ABSTRACT We describe stationarity and ergodicity (SE) regions for a recently proposed class of score driven dynamic correlation models. These models have important applications in empirical work. The regions are derived from sufficiency conditions in Bougerol (1993) and take a nonstandard form. We show that the nonstandard shape of the sufficiency regions cannot be avoided by reparameterizing the model or by rescaling the score steps in the transition equation for the correlation parameter. This makes the result markedly different from the volatility case. Observationally equivalent decompositions of the stochastic recurrence equation yield regions with different shapes and sizes. We use these results to establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the maximum likelihood estimator. We illustrate our results with an analysis of time-varying correlations between U.K. and Greek equity indices. We find that also in empirical applications different decompositions can give rise to different conclusions regarding the stability of the estimated model.


Despite being successfully used in the design of various biologically-inspired applications, the paradigm of dynamic neural fields (DNF) does not seem to have been exploited at its full potential yet. Partly because of the difficulties concerning a comprehensive theoretical study of them, essential aspects as learning mechanisms have rarely been addressed in the literature. In the current paper, we first show that classical DNF equations fail to offer reliable support for self-organization, unveiling some behavioural issues that prevent the fields to achieve this goal. Then, as an alternative to these, we propose a new DNF equation capable of deploying indeed a self-organizing mechanism based on neural fields.


"When the Stakes Are High" is based on the premise that powers have continually played a decisive role in international conflicts. Consequently, one of the key questions concerns the conditions that are likely to trigger or abate dispute escalation into major power conflicts. In this book, Vesna Danilovic provides a rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis of these conditions.Since the most precarious and common form of dispute between major powers arises over third nations, the author's primary focus is on so-called extended deterrence. In this type of deterrence, one side attempts to prevent another side from initiating or escalating conflict with a third nation. "When the Stakes Are High" addresses such questions as: When is extended deterrence likely to be effective? What happens if deterrence fails? In what circumstances is war likely to result from a deterrence failure? The author's main argument is that a major power's national interests, which shape the inherent credibility of threats and which are shaped by various regional stakes, set the limits to the relevance of other factors, which have received greater scholarly attention in the past. Strongly supported by the empirical findings, the arguments in this work draw important implications for conflict theory and deterrence policy in the post-Cold War era.This book will appeal to the reader interested in international relations, in general, and in theories of international conflict, deterrence, causes of wars, great power behavior, and geopolitics, in particular.Vesna Danilovic is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University.


The personnel decision principally treated in this paper is that of remedial placement. The decision made with respect to candidates is to accept or reject, and performances by candidates are evaluated as pass or fail. A criterion and a selection variable were assumed, and the problem is to choose a cutting score on the selection variable such that the value of acceptance decision-outcome combinations is at an optimum. Optimization conditions are given in general functional notation and for normal surfaces. Numerical examples are given for three philosophies of evaluating pass and fail outcomes and for three levels of college course difficulties.


In recent years, knowledge graph embedding becomes a pretty hot research topic of artificial intelligence and plays increasingly vital roles in various downstream applications, such as recommendation and question answering. However, existing methods for knowledge graph embedding can not make a proper trade-off between the model complexity and the model expressiveness, which makes them still far from satisfactory. To mitigate this problem, we propose a lightweight modeling framework that can achieve highly competitive relational expressiveness without increasing the model complexity. Our framework focuses on the design of scoring functions and highlights two critical characteristics: 1) facilitating sufficient feature interactions; 2) preserving both symmetry and antisymmetry properties of relations. It is noteworthy that owing to the general and elegant design of scoring functions, our framework can incorporate many famous existing methods as special cases. Moreover, extensive experiments on public benchmarks demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our framework. Source codes and data can be found at https://github.com/Wentao-Xu/SEEK.


Developing efficient catalysts for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into varied organic carbonates is an important scientific goal. By using the NH2-functionalized tripodal ligand 2-((bis(2-aminoethyl)amino)methyl)phenol (HL), three dinuclear metal-organic complexes [Zn(L)]2·2ClO4 (1), [Cu(L)]2·2ClO4·2H2O (2) and [Cd(L)]2·2ClO4 (3) have been successfully isolated and structurally characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Considering the dinuclear metal centers and the NH2-functional groups in the structures, 1-3 were investigated as catalysts for converting CO2 into organic carbonates, and the results show that 1-3 exhibit an outstanding ability for converting CO2 into varied organic carbonates at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa). The catalytic system also displays a wide substrate scope and high catalytic activity, and the reaction mechanism has been proposed herein.


Statistics on migration flows are often derived from census data, which suffer from intrinsic limitations, including costs and infrequent sampling. When censuses are used, there is typically a time gap - up to a few years - between the data collection process and the computation and publication of relevant statistics. This gap is a significant drawback for the analysis of a phenomenon that is continuously and rapidly changing. Alternative data sources, such as surveys and field observations, also suffer from reliability, costs, and scale limitations. The ubiquity of mobile phones enables an accurate and efficient collection of up-to-date data related to migration. Indeed, passively collected data by the mobile network infrastructure via aggregated, pseudonymized Call Detail Records (CDRs) is of great value to understand human migrations. Through the analysis of mobile phone data, we can shed light on the mobility patterns of migrants, detect spontaneous settlements and understand the daily habits, levels of integration, and human connections of such vulnerable social groups. This Chapter discusses the importance of leveraging mobile phone data as an alternative data source to gather precious and previously unavailable insights on various aspects of migration. Also, we highlight pending challenges that would need to be addressed before we can effectively benefit from the availability of mobile phone data to help make better decisions that would ultimately improve millions of people's lives.


Women in medicine experience disparities in the workplace and in achieving leadership roles. They face challenges related to climate and culture, equitable compensation, work-life integration, opportunities for professional development and advancement, and occupational and systemic factors that can lead to burnout. Without specific resources to support women's development and advancement and promote conducive workplace climates, efforts to recruit, retain, and promote women physicians into leadership roles may be futile. This article is designed for 2 audiences: women physicians of all career stages, who are exploring factors that may adversely impact their advancement opportunities, and leaders in academic medicine and health care, who seek to achieve inclusive excellence by fully engaging talent. The need for greater representation of women leaders in medicine is both a moral and a business imperative that requires systemic changes. Individuals and institutional leaders can apply the practical strategies and solutions presented to catalyze successful recruitment, retention, and promotion of women leaders and widespread institutional reform.


In order to improve the accuracy of the battery state of charge (SOC) estimation, in this paper we take a lithium-ion battery as an example to study the adaptive Kalman filter based SOC estimation algorithm. Firstly, the second-order battery system model is introduced. Meanwhile, the temperature and charge rate are introduced into the model. Then, the temperature and the charge rate are adopted to estimate the battery SOC, with the help of the parameters of an adaptive Kalman filter based estimation algorithm model. Afterwards, it is verified by the numerical simulation that in the ideal case, the accuracy of SOC estimation can be enhanced by adding two elements, namely, the temperature and charge rate. Finally, the actual road conditions are simulated with ADVISOR, and the simulation results show that the proposed method improves the accuracy of battery SOC estimation under actual road conditions. Thus, its application scope in engineering is greatly expanded.


The media, which offers limitless possibilities, represents the interlocking cultural environment of our day; television series, advertisements, competitions, virtual platforms present at the same time all around the world and the loneliness created by these environments underline the value of digital mediums. Television has a huge role as a digital advertising mean; as a medium that calls out to the five senses, it has an effective role as a medium. Furthermore, because television can reach out to more than one person in the same environment at the same time, it also serves as a cultural forger. Individuals living away from their homelands use television in order to keep their ties with their home countries. There are specific advertisements targeted at these migratory cultures; these advertisements keep communities together as they are equipped with visual indicators that uphold traditional customs and values. Thus institutions uphold their missions, visions and ideolojies through the advertisement or the name of the brand advertised. In our study, we will be looking at the visual reflection of brand advertisements directed at people living away from their home countries and how institutions impose their ideolojies visually. Using Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message" statement, cultural indicators used to convey the ideological messages will be determined. In this study, a survey was conducted with Turkish immigrants living in Holland; through this survey, their cultural ideology was determined. In the advertisement chosen, the links between the ideological approach of the brand name and the ideological approach of the immigrants was evaluated and analyzed.


In this paper we present our methods and results on formally verifying the implementation of the Receive Slave SCI-PHY mode of the Transmit Master/Receive Slave (TMRS) design using FormalCheck. TMRS is made of two major modules namely "Internal Register CBI interface" and "SCAN Interface". The SCAN module is responsible for the main functionality of the TMRS block, whereas the CBI module handles the configuration and the test route of it. We produced an abstracted model of the TMRS block. We then provided a number of relevant liveness and safety properties expressible in FormalCheck, and accomplished their verification on the abstracted model of the TMRS and also on its original model in reasonable CPU time. We found a number of mismatches between the RTL design and the SCI-PHY protocol as well as the TMRS specification. The experience on the verification of the TMRS demonstrates that FormalCheck is powerful enough to be used for verification of real size circuits.


Epigenetics has been the study of cell-type-specific differences in chromatin structure(s) (defined herein as epitype) among cells with the same genotype. The "Holy Grail" of current epigenetic is the cell-type-specific analyses of epitype within a complex tissue. Yet most of the publications on epigenetics examine the epitype of whole organs or parts of organs, which are comprised of dozens if not hundreds of cell types. In this dissertation, two technologies are developed, the first inspects the nuclei of specific cell types, Fluorescence Nuclear Cytometry (FNC), while the second both inspects and enriches the nuclei of specific cell types for further analyses, Fluorescence-Activated Nuclear Sorting (FANS). Two different mammalian organs were examined. FANS and FNC were employed to study subsets of neuronal nuclei from mouse brain and subsets of adipocyte nuclei from pig adipose depots. In all studies of this dissertation, cell-type-specific differences were observed in those subpopulations fractionated by FANS. The first study (Chapter 3) determined that a significant subpopulation of adult mouse brain nuclei (NeuN-High) had highly decondensed chromatin, expressed elevated levels of chromatin modifying machinery, and expressed high levels of transcripts encoding markers of neurogenesis, learning and memory, multipotency and cell cycle activity. The surprising discovery is the co-expression of multipotency and neuronal activity markers in the same subpopulation. In chapter 4, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), the first product in the demethylation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC), levels were evaluated among NeuN-High, NeuN-Low and NeuN-Neg mouse brain nuclei. Tet-assisted bisulfite sequencing (TAB-seq) demonstrated that 5hmC levels in NeuN-High nuclei were significantly higher compared to NeuN-low and NeuN-Neg nuclei. The third study (chapter 5) identified a previously unknown subset of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) nuclei (PPARg2-Positive) that expressed significantly higher levels of transcripts encoding both mature adipocyte markers and chromatin-remodeling factors, and also had higher levels of 5hmC. Collectively, the studies of this dissertation provide further evidence that epigenetic reprogramming is a cell-type-specific process and advance nuclear cytometry for the analysis of brain and adipose tissues. Future epigenetics analyses will be enhanced by using the full potential of FANS and FNC technologies along with the wide variety of new and wellcharacterized immunological markers. INDEX WORDS: epigenetics, cell-type-specific, fluorescence-activated nuclear sorting (FANS), fluorescence nuclear cytometry (FNC), Isolation of Nuclei Tagged in specific Cell Types (INTACT), 5-hydroxymethylcytosine


In this letter, we consider a dual-hop, subcarrier intensity modulation-based relayed optical wireless communication system under the combined influence of atmospheric turbulence and pointing error impairments. The turbulence-induced fading is modeled by independent but not necessarily identically distributed Gamma-Gamma fading statistics with misalignment fading. The relaying protocol followed by the relay is decode and forward. We first, derive the statistics of instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio at the destination, followed by the novel and exact analytical expressions for ergodic capacity of the system in terms of mathematically tractable Meijer's G-function and extended generalized bivariate Meijer's G-function.


In an extended element-free Galerkin method (X-EFG), the essential and natural boundary conditions can be imposed by the collocation based method. However, a coefficient matrix of linear systems obtained by X-EFG become asymmetric, although a symmetric structure exists in a part of the coefficient matrix. In fact, the structure of the coefficient matrices almost becomes symmetric when the size of linear systems is large. Hence, efficient effects may be obtained by using preconditioning for symmetric matrices. The purpose of the present study is to investigate effects of preconditioning for symmetric matrices to linear systems obtained by X-EFG. To this end, the incomplete Cholesky factorization (IC) is applied to the linear systems by regarding the coefficient matrix as symmetric one. In numerical experiments, it is found that the linear systems obtained by X-EFG can be efficiently solved by using IC as preconditioning for GMRES(m) and Bi-CGSTAB. In some cases, the efficiency of IC is superior than that of the incomplete LDU factorization as preconditioning for these iterative methods.


For several decades, nutritional anthropometry has been used in the assessment of nutritional status and growth monitoring for individuals and at population level. Techniques, equipment and standardization procedures endorsed by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and The World Health Organization (WHO) for measurements of body size are extensively used, have evolved and advanced in precision. However, new challenges are emerging with each new equipment and technique for data collection, including; difficulty in calibrating and durability of equipment, frequent observational errors, delays in generating nutritional data, relatively high cost of data collection in the field, and scarcity of nutritional experts to manage assessments and analyse data. Moreover, some health facilities collect selective nutritional data (weight and age) required for drug prescriptions only and often lack a repository for the raw data, making it difficult to assess nutritional trends for individual patients and compare nutritional status of populations over time. In the last one decade, there has been a shift towards the use of high technology in data collection for social studies, which is faster, more accurate and reliable when compared to conventional methods. Advancement in technology has seen the development of high precision digital clinical scales for measuring weight and height/length for individuals and populations with readily installed software for calculating nutritional indices and interfaces, such as, Bluetooth, USB or Wi-Fi, for transmitting data. In the proposed real-time nutritional assessment system, we combine GPS-Coordinates, anthropometric data from high precision digital clinical scales; fingerprint coded data, with indicators derived from food security, water, sanitation, maternal and child health data in the smartphone platform. Through the cellular network, the combined data is transmitted to a specialised designed web-based visualisation interface where it is analysed and presented on a dashboard in a form of interactive dynamic graphs and charts. After deriving the nutritional indices, the system superimposes colour coded anthropometric results for study subjects to display their immediate nutritional status. Subsequently, these assessment results are simultaneously transmitted through live-web to the desktops of assessment supervisors, programmers, and developing partners who actively interact as results trickle in and can make intervention decisions in real time. This efficient and cost-effective nutrition assessment system is proposed because it generates nutritional data that provides the most current nutritional status of an individual and target population; monitors trends of nutritional status; identifies priority individuals and areas for immediate nutritional interventions; and evaluates the effectiveness of nutrition and health intervention programmes. Keywords: Nutrition assessments, Anthropometric, Mobile data collection, Real-time, Data Visualization


Peptides and proteins play a pivotal role in numerous life-processes and may show important pharmacological activities. There is an increasing interest in using these biomolecules for new therapies to treat life-threatening diseases. As a consequence, in the life sciences there is a great need for analytical techniques that allow reliable identification, characterization and quantification of peptides and proteins. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful analytical technique that is well-suited for the analysis of biomolecules. CE offers much higher separation efficiencies than commonly used methods for peptides and proteins, such as HPLC and SDS-PAGE. Furthermore, it is relatively fast, and analyses can be performed under near-physiological and nondenaturing conditions. However, adsorption of peptides and proteins at the inner surface of fused-silica capillaries can result in poor separation efficiencies and irreproducible results. In the past, various methods have been proposed to circumvent this problem, but often these were laborious and showed limited applicability. Here we present a new elegant method that employs charged polymers to create a molecular bilayer on the capillary inner wall that prevents adsorption of biomolecular compounds. The coating procedure is straightforward and fast comprising only a simple flush of the capillary with aqueous solutions of the charged polymers. This thesis evaluates the suitability of capillaries coated with a bilayer of the polymers polybrene (PB) and poly(vinyl sulfonate) (PVS) for the analysis of peptides and proteins by CE with UV and MS detection. The electroosmotic flow induced by the coating was strong and constant, and independent of the type and pH of the BGE. The coating was stable providing reproducible migration-times for peptides and proteins (RSDs < 1.0%). The use of BGEs of high ionic strength effectively minimized interaction between analytes and the capillary wall, yielding plate numbers up to 600,000 for peptides and up to 300,000 for proteins. The bilayer coating demonstrated to be fully compatible with MS detection: no ion suppression or background signals of coating agents on mass spectra of the analytes were observed. Overall, these characteristics provide a CE system that is highly suitable for the fast, efficient and reproducible profiling of complex peptide and protein mixtures. The usefulness and resolving power of the new analytical system is demonstrated by the analyses of isomeric peptide/peptoid mixtures, closely-related peptides (enkephalins), and protein digests (revealing up to 20 peptides in a 1-min time interval). Furthermore, the bilayer-coated capillaries showed to be very useful for the stability monitoring and characterization of (degraded) biopharmaceuticals. These results indicate a performance that can be of great value in relevant fields such as proteomics, peptidomics, metabolomics, protein characterization, and quality control of protein pharmaceuticals preparations. In all these application areas, revealing differences among samples is an important issue, and requires the possibility to reliably acquire and compare separation profiles.


Abstract The problem of creating truly convincing numerical simulations of our Earth's climate will remain a challenge for the next generation of climate scientists. Hopefully, the ever increasing power of computers will make this task somewhat less frustrating than it is at present. But, increasing computational power also raises issues as to how we would like to see climate modeling and the study of climate dynamics evolve in the twenty-first century. One of the key issues we will need to address is the widening gap between simulation and understanding.


The market value of government debt equals the present discounted value of primary surpluses. Applying present value decompositions from asset pricing to this valuation equation, I find that half of the variation in the market value of debt to GDP ratio corresponds to varying forecasts of future primary surpluses, and half to varying discount rates. Variation in expected growth rates is unimportant.


: Mucous membrane of the bronchi, antral zone of the stomach and duodenum were studied histologically, morphometrically, immunohistochemically and bacterioscopically in 47 children of 5 to 14 years of age with bronchial asthma (16 patients), obstructive bronchitis (12 patients), chronic pneumonia or chronic nonspecific bronchitis (19 patients). All these children had also gastroduodenitis. There was an increase of local production of IgE and enhanced degranulation of mast cells in bronchial mucosa and gastroduodenal zone in children with bronchial asthma and obstructive bronchitis. The proportion of CD4+/CD8+ decreased to 0.92 in bronchial asthma. Gastritis was associated much more frequently with Helicobacter pylori in children with chronic obstructive bronchitis and bronchial asthma.


Developing EEG-based computer aided diagnostic (CAD) tools would allow identification of epilepsy in individuals who have experienced possible seizures, yet such an algorithm requires efficient identification of meaningful features out of potentially more than 35,000 features of EEG activity. Mutual information can be used to identify a subset of minimally-redundant and maximally relevant (mRMR) features but requires a priori selection of two parameters: the number of features of interest and the number of quantization levels into which the continuous features are binned. Here we characterize the variance of cross-validation accuracy with respect to changes in these parameters for four classes of machine learning (ML) algorithms. This assesses the efficiency of combining mRMR with each of these algorithms by assessing when the variance of cross-validation accuracy is minimized and demonstrates how naive parameter selection may artificially depress accuracy. Our results can be used to improve the understanding of how feature selection interacts with four classes of ML algorithms and provide guidance for better a priori parameter selection in situations where an overwhelming number of redundant, noisy features are available for classification.


OBJECTIVE: To describe two siblings with genetically proven hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP) and autonomic neuropathy.
 BACKGROUND: HNPP Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP) is a relatively common peripheral neuropathy characterized by recurrent entrapment and compression neuropathies. In the majority of patients, the causal mutation is a heterozygous deletion of the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) gene on chromosome 17p11.2. Commonly reported symptoms are focal numbness, weakness, atrophy, and pain. However, an association with autonomic neuropathy has not been previously described. We report a case of brother and sister who have both the deletion of PMP22 and symptomatic autonomic dysfunction confirmed by autonomic testing.
 DESIGN/METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of two adult full siblings from the neurology departments of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle and the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Information was compiled from genetic, autonomic, and electrodiagnostic testing and clinical examinations.
 RESULTS: Targeted array CGH analysis with exon-level resolution confirmed the presence of a deletion including all five exons of PMP22 and electrodiagnostic testing the presence of a mild sensory and motor demyelinating polyneuropathy with superimposed nerve entrapments. Autonomic testing, performed due to autonomic symptoms including positional dizziness, confirmed the presence of autonomic dysfunction. The brother had neurocardiogenic syncope and adrenergic dysfunction but a normal QSART. The sister showed distal reduction of QSART response, mild symptomatic orthostatic intolerance with mild adrenergic dysfunction and intact cardiovagal and sudomotor function.
 CONCLUSIONS: HNPP can uncommonly be associated with an autonomic neuropathy. It is important for clinicians to be aware of the potential presence of autonomic symptoms, which may contribute to poor quality of life for these patients. Further research is warranted to better understand the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy in this patient population.
 Study Supported by: University of Washington Medical Center Disclosure: Dr. Ruhoy has nothing to disclose. Dr. Oakley has received personal compensation for activities with Neurovista as a consultant. Dr. Jayadev has received personal compensation for activities with About.com and the New York Times. Dr. Weiss has received personal compensation for activities with Walgreens, Grifols, and Nufactor. Dr. Weiss has received research support from Clinical Trials Research Unit/Northeast ALS Consortium and the ALS Therapy Alliance.


m � � Abstract- Electric Power Steering (EPS) is one new type power steering system which is developing rapidly resent years due to their superior energy efficiency and energy conservation. Installation of EPS expanded rapidly by world automakers. Steering reaction torque is one important type of information for drivers since it has significant influence on vehicle maneuverability. Even with today's advanced simulation technology, however, it is very difficult to accurately simulate steering feeling. The purpose of this study is to develop a steering simulator that can quantitatively evaluate EPS systems. This simulator can control the force on the tie rod by means of an AC servomotor. And at the end of this paper, validity of this simulator has been ascertained by comparing the simulation results with those obtained during actual vehicle testing.


Introduction: Healthcare workers exposed to SARS-CoV-2 are vulnerable to psychological distress. The goal of this study is to evaluate the psychological impact of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 among healthcare workers in Paraguay. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in 5 tertiary hospitals in the Central, San Pedro and Caaguazú Departments of Paraguay during the COVID-19 pandemic from April to June 2020. The pilot study included 125 healthcare workers as participants, 25 for each hospital. Demographic data and occupational exposure data were collected with an ad-hoc questionnaire. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were evaluated employing the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale-7. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress was determined using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Check List-C. Results: Of the 125 participants, 68 (54.8%) were doctors, 37 (29.8) nurses, 7 (5.6%) biochemists, 3 (2.4%) obstetricians, and 9 (7.3%) other healthcare workers. Most participants were females (86 [68.8%]), with an average age of 33.8 years (SD ± 7.4), single (71 [56.8%]), with a postgraduate educational level (83 [66.4%]), and reporting a junior level of work experience (52 [41.6%]). A total of 71 (57.3%) were classified as high-risk healthcare workers after exposure to SARS-CoV-2. 61 (48.8%) of participants presented symptoms of depression, and 68 (54.4%) presented symptoms of anxiety. A small group reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress (9 [7.2%]). Conclusion: Healthcare workers in Paraguay reported a significant prevalence of depressive and anxious symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings lend support to the idea that healthcare workers are vulnerable to psychological distress and that they may require specific mental health interventions.


High density lipoproteins (HDL) are heterogeneous particles composed by a vast array of proteins and lipids, mostly recognized for their cardiovascular (CV) protective effects. However, evidences from basic to clinical research have contributed to depict a role of HDL in the modulation of immune-inflammatory response thus paving the road to investigate their involvement in other diseases beyond those related to the CV system. HDL-C levels and HDL composition are indeed altered in patients with autoimmune diseases and usually associated to disease severity. At molecular levels, HDL have been shown to modulate the anti-inflammatory potential of endothelial cells and, by controlling the amount of cellular cholesterol, to interfere with the signaling through plasma membrane lipid rafts in immune cells. These findings, coupled to observations acquired from subjects carrying mutations in genes related to HDL system, have helped to elucidate the contribution of HDL beyond cholesterol efflux thus posing HDL-based therapies as a compelling interventional approach to limit the inflammatory burden of immune-inflammatory diseases.


The striking evidence for the existence of dark matter in the Universe implies that there is new physics to be discovered beyond the Standard Model. To identify the nature of this dark matter is a key task for modern astroparticle physics, and a large number of experiments pursuing a range of different search strategies have been developed to solve it. The topic of this thesis is the complementarity of these different experiments and the issue of how to combine the information from different searches independently of experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The first part focuses on the direct detection of dark matter scattering in nuclear recoil detectors, with a special emphasis on the impact of the assumed velocity distribution of Galactic dark matter particles. By converting experimental data to variables that make the astrophysical unknowns explicit, different experiments can be compared without implicit assumptions concerning the dark matter halo. We extend this framework to include annual modulation signals and apply it to recent experimental hints for dark matter, showing that the tension between these results and constraints from other experiments is independent of astrophysical uncertainties. We explore possible ways of ameliorating this tension by changing our assumptions on the properties of dark matter interactions. In this context, we propose a new approach for inferring the properties of the dark matter particle, which does not require any assumptions about the structure of the dark matter halo. A particularly interesting option is to study dark matter particles that couple differently to protons and neutrons (so-called isospin-violating dark matter). Such isospin-violation arises naturally in models where the vector mediator is the gauge boson of a new U(1) that mixes with the Standard Model gauge bosons. In the second part, we first discuss the case where both the Z' and the dark matter particle have a mass of a few GeV and then turn to the case where the Z' is significantly heavier. While the former case is most strongly constrained by precision measurements from LEP and B-factories, the latter scenario can be probed with great sensitivity at the LHC using monojet and monophoton searches, as well as searches for resonances in dijet, dilepton and diboson final states. Finally, we study models of dark matter where loop contributions are important for a comparison of LHC searches and direct detection experiments. This is the case for dark matter interactions with Yukawa-like couplings to quarks and for interactions that lead to spin-dependent or momentum suppressed scattering cross sections at tree level. We find that including the contribution from heavy-quark loops can significantly alter the conclusions obtained from a tree-level analysis.


Submitted 13 Jul 2016; Accepted 17 Aug 2016; Published 19 Sep 2016 Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), is a group of heterogeneous disorders of hematopoietic stem cell colonies which is determined by incomplete hematopoiesis in one or more cell lines. The incidence increases with age and it has less been reported among patients under 50 years of age. The commonest form of MDS is sporadic, and familial occurrence of MDS is rare. Patients with familial MDS are younger at the time of diagnosis than individuals with sporadic disease and are faced with an unusual family history of more than one first-degree relative with MDS. In this study, we investigated a family with 16 members which has a family history of MDS in three consecutive generations. Cytogenetic and chromosome analyzes were performed on the 16 members of the family. Moreover, let-7a miRNA expression and its target gene, NRAS were evaluated compared to the control group. The karyotype analysis in this family shows two patients with abnormal karyotype, whereas expression of the let-7a and NRAS in this family showed a significant decrease compared to the control group. Regarding the decreased expression of let-7a in patient samples, this miRNA can be further considered as a marker for early diagnosis of MDS disease.


A major goal of the quantitative study of syntax has been to identify factors that have predictive power on speaker choices in the face of word-order or valence alternations (e.g. Arnold et al. 2000; Bresnan et al. 2007; Bresnan & Ford 2010; Bader & Häussler 2010). In this paper, we study the role of animacy on the order of constituents in French. Animacy has been shown to affect sentence production in other languages, either directly (Feleki & Branigan 1999; Kempen & Harbusch 2004; Tanaka et al. 2011) or indirectly through grammatical role assignment (McDonald et al. 1993). Corpus studies however, have failed to find such an effect in French (Thuilier 2012a; Thuilier et al. 2014). Using a sentence recall task, we examined whether animacy has an impact on linear ordering or on grammatical function assignment. While we do find evidence for a role of animacy in the choice between active and passive voice, we do not find a preference to place animate arguments first with ditransitive verbs nor with nominal coordinations. While these findings tend to support the indirect hypothesis (McDonald et al. 1993; Kempen & Harbusch 2004), we also find what may look like an anti-animacy effect: inanimate direct objects tend to precede animate indirect objects. We propose that canonical mappings between syntactic function and semantic role play a role in putting (inanimate theme) direct objects before (animate recipient) indirect objects, thus overriding the animacy first tendency in French.


Abstract Regionally metamorphosed, muscovite-bearing quartzites from Sivrihisar, Turkey, contain coexisting andalusite, kyanite, and sillimanite. Kyanite is the most abundant polymorph and defines a lineation along with prismatic sillimanite, andalusite, staurolite, and elongate quartz. Andalusite is the most Fe-rich of the polymorphs (0.9-1.6 wt% Fe2O3, compared with 0.6-0.9 wt% for kyanite and sillimanite), and was ductilely deformed. Staurolite has partially pseudomorphed kyanite, and occurs intergrown with sillimanite. Garnet occurs in some metaquartzites and interlayered mica schists. Mica schists lack Al2SiO5 polymorphs. Porphyroblasts in mica schists are chloritoid, chloritoid + staurolite ± garnet, or staurolite ± garnet with inclusions of chloritoid and staurolite. Textural relations and relative deformation features among the three polymorphs suggest the crystallization sequence andalusite → kyanite → sillimanite, with growth of staurolite primarily in the sillimanite stability field. Results of garnet-biotite thermometry and estimates of peak P-T conditions from petrogenetic grids are ~540-560 °C. Maximum pressure is not known, but there is no evidence for the high-pressure - low-temperature conditions that affected similar rocks to the northwest in the Sivrihisar massif. The stable coexistence of staurolite + sillimanite at peak metamorphic conditions suggests a maximum pressure of 5.5 kbar. The three polymorphs grew sequentially along a clockwise P-T path that looped around the Al2SiO5 triple point during incipient subduction of a continental margin sequence (burial: andalusite → kyanite), followed by collision (heating and/or decompression: kyanite → sillimanite).


Background: Effectiveness of any individualized therapeutic modality in improving the range of motion of shoulder in adhesive capsulitis is questionable and the combination of therapies has contradictory results.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to check the effectiveness between the treatment modalities of Ultrasound and End range mobilization over Cryotherapy
and Stretching as a treatment program in improvement of active range of motion in patients with adhesive capsulitis of shoulder.
Methods: Forty subjects diagnosed to have adhesive
capsulitis were randomly assigned to two groups. Subjects in Group I received Ultrasound and End range mobilization of shoulder while subjects in Group II got Cryotherapy and Stretching of shoulder. Both the groups were treated for 6 days a week for 4 weeks. ROM's of shoulder in abduction and external rotation were the outcome measures considered. Results: Statistical analysis was done considering p<0.05 as statistically significant and the‗t' values were
estimated. It was found that ultrasound when combined with end range mobilization had a value of 3.4498 in comparison to 1.7773 of cryotherapy combined with stretching group.
Conclusion: Ultrasound with end range mobilization produced a better result than cryotherapy with stretching and therefore can be recommended in the treatment of second stage adhesive capsulitis of shoulder.


A Current Bibliography on African Affairs, a publication dedicated to the study and research of various subjects in the field of African Studies, will continue firmly in the directions set by the former editor Daniel G. Matthews. Compiled as a quarterly guide, the publication will present a diversity of material-books, journals, documents, and visual aids-as resources for students, researchers, and the general public. The publication is arranged in four main sections. The first includes original studies, bibliographic essays or bibliography contributions on specific subjects. The second is a selection of short book reviews which may be of particular interest to users of the journal. The third the bibliographic section, is composed of listings arranged in general Subject and Regional sections. An author index for rapid reference is the fourth. Complete bibliographical information is given as far as possible. Notes are included where necessary for further explanation of titles.


The northeastern sector of the Madrid Basin shows a substantial succession of miocene materials that culminate with the so-called «paramo limestones». The purpose of this study is the identification and characterization of the deposits that compose the Lower and Intermediate Units, aged Aragonian, in the left bank of the Henares valley. In addition, the boundary of both units has been reviewed. The findings show that in the margin of the basin, this boundary is defined by an angular discordance between the Lower and the Intermediate Units, whereas along the valley it is recognized by disconformities represented by a change in the sequence evolution.


Vascular1Dflow is a program for simulating blood flow in vascular networks. It uses hyperbolic one-dimensional partial differential equations with ordinary differential equations as boundary conditions. The focus of this work has been the development boundary conditions, primarily a time varying elastance model of the left ventricle has been implemented as a boundary condition. The aortic and mitral valves were modeled using a mathematical valve model. The varying elastance model is tested in lumped model and arterial network simulations. An improved solution algorithm for computing pressure and flow at bifurcations is implemented and tested. Also a improved discretization scheme for Windkessel models is presented.


We provide several illustrations of Bayesian semiparametric regression analyses in the BRugs package. BRugs facilitates use of the BUGS inference engine from the R computing environment and allows analyses to be managed using scripts. The examples are chosen to represent an array of non-standard situations, for which mixed model software is not viable. The situations include: the response variable being outside of the one-parameter exponential family, data subject to missingness, data subject to measurement error and parameters entering the model via an index.


In 'Tibetanness' Under Threat?, Adrian Zenz pioneers an analysis of remarkable recent developments in Qinghai's Tibetan education system. While marketisation processes threaten these positive developments, educational strategies of Tibetans in the Chinese system explore new ways of being 'Tibetan' in China.


A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Masters of Business Administration Degree of Makerere University


Background Prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing globally, and the fivefold increase in stroke risk constitutes significant healthcare burden. Aims We aim to evaluate the trends of AF-related stroke and transient ischaemic attack (AF-stroke/TIA), prior anticoagulant use and their risk factors in different age groups in Chinese population. Methods Data were retrieved from the stroke registry at Prince of Wales Hospital. We compared the data at 5-year intervals over a 15-year period (years 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014). Results A total of 3894 patients were included, 712 patients had AF-stroke/TIA. Over the 15 years, the total number of ischaemic stroke/TIA fluctuated slightly during the period from year 1999 to 2009, and increased by 21.5% in the year 2014. While AF-stroke/TIA increased continuously with time by 282.1%. Increasing trend of AF-stroke/TIA was observed in all age groups. Absolute growth was highest in patients aged ≥80 years; relative growth was most pronounced in those between 65 and 72 years (>3.5 fold increase). Throughout the 15 years, >70% of AF-stroke/TIA occurred in non-anticoagulated patients, and this proportion increased with age. Increasing trends in both hypertension and ischaemic heart disease were also observed in patients with AF aged ≥73 years. Conclusion AF-stroke/TIA has increased continuously by >2.5 fold in Chinese population over a 15-year period, with the majority of AF-stroke/TIA occurring in non-anticoagulated patients. Strategic planning is needed to optimise anticoagulant use, particularly non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in elderly patients, low-income group and those with ischaemic heart disease requiring concomitant antiplatelet therapy.


In this thesis, I studied the turbulent motion in oscillating pipe flow
(OP) by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS) techniques.
Understanding shear-driven turbulence in oscillating internal flows is of
general scientific importance and OP is a canonical test case for this
class of problems. Moreover, the major motivation for the addressed topic
results from the modelling character of the OP-system to study the
respiratory flow in human airways.Using physiological data from the
literature I set-up a simplified model of this particular flow problem. A
preliminary study with an emphasis on artificial respiration by means of
high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) revealed the following: The
clinically relevant Reynolds numbers for typical HFOV scenarios reach
maximum values of up to Re = 37000. This is about 26 times higher compared
to typical Re in quiet breathing scenarios. The relevant Womersley numbers
lie between 0.06 < Wo < 20.Conducting DNS of 21 different OP-scenarios
within the identified range of characteristic parameters revealed the
following: Depending on the choice of Re and Wo the resulting oscillatory
flow is either laminar or conditionally turbulent. In one particular case,
a phase asymmetry between positive (turbulent) and negative (laminar)
half-cycles is observed. A variation of the boundary conditions showed that
this hysteresis is suppressed when the mass flux instead of the pressure
drop is prescribed. In general, the turbulent motion in OP is characterised
by repeated decay and amplification of local velocity fluctuations. The
spatio-temporal behaviour of the flow - e.g. turbulent bursting events,
damping, kinetic energy redistribution - depends on Re and Wo as well as on
their ratio. By analysing phase-averaged velocity data, it was found that
turbulence in OP is in some aspects quite similar but also distinctly
different compared to well-understood fully-developed turbulent shear
flows. The comparison of the DNS data with theoretical predictions for a
laminar OP showed that the onset of turbulence has considerable influence
on the oscillating flow. Typical viscous effects of the laminar OP are
reduced due to turbulent mixing. The analysis of integral quantities
revealed that in some particular cases the onset of turbulence enhances the
maximum flow rate (up to 5%) at reduced values of the wall-shear stress (up
to 14%).


Purpose- To provide an insight into the level of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in the Australian Commonwealth public sector supply chain. The view is taken that supply chain CSR reports are based solely on the performance and management of individual segments of a supply chain rather than the supply chain in its entirety. Design/methodology/approach- This paper is a conceptual paper based on an examination of CSR reporting and the practices in public sector supply chains, using a generic Australian Commonwealth public sector supply chain. The direction of this examination is guided by the new public management paradigm where efficiency, effectiveness and accountability are the key principles. Findings- The key finding from this initial review is that there is a relatively high level of CSR reporting by public sector organisations by individual segment in the supply chain. However, the issues of comparability and consistency are yet to be adequately addressed and it is this lack of comparability and consistency which weakens the potential strength associated with CSR reporting in the public sector. Practical implications- This paper provides an opportunity for greater appreciation of the holistic view which should be taken on CSR reporting of a supply chain rather than the segmented approach currently practiced. While the goods and services provided by public sector organisations are "non-rival and non-exclusive" and the organisations involved are quite different to private sector organisations and non-government organisations (NGOs), the argument presented for a more holistic perspective to be taken on CSR reporting of supply chains is relevant to all sectors. Originality/value- The literature review on CSR reporting has shown there is only minimal research on holistic CSR reporting of supply chains in both the private and public sectors. This paper is one of the very first to explore the concept of holistic CSR reportingof public sector supply chains.; ;


Data storage is the fulcrum on which technology advances. As the rate of consumption of data increases there is growing demand from the storage industry for faster, more efficient storage solutions which is capable of storing more information per unit area. Non-volatile magnetic memory based on spin-electronics is one of the key proponents for addressing this demand. In order to develop such a memory it is necessary to attain a better understanding of the magnetic properties on which this is based.
This thesis aims to develop a tool to study the magnetisation dynamics of the free layer in a Pseudo Spin-Valve (PSV) of the form Co/Cu/NiFe utilising both the Giant Magneto-Resistance (GMR) and the Anisotropic Magneto-Resistance (AMR) effects. The key difference in the resistance responses of each of these effects is exploited here to showcase a proof of concept device which can be used as another method to aid in the study of magnetisation dynamics. GMR's resistance response is dependent on the relative orientations of magnetisation between the free layer and the pinned layer. The AMR's resistance response however, depends on the relative orientations of the magnetisation and the current direction. However, the resistance response of AMR is independent of magnetisation parallel or anti-parallel to current. This independence and the dependence of GMR on the relative magnetisations in each layer are used in combination to study the evolution of the magnetisation in a free layer PSV.
The magneto-resistance of the Co/Cu/NiFe spin-valve was measured in as deposited samples and samples deposited in the presence of an in-plane field. The magneto-resistance was compared to a PSV with an insertion of a Co layer at the Cu/NiFe interface. An L-shaped device was designed and patterned which could be used to study the magnetisation reversal in the NiFe free layer. This was done by tuning the RKKY coupling between the Co and NiFe, shape anisotropy of the patterned micro-wire and the Anisotropic Magneto-Resistance ratio of the NiFe in the pseudo-spin-valve.


In 'Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline,' Williams is mistaken in thinking that I accused him of thinking that that we can describe the world 'as it is anyway' without using concepts. Our real disagreement is over whether it makes sense to think that the concepts of physics do this. The central issue is this: the notion of 'absoluteness' is defined using at least one semantical notion ('convergence'). If Williams' view is to work, I argue, at least one semantical notion needs to be absolute. But Williams himself concedes that semantical notions cannot be reduced to physical ones, and the 'absolute conception' is supposed to be given in terms of primary qualities alone.


We present SPEAR, an open-source python library for data programming with semi supervision. The package implements several recent data programming approaches including facility to programmatically label and build training data. SPEAR facilitates weak supervision in the form of heuristics (or rules) and association of noisy labels to the training dataset. These noisy labels are aggregated to assign labels to the unlabeled data for downstream tasks. We have implemented several label aggregation approaches that aggregate the noisy labels and then train using the noisily labeled set in a cascaded manner. Our implementation also includes other approaches that jointly aggregate and train the model for text classification tasks. Thus, in our python package, we integrate several cascade and joint data-programming approaches while also providing the facility of data programming by letting the user define labeling functions or rules. The code and tutorial notebooks are available at https://github.com/decile-team/spear. Further, extensive documentation can be found at https://spear-decile.readthedocs.io/. Video tutorials demonstrating the usage of our package are available here. We also present some real-world use cases of SPEAR.


Therapeutic interventions (TI) can be drugs, devices, or complex interventions. Category independent, a TI must produce a clinical benefit that the patient perceives as RELEVANT for his or her well-being. This benefit must compensate the risks and the overall burden the intervention represents for the individual, the family and the society. We are looking for drugs in HD that can produce a sufficiently large effect (or can contribute to such an effect in combination with other TI) in one or more of the affected domains of HD (motor, behaviour, cognition, metabolism) with an acceptable safety profile. The beneficial effect can be either the deferral of the disease manifestation or the reduction of symptom intensity; or both. HD is a neurodegenerative disorder not simpler than Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, sharing progressive selective neuronal death, long-term compensatory mechanisms and numbers of accessory pathogenic processes, which might be useful as auxiliary therapeutic targets. The underlying pathogenic processes are evidently similar, demonstrated by the current efforts of the scientific community revising the concepts of the evolution in these diseases. Regarding the commonalities, it is considered that there is a preclinical period without detectable clinical or biomarker changes, a presymptomatic period where only biomarkers indicate changes, a premanifest period with robust biomarker and first clinical changes and finally the manifest period with manifestation of classical symptoms of the disease. Drugs that will be used in these different periods will have very different characteristics. It is contentious whether or not a drug should be considered in the early periods of slow progressing diseases like HD if its safety profile is riskier than for example, aspirin as prophylaxis for myocardial infarction. This situation will be different for juvenile HD. There is plenty of room for different trade-offs between the benefits and the risks, depending on the risk acceptance of individuals and the society, compliance issues and time horizons. HD is a monogenetic, fully penetrant disease which gives HD a head start advantage over the other neurodegenerative diseases in the search for targeted drugs. By knowing the gene and its ultimate product, it was possible to design the first specific interventions using iRNA technologies, which will enter clinical trials soon (early 2013). However, they are extremely interesting but highly experimental interventions. For issues as important as pharmacokinetics, techniques of application, brain diffusion, and dosage details still must be worked out. This will bring the discussion to the ideal characteristics of a drug being fully brain penetrant, and what technical challenges are acceptable if a TI offers a realistic promise of efficacy. In summary, in our search for drugs for HD, we expect to develop TI which are effective and have a manageable safety profile. In addition, we hope (1) to learn which is a drug's best target population and to establish appropriate subgroups; (2) to define the proper disease phase in which drugs can be used for optimal results; and (3) to find the ideal dosage, regime and drug combination (as in chemotherapy protocols).


The concept of resilience has gained particular relevance to the understanding of socio-economic systems since its expansion in ecology studies. It has been widely used in a variety of areas centered around flexible adaptation, usually in a socio-economic or ecological environment where risk, uncertainty, unpredictability and turbulence are recurrent. The history of resilience as a concept is closely related to the emergence of system's approach and new ecological ideas in the late 1960s (Davoudi et al., 2012). At that time, a new awareness of environmental degradation was translated into social movements and turmoil that questioned industrial paradigms and Western hegemony. The neoclassical economic principle that growth can exist without regard for resource limitations began to inspire concerns among both intellectuals and the general public. The most often cited resilience-framework, Holling's resilience theory (Holling, 2010), was an explicit critique of the departure of 1970s industrial management practices from the idea that a system stabilizes around a single equilibrium. The concept was described at the time as the ability of a system to maintain its constitutive relationships and properties in the face of disturbances. Resilience related research began to recognize that systems may move through multiple equilibria. The growing interest in explaining the causes and consequences of the recent financial and economic crisis gave relevance to the study of resilience. Since 2007, several regions in the world have faced different types of socio-economic impacts of varying magnitudes as a result of the crisis. Some territories were not prepared for these external shocks and entered into economic downturns, with more unemployment and loss of productive capacity, while others were able, through the reconfiguration of their economic structures and the improvement of their innovative capacities, to create new development trajectories. The notion of resilience has gained huge notoriety in the last few years and was imported by many


Railway deformations are issues that can possibly prevent an effective railway network. Serious deformations may lead to decreased speed limits or in worst case the need for closing parts of the railway for traffic until maintenance work has been performed. The idea is that displacement maps from InSAR images can be used to detect problematic areas so that the right actions could be taken before the deformations become so large that they affect the traffic. Displacement images produced by SkyGeo from the TerraSAR-X satellites have been used by Trafikverket in other projects with good result. The issue is that TerraSAR-X data is expensive so the idea is to use the freely available Sentinel-1 data instead. Displacement maps produced by SkyGeo for both Sentinel-1 and TerraSAR-X, and a displacement map produced by processing in the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) over an area south of Gothenburg, Sweden are compared. It was found that using persistent scatterer interferometry on a stack of images alone was not enough to remove enough errors and the results were unreliable. However, when looking at the displacement images provided by SkyGeo which has used models for error reduction, it seemed like the results were more reliable. The results from the Sentinel-1 data had more fluctuations and thus a slightly larger RMS error compared to the results from the TerraSAR-X data but the trends were still clearly visible. A comparison of the coherence and RMS errors showed that there is a connection between high coherence values and low RMS errors which means that where there is high coherence there should also be a low RMS error. The conclusion is that the use of Sentinel-1 data to create displacement maps is plausible and seem to work well in the area used in the project. However, further research on error sources and different nature types in other areas is desired before reliable displacement maps can be made over the entire land mass of Sweden.


This paper presents an experimental investigation of the narratological concept of narrative closure. While narrative closure is a well-studied phenomenon in con-temporary narratology, it still lacks a serious empirical foundation. In order to fill that lacuna, we performed a controlled rating experiment aimed at validating some of the properties of narrative closure proposed in the narratological literature. Our results suggest that narrative closure is closely related to two connected properties: to the completeness of the text and to questions left open by the text.


Get your students into maths using outer space! Mission Mathematics translates the NASA experience into language and experiences appropriate for young learners and provides teachers with mathematics activities that complement many of the available NASA resources for students and educators. These materials engage high school students in significant mathematics at an appropriate level; lay a conceptual foundation for understanding mathematical ideas; promote reasoning and problem solving and show contemporary applications of mathematics using contemporary methodologies. Sample activities include scaling planetary distances; modeling space-debris accumulation, collision probability and collision effects; investigating exponential growth; determining position in one, two and three dimensions and applying global positioning technology to real-life situations. Resource pages for students, selected solutions and teacher commentary are included. The Mission Mathematics II series The Mission Mathematics II series is developed by NASA and NCTM in an unprecedented effort to link the science of aeronautics with the Standards that NCTM has developed for all aspects of mathematics education. Following the publication of the original Mission Mathematics series in 1997, this revision focuses on aligning the activities with NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000) in the context of aerospace activities. The activities in each book focus on actively engaging students in NCTM's Process Standards, translating the work of engineers and scientists at NASA into language and experiences appropriate for young learners and providing teachers with mathematics activities that complement many of the available NASA resources for students and educators.


Insoluble organic matter (kerogen) was isolated from a suite of 23 marine shales and carbonate rocks of early Proterozoic to Middle Cambrian age from Australia. The stable carbon isotopic composition, δC 13 PDB , of the organic matter appears to vary with late diagenetic or incipient metamorphic rank as given by the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio. Geochemical maturation of the kerogen beyond a rank equivalent to 91 to 93 percent carbon results in marked enrichment of the residual organic matter in C 13 . Hence, low-rank (unmetamorphosed) organic matter is isotopically lighter (δC 13 PDB range = −31.3 to −18.6 per mil, mean = −26.9 per mil) than high-rank (metamorphosed) material (δC 13 PDB range = −25.8 to −10.8 per mil, mean = −17.2 per mil). Kerogens from two Precambrian evaporitic sedimentary rocks are isotopically heavier than normal marine organic matter of similar rank. New isotopic and rank data from 11 carbonaceous, chert samples from the Onverwacht Group, Swaziland Sequence, South Africa, indicate that postdepositional thermal alteration may account for the anomalously heavy reduced carbon in the Theespruit Formation.


Ratnaningrum YWN, Indrioko S, Faridah E, Syahbudin A. 2017. Gene flow and selection evidence of sandalwood (Santalum album) under various population structures in Gunung Sewu (Java, Indonesia), and its effects on genetic differentiation. Biodiversitas 18: 1493-1505. Field observations on population structures and isoenzyme analysis were conducted to determine gene flow and selection evidence of sandalwood under various population structures in Gunung Sewu, and its effects on genetic differentiation. Sandalwood (Santalum album Linn., Santalaceae) is origin to the south-eastern islands but recently emerged as new landraces in Java Island, Indonesia. Results suggested that (i) natural barriers contributed to habitat fragmentation and disrupted gene flow among populations; (ii) gene flow affected selection processes regarding bottleneck effects and genetic drifts, which determined allelic richness and population diversity; and (iii) variation on gene flow and selection processes affected genetic differentiation among populations. Gene flow restriction and genetic drift occurred when population had lower genetic base, highly clonalized, fragmented, and/or more inbreeding in mating. Genetic differentiation was highest between populations within Timor island, and between Gunung Sewu (Java Island) and Sumba-Timor islands. Populations were not clustered based on geographical sites, but more by the similarity of genetic structures. Genetic differentiations were the combined effect of the differences on genetical processes regarding gene flow and selection events. Both differences existed due to differences on (i) population structures including landscape, clonality and parental genetic composition, and (ii) the disturbance histories of population, which affected the equilibrium between gene flow and drift. These findings emphasized the importance of larger gene flow and genetic base to naturally maintain genetical processes of sandalwood population under various landscapes structures.


In the background of globalization, the information collaboration has become more and more frequent. On the purpose of improving the collaboration, we propose this model for modular products based on the SML technology. According to the features of the modular product, this model consists of two sub-models: the unified SM pool model and the information collaboration model. The first one aims for provide unified SM for enterprises. And it also provides the foundation for information collaboration. Based on the features of modular products, the second one makes work on the interface information modeling for modular products. For further illustration, two collaboration applications are introduced in this paper: information collaboration in enterprise and with others. And based on this model, a software platform system is developed to support the collaboration.


Pure pursuit guidance (PPG) has been used to solve the path following problem for car-like autonomous ground vehicles (CAGV). Most of the PPG guidance laws for CAGV guide the vehicle to follow a circular arc connecting the vehicle with a virtual target point on the path at a specified distance ahead of the vehicle, which could be called ARC PPG. Another type of PPG law for CAGV guides the vehicle by steering its velocity vector to align with the line-of-sight (LOS) connecting the vehicle and the virtual target. While some qualitative stability results exist on ARC PPG for some special types of curves of the path, such as straight and circular, a quantitative stability analysis on general paths is highly desirable but appears missing. Moreover, the existing guidance parameter selection methods depend highly on empirical tuning. In this work, the LOS PPG formulation is used to obtain a rigorous quantitative stability result stated as two theorems for general reference paths by treating the path curvature as a non-vanishing perturbation in a nonlinear context. The result shows that the ARC PPG is a special case of the LOS PPG, whereby establishing the generality of the theorems for PPG of CAGVs. Moreover, a geometric interpretation of the guidance parameters in relation to the path curvature is provided. By using the results of the stability analysis, a practical design guideline for LOS PPG is presented. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the correctness of the stability analysis and the usefulness of the design guideline.


Enantiomerically pure, vicinal diols 1 afforded in a two-step synthesis (etherification and subsequent Claisen condensation) chiral bis-1,3-diketones H(2)L((S,S)) (3 a-c) with different substitution patterns. Reaction of these C(2)-symmetric ligands with various transition-metal acetates in the presence of alkali ions generated distinct polynuclear aggregates 4-8 by diastereoselective self-assembly. Starting from copper(II) acetate monohydrate and depending on the ratio of transition-metal ion to alkali ion to ligand, chiral tetranuclear copper(II) cubanes (C,C,C,C)-[Cu(4)(L((S,S)))(2)(OMe)(4)] (4 a-c) or dinuclear copper(II) helicates (P)-[Cu(2)(L((S,S)))(2)] (5) could be synthesized with square-pyramidal and square-planar coordination geometry at the metal center. In analogy to the last case, with palladium(II) acetate double-stranded helical systems (P)-[Pd(2)(L((S,S)))(2)] (6,7) were accessible exhibiting a linear self-organization of ligand-isolated palladium filaments in the solid state with short inter- and intramolecular metal distances. Finally, the introduction of hexacoordinate nickel(II) in combination with lithium hydroxide monohydrate and chiral ligand H(2)L((S,S)) (3 a) allowed the isolation of enantiomerically pure dinuclear nickel(II) coronate [(LiMeOH)(2) subset{(Delta,Lambda)-Ni(2)(L((S,S)))(2)(OMe)(2)}] (8) with two lithium ions in the voids, defined by the oxygen donors in the ligand backbone. The high diastereoselectivity, induced by the chiral ligands, during the self-assembly process in the systems 4-8 could be exemplarily proven by circular dichroism spectroscopy for the synthesized enantiomers of the chiral copper(II) cubane 4 a and palladium(II) helicate 6.


The central object of study of this thesis is inverse mean curvature vector flow of two-dimensional surfaces in four-dimensional spacetimes. Being a system of forward-backward parabolic PDEs, inverse mean curvature vector flow equation lacks a general existence theory. Our main contribution is proving that there exist infinitely many spacetimes, not necessarily spherically symmetric or static, that admit smooth global solutions to inverse mean curvature vector flow. Prior to our work, such solutions were only known in spherically symmetric and static spacetimes. The technique used in this thesis might be important to prove the Spacetime Penrose Conjecture, which remains open today.
Given a spacetime $(N^{4}, \overline{g})$ and a spacelike hypersurface $M$. For any closed surface $\Sigma$ embedded in $M$ satisfying some natural conditions, one can "steer" the spacetime metric $\overline{g}$ such that the mean curvature vector field of $\Sigma$ becomes tangential to $M$ while keeping the induced metric on $M$. This can be used to construct more examples of smooth solutions to inverse mean curvature vector flow from smooth solutions to inverse mean curvature flow in a spacelike hypersurface.


Giving grain boundaries more structure The properties of metals change depending on the composition and structure of grain boundaries in polycrystalline materials. Yu et al. discovered a surprising grain boundary superstructure in a nickel-bismuth alloy. Previously, the structure was only known to exist in a specific type of uncommon grain boundary, and experiments had focused on bicrystals. Unexpectedly, this alloy has grain boundary superstructures across a wide range of boundaries in polycrystalline samples. This likely also occurs in other alloys, which opens an avenue for grain boundary engineering to tune the physical properties of metals and ceramics. Science, this issue p. 97 High-resolution atomic transmission electron microscopy reveals new order across a range of grain boundaries in a Ni-Bi alloy. The properties of materials change, sometimes catastrophically, as alloying elements and impurities accumulate preferentially at grain boundaries. Studies of bicrystals show that regular atomic patterns often arise as a result of this solute segregation at high-symmetry boundaries, but it is not known whether superstructures exist at general grain boundaries in polycrystals. In bismuth-doped polycrystalline nickel, we found that ordered, segregation-induced grain boundary superstructures occur at randomly selected general grain boundaries, and that these reconstructions are driven by the orientation of the terminating grain surfaces rather than by lattice matching between grains. This discovery shows that adsorbate-induced superstructures are not limited to special grain boundaries but may exist at a variety of general grain boundaries, and hence they can affect the performance of polycrystalline engineering alloys.


This paper presents the results of vibration control strategy for high-speed linear robots using an auxiliary piezoelectric actuator. With acceleration reaching 3 g, rapid horizontal slewing motion inevitably excites the structural resonances of the robot and generates vertical vibration forces exceeding the tolerance of the end-effector. Instead of controlling the robot vibration from the main actuators (ac servomotors with limited bandwidth), a piezoelectric actuator is deployed to provide vibration suppression at the load in the z direction. This way the robot is treated as a disturbance generator while the piezoactuator is considered as the plant. A digital servocompensator is then designed and implemented to suppress these vibration modes. Typically, attenuation is achieved for the dominant mode with 30 dB and other modes with 15 dB. Suppression of vibration up to seven modes has been implemented satisfactorily.


Entrepreneurial teams play an extremely important role in the development of any country, especially in developing countries. To understand entrepreneurial teams that operate in a low-technology industry, we rely on the network and human perspective on entrepreneurship. In this paper, we investigate how the social and human capital of entrepreneurial team members influences their ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and mobilize external resources. We extend prior research in two ways. First, by using the ordered probit method to measure the identified entrepreneurial opportunities number at the level of entrepreneurial teams. Second, to our knowledge, there is a very small number of studies that have theoretically and empirically investigated the mobilization of external resources, especially at the level of entrepreneurial teams.


Background: Postoperative leaks are the most undesirable complication of bariatric surgery and upper gastrointestinal (GI) series are routinely ordered to rule them out. Despite the published literature recommending against its routine use, it is still being customarily used in Chile. Aim: To examine the usefulness of routine upper GI series using water-soluble iodinated contrast media for the detection of early postoperative leaks in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Material and methods: A cohort of 328 patients subjected to bariatric surgery was followed from October 2012 to October 2013. Most of them underwent sleeve gastrectomy. Results: Upper GI series on the first postoperative day were ordered to 308 (94%) patients. Postoperative leaks were observed in two patients, with an incidence of 0.6%. The sensitivity for upper GI series detection of leak was 0% and the negative predictive value was 99%. Conclusions: Routine upper GI series after bariatric surgery is not useful for the diagnosis of postoperative leak, given the low incidence of this complication and the low sensitivity of the technique.


There is need to support IP interfaces on the top of GMPLS packet
Label Switched Paths (LSPs), and enable IP routing (e.g., OSPF-TE,
ISIS-TE) and MPLS protocols on these interfaces. Traffic on an IP/MPLS
interface can be user traffic or control traffic. In addition, it can
be MPLS, IP or ISIS. Multiplexing IP and MPLS packets over the same
LSP is supported in the current MPLS architecture. However,
multiplexing IP, MPLS, and ISIS packets over the same LSP is not
currently supported. This draft proposes the definition of an explicit
ISIS NULL label to enable this type of multiplexing to take place.


A Tsukamurella sp. J8025 with the capability of removing the synthetic dyes (methyl orange) was isolated from activated sludge. The strain J8025 grew well in aerobic and semi-aerobic condition, but the best decolorization was in semi-aerobic culture (static condition). For the optimal decolorization, the most suitable pH and temperature were pH 6.0 and 30°C. More than 80% of methyl orange was decolorized in the LB medium within 4 days of incubation. The decolorization rate could be strongly promoted to over 90% in LB media with glucose within 2 days of incubation. This probability of reason for the consumed glucose as the best energy source was to enhance the cell growth and decolorization activity.


This paper seeks to present the necessity of the public "space" availability as a relaxation of the legislation margins in order of a flexible and efficient Strategic Public Management. This papers is about to be proposed with inclusion of the basic ideas of public strategic management. The proposed strategic plan is supposed to be adopted by an Independent Authority in Greece, the Ombudsman, which is a part of Hellenic Public Administration. The enhanced Bryson model of strategic public administration was selected, as the basis for this application. The whole strategic plan development methodology constitutes from the hyper thesis of several models, while each Bryson step, may assumed as a discrete method, as well as an implementation of qualitative and quantitative analysis such as text analysis and regression analysis. The Balanced Scorecard business model was performed, with regards to breaking down strategic goals to operational and individual. The final outcome of the strategic planning methodology in the Greek Ombudsman is that according to the strategic mapping model, the focus should be placed on the citizen as a user of the services and the rest of the operational goals should be set in such a way as to allow and guide the Ombudsman's services around the citizen's needs. As a basic finding of the whole application is the need for extended flexibility of such organization in terms of self-determining the vision and the operational goals.

JEL Classification: H11, H83, C88


AIM
This paper is a report of a theoretically based review of literature exploring the concept of perceived control in relation to older adults.

BACKGROUND
Perceived control is a cognitive attribute that is a precursor to function, a mediator between social support and psychological wellbeing, and instrumental for effective disease self-management. It has been defined from several theoretical perspectives with either a global or a specific focus.

METHODS
A review of literature was conducted. Articles were abstracted into a table in order to compare the purpose, theoretical framework, definition of perceived control, scope of application of perceived control, research questions, subjects, methods, instruments and findings across studies. The articles were sorted by theoretical framework for analyses among and between theoretical frameworks.

RESULTS
Twenty papers published between 1995 and 2005, listed in CINAHL or Medline, with the words 'perceived control' in the title, and which included older adults as at least half of the sample and used one of five predominant theoretical frameworks were included in a review of the literature. In this review, perceived control is defined within the theories of social learning, self-efficacy, planned behaviour, the lifespan theory of control, and from a person-environment framework. There is little consensus among researchers as to the definition of perceived control.

CONCLUSION
Lack of consensus on the theoretical underpinnings and variability in definition of perceived control exist. The mechanisms through which perceived control develops and is exercised are also in dispute. Nevertheless, there is general agreement that high perceived control is important for wellbeing in older adults.


Gelcasting and dry pressing are used to produce anode composites for SOFC. In this paper a composite material Ni/Ce-YSZ containing Ni and Ce-doped Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (Ce-YSZ) based on Ce-YSZ electrolyte was fabricated via sintering infiltration of NiO at the temperature of 1400°C, followed Ni/Ce-YSZ materials are successfully produced by reduction- sintering process. Hydrogen reduction of NiO in the NiO/Ce-YSZ anode material was accomplished successfully through pore channels of debinded carbon volume. XRD results suggest that a solid solution of Ce-YSZ was produced. The microstructure of NiO/Ce-YSZ, and Ni/Ce-YSZ material was observed by SEM. This study confirms that sintering infiltration of NiO is a viable process for fabricating anode materials based on zirconia electrolyte and there are a good interface between electrolyte and anode.


The rabbit isolated superior mesenteric artery, when precontracted with phenylephrine, relaxes in a sustained manner in less than 30 min when exposed to recombinant interleukin-1 (IL-1), and this is a prostaglandin (PG)-dependent, endothelium- and 5-lipoxygenase-independent process. We have studied the dependency of IL-1-induced relaxation on protein synthesis and trafficking using isolated rings of rabbit mesenteric arteries. Three chemically unrelated protein synthesis inhibitors (PSIs) (cycloheximide, anisomycin and puromycin) completely prevented the response to IL-1. Moreover, the PSIs reversed IL-1-induced relaxations within 15 to 30 min of application. The amplitude and/or the duration of the relaxation induced by arachidonic acid and iloprost (a PGI2 mimetic) were partially inhibited by cycloheximide treatment, but not those induced by nitroglycerin or by cromakalim. However, tissues initially relaxed by IL-1 and then recontracted by a PSI are still able to relax when challenged with either arachidonic acid or iloprost, suggesting that cyclooxygenase is not depleted and that the responsiveness to PGs is intact under these conditions. Manoalide, thioether amide glycerophosphocholine (type II phospholipase A2 inhibitors) or brefeldin A (an inhibitor of intracellular protein trafficking) did not inhibit IL-1-induced relaxation. The data suggest the involvement of newly synthesized protein(s) with a very rapid turnover in the vascular response to IL-1. PSIs probably act at several levels to inhibit the relaxant response to IL-1, but depletion of tissue cyclooxygenase does not appear to be the limiting mechanism for the PSI effect on IL-1-induced relaxations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The main objective of the present study is the development of a comprehensive methodology for the estimation of the Carbon Footprint (CF) of research project activities and the identification of the best practices that can be followed by project partners within the project implementation to reduce its carbon footprint. The CF methodology is based on the GHG Protocol Guidance and the emissions factors of the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The emissions sources related to project activities are the following: heating (from fuels combustion), electricity, water, work-commuting, materials, printable deliverables, IT equipment and events. An application study is performed for a research project focusing on the Mediterranean area and it is found that on-site events represent a 41% share of the total CF of the project. The use of public transport and soft mobility by employees can result in a −37% reduction in the CF of work-commuting. The most significant best practices for more sustainable organization of project events, leading to a reduction of −62% and −50% in the CF of the events, are (1) public transportation and soft mobility of the events' participants to reach the event location within the host city, and (2) the promotion of the use of buses and railway for the international/national travels of participants to/from the event's host city, respectively. Τhe organization of hybrid events may also reduce the project event's CF by −50%. The cumulative reduction in the total CF of the project examined from all the CF mitigation scenarios studied, relevant to the energy-efficient target of the EU, the origin of materials used, work-commuting and events (materials used, transportation, hybrid events), is estimated to be −45%.


In this paper the mode-locking of an erbium-doped fiber ring laser with frequency shifted feedback is described. We use the configuration with an acousto-optical modulator inserted in the laser cavity that produces 1.7 ps pulses with a 40 MHz repetition frequency. The corresponding optical frequency comb has a bandwidth of more than 10 nm, centered at 1558 nm. The laser operates with external injection from a DFB telecommunication laser diode which can be used for controlling the offset frequency of an optical comb. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of external injection of a mode-locked fiber laser using a telecommunication laser diode. Full Text: PDF References: J. Ye, S.T. Cundiff, "Femtosecond Optical Frequency Comb: Principle, Operation, and Applications", 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. Boston. H. Sabert, E. Brinkmeyer, "Pulse Generation in Fiber Lasers with Frequency Shifted Feedback", J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 12, pp. 1360 1368, 1994. S.U. Alam, A.B. Grudinin, "Tunable picosecond frequency-shifted feedback fiber laser at 1550 nm", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 16, pp. 2012-2014, 2004. [CrossRef] Michal P. Nikodem, Ewelina Kluzniak, and Krzysztof Abramski, "Wavelength tunability and pulse duration control in frequency shifted feedback Er-doped fiber lasers", Opt. Express 17, 3299-3304 (2009). [CrossRef] A.M. Heidt, J.P. Burger, J.-N. Maran, and N. Traynor, "High power and high energy ultrashort pulse generation with a frequency shifted feedback fiber laser", Opt. Express 15, 15892-15897 (2007). [CrossRef] H.Y. Ryu, H.S. Moon, H.S. Suh, "Optical frequency comb generator based on actively mode-locked fiber ring laser using an acousto-optic modulator with injection-seeding", Opt. Express 15, pp. 11396-11401, 2007. [CrossRef] S. Bennett, B. Cai, E. Burr, O. Gough, A.J. Seeds, "1.8-THz Bandwidth, Zero-Frequency Error, Tunable Optical Comb Generatorr for DWDM Applications", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 11, pp. 551-553, 1999. [CrossRef] P.D. Dragic, "Injection-Seeded Q-Switched Fiber Ring Laser", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 16, pp. 1822-1824, 2004. [CrossRef]


Software architects have techniques to deal with many quality attributes such as performance, reliability, and maintainability. Usability, however, has traditionally been concerned primarily with presentation and not been a concern of software architects beyond separating the user interface from the remainder of the application. In this paper, we present usability-supporting architectural patterns. Each pattern describes a usability concern that is not supported by separation alone. For each concern, a usability-supporting architectural pattern provides the forces from the characteristics of the task and environment, the human, and the state of the software to motivate an implementation independent solution cast in terms of the responsibilities that must be fulfilled to satisfy the forces. Furthermore, each pattern includes a sample solution implemented in the context of an overriding separation based pattern such as J2EE Model View Controller.


One year after the revelation by Dr. Furchgott in 1980 that the endothelium was obligatory for acetylcholine to relax isolated arteries, it was clearly shown that the endothelium could also promote contraction. In 1988, Dr. Yanagisawa's group identified endothelin-1 (ET-1) as the first endothelium-derived contracting factor. The circulating levels of this short (21-amino acid) peptide were quickly determined in humans, and it was reported that, in most cardiovascular diseases, circulating levels of ET-1 were increased, and ET-1 was then tagged as "a bad guy." The discovery of two receptor subtypes in 1990, ET A and ET B , permitted optimization of the first dual ET-1 receptor antagonist in 1993 by Dr. Clozel's team, who entered clinical development with bosentan, which was offered to patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in 2001. The revelation of Dr. Furchgott opened a Pandora's box with ET-1 as one of the actors. In this brief review, we will discuss the physiological and pathophysiological role of endothelium-derived ET-1 focusing on the regulation of the vascular tone, and as much as possible in humans. The coronary bed will be used as a running example in this review because it is the most susceptible to endothelial dysfunction, but references to the cerebral and renal circulation will also be made. Many of the cardiovascular complications associated with aging and cardiovascular risk factors are initially attributable, at least in part, to endothelial dysfunction, particularly dysregulation of the vascular function associated with an imbalance in the close interdependence of nitric oxide and ET-1.


Introductions:  imbalance between the number of personnel and the workload of nurses in a hospital, so that nurses can implement  caring  behavior in the process of health care.  Objective:  The aim of this study is to know is there any relation Workload and Stress Work With Application Behavior  Caring Behavior  Nurses in Service Nursing In the main hall of hospitals Probolinggo.  Methods:  This study uses  correlation analytic design with  cross sectional  approach  Comparative.  The population in this study were nurses in the Main room number 13 of the respondents, the sampling technique used  "Total sampling".  The study was conducted on January 5 to February 3, 2014. The instruments used are questionnaires and observation sheets. After the data collected includes the  coding  of data  collection, editing  and  tabulating,  and then analyzed using statistical tests  Loglinier. Results and Analyzed:  The results showed the majority of nurses in the main room of the workload being experienced by 7 respondents (53.8%), experienced moderate job stress as much as 8 respondents (61.5%), and behave caring as much as 10 respondents (76.9%). Based on statistics  Loglinier  Test results showed that the value of α  p  value of 0.001 with a significance level of 0.05. Thus, the Jerusalem Bible  p  value less than α (0.05) so that it can be concluded H1 accepted which means no relationship Workload and Stress Working with Application Behavior  Behavior  Nurse  Caring  Orphanage in Service Kepera watan.  Discussion:  Based on this study it can be concluded that there relationship workload and stress of work in the application of behavioral nurse  caring behaviors  in the nursing care services.Although the nurse workload and stress suffered heavy work, nurses are expected to remain implement  caring  behavior  behavior,  so that the client feels safe and comfortable. Keywords: Workload, Work Stress, Caring Behavior, Nurse.


In Petri-net (PN) modeling of flexible manufacturing systems, deadlock prevention is often addressed by means of siphon-control methods. Constraints that avoid the emptying of siphons can be easily implemented using additional places suitably connected to the PN transitions. Efficient siphon-based techniques achieve highly permissive solutions using as few control places as possible. One such technique employs a set-covering approach to optimally match emptiable siphons to critical markings. In this paper, a modified version of the method is proposed that achieves the same results in terms of permissivity and size of the control subnet but avoids full siphon enumeration. This greatly reduces the overall computational time and memory requirements and allows the applicability of the method to large-size models.


To understand the kinetics of protein folding, we introduce the concept of a "transition coordinate" which is defined to be the coordinate along which the system progresses most slowly. As a practical implementation of this concept, we define the transmission coefficient for any conformation to be the probability for a chain with the given conformation to fold before it unfolds. Since the transmission coefficient can serve as the best possible measure of kinetic distance for a system, we present two methods by which we can determine how closely any parameter of the system approximates the transmission coefficient. As we determine that the transmission coefficient for a short-chain heteropolymer system is dominated by entropic factors, we have chosen to illustrate the methods mentioned by applying them to geometrical properties of the system such as the number of native contacts and the looplength distribution. We find that these coordinates are not good approximations of the transmission coefficient and therefore, cannot adequately describe the kinetics of protein folding.


A novel method for tablet coating was studied where a thin polymer film was cast (pre-formed film), dried and applied as a coating hence eliminating the need for using any solvent during the actual coating process. A pre-formed film is initially heating to a temperature where it becomes flexible, a vacuum is applied and the film is then pulled around the tablet. The proposed films (gelatine or cellulose-based) were characterised in terms of their dissolution, swelling, mechanical and thermal properties prior to using them in the novel coating process; selected films were then coated onto tablets containing paracetamol or ibuprofen and the effect of the film on the subsequent dissolution was evaluated. It was found that the pre-formed films could be designed to be fast dissolving and mechanically strong to withstand the stress from the coating process. Also metoclopramide was incorporated in a gelatine film-coating formulation which was then successfully coated on paracetamol-containing core. Gelatin-based films were found to be successful in the novel coating process therefore to be suitable as finished coatings for immediate release dosage forms. Orally disintegrating dosage forms have been identified as a favourable dosage form due to the following reasons: fast onset of drug release, easy to use, not painful and possible increase of amount absorbed to systemic circulation. Selected films formulated for coating studies were also successfully formulated to contain active ingredient suitable for orally disintegrating dosage form; cellulose-based naratriptan-films were studied as orally disintegrating dosage forms of where the effect of formulation on the film properties was studied. It was found that strength of the film can affect the dissolution of the film but it may be the inclusion of specific excipients in the formulation which affect the penetration of the drug through mucosa.


We study how the amount of correlation between observations collected by distinct sensors/learners affects data collection and collaboration strategies by analyzing Fisher information and the Cramer-Rao bound. In particular, we consider a simple setting wherein two sensors sample from a bivariate Gaussian distribution, which already motivates the adoption of various strategies, depending on the correlation between the two variables and resource constraints. We identify two particular scenarios: (1) where the knowledge of the correlation between samples cannot be leveraged for collaborative estimation purposes and (2) where the optimal data collection strategy involves investing scarce resources to collaboratively sample and transfer information that is not of immediate interest and whose statistics are already known, with the sole goal of increasing the confidence on an estimate of the parameter of interest. We discuss two applications, IoT DDoS attack detection and distributed estimation in wireless sensor networks, that may benefit from our results.


(The genus Vaucheria D.C. [Vaucheriaceae, Xanthophyceae] in Southern Brazil: taxonomic and ecology aspects). Taxonomic survey and environmental occurrence of the genus Vaucheria were investigated in 105 streams from Southern Brazil. Abiotic variables were correlated to species occurrence. Three species were identified according to gametangia characteristics: V. geminata (Vauch.) D.C., V. taylorii Blum and V. sessilis (Vauch.) D.C.; the latter is reported for the first time in Brazil. The results of this survey suggest that Vaucheria is influenced by environmental characteristics, occurring mainly, in neutral to slightly acidic pH, low turbidity, slow current velocity and in partly shaded streams. This combination of variables seems to be the most favorable in the Vaucheria population establishment in lotic habitats independently of biome.