The correct practice of specialized Clinical Pathology is dependent on the acquired aptitude and capacity gained by residents during their specialization. So, the adopted program for residents must be practical and detailed, obviously exceeding the simple and routine execution of laboratory methods and techniques. In this paper the authors describe a scheme for the Clinical Pathology residents practical program in hematology. The program is applied to a central laboratory (Hospital de Santa Maria - Lisboa). This scheme describes the basic principles for orientation of residents: systematic learning and training of laboratory technology, acquisition of experience in organization and valorizing this activity, introduction to methods and practice of quality control and administration of laboratory activity. Methodological studies and valorization are adapted to its clinical and technical specifications. Furthermore, specialization must include other theoretical and practical activities, which are in fact essential to systematization, organization and consolidation or residents knowledge. We schematized the discussion of technical reports, conception and discussion of investigation protocols and active participation in scientific meetings in this field. Responsibility for the execution of practical scientific work and for the presentation of the final report are fundamental to assess the experience and knowledge that has been acquired and simultaneously to give a mean of self criticism and perfectionism. In fact, this last aspect must be a part of the discussion and conclusion of the final report. In this paper, all these particularities are presented and the methods for their effective use are suggested in detail.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Purpose – This paper attempts to examine the implications of non‐tariff measures (NTMs) on firms' international business operations through a survey of India's textiles and clothing exporting firms. The main objectives of the study are to identify and assess the impact of NTMs, and analyze the cost incurred in complying with them.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the survey which was jointly undertaken with the Market Research Division of Textiles Committee, Mumbai.Findings – The results reveal that the EU and USA‐based buyers are more restrictive with significantly higher NTM incidences. The technical barriers, product and production process standards, and conformity assessment requirement for technical barriers are the widely used NTM categories. The compliance expenditure may vary according to firm size, and an inverse relation is revealed by this study. The larger and smaller firms demonstrate important differences in compliance due to their varying resource endowments. Further, the...


The study focused on the employee's perception of the effectiveness of motivation programs for regular workers of Asia-Pacific International University (AIU). The sample of the study is 69 employees, both Thai and International, who worked in AIU, Muak Lek Campus during the academic year, 2017-2018. The data was collected through a survey questionnaire. The researcher used descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation Coefficients, multiple regression, Independent t-test to test the statistically significant difference between the means and one way ANOVA to determine whether there are any statistically significant differences between the means of two or more independent variables. The result showed that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors had a positive effect of the employees' perception toward their performances. In intrinsic motivational factors, interpersonal relations between employee and employees and employees and their supervisors were the highest with the mean of 4.090 and recognition was the lowest mean of 3.426. In extrinsic motivational factors, conductive work environment and the conditions of work was the highest mean of 4.140 and fringe benefits was the lowest motivational factor with the mean of 3.568. Further study could be done based on other factors of motivational programs in AIU.


I am a great believer in the proliferation of new laparoscopic procedures to replace open surgery where possible, since the patients clearly benefit markedly. However, we should not be performing operations simply because they are technically possible, as has been discussed in these pages previously. The development of laparoscopic vagotomy is a dead end and, while it may have some application in the treatment of reflux disease, there is no indication for it in the treatment of duodenal ulcer. Surgeons in Australia should be warned that some of our collegues in the United States have been taken to litigation for performing surgery for ulcer disease, not because there was an unsatisfactory outcome but because the alternative treatment of triple therapy was not offered. Michael Moont, MB BS, BSc(Med), FRACS 13 Lachlan Street Liverpool. NSW 2170 1. Nottle PD. Laparoscopic vagotomy for chronic duocenal ulcer. Med J Aust 1991; 155: 648. 2. Axon AR. Duodenal ulcer the villain unmasked [editorial]. BMJ 1991; 302: 919-921. 3. George LL. Borocy TJ. Andrews p. et al. Cure of duodenal ulcer after eradication of Helicobacter pylori. Med J Aust 1990; 153: 145·149. 4. Storey OW. Laparoscopic vagotomy for chronic duodenal ulcer. Med J Aust 1991; 155: 648.


This paper presents a finite strain elastoplastic constitutive model incorporating the extended subloading surface concept within the unconventional plasticity framework for cyclic loadings. This is a reformulated and extended version of the small strain model [Iguchi et al., Trans. JSME (in Japanese), Vol. 82 (2016), No. 841 p. 16-00197]. The constitutive formulation is underpinned by the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient tensor, which is the wellestablished modern kinematical framework in geometrically nonlinear elastoplasticity. In addition to the conventional multiplicative decomposition into elastic and plastic parts, we further introduce two kinds of multiplicative decompositions of the plastic deformation gradient tensor. One decomposition is related to kinematic hardening, and the other an evolution of the elastic-core tensor, i.e. a key internal variable in the extended subloading surface model, which stands for a stress state where the material exhibits most elastic responses. In each decomposition, the plastic deformation gradient tensor is split into an energetic part and a dissipative part, and the former is related to the back-stress tensor for kinematic hardening or the elastic-core tensor defined on a pertinent intermediate configuration via a hyperelastic format. Therefore, the whole constitutive theory can be formulated in terms of deformation-like tensorial variables without resort to any objective or co-rotational rates of stress-like variables such as the back-stress, fulfilling the principle of material frame indifference. We then focus on the numerical stress update scheme for the proposed material model based on the fully implicit return-mapping. Basic properties of the proposed model, as well as the capability of the developed numerical scheme, are examined and verified through numerical examples.


As a continuation of the Swedish tradition of designing small and high-quality spacecrafts such as Freja, Astrid, Munin, and SMART-1, Swedish scientists and engineers have proposed aggressive but feasible missions as the next national-level target: (1) an interplanetary plasma module (or subsatellite) Saga, and (2) a technology mission Prisma. The Saga micro-satellite contains a separation mechanism, technologically-challenging communication package, and plasma payload with an estimated total mass of 37kg to make the mission possible with a piggy-back launch or by attaching to another planetary mission. The Prisma mission consists of a semi-coordinated dual micro- and nano-satellites flying together in Earth orbit with state-of-art instruments to test. Both projects aim to develop and test new key spacecraft technologies.


The high enthalpy nozzle converts the high enthalpy stagnation gas into the hypervelocity free flow. The flow region of the high enthalpy nozzle consists of three parts: an equilibrium region upstream of the throat, a non-equilibrium region near the throat, and a frozen region downstream of the throat. Here we propose to consider the thermochemical non-equilibrium scale effects in the high enthalpy nozzle. By numerically solving axisymmetric compressible Navier-Stokes equations coupling with Park's two-temperature model, the fully non-equilibrium solution is employed throughout the entire nozzle. Calculations are performed at different stagnation conditions with the different absolute scales and expansion ratio. The results of this study are twofold. Firstly, as the absolute scale and expansion ratio increase, the freezing position is delayed, and the flow approaches equilibrium. Secondly, the vibrational temperature and Mach number decrease with the increase in the nozzle scale and expansion ratio, while the speed of sound, static pressure, and translational temperature increase as the nozzle scale and expansion ratio increase.


In this report, we propose a square lattice photonic crystal hetero-slab-edge microcavity design. In numerical simulations, three surface modes in this microcavity are investigated and optimized by tuning the slab-edge termination τ and gradual mirror layer. High simulated quality (Q) factor of 2.3 × 10(5) and small mode volume of 0.105 μm(3) are obtained from microcavity with τ = 0.80. In experiments, we obtain and identify different surface modes lasing. The surface mode in the second photonic band gap shows a very-low threshold of 140 μW and high Q factor of 5,500, which could be an avenue to low-threshold optical lasers and highly sensitive sensor applications with efficient light-matter interactions.


This article explores the link between the OECD TALIS 2013 survey's framework for defining the ideal teacher and national educational goals by focusing on the teacher self-efficacy items, using cross-country comparisons. Surprisingly, cross-country analysis of the TALIS 2013 data combined with World Value Survey data about Desired Child Qualities demonstrates that the OECD TALIS teacher self-efficacy items are aligned with traditional collectivist educational goals. Thus, the findings indicate that the ideal teacher characteristics embodied in the OECD TALIS 2013 teacher self-efficacy items favour countries that prioritize socialization and culturalization. The implications for theory and practice are discussed herein.


The aim of the paper is to present statistical analysis of the sea level data obtained from the Estonian coastal tide gauges over the period 1842–2009, to assess storm surge risks and to discuss climate change related mitigation and management issues in the coastal zone of Estonia. Long-term variations of both mean and extreme sea level values were studied in the Eastern section of the nearly tideless Baltic Sea. Influenced by postglacial land uplift, the series of relative sea level displayed slightly varying trends. The remarkably steep rise in annual maximum sea levels (2–12 mm/yr) could be explained by the local response to the changing regional wind climate. Due to its windward location, the sea level variations in the semi-enclosed study area are sensitive to the changes in cyclonic activity. Maximum value analysis revealed that in case of the south-westerly exposed Parnu Bay, two storm surge events (253 in 1967 and 275 cm in 2005) were inconsistent with the theoretical distributions, which indicate that, in some locations, the most extreme sea level events are hardly predictable by means of return statistics. The parameters of maximum expected storm surges were estimated on the basis of hydrodynamic modelling.


Sustainable water management is increasingly important for utilities and is driving efforts to reduce energy consumption and residuals production in domestic wastewater (DWW) treatment without compromising effluent quality. Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) combine anaerobic biological treatment and membrane separation in a single process. The potential benefits of DWW treatment by AnMBRs are substantial:

♦They generate a fraction of the residuals and consume substantially less energy compared to conventional DWW treatment systems.

♦They allow for the recovery of methane, a renewable energy source, which further improves the energy balance.

♦They can be integrated in centralized or decentralized wastewater treatment schemes due to easy scalability.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

In short, DWW treatment using AnMBR technology potentially represents a more sustainable DWW treatment paradigm. This study addressed the following questions that highlight the challenges associated with DWW treatment with AnMBR: Can AnMBRs be operated at the low DWW temperatures experienced in many regions in the U.S. and around the world? Can AnMBR treatment meet U.S. EPA's standards for secondary treatment? Can methane be recovered efficiently during low-temperature AnMBR treatment of DWW?

ISBN: 9781780400532 (eBook)


This paper presents an optimal rate allocation scheme in joint source-channel coding (JSCC) for image transmission over CDMA networks. Our scheme first uses progressive joint source-channel codes [V. Stankovic et al., Sep. 2002] to generate operational transmission rate-distortion (TR-D) functions of different multiple-access channels with different BERs. The Lagrange multiplier is then employed to set the optimal rate allocation among different channels, subject to a total transmission rate constraint. Progressive JSCC offers the scalability feature that is very attractive for handling bandwidth variations in wireless communications. By extending the rate-distortion function in source coding to the TR-D function in JSCC, our work borrows the "equal slope" argument [Y. Shoham and A. Gersho, Sep. 1988] to effectively solve the rate allocation problem in JSCC for multi-channel image transmission. Experiments show that our scheme runs in real time and provides competitive performance at all intermediate transmission rates.


The effect of pressure on the Diels-Alder reaction was examined in room temperature ionic liquids, followed by high-pressure FT-IR spectroscopy using pressures up to 150 MPa. Pressure enhances the kinetic sensitivity of the reaction. The kinetic effect of fluorophobic interactions was examined using ionic liquids with fluorous cations. Ionic liquids in combination with ZnI2 as a Lewis acid catalyst were also studied under high pressure.


An overview ofthepresent knowledgeofthe family Stenasellidae (Asellota; Aselloidea) is presented, focusing on the success of recent investigations of the underground waters ofOman (S.E. Arabian Peninsula). We take up the discovery offour new species ofthe genus Stenasellus: small species adapted to interstitial biotopes and larger ones typical of karstic aquifers. These species cohabit in ecotones between interstitial and karstic water systems. The putative presence ofstenasellids in hypogeanwaters ofYemen and South Iran is suggested. The taxonomic status of the genus Stenasellus auct. needs to be reconsidered in the future. A scenario to explain the origin and the presence of these isopods in continental underground waters is advanced.


Indonesia first state-led community-driven development (CDD) began in the 1990s with influential support by the World Bank. This paradigm sees community not merely as an object but rather as an active subject of development. To ensure the shifting in the paradigmatic level, a social engineering process known as community empowerment project was built using monitoring instrument to guarantee inclusive development planning, prevent elite capture, and promote internal audit capacities. In this process, extensive use of bureaucratic instruments, e.g., paperwork, assessment forms, official stamps, program proposals/reports, and financial report facilitate the formation of community participation. How the use of documents shaped the intended inclusive development projects under CDD paradigm? This paper discusses the ironic trends of how participatory framework in CDD, in fact, intensified social exclusions. The discussion is based on my experience observing the implementation of 'public consultation approach' in PBDT 2015 ( Pemutakhiran Basis Data Terpadu/ Unified Database Updating). In such program, the local stakeholders, together with community trustee at kelurahan (village) level held a meeting to verify the enlisted poor households. The verification was crucial to create a unified database that can be used for future reference of the beneficiaries for several social assistance programs in Indonesia. I argue that tensions and negotiations toward deciding which names deserve to be on the list perpetuated forms of exclusion that embrace the exercise of prejudice, ethnic, and moral references in producing the hierarchy of deservingness at the community level.


Using employee job-level data, we empirically test the equilibrium matching between a firm's debt usage and its employee job risk aversion ("clientele effect"), as predicted by the existing theories. We measure job risk aversion for a firm's employees using their labor income concentration in the firm, calculated as the fraction of the employees' total personal labor income or total household labor income that is accounted for by their income from this particular firm. Using a sample of about 1,400 U.S. public firms from 1990-2008, we find a robust negative relation between leverage and employee job risk aversion, which is consistent with the clientele effect. Specifically, when a firm's existing employees have higher labor income concentration in it, the firm tends to have lower contemporaneous and future leverage. Moreover, in terms of new hires, firms with lower leverage are more likely to recruit employees with less alternative labor income. Our results continue to hold after we control for firm fixed effects, other employee characteristics such as wages, gender, age, race, and education, and managerial risk attitudes. Further, the matching between a firm's leverage and its workers' labor income concentration in it is more pronounced for firms with higher labor intensity and those in financial distress.


The use of radial basis functions have attracted increasing attention in recent years as an elegant scheme for high-dimensional scattered data approximation, an accepted method for machine learning, one of the foundations of mesh-free methods, an alternative way to construct higher order methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs), an emerging method for solving PDEs on surfaces, a novel method for mesh repair and so on. All these applications share one mathematical foundation: high dimensional approximation/interpolation. This paper explains why radial basis functions are preferred to multi-variate polynomials for scattered data approximation in high-dimensional space; and gives a brief description on how to construct the most commonly used compactly supported radial basis functions. Without sophisticated mathematics, one can construct a compactly supported (radial) basis function with required smoothness according to procedures described here. Short programs and tables for compactly supported radial basis functions are supplied.


In this work, a single-mode resonant microwave cavity (2.45 GHz) is loaded with spherical particles. A weakly coupled electromagnetic (EM)–thermal solver is used iteratively to determine how the microscopic geometry (local curvatures between the particles, grain size and neck size) modifies the EM field, and in turn the thermal field in the particles and also to quantify the microwave effect for an experimental process. The modelling is performed with the conformal finite element solver COMSOL Multiphysics. Moreover, this study will show that the electric field norm increases for one spherical particle of ceria with different sizes and consequently the temperature increases. In addition, the electric field and heating behaviour have been studied in the case of three particles with different neck sizes. Finally, the effect of the configuration versus the E-field direction has been studied for three particles and has a significant result.


Background: There are nearly no published screening instruments for essential tremor (ET). This is a remarkable fact, given its high prevalence. Here, we assess the validity of a screening questionnaire and hand-drawn spirals and also estimate the prevalence of ET in a community sample. Methods: Four hundred nineteen study subjects living in a geographically defined area in the New York metropolitan area were contacted using a random digit telephone dialing scheme. Seven tremor screening questions were administered and each subject drew 2 spirals. A movement disorders neurologist assigned ET diagnoses based on neurological examination. Results: The spirals were a more sensitive test than the screening questions (73.7 vs. 26.3%); specificities of the 2 tests were similar (95.5 vs. 96.8%). The combination of both tests was not superior to the use of spirals alone. The positive predictive value of the spiral test was 43.8%. The crude prevalence of ET, 19 of 419 (4.53%, 95% CI 2.92-6.97), increased with age (p = 0.049). Conclusions: A screening spiral was more sensitive than a screening questionnaire for ET and was moderately sensitive. Nearly one-half of subjects who screened positive had ET; therefore, when screening a population, one can expect the number of true positives and false positives to be roughly equivalent.


Deep learning is ubiquitous, but its lack of transparency limits its impact on several potential application areas. We demonstrate a virtual reality tool for automating the process of assigning data inputs to different categories. A dataset is represented as a cloud of points in virtual space. The user explores the cloud through movement and uses hand gestures to categorise portions of the cloud. This triggers gradual movements in the cloud: points of the same category are attracted to each other, different groups are pushed apart, while points are globally distributed in a way that utilises the entire space. The space, time, and forces observed in virtual reality can be mapped to well-defined machine learning concepts, namely the latent space, the training epochs and the backpropagation. Our tool illustrates how the inner workings of deep neural networks can be made tangible and transparent. We expect this approach to accelerate the autonomous development of deep learning applications by end users in novel areas.


The month of January, 1887, will long be remembered on the Chalk Wolds of East Yorkshire, as presenting one of the most curious sights ever witnessed. A succession of frosts had frozen the bare ground so hard, that no rain could penetrate. What little rain fell was quickly converted into ice. The same thing happened with regard to subsequent slight falls of snow. The thermometer was never very low. The snow partially melted and froze again, till the whole was converted into what the Swiss call neve. The roads for miles and miles were a sheet of ice. The turnip-fields and grass lands were also covered with a coat of ice, and on the slopes of the pastures, where the old ridges and furrows, with their curved outlines like an inverted S,* mark the ancient method of ploughing with a team of oxen, miniature glaciers, half a foot deep, and several feet wide, crept down the furrows to join the ice-sheet in the broad bottom below.

On a sudden came a rapid thaw; and in a few hours the dale bottoms were converted into roaring torrents, in some cases 3 feet deep. The ground was still frozen hard underneath. The melting snow could not penetrate, and so " rivers ran in dry places." In some villages, lying in hollows, considerable damage was done: the water filled the lower rooms, and the inmates had to take refuge in their upper chambers.

Amongst other things, a rush of water into a pond ...


Continuing dental education can only be effective if it is efficiently planned and presented. It is essential to determine the needs as seen by the dentists and to ensure that these needs can best be met by educational means. The potential participants in the programme must then be identified and times and locations most convenient for them be established. The precise purpose and objectives of the course must be clearly stated and detailed organisation can then be commenced. The principles involved in adult education should be clearly understood and appropriate learning aids should be prepared. Evaluation of the programme is essential in order that adjustments can be made to future programmes to correct deficiencies which have been identified and so that the impact on the participants' practices can be assessed.


Objectives This study aimed to assess the association between perceived social support and induced abortion among young women in Lima, Peru. In addition, prevalence and incidence of induced abortion was estimated. Methods/Principal findings A cross-sectional study enrolling women aged 18–25 years from maternal health centers in Southern Lima, Peru, was conducted. Induced abortion was defined as the difference between the total number of pregnancies ended in abortion and the number of spontaneous abortions; whereas perceived social support was assessed using the DUKE-UNC scale. Prevalence and incidence of induced abortion (per 100 person-years risk) was estimated, and the association of interest was evaluated using Poisson regression models with robust variance. A total of 298 women were enrolled, mean age 21.7 (± 2.2) years. Low levels of social support were found in 43.6% (95%CI 38.0%–49.3%), and 17.4% (95%CI: 13.1%– 21.8%) women reported at least one induced abortion. The incidence of induced abortion was 2.37 (95%CI: 1.81–3.11) per 100 person-years risk. The multivariable model showed evidence of the association between low perceived social support and induced abortion (RR = 1.94; 95%CI: 1.14–3.30) after controlling for confounders. Conclusions There was evidence of an association between low perceived social support and induced abortion among women aged 18 to 25 years. Incidence of induced abortion was similar or even greater than rates of countries where abortion is legal. Strategies to increase social support and reduce induced abortion rates are needed.


Postcopulatory sexual selection may select for male primary sexual characteristics like sperm morphology and sperm motility, through sperm competition or cryptic female choice. However, how such characteristics influence male fertilization success remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigate possible correlations between sperm characteristics and paternity success in the socially monogamous bluethroat (Luscinia svecica svecica), predicting that sperm length and sperm swimming speed is positively correlated with paternity success. In total, 25% (15/61) of broods contained extra-pair offspring and 10% (33/315) of the offspring were sired by extra-pair males. Paternity success did not correlate significantly with sperm morphology or any aspects of sperm motility. Furthermore, sperm morphology and sperm motility did not correlate significantly with male morphological characters that previously have been shown to be associated with paternity success. Thus, the sperm characteristics investigated here do not appear to be strong predictors of paternity success in bluethroats.


Introduction and Background: Palliative care services aim to attain the best quality of life of
patients. However, the lack of information on the survival of patients under palliative care has
resulted in the implementation and assessment of care models being focused on reach without
much consideration of the quality of care and the quality of life of patients in the context of
survival. Amongst the few studies undertaken elsewhere, the target groups and settings to which
the findings are inferable to are distinct to the Zimbabwean scenario. This study's main aim was,
therefore, to determine the survival of patients after enrolment into Island Hospice Service (IHS),
a Zimbabwean palliative care programme established as the first hospice in Africa.
Methodology: The study took the form of a Retrospective Cohort Design with data obtained
from a computerized database at IHS. A total of 597 patients enrolled in the programme between
01/01/06 and 31/12/07 were included in the study and were retrospectively followed up with
respect to mortality from their respective dates of enrolment to the study end-date of 31/12/08.
Observations were censored on the study end-date and date of transfer or relocation.
Results: This study found that the overall median survival of patients referred to the IHS
palliative care programme is 419 days. This estimate is considerably higher than that found from
other previous studies which range from 11 to 54 days. Patients diagnosed with HIV only were
noted to have longer survival compared to those with Cancer only as well as those with both HIV
and Cancer. The median survival estimates for patients with Cancer only and those with both
Cancer and HIV were observed to be 84 days and 113 days respectively whilst that for those
with HIV only was indeterminate. Some statistically significant differences in survival were also
observed for study factors such as gender, age, source of referral and functional status but with
variations under the specific disease groups.
Conclusion: Patients enrolled in the IHS programme generally live longer relative to other
palliative care programmes. The survival patterns of these patients are influenced by several
factors, key among them being the disease status and functional status on enrolment. The study
identified the need to incorporate survival data in care planning and modelling. Providing some
awareness of the IHS Palliative Care programme to health professionals is also recommended as
a possible strategy to improve the timing of referrals. This study also presents an opportunity for
further epidemiological inquiry that may contribute to the organisation's cancer prevention
efforts.


Workloads generate a variety of disk I/O requests to access file information, execute programs, and perform computation. I/O caches capture most of these requests, reducing execution time, providing high I/O rates, and decreasing the disk bandwidth needed by each workload. A cache has difficulty capturing the full range of I/O behavior, however, when it treats the requests as single stream of uniform tasks. The single stream contains I/O requests for data with vastly different reuse rates and access patterns. Disk files can be classified as accesses to inodes, directories, datafiles or executables. The combined cache behavior of all four taken together provides few clues for improving performance of the I/O cache. But individually, the cache behavior of each reveals the distinct components that make up aggregate I/O behavior. Inodes and directories turn out to be small, highly reused files. Datafiles and executable files have more diverse characteristics. The smaller ones exhibit moderate reuse and have little sequential access, while the larger files tend to be accessed sequentially and not reused. Properly used, file type and file size information improves cache performance. The dissertation introduces attribute caches to improve I/O cache performance. Attribute caches use file attributes to selectively cache I/O data with a cache scheme tailored to the expected behavior of the file type. Inodes and directories are cached in very small blocks, capitalizing on their high reuse rate, and small space requirements. Large files are cached in large cache blocks capitalizing on their sequential access patterns. Small and medium sized files are cached in average 4 kbyte blocks that minimizes the memory required to service the bulk of requests. The portion of cache dedicated to each group varies with total cache size. This allows the important features of the workload to be captured at the appropriate cache size, and increases the total cache utilization. For a set of 11 measured workloads an attribute cache scheme reduced the miss ratio 25--60\% depending on cache size, and required only about 1/8 as much memory as a typical I/O cache implementation achieving the same miss ratio.


Signaling through the receptor FGFR1 prevents endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition by inhibiting TGF-β signaling. This Podcast features an interview with Micael Simons, senior author of a Research Article that appears in the 23 September 2014 issue of Science Signaling, about how FGF signaling inhibits TGF-β signaling to prevent endothelial-to-mesenchymal transitions in blood vessels. An important part of vascular homeostasis is maintaining the sheet of endothelial cells that line blood vessels. Endothelial cells are flattened, polarized cells that are tightly connected to one another to form a continuous sheet. Under certain conditions, endothelial cells can undergo an endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), in which the cells lose their polarity and become less tightly associated with one another. This change in morphology and cell biology impedes the normal function of blood vessels. Transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) signaling can induce EndMT, and signaling through the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) pathway prevents EndMT under normal conditions. Chen et al. found that FGF signaling through the receptor FGFR1 suppressed EndMT by inducing the expression of a microRNA that decreases the abundance of a TGF-β receptor, thus repressing TGF-β signaling.


First generation college students, who are increasing in number in higher education, often lack support and face barriers in their educational pursuit ultimately affecting retention (Gofen, 2009). This qualitative study investigated the experiences of students involved in Generation Merrimack, a program designed for first generation college students as a career and professional support initiative. The study sought to explore how to improve Generation Merrimack from students' experiences and perspectives. Interviews were conducted to collect data from current students, who were asked questions about challenges, supports, and involvement in Generation Merrimack. The findings, which will be used to aid in the recommendation of the yearly plan, summer bridge program, implementation of outing and events, and increasing visibility on campus. These findings will inform the planning of workshops, career preparation and exploration, implementation of a Professional Mentor Exchange, and more contact from faculty and staff. Overall, interviewed participants expressed an interest in more contact from faculty and staff, more workshops, connections with alumni, and career development. Recommendations for Generation Merrimack include a yearly plan that would ideally be implemented in the 20152016 school year. Along with recommendations designed to benefit the overall experience for all first generation college students on Merrimack's campus.


Chrysomelina larvae possess a sophisticated strategy in terms of chemical defense eminently adapted to their natural habitat. In case of predatory attack, the deterrent secretions are released from dorsal thoracic and abdominal glands. The source of the deterrent compound for this ingenious mechanism depends on different biosynthetic strategies and subdivides the Chrysomelina in three different groups. The ancestral strategy represents the de-novo production of iridoids. Species belonging to this group e.g. Phaedon cochleariae and Gastrophysa viridula produce the deterrent compound independently of host plant derived precursors. More evolved species of the Chrysomela as well as Phratora vitellinae use the approach of sequestering phenol glucosides to produce salicylaldehyde. Based on the precursor salicin, this defense strategy is highly adapted to the secondary metabolites of the salicaceous plant which restricts the larvae in their forage. The third group is represented by several species of the interrupta-group belonging to the genus Chrysomela. They exhibit a combined biosynthetic strategy by using de-novo produced and phytogenic derived precursors to generate butyrate-esters as defensive compounds. Irrespective of different deterrent substances, the defensive systems of all groups exhibit per se a uniform architecture and morphology. Together with the self-contained biosynthesis of these compounds, the Chrysomelina larvae represent an excellent system to analyze regulatory processes as well as uncover evolutionary relationships regarding the defensive system. In the present thesis, I identified and characterized enzymes essentially involved in the de-novo biosynthesis of the defensive compound Chrysomelidial of P. cochleariae.


Abstract. A rocky granular flow is commonly formed after the failure of rocky bank slopes. An impulse wave disaster may also be initiated if the rocky granular flow rushes into a river with a high velocity. Currently, the granular mass–water body coupling study is an important trend in the field of landslide-induced impulse waves. In this paper, a full coupling numerical model for landslide-induced impulse waves is developed based on a non-coherent granular flow equation, i.e., the Mih equation. In this model, the Mih equation for continuous non-coherent granular flow controls movements of sliding mass, the two-phase flow equation regulates the interaction between sliding mass and water, and the renormalization group (RNG) turbulence model governs the movement of the water body. The proposed model is validated and applied for the 2014 Tangjiaxi landslide of the Zhexi Reservoir located in Hunan Province, China, to analyze the characteristics of both landslide motion and its following impulse waves. On 16 July 2014, a rocky debris flow was formed after the failure of the Tangjiaxi landslide, damming the Tangjiaxi stream and causing an impulse wave disaster with three dead and nine missing bodies. Based on the full coupling numerical analysis, the granular flow impacts the water with a maximum velocity of about 22.5 m s−1. Moreover, the propagation velocity of the generated waves reaches up to 12 m s−1. The maximum calculated run-up of 21.8 m is close enough to the real value of 22.7 m. The predicted landslide final deposit and wave run-up heights are in a good agreement with the field survey data. These facts verify the ability of the proposed model for simulating the real impulse wave generated by rocky granular flow events.


Underwater range scanning techniques are starting to gain interest in underwater exploration, providing new tools to represent the seafloor. These scans (often) acquired by underwater robots usually result in an unstructured point cloud, but given the common downward-looking or forward-looking configuration of these sensors with respect to the scene, the problem of recovering a piecewise linear approximation representing the scene is normally solved by approximating these 3D points using a heightmap (2.5D). Nevertheless, this representation is not able to correctly represent complex structures, especially those presenting arbitrary concavities normally exhibited in underwater objects. We present a method devoted to full 3D surface reconstruction that does not assume any specific sensor configuration. The method presented is robust to common defects in raw scanned data such as outliers and noise often present in extreme environments such as underwater, both for sonar and optical surveys. Moreover, the proposed method does not need a manual preprocessing step. It is also generic as it does not need any information other than the points themselves to work. This property leads to its wide application to any kind of range scanning technologies and we demonstrate its versatility by using it on synthetic data, controlled laser scans, and multibeam sonar surveys. Finally, and given the unbeatable level of detail that optical methods can provide, we analyze the application of this method on optical datasets related to biology, geology and archeology.


This letter addresses the impact of electrode materials on programming characteristics of NiO-based resistive-switching memory devices. The use of noble metals for the electrodes, instead of Si contacts, is shown to result in a lowering of the set/reset voltage. This is ascribed to a different chemical composition of the conductive filament (CF) in the set state for varying electrodes, suggesting that atomic diffusion from the electrodes takes place during the formation of the CF at the set process. The results are interpreted on the basis of numerical simulations of the reset transition, which are compared with experimental data.


Since the 70s, an increasing number of studies investigating environmental preferences have been made. However, papers related to a country and its regions or its development over time are still largely lacking, although it is a promising line to search empirically for factors that have been strongly neglected in previous studies. This paper therefore aims at reducing such shortcomings, and analyzes the willingness to pay (WTP) in Spain and its regions for the periods 1990, 1995 and 1999/2000, with data from the World Values Surveys and the European Values Surveys. The results indicate strong regional differences and strong differences between the first and the second half of the 90s. This paper also shows the relevance of strongly neglected variables such as political interest and social capital.


The traditional interpretation of dreams has failed to live up to expectations insofar as it is purported to obtain relevant information for clinical use. Nor does conceiving of dreams as a by-product of the random nature of neuronal processes appear to permit useful information to be obtained from them. In order to verify this point, this study aimed to test the possibility of obtaining valid and reliable information from dream content based on the attributes of the Dream Self; that is, the character of the actual dreamer who appears in the dream. Information was collected from 235 dreams of 169 people with a mean age of 29.8 years. This was achieved with a self-report questionnaire evaluating 186 attributes of the Dream Self. Attributes related to anxiety upon awakening were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. There were 99 attributes related to anxiety upon awakening and with 44 of them it was possible to find a solution with 3 easily interpretable factors. These factors had alpha coefficients of between .78 and .90 and were related to anxiety upon awakening. The results obtained did not support the idea that dreams are a random phenomenon. Furthermore, it was possible to evaluate dreams through 3 dimensions of the Dream Self: Emotional-Social Unease, Threat-Avoidance and Strangeness-Confusion. It was possible to partially explain these dimensions by means of the continuity hypothesis of dreaming and Revonsuo's (2000) evolutionary theory.


Orbit determination methods for a geostationary (GEO) satellite are introduced. In order to control or model the thrust force, a Kalman filter based on dynamic model compensation is proposed for the orbit determination of a maneuvered GEO satellite. The main idea is to use a first-order Gauss-Markov process to compensate the unmodeled or inaccurately modeled accelerations caused by orbital maneuver in Kalman filter-based orbit determination. Simulation with Chinese ground tracking network for a maneuvered GEO satellite was conducted to verify the performance of the proposed orbit determination technique. The results show that it can efficiently compensate the influence of orbital maneuver and achieve high orbit accuracy.


In heavy traffic nodes of rail networks, conflicts and subsequent train delays greatly increase during operations. A disturbance which is at origin only a few seconds long can quickly lead to other delays of over five minutes. To limit this phenomenon, new methods and models are necessary to optimize the use of scarce resources like platforms and track sections. The operator controlling traffic has to select and evaluate alternative solutions that reduce delays caused by conflicts. This task can be formulated as an optimization problem, where the decision variables are the selection of the alternative routes and sequences for trains and the criterion is the sum of delays. This optimization problem is a joint scheduling and allocation problems and is considered to be a NP-hard problem which makes it hard to solve using exact methods for a reasonable problem size. This paper compares two heuristic methods for solving the problem. The first one uses a two-phase approach to perform independently resource allocation and scheduling. The second one performs incrementally the two kinds of decisions at track section level, i.e. at each step, the algorithm performs decisions of allocation of a track section or scheduling a pair of train runs on this section. The algorithm uses a measure of the criticality of the track sections to heuristically choose between making resource allocation decisions or scheduling decisions.


The first NIST-traceable SEM magnification calibration standard designed to meet the particular needs of the micromanufacturing industry has been fabricated and characterized in production prototype form. The SRM 2090A samples contain structures ranging in pitch from 3000 micrometers to 0.2 micrometers and are useful at both high and low accelerating voltages. The samples are fabricated using electron beam lithography and metal liftoff on a silicon substrate. Since the low-accelerating voltage, critical-dimension measurement scanning electron microscope has assumed an important role in modern semiconductor process control, the use and performance of the samples in a representative instrument is investigated. For all types of scanning electron microscopes, magnification calibration depends on several operating conditions, including magnification, accelerating voltage, and working distance. Implementation and application of the calibration factors within the SEM computer operating system can facilitate routine magnification calibration processes.


Plasma fatty acid composition reflects dietary fatty acids. Whether the total fat content of the diet alters the fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipid, cholesteryl ester, triacylglycerol and free fatty acids is unknown. To evaluate the effects of low versus high fat diets on plasma fatty acids, a 12-wk, randomized, crossover, controlled feeding trial was conducted in healthy men and women with isoenergic low fat (20% energy) and high fat (45% energy) diets containing constant proportions of fatty acids. Ten subjects consumed one experimental diet for 28 d, their usual diet for 4 wk and the alternate experimental diet for 28 d. Endpoint measures of plasma fatty acids were determined at the end of each experimental period. The effects of the two diets were compared within subjects by analysis of variance. Plasma fatty acids (%) varied in response to total dietary fat with significantly greater total polyunsaturated fat, (n-6) and 18:2(n-6) levels in phospholipids and cholesteryl esters after high fat dietary consumption. The low fat diet was associated with significantly greater total (n-3) fatty acids, 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3) levels in plasma phospholipid fatty acids and cholesteryl esters. Consumption of a low fat diet alters fatty acid patterns in a manner similar to that observed with feeding of (n-3) long-chain fatty acids. This change is likely related to decreased competition for the enzymes of elongation and desaturation, with reduced total intake of 18:2(n-6) favoring elongation and desaturation of available (n-3) fatty acids.


In connection with surveys of breeding populations of Gavia stellata and G. arctica in Southwest Sweden 1978—91, unhatched eggs in abandoned nests were collected and analysed for mercury. In the investigated area, divers of both species primarily fish in oligotrophic lakes, many of them affected by air-borne acidifying pollutants. The level of mercury in G. stellata eggs was extremely high; in a sample of seven eggs from four breeding sites the mean concentration was 9.5 ppm dry weight with a range of 6.2–14.2 ppm, which is among the highest levels recorded for any bird species in Sweden. The concentrations in G. arctica eggs were lower: 1.0–2.4 ppm dry weight in samples from four breeding sites at circumneutral lakes, and on average 4.0 ppm (range 1.8–5.9 ppm) in a sample from four breeding sites at lakes affected by acidification. For G. stellata, all eggs contained mercury at levels where reproductive impairment is to be expected, and also single G. arctica eggs were so heavily contaminated that the risk of impairment must be considered. Fish samples from seven lakes indicated that potential prey fish (Rutilus rutilus and Coregonus albula, <20 cm) for G. stellata feeding chicks contained higher concentrations of mercury in lakes affected by acidification. In one lake, fish contained levels about twice those reported to be associated with behavioural and reproductive disturbances in fish-eating birds. Also, single fish in two other lakes contained high concentrations of mercury. The results indicate that especially G. stellata, but also G. arctica in their breeding grounds in Southwest Sweden are exposed to levels of dietary mercury, sufficiently high for reproductive impairment to be expected, and that a connection exists to high levels of mercury in prey fish from freshwaters affected by acidification.


We investigate two data-driven strategies of patient motion estimation in cardiac SPECT imaging. Data-driven methods use the SPECT acquisition data itself to determine motion, with little or no infonnation from external surrogates which track patient motion. In previous work, we investigated a data-driven strategy based on 2D-3D registration using partial reconstruction of the heart and another using maximum-likelihood for simultaneous motion and activity estimation within SPECT reconstruction. In this paper, we compare these strategies using the XCA T phantom made from the MRI studies of volunteers. These XCA T phantoms are based on segmented MRI data by first contouring the body shape, followed by scaling the skeleton to match the volunteer's skeleton, and then shaping each organ to match the MRI data. This allows modeling of realistic patient motion by replicating the volunteer's external body motion and internal organ motion. Two datasets were thus obtained: (1) Axial slide and (2) Shoulder twist. Here we present preliminary results for these datasets.


An adaptive control method for linearized models of robotic manipulators is presented. First, the highly coupled nonlinear dynamical equations of robotic manipulators are linearized. Based on the linearized equations, the controllers are designed so as to render the feedback model a prescribed second-order stationary system, under the assumption that the deviations of position, velocity, and acceleration from their nominal values are small. A recursive least-square identification scheme is used to perform the online parameter estimation for the feedback gains of the controllers, instead of estimating the inertial parameters of the robotic manipulator themselves. The arising algorithm is much simpler and the required computations are reduced, when compared with a similar scheme (see C.S.G. Lee and M.I. Chung, 1984). Simulation of a PUMA 600 robotic manipulator under errors in the inertial parameters between 5% and 15% shows that the position and velocity errors are within reasonable limits. >


Administration of 0.2 microg of alpha-helical CRF(9-41) (corticotropin-releasing factor receptor antagonist, ahCRF(9-41)) into the locus coeruleus (LC) region significantly reduced footshock-induced freezing behavior in adult male rats. Changes in the concentrations of noradrenaline (NA), dopamine and their catabolites in cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus of footshocked rats were reminiscent of those observed in stressed animals. Rats injected with ahCRF prior to footshock displayed cerebral catecholamine responses that were not different from controls injected with vehicle. The results confirm earlier findings that CRF receptors at the LC region may mediate freezing and behavioral expression of fear. However, the results also suggest that though CRF receptors within the LC region mediate footshock-induced behavior, they are not necessarily involved in the short-term catecholamine response to footshock.


While hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) is a standard staining procedure, immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining further serves as a diagnostic and prognostic method. However, acquiring special staining results requires substantial costs. Hence, we proposed a strategy for ultra-high-resolution unpaired image-to-image translation: Kernelized Instance Normalization (KIN), which preserves local information and successfully achieves seamless stain transformation with constant GPU memory usage. Given a patch, corresponding position, and a kernel, KIN computes local statistics using convolution operation. In addition, KIN can be easily plugged into most currently developed frameworks without re-training. We demonstrate that KIN achieves state-of-the-art stain transformation by replacing instance normalization (IN) layers with KIN layers in three popular frameworks and testing on two histopathological datasets. Furthermore, we manifest the generalizability of KIN with high-resolution natural images. Finally, human evaluation and several objective metrics are used to compare the performance of different approaches. Overall, this is the first successful study for the ultra-high-resolution unpaired image-to-image translation with constant space complexity. Code is available at: https://github.com/Kaminyou/URUST


Cognitive radio offers the promise of intelligent radios that can learn from and adapt to their environment. To date, most cognitive radio research has focused on policy-based radios that are hard-coded with a list of rules on how the radio should behave in certain scenarios. Some work has been done on radios with learning engines tailored for very specific applications. This article describes a concrete model for a generic cognitive radio to utilize a learning engine. The goal is to incorporate the results of the learning engine into a predicate calculusbased reasoning engine so that radios can remember lessons learned in the past and act quickly in the future. We also investigate the differences between reasoning and learning, and the fundamentals of when a particular application requires learning, and when simple reasoning is sufficient. The basic architecture is consistent with cognitive engines seen in AI research. The focus of this article is not to propose new machine learning algorithms, but rather to formalize their application to cognitive radio and develop a framework from within which they can be useful. We describe how our generic cognitive engine can tackle problems such as capacity maximization and dynamic spectrum access.


The use of the velocity potential of an incompressible fluid is an important and elegant tool for obstacle avoidance of mobile robots. Obstacles are modeled as cylindrical objects - combinations of cylinders can also form super obstacles. Possible trajectories of a vehicle are given by a set of streamlines around the obstacle computed by the velocity potential. Because of the number of streamlines and of data points involved therein, models of sets of streamlines for different sizes of obstacles are created first using dataset models and finally fuzzy models of streamlines. Once an obstacle appears in the sensor cone of the robot the set of streamlines is computed from which that streamline is selected that guarantees a smooth transition from/to the planned trajectory. Collisions with other robots are avoided by a combination of velocity potential and force potential and/or the change of streamlines during operation (lane hopping).


Introduction: Prediction of pulmonary hypoplasia remains difficult. At autopsy, pathologists use the lung weight/body weight ratio to diagnose pulmonary hypoplasia. Estimating lung volumes in utero could aid management when pulmonary hypoplasia is suspected. We measured fetal lung volumes on post mortem MRI. By comparing these volumes to organ weights at autopsy, we estimated fetal lung densities. This may allow prenatal calculation of lung weights in future. Methods: 21 fetuses underwent postmortem MRI at 1.5T prior to conventional autopsy with parental consent. Fetal weights ranged from 113–3270 g, with gestational ages of 17–40 weeks. T2-weighted sequences were used. Conventional autopsies were performed to RCPath guidelines. Lung volumes were independently estimated by two researchers using the ANALYZE (BIR, Mayo Foundation) software package's stereology tool. Organ volumes for each observer were compared to autopsy organ weights, and the reciprocal of the gradients and R2 values were calculated. Inter-observer agreement was assessed using BlandAltman analysis. Results: There was high linear correlation between estimated lung volume and actual lung weights (R2 > 0.98 for both observers). The reciprocal of the gradient gave an average lung density of 1.15 g/cm3 which corresponds closely to the density of non-aerated adult lung (1.04–1.09). Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated good interobserver agreement, which appeared to improve with increasing organ size. Conclusions: Ex utero fetal lung volume measurements are highly correlated to lung weight at autopsy, with a calculated density that corresponds well to published figures. The technique has low interobserver variability and provides non-invasive information about fetal lung development when conventional autopsy is declined. It may also prove of value in the prenatal assessment of lung development.


The specific filtration resistance, moisture, and SVI were used to evaluate the influence of pH on the filtration and dewatering efficiencies when applying Fenton's reagent to treat the excess sludge. The excess sludge used in this study was obtained from the wastewater treatment plant of An-Ping Industrial Park in Tainan, Taiwan. Results show that initial pH has no significant effect on the filtration efficiency of sludge by using the Fenton (Fe2+/H2O2) system as the treatment process. However, the reduction of specific resistance by Fenton-like (Fe3+/H2O2) process decreased suddenly to a level similar to that obtained from the control experiment at initial pH > 4.5. For the moisture of cake sludge, both Fenton and Fenton-like systems have the same tendency; the moisture of cake sludge increased slightly with increasing the initial pH. The SVI values for Fenton process decreased with increasing the initial pH, but the opposite result was obtained from the Fenton-like and control system; higher pH was not favorable for the sludge settling.


A current hot topic in legal education is the law-school-sponsored law firm. Bradley T. Borden and Robert J. Rhee introduced the idea in a short article published in the South Carolina Law Review and the concept was soon picked up by articles in the National Law Journal, the ABA Journal and others. The purpose of this essay is to explore the federal tax-exemption and UBIT questions raised by the law-school-sponsored law firm. I conclude that a law firm operated as a single-member LLC with the sponsoring law school as the single member offers the best protection for the law school's underlying exempt status, and also should avoid issues with the UBIT.


Microinfusions of rat prolactin into the dorsal midbrain of estrogen-treated, ovariectomized rats increased lordosis behavior. Midbrain microinfusions of antiserum to prolactin into rats displaying maximum lordosis had the opposite effect. The distribution of a prolactin-like substance in the brain was studied immunocytochemically. The results suggest that a hypothalamic neuronal system projecting to the midbrain contains a prolactin-like substance that plays a role in facilitating this behavior and therefore may mediate some of the effects of estrogen on the brain. These data, together with others from studies of the prolactin gene and its regulation, indicate that it may be possible to analyze a sequence of molecular events in the brain that facilitate a behavioral response.


Environmental air monitoring is of great interest due to the large number of people concerned and exposed to different possible risks. From the most common particles in our environment (e.g. by-products of combustion or pollens) to more specific and dangerous agents (e.g. pathogenic micro-organisms), there are a large range of particles that need to be controlled. In this article we propose an original study on the collection of electrostatically deposited particles using electrowetting droplet displacement. A variety of particles were studied, from synthetic particles (e.g. Polystyrene Latex (PSL) microsphere) to different classes of biological particle (proteins, bacterial spores and a viral simulant). Furthermore, we have compared ElectroWetting-On-Dielectric (EWOD) collecting efficiency using either a hydrophobic or a superhydrophobic counter electrode. We observe different cleaning efficiencies, depending on the hydrophobicity of the substrate (varying from 45% to 99%). Superhydrophobic surfaces show the best cleaning efficiency with water droplets for all investigated particles (MS2 bacteriophage, BG (Bacillus atrophaeus) spores, OA (ovalbumin) proteins, and PSL).


: In this study, the relation of P450scc expression and mitochondrial ultrastructure was examined in rat granulosa cells at the time of ovulation, and in the NIH/3T3 cells. Before ovulation in the ovary, granulosa cells of Graafian follicle which expressed only mRNA of P450scc had elongated mitochonria with lamellar cristae. After ovulation, granulosa lutein cells which expressed both P450scc mRNA and protein had oval and round mitochondria with tubular or vesicular cristae. Two different cytochrome P450scc cDNA fragments in length were subcloned into pEGFPN vector, transfected into NIH/3T3 cells, and the mitochondrial structure was examined under fluorescent microscope with GFP and by electron microscopy. 5'end of cytochrome P450scc contained mitochondrial localization signal, and was composed of about 40 amino acids. NIH/3T3 cells had filamentous and elongated mitochondria with lamellar cristae, free ribosomes, and rER. After the transfection of short fragment of SCC(scc-s:200bp), mitochondria remained filamentous and their cristae also remained lamellar. On the other hand, when almost full length of SCC fragment(scc-f:1.1kb) was transfected, globular and round mitochondria were labeled with GFP, and round or oval mitochondria with vesicular or tubular cristae could be examined by electron microscope. Our study suggests that cytochrome P450scc located in mitochondrial inner membrane plays an important role to determine the mitochondrial morphology in vivo and in vitro.


Consumers do not purchase prescription drugs in a standard marketplace setting; instead, they rely on physicians to select an appropriate drug on their behalf. This potential agency problem is amplified by the fact that different consumers pay different prices for the same drug, depending on the copayments required by their insurance plan. There is a prevalent public concern that physicians are overly influenced by pharmaceutical company promotion, but little is actually known about how they choose which drugs to prescribe.This dissertation investigates the extent to which agency and information problems affect prescribing, and consequently, patient outcomes. I use individual-level data on prescription drug purchases by employees and retirees in twenty-nine Fortune 500 firms from 2003-2007 to construct a sample of patients receiving first-time prescriptions for chronic drugs. Inthe first two chapters, I estimate how initial prescriptions respond to three factors of patient utility: the copays set by individual health plans, large-scale copay shocks induced by patent expirations, and the predicted price-sensitivity of an individual patient. In the third chapter, a smaller sample with physician identifiers is used to measure the range of physician prescribing (number of drugs used) within a class, and its impact on patient outcomes.In Chapter 1, I study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs, and assess the welfare and health consequences of asymmetric and imperfect information in the prescription drug market. I focus on statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) which are currently the most prescribed category of prescription drugs in the United States. Demand for drugs that treat chronic conditions depends on the initial prescriptions written by a physician, and on the subsequent decisions of patients to continue the prescription or stop. I show that the continuation decision is relatively sensitive to co-payment prices. Initial prescriptions, by comparison, are relatively insensitive to co-payment prices, suggesting that physicians either don't know the prices their patients are paying, or fail to take prices into consideration. I use the event of the highly publicized expiration of the patent for Zocor (simvastatin) to test between these explanations. Insurance plans have much lower co-pays for off-patent drugs: my analysis suggests that physicians are aware of this fact, and substantially increased prescriptions for Zocor and its generic equivalents following the patent expiration. Interestingly, the increases were larger for lower-income and healthier patients, suggesting that physicians correctly perceive the adherence elasticity of their patients and adjust their initial prescriptions accordingly, but only in response to a large and universal price change.In Chapter 2, I study the prescribing responses to ten patent expirations occurring between 2004 and 2007 in four drug classes: antidepressants, statins, calcium channel blockers, and beta blockers. Four of the patent-losing drugs (including Zocor) experienced significant increases in prescribing rates, while three experienced statistically significant decreases. Understanding what drives this variation can inform how pharmaceutical advertising, health plans, and patient costs affect physician decisions. I identify two factors that explain much of the variation in these responses: the size of the copay drop upon expiration (i.e. the difference in copays of the brand and generic versions of the drug), and the current prevalence of generic prescribing in the drug class. Results suggest that physicians are more likely to increase their prescribing of a drug, after it becomes available as a generic, if it previously had a higher copay, on average. However, there is a baseline tendency to reduce prescribing of a patent-losing drug, likely driven by the cessation of its advertising, and this tendency grows stronger with the existing rate of generic prescribing in a class.In Chapter 3, which is coauthored with Geoffrey Joyce and Neeraj Sood, we measure the range of physician prescribing within the ten most prevalent therapeutic classes, the factors affecting the broadness of this range, and its impact on patient outcomes. Physicians prescribe more broadly than commonly perceived. In 8 of 10 classes, the median physician prescribes at least 3 different drugs despite the small number of initial prescriptions observed per doctor (median=7). Physicians treating patients with a greater range of comorbid conditions and varied formulary designs prescribe a broader range of drugs within a class. Though narrow prescribers are more likely to prescribe highly advertised drugs, few physicians prescribe these drugs exclusively. Narrow prescribing has modest effects on medication adherence and out of pocket costs in some drug classes.


Teaching is a key role for nurses in contemporary clinical practice. Consequently, peer-assisted learning continues to gather momentum in nursing education in tertiary and professional education settings. In this study, we investigated the factor structure of the Peer Teaching Experience Questionnaire when completed by a group of nursing undergraduates from a large Australian university. Data from the 14-item Peer Teaching Experience Questionnaire completed by third year undergraduate nursing students were analyzed using factor analysis. A total of 257 final (third)-year undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. Factor analysis of the 14 items revealed three factors with eigenvalues above 1, accounting for 47.3% of the total variance. Items with loadings greater than ± 0.40, with the factor in question, were used to characterize the factor solutions. Findings from the exploratory factor analysis provide preliminary results that the Peer Teaching Experience Questionnaire has adequate dimensionality and reliability.


The study revealed that the overall prevalence of bovine dermatological disorders was 25%. Specifically the prevalence of degnala disease was 14. Cultural isolation and identification of scrapes of the mouldy rice straw revealed Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Pencillium notatum and Ochracious spp. The most prominent clinical signs observed in bovines with degnala disease were edematous swelling of the hind limbs, cracks on the skin of the limbs, ulcerative wounds at inter digital space of hooves and gangerene of the tail and ear tips. Haematological studies showed anemia and normal leukogram. Serum biochemical profile showed fall in blood urea nitrogen, albumin and normal serum zinc, copper and aspertate aminotransferase levels. However there was an increase in total protein values. Combination of Destrox, Chlorphenaramine maleate, Streptopencillin and Zinc oxide found to be useful in the treatment of degnala disease in bovines.


Highly acclaimed and widely read, American Workers, American Unions (first published in 1986, revised ed. 1994) provides a concise and compelling history of American workers and their unions in twentieth-century America. This new edition features new chapters on the pre-1920 period, as well as an entirely new final chapter that covers developments of the 1980s and 1990s in detail. There the authors explore how economic change, union stagnation, and antilabor policies have combined to erode workers' standards and labor's influence in the political arena over the last two decades. They review current "alternatives to unionism" as means of achieving fair workplace representations but insist that strong unions remain essential in a democratic society. They argue that labor's new responsiveness to the concerns of women, minority groups, and low-wage workers, as well as its resurgent political activism, offer new hope for trade unionism. Also included in this third edition is new bibliographical material and a regularly updated on-line link to an extended bibliographical essay.


From its inception more than half a century ago and for decades afterward, the Central Intelligence Agency was deeply shrouded in secrecy, with little or no real oversight by Congress - or so many Americans believe. David M. Barrett reveals, however, that during the agency's first fifteen years, Congress often monitored the CIA's actions and plans, sometimes aggressively. Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified documents, research at some two dozen archives, and interviews with former officials, Barrett provides an unprecedented and often colorful account of relations between American spymasters and Capitol Hill. He chronicles the CIA's dealings with senior legislators who were haunted by memories of our intelligence failure at Pearl Harbor and yet riddled with fears that such an organization might morph into an American Gestapo. He focuses in particular on the efforts of Congress to monitor, finance, and control the agency's activities from the creation of the national security state in 1947 through the planning for the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Along the way, Barrett highlights how Congress criticized the agency for failing to predict the first Soviet atomic test, the startling appearance of Sputnik over American air space, and the overthrow of Iraq's pro-American government in 1958. He also explores how Congress viewed the CIA's handling of Senator McCarthy's charges of communist infiltration, the crisis created by the downing of a U-2 spy plane, and President Eisenhower's complaint that Congress meddled too much in CIA matters. Ironically, as Barrett shows, Congress itself often pushed the agency to expand its covert operations against other nations. "The CIA and Congress" provide a much-needed historical perspective for current debates in Congress and beyond concerning the agency's recent failures and ultimate fate. In our post-9/11 era, it shows that anxieties over the challenges to democracy posed by our intelligence communities have been with us from the very beginning.


Vulnerability of power grid is a critical issue in power industry. In order to understand and reduce power grid vulnerability under threats, existing research often employs defender-attacker-defender (DAD) models to derive effective protection plans and evaluate grid performances under various contingencies. Transmission line switching (also known as topology control) is an effective operation to mitigate outages or attacks. In this paper, we include post-contingency transmission line switching operations into a defender-attacker-defender model. To solve this complicated tri-level formulation, we customize and implement an exact algorithm, i.e., nested column-andconstraint generation (NCCG) algorithm, to compute global optimal solutions. We perform a set of numerical experiments on IEEE RTS one-area system (1996), demonstrate the significant improvements from transmission line switching, and highlight that hardening plans derived from this new DAD model are very cost-effective compared to those obtained from traditional DAD model.


What factors contribute to tourism and recreation development? How can we characterise stakeholder rationales and organisation modes to enhance tourism resources and foster tourism and recreation services? To what extent do tourism and recreation contribute to regional development? What changes are taking place in terms of new destinations, stakeholders, policy objectives? Bringing together scholars from the fields of planning, economics, sociology, management studies and geography, this book examines cross-cutting issues in tourism and recreation with the aim of developing an extended view of leisure time. Focusing mainly on France with comparison to the experience of Northern and Southern European countries and North America, it combines a diverse range of case studies to address issues such as contrasting rural dynamics, changing public policies, sustainable development imperatives, evolving user behaviour and increasingly diverse recreation activities and stakeholder organisation. Specific topics are highlighted, such as the role of social capital or culture as factors of recreation development; resort organisation from international and experience-based perspectives; and the usefulness of the capability approach to evaluate tourism impacts on local development. Emphasising policy recommendations to help public or collective action on the issues and presenting emerging trends in the field, this book should be of interest to students, scholars and stakeholders in tourism/recreation planning and management.


Immunomodulatory mAb, led by the checkpoint blockers against CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1, are changing the outlook for a number of difficult to manage cancers, such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, and look set to become blockbuster drugs in the near future. While there is still some uncertainty concerning how these reagents work, it is generally agreed that they target exhausted effector T cells and Tregs within the tumour tissue. An alternative way to regulate anti-cancer T cells is using immunostimulatory mAb which trigger activatory T-cell co-receptors, often of the TNF receptor superfamily. Interestingly, most preclinical models show that immunostimulatory mAb are as good if not better than checkpoint blockers in terms of therapeutic potency. However, other than some limited success with anti-CD40 mAb in pancreatic cancer, immunostimulatory mAb have yet to display the level of clinical success seen with the checkpoint blockers. In this lecture we will discuss the mechanisms of action of these two groups of reagents and explore how differences in the rodent and human antibody effector functions might explain why immunostimulatory mAb have not performed as well in patients. We will show how the mouse inhibitory Fc gamma Receptor (FcγR), FcγRIIB, plays a critical role in hyper-crosslinking agonistic anti-TNFR mAb, yet in humans the equivalent receptor is less available to perform this function. We will also discuss how this knowledge is being used to engineer new immunostimulatory mAb which can exploit human FcγR effectively, or even mAb which can operate independently of FcγR with the opportunity of potent agonistic function regardless of bio-availability of FcγR. Citation Format: Martin J. Glennie, Aymen Al-Shamkhani, Stephen A. Beers, Ann L. White, Peter W. Johnson, Ruth R. French, Mark S. Cragg. Designing immunostimulatory antibodies for cancer treatment. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy: A New Chapter; December 1-4, 2014; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2015;3(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA06.


Recent detailed studies on the Batain nappes (northeast coast of Oman), which represent a special part of the so-called 'Oman Exotics', have led to a better understanding of the Neotethyan geo-dynamic evolution. The Batain Exotics bear witness to volcanic activity, sea-level changes, tectonic instability, rifting and oceanization along the Eastern Oman margin during Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times. They allow definition of the Batain basin as an aborted Permian branch of Neotethys. This marine basin was created in Early Permian times extending southward to the East African/ Madagascar region and was linked to the Karoo rift system. The presented revised classification of the Batain nappes considers the Batain basin to be no longer a part of the Hawasina basin and the Neotethyan margin proper. We attribute the Batain basin to a Mozambique–Somali–Masirah rift system (Somoma). This system started in Early Permian, times, creating a marine basin between Arabia and India/Madagascar; rifting in the Late Triassic and oceanization during Late Jurassic times led to the separation of East Gondwana.


Decision-making in the Settlement of Local Election Dispute at the Constitutional Court is based on the conviction of the justices after examining evidence submitted by the parties. Meanwhile, the law has limited the authority of the Court which is simply to rule on the result of vote count in the local election. Therefore, through interpretation, the Court has created new norms in its decision concerning local election.In some of its decisions, the Court broadened its authority in the settlement of local election dispute which is to include the process of the election. The dictum of the decision does not merely follow what is stated in the law. There is compatibility in the justices' conviction based on interpretation done by the justices regarding   the authority of the Court in deciding Local Election Dispute and in the choice of dictum of the decision which is different from what has been stated by the law.


Both contemporary and modern critics recognize the industrial, regional, and personal conflicts in North and South. There are, however, other conflicts which Mrs. Gaskell treats and resolves. This study emphasizes inner struggles resulting from repressive Victorian sexual mores. An examination of conflicts at a deeper -level than has previously been attempted clarifies motivations of individual characters, reveals a conscious and unconscious pattern within the novel and gives a fuller appreciation of Mrs. Gaskell's psychological insight. Included for discussion are examples of the Victorian feminine stereotype and the use of religion as sexual sublimation. A major portion of the paper concerns the growth of the heroine, Margaret Hale, from repressed sexuality to an acceptance of womanhood in Victorian society.


Abstract Correction of mis-splicing events is a growing therapeutic approach for neurological diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy or neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis 7, which are caused by splicing-affecting mutations. Mis-spliced effector genes that do not harbour mutations are also good candidate therapeutic targets in diseases with more complex aetiologies such as cancer, autism, muscular dystrophies or neurodegenerative diseases. Next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has boosted investigation of global mis-splicing in diseased tissue to identify such key pathogenic mis-spliced genes. Nevertheless, while analysis of tumour or dystrophic muscle biopsies can be informative on early stage pathogenic mis-splicing, for neurodegenerative diseases, these analyses are intrinsically hampered by neuronal loss and neuroinflammation in post-mortem brains. To infer splicing alterations relevant to Huntington's disease pathogenesis, here we performed intersect-RNA-seq analyses of human post-mortem striatal tissue and of an early symptomatic mouse model in which neuronal loss and gliosis are not yet present. Together with a human/mouse parallel motif scan analysis, this approach allowed us to identify the shared mis-splicing signature triggered by the Huntington's disease-causing mutation in both species and to infer upstream deregulated splicing factors. Moreover, we identified a plethora of downstream neurodegeneration-linked mis-spliced effector genes that—together with the deregulated splicing factors—become new possible therapeutic targets. In summary, here we report pathogenic global mis-splicing in Huntington's disease striatum captured by our new intersect-RNA-seq approach that can be readily applied to other neurodegenerative diseases for which bona fide animal models are available.


Functionalized mesoporous silica materials (MSMs) using grafting (post-synthesis) and one-pot (co-condensation) synthesis methods of organic functional groups (periodic mesoporous organosilicas, PMOs) have been developed for many emerging applications. To improve the functions, designed MSMs have received particular attention using an organic motif as a molecule of surfactants for the template synthesis with a silica source in the sol-gel reaction. The resulting mesoporous silica materials can provide characteristic multifunctional nanocomposites consisting of a monomer for synthesizing polymer in the silicate nanochannels. Moreover, the nanocomposites can be also synthesized using a self-assembled organic motif for organizing one-dimensional structure in the silicate nanochannels. The resulting hybrid nanomaterials have been mainly reported to provide fluorescent properties. However, the utilization of phosphorescent nanocomposites for specific applications has not yet reported so far. By utilizing a self-assembled metal complex (organometallic), this chapter particularly highlights recent achievements of designed mesoporous silica materials for the fabrication of advanced luminescent nanostructures with phosphorescent properties where the potential applications will be discussed in detail for self-repairing and thermally resistive materials, metal ions sensors, template synthesis nanoparticles, and catalysts. Such better and novel performance can be only achieved using a designed template for the sol-gel synthesis of mesoporous silica nanocomposites.


In this paper we construct a hierarchy of arbitrary high (even) order accurate explicit time propagators for semi-discrete second order hyperbolic systems. An accurate semi-discrete problem is obtained by approximating the corresponding spatial derivatives using high order accurate finite difference operators satisfying the summation by parts rule. In order to obtain a strictly stable semi-discrete problem, boundary conditions are imposed weakly using the simultaneous approximation term method. The time discretization starts with a second order central difference scheme, then using the modified equation approach (even in the presence of a first order derivative in time) we derive arbitrary high order accurate time marching schemes. For the fully discrete problem, we introduce a suitable weighted inner product and use the energy method to derive an optimal CFL condition, which provides a useful and rigorous criterion for stability. Numerical examples are also provided.


This paper presents the detection tools of mental status of University students at the onset of unrest. Many factors which includes biological or environmental, influence variation in the mental status of an individual if they are exposed to them. Negative factors are the root cause of mental status at the onset of unrest and this can have specific manifestations. During social unrest, people's entire way of life is torn apart. In such scenario, there will be clear and predictable observable manifestations which may exhibit themselves physically since the body language is the most reliable sign of internal state of affairs. Several research findings show that University students' unrest is a common phenomenon all over the world and that most Universities are focused on the aftermath of students' unrest. However, studies have not been done on detecting the onset of students' unrest and then implementing appropriate preventive measures to forestall University students' unrest. The objective of the study was to identify the main physical indicators of mental status of University students' at onset of unrest. It was a survey research design which used mixed research method approaches. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. The research population included Security officers, secretaries, of selected public Universities in Kenya. Simple random sampling was used which gave a total sample size of 145 which was obtained from a target population of 177. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using SPSS programme into frequency counts, percentages, means and independent t-test analysis. From the findings, the main physical indicators of mental status of University students' at onset of unrest were identified as: Yelling emotional expressions, violent tendencies, hostile attitude manifestations and anger gestures, in that order. Keywords : Indicator, Mental state, Stressor, Unrest.


We conducted a genome-wide scan using variance components linkage analysis to localize quantitative-trait loci (QTLs) influencing triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and total cholesterol (TC) levels in 3,071 subjects from 459 families with atherogenic dyslipidemia. The most significant evidence for linkage to TG levels was found in a subset of Turkish families at 11q22 [logarithm of the odds ratio (LOD) = 3.34] and at 17q12 (LOD = 3.44). We performed sequential oligogenic linkage analysis to examine whether multiple QTLs jointly influence TG levels in the Turkish families. These analyses revealed loci at 20q13 that showed strong epistatic effects with 11q22 (conditional LOD = 3.15) and at 7q36 that showed strong epistatic effects with 17q12 (conditional LOD = 3.21). We also found linkage on the 8p21 region for TG in the entire group of families (LOD = 3.08). For HDL-C levels, evidence of linkage was identified on chromosome 15 in the Turkish families (LOD = 3.05) and on chromosome 5 in the entire group of families (LOD = 2.83). Linkage to QTLs for TC was found at 8p23 in the entire group of families (LOD = 4.05) and at 5q13 in a subset of Turkish and Mediterranean families (LOD = 3.72). These QTLs provide important clues for the further investigation of genes responsible for these complex lipid phenotypes. These data also indicate that a large proportion of the variance of TG levels in the Turkish population is explained by the interaction of multiple genetic loci.


Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the largest cause of blindness for those over 65 in the developed world. There is currently no treatment for the retinal cellular loss associated with the disease. One potential therapy is to implant retinal stem cells into the eye using a biodegradable polymer scaffold. Blends of the biodegradable polymers, poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) have been formulated into microspheres. The influence of changing processing parameters on the size and morphology of the microspheres has been studied. A human retinal pigment epithelial (APRE-19) cell line was shown to adhere, survive and proliferate on the surface of the microspheres in vitro. Assays have demonstrated that the nature of the blend influenced cell behaviour. Transplantation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells on a supportive matrix has also been investigated as a therapy for AMD. In view of AMD related pathology of the native RPE support, Bruch's membrane (BM), transplanted RPE cells require a scaffold to reside on. Copolymers based on methyl methacrylate (MMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGM) have been synthesised and chemically modified at the PEG terminus. These polymers were subsequently manufactured into a fibrous scaffold using an electrospinning technique and investigated as an artificial BM. RPE cells were shown to attach and proliferate successfully on the surface of the fibrous scaffold in vitro. Cell adhesion was significantly enhanced on scaffolds with the PEG chain terminus modification. Significantly less apoptotic cell death was also observed on these surfaces. The diffusion properties of these artificial membranes have also been investigated. In addition, the novel gelation of the produced copolymers under certain conditions has been studied


Background: Childhood and adolescent obesity is a seriously increasing cause of morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of childhood obesity and obesity-related metabolic syndrome increased during the past three decades. Unfortunately, the methods for the measurement of total fat ratio in childhood and adolescent period are still limited and diffucult. Objective: The present study aims comparing the classical skinfold and the new bioelectrical impedance (BIA) methods to determine the body composition in childhood and adolescent periods. Methods: 86 cases (45 boys and 41 girls) between 7-15 years of age were included in this study. The body mass index (BMI), fat percent (FAT%), fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM) of all the cases were determined by both skinfold and BIA methods. Results: When the body composition parameters were evaluated, a positive correlation was found between these two methods. When these two methods were compared, there was a statistically significant difference in all parameters of body composition in boys of 7-12 years of age. Conclusion: This study suggest that the BIA method could be used in children over 12 years to determine the obesity, whereas further studies are needed for children below 12 years of age.


The Sylvester equation offers a powerful and unifying primitive for a variety of important graph mining tasks, including network alignment, graph kernel, node similarity, subgraph matching, etc. A major bottleneck of Sylvester equation lies in its high computational complexity. Despite tremendous effort, state-of-the-art methods still require a complexity that is at least \em quadratic in the number of nodes of graphs, even with approximations. In this paper, we propose a family of Krylov subspace based algorithms (\fasten) to speed up and scale up the computation of Sylvester equation for graph mining. The key idea of the proposed methods is to project the original equivalent linear system onto a Kronecker Krylov subspace. We further exploit (1) the implicit representation of the solution matrix as well as the associated computation, and (2) the decomposition of the original Sylvester equation into a set of inter-correlated Sylvester equations of smaller size. The proposed algorithms bear two distinctive features. First, they provide the \em exact solutions without any approximation error. Second, they significantly reduce the time and space complexity for solving Sylvester equation, with two of the proposed algorithms having a \em linear complexity in both time and space. Experimental evaluations on a diverse set of real networks, demonstrate that our methods (1) are up to $10,000\times$ faster against Conjugate Gradient method, the best known competitor that outputs the exact solution, and (2) scale up to million-node graphs.


The use of reduced precision to improve performance metrics such as computation latency and power consumption is a common practice in the embedded systems field. This practice is emerging as a new trend in High Performance Computing (HPC), especially when new error-tolerant applications are considered. However, standard compiler frameworks do not support automated precision customization, and manual tuning and code transformation is the approach usually adopted in most domains. In recent years, research have been studying ways to improve the automation of this process. This article surveys this body of work, identifying the critical steps of this process, the most advanced tools available, and the open challenges in this research area. We conclude that, while several mature tools exist, there is still a gap to close, especially for tools based on static analysis rather than profiling, as well as for integration within mainstream, industry-strength compiler frameworks.


Ultra wideband (UWB) is a promising radio technology for networks delivering extremely high data rates at short ranges. Rapid acquisition is an important issue due to the high data rate employed in UWB systems. In multiband UWB, the available spectrum is divided into multiple bands and only certain bands are used for transmission at a time. With this arrangement however, acquisition has to be done on every band due to the different channel response on each band. An acquisition scheme suitable for multiband UWB is proposed, using a double-dwell structure with variable thresholds. A unique feature of the proposal is phase elimination, which exploits the inherent coded structure of the multiband UWB preamble. This paper presents a general comparison of barker and CAZAC sequences as candidates of the preamble, and the proposed system is simulated using these two sequences. The proposed system is able to achieve low acquisition errors with reduced number of correlation operations required.


In The Ottoman Threat and Crusading on the Eastern Border of Christendom during the Fifteenth Century Liviu Pilat and Ovidiu Cristea focus on less-known aspects of the later crusades in Eastern Europe, examining the ideals of holy war and political pragmatism.


This book presents the most recent research advances in robot manipulators. It offers a complete survey to the kinematic and dynamic modelling, simulation, computer vision, software engineering, optimization and design of control algorithms applied for robotic systems. It is devoted for a large scale of applications, such as manufacturing, manipulation, medicine and automation. Several control methods are included such as optimal, adaptive, robust, force, fuzzy and neural network control strategies. The trajectory planning is discussed in details for point-to-point and path motions control. The results in obtained in this book are expected to be of great interest for researchers, engineers, scientists and students, in engineering studies and industrial sectors related to robot modelling, design, control, and application. The book also details theoretical, mathematical and practical requirements for mathematicians and control engineers. It surveys recent techniques in modelling, computer simulation and implementation of advanced and intelligent controllers.


Improving energy efficiency and conservation is integral to sustain agricultural growth in emerging economies. This paper investigates the energy efficiency and energy-saving potential of the agricultural sector of 27 emerging economies using a stochastic frontier approach and Shephard distance function, and their determinants are examined using the Tobit quantile regression model. Results revealed that energy efficiency in the agricultural sector fluctuated during the period from 1998 to 2017. The median average energy efficiency was estimated at 0.74, and the cumulative energy-saving potential was estimated at 542.80 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe), which can be achieved by eliminating energy inefficiency alone. Differences exist in energy efficiency and energy-saving potential across continents, with higher potential in Asia and lower potential in Europe. Economic structure, urbanization and GDP per capita have negative influences on agricultural energy efficiency. Energy mix and pesticide use are significant drivers of energy efficiency, while the ratio of agricultural land that has varied influences different quantiles. Policy implications include optimization of the energy mix, economic structure and pesticide use.


While research has demonstrated that farm households in developing economies are able to protect consumption from idiosyncratic crop shocks, little evidence shows how this is achieved. This paper examines the extent to which labor markets allow households to shift labor from farm to off-farm employment, and the extent to which such a shift explains the observed lack of correlation between consumption and idiosyncratic crop shocks. The empirical analysis uses a novel measure of the idiosyncratic crop income shock which utilizes information on start-of-season cropping choices to more accurately estimate household expectations of weather.