A cross‐sectional survey was conducted on 10468 rural and semi‐urban adults in an Ethiopian district using the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) to detect the prevalence of mental distress and its association with socio‐demographic risk factors. Fifty‐eight per cent of the study population were women, 74% were Muslim, 79% were illiterate. Those experiencing 11 or more symptoms out of the 20 SRQ items were considered as having mental distress. Accordingly, the prevalence of mental distress was 17%, which is comparable with the previous hospital‐based studies in Ethiopia and elsewhere. However, it was higher than the previous community‐based studies in Ethiopia. Mental distress was more prevalent among women. Part of the explanation was that women in the study population were older and that they were more often widowed or divorced, which were factors associated with mental distress. Illiteracy, which was more common among women and older individuals, was also independently associated with mental distress.


Tuberculous lymphadenitis is an uncommon form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. We report on a case of isolated Cervicomediastinal tuberculous lymphadenitis without parenhimal involvement. A 49-year old woman was hospitalized with a four week history of night sweats and weight loss. Plain chest radiography disclosed mediastinal mass of the right side. Echocardiographic examination revealed a soft tissue mass below the ascending aorta and aortic arch causing moderate narrowing of the right ventricular outflow tract and the main pulmonary artery. Computed tomographic scanning showed soft tissue mass in the middle mediastinum surrounding the great vessels extending posteriorely with moderate compression of trachea. Histological examination of the cervical mass revealed caseating granuloma containing acid-alcohol fast bacillus. Antituberculous chemotherapy was started.


Background Epilepsy is characterized by episodic and unpredictable seizure recurrences which are often amenable to medical treatment. Simple and readily available medications can be used to control seizures in epilepsy. However, in many communities in developing countries seizure control among people living with epilepsy is still poor. Method We assessed the patterns of antiepileptic drug use and seizure control among persons living with epilepsy in a suburban community in Southeast Nigeria found in a two phase cross-sectional study. Detailed information on epilepsy treatment, seizure control and patterns of antiepileptic drug use (AED) by those diagnosed with epilepsy was determined by use of a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Further verification of the type of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) was done by drug inspection. Result The total of 29 cases of active epilepsy comprising 16 (55.2%) males and 13 (44.8%) females were found. Those receiving AEDs at the time of survey were 7 (24.1%), 11(37.9%) who had previously used AEDs had stopped and the remaining 11 (37.9%) were AEDs naive. Carbamazepine monotherapy was used by 57.1% (n=4) while phenobarbitone was used by 42.9% (n=3). The antiepileptic drugs were prescribed in all these cases by medical personnel. Over 82% of the persons with active epilepsy found were having more than one seizure per month. Conclusion Active epilepsy was prevalent in this suburban community with only 24.1% (n=7) of them receiving treatment with AEDs. Seizure control was poor even among those receiving AEDs and carbamazepine monotherapy was most commonly used AEDs.


Public visibility of autistic people has increased significantly since the early 1990s. Diagnosis rates of autism have risen in Western countries, whilst cultural representations of autistic people have proliferated across various forms of media. This period has also seen the emergence of the neurodiversity movement which views autism in terms of difference rather than defects and politically organises to challenge disablist oppression. This thesis explores the ways in which autistic people have been represented as sexual and gendered subjects in the United Kingdom from the early 1990s to the present day and analyses the implications of such representations for autistic people's lives. It considers how influential representations of autistic people, for example, pop cultural portrayals of autistic people as male geeks, have been challenged by autistic self-advocates who argue that such framings fail to recognise autistic people's diverse experiences. Over the course of this thesis, I combine critical theoretical work from across the humanities and social sciences with empirical analysis of a selection of texts in order to develop a multifaceted account of how autistic people are represented as gendered and sexual subjects in the contemporary moment. I analyse a range of texts exploring autistic people's experiences of gender and sexuality, with my sample including self-help books, academic publications, television shows, and autistic self-advocacy writing. Drawing upon theoretical work from neurodiversity studies, disability studies, feminist theory, and queer theory I intervene in ongoing debates and controversies surrounding representations of autistic people as gendered and sexual subjects, for example, the moral panic over the public visibility of young autistic gender variant people. I demonstrate the complex ways in which framings of autistic experience produced within scientific research inform popular media texts, as pathologising, essentialist, and infantilising medical and psychological terms are troubled and reproduced by such texts. I show how texts produced by autistic people challenge biomedical and psychological framings, offering more inclusive representations which recognise autistic people's gender and sexual diversity. These texts highlight the role of social factors in shaping autistic people's lives and provide platforms for the perspectives of autistic women, gender variant people, and LGBTQ people. I argue that these works can inform future academic research within the social sciences and humanities, offering more sociological and critical accounts of autistic people's experiences, and can encourage alternative representations of autistic people in popular culture. Writing as an autistic scholar concerned with issues of disability, gender, and sexuality, the thesis synthesises existing theoretical and original empirical work in order to develop a sociological analysis of biomedical, psychological, and cultural representations which affect autistic people's lives. In this way, the thesis contributes to the growing field of neurodiversity scholarship within academic research.


As the Internets' potential continues to grow in functionality and services, malicious activity becomes more prevalent. Professionals and researchers are working hard to create and implement secure systems, but this can require extensive tools and training to arising situations. ISECUBE has been developed to be used in conjunction with Iowa State University's Internet Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE) to act as a self sustaining portable environment as well as an extension of its functionality and services. ISECUBE is a transportable device that provides different realistic environments. These environments were designed with the classroom, research collaboration, and corporate use in mind. Overall statistics of usage is collected and can be viewed in different formats for later analysis. By developing such a device, the education and security fields can benefit from ISECUBE's capability.


Rooftop solar photovoltaic generation systems are often subject to location and site-specific factors that affect the shape of the daily generation profile. We propose a novel approach to rooftop solar photovoltaic power forecasting that applies digital filtering to recent historical generation data to determine a site-specific "Characteristic Generation Profile". This profile can subsequently be used on its own, or in combination with any available exogenous variables, to improve the solar power forecasting process. The approach is simple to implement, uniquely customised for every system it is applied to, and computationally efficient.


With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Mercury is known to have toxic effects on the nervous system of humans and wildlife. Although it exists only in trace amounts in coal, mercury is released when coal burns and can accumulate on land and in water. In water, bacteria transform the metal into methylmercury, the most hazardous form of the metal. Methylmercury can collect in fish and marine mammals in concentrations hundreds of thousands times higher than the levels in surrounding waters. One of the goals of DOE is to develop technologies by 2005 that will be capable of cutting mercury emissions 50 to 70 percent at well under one-half of today's costs. ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) is managing a project to test mercury control technologies at full scale at four different power plants from 2000--2003. The ADA-ES project is focused on those power plants that are not equipped with wet flue gas desulfurization systems. ADA-ES will develop a portable system that will be moved to four different utility powermore » plants for field testing. Each of the plants is equipped with either electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters to remove solid particles from the plant's flue gas. ADA-ES's technology will inject a dry sorbent, such as fly ash or activated carbon, that removes the mercury and makes it more susceptible to capture by the particulate control devices. A fine water mist may be sprayed into the flue gas to cool its temperature to the range where the dry sorbent is most effective. PG&E National Energy Group is providing two test sites that fire bituminous coals and are both equipped with electrostatic precipitators and carbon/ash separation systems. Wisconsin Electric Power Company is providing a third test site that burns Powder River Basin (PRB) coal and has an electrostatic precipitator for particulate control. Alabama Power Company will host a fourth test at its Plant Gaston, which is equipped with a hot-side electrostatic precipitator and a downstream fabric filter.« less


Block models of graphs are used in a wide variety of domains as they find not only clusters (the blocks) but also interaction within and between the blocks. However, existing approaches primarily focus on either structural graphs (i.e. for MRI scans) or behavioral graphs (i.e. for fMRI scans). In both cases the block model's interaction or mixing matrix can be useful for understanding potential interaction (for structural graphs) and actual interaction (for behavioral graphs) between the blocks. In this paper we explore finding block models where there is both a structural network and multiple behavioral graphs. This provides significant modeling challenges, consider if there is strong behavioral connectivity but no structural connectivity between two nodes. We show why existing multi-graph settings such as multi-view learning are insufficient and instead propose a novel model to address the problem. Our method not only learns structurally and behaviorally cohesive blocks of nodes but also finds structurally and behaviorally feasible block interactions. We show in numerical evaluations on synthetic data that our method outperforms baseline approaches in recovering the ground-truth factor matrices in increasingly complex situations. We further apply our method to real-world datasets from two different domains (1) brain imaging data (a multi-cohort fMRI study) and to show its versatility (2) Twitter (following network and retweet behavior) and gain insights into the information flow and underlying generating mechanisms of these complex data.


The discomfort caused by the noise and vibration in cars is investigated in this thesis to improve understanding of how subjective judgements of noise and vibration affect each other, how the relative discomfort of noise and vibration depend on their magnitudes and their durations, and how the total discomfort caused by simultaneous noise and vibration can be predicted. Two experiments were designed to determine the magnitude-dependence of the relative discomfort caused by noise and vertical whole-body vibration. Subjects were presented with various combinations of different levels of noise and different magnitudes of vibration, and rated the discomfort caused by noise relative to the discomfort caused by vibration, and also vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort. The subjective equivalence between noise and vibration was highly dependent on whether noise was judged relative to the vibration or vibration was judged relative to the noise. When judging noise, higher magnitude vibrations appeared to mask the discomfort caused by low levels of noise. When judging vibration, higher level noises appeared to mask the discomfort caused by low magnitudes of vibration. The duration-dependence of the relative discomfort of noise and vibration was then investigated. Subjects were presented with 49 combinations of seven levels of noise and seven magnitudes of vertical whole-body vibration, and with five durations (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 s). Either the discomfort caused by noise relative to the discomfort caused by vibration, or vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort were rated in two sessions. The findings indicate that noise discomfort and vibration discomfort have a similar dependence on duration. The slopes expressing the levels of noise (sound pressure level or sound exposure level) judged equivalent to the levels of vibration (logarithms of the r.m.s. acceleration or vibration dose value) increased with increasing duration when judging noise relative to vibration, but were independent of duration when judging vibration relative to noise. As the durations increased from 2 to 32 s, the masking effect of vibration on noise discomfort decreased, whereas the masking effect of noise on vibration discomfort did not change. Finally the noise discomfort in the presence of vibration, vibration discomfort in the presence noise, and the combined discomfort of simultaneous noise and vibration were investigated by employing the method of absolute magnitude estimation. Subjects judged noise discomfort, vibration discomfort, and their total discomfort in different sessions. The results suggest that, within the range of stimuli magnitudes investigated, the discomfort caused by vibration was reduced by noise whereas the judgement of noise discomfort was not significantly influenced by vibration. The total discomfort caused by simultaneous noise and vibration was well predicted by ?c = [(?v)2+ (?s)2]0.5, where ?v, ?s, and ?c, represent vibration discomfort, noise discomfort, and their total discomfort, respectively. In conclusion, the relative discomfort caused by noise and vibration varies according to whether subjects are asked to judge noise discomfort relative to vibration discomfort or vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort. There are masking effects of noise on the judgement of vibration discomfort, and of vibration on the judgement of noise discomfort, depending on the relative magnitudes of the two stimuli. The influence of vibration on the judgement of noise discomfort decreases with increasing duration of the stimuli, whereas the influence of noise on the judgement of vibration discomfort is independent of the duration. The discomfort caused by a combination of noise and vibration can be predicted by root-sums-of-squares of the discomfort caused by noise and the discomfort caused by vibration when these stimuli are presented alone.


0.974 for IUP and 0.890 for EP. The hCG ratio 168hrs/48hrs gave an AUC of 0.970 for failing PUL, 0.969 for IUP and 0.833 for EP. Conclusion: There does not appear to be any significant improvement in the prediction of PUL outcome using an hCG ratio incorporating a level taken at 168hrs (day 7). Although the hCG ratio 168hrs/0hr performs slightly better than the hCG ratio 48hrs/0hr, any benefit is probably outweighed by the consequences of the delay in diagnosis.


POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY BUCHAREST - FILS - CCLM
Splaiul Independentei No 313, Bucharest, Romania,
email@example.com

Abstract: Most technical universities in the western world have already included the soft skills in their educational programs as a priority, although their main educational focus is still on developing the technical / hard ones. The interest of the Romanian educators towards developing the soft skills is, however, in its infancy. Even if these have become the main topic of the courses in communication taught lately, the methodology used is still according to the classical "ex-cataedra" pattern of teaching. One could add to this the almost total neglect of some basic components of the soft skills, viz. those dealing with the student's personal development, self- awareness, self control, perception of oneself and of the other etc.Among the possible reasons could be that their teaching has an interdisciplinary character that challenges teachers to enlarge their strictly linguistic domain and include new items like improving self awareness, increasing self-fulfillment and satisfaction, releasing psychological blocks, releasing stress etc. On the other hand, students, who are open and interested in such training, have never been exposed to organized educational systems of soft skills such as self-awareness.
The present paper aims, therefore, at suggesting ways of using some possible e-learning based techniques for developing the so far ignored aspects of soft skills acquisition by the students of technical universities. The ideas underlying the chains of original tasks which have been created are based on the research conducted by the author and several foreign language teachers in the Politehnica University of Bucharest.


SQUID and MR magnetic sensors have separately been used for fault isolation of shorts and resistive opens in integrated circuits and packages. These two technologies were once considered to be mutually exclusive, although recent studies [1] rather pointed to their complementary character. This paper shows, for the first time, the use of these two sensors together to isolate a low resistance short in a Quad-NAND gate microcircuit. Electrical test confirmed low resistance shorts between three of the device pins. However, internal optical inspection found no evidence of failure. The low resistance of the shorts was deemed insufficient for liquid crystal analysis. Magnetic current imaging with a SQUID sensor confirmed current flow through the package lead frame and isolated the defect to the microcircuit. Due to package design and the resulting distance of the scan plane, the SQUID was unable to resolve the current path on the microcircuit. In parallel with the SQUID, a magnetoresistive (MR) probe was employed to fit inside the device cavity, make direct contact with the microcircuit, and map high-resolution current images. Two sites with high-current density were accurately identified by MCI in input transistors. Subsequent deprocessing revealed that the defects were located under a broad sheet of aluminum metallization which blocked optical detection, and rendered detection by thermal emission difficult.


Most sports men and women would regard competition at the European and international level as one of the high points of a sporting career. In order to organise competitions at European level it is usually a pre-requisite to create a European association to organise the sport. From the earliest days of international sporting competitions in the nineteenth century to the present time, the strategic choices to be made when creating an international sport association have remained constant. These are: where to locate the association, geographically, and what legal form the international association should adopt? These basic questions have to be addressed, not only by those wishing to create new, international sports associations, but also by existing international associations. With regard to existing international sports associations, some of these may have to review their existing structures and locations as a result of expanding national memberships or the increasing commercial and legal pressures on the sports that they govern and represent. This article suggests that there is a strong case to be made for new and existing European sports associations to consider establishing some form of legal presence in Brussels, the administrative and political centre of the European Union. This is because, amongst other things, Brussels is the location where European sporting bodies might be better able to influence the regulatory and political decisions that may affect their various sports. This article then proceeds to consider what form that presence could take. Various options are examined and due attention is given to the special legal structures made available to international not-for-profit sports associations under Belgian law. What is of particular interest in this connection is the new Belgian Law of 2 May 2002 on not-for-profit associations, which came into force in July 2003. It is suggested that this new law provides two improved legal structures that could be valuable to those wishing to create new European sporting associations and to those existing associations who may be reviewing their existing structures to be more effective promoters of their sports.


Abstract Aim: This study was designed to investigate the hemodynamics of the uteroplacental circulation in normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies using the biomagnetometer SQUID. Method: Twenty-two pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia and 49 normal pregnancies were included in this study. All were near term. Biomagnetic signals were recorded from the uterine arteries. After statistical Fourier analysis, the findings were designated in terms of spectral amplitudes as high (140–300 fT/√Hz), low (50–110 fT/√Hz) and borderline (111–139 fT/√Hz). Results: The uterine artery waveforms and the corresponding spectral densities were of high amplitudes in most (89.7 %) normal pregnancies and of low amplitudes in most (81.8 %) pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia (p < 0.005). These findings were of statistical significance and were correlated with fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring, pH, Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes and birth weight percentiles: high amplitude cases were related with normal FHR patterns, pH > 7.25, Apgar score >7 and birth weight > 75th percentile, while low amplitude recordings were connected with abnormal FHR patterns, pH < 7.25, Apgar score < 7, and birth weight < 10th percentile (8 cases) and < 50th percentile (10 cases). Conclusion: Biomagnetic measurement of the uterine artery flow, is a promising procedure in assessing fetal health, especially in high-risk pregnancies.


The finding of sacral dimples in newborns has been considered as a cutaneous sign for underlying Occult Spinal Dysraphism (OSD). As such, even isolated findings are worked up with a screening ultrasound and often a followup Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) of the lumbar spine. This is an effort to avoid missing a detrimental malformation and to allow for early treatment. These modalities are not without risks, especially as newborns must often undergo anesthesia for MRI procedures. When sacral dimples are found without other cutaneous signs/lesions the probability that an OSD exists is low and falsepositive ultrasound findings can lead to unneeded health risks. A screening ultrasound should only be performed when sacral dimples are found with other cutaneous signs, especially those that have demonstrated higher associations with underlying OSD.


This thesis aims at a critical understanding of how the curriculum policy making process is perceived by teachers and policy-makers in The Gambia � a former British colony. The complexity of curriculum policy issues requires this study to draw on multiple theoretical underpinnings in order to gain insight into curriculum policy relating to Basic Education in The Gambia. Therefore, curriculum theories and education policy literature including the issues of globalisation and national policy are engaged to frame the data collection, analysis and findings. Data obtained from semi structured interviews are used to analyse the perceptions. The thesis examines critically the historical and contemporary approaches to curriculum policy making, identifies the key policy players and analyses their significance in the construction of the national curriculum policy. The thesis further investigates experiences and views about the policy in practice and recommends a new approach to the curriculum policy making. Two levels of the curriculum policy making process are found to be influential in The Gambia: the international (global) and the national and local levels. While the global influences are profound on the strategic education policy, the national and local effects are stronger than the global impact on the operational policy (curriculum plans). The thesis argues that policy is not simply received and implemented as given. Although incidences of compliance are noted, curriculum policy guidelines developed by the Ministry of Education are continually interpreted, sometimes misunderstood and/or resisted by the teachers. Gaps between policy and the implementation are found, resulting from the resource constraints and the practitioners� influences and impacts. A curriculum policy reform is recommended, recognising the centrality of teachers in the curriculum process, promoting the empowerment of the teachers and building their capacity to engage in informed policy mediation and to enable them to put their own policy into practice


A new device, the ThAIRapy® Bronchial Drainage System, enables patients with cystic fibrosis to self‐administer the technique of high frequency chest compression (HFCC) to assist with mucociliary clearance. We review the literature on HFCC and outline a case study of a patient currently using the ThAIRapy® Bronchial Drainage System. While mucociliary clearance and lung function may be enhanced by HFCC therapy, more research is needed to determine its efficacy, cost benefits, and optimum treatment guidelines. Although our initial experience with the patient using this device has been positive, we were unable to accurately evaluate the ThAIRapy® Bronchial Drainage System. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The amount of data that people and companies store has grown exponentially over the last few years. Storing this information alone is not enough, because in order to make it useful we need to be able to efficiently search inside it. Furthermore, it is highly valuable to keep the historic data of each document stored, allowing to not only access and search inside the newest version, but also over the whole history of the documents. Grammar-based compression has proven to be very effective for repetitive data, which is the case for versioned documents. In this thesis we present several results on representing textual information and searching in it. In particular, we present text indexes for grammarbased compressed text that support searching for a pattern and extracting substrings of the input text. These are the first general indexes for grammar-based compressed text that support searching in sublinear time. In order to build our indexes, we present new results on representing binary relations in a space-efficient manner, and construction algorithms that use little space to achieve their goal. These two results have a wide range of applications. In particular, the representations for binary relations can be used as a building block for several structures in computer science, such as graphs, inverted indexes, etc. Finally, we present a new index, that uses on grammar-based compression, to solve the document listing problem. This problem deals with representing a collection of texts and searching for the documents that contain a given pattern. In spite of being similar to the classical text indexing problem, this problem has proven to be a challenge when we do not want to pay time proportional to the number of occurrences, but time proportional to the size of the result. Our proposal is designed particularly for versioned text, allowing the storage of a collection of documents with all their historic versions in little space. This is currently the smallest structure for such a purpose in practice.


Stochastic local search (SLS) algorithms are well known for their ability to efficiently find models of random instances of the Boolean satisfiablity (SAT) problem. One of the most famous SLS algorithms for SAT is WalkSAT, which is an initial algorithm that has wide influence among modern SLS algorithms. Recently, there has been increasing interest in WalkSAT, due to the discovery of its great power on large random 3-SAT instances. However, the performance of WalkSAT on random $k$-SAT instances with $k>3$ lags far behind. Indeed, there have been few works in improving SLS algorithms for such instances. This work takes a large step towards this direction. We propose a novel concept namely $multilevel$ $make$. Based on this concept, we design a scoring function called $linear$ $make$, which is utilized to break ties in WalkSAT, leading to a new algorithm called WalkSAT$lm$. Our experimental results on random 5-SAT and 7-SAT instances show that WalkSAT$lm$ improves WalkSAT by orders of magnitudes. Moreover, WalkSAT$lm$ significantly outperforms state-of-the-art SLS solvers on random 5-SAT instances, while competes well on random 7-SAT ones. Additionally, WalkSAT$lm$ performs very well on random instances from SAT Challenge 2012, indicating its robustness.


More than half of wetland area in the U.S. have been converted to other land use types for agricultural use and development. Limited understanding of ecological services provided to society by wetlands is another reason for the massive wetland loss in the past. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and the 1989 federal mandate of "no net wetland loss" supported increased efforts for wetland restoration and creation to compensate for two centuries of ecosystem degradation. Hydrology is a critical driver for wetland formation and sustainability, yet few studies have investigated the ecosystem benefits of restored or constructed wetlands relative to natural wetlands. Considering that unexpected ecohydrologic behaviors such as drought have been reported as a main cause of unsuccessful restoration over the U.S., understanding and quantifying water movement within the local seeing is imperative to future wetland restoration. From an environmental engineering perspective, wetlands are regarded as complex environments controlled by regional geomorphology, atmosphere, geologic setting, and human activity. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with developing a hydrogeomorphic assessment approach for wetlands in the various regions throughout the U.S. to facilitate wetland restoration. This effort was redirected in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but the need for assessment tools persists for several remaining regions including the southern coastlines. The first part of the dissertation reports an investigation of impacts of geomorphic settings on hydrologic functions within the St. Lawrence River plain. Regional geomorphology links wetlands and surrounding areas by multiple pathways of water transfer such as groundwater exchange and surface water connections. However, recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County versus U.S. Army CorpsSWANCC (2001) and Rapanos versus U.S. (2006) overturned federal protection of wetlands by the Clean Water Act unless the wetlands are shown to be geographically connected with jurisdictional waters. These rulings jeopardize mitigation wetlands without federal protection because typical restoration practices often minimize surface water connection as a result of dredge-and-fill methods. Hydrologic behaviors and services of the geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs) were hypothesized to be identical to those of geographically connected wetlands in this study. Experimental evidence suggest that hydrologic connectivity is maintained between GIWs and downstream waters via subsurface flow exchange. Greater correlations for GIWs than the other connectivity types were found between variables including standard deviation of groundwater, geographic attributes (e.g., site elevation) and hydrologic attributes (e.g., duration of subsurface flow reversal). Mean groundwater table depended most strongly on wetland fraction within a drainage area. Water temperature, particularly in summer, strongly influences the environmental suitability for wetland species such as a Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) for nesting in northern New York. Although temperature dependency of wetland fauna has been investigated to determine the range of suitable environmental conditions, the hydrogeomorphic controls on seasonal thermal regimes of wetlands were not addressed in prior studies. In this study, temperature regimes at multiple sites under uniform climate and geologic settings were investigated to understand the controls on wetland temperature in several of hydrogeomorphic settings. Local geomorphology and alterations by wetland restoration affected wetland thermal regimes via various seasonal subsurface flow exchange patterns. Thermal sensitivity is defined as a response in surface water temperature to change in air temperature. Based on wetland temperature measurements, linear regression was used to estimate thermal sensitivity for each site. Summer temperature values were shown as primary determinants by site comparison. In addition, the thermal sensitivity values were compared to site variables to seek for local controls. Results suggest that geographical and hydrologic variables including site elevation, duration of subsurface flow reversal, and standard deviation of wetland stage and groundwater table are significantly correlated with thermal sensitivity. Geomorphic settings are useful resources to characterize site hydrology and thermal functions of wetlands. Wetland restoration practitioners need to carefully choose class-appropriate hydrogeomorphic settings to promote establishment and conservation of temperature-sensitive species. Finally, the impact of the land surface energy budget was measured to assess the patch level controls on evapotranspiration by various wetland species. Infrared thermometry was used within a standard meteorological measurement system to determine energy partitioning between sensible and latent heat fluxes in wetlands. A portable thermal infrared (TIR) camera was used to capture radiometric surface temperature of leaves, i.e., evapotranspiring surfaces, and then to estimate sensible and thus latent heat flux associated with a portable weather station. Two TIRbased methods including TIR temperature-based surface energy balance (SEB) and Bowen ratio () were compared to the well-known Priestley-Taylor (P-T) method for four species-level patches. For wetland plants including hardstem bulrush (Scirpus Spp.), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), cattail (Typha Spp.) and meadow willow (Salix petiolaris), results are similar for the TIR-based and P-T methods with mean absolute difference of 17.1-53.0 W m and root mean squared difference of 23.4-62.4 W m across sites. Greater differences were found from parameterization of aerodynamic resistance for flexible and tall vegetation structure and especially for greater wind speed. Finally, estimated crop coefficients will be useful for regional wetland restoration planning by providing major losses in local water budget. Ecohydrology of Natural and Restored Wetlands in a Glacial Plain


Research on the reciprocal influence of spatial thinking and GIScience training is limited (Wakabayashi & Ishikawa, 2011). In the current project, we examine improvement in spatial navigation in undergraduates enrolled in GIS classes over the course of a semester. Students enrolled in strategic communications (SC), a low-spatial content class, were used as a control group. Fifty students were trained and tested at 2 time points – beginning and end of a semester – in a virtual navigation task (Silcton; Weisberg, et. al., 2014). We hypothesize that a significantly higher number of GIS students as compared to SC students will be Integrators i.e. they will find the most targets within-route and between-route in the virtual environment. Furthermore, we hypothesize that GIS students will show a significantly greater improvement at time point 2 as compared to SC students. This research has important implications for spatial training and educational pedagogy in STEM disciplines.


This study aimed at examining potential associations of mid sleep timing (chronotype) and social jetlag with intake of alcohol and caffeine, depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of healthy young women. Furthermore, it was explored whether these behavioral sleep–wake parameters are associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In total, 146 women (21.7 ± 1.7 years) took part in a two-week assessment on daily consumption of alcohol and caffeine. They completed questionnaires on ACEs, chronotype, sleep quality and depressive symptoms. Partial correlations and Chi-Square tests were calculated to assess the relationships between the assessed variables. Results show an association on a trend level for chronotype (r = 0.162, p = 0.053) and a significant association for social jetlag (r = 0.169, p = 0.044) with average alcohol intake. Furthermore, participants with above-median ACEs were more likely to be late chronotypes compared to the below-median group (X2(2) = 6.595, p = 0.037). We could replicate the association among late chronotype, social jetlag and higher alcohol consumption in a sample of healthy, young women. Furthermore, our results suggest a relationship between ACEs and chronotype. Although it can be hypothesized that it is rather ACEs that have an impact on chronotype, further research is needed to explore this relationship more and to shed more light on the direction of the association between chronotype and ACEs as well as on underlying mechanisms and possible mediators.


The presence of fungal species associated with herbaceous plants was monitored in coastal Marin County, California, USA. The research involved a combination of field sampling surveys and data collection using a stratified random design, pathogen identification through microbiological and molecular analysis, and descriptive analysis and ordination of results. A total of two years of repeated sampling (four times a year) was organized to allow for the detection of seasonal differences in pathogen presence on aerial plant parts. The objective of this study was to identify microbial species present on herbaceous plants using ITS1 sequence analysis. Throughout March of 2018 to March of 2020, a total of 843 samples were collected from five sample transect locations in coastal Marin County. From those 843 samples, thirty-four representative fungal and fungus-like isolates were grown into pure cultures; 16 isolates were identified at the species level, and 10 isolates on genus or family level, mostly belonging to the Ascomycota. At least one of the species identified in this study (Phytophthora ramorum, Oomycota) has not been found to be associated with the host plant it was isolated from (Marah fabacea) thus far. No significant effect of seasonality, geographic location and soil type on microbial biodiversity and abundance was detected.


The association between bovine major histocompatibility system (BoLA) type and persistent lymphocytosis in cattle with antibodies to bovine leukaemia virus was examined by comparing antigen frequencies in cattle with persistent lymphocytosis to controls matched for age, sex, breed and presence of antibodies to BLV. The cattle came from nine dairy herds in south-east Queensland, Australia; six herds were Australian Illawarra Shorthorn (AIS), two herds were Jersey and one herd was Friesian. Antigen W6 and Eu28R were more common in cattle with persistent lymphocytosis than in controls. Antigen W8 was less common in AIS cattle with persistent lymphocytosis. A study of 24 offspring from one sire, heterozygous for W10 and Eu28R, showed that offspring inheriting Eu28R from the sire were significantly more likely to have antibodies to BLV than offspring inheriting the opposing W10 haplotype.


This thesis presents a perceptual system for a humanoid robot that integrates abilities such as object localization and recognition with the deeper developmental machinery required to forge those competences out of raw physical experiences. It shows that a robotic platform can build up and maintain a system for object localization, segmentation, and recognition, starting from very little. What the robot starts with is a direct solution to achieving figure/ground separation: it simply 'pokes around' in a region of visual ambiguity and watches what happens. If the arm passes through an area, that area is recognized as free space. If the arm collides with an object, causing it to move, the robot can use that motion to segment the object from the background. Once the robot can acquire reliable segmented views of objects, it learns from them, and from then on recognizes and segments those objects without further contact. Both low-level and high-level visual features can also be learned in this way, and examples are presented for both: orientation detection and affordance recognition, respectively.
The motivation for this work is simple. Training on large corpora of annotated real-world data has proven crucial for creating robust solutions to perceptual problems such as speech recognition and face detection. But the powerful tools used during training of such systems are typically stripped away at deployment. Ideally they should remain, particularly for unstable tasks such as object detection, where the set of objects needed in a task tomorrow might be different from the set of objects needed today. The key limiting factor is access to training data, but as this thesis shows, that need not be a problem on a robotic platform that can actively probe its environment, and carry out experiments to resolve ambiguity. This work is an instance of a general approach to learning a new perceptual judgment: find special situations in which the perceptual judgment is easy and study these situations to find correlated features that can be observed more generally. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)


Title: Shear bond strength of a ceromer to noble and base metal alloys Authors: Dorriz H. Assistant Professor*, Eilkhan B. Prosthodontist Address:* Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences Background and Aim: The improvement of the physical and chemical properties of resins as well as great advances achieved in the field of chemical bonding of resin to metal has changed the trend of restorative treatments. Today the second generation of laboratory resins have an important role in the restoration of teeth. The clinical bond strength should be reliable in order to gain successful results. In this study the shear bond strength (SBS) between targis (a ceromer) and two alloys (noble and base metal) was studied and the effect of thermocycling on the bond investigated. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, alloys samples were prepared according to the manufacturer. After sandblasting of bonding surfaces with 50μ AI2o3 Targis was bonded to the alloy using Targis I link. All of the samples were placed in 37°C water for a period of 24 hours. Then half of the samples were subjected to 1000 cycles of thermocycling at temperatures of 5°C and 55°C. Planear shear test was used to test the bond strength in the Instron machine with the speed rate of 0.5mm/min. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Two-way analysis of variance was used to compare the bond strength among the groups. T test was used to compare the alloys. The influence of thermocycling and alloy type on bond strength was studied using Mann Whitney test. P<0.05 was considered as the limit of significance. Result: The studied alloys did not differ significantly, when the samples were not thermocycled (P=0.136) but after thermocycling a significant difference was observed in SBS of resin to different alloys (P=000.1). Thermal stress and alloy type had significant interaction, with regard to shear bond strength (P=0.003). There was a significant difference in SBS before and after thermocycling in noble alloys (P=0.009), but this was not true in base metals (P=0.29). Maximum SBS (19.09 Mpa) belonged to Degubond 4, before thermocycling. Minimum SBS (8.21 Mpa) was seen in Degubond 4 after thermocycling. Conclusion: The effect of thermocycling in reducing bond strength of resin to metal depends on the type of alloy. The noble metal studied is significantly affected by thermal tensions.


In the aftermath of the 2007 global financial crisis, regulators have agreed a substantial tightening of prudential regulation for banks operating in the traditional banking sector (TBS). The TBS is stringently regulated under the Basel Accords to moderate financial stability and to minimise risk to government and taxpayers. While prudential regulation is important from a financial stability perspective, the flipside is that the Basel Accords only apply to the TBS, they do not regulate the shadow banking sector (SBS). While it is not disputed that the SBS provides numerous benefits given the net credit growth of the economy since the global financial crisis has come from the SBS rather than traditional banking channels, the SBS also poses many risks. Therefore, the fact that the SBS is not subject to prudential regulation is a cause of serious systemic concern. The introduction of Basel IV, which compliments Basel III, seeks to complete the Basel framework on prudential banking regulation. On the example of this set of standards and its potential negative consequences for the TBS, this paper aims to visualise the incentives for TBS institutions to move some of their activities into the SBS, and thus stress the need for more comprehensive regulation of the SBS. Current coronavirus crisis forced Basel Committee to postpone implementation of the Basel IV rules – this could be perceived as a chance to complete the financial regulatory framework and address the SBS as well.


An infected insect bite was initially diagnosed, and a course of oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was started. Eight days later, the patient returned with worsening symptoms and a "white thing poking in and out" of one of the lesions (A). He was advised to occlude the lesion with petroleum jelly and an adhesive bandage. The next day, the patient brought in the "creature" that had emerged from the lesion. It was subsequently identified as a larva of the human botfly, Dermatobia hominis. A second larva emerged from the other lesion 1 week later.


Existing storage stacks are top heavy and expect little from block storage. As a result, new high-level storage abstractions—and new designs for existing abstractions—are difficult to realize, requiring developers to implement from scratch complex functionality such as failure atomicity and fine-grained concurrency control. In this article, we argue that pushing transactional isolation into the block store (in addition to atomicity and durability) is both viable and broadly useful, resulting in simpler high-level storage systems that provide strong semantics without sacrificing performance. We present Isotope, a new block store that supports ACID transactions over block reads and writes. Internally, Isotope uses a new multiversion concurrency control protocol that exploits fine-grained, subblock parallelism in workloads and offers both strict serializability and snapshot isolation guarantees. We implemented several high-level storage systems over Isotope, including two key-value stores that implement the LevelDB API over a hash table and B-tree, respectively, and a POSIX file system. We show that Isotope's block-level transactions enable systems that are simple (100s of lines of code), robust (i.e., providing ACID guarantees), and fast (e.g., 415MB/s for random file writes). We also show that these systems can be composed using Isotope, providing applications with transactions across different high-level constructs such as files, directories, and key-value pairs.


Recently, Li proposed a new password authentication and user anonymity scheme based on elliptic curve cryptography. In this paper, we will show that Li's scheme is vulnerable to the impersonation attack and the denial of service attack. Moreover, we also point out that there is an error in his scheme. To overcome the weaknesses of Li's scheme, we proposed an efficient password authentication scheme based on elliptic curve cryptography. The proposed scheme improves the security and efficiency of the authentication process. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.43.4.6579


Kenya is playing a significant role in the development of post-2015 MDG and SDG frameworks. This is compatible with the desire of the new leadership to be more proactive in the negotiation of international agreements. However, the synergies between various leadership roles remain under-exploited, ultimately reducing Kenyan influence. In Kenya, the MDG period saw a fairly unsuccessful struggle to move away from the notion that the framework was an externally driven means to guide development assistance. While the present consultations around MDGs and SDGs might mean that governments will identify themselves more closely with the new framework, it does not mean that the framework will adequately reflect the views of the poor. Furthermore, there is a risk that a strong post-2015 framework will dilute the imperative of human rights. The human rights framework offers the prospect of more transformative change, and there is a risk that it will be undermined if it does not form the core of the post-2015 agreement.


We study the causes of "nutritional inequality": why the wealthy tend to eat more healthfully than the poor in the U.S. Using two event study designs exploiting entry of new supermarkets and households' moves to healthier neighborhoods, we reject that neighborhood environments have economically meaningful effects on healthy eating. Using a structural demand model, we find that exposing low-income households to the same food availability and prices experienced by high-income households would reduce nutritional inequality by only 9%, while the remaining 91% is driven by differences in demand. In turn, these income-related demand differences are partially explained by education, nutrition knowledge, and regional preferences. These findings contrast with discussions of nutritional inequality that emphasize supply-side issues such as food deserts.


The evaluation of running safety of railway vehicles on viaducts requires the study of lateral dynamics for the coupled vehicle-bridge system. This includes the structural deformation of the bridge, the vehicle multibody dynamics, and the consideration of wheel to rail contact. In this work, a fully nonlinear coupled method for such study is presented. The model is developed in a modular way using finite element models for the structure and multibody dynamics models for the vehicles in an absolute reference, and implemented within an existing finite element commercial code. A key feature is the consideration of the kinematics and dynamics of nonlinear wheel to rail interface, considering elastic-frictional contact. This contact is based on a global geometric constraint between wheelset and track and tangential forces at local level of each contact point. Some elementary applications are presented for the behavior of the model for stable and unstable hunting motion when subjected to transient lateral loads such as a wind gust. These results show the relevance of considering nonlinear effects and in particular wheel to flange contact. © 2012 American Society of Mechanical Engineers.


A novel customized bipolar planar near-field antenna measurement technique is presented. The bipolar near-field scanner incorporates an axially rotating test antenna and a rotating probe-carrying arm to sample the near-field on a data grid consisting of concentric circles and radial arcs. This technique offers a large scan plane size with reduced "real estate" requirements and a simple mechanical implementation resulting in a highly accurate and cost-effective antenna measurement and diagnostic system. This paper gives an introduction to the technique and a description of the unique hardware implementation at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It examines the data processing algorithms that have been developed and customized to exploit the unique features of bipolar planar near-field measurements. Holographic imaging for determination of antenna aperture fields has been incorporated to facilitate antenna diagnostics. Measured results are compared with a far-field range and a plane-rectangular planar near-field range to verify the implementation and validate the method. Excellent agreement was obtained for both the co-polarized and cross-polarized fields.<<ETX>>


Culture, defined as a complex concept which includes knowledge, beliefs,
morals, laws, customs, religions and habits acquired by mankind as
members of society, is a key influence on how humans relate to food. As
the unsustainable nature of our food production and consumption is more
widely recognized it is pertinent to explore the role culture has had in
forming current patterns of production and to hypothesize how influential
it will be in developing new, more sustainable patterns.
The poultry industries in both Iran and the UK are complex with
significant social and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain.
Poultry is an important source of protein in the diet of both the UK and
Iran, yet production methods, consumption habits and attitudes towards
the product vary significantly. The industry is therefore perfect for
exploring the role of culture in its supply chain.


The movement away from traditional medical paternalism toward increased patient autonomy presents difficult practical and ethical problems for the physician treating the wide variety of patients seen in clinical practice. A review of the literature supports the concept of matching the physician's practice style with both patient informational issues and the patient's desire to actively participate in medical decision making. Studies also support that this matching principle not only improves physician-patient relationships but is ethically defensible and results in improved clinical outcomes. This article presents such a patient-physician match model as an aid to the practicing clinician.


That humans originated from Africa is well-known. However, this is widely regarded as a chance outcome, dependant simply on where our common ancestor shared the land with where the great apes lived. This volume builds on from the 'Out of Africa' theory, and takes the view that it is only in Africa that the evolutionary transitions from a forest-inhabiting frugivore to savanna-dwelling meat-eater could have occurred. This book argues that the ecological circumstances that shaped these transitions are exclusive to Africa. It describes distinctive features of the ecology of Africa, with emphasis on savanna grasslands, and relates them to the evolutionary transitions linking early ape-men to modern humans. It shows how physical features of the continent, especially those derived from plate tectonics, set the foundations. This volume adequately conveys that we are here because of the distinctive features of the ecology of Africa.


Abstract: Partially identified models typically involve set identification rather than point identification. That is, the distribution of observables is consistent with a set of values for the target parameter, rather than a single value. Interval estimation procedures therefore behave differently than for identified models. For instance, a Bayesian credible set arising from a proper prior distribution will tend to a non-degenerate set as the sample size goes to infinity. A natural question arising is for what parameter values does the limit of the Bayesian credible interval fail to cover its target? Intuition suggests this would arise for parameter values which are not very consistent with the prior distribution. The aim of this paper is to quantify this intuition.


Future development of electric power systems must pursue anumber of different goals. The power system should beeconomically efficient, it should provide reliable energysupply and should not damage the environment. At the same time,operation and development of the system is influenced by avariety of uncertain and random factors. The planner attemptsto find the best strategy from a large number of possiblealternatives. Thus, the complexity of the problems related topower systems planning is mainly caused by presence of multipleobjectives, uncertain information and large number ofvariables. This dissertation is devoted to consideration of themethods for development planning of a certain subsystem, i.e.the distribution network.The dissertation first tries to formulate the networkplanning problem in general form in terms of Bayesian DecisionTheory. However, the difficulties associated with formulationof the utility functions make it almost impossible to apply theBayesian approach directly. Moreover, when approaching theproblem applying different methods it is important to considerthe concave character of the utility function. Thisconsideration directly leads to the multi-criteria formulationof the problem, since the decision is motivated not only by theexpected value of revenues (or losses), but also by theassociated risks. The conclusion is made that the difficultiescaused by the tremendous complexity of the problem can beovercome either by introducing a number of simplifications,leading to the considerable loss in precision or applyingmethods based on modifications of Monte-Carlo or fuzzyarithmetic and Genetic Algorithms (GA), or Dynamic Programming(DP).In presence of uncertainty the planner aims at findingrobust and flexible plans to reducethe risk of considerablelosses. Several measures of risk are discussed. It is shownthat measuring risk by regret may lead to risky solutions,therefore an alternative measure - Expected Maximum Value - issuggested. The general future model, called fuzzy-probabilistictree of futures, integrates all classes of uncertain parameters(probabilistic, fuzzy and truly uncertain).The suggested network planning software incorporates threeefficient applications of GA. The first algorithm searchessimultaneously for the whole set of Pareto optimal solutions.The hybrid GA/DP approach benefits from the global optimizationproperties of GA and local search by DP resulting in originalalgorithm with improved convergence properties. Finally, theStochastic GA can cope with noisy objective functions.Finally, two real distribution network planning projectsdealing with primary distribution network in the large city andsecondary network in the rural area are studied.


This paper deals with the foundations of quantum mechanics. We start by outlining the characterisation, due to Birkhoff and Von Neumann, of the logical structures of the theories of classical physics and quantum mechanics, as boolean and modular lattices respectively. We then derive these descriptions from what we claim are basic properties of any physical theory - i.e. the notion that a quantity in such a theory may be analysed into parts and that the results of this analysis may be treated in languages with an underlying boolean structure. We shall see that in the course of constructing a model of a theory with these properties different indistinguishable possibilities will arise for how the elements of the model may be named, that is to say different possibilities arise for how they can be associated with points from Set. Taking a particular collection of possibilities gives the usual boolean lattice of the propositions of classical physics. Taking all possibilities - in a sense, the set of all things that may be described by physical theories - gives the lattice of quantum mechanical propositions. This gives an interpretation of quantum mechanics as the complete set of such possible descriptions, the complete physical description of the world.


Both the PSO (particle swarm optimization) for global search algorithm and the CMAC (cerebella model articulation controller) algorithm are used in the speed loop of direct torque control system in the permanent magnet synchronous motor. Firstly, the PSO algorithm is applied to search the optimal PID parameters in the domain space, and then the CMAC neural network is adopted to learn and train of the results which derive from the output of the PSO algorithm to furthermore optimize the PID parameters which can improve stability of the system. The DTC control system based on PSO with CMAC algorithmic and the traditional DTC (direct torque control) control system are established and simulated in the MATLAB circumstance whose results were all compared. It revels that the DTC control system based on PSO with CMAC algorithmic is fast response, ideal flux, and good anti-jamming.


Objectives Explore how people perceive different labels for rotator cuff disease in terms of words or feelings evoked by the label and treatments they feel are needed. Setting We performed a content analysis of qualitative data collected in a six-arm, online randomised controlled experiment. Participants 1308 people with and without shoulder pain read a vignette describing a patient with rotator cuff disease and were randomised to one of six labels: subacromial impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tear, bursitis, rotator-cuff-related shoulder pain, shoulder sprain and episode of shoulder pain. Primary and secondary outcomes Participants answered two questions (free-text response) about: (1) words or feelings evoked by the label; (2) what treatments they feel are needed. Two researchers iteratively developed coding frameworks to analyse responses. Results 1308/1626 (80%) complete responses for each question were analysed. Psychological distress (21%), uncertainty (22%), serious condition (15%) and poor prognosis (9%) were most often expressed by those labelled with subacromial impingement syndrome. For those labelled with a rotator cuff tear, psychological distress (13%), serious condition (9%) and poor prognosis (8%) were relatively common, while minor issue was expressed least often compared with the other labels (5%). Treatment/investigation and surgery were common among those labelled with a rotator cuff tear (11% and 19%, respectively) and subacromial impingement syndrome (9% and 10%) compared with bursitis (7% and 5%). Conclusions Words or feelings evoked by certain labels for rotator cuff disease and perceived treatment needs may explain why some labels drive management preferences towards surgery and imaging more than others.


In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, many educators across the country and around the world scrambled to shift their practice from in-person to remote teaching within a matter of days. This global pandemic exposed a significant gap in teacher preparation and training for emergency remote teaching, including teaching with technology to ensure continuity of learning for students at a distance. To learn more about educators' experiences during this crisis, we designed and distributed an online survey that received 325 responses from K-12 educators between April 4 and May 10, 2020. In this article, we share initial insights from the survey and provide recommendations for how to better prepare and support educators for teaching remotely in times of need.


Herein, we treat Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) based on partial channel state information and limited feedback. We propose a novel framework utilizing subspace packings, where beamforming, feedback, and scheduling are integrated. Advantages of the proposed framework are that the fed back supportable rates are based on the post-scheduling SINR and that the feedback implicitly contains information about the spatial compatibility of the users. The feasibility region of packings of different dimensions is indicated by the allocation outage probability which is derived. Grassmannian subspace packings, DFT-based packings, and non-orthogonal Grassmannian packings are formulated and studied as candi- dates. Numerical simulations show better performance for the proposed scheme compared to conventional channel quantization at the receiver with zero-forcing transmission in i.i.d. Rayleigh fading. Finally, we propose and evaluate a beam-graph method to further reduce the feedback load, that can be used in the context of tracking quantized beamformers.


The IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) is the flagship conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society and the world's premiere networking forum for researchers in the highly active fields of theory, design and implementation of circuits and systems. This is accomplished through technical conference sessions, poster sessions, live demonstration sessions, and publication of conference papers. ISCAS 2020 will be driven by the theme Deploying CASS Knowledge towards Society Grand Challenges aiming to emphasize the potential of the CAS Society to find multidisciplinary solutions for the societal and engineering challenges of our times.


Background Adolescent dating violence is an increasing public health problem, viewed in line with the ecological model of influence of different factor. Studies have found that 16% to 90% of adolescents have experienced some form of violence from a dating partner. The study objective was to examine the predictors for higher level of psychological dating violence victimisation and perpetration groups in male and female adolescents, such as: with substance use, self-esteem, hostility, conflict resolution skills, gender stereotypes and acceptance of violence. Methods The convenient sample of 410 students from general/vocational high schools responded to a self-admistrated 7 scales questionnaire. Informed consent and parent consent were provided for adolescents below 18 years prior. The two groups were divided according to the level of prevalence of psychological victimisation and perpetration into mild and higher. The Cronbach's Alpha of the scales varied from 0.72 to 0.80. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results A logistic regression analysis performed predicted that: lower self-esteem (r = −0.077, p < 0.05), hostility (r = 0.028, p < 0.05), and acceptance of violence (r = 0.098, p < 0.05) increase one time more the likelihood for psychological dating violence victimisation in male adolescents. Psychological dating violence victimisation in female adolescents was significantly predicted by: substance use (r = 0.161, p < 0.05) and acceptance of violence (r = 0.226, p < 0.01). Psychological dating violence victimisation in male adolescents is significantly distinguished by the predictors such as: substance use (r = 0 .188, p < 0.05) and acceptance of violence (r = 0.286, p < 0.01), while in female adolescents is the acceptance of violence (r = 0.349, p < 0.01), increasing the likelihood for 1.4 for times more for psychological dating violence victimisation. Conclusions Targeting various risk factors should anticipate analysis while designing violence preventive programmes and intervention targeting adolescents.


BACKGROUND
Despite growing interest concerning the prescription of different drugs in different clinical settings, no explanatory variables have been determined. The aim of this study was to verify if there are any differences in drug prescription at the time of hospital release following myocardial infarction and if any of these differences can be explained by scientific evidence concerning treatment efficacy.

METHODS
All drugs prescribed to 430 patients discharged from three different cardiology departments after acute myocardial infarction were analyzed. Based on current scientific evidence, it has been, ascertained that aspirin, beta-blockers and ACE-inhibitors can be prescribed unless contraindicate whereas anticoagulants, nitrates and calcium antagonists should be prescribed only in specific clinical conditions. The odd ratio of prescription of each drug among the three cardiology departments was calculated and adjusted for any clinical and test result variables that can specifically affect drug prescription.

RESULTS
Different clinical characteristics of the patients discharged from the three cardiology departments are the following: mean age ranges from 60 to 66 years (p < 0.001), the incidence of non-Q myocardial infarction ranges from 23 to 45% (p < 0.001), post infarction angina ranges from 6 to 15% (p = 0.016), left ventricular failure ranges from 6 to 13% (p = 0.003) and arrhythmia ranges from 5 to 18% (p = 0.007). The adjusted odd ratio for clinical and test results variables showed that prescriptions were similar for ACE-inhibitors (odd ratio 1.3; 95% confidence interval from 0.6 to 3.2), aspirin (OR 2.2; 95% confidence interval from 0.8 to 5.5), beta-blockers (OR 2.2, 95% confidence interval from 0.9 to 5.5) and oral anticoagulants (1.6; 95% confidence interval from 0.6 to 4.5). Instead, there is a statistically significant difference in the prescription of nitrates (OR 4.4; 95% confidence interval from 1.6 to 12.3) and of calcium antagonists (OR 5.4%, 95% confidence interval from 1.0 to 12.5).

CONCLUSIONS
Evidence based drug efficacy after acute myocardial infarction seems to establish a uniform pattern of drug prescription in different cardiology departments.


Background Poor sleep quality and insomnia have been associated with the use of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis, but it is unclear if there is a causal link. In this Mendelian Randomization (MR) study we examine if insomnia causes substance use and/or if substance use causes insomnia. Methods MR uses summary effect estimates from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to create a genetic instrumental variable for a proposed 'exposure' variable and then identifies that same genetic instrument in an 'outcome' GWAS. With data of GWAS of insomnia, smoking (initiation, heaviness, cessation), alcohol use (drinks per week, dependence), and cannabis initiation, bi-directional causal effects were tested. Multiple sensitivity analyses were applied to assess the robustness of the findings. Results There was strong evidence for positive causal effects of insomnia on all substance use phenotypes (smoking traits, alcohol dependence, cannabis initiation), except alcohol per week. The effects on alcohol dependence and cannabis initiation were attenuated after filtering out pleiotropic SNPs. In the other direction, there was strong evidence that smoking initiation increased chances of insomnia (smoking heaviness and cessation could not be tested as exposures). We found no evidence that alcohol use per week, alcohol dependence, or cannabis initiation causally affect insomnia. Conclusions There were unidirectional effects of insomnia on alcohol dependence and cannabis initiation, and bidirectional effects between insomnia and smoking measures. Bidirectional effects between smoking and insomnia might give rise to a vicious circle. Future research should investigate if interventions aimed at insomnia are beneficial for substance use treatment.


This study aims to show that language purification policies are the most important factors that influence Korean language differentiation, based on the premise that Korean is a pluricentric language having two regional varieties: South Korean P'yojuno and North Korean Munhwao. To this end, on the basis of a precedent study that analyzed regional variation mechanisms in French through four factors—terminological, socio-terminological, psycho-terminological, and extra-terminological—we identified two factors having great influence on the language change in South and North Korean societies: socio-terminological and extra-terminological. We also found that these factors precisely correspond to two categories in Kloss's(1969) theory of language planning— corpus planning and status planning; this confirmed that we should consider Korean language differentiation from the standpoint of language policy. There are many factors that cause language differentiation, and there is no doubt that these factors also have complex interrelationships. However, this study is all the more meaningful in that it uses systematic analysis to state that language policy plays an important role in Korean language differentiation.


Embedded in technological, economic, and social transformations, project management has had to cope with a palpable extension of its perimeter. Until recently, project management was centralized within a single organization. It is now, however, opening towards a moving business ecosystem framed with more or less successful partnerships linking cooperative and competing companies. Consequently, project management needs to be renewed. Our research aims at explaining some of the mutations of project management by considering current practices in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is facing the most challenging technological and strategic changes ever experienced since Ford, which leads us to believe that understanding the nature of project management in this industry may be a great asset for other sectors as well.


Sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are principal elements of the extracellular matrix, where they are involved in a plethora of signaling pathways mainly via interactions with diverse proteins such as growth factors and cytokines. However, the mechanisms that drive these interactions are not yet clear, mostly because of the difficulty to access large quantities of homogeneously sulfated natural GAGs. In this work, GAG mimics are synthesized from readily available alginate with different degrees of sulfation (DS, from 0.8 to 2.6) by simple process. The effect of the DS is determined on the binding of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF‐2). The enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay demonstrates that the binding of FGF‐2 is significantly greater for alginates with high DS as compared to unmodified and low sulfated analogs. These results are further applied to engineer FGF‐2‐loaded substrates for stem cell culturing using the layer‐by‐layer approach. All films support the attachment and growth of adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs). Noteworthy, highly sulfated alginates maintain the stemness of the ADSCs that exhibit remarkably long filopodia. These results can be exploited in the engineering of novel substrates that induce targeted cell behavior via controlled protein delivery and for tissue engineering constructs applicable in various regenerative approaches.


Background Available HIV prevention interventions are partially efficacious, but might offer the best strategy to control HIV through synergistic combination and targeting. Home-based HIV testing and counselling (HBCT), conducted house-to-house, provides rapid population-level knowledge of HIV serostatus and a means to facilitate access to combined HIV prevention interventions: expedited referral to antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV+ persons, counselling for behaviour change, promotion of and referral for male circumcision and topical or oral PrEP for high-risk HIV- persons. Thus, massively conducted HBCT could serve as a platform for achieving high coverage of combination HIV prevention (HBCT-plus). Methods We used age-sex stratified mathematical model to investigate the impact of HBCT-plus-including population-wide HBCT, behaviour change counselling, initiation of ART for HIV+ persons meeting national guidelines, topical PrEP, and male circumcision-on population-level HIV incidence. Our model was calibrated to data for KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Effects of HBCT and other components of the HBCT-plus intervention package were based on empirical data from African settings. Results Without major intervention efforts in this province, the model projects HIV incidence to be approximately 2% through the year 2020. In contrast, with high-coverage of HBCT-plus intervention the model indicates that incidence could be reduced by approximately half, to 1%, under assumptions inAbstract O1-S06.04 table 1. Short and long term reductions in HIV incidence are mediated by short and long term behaviour changes following HBCT, respectively, and are manifested by repeated rounds of HBCT every 4 years. Longer-term impacts are supported by a reduction in infectiousness (due to timely initiation of ART as a result of earlier knowledge of serostatus because of HBCT) and susceptibility (due to circumcision) as well as associated 'herd immunity' effects. Abstract O1-S06.04 Table 1 Uptake assumptions for combination HIV prevention (HBCT-plus) HBCT intervention  HBCT coverage 90% Linkage to ART intervention  Uptake at CD4=350 10%  Uptake at CD4=200 70%  Uptake at CD4=50 50% Circumcision intervention  Uptake over 4 years 50% Conclusions Multiple evidence-based HIV preventive interventions combined and delivered through a platform of periodic HBCT could reduce population-level HIV incidence in South Africa by 50% within 4 years. Fast and slow acting components affecting infectiousness and susceptibility can make combination packages particularly strong. Multiple partially-effective tools for HIV prevention can be combined and if coverage is sufficient, substantial reductions in HIV incidence are potentially within reach.


We combine data from two all-sky surveys in order to study the connection between the infrared and hard X-ray (>10 keV) properties for local active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The Swift Burst Alert Telescope all-sky survey provides an unbiased, flux-limited selection of hard X-ray-detected AGNs. Cross-correlating the 22 month hard X-ray survey with the AKARI all-sky survey, we studied 158 AGNs detected by the AKARI instruments. We find a strong correlation for most AGNs between the infrared (9, 18, and 90 μm) and hard X-ray (14–195 keV) luminosities, and quantify the correlation for various subsamples of AGNs. Partial correlation analysis confirms the intrinsic correlation after removing the redshift contribution. The correlation for radio galaxies has a slope and normalization identical to that for Seyfert 1 galaxies, implying similar hard X-ray/infrared emission processes in both. In contrast, Compton-thick (CT) sources show a large deficit in the hard X-ray band, because high gas column densities diminish even their hard X-ray luminosities. We propose two photometric diagnostics for source classification: one is an X-ray luminosity versus infrared color diagram, in which type 1 radio-loud AGNs are well isolated from the others in the sample. The other uses the X-ray versus infrared color as a useful redshift-independent indicator for identifying CT AGNs. Importantly, CT AGNs and starburst galaxies in composite systems can also be differentiated in this plane based upon their hard X-ray fluxes and dust temperatures. This diagram may be useful as a new indicator to classify objects in new and upcoming surveys such as WISE and NuSTAR.


Nasoalveolar molding (NAM) is a recent infant orthopedic appliance constructed in cleft lip and palate patients below 3–4 months of age because the moldability of primary cartilage is very high due to high estrogen content in infants below 4 months of age. We started NAM therapy in this case at 3 weeks of age and continued till 4 months of age, the cleft lip gap decreased from 19 mm to 9 mm and palate (alveolar) gap reduced from 9 mm to 3 mm, there was also improvement in nasal anatomy. This is an important case report in which we have successfully completed NAM therapy and also followed the case after lip surgery for 6 months which resulted in better surgical outcome in terms of function and esthetics. In conclusion, we suggest that presurgical NAM improves esthetics, decreases cleft deformities, and prepares the patients for less surgical procedures with better results.


In recent times, the application of small-scale horizontal axis wind turbines (SHAWTs) has drawn interest in certain areas where the energy demand is minimal. These turbines, operating mostly at low Reynolds number (Re) and low tip speed ratio (λ) applications, can be used as stand-alone systems. The present study aims at the design, development, and testing of a series of SHAWT models. On the basis of aerodynamic characteristics, four SHAWT models viz., M1, M2, M3, and M4 composed of E216, SG6043, NACA63415, and NACA0012 airfoils, respectively have been developed. Initially, the rotors are designed through blade element momentum theory (BEMT), and their power coefficient have been evaluated. Thence, the developed rotors are tested in a low-speed wind tunnel to find their rotational frequency, power and power coefficient at design and off-design conditions. From BEMT analysis, M1 shows a maximum power coefficient (Cpmax) of 0.37 at λ = 2.5. The subsequent wind tunnel tests on M1, M2, M3, and M4 at 9 m/s show the Cpmax values to be 0.34, 0.30, 0.28, and 0.156, respectively. Thus, from the experiments, the M1 rotor is found to be favourable than the other three rotors, and its Cpmax value is found to be about 92% of BEMT prediction. Further, the effect of pitch angle (θp) on Cp of the model rotors is also examined, where M1 is found to produce a satisfactory performance within ±5° from the design pitch angle (θp, design).


Estimation of indigestible neutral detergent fibre (iNDF) is necessary for accurate and precise predictions of feed energy values and potential microbial protein from digested NDF in the rumen. Due to lengthy laboratory procedures, iNDF has been estimated using the formula ADL×2.4 (iNDF2.4). The relationship between iNDF and acid detergent lignin (ADL) is more variable, across and within forage species. The purpose of our study was then to assess the variability of iNDF and respective implications on ration fine-tuning for dairy cattle. Sixty forages, including grasses, maize silages and lucerne hays, were fermented in vitro from 0 to 240 hours. Residual NDF of the fermented samples were obtained at 0, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 216 and 240 h, with the last value assumed to represent iNDF (iNDF240).This was used to obtain the potentially digestible NDF fraction (pdNDF). Rates of digestion of pdNDF were obtained assuming a first order decay. Simulations with the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS v 6.1, 2012) were done to evaluate the effects of the different estimated iNDF and NDF rate of digestion (kd) on energy and microbial protein estimations, assuming the requirements of a high-yielding lactating cow and a standard TMR with at least 50% forage. Results were dependent on the amount of forage and respective NDF and ADL. The iNDF240 values resulted between 1% and 136% higher than the iNDF2.4 values. The reduced pdNDF pool resulted in both lower cell wall linked protein in the rumen and microbial protein of around 5 to 165 g, and, as a consequence, on a total decreased metabolizable protein for milk. Use of iNDF240 showed consistently lower metabolizable energy (ME) between 2 and 10 MJ/day, compared to when using iNDF2.4. The improved metabolizable protein (MP) and ME values would result in 0.3 to 3.2 kg/d less milk when using iNDF2.4. This research demonstrates how points later in the fermentation curve, even if not biologically relevant for the cow, result in a more accurate and precise estimation of the rate of NDF digestibility. Indigestible NDF estimated at 240 h would give better predictions of rumen parameters in models like the CNCPS and better fine-tuning in dairy cow diets, especially when using high forage and/or NDF rations.


Languages for open-universe probabilistic models (OUPMs) can represent situations with an unknown number of objects and identity uncertainty. While such cases arise in a wide range of important real-world applications, existing general purpose inference methods for OUPMs are far less efficient than those available for more restricted languages and model classes. This paper goes some way to remedying this deficit by introducing, and proving correct, a generalization of Gibbs sampling to partial worlds with possibly varying model structure. Our approach draws on and extends previous generic OUPM inference methods, as well as auxiliary variable samplers for nonparametric mixture models. It has been implemented for BLOG, a well-known OUPM language. Combined with compile-time optimizations, the resulting algorithm yields very substantial speedups over existing methods on several test cases, and substantially improves the practicality of OUPM languages generally.


Manuscript type: Research paperResearch aims: This paper examines the impact of transformationalleadership on salespersons in India by focusing on howtransformational leadership affects their creative performance,intrinsic motivation as well as trust towards their supervisors.Design/ Methodology/ Approach: This study analyses the dyadicdata of 120 employees and their supervisors working in companiesin India. Structural equation modelling was used to test therelationship between transformational leadership and salespersons'creative performance, intrinsic motivation and trust.Research findings: Results suggest that transformational leadershipis positively related to salespersons' creative performance and theirintrinsic motivation. On the contrary, intrinsic motivation doesnot influence creative performance. Findings also demonstratethe connection between transformational leadership and trust insupervisor.Theoretical contributions/ Originality: This study expands onprevious works by looking at creativity in the sales context. Despitethe widespread interest in this field, findings of prior studies havebeen inconclusive, suggesting the existent of a mediator. This studythus fill the gap by providing additional evidence of how intrinsicmotivation and trust in supervisor mediates the relationshipbetween transformational leadership and creative performance. Practitioner/ Policy Implications: The findings of this study suggestthat there is an imperative need for leaders (such as managers orsupervisors) to stimulate the creativity of salespersons so as to boostorganisational goals.Research limitations/ Implications: Future studies may beconducted on a larger and more diverse samples, involvingemployees working in other industries and countries.


A repeating metal-binding (Cu2+ > Ni2+ > Zn2+ approximately Co2+) sequence [HE/AEAH]4 (Tx) has been recently identified in the NH2-terminal variable region of troponin T (TnT) isoforms specifically expressed in the breast but not leg muscles of the avian orders of Galliformes and Craciformes [Jin, J.-P., & Smillie, L. B. (1994) FEBS Lett. 341, 135-140]. In the present study, two expression plasmids were constructed to produce chicken TnT1 NH2-terminal fragments of 47 (N47) or 165 (N165) amino acids containing the Tx metal-binding cluster. The recombinant protein/peptide was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)pLysS and purified by a highly effective Zn(2+)-affinity chromatography method. Amino acid analyses, NH2-terminal peptide sequencing, mass spectrometry and immunological identification confirmed the authenticity of the genetically engineered TnT fragments. In the presence of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, transition metals had significant effects on the secondary structure of TnT fragment N47, as shown by circular dichroism. N165 in non-denaturing buffer demonstrated alpha-helical content comparable to previous data from rabbit fast skeletal TnT fragment T1. Zn(2+)-binding avidity of the metal-binding TnT and its fragments demonstrated tertiary relationships between the NH2-terminal variable region and the COOH-terminal segment of the intact TnT protein. Solid-phase protein-binding assays established that Zn(2+)-binding to the Tx cluster induces epitopic structure changes in this NH2-terminal segment, further affecting other epitopic structures of intact TnT as well as the function of TnT's tropomyosin binding-sites. The results demonstrate that metal ion-binding to the Tx cluster reconfigures the overall conformation of TnT through structural relationships between the NH2-terminal variable region and other domains of the intact TnT molecule. Accordingly, the developmental and/or muscle type specific NH2-terminal structure of TnT isoforms may modulate the Ca(2+)-activation of muscle contraction.


Existing literature on the topic of individual commitment to social movements focuses primarily on how the internal dynamics of those movements foster commitment. In so doing, scholars have largely ignored the ways that intra- and extra- movement mechanisms work in tandem to reinforce commitment in social movements and social movement communities. This thesis draws on original data gathered through participant observation and interviews at a Japanese Ecovillage to speak to the central theoretical question: How is individual commitment to social movement communities—especially those that resemble total institutions—sustained? Building on the work of Kanter (1968, 1972) I argue that four types of mutually-reinforcing mechanisms sustain commitment in high-commitment social movement communities: 1) quotidian rituals and group practices, 2) individual investment and sacrifice, 3) charismatic leadership, and 4) embeddedness within transnational movement networks. I suggest that this fourth kind of commitment mechanism, embeddedness within transnational movement networks, is an understudied type of commitment mechanism that may actively reinforce individuals' affective, instrumental, and moral commitment to high-commitment social movement communities. I conclude by discussing the implications of this analysis for the study of activist commitment to contemporary transnational social movements.


Objective: To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple lifestyle changes among adults in the United States (USA). Methods: We conducted a survey, the Health, Ethnicity, and Pandemic (HEAP) Study, in October 2020 among USA adults. Participants were selected from the United States using 48 sampling strata, including age, race, ethnicity, education, and gender, and were asked to report five lifestyle behaviors (i.e., exercise time, screen time, fast-food meal consumption, alcohol drinking, and cigarette smoking) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The associations of sociodemographic factors with each lifestyle change were estimated using weighted multivariable logistic regression models. Results: All 2709 HEAP participants were included in this study. Compared to pre-pandemic, the time spent on exercise decreased (32.06 vs. 38.65 min/day; p < 0.001) and screen time increased (6.79 vs. 5.06 h/day; p < 0.001) during the pandemic. The percentage of individuals who reported consuming fast-food meals ≥3 times/week decreased from 37.7% before the pandemic to 33.3% during the pandemic. The percentage of heavy drinkers (≥5 times/week) increased from 20.9% before the pandemic to 25.7% during the pandemic. Among smokers, heavy smoking (≥11 cigarettes/day) increased from 5.8% before the pandemic to 7.9% during the pandemic. We also identified subgroups who were more vulnerable to adverse influences from the pandemic, including racial/ethnic minority groups and young adults. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had negative impacts on multiple lifestyle behaviors among Americans. Mitigating such negative impacts of COVID-19 requires effective interventions, particularly for some vulnerable subgroups.


We analyse mothers' retrospective accounts of their transition from professional worker to stay-at-home mother using a framework that integrates sensemaking and border theory. The data come from in-depth interviews with former professional and managerial women in London. Continuing struggles to reconcile professional and maternal identities before and after workplace exit illustrate how identity change is integral to workplace exit. The concept of 'choice', which takes place at one point in time, obfuscates this drawn-out process. Mothers pay a high cost in lost professional identities, especially in the initial stages after workplace exit. They cope with this loss and the disjuncture of leaving employment by moving back and forth across the border between home and work – a classic action of sensemaking. Subsequent communal sensemaking and community action bolster mothers' fragile status at home, eventually leading to reconciliation of their loss and finally enabling them to view their exit 'choice' as right.


As an initial step in the study of the molecular events surrounding the establishment of a mature root apex, analyses of the early germinative growth of the Allium radicle were undertaken. Changes in the level and pattern of the soluble proteins were investigated by polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis and Joyce-Loebl densitometry. Histochemical studies revealed the presence of protein bodies in the terminal mm of the Allium radicle. These bodies underwent depletion and breakdown during germination.

The results of the electrophoretic fractionation of the soluble proteins during germination showed that there was not a proliferation of protein components but, rather, a considerable change in the concentration of existing protein fractions. Several fractions, assumed to be components of the reserve or storage proteins, showed a quantitative depletion correlated in time with the loss of the protein bodies.

Quantification of the soluble proteins during germination showed a 32% decrease per radicle tip over a 67-hour period, but when expressed on a per cell basis a 32% increase was noted. A dramatic increase in protein synthesis, as measured by 3H-leucine incorporation, was initiated after 36 hours' exposure to germinative conditions, that is, at the beginning of radicle protrusion.

A time-ordered sequence of events was noted for the depletion of the protein bodies and their assumed reserve components, suggesting their ultimate utilization in new protein synthesis.


Purpose of review A number of articles have been published in the past several months providing long-term follow-up data on large brachytherapy series from centers of excellence or highly experienced individual practitioners. Our purpose is to review this recent literature and place it in context, especially as compared with notable articles in the recent past that have described less favorable outcomes. Recent findings A total of 3773 patients were included in three large permanent seed implant studies, the first with almost exclusively low-dose rate permanent seed brachytherapy monotherapy, the second including a large proportion of patients receiving 6 months of androgen suppression, and the third including both supplemental external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and hormonal therapy. The 7–10 year biochemical no evidence of disease rates ranged from 94 to 95.6%, with the vast majority of patients achieving prostate specific antigen nadirs less than 0.4 ng/ml. Eight to 10 year follow-up on high-dose rate brachytherapy patients treated with combined EBRT and an high-dose rate boost are equally impressive, especially considering that these series contain a large proportion of men with unfavorable disease. Summary Both low-dose rate and high-dose rate prostate brachytherapy, either alone or given as a boost combined with moderate-dose EBRT, provide impressive long-term disease control and may be the optimal form of intraprostatic dose escalation.


A facile and efficient method is used to synthesize porous iron oxide coated with graphene as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Graphene encapsulation of porous Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 nanorods is directly carried out from FeOOH@GO colloids by taking advantage of an electrostatic self-assembly method, owing to the positively-charged surface of FeOOH and the negatively-charged surface of GO. The combination of graphene and porous iron oxide brings about multifunctional features of the electrode materials as follows: (1) enhanced electrical conductivity makes the electrodes the current collectors; (2) reinforced softness of the electrodes accommodates the large volume changes during charge–discharge cycles; (3) improved high specific surface area of the electrodes increases the accessibility of the active electrode materials to electrolyte; (4) the pores formed by graphene and iron oxide particles facilitate ion transportation; (5) iron oxide particles separate graphene and prevent their restacking or agglomeration, and vice versa, thus improving the immersion and splitting of electrolyte into and out of the electroactive material. Consequently, the porous iron oxide/graphene hybrid nanocomposites deliver a good performance in the electrochemical energy storage for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.


Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs) constitute a core middleware technology for each modern Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution. Given the popularity of the Cloud paradigm, which is based on fundamental SOA concepts, it is only therefore natural to look into how ESBs can be transformed into native building blocks for Cloud platforms. As a first step of this effort, in this work we investigate how ESBs can become multi-tenant aware, i.e. able to support multiple tenants and their users sharing the same ESB instance. A generalized architecture based on the JBI specification implemented by a number of open source ESBs is presented for this purpose. We demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal by means of a proof of concept realization and we evaluate the performance of our solution against a non multi-tenant ESB that was used as the baseline for our implementation.