemopericardium. These findings suggested that the cause of pericardial constriction was repeated chest trauma from boxing. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are conserved small non-coding RNAs that typically regulate gene expression by binding to the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs. Developmental functions of miRNAs have been extensively studied, but additional roles in various cellular processes remain to be understood. The investigation of the biological importance of individual miRNA-target interactions and the miRNA-target interaction network as a whole has been an exciting and challenging field of study. Here we briefly discuss the contributions our lab has made to our understanding of the physiological impact of this miRNA-network in C. elegans, in the context of recent studies in this advancing field. These studies have advanced our knowledge of the role of miRNAs in ensuring a robust cellular response to different physiological conditions. We briefly outline the genetic, biochemical, and computational strategies utilized to understand miRNA functions and discuss our recent study of the miRNA-interaction network in neurons and potential directions for future studies.


This thesis presents the work of an experimental investigation into the impact damage resistance and damage tolerance for symmetrical and unsymmetrical composite honeycomb sandwich panels through in-plane compression. The primary aim of this research is to examine the impact damage resistance of various types of primarily carbon/epoxy skinned sandwich panels with varying skin thickness, skin lay-up, skin material, sandwich asymmetry and core density and investigate the residual in-plane compressive strengths of these panels with a specific focus on how the core of the sandwich contributes to the in-plane compressive behaviour. This aim is supported by four specifically constructed preconditions introduced into panels to provide an additional physical insight into the loading-bearing compression mechanisms.

Impact damage was introduced into the panels over a range of IKEs via an instrumented drop-weight impact test rig with a hemi-spherical nosed impactor. The damage resistance in terms of the onset and propagation of various dominant damage mechanisms was characterised using damage extent in both impacted skin and core, absorbed energy and dent depth. Primary damage mechanisms were found to be impacted skin delamination and core crushing, regardless of skin and core combinations and at high energies, the impacted skin was fractured. In rare cases, interfacial skin/core debonding was found to occur. Significant increases in damage resistance were observed when skin thickness and core density were increased.

The reduction trends of the residual in-plane compressive strengths of all the panels were evaluated using IKE, delamination and crushed core extents and dent depth. The majority of impact damaged panels were found to fail in the mid-section and suffered an initial decline in their residual compressive strengths. Thicker skinned and higher density core panels maintained their residual strength over a larger impact energy range. Final CAI strength reductions were observed in all panels when fibre fracture in the impacted skin was present after impact. Thinner skinned panels had a greater compressive strength over the thicker skinned panels, and panel asymmetry in thin symmetrical panels appeared to result in an improving damage tolerance trend as IKE was increased due to that the impact damage balanced the in-plane compressive resistance in the skins with respect to the pre-existing neutral plane shift due to the uneven skin thickness.


Highly controlled deposition of exfoliated transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) suspensions onto substrates is an important step for the creation of efficient and scalable energy, electronic, optical and sensing units. Traditional methods such as drop casting and spin coating generally result in non-uniform deposition. Some methods also require the incorporation of surfactants or initiator molecules, which contaminate the particles and require extra processing steps. Here we present a facile method for controlled and patterned deposition of films made of exfoliated TMDs over large areas. A liquid–liquid interface is achieved directly from the nanoflake suspension in dimethyl formamide, without addition of any surfactants or chemical modifiers. We demonstrate the reliable and large scale patterning of macroscopic uniform films from exfoliated TMDs, through the use of hydrophobically patterned substrates. Microcharacterisations show that the TMD nanoflakes assemble through edge-to-edge arrangement into densely-packed thin films. Additionally, heterofilms were also successfully demonstrated using the same liquid–liquid interface method, through simply mixing exfoliated MoS2 and WS2 suspensions together before film assembly. This fast approach to TMD thin film assembly provides a future platform for reliable controlled deposition and co-patterning of 2D materials on a large scale compatible with industrial standards.


Abstract The India–Bangladesh border has been described as the 'problem area of tomorrow'. The problems include illegal migration, smuggling, and trans-border movement of insurgents, which are serious threats to the security of the country. India shares its longest border with Bangladesh, but this border is not attentively managed. This article analyses the problems arising along this border and reviews the recommendations of a report by the Group of Ministers on Border Management and the measures undertaken by the government to tackle the problems. This article also suggests additional measures and implores the Indian Government to adopt a pragmatic and people-sensitive approach to improve border management.


Previous machine comprehension (MC) datasets are either too small to train end-to-end deep learning models, or not difficult enough to evaluate the ability of current MC techniques. The newly released SQuAD dataset alleviates these limitations, and gives us a chance to develop more realistic MC models. Based on this dataset, we propose a Multi-Perspective Context Matching (MPCM) model, which is an end-to-end system that directly predicts the answer beginning and ending points in a passage. Our model first adjusts each word-embedding vector in the passage by multiplying a relevancy weight computed against the question. Then, we encode the question and weighted passage by using bi-directional LSTMs. For each point in the passage, our model matches the context of this point against the encoded question from multiple perspectives and produces a matching vector. Given those matched vectors, we employ another bi-directional LSTM to aggregate all the information and predict the beginning and ending points. Experimental result on the test set of SQuAD shows that our model achieves a competitive result on the leaderboard.