ABSTRACT Miranda Fricker has characterized epistemic injustice as "a kind of injustice in which someone is wronged specifically in her capacity as a knower" (2007, Epistemic injustice: Power & the ethics of knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 20). Gaslighting, where one agent seeks to gain control over another by undermining the other's conception of herself as an independent locus of judgment and deliberation, would thus seem to be a paradigm example. Yet, in the most thorough analysis of gaslighting to date (Abramson, K. 2014. "Turning up the lights on gaslighting." Philosophical Perspectives 28, Ethics: 1–30), the idea that gaslighting has crucial epistemic dimensions is rather roundly rejected on grounds that gaslighting works by means of a strategy of assertion and manipulation that is not properly understood in epistemic terms. I argue that Abramson's focus on the gaslighter and on the moral wrongness of his actions leads her to downplay ways in which gaslighters nevertheless deploy genuinely epistemic strategies, and to devote less attention to the standpoint and reasoning processes of the victim, for whom the experience of gaslighting has substantial and essential epistemic features. Taking these features into account reveals that all gaslighting has epistemic dimensions and helps to clarify what resistance to gaslighting might look like.


The feasibility of a hybrid biofilm reactor for nitrate and pesticide removal was demonstrated experimentally and theoretically. The reactor consists of an outer cylindrical cathode on which denitrifying autotrophic biofilm was attached and an inner anodic compartment packed with GAC. A bactericide, isoprothiolane (IPT), was used as a model pesticide, which inhibited the biological reduction step of N 2 O to N 2 . In the hybrid biofilm reactor, however, IPT was removed effectively by the GAC anode so that complete denitrification was achieved without accumulation of N 2 O. Simultaneous removal of nitrate and pesticide was evaluated by a mathematical model based on a simplified inhibition kinetics and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Calculation results using the model were in fairly good agreement with experimental results.


A series of ultrasonic techniques being developed for the characterizaton of thick composites are described. Techniques for the in-situ measurements of elastic constants on thick-walled cylinders based on the times of a variety of ultrasonic modes of propagation are first presented, followed by discussion of the determination of the porosity from measurements of the frequency dependence of the attenuation. Two techniques for imaging delamination are then discussed. The first involves inferring si ze from plots of reflected signal amplitude versus lateral position of the transducer with a model for beam propagation in anisotropic media used to deconvolve the effects of the distant and direction dependent beam width. The second makes use of synthetic aperture techniques.


Purpose

As far as the treatment of most complex issues in the design is concerned, approaches based on classical artificial intelligence are inferior compared to the ones based on computational intelligence, particularly this involves dealing with vagueness, multi-objectivity and good amount of possible solutions. In practical applications, computational techniques have given best results and the research in this field is continuously growing. The purpose of this paper is to search for a general and effective intelligent tool for prediction of patient survival after surgery. The present study involves the construction of such intelligent computational models using different configurations, including data partitioning techniques that have been experimentally evaluated by applying them over realistic medical data set for the prediction of survival in pancreatic cancer patients.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of the experiments and research performed over the data belonging to various fields using different intelligent tools, the authors infer that combining or integrating the qualification aspects of fuzzy inference system and quantification aspects of artificial neural network can prove an efficient and better model for prediction. The authors have constructed three soft computing-based adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) models with different configurations and data partitioning techniques with an aim to search capable predictive tools that could deal with nonlinear and complex data. After evaluating the models over three shuffles of data (training set, test set and full set), the performances were compared in order to find the best design for prediction of patient survival after surgery. The construction and implementation of models have been performed using MATLAB simulator.

Findings

On applying the hybrid intelligent neuro-fuzzy models with different configurations, the authors were able to find its advantage in predicting the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. Experimental results and comparison between the constructed models conclude that ANFIS with Fuzzy C-means (FCM) partitioning model provides better accuracy in predicting the class with lowest mean square error (MSE) value. Apart from MSE value, other evaluation measure values for FCM partitioning prove to be better than the rest of the models. Therefore, the results demonstrate that the model can be applied to other biomedicine and engineering fields dealing with different complex issues related to imprecision and uncertainty.

Originality/value

The originality of paper includes framework showing two-way flow for fuzzy system construction which is further used by the authors in designing the three simulation models with different configurations, including the partitioning methods for prediction of patient survival after surgery. Several experiments were carried out using different shuffles of data to validate the parameters of the model. The performances of the models were compared using various evaluation measures such as MSE.


Arcus senilis is a grayish or whitish bow shaped or ringshaped deposit in the cornea. It is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). It is also recognized as a sign of hyperlipidemia. Iridology is an alternative medicine to detect diseases using iris"s pattern observation. Iridologists believe that the grayish or whitish deposit on the iris is sign of presence of cholesterol or Arcus senilis disease. The simple and non-invasive automation system is developed to detect cholesterol presence using iris recognition algorithm in image processing. This study applies iris recognition method to segment out the iris area, normalization process and lastly determines the cholesterol presence using OTSU"s thresholding method and histogram to determine the optimum threshold value. The result showed that the presence of cholesterol was high when the eigenvalue exceeds an optimum threshold value.


Modern society is a multi-cultural consumer society, and there are multiple trends to cater to the tastes of diverse consumers with different sociocultural background. To grasp fashion trends in fast-changing society, how consumer life is changing and what sort of trend is prevailing should be understood above all. A major fashion trend keeps on changing in every season, and that is an extensive and compound measure of what affects the lives and values of cultural receivers who take the lead in it. The purpose of this study was to delve into what sorts of trends were presented in the 21st century's different cultures, how those cultures were reflected in fashion trends, and how design elements predicted by fashion trends could serve as the sources of design that could create a new fashion. The findings of the study were as follows: First of all, the theories of popular culture and trends were reviewed to describe how general receivers found meaning and delight in the products of cultural industry in their own way and how the products were converted into diverse cultural media. Secondly, consumer styles were discussed by classifying consumers into six groups, twixter, duppie, Ubi-Nomad, NONOS, LOHAS and chav, who were generated by changing cultural codes. Thirdly, sociocultural trends and consumer changes brought a lot of diverse changes to fashion trends. The visual materials about the 2005 S/S, F/W Collection were examined to track how changing trends affected fashion style.


The background of this research was about the existence of problems for mosque administrators in South Tapanuli Regency, namely idarah, imarah andri'ayah. Hence, the researchers investigated the performance of the mosque administrator, the problems faced, and the solutions to overcome those problems in the management of mosque. The researchers used qualitative research with phenomology approach. The data was collected by interviews and observation. The results showed that the problems of performance of mosque administrators was low knowledge and did not understand the organization the mosque according to the guidelines of Directorate General of Islamic Education. It made the management and operation of the mosque did not optimal and well directed. The solution to overcome those problems done organizational development and administration of empowerment for mosque administrators in order to improve performance in prospering the mosque.
Key words: Mosque Administrator, Management of Mosque


Biodiversity conservation is seriously threatened in African parks and protected areas due to the explosion of commercial bushmeat hunting activities in buffer zone communities. Though commercial bushmeat hunting challenges are ostensibly underpinned by several factors (e.g. rural livelihoods challenges, wildlife management failure, unsustainable hunting practices, human population explosion, cultural factors, logging activities and road construction into hitherto intact forest reserves), the paper reveals that property rights struggles – hinging on colonial nationalization of the forest lands of local communities (now parks), constitutes the core of the problem. The existing literature attaches importance to livelihoods alternatives as mechanism of addressing the problem. The paper however argues that payment of compensation (sustainably) or annual land rents to buffer zone communities (as landlords), hinging on conservation agreements vis-a-vis colonially nationalized forest lands (now parks), will address the problem of commercial bushmeat hunting more effectively in the long term, and thus recommends this strategy strongly to policy makers. The paper also recommends biological species inventories and wildlife surveys as research trajectories that can inform and determine other appropriate conservation strategies in parks experiencing commercial bushmeat hunting challenges in Africa. Keywords : Biodiversity, parks, conservation, bushmeat and hunting


The books constituting the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, have a complex history of authorship behind them, resulting in a variety of styles, perspectives, and meanings. The authors and editors of the books that became the Bible lived through the political vicissitudes of a region that was a cultural crossroads, subject to successive waves of invasion, settlement, and influence by a variety of civilizations. Consequently, their works reflect the diverse political, intellectual, and literary legacies of the ancient Near East and, in some cases, the incorporation of non-Hebrew texts. S. A. Nigosian, a scholar of Biblical and Near Eastern religions, explores the diverse literary antecedents of the Old Testament as well as the Apocrypha - books excluded from the canonical Hebrew text but included in the Septuagint. Closely analyzing the formation and contents of these works, Nigosian compares them with the religious, philosophical, didactic, and historical works created by the neighboring Near Eastern civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor. Proceeding book by book, he highlights parallels in language, structure, and story among Hebrew and non-Hebrew and noncanonical Hebrew texts. From the ubiquity of flood myths throughout the ancient Near East to similarities between seduction tales in Genesis and Egyptian mythology, job-like stories from Babylonian legend, and the recycling of elements within the Hebrew Bible itself, this book offers a concise and accessible history of the composition and compilation of the Bible and the complex process of canonization. It also features a glossary, an extensive bibliography, and a chronology of the composition of the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha.


SUMMARY This study presents farmers' evaluations of the performance of winter-sown chickpea technology developed by ICARDA relative to traditional spring planting, and assesses impacts of this technology on farmers' livelihoods in Syria. Ascochyta blight, insects and weeds were the most important factors affecting productivity of winter-sown chickpea, according to 480 farmers. Among package components, crop varieties were widely adopted and most farmers adopted other components. The winter-sown chickpea area is expanding, particularly in drier regions that do not traditionally grow chickpea. Adoption was higher for better-off farmers – poorer farmers generally prefer to see positive effects first. Adoption over time is accelerating, with obvious benefits: yields have increased by 18% in drier areas and 32% elsewhere in Syria. Winter-sown chickpea technology increased incomes for all adopting households with greatest impact among poorer farmers. All gains are important because chickpea contributes 22% of total household income and should increase with further increases in package adoption.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the minimum optical power required to achieve carrier recovery with arms phase error of 10°. This value corresponds to a degradation of about half a decibel for a coherent communication system using BPSK modulation. Two basic carrier recovery configurations were selected for this study. One uses an injection-locked oscillator; the other utilizes a phase-locked loop. The local source for both circuits is a laser providing 4 mW at 1.5 μm and having a full 3-dB linewidth of 20 MHz. The results show that the carrier recovery requirement can be achieved with a phase-locked loop receiving an unmodulated signal of -50 dBm. The minimum required power increases to a least -26 dBm for an injection-locked oscillator. A reduction of the sources linewidth by a given factor will decrease the minimum required power by the same amount.


If social scientists are going to make a contribution to environmental policy-making that is commensurate with the severity of biophysical trends, they must develop analytic tools that go beyond marginal improvement and a production focus where key actors escape responsibility via distanced commerce and the black box of consumer sovereignty. One means is to construct an ecologically informed consumption angle on economic activity. The first approach is to retain the prevailing supply-demand dichotomy and address the externalities of consumption and the role of power in consuming. The second approach is to construe all economic activity as consuming, as using up. This approach construes material provisioning in the context of hunter/gathering, cultivation, and manufacture and then develops three interpretive layers of excess consumption: background consumption, overconsumption, and misconsumption. An example from timbering illustrates how, by going up and down the decision chain, the consumption angle generates questions about what is consumed and what is put at risk. Explicit assignment of responsibility for excess throughput becomes more likely.


The brittle is crippling the application of bioceramic. The compound bioceramic is a new biomaterial being widely applied in medical treatments and its fracture toughness is an important mechanical behaviors. In this paper, we introduce the manufacturing method of the compound bioceramic and experiment facilities for its fracture toughness, investigate its probability distribution for the experimental data and conduct the test for fit. We conclude that the experimental data for the toughness fracture of the compound bioceramic obey the two-parameter Weibull distribution, introduce the analyzing method for the upper confidence limit curve and lower confidence limit curve and study the reliability and confidence level of the fracture toughness of the compound bioceramic.


In this paper, we explore the encoding/pooling layer and loss function in the end-to-end speaker and language recognition system. First, a unified and interpretable end-to-end system for both speaker and language recognition is developed. It accepts variable-length input and produces an utterance level result. In the end-to-end system, the encoding layer plays a role in aggregating the variable-length input sequence into an utterance level representation. Besides the basic temporal average pooling, we introduce a self-attentive pooling layer and a learnable dictionary encoding layer to get the utterance level representation. In terms of loss function for open-set speaker verification, to get more discriminative speaker embedding, center loss and angular softmax loss is introduced in the end-to-end system. Experimental results on Voxceleb and NIST LRE 07 datasets show that the performance of end-to-end learning system could be significantly improved by the proposed encoding layer and loss function.


Abstract Two new genera of the Chonostrophiidae are proposed herein to accommodate the resupinate shells from the Famennian sediments of the Late Devonian in the Santanghu Basin of the Balikun area, Xinjiang Province, northwestern China. Santanghuia santanghuensis new genus and species is distinguishable from other chonostrophiids by the possession of a pair of long dorsal anderidia and absence of a dorsal median septum. Balikunochonetes liaoi new genus and species is distinct because of the presence of a pair of anderidia with secondary anderidia, and a dorsal median septum. Santanghuia new genus is considered to be phylogenetically related to Chonostrophia of late Early to Middle Devonian age, while Balikunochonetes has possibly given rise to Chonostrophiella of Early Devonian age and is a likely ancestor of Tulcumbella of Early Carboniferous age.


This work reports on using surface plasmon-enhanced
fluorescence (SPFS) assay for the sensitive detection of cTnI at clinically
relevant concentrations, using only one monoclonal antibody specific for one
epitope. Moreover, it attempts to elucidate the role of the biointerface design
by combined SPR and SPFS study in order to optimize the assay performance
characteristics. This study is supported by protein modelling in order to
visualize the dependence of the epitopes exposure on the protein orientation,
which plays a significant role and it may provide important insights into the
future development of cTnI immunoassays for accurate screening of CVD at early
stage.


In the past, the relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) and been studied extensively. The ABO blood group has a significant effect on homeostasis and is therefore associated with adverse cardiovascular events. This study aimed to determine the distribution of ABO blood group and rhesus (Rh) status (ABO/Rh) in patients with different severity of CAD in Iranian community. A total of 1,236 CAD patients undergoing angiography were evaluated and their ABO/Rh blood type was determined in a study center between February 2005 and December 2010. Of the 1,236 records, only 1,046 medical documents recorded the number of involved vessels. The patients were classified according to the number of significantly affected stenotic vessels into single vessel (1VD), two vessels (2VD), and three vessels (3VD) disease subgroups. A substantially different ABO/Rh blood groups distribution was seen in the examined samples (O: 29.7%, A: 39.7%, B: 22.2%, AB: 8.3%, Rh positivity: 89.2%). The ABO/Rh blood group phenotype distribution in CAD patients with 1VD, 2VD, and 3VD was as follows: 37.5%, 41.3%, and 41.5%, respectively, for group A; 24.1%, 20.5%, and 20.6%, respectively, for group B; 31.2%, 26.8%, and 30.2%, respectively, for group O; 7.1%, 11.4% and 7.7%, respectively, for group AB (p = 0.26), and 88.7%, 90.5%, and 87.6%, respectively, for Rh positivity, (p = 0.47).  In addition, no significant correlation was not found among the ABO/Rh blood group distribution and the number of vessels involved, however, according to the different distribution of ABO/Rh blood group in CAD patients and healthy population, ABO/Rh might have an unknown role in CAD patients.
Keywords: Coronary artery disease, Blood group, Stenosis, Vessel, Rhesus.


Analyses linkages between skills and productivity for improving existing work in the informal economy and for enabling the transition of informal activities to the formal economy. Examines issues and challenges related to skills and productivity in the context of the informal economy, presents a range of experiences that have been undertaken as responses to the identified issues and challenges, and draws a number of lessons that can be learned from such experiences.


This paper proposes strategic innovations through NGN standardisation to enable the establishment of a consumer-centric business model (CBM) for wireless services. This leads to the evolution of a wireless environment, called here a ubiquitous consumer wireless world (UCWW). In view of the novelty of the concept, the paper focuses on developing the context and argument for the CBM, and the underpinning technological innovations - key new infrastructural entities and functionalities - required for its realisation. The technological innovations proposed may be evolutionary, but considering the potential social, economic and policy impact on wireless communications equipment, service providers and users, the effect may be described as revolutionary.


Field tests were conducted in south Florida to compare capture of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), in Multilure traps baited with either of the liquid protein baits torula yeast/borax or Nulure/borax, or with food-based synthetic lures including two-component Biolure (ammonium acetate, putrescine) and three-component Biolure (ammonium acetate, putrescine, trimethylamine). The highest relative proportion of females captured was in traps baited with the two-component Biolure (44-61%), intermediate capture was in traps baited with the three-component Biolure (14-24%) or torula yeast/borax (8-25%), and the lowest capture tended to be in traps baited with Nulure/borax (0-19%). Similar results were obtained for capture of males. Tests of the unipak two-component Biolure, which has a reduced ammonium acetate release rate and is a single package with both ammonium acetate and putrescine sections, captured similar numbers of both females and males as Biolure formulated in 2 individual packages. Traps baited with unipak Biolure combined with the addition of a trimethylamine lure captured fewer females than the unipak alone, but this was greater than capture in traps baited with torula yeast/borax. Our studies confirmed that the best lure for A. suspensa is ammonium acetate and putrescine. However, C. capitata -targeted traps baited with three-component Biolure should be as effective for A. suspensa detection and monitoring as traps baited with torula yeast/borax. The unipak two-component Biolure will provide the improved handling that has been requested by users.


The corroding impacts of anti-terrorism measures on citizenship have been much discussed in recent years. Drawing on qualitative research from the UK, this article argues that citizens do indeed frequently feel that aspects of citizenship – such as rights, duties, identity claims and the ability to participate in the public sphere – have been significantly dampened by developments in this policy area. At the same time, however, participants in our research also articulated a number of strategies through which they or others have sought to resist the logics, exercise and impacts of anti-terrorism powers. These included voicing explicit opposition to particular measures, resisting 'outsider' or 'victim' subject positions, and a refusal to withdraw from established forms of political engagement. Whilst such resistance should not be overstated, we argue that these strategies emphasise the co-constitutive rather than linear relationship between public policy and citizenship. Anti-terrorism powers do indeed impact upon citizenship claims, for instance in the curtailment of formal rights. Equally, the everyday, lived, experiences and practices of citizenship contribute to, and help shape, the perceptions and understandings of anti-terrorism policy from within the citizenry


This paper is concerned with the modeling of the information which triggers the evolution of the traders activity and the stock market. Specifically an inverse problem is defined within the framework of the continuous thermostatted kinetic theory for active particles coupled with the information theory. The inverse problem consists of a Volterra integral vector equation of the first kind. The well-posedness in the Hadamard sense is established by employing the maximum entropy principle. Research perspectives are also discussed within the paper.


Forests in California have changed dramatically during the 20th century. Shifts in forest structure including densification, declines in large trees and tree basal area have altered the function, productivity, and resilience of modern day forests. Attributing these changes to specific drivers is increasingly important for effective management of healthy and productive forests. Previous studies focus on climatic (temperature, precipitation, climatic water deficit), disturbance (fire), geomorphological (topography, soil types), and anthropogenic (logging, fire suppression) drivers, but few studies evaluate large scale change in forest structure across land ownership type. In this paper, we investigate 20th century changes to forest structure across six land ownership classes in California. We compare historical and contemporary forest structural data and find that declines in large trees and increases in forest density are consistent across the state. This pattern is most pronounced on private timberlands, which experience up to 400% regional increases in small tree (< 10.2 cm) density since 1930. All land ownership classes experience declines in large trees, while private timberlands, national parks and wilderness areas experience the most extreme change with an average loss of over 83% and 71% respectively. We conclude that understanding patterns of change across land ownership is essential for targeting federal, state, and locally specific policies that foster healthy and resilient forests for the future.


Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether 8-10 year olds make different food and drink choices after they have been exposed to advertisements for high sugar (cariogenic) food and drink items compared with non-food advertisements. The secondary aims of this study were, firstly, to investigate the relationship between the children's response to advertising content and their caries experience, weight status and socioeconomic status. Secondly, to investigate any relationship between the children's dental caries experience, weight status and socio-economic status. Methods: Cross-over Randomised Controlled Trial with a two-week wash out period. 101 children aged 8-10 years watched a 21-minute cartoon with four 30-second advertisements embedded in the middle. The advertisements were for either cariogenic food and drinks or for toys. A selection of high sugar food and drinks was provided as well as healthy alternatives. Consumption of the pre-weighed, unlabelled food and drink items was calculated in kilocalories and grams of sugar for each child. A dental examination was undertaken for each child. Socio-economic status and Body Mass Index were also calculated. Results: Children consumed 5.93 grams of sugar (p=0.014) and 48.33kcal (p= 0.008) more after watching the cartoon with advertisements for cariogenic food and drink items than the advertisements for toys. With regards to sugar intake, children with experience of dental caries had a significantly greater response to the change in advertisements than children with no experience of dental caries. There was no association found between the children's Body Mass Index or Socio-economic status and their response to the change in advertisements. Furthermore, no significant association was found between the children's dental caries experience, weight status and socio-economic status. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that a beyond-brand effect exists with respect to both sugar intake and kilocalorie intake in response to cariogenic advertisements. They also indicate that some children may be more susceptible to the advertisements and this susceptibility may contribute to dental caries.


Abstract In many cyclical processes it is of interest to have a system for on-line detection of turning points. This could be detection of the turns in leading economic indicators in order to predict the next turn of the business cycle. In natural family planning we want to detect the peak in the human menstrual cycle in order to predict the most fertile phase. Another example is detection of an influenza outbreak, by monitoring the weekly reports of the number of patients showing influenza-like symptoms. The methodology of statistical surveillance is used here to construct alarm systems, consisting of an alarm statistic and an alarm limit. At each time point a new observation becomes available and the alarm system is used to make a decision as to whether the turning point has occurred or not. The same methodology is used in control charts. Optimal alarm systems are based on the likelihood ratio, the ratio between the likelihood functions for the in-control process and the out-of-control process. The optimal likelihood ratio method for surveillance is based on the assumption that the parametric model for the cyclical process is known. This rather strong assumption can be avoided by using an approximation, the maximum likelihood ratio method, where a non-parametric estimation procedure is used. The estimation is made using only monotonicity restrictions, no parametric restrictions are placed on the cycles. Hereby, mis-specification of the parameters is avoided and thus we are sure that the false alarms are really controlled at the nominal level. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how two likelihood ratio based methods for on-line detection (the likelihood ratio method and the maximum likelihood ratio method) react to different assumption about the intensity, i.e., different assumption regarding how often we can expect a turn. Information about the previous intensity of the change point process is included in the methods by the empirical density of the change point times. This paper compares the performances of the likelihood ratio method and the maximum likelihood ratio method, when an empirical intensity is used (based on a bell shaped density) and when a constant intensity is used. In addition, these methods are compared and evaluated for the situation when no information about the time of the turn is used. The results of the study in this paper show that the likelihood ratio method with the empirical intensity works well except for early turns, when the time until detection is very long. For early turns the likelihood ratio method with a constant intensity without any information about the intensity, gives quicker detection. The maximum likelihood ratio method with the empirical intensity only works well for those turning point times that are the most likely according to the empirical density. Early turns take a long time to detect and late alarms have low predictive value. For the maximum likelihood ratio approach, the constant intensity gives the shortest expected delay and high predictive values.


ABSTRACT In this article we describe a new method, the Virtual Enactment Method (VEM), to enhance offender recall and motivation to disclose information by having burglars reflect on their experience while committing a crime in a simulated virtual environment. Participants, a sample of 61 incarcerated burglars, 'thought aloud' whilst undertaking a virtual burglary. Following the 'virtual' burglary, emerging themes were expanded upon in an interview. We show that the simulated environment effectively reinstates the criminogenic event, increases engagement, enhances recall, and encourages participants to talk more openly about their experiences, skills and knowledge.


BACKGROUND
Iodinated contrast media (ICM) can cause hypersensitivity reactions (HSR), yet data are scant about the negative predictive value (NPV) of ICM skin tests.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the NPV of skin tests to ICM Methods: We enrolled 73 patients with a history of HSRs to ICM, 136 subjects with no previous exposure to ICM, and, as controls, 47 subjects who had previously tolerated ICM. All the subjects had skin tests with the culprit and/or alternative ICM and were later questioned as to whether they were reexposed and/or reacted to the skin-test-negative ICM.

RESULTS
Sixty (82.2%) and 13 (17.8%) patients had a history of immediate HSR and those with a history of nonimmediate HSR, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the skin tests were 18% and 97%, respectively, in patients with immediate HSR and were 23% and 99%, respectively, in patients with nonimmediate HSR. Of a total of 237 subjects with negative skin test results, 207 (87.3%) were asked about further ICM administration; 158 (84.9%) confirmed subsequent use either with (n = 15 [9.4%]) or without premedication (n = 143 [90.6%]). Of the 143 individuals, 140 tolerated skin-test-negative ICMs but three (1.9%) reacted to ICMs (two with mild nonimmediate reactions, one with a grade 1 immediate reaction). Of 20 patients who had previous HSR to ICM, 17 tolerated further skin-test-negative ICM without premedication. The NPV of ICM skin tests, therefore, was 97% (95% confidence interval, 7599%).

CONCLUSION
The NPV of skin tests with ICM was high. None of the reactions in patients who had negative skin test results were severe, which may reassure physicians who hesitate to perform further evaluations in patients with negative skin test results.


A prospective study on dengue (DEN) viruses was initiated in October 1995 in Gondokusuman kecamatan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This report presents data from the first year of the study. The studied cohort included all children 4-9 years of age living in the kecamatan. Blood samples for serology were collected from 1,837 children in October 1995 and again in October 1996. Blood samples for virus isolation and serology were collected from cohort children who were seen in municipal health clinics with febrile syndromes or admitted to hospitals with a provisional diagnosis of dengue hemorrhagic fever. Dengue serotype antibody prevalence and 1995-1996 infection rates were calculated using a single dilution (1:60) 70% plaque reduction endpoint neutralization test. Prevalence of dengue antibody at the beginning of the study was DEN 1 = 12%, DEN 2 = 16%, DEN 3 = 2%, DEN 4 = 4%, and two or more dengue infections = 22%. Total dengue antibody prevalence increased from 38% in 4-year-old children to 69% in 9-year-old children. During the observation period, primary dengue infection rates were DEN 1 = 4.8%, DEN 2 = 7.7%, DEN 3 = 4.2%, and DEN 4 = 3.4%, while two or more dengue infections occurred in 6.7% of the study population. The secondary dengue infection rate was 19.0%. From febrile cases, all four dengue viruses were isolated with DEN 3 predominating. Seven children were hospitalized, including one fatal case with a hospital diagnosis of dengue shock syndrome. Based upon presence of antibody in the initial cohort bleeding and the serologic response both weeks and several months following illness, all had secondary dengue infections. Neutralizing antibody patterns in the initial cohort bleeding and in late convalescent serum samples permitted recognition of dengue infection sequence in five patients: DEN 2-DEN 1 (3), DEN 2-DEN 4 (1), DEN 1-DEN 3 (1), and none in the sequence DEN 1-DEN 2. In the total cohort 6.5% of the observed secondary infections were of the sequence DEN 2-DEN 1, while 4.9% were DEN 1-DEN 2, a highly pathogenic sequence in previous studies. Reduced pathogenic expression of secondary DEN 2 with enhanced pathogenic expression of secondary DEN 1 infections was an unexpected finding. Further studies will be required to understand the respective contributions to pathogenicity of antibody from initial dengue infections versus the biological attributes of the second infecting dengue viruses.


The current study aims to ascertain how different variants of callous–unemotional traits differ in their psychopathology, exposure to aggression and violence, and aggressive and violent behavior. If secondary/distressed variants (high in callous–unemotional traits and high in anxiety) and primary/traditional variants (high in callous–unemotional traits and low in anxiety) differ along these dimensions, it may speak to their different etiologies, treatment needs (e.g., trauma focused), and responsiveness to treatment. The current sample consisted of 799 adolescents from high schools (n = 419) and juvenile detention centers (n = 380). Participants were interviewed regarding their callous–unemotional traits, psychopathology, exposure to aggression and violence, and aggressive and violent behavior. Parents/guardians and teachers/staff members also reported on participants' callous–unemotional traits and aggressive and violent behavior. A model-based cluster analysis indicated that there were four clusters in the data set, based on callous–unemotional traits and anxiety: a nonvariant cluster, a primary/traditional callous–unemotional cluster, a secondary/distressed callous–unemotional cluster, and a "fearful" cluster. Secondary/distressed variants of psychopathy exhibited significantly greater symptoms of depression and psychoticism, more exposure to low level aggression and neighborhood violence, and more aggressive and violent behavior, as compared to the other clusters. Adolescents with callous–unemotional traits might not be a homogeneous group, but rather may differ in attitudes, behaviors, and exposure to risk, therefore differing in their treatment needs and responsiveness.


When addressing inhalational risk, it is imperative to shift toxicological evaluation directly into the human body. The work by McRobbie et al. is the first prospective study addressing toxicological exposure directly in e-cigarette users.
Although the study shows that urinary and exhaled breath toxicants generated by combustion are of several order of magnitude lower after switching to regular e-cigarette use, the data presented may not be conclusive.
The small size, the restrictedtoxicological evaluation, and the notion that changes in biomarkers of exposure are known to be variable should be considered before drawing conclusions. Most importantly, it must be emphasised that significant reductions in biomarkers of exposure do not automatically imply reductions in biomarkers of biological exposure.
Future studies on e-cigarettes will have to expand the panel of biomarkers of exposure and to integrate data from biomarkers of biological/physiologic effects.


Abstract A major goal of landscape ecology is to understand the formation, dynamics, and maintenance of spatial heterogeneity. Spatial heterogeneity is the most fundamental characteristic of all landscapes, and scale multiplicity is inherent in spatial heterogeneity. Thus, multiscale analysis is imperative for understanding the structure, function and dynamics of landscapes. Although a number of methods have been used for multiscale analysis in landscape ecology since the 1980s, the effectiveness of many of them, including some commonly used ones, is not clear or questionable. In this paper, we discuss two approaches to multiscale analysis of landscape heterogeneity: the direct and indirect approaches. We will focus on scale variance and semivariance methods in the first approach and 17 landscape metrics in the second. The results show that scale variance is potentially a powerful method to detect and describe multiple-scale structures of landscapes, while semivariance analysis may often fail to do so especially if landscape variability is dominant at broad scales over fine scales. Landscape metrics respond to changing grain size rather differently, and these changes are reflective of the modifiable areal unit problem as well as multiple-scale structures in landscape pattern. Interestingly, some metrics (e.g., the number of patches, patch density, total edge, edge density, mean patch size, patch size coefficient of variation) exhibit consistent, predictable patterns over a wide range of grain sizes, whereas others (e.g., patch diversity, contagion, landscape fractal dimension) have nonlinear response curves. The two approaches to multiple-scale analysis are complementary, and their pros and cons still need to be further investigated systematically.


Cement asphalt mortar (CA mortar, or CAM) is a composite material with equal presence of cement and asphalt emulsion and acts as a cushion layer in the structure of slab track. In the hardened matrix, asphalt accounts for about 30 vol. %, rendering the properties of CA mortar susceptible to temperature variation. In the paper, different kinds of emulsified asphalts (A70 emulsified asphalt, A90 emulsified asphalt, SBS modified emulsified asphalt and SBR modified emulsified asphalt) for CA mortar and the compressive strengths of CA mortar under different temperatures (-18°C, 10°C, 25°C, 40°C and 60°C) were studied to reflect its thermal dependence. Results indicate that temperature susceptibility of CA mortar prepared with modified emulsified asphalt is better than which prepared with unmodified emulsified asphalt. SBS modified emulsified asphalt -CAM (viz. CA mortar prepared by SBS modified emulsified asphalt) is alleviated at the whole temperature range, while that of SBR modified emulsified asphalt -CAM is improved primarily at the lower temperature region. As for types of unmodified asphalts, A90 emulsified asphalt -CAM outperforms A70 emulsified asphalt -CAM at lower temperature range.


In building 3D site models for visualization and virtual walkthrough, most emphasis so far has been on creating the 3D shape models. Less emphasis has been on creating realistic textures, e.g. to simulate building materials or vegetation. Nevertheless, the appearance of object and landscape models will depend at least as much on their textures, as on the precision of their geometry. The paper proposes a texture synthesis technique for the simulation of building materials and vegetation types. As textures can often more easily be described as a composition of subtextures than as a single texture, a hierarchical extension of our basic texture synthesis is proposed. These "composite textures" are based on a kind of metatexture concept, i.e. the layout of the different subtextures is itself modeled as a texture, that can be generated automatically. Examples are shown for building materials with an intricate structure and for the automatic creation of landscape textures.


Graphene nanoelectronics is an emerging area of research. The 2010 Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to A. Geim and K. Novoselov for the discovery of graphene and its unexpected physical properties, paving the way for many new applications in the area of nanoelectronics, nanooptics, and solid state physics. The most-studied microwave device is the graphene transistor, which, in only three years, has reached a cutoff frequency of 100 GHz. As consequence of this impressive development, the prediction that a 0.5-1 THz graphene FET transistor will soon be demonstrated is quite realistic. Moreover, graphene multipliers and other microwave graphene devices are expected to follow the graphene FET development dynamics and reach 100 GHz in few years.


This chapter addresses the causes of crime, the exploration of which has been a high priority within criminology as the main way of explaining crime and of informing responses to crime. The chapter begins by considering how criminologists understand crime and the causes of crime, comparing interpretivism with positivism as ways of exploring and thinking about crime. A central motivation for identifying causes is to validate the factors targeted through criminological responses such as sentencing, crime reduction and prevention activity, and policy. The dominance of positivist experimentation within criminology and the associated search for causes has been re-animated in the 21st century by the growing popularity of experimental criminology in the US, most notably the 'what works' experimental method of evaluating crime prevention programmes. The chapter then looks at contemporary challenges to the experimental 'what works' approach, namely realistic evaluation, the theory of change model, and chaos theory.


This position paper overviews Oxfam Novib's work on the right to a sustainable livelihood in rural development programming and considers the importance of agriculture for overall growth and poverty reduction. It will support thinking through policy options for programming, lobbying and advocacy work, and will improve programme effectiveness. Chapter 1 presents evidence of the poverty-reducing impact of agriculture relative to other sectors of the economy and considers important contributions to practices and policy changes that favour small farmers. It also covers the importance of remittances, migration and the growth of non-farm strategies for improving the economic well-being of people living in poverty. Chapter 2 reviews major influences on the current state of the agriculture and food supply system including evolving supply chains, and issues of environmental degradation, climate change, HIV and AIDS and population growth which will also place greater pressure on the viability of the smallest farms. Chapter 3 presents typologies and concepts that can be used to assist in conducting regional and national-level analyses. Chapter 4 outlines three areas of Oxfam Novib's livelihoods work: building and protecting assets; encouraging governments and the private sector to act responsibly; and creating economic opportunities for poor people. Chapter 5 outlines implementation strategies, including staff training, ongoing testing of the ideas presented in this paper, improved monitoring and learning opportunities, and effective ways to update strategic programme management plans.


The aim of this work was to investigate the color change of cotton fabrics with stainless steel yarns incorporated. In order to establish the impact of conductive yarns' composition properties in the fabric, concentrations and two different dyeing profiles based on direct and reactive dyes chemistry were applied. The success of this novel e-textile design was evaluated colorimetrically with two different dye concentrations as well through various linear electrical resistances to obtain solid statistical conclusions. The dyed samples were colorimetrically evaluated and the electrical resistances of conductive yarns inside the fabric structure were compared and discussed statistically before and after dyeing. The results provided evidence that dyeing has great influence on electrical resistances of conductive yarns used as transmission lines for electro-textile applications. The greatest changes in electrical resistances were observed with samples including thin conductive yarns and untwisted conductive yarn after dyeing processes. Additionally, it can be concluded that the presence of stainless steel conductive threads significantly retards the dyeing processes depending on the dyestuff concentration and weave type, resulting in major color differences, especially when plain weave type is used or the dyestuff concentration is less than 1% for twill and sateen weaves.


A consistent dual-mesh hybrid LES/RANS framework for turbulence modeling has been proposed recently (H. Xiao, P. Jenny, A consistent dual-mesh framework for hybrid LES/RANS modeling, J. Comput. Phys. 231 (4) (2012)). To better enforce componentwise Reynolds stress consistency between the LES and the RANS simulations, in the present work the original hybrid framework is modified to better exploit the advantage of more advanced RANS turbulence models. In the new formulation, the turbulent stresses in the filtered equations in the under-resolved regions are directly corrected based on the Reynolds stresses provided by the RANS simulation. More precisely, the new strategy leads to implicit LES/RANS consistency, where the velocity consistency is achieved indirectly via imposing consistency on the Reynolds stresses. This is in contrast to the explicit consistency enforcement in the original formulation, where forcing terms are added to the filtered momentum equations to achieve directly the desired average velocity and velocity fluctuations. The new formulation keeps the averaging procedure for the filtered quantities and at the same time preserves the ability of the original formulation to conform with the physical differences between LES and RANS quantities. The modified formulation is presented, analyzed, and then evaluated for plane channel flow and flow over periodic hills. Improved predictions are obtained compared with the results obtained using the original formulation. AMS subject classifications: (or PACS) To be provided by authors.


After several years following deposition, oil sand fine tailings settle to a solids content of 30 ~ 40% and are subsequently termed mature fine tailings (MFT). Once they have reached this state, MFT do not appreciably dewater, even after several decades. The particle size and dispersed structure of the fines (and possibly residual bitumen), negatively impacts the consolidation behavior of MFT. Several technologies currently being trialed to accelerate dewatering of MFT, such as in-line flocculation, centrifuge, and tank thickening, flocculate the tailings using a polymer. The addition of polymer results in substantial dewatering in the short term (24 hours) after in-line flocculation, and increases dewatering in tank thickening and centrifugation. This is well understood in industry. However, the polymer may also change longer term dewatering behaviour by potentially changing the consolidation characteristics and water–retention characteristics of the tailings. To assess the effect of polymer on all aspects of dewatering behaviour, column experiments simulating deposition of in-line flocculated tailings, were undertaken for different times, different thicknesses, and under different environmental conditions. This allowed for the study to separate initial dewatering from self-weight consolidation, subsequent desiccation, and further consolidation of desiccated tailings when they are buried by fresh deposition. The behaviour was analyzed by tracking fabric changes using mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy. Differences in dewatering behaviour following initial self-weight consolidation due to differences in polymer dose appear to be minimal. Consolidation behaviour of previously desiccated tailings converges to the same properties by 80 kPa vertical effective stress. Optimizing for dose should therefore be done in terms of self-weight consolidation. It was observed that optimizing for yield stress may yield a higher optimal dose than for dewatering. Key words: consolidation, desiccation, dewatering, hydraulic, microstrcuture, shear strength, suction, tailings, yield stress


As part of a Canada-wide study of women entering non-traditional trades [Women's Health in Apprenticeship Trades – Metalworkers and Electricians (WHAT-ME)], we examined spot urine samples from women welders in Alberta to determine whether urinary metal concentrations exceeded those of the general population, to compare levels to previously published urinary concentrations in male welders and to examine the relationship with welding tasks. Women mailed-in urine samples collected close to the time of completing a detailed exposure questionnaire, including welding tasks on their most recent day welding at work. Of 53 welders working in their trade, 45 had urinary creatinine >0.3– ≤3.0 g l −1 and were included in analyses. Seven metals were examined for which both population and male welder urinary concentrations were available: cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, and zinc. Principal component analysis was used to extract three components from natural log transformed creatinine-corrected metal concentrations. Of the 45 women, 17 reported more than one main task. Overall two thirds worked in fabrication, a third on pipe welding, and smaller numbers on repair, in construction or other tasks: manual metal arc welding was reported by 62%, semi-automatic arc welding by 47%, and arc welding with a tungsten electrode by 15%. In multiple regression analyses, little relation was found between urinary metals and task or type of welding, except for cadmium where lower levels were seen in those reporting semi-automatic manual welding (after adjustment for age and smoking). The proportion of women welders exceeding the selected general population 95th percentile was high for manganese (96%) and chromium (29%). Urinary metal concentrations were similar to those reported for male welders with only manganese, with a geometric mean in women of 1.91 µg g −1 creatinine, and perhaps copper (11.8 µg g −1 creatinine), consistently lower in male welders. Although not evident from the task analysis reported here, differences in exposure by sex may be explained by type of welding or by other work practices. A closely comparable cohort of male welders would be necessary to examine this hypothesis more fully.


We show that an adaptation of Peano's axioms for second-order arithmetic to the language of MSO completely axiomatizes the theory over infinite trees. This continues a line of work begun by Büchi and Siefkes with axiomatizations of MSO over various classes of linear orders. Our proof formalizes, in the axiomatic theory, a translation of MSO formulas to alternating parity tree automata. The main ingredient is the formalized proof of positional determinacy for the corresponding parity games which, as usual, allows us to complement automata in order to deal with negation of MSO formulas. The Comprehension scheme of monadic second-order logic is used to obtain uniform winning strategies, whereas most usual proofs of positional determinacy rely on forms of the Axiom of Choice or transfinite induction.


All history is selective—involving myriad choices from period and subject matter to documentation, interpretive theory, the citation (and omission) of passages, and the words or tropes adopted. Furthermore, despite all its pretensions to social scientific truth, history remains such a literary and subjective venture that one historian's myth is bound to be another's reality, especially when one is writing about such intangibles as national identity, nationalism, the nation, or "the imagined community." This we all know. But whenever the subject of race rears its ugly head, then selectivity becomes magnified because historians, cultural critics, sociologists, and polemicists prefer to emphasize one set of comments and ignore or play down remarks that run counter to their cherished convictions. In the always contested turf of Anglo-Irish cultural and social relations, it is easy to stack the deck of note cards so as to draw exclusively on those who had big or little axes to grind while omitting all the comments free from apparent cutting edges. Moreover, what exactly constitutes "public opinion" and the "official mind" of the British political (and civil service) elite has always afforded room for endless disputation. This kind of selectivity has a special bearing on the study of race—a four-letter


Sokoban puzzle is very challenging problem for both humans and computers. It also illustrates differences between human and artificial intelligence – different problems are difficult for humans and for computers. Whereas algorithmic techniques for Sokoban solving have been intensively studied by previous research, factors determining difficulty for humans have not been sufficiently explained so far. We describe two methods for difficulty rating of Sokoban puzzle – a problem decomposition metric and a computational model which simulates human traversal of a state space. We evaluate these metrics on large scale data on human solving (2000 problems solved, 785 hour of problem solving activity).


 Abstract — A decline in visual sensitivity at arbitrary points on the retina can be measured using a precise perimetry apparatus along with a fundus camera. However, the retinal layer associated with this decline cannot be identified accurately with current medical technology. To investigate cryptogenic diseases, such as macular dystrophy, acute zonal occult outer retinopathy (AZOOR), and multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS), we evaluated an electroretinogram (ERG) function that allows moving the center of the multifocal hexagonal stimulus array to a chosen position. Macular dystrophy is a generalized term used for a variety of functional disorders of the macula lutea, and the ERG shows a diminution of the b-wave in these disorders. AZOOR causes an acute functional disorder to an outer layer of the retina, and the ERG shows a-wave and b-wave amplitude reduction as well as delayed 30 Hz flicker responses. MEWDS causes acute visual loss and the ERG shows a decrease in a-wave amplitude. We combined an electroretinographic optical system and a perimetric optical system into an experimental apparatus that has the same optical system as that of a fundus camera. We also deployed an EO-50231 Edmund infrared camera, a 45-degree cold mirror, a lens with a 25-mm focal length, a halogen lamp, and an 8-inch monitor. Then, we also employed a differential amplifier with gain 10, a 50 Hz notch filter, a high-pass filter with a 21.2 Hz cut-off frequency, and two non-inverting amplifiers with gains 1001 and 11. In addition, we used a Instruments a shielded connector block, and LabVIEW 2017 software for data retrieval. The software was used to generate the multifocal hexagonal stimulus array on the computer monitor with C++Builder 10.2 and to move the center of the array toward the left and right and up and down. Cone and bright flash ERG results were observed using the moving ERG function. The a-wave, b-wave, c-wave, and the photopic negative response were identified with cone ERG. The moving ERG function allowed the identification of the retinal layer causing visual alterations.


—Microblogging services have become among the most popular services on the web in the last few years. This led to significant increase in data size, speed, and applications. This paper presents Venus; a system that supports real-time spatial queries on microblogs. Venus supports its queries on a spatial boundary R and a temporal boundary T , from which only the top-k microblogs are returned in the query answer based on a spatio-temporal ranking function. Supporting such queries requires Venus to digest hundreds of millions of real-time microblogs in main-memory with high rates, yet, it provides low query responses and efficient memory utilization. To this end, Venus employs: (1) an efficient in-memory spatio-temporal index that digests high rates of incoming microblogs in real time, (2) a scalable query processor that prune the search space, R and T , effectively to provide low query latency on millions of items in real time, and (3) a group of memory optimization techniques that provide system administrators with different options to save significant memory resources while keeping the query accuracy almost perfect. Venus memory optimization techniques make use of the local arrival rates of microblogs to smartly shed microblogs that are old enough not to contribute to any query answer. In addition, Venus can adaptively, in real time, adjust its load shedding based on both the spatial distribution and the parameters of incoming query loads. All Venus components can accommodate different spatial and temporal ranking functions that are able to capture the importance of each dimension differently depending on the applications requirements. Extensive experimental results based on real Twitter data and actual locations of Bing search queries show that Venus supports high arrival rates of up to 64K microblogs/second and average query latency of 4 msec.


Uplift modeling is a predictive modeling technique that estimates the user-level incremental effect of a treatment using machine learning models. It is often used for targeting promotions and advertisements, as well as for the personalization of product offerings. In these applications, there are often hundreds of features available to build such models. Keeping all the features in a model can be costly and inefficient. Feature selection is an essential step in the modeling process for multiple reasons: improving the estimation accuracy by eliminating irrelevant features, accelerating model training and prediction speed, reducing the monitoring and maintenance workload for feature data pipeline, and providing better model interpretation and diagnostics capability. However, feature selection methods for uplift modeling have been rarely discussed in the literature. Although there are various feature selection methods for standard machine learning models, we will demonstrate that those methods are sub-optimal for solving the feature selection problem for uplift modeling. To address this problem, we introduce a set of feature selection methods designed specifically for uplift modeling, including both filter methods and embedded methods. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed feature selection methods, we use different uplift models and measure the accuracy of each model with a different number of selected features. We use both synthetic and real data to conduct these experiments. We also implemented the proposed filter methods in an open source Python package (CausalML).


Dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most important human pathogens among the genus flavivirus, with 3.9 billion people at risk of infection through mosquitoes, such as the widely spread 'Asian tiger' mosquitoes, and the four serotypes of DENV are endemic in over 100 countries in tropical and subtropical regions. Clinical manifestations of infection with DENV range from flu-like symptoms to the life-threatening dengue haemorrhagic fever. The dramatic increase in the incidence of the DENV infection, the rapid spread of DENV to new areas and the recent re-emergence of another member of the genus flavivirus, Zika virus (ZIKV), have highlighted the urgent need for specific antiviral therapies against infections with DENV and related viruses, which are not currently available. DENV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of the viral genome, is one of the most attractive targets for the development of direct acting antiviral agents but its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Thefore, the aims of this PhD project were i) to build a model of the de novo initiation complex of DENV RdRp, of which there is currently no crystal structure available, ii) in silico design and synthesis of novel nucleoside and nucleotide analogues as potential inhibitors of DENV replication, iii) and finally to investigate the mechanism of the RNA synthesis by DENV RdRp.
Molecular modelling techniques allowed for the creation of a model of the de novo initiation complex. The application of in silico drug design approaches resulted in the identification of three families of promising adenosine analogues: ribose-modified, nucleobase-modified and acyclic adenosine analogues. Strategies for the preparation of these nucleosides were investigated and ten adenosine analogues and eight nucleotide prodrugs, which are phosphoramidate ProTides, of specific nucleosides were synthesised and sent for biological evaluation in vitro. Innovative microwave irradiation conditions for the preparation of phosphoramidate ProTides were developed and successfully applied to synthesised nucleoside analogues. Finally, the application of molecular dynamics simulation methods on different complexes of DENV RdRp provided insights on the conformational changes of DENV RdRp during the synthesis of the viral genome. These results contributed to the understanding of DENV RdRp activity and will aid the design of inhibitors of the viral replication.


datory review of PDMP data reduces opioid overdose death rates. They observe that the 4 states with mandated PDMP policies examined in one study1 each experienced increases in heroin-related and overall opioid-related overdose death rates from 2011 to 2015. In fact, nearly all states experienced increases in these rates since 1999, including from 2011 to 2015. Therefore, an evaluation of any state-level policy during this period would seem to imply that the policy was associated with increased overdose deaths. To differentiate background trends and other variables across states, Dowell et al1 used a difference-in-difference regression analysis and compared changes in overdose death rates associated with policies vs changes in rates absent policy intervention. The analysis found that specific policies (eg, mandated PDMP use and pain clinic laws) were associated with reduced prescription opioid–related overdose deaths and overall opioid–related overdose deaths (including those from prescription opioids and heroin). Using this method, these policies were associated with reduced heroin deaths, although this association was not statistically significant.1 Additional studies have used observational designs to compare opioid-related overdose rates associated with robust PDMP policies with rates expected without these interventions. An interrupted time-series analysis found PDMP implementation was associated with decreased prescription opioid–related and overall opioid–related overdose deaths.2 Robust PDMP characteristics, such as updating data at least weekly, were associated with greater reductions in deaths.2 A regression analysis of state-level panel data found PDMP strength, based on combinations of policies including more timely reporting of dispensed prescriptions and mandated use, was associated with decreased prescription opioid– related overdose deaths.3 Studies examining the association of PDMP implementation without considering strength of PDMP-related policies have found either no association4,5 or an association with increased overdoses.5 These findings suggest that existence of a PDMP may be insufficient and emphasize the need to ensure effective use. Clinician consultation of PDMPs is infrequent when they are available but not mandated, whereas use increases significantly with mandates.1 Timelier data are more clinically useful and might provide greater incentive for clinicians to review them. Clinician burden can be reduced by creating a single sign-on for clinician access to electronic health records (EHRs) and PDMPs, integrating PDMP data into existing workflows, and/or allowing clinician delegates to access PDMP data. Integration of PDMP information into EHRs has been associated with substantial increases in PDMP use.6 Opioid overdose deaths are increasingly driven by nonprescribed opioids, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Although findings to date are reassuring that strong PDMP policies do not appear to be associated with increased heroin overdose deaths,1,2 it is unclear whether they can reduce overdose deaths related to illicit opioids. Unintended consequences of PDMP use, such as dismissal from care, may occur in individual cases. However, consistent use of PDMP information by clinicians can improve patient safety by identifying dangerous medication combinations, high cumulative dosages, or controlled substances obtained from multiple clinicians. Best practices include discussing concerns with patients nonjudgmentally, coordinating care with other clinicians, assessing for opioid use disorder, and offering or arranging medication-assisted treatment if indicated.


The proximate objective of this study is to explore the power and limitations of linear programming as an analytical guide in the approach to agricultural policy formulation. We postulate that the role of farm policy is to change opportunities open to farmers in ways which induce desired changes in their behaviour. Further we postulate, tentatively, that farmer behaviour is governed by material constraints on their production and exchange possibilities and that changes in these constraints will be followed by changes in farmer behaviour. Agricultural policy can affect choices particularly by affecting market opportunities, resource availabilities and the availability of knowledge of new technologies. By assessing the consequences of such policies for the alternatives open to farmers it is argued that it is possible to improve the basis for policy decision making. To predict farmers' behaviour it is important that their choice boundaries and production/exchange opportunities be correctly identified. We develop the concept of the farmers' decision making environment as the context in which these choice boundaries must be defined. We articulate this concept, and the approach to the definition of choice boundaries, by applying it to a case study farmer in the Syrian village of Khaldeyeh. Having thus defined the farmer's choice boundaries we examine the farmer's present behaviour to determine whether it is consistent with our postulate that it is constrained by present opportunity and we find that it is. The nature and adequacy of consistency tests for this purpose present problems which are the subject of a prior discussion. Supported by our conclusions with regard to the validity of our approach to this point the analysis proceeds to explore the implications of a variety of policy measures for the farmer's production and exchange opportunities. We conclude on the relative significance of these possible measures for the production and exchange behaviour of our case study farmer. But for policy making the implications of alternative measures need to be generalized beyond the individual case study and the problems of such generalizations are thus also explored. Our approach looks at the problem of generalizing at the village level and uses a classification of village farmers according to the proportionality of their resource availabilities. The analysis of the implications of specific proposed policies reveals, especially, the expectation of an excess demand for labour. The discussion of generalization at the village level therefore focuses upon the problem of predicting the general equilibrium of farming output patterns and resource demands as this is governed by the workings of the labour market and by the process of innovation and adaptation in Khaldeyeh. Both of these are seen to be related to social characteristics of Khaldeyeh village which were not quantitatively investigated during the field work period and whose investigation would in any case have required competence outside the discipline of economics. Our model is therefore shown to be unable to predict the general equilibrium of the village. Our analysis concludes with an evaluation of linear programming in the context of this study.


Loie Fuller was one of the leading and most influential figures of the twentieth century art scene. Her persona, choreographies and technical innovations have exerted a strong influence on the conceptual theories and achievements of choreographers, producers, theater and film directors, painters, sculptors, architects, and other performance artists of our times. Loie Fuller played a decisive role in the Art Nouveau movement, she was the muse that inspired the Electricity Pavilion in 1900, and she orchestrated the first shows, in the contemporary sense of the word, in France. Through a number of photographs, paintings, sculptures and documents, this volume attempts to unravel the various strands of her extravagant life, to chart her dedication to the performance arts and to demonstrate her incredible technical inventiveness in short, to provide an insight into one of the most attractive and influential figures of contemporary creation.


Results: Eighty percent of all patients completed initially scheduled chemotherapy courses. Mean follow-up period was 18.6 months. Efficacy data was CR/PR/SD/PD/ NE1⁄416/11/1/1/1. One therapy-related death due to sepsis and DIC was observed in the first course of miniCHOP regimen. Two-year OS of miniCHOP was 72%, which is similar to previous report from other institute. Neutropenia was observed as G0/G1/G2/ G3/G41⁄45/0/7/8/10, and we used preventive G-CSF or PEG-G-CSF after experiencing G2/G3/G4 neutropenia. Other adverse events, such as stomatitis, constipation were tolerable, but severe adverse events of 2 febrile neutropenia and 1 acute appendicitis were observed in miniCHOP regimen and 1 tumor bleeding in THP-COP regimen. Eleven deaths contained 6 lymphoma progression, 2 pneumonias, 1 myocardiac infarction, 1 gastric cancer and 1 sepsis.


There have been an increasing number of social tagging systems on the web that allow users to contribute tags collaboratively to describe various resources. As the number of tags continue to grow, it is important that we can describe and measure their quality. There have been conflicting opinions about the quality of user-contributed tags but the issue has not been systematically studied. In this work-in-progress paper, we propose a preliminary methodology for assessing tag quality. The methodology identifies three aspects of tag quality in a social tagging system: individual tags, collections of tags, and the association of the tags with the corresponding resources. The proposed methodology is being empirically evaluated using the tags of several social tagging systems. In addition to validating and refining the tag quality assessment methodology, the empirical analysis is expected to provide new findings about various properties of the tags. These findings will be used to improve the design of tagging systems by incorporating mechanisms that induce the contribution of high quality tags.


An uncoded transmission scheme called SoftCast has recently shown great potential for wireless video transmission. Unlike conventional approaches, SoftCast processes input images only by a series of transformations and modulates the coefficients directly to a dense constellation for transmission. The transmission is uncoded and lossy in nature, with its noise level commensurate with the channel condition. This paper presents a theoretical analysis for an uncoded visual communication, focusing on developing a quantitative measurements for the efficiency of decorrelation transform in a generalized uncoded transmission framework. Our analysis reveals that the energy distribution among signal elements is critical for the efficiency of uncoded transmission. A decorrelation transform can potentially bring a significant performance gain by boosting the energy diversity in signal representation. Numerical results on Markov random process and real image and video signals are reported to evaluate the performance gain of using different transforms in uncoded transmission. The analysis presented in this paper is verified by simulated SoftCast transmissions. This provide guidelines for designing efficient uncoded video transmission schemes.


Introduction
Though many interventions have been shown to be effective in helping smokers quit, outcomes may differ between light and heavy smokers. We identified differences in baseline characteristics and post-intervention cessation rates among smoker groups at two safety-net hospitals.

Methods
We retrospectively analyzed cessation rates in 1,604 patients randomized to either a quitline referral (1-2 telephone counseling sessions) or intensive counseling program (7 telephone sessions). Participants were stratified into light-intermittent (smoked on ≤24 of last 30 days), light-daily (smoked on >24/30 days, 1-9 cigarettes per day (CPD)), or heavy smokers (smoked on >24/30 days, ≥10 CPD). We compared baseline characteristics between smoker types using chi-squared tests, then identified predictors of 30-day abstinence using a multivariable model.

Results
Compared to light-daily and light-intermittent smokers, heavy smokers were more likely to be white, male, concomitant e-cigarette users, to have high-risk alcohol use, to have used quitting aids previously, to have current or lifetime substance use (excluding cannabis) and have lower confidence in quitting. However, in multivariable analysis, smoker type was not significantly associated with cessation. The statistically significant predictors of cessation at 6 months were higher confidence in quitting and enrollment in the intensive counseling intervention.

Conclusions
Smoker type (light-intermittent, light-daily, or heavy) does not independently predict success in a cessation program. However, smoker type is strongly associated with patients' confidence in quitting, which may be one predictor of cessation.

Implications
This study of two safety-net hospitals emphasizes that the number of cigarettes smoked per day does not independently predict smoking cessation. Additionally, heavy smokers are at highest risk for the detrimental health effects of tobacco, yet have lower confidence and motivation to quit. Confidence in quitting may be one factor that affects cessation rates, however further study is needed to identify which other attributes predict cessation. These findings suggest that smoker type may still be a useful proxy for predicting cessation, and that interventions specifically designed for and validated in heavy smokers are needed to better aid these individuals.


An expansion of an unstable (CTG)n trinucleotide repeat in the 3' UTR of a gene encoding a putative serine/threonine protein kinase (DMPK) on human chromosome 19q13.3 has been shown to be specific for the myotonic dystrophy (DM) disease phenotype. In addition, a single haplotype composed of nine alleles within and flanking DMPK over a physical distance of 30 kb has been shown to be in complete linkage disequilibrium with DM. This has led to two hypotheses: (1) predisposition for (CTG)n instability results from a founder effect that occurred only once or a few times in human evolution; and (2) elements within the disease haplotype may predispose the (CTG)n repeat to instability. A detailed haplotype analysis of the DM region was conducted on a Nigerian (Yoruba) DM family, the only indigenous sub-Saharan DM case reported to date. Each affected member of this family had an expanded (CTG)n repeat in one of his or her DMPK alleles. However, unlike all other DM populations studied thus far, disassociation of the (CTG)n repeat expansion from other alleles of the putative predisposing haplotype was found. We conclude that the expanded (CTG)n repeat in this family is the result of an independent mutational event. Consequently, the origin of DM is unlikely to be a single mutational event, and the hypothesis that a single ancestral haplotype predisposes to repeat expansion is not compelling.


This paper looks at food security trends at three different levels; national, district and household. The paper aims to go beyond the conventionalist view of food security by focusing on the dynamics that characterise the apparent differentials in access to adequate food. The central argument is that obtaining adequate food is a function of interactions, negotiations and social struggles and the extent to which some succeed (and others fail) in their search for adequate food is bound to vary even in situations that appear similar. The paper thus concludes that food security and attendant policies must be conceptualised and defined in the context of people's actual experiences. In essence, therefore, food security goes beyond numbers as it includes the existence of social networks and the capacity to juggle opportunities. IDS Discussion Paper No. 300


: Between 1981 and 1988, vitreous surgery was performed on 28 nondiabetic patients with epiretinal macular fibroplasia. The fibroplasia was idiopathic in 9 eyes, occurred after successful surgery for retinal detachment in 10, and was associated with other ocular disorders in 9. The patients were followed up for between 5 and 72 months. While visual acuity improved in 26 cases, metamorphopsia increased in all. The results were poorer in cases where symptoms had already existed for more than 6 months or where not only the retina, but also the macula was detached. Complications were confined to 3 cases in which peripheral tears occurred intraoperatively; there were 2 postoperative retinal detachments. While increased lens opacification was observed in 7 patients, a recurrence was seen only in one.


BACKGROUND
The popular designer drugs 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 3, 4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) can be determined in serum, whole blood, and urine, but also in vitreous humor. The latter matrix is interesting when dealing with decomposed bodies in a toxicological setting.

METHODS
After extraction, chromatographic separation was achieved on a narrow-bore C(18) column by gradient elution with fluorometric detection; results were confirmed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

RESULTS
The method was linear over the range of 2-1000 microg/L for whole blood, serum, and vitreous humor, and 0.1-5 mg/L for urine. Extraction recoveries were >70%, imprecision (CV) was 2.5-19%, and analytical recoveries were 95.5-104.4%. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.8 and 2 microg/L, respectively, for whole blood, serum, and vitreous humor, and 2.5 microg/L and 0.1 mg/L, respectively, for urine. Excellent correlations between the quantitative LC-fluorescence and LC-MS/MS results were obtained. We found the following concentrations in a thanatochemical distribution study in rabbits: in serum, 5.3-685 microg/L for MDMA and from the LOQ to 14.5 microg/L for 3, 4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA); in whole blood, 19.7-710 microg/L for MDMA and from the LOQ to 17.8 microg/L for MDA; in vitreous humor, 12.1-97.8 microg/L for MDMA and from the LOQ to 3.86 microg/L for MDA. In routine toxicological urine samples, concentrations ranged from LOQ to 14.62 mg/L for MDA, from LOQ to 157 mg/L for MDMA, and from LOQ to 32.54 mg/L for MDEA.

CONCLUSIONS
The HPLC method described is sensitive, specific, and suitable for the determination of MDMA, MDEA, and MDA in whole blood, serum, vitreous humor, and urine.


Elsevier now offers a series of derivative works based on the acclaimed Meyler's Side Effect of Drugs, 15th Edition. These individual volumes are grouped by specialty to benefit the practicing biomedical researcher and/or clinician. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on certain cancers, and that minimize damage to normal cells. Oncologists and cancer researchers will rely on this volume to determine effective drug treatments. * The only drug guide that includes clinical case studies and expert analysis * UNIQUE! Features not only anticancer drugs, but also all other drugs that act upon related organ systems affected by cancer * Most complete cross referencing of drug-drug interactions available * Latest content from the most highly regarded compilation of drug side effects: Side Effects of Drugs Annual serial


The coordinated operation of different energy systems, such as electrical, gas, and heating, can improve the efficiency of the whole energy system and facilitate the larger penetration of renewable energy resources in the electricity generation portfolio. However, appropriate models considering various technical constraints of the energy carriers (e.g., gas system pressure limit and heat losses in the district heating networks) are needed to effectively assess the true impact of integrated energy system (IES) operation on the overall system's performance. This article proposes a flexible unit commitment (UC) problem for coordinated operation of electricity, natural gas, and district heating networks, called multicarrier network-constrained unit commitment (MNUC), to minimize the operation cost of the IES. Besides, an integrated demand response (IDR) program is considered as a promising solution to improve consumers' electricity, gas, and heat consumption patterns and to increase the power dispatch of combined heat and power units. Multienergy storage systems are also included in the proposed model to decrease the impact of multienergy network constraints on the overall system's performance. To model the uncertainties involved in the operation of the three networks, a combined robust/stochastic approach is preferred in the MNUC problem considering multicarrier energy storage systems and the IDR program. Numerical results show that the whole operation cost of the IES has decreased by 2.58% considering the IDR program and multienergy storage systems.


In this work, the synthesis of NiS2 nanostructures using a simple and one-step environmentally benign supercritical fluid processing technique within 60 min of reaction time has been demonstrated. Structural and morphological characterization has been performed to confirm that the as-synthesized products are cubic NiS2 nanostructures. Interestingly, the as-prepared NiS2 nanostructures exhibit superior electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen evolution reaction with a small overpotential of 264 mV vs. RHE at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 105 mV dec−1. Remarkably, the observed catalytic activity of the NiS2 nanostructures bears close resemblance to that of the benchmark IrO2 catalyst, where IrO2 shows an overpotential of 260 mV with a Tafel slope of 95 mV dec−1. Thus, the as-synthesized NiS2 nanostructures can be considered as a promising material for the replacement of noble metal-based IrO2 catalysts.


Background Passive exposure to combustible cigarette use has been shown to act as a cue to increase smoking urge. Given the resemblance of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) to combustible cigarettes, we examined whether these devices could also act as a cue to increase smoking desire and urges in those passively exposed. Methods Young adult daily smokers (age 18–35 years; N=60) completed subjective ratings before and after exposure to a study confederate drinking bottled water (control cue) and then smoking either a combustible or e-cigarette (active cue). Smoking desire and urge ratings were measured with visual analogue scale items for desire for a regular and an e-cigarette and the Brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urges. Results Passive exposure to both the e-cigarette and combustible cigarette cue significantly increased observers' ratings of desire and urge to smoke a regular cigarette (all ps<0.05). Exposure to the e-cigarette cue but not the regular cigarette cue also increased desire to smoke an e-cigarette (p<0.01). Conclusions The results provide the first evidence in a controlled setting that electronic cigarette exposure may evoke smoking urges in young adult daily smokers. With replication, these findings may have relevance for ENDS regulation and policy.


J. j . VAN M A N E N : Tltvla en UXoOros in de Periode na Alexander. Pp. 139. Zutphen : Nauta, 1931. Paper. THIS is a sequel to Dr. Hemelrijk's Ilei/ia en nXoOrot (see C.R. XL, 40), a little-known but extremely interesting and important study of the social and moral aspects of wealth and poverty in classical Greece and of the meaning of the Greek words involved. Dr. van Manen now pursues the matter into post-Alexandrian times. It is not wholly his fault that the sequel is less interesting, for Hemelrijk had broken the ground and said much of what had to be said; but it must be called his fault that there is neither index nor table of contents nor what Hemelrijk gave, to the great advantage of his book, a summary in German. For Dr. van Manen's method is so methodical, his divisions and subdivisions so mechanical, that his book is little likely to be read as a book ; so that in the absence of the ordinary aids to (reference a considerable body of very useful and important information is likely to lie dead and buried. This notice appears unduly late : the fault is mine. D. C. MACGREGOR. Balliol Collegt, Oxford.


We have investigated chromatin structure in the beta-globin gene region of the K562 human erythroleukemic cell line by using S1 and DNase I nuclease sensitivity assays. Despite the lack of beta-globin gene expression in these cells, we find nuclease-hypersensitive sites to these enzymes in its 5' and 3' flanking regions in K562 chromatin. This result is in contrast to previous reports in which no hypersensitive sites were found in the immediate vicinity of this gene. In the 3' region, one major hypersensitive site at 0.9 kpb 3' and three minor hypersensitive sites at 0.7 kbp, 0.5 kbp 3' and 0.2 kbp 5' of the polyadenylation site were observed; these sites are very similar to those found in fetal liver and adult bone marrow cells in which the beta-globin gene is expressed. We find hypersensitive sites to both enzymes in the 5' region of the beta-globin gene: a major site 0.8 kbp 5' to the cap site, and two minor sites 1.2 and 1.5 kbp 5' to the cap site. The -0.8 kbp site is also present in plasmids containing the beta-globin gene. Our results suggest that the lack of beta-globin gene expression may be related to the lack of hypersensitivity sites in the immediate (150 bp) 5' flanking region of the beta-globin gene, as occurs in other active globin genes.


We have built a proof of-concept photon-counting x-ray imaging system using a Xe:CH4 gas microstrip detector (GMD) as the image receptor, and have used this system to demonstrate several advantages of photon counting over energy integration. Our experiments spanned x-ray spectra from 10 to 50 kVp and Xe:CH4 pressures from 1 to 4 atm. When photon counting is done, the energy deposited in the detector by each incident photon can be measured on adjacent anode strips and a centroid calculation can be used to provide spatial resolution significantly better than the anode strip pitch. We measured > 11 lp mm(-1) at 13 kVp with our 200 microm pitch detector, and 8.2 lp mm(-1) at 50 kVp. The energy resolution of our GMD is 5.2% at 59.6 keV, and the space-charge limited counting rate is >2 x 10(6) mm(-2) s(-1) at 3 atm for a 30 kVp beam.


The article outlines a conceptual and theoretical framework for improved comparative analysis of publicly provided social protection in developing countries, drawing on the research tradition of the study of longstanding welfare democracies. An important element of the proposed institutional approach is the establishment of comparable qualitative and quantitative indicators for social protection. The empirical example of child benefits indicates that differences between developed and developing countries should not be exaggerated, and that the prevalence of child benefits in sub-Saharan African and Latin American countries today resembles the inter-war period (1919-1938) situation in developed regions.


Valley Metal Container (VMC), a joint venture between the Coors Brewing Company and American National Can, operates the world's largest single-site facility for aluminum can production. Located in Golden, Colorado, the plant manufactures over 4 billion cans per year on six production lines. Coors Brewery produces seven products, each requiring a distinct label. We developed an optimization-based decision support system with a spreadsheet user interface that helps VMC planners to determine the weekly can production schedule, aiming to meet brewery demand while minimizing the number of label changes and related costs. VMC has been using the new system since October 1998 and estimates the reduction in direct costs (scrap, labor, and inventory) at over $150,000 per year.


In marine environment phytoplankton and picoplankton are responsible for a bulk of production and nutrient cycling and may give important information about the different seawater habitats. In the present paper, the temporal changes of phytoplankton as well as autotrophic and heterotrophic picoplankton abundance and biomass in two coastal areas in the Gulf of Taranto (Mediterranean Sea) subjected to different levels of anthropogenic pressure were studied and related to the main environmental variables. The two analysed areas were significantly different as regards the abiotic conditions which also varied temporally. Univariate analyses revealed that larger phytoplankton and heterotrophic picoplankton abundance and biomass varied as well. The multivariate analyses showed a complex distribution of the whole planktonic assemblages, which varied in time and space without a decipherable pattern, presumably due to the peculiar spatial-temporal dynamics of the sole autotrophic picoplankton abundance. Significant correlations between planktonic assemblages and environmental variables were discussed by taking into account also the potential role of the considered planktonic components as useful environmental monitoring parameters.


Presents the design of a bidirectional 800 kb/s transceiver the enables data transmission for T1 services over unconditioned telephone wire facilities. The transceiver transmits a 4-level PAM line code (2B1Q) and uses a baud-spaced sampled receiver. The DSP-based transceiver utilizes a custom CMOS VLSI 64-tap LMS adaptive filter chip to provide echo cancellation and decision-feedback equalization. Error-free full-duplex transmission is achieved over 16 kft. of 24 AWG cable or 12 kft. of 26 AWG cable.<<ETX>>


Street represents the main public space for people in the outdoor environment and in some cases the only outdoor space. At the same time, the presence of people in the street provides its life. The research attempts to measure successful designed streets as places, through discussing the study of all the urban qualities, physical features and the people's reactions in the street environment. Based on a hypothesis that all of these factors may influence the way the people feel about the outdoor environment as a place for other activities. It brings into focus the importance of the street design, especially in distinctive neighborhoods as Heliopolis in Cairo. The main aim of the study is to show how the urban qualities and the physical features of the street environment have an impact on the performance of the street as a place to meet and stay. Finally, the results revealed some facts beyond the success of the design of the city's street primarily linked to the combination of some of the urban design qualities and the related physical features, together with the presence of people in the street's space. Keywords: Street, Urban Qualities, pedestrians


The Risk analysis process recognizes the different type of hazards that can occur and recommend control measures that are frequently used for that hazard. Risk is a measure of the probability and severity of undesired effects. Accomplishment of risk analysis in the early development phases improves resource sharing decisions. This method will aid to find the high-risk components and connectors of the system architecture, so that corrective actions may be implemented to control and improve the development process as well as the quality of the system. We propose a technique for risk analysis at design level using UML behavioral diagrams. We have used state chart and sequence diagram to find the risk factor of components and connectors involved in the system. Next, we have calculated the risk factor of each scenario of a use case and combined them to obtain the overall risk factor of the targeted system. We have used concurrent control flow graph to evaluate the scenario level risk factor which takes into consideration the concurrent execution of threads. Along with this interaction overview diagram is used to estimate the overall system level risk factor. In our approach, we have also done the sensitivity analysis to find the critical components and connectors with respect to each scenario and also in overall system level. So we can give careful analysis, design, implementation and testing effort to these components and connectors.


Peripheral keratometry was once a widely used practice in optometry. The technique fell out of vogue in the mid-1960s when questions arose concerning its accuracy. In this project, the accuracy of peripheral keratometry was reevaluated on 162 normal non-contact lens-wearing eyes. The results obtained by a Reichert keratometer and a fabricated plastic peripheral fixation device were statistically compared to data obtained by the Humphreys MasterVue corneal keratoscopic mapping system. Patients were asked to fixate on a point 13mm from the center of a plastic disc overlaid onto the keratometer mire plate. The curvature value achieved with this fixation was then compared to the curvature value taken 3.0mm from the center of the corneal topographic map. Results show a high correlation(> 90%) between the mid-peripheral corneal curvature data obtained with the peripheral keratometry disc and data obtained by the corneal mapping system 3.0mm from center. Results from this study also indicate that the keratometer, when used with a peripheral fixation device, can yield data just as accurate as the corneal topography system (p-value > 0.05). Clinical application of this procedure could prove beneficial to the "general11 optometric practitioner who fits rigid contact lenses but may not be able to afford an expensive corneal mapping system.