ECG recordings provide diagnostic relevant information on the de- and repolarisation sequences of the heart. A modification of the repolarisation sequence is assumed to cause Torsades de Pointes. Especially drug induced effects on the repolarisation processes are in focus, since some non-cardiac drugs have been associated with sudden cardiac death in the 1990s.
The analysis of the ventricular repolarisation using a set of parameters depicting the morphology of the T-wave is introduced in this work. Therefore, new methods of fully automatic patient-specific QRS detection, beat classification and precise T-wave delineation are presented. Using these methods, medical studies are investigated regarding the modification of the T-wave by different compounds. Also the impact of the heart rate on the morphology of the T-wave is part of this research.
The reliable identification of ventricular ectopic beats allows an analysis of the influence of these beats on subsequent heart beats. It turned out that the morphology of subsequent heart beats can significantly be changed. This might give new information on the proarrythmical risk of ventricular ectopic beats.


Several studies addressing the supply and demand for food in China suggest that the nation can largely meet its needs in the coming decades. However, these studies do not consider the effects of climate change. This paper examines whether near future expected changes in climate are likely to alter this picture. The authors analyze the effect of temperature and precipitation on net crop revenues using a cross section consisting of both rainfed and irrigated farms. Based on survey data from 8,405 households across 28 provinces, the results of the Ricardian analysis demonstrate that global warming is likely to be harmful to China but the impacts are likely to be very different in each region. The mid latitude region of China may benefit from warming but the southern and northern regions are likely to be damaged by warming. More precipitation is beneficial to Chinese farmers except in the wet southeast. Irrigated and rainfed farmers have similar responses to precipitation but not to temperature. Warmer temperatures may benefit irrigated farms but they are likely to harm rainfed farms. Finally, seasonal effects vary and are offsetting. Although we were able to measure the direct effect of precipitation and temperature, we could not capture the effects of change in water flow which will be very important in China. Can China continue feeding itself if climate changes? Based on the empirical results, the likely gains realized by some farmers will nearly offset the losses that will occur to other farmers in China. If future climate scenarios lead to significant reductions in water, there may be large damages not addressed in this study.


In a traditional software engineering class, students are typically engaged in theoretical lectures followed by homework assignments or a project. Use of hands-on training and laboratory activities using real-world projects is more likely to produce students with a higher level of achievement and more confidence in the course material. If every topic or technique introduced in the course has a corresponding hands-on activity that demonstrates an application or use of the concept in the industry, students better understand the need for the technique and the learning environment is more interactive, engaging, and interesting to students. This paper presents a project called ScrumTutor that aims at providing an engaging learning experience of Scrum Software development process through a web-based Interactive tutorial. It is designed and developed for undergraduate students in introductory Software Engineering courses. This software tool introduces its users to modern software engineering methodology used these days in the software industry known as Agile Software Development that includes the Scrum framework for managing software projects or products.


Abstract The current paper links the optimal intertemporal use of renewable natural resources to the harvesting activities of various economic agents. Previous contributions cite market forces as a causative factor inducing the extirpation of renewable natural resources. The analysis given here discusses investment in the stock of renewable resources and cites important examples of this activity. By introducing joint harvesting and replenishment strategies into a model of renewable resource use, the analysis adds descriptive reality and relevance to positive and normative discussions of renewable natural resource use. A high price for the yield or a high discount rate tend to diminish the size of the optimum stationary stock of the resource with a non-replenishment harvesting strategy. Optimal non-replenishment harvesting strategies for renewable natural resources will exhaustion or extirpation of the resource if the price of the yield or the discount rate are sufficiently large. However, the availability of a replenishment technology and the use of replenishment activities tends to buffer the resource against exhaustion or extirpation.


Automatic face annotation (or tagging) facilitates improved retrieval and organization of personal photos in online social networks. In this paper, we present a new collaborative face recognition (FR) method that aims to improve face annotation accuracy. The proposed method makes efficient use of multiple FR engines and databases that are distributed over an online social network. The performance of our collaborative face recognition method was successfully evaluated using the standard MPEG-7 VCE-3 data set and a set of real-world personal photos from the web. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated in terms of comparative annotation performance against non-collaborative approaches utilizing a single FR engine and a single database only.


The Pythagorean tree is a fractal figure with a branching structure based upon the Pythagorean theorem. This paper describes the use of a greedy algorithm to encourage a homogenous spread of detail for asymmetrical trees and avoid localized regions of high detail. A model of prioritized branch growth based on this idea is used to optimize tree shape, allowing more visually interesting trees to be grown using significantly fewer segments. A comparison of the fractal dimension of the resulting shapes supports the general success of this approach.


Archaeometry and forensic laboratories are increasingly confronted with problematic samples from the scene of samples, containing only minute amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which may include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibiting substances. Efficient DNA extraction procedures, as well as accurate DNA quantification methods, are critical steps involved in the process of successful DNA analysis of such samples. Genomic DNA was extracted automatically by using EZ1 Automatic Nucleic Acid Isolation System (Qiagen, Germany) with investigator kit (Qiagen, Ilden, Germany) from ancient bones. This method is a sensitive for the extraction of DNA from a wide variety of forensic samples, although it is known to be laborious compared with single tube extraction methods. The relatively high DNA recovery and the quality of the extracted DNA speak for itself. For reliable and sensitive DNA quantitation, the application of real time PCR is described. A published real-time PCR assay, which allows for the combined analysis of nuclear or ancient DNA and mitochondrial DNA, was modified. This approach can be used for recovering DNA from the surface of fossil bone remains in Turkey via a simple procedure that permits a direct quantitative and qualitative assessment of molecular markers. Using quantitative RT-PCR, the available sources of total aDNA was shown to consists of intact DNA that is virtually free of RNA, resulting in a more accurate representation of gene expression using RTPCR and PCR amplification methods. In this study, the results demonstrate that RT-PCR method can be useful for the improved ancient DNA extraction in anthropology and archeology.


Increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines, the immunological response to pathogens, have been observed in close to one third of patients with major depression. Further, interpersonal stressors, the most potent and well-established risk for depression, have also been found to elicit pro-inflammatory cytokines. Thus, inflammation may represent a biological response to stress that heightens the risk of depression. A better understanding of the relationships among stress, depression and inflammation has the potential to shed light on the cycle of stress and depression, as well as the increased prevalence of inflammatory illness in depressed patients, which is of growing concern in our aging population. This dissertation sought to confirm that among young, healthy adults, depressive symptoms tend to develop before, and contribute to elevations in pro-inflammatory cytokines, and to determine whether functional variation in immunological genes would create susceptibility to depression and inflammation in response to stress, and/or create susceptibility to inflammation following an elevation in depressive symptoms. The dissertation explored these questions in a pair of longitudinal cohort studies, the first of which followed Australian youth with a high prevalence of familial risk for depression from ages 15 to 20, and included assessments of depressive symptoms, stress exposure and genotypic information for a trio of immunological genes. Exposure to interpersonal stress was moderated by variation at IL6 and IL1β, so that -174C allele carriers at IL6, and -511C carriers at IL1β had greater depressive symptoms in response to stress, while neither of these genotypes affected the prediction of depressive symptoms from exposure to non-interpersonal stressors, such as finances and work. TNF genotype was not a moderator of either type of stress exposure. In the second dissertation study, the prediction of growth in depressive symptoms and C-reactive protein (CRP) from childhood stress exposure, and potential moderation of these paths by IL6 genotype, was examined in 4,276 participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development Study of Young Adults. Stress exposure in the childhood home was predictive of depressive symptoms at age 30, which were in turn associated with slight, but significant growth in CRP between age 32 and age 50. African Americans in this sample showed a unique moderating effect of IL6 genotype, so that the relationship between stress and CRP was significant among G allele carriers, but not among African American CC homozygotes, or among Caucasians, regardless of genotype. Taken together, the two dissertation studies suggest that genetic variation at IL6 may contribute to increases in depressive symptoms and CRP following interpersonal stress exposure. Further, although a strong relationship from stress exposure to depression was observed in both study populations, a direct relationship between stress and CRP was not found. Instead, stress led to depression which in turn predicted CRP, and this effect was more pronounced in Caucasians.


This work considers a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing based multiuser broadcast system with precoding at the transmitter and feedback of channel state information. A general framework is presented for the transceiver design, and also for the design of the feedback link based on the quantization of the users' MIMO channel Gram matrices. The proposed design of the feedback link exploits the correlation of the channel response in the frequency domain due to the finite length of the channel time impulse responses to outperform other schemes based on feedback of the per carrier frequency responses. The transceiver design framework is based on a unitary linear transformation applied at the receivers which allows the computation of equivalent triangular channel response matrices at the transmitter. An analytic study of the error propagation due to the channel quantization in the feedback link and the computation of the equivalent triangular channel matrices is also performed. Based on the previous concepts, all the usual transceiver design criteria can be applied within this framework, and the particular case of a space-frequency precoder for robust mean square error minimization is derived as an example. Finally, the benefits of the proposed strategy are evaluated by means of numerical simulations and compared to other existing techniques.


Human pituitary somatotroph adenomas can be associated with mutations of the s alpha-subunit of G proteins. However, the impact of the gsp mutations on the tumoral phenotype is not well understood at present. This study aims to determine whether the detection of this mutation could impact on the management of acromegalic patients. We examined 30 acromegalic patients; 8 were gsp positive, and 22 were gsp negative. The gsp-positive adenomas appeared to secrete significantly more when the ratio of basal GH level/tumor size was considered. A better octreotide sensitivity of mutated adenomas was clearly shown under in vivo (short and long term) and in vitro conditions. During the acute octreotide test, the GH nadir was significantly lower in the gsp-positive adenomas (85% of maximal inhibition vs. 52%). Eighteen patients were treated with octreotide (300 micrograms/day) for at least 3 months before surgery: the percent inhibition of GH hypersecretion was higher in gsp-positive adenomas (76% vs. 47%). In cell culture, the octreotide-induced inhibition of GH release was significantly higher in gsp-positive adenomas (71% vs. 30%). Finally, during 2 yr of postoperative follow-up, GH hypersecretion was controlled in all patients with gsp mutation even in those in whom tumoral tissue remained after surgery. On the contrary, in the gsp-negative group, octreotide treatment was unable to control hypersecretion in 4 patients bearing tumoral remnants. The Gs alpha mutation could, therefore, be a new marker to foresee the susceptibility of the tumor to be controlled by somatostatin analogs, which improves prognosis.


In spite of high frequencies of metal allergies, the structural basis for major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted metal recognition is among the unanswered questions in the field of T cell activation. For the human T cell clone SE9, we have identified potential Ni contact sites in the T cell receptor (TCR) and the restricting human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR structure. The specificity of this HLA-DR–promiscuous VA22/VB17+ TCR is primarily harbored in its α chain. Ni reactivity is neither dependent on protein processing in antigen-presenting cells nor affected by the nature of HLA-DR–associated peptides. However, SE9 activation by Ni crucially depends on Tyr29 in CDR1α, an N-nucleotide–encoded Tyr94 in CDR3α, and a conserved His81 in the HLA-DR β chain. These data indicate that labile, nonactivating complexes between the SE9 TCR and most HLA-DR/peptide conjugates might supply sterically optimized coordination sites for Ni ions, three of which were identified in this study. In such complexes Ni may effectively bridge the TCR α chain to His81 of most DR molecules. Thus, in analogy to superantigens, Ni may directly link TCR and MHC in a peptide-independent manner. However, unlike superantigens, Ni requires idiotypic, i.e., CDR3α-determined TCR amino acids. This new type of TCR–MHC linkage might explain the high frequency of Ni-reactive T cells in the human population.


Peach (Prunus perisca) is a very important fruit and it is attractive all over the world due to its delicious aroma and flavor. Peach is susceptible to various types of pathogens that result in decline of its fruit production. An important pathogen, Agrobacterium tumefaciens attacks on peach plant and it causes crown gall disease. The present study was conducted to identify the peach plants infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens and isolate as well as identify the bacterium from the crown gall samples. These samples were collected from different locations including district Swat and Shangla. The bacterium was isolated from the samples using MacConkey selection media that is used specifically for identification of Agrobacterium tumefaciens . Two different biochemical tests i.e. Gram staining and KOH test were performed to confirm that the isolated bacterium is gram negative. The biochemical tests reveal that all the bacterial isolates are gram negative. Furthermore, two pathogenicity tests i.e. potato disc and carrot disc bioassay were conducted that confirmed the isolates causing tumors in the infected plant tissues. Antibiotic sensitivity tests reveal that the bacterial isolates are resistant to rifampicin antibiotic. All the morphological as well as the biochemical features of the bacterial isolates suggested that the samples isolated from crown galls were Agrobacterium tumefaciens . Our study provides the basis for further molecular characterization of the pathogens and to devise strategies for reducing the risk of bacterial infection and to enhance the yield of fruits.


The solid phase immunoassay for the measurement of serum antibody to double and single-stranded DNA is described. The technique allows a more accurate definition of the antibody specificity of SLE sera as defined by inhibition techniques. The clinical usefulness of immunologic assays in the management of patients with SLE is described, including measurement of urine light chain protein concentration. A core discussion is provided to illustrate how such a panel of tests is used in management.


We study price competition and entry of platforms in multi-sided markets. Utilizing the simplicity of the equilibrium pricing formula in our setting with heterogeneity of customers' membership benefits, we demonstrate that in the presence of externalities, the standard effects of competition can be reversed: as platform competition increases, prices and platform profits can go up and consumer surplus can go down. We identify economic forces that jointly determine the social inefficiency of the free-entry equilibrium and provide conditions under which free entry is socially excessive as well as an example in which free entry is socially insufficient. JEL classification: L13, L4.


Arcam Ti6Al4V is a titanium-based alloy that is used for the production of additively manufactured components using electron beam melting (EBM). These components are used in applications that demand high levels of reliable performance as in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, chemical, power generation, oil and gas extraction, sports, and other major industries. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, microstructure, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: Ti-174. Producer or source: Arcam AB (a GE Additive company).


High Chromium White Irons (HCWI) hardfacing alloys are used extensively in the mining and other processing industries. Hardfacing alloys are mainly meant for combating the wear of components and structures. However, these alloys are also used under conditions that involve corrosive fluids and only limited studies are available on the corrosion behaviour of these alloys. The hardfacing alloys are mainly based on carbides. The most popular abrasion resistance alloy is based on chromium carbides. In the first stage of the thesis, Pourbaix diagrams developed for chromium carbides and other strong carbide forming elements such as titanium, niobium and tungsten at 298K using thermodynamic data of the stable species, equilibrium reduction reactions and thermodynamic calculations. The Pourbaix diagrams were useful in predicting and explaining the corrosion behavior of the hardfacing alloys. In addition, experiments were designed in the regions of interest such as a combination of pH and potential. In the second stage of this research, experimental work was carried out to investigate the corrosion behaviour of welded HCWI hardfacing alloys with strong carbide forming elements in acidic, alkaline and neutral environments. The HCWI selected are as described in the Australian Standards AS2576, which is probably the most advanced standard in the world as it defines not only the hardness but also its microstructures. The HCWI microstructure consists of primary and eutectic carbides and eutectic austenitic/martensitic matrix. The potentiodynamic and potentiostatic tests were used to study the corrosion behaviour of HCWI in all the three environments. In alkaline pH 14 and neutral pH 7 buffer solutions, corrosion of HCWI occurs at carbides in preference to eutectic austenite matrix. In acidic pH 1.5 and neutral pH 7 NaCl solutions, corrosion of HCWI occurs at eutectic martensitic matrix in preference to carbides. Whereas, in acidic solution of pH 2, the corrosion occurs at eutectic carbides in preference to eutectic austenite matrix. From these experimental results, the corrosion trend of HCWI in acidic, alkaline and neutral environments was studied using the superimposed Pourbaix diagram of carbides. From the study of superimposed Pourbaix diagrams of carbides found that in all the three environments, corrosion of eutectic austenite/martensitic matrix or carbides depended upon the formation of passive film on the surface of eutectic austenite/martensite. The corrosion of eutectic martensitic matrix in neutral pH 7 NaCl solution is mainly due to removal of passive layer by the aggressive chloride ions in the solution. The Pourbaix diagram of chromium carbides revealed that stability of Cr23C6 eutectic carbides were found to be less stable than the Cr7C3 primary carbides. The superimposed Pourbaix diagrams of carbides and hardness tests also showed that dissociation of carbides reduces the wear resistance of HCWI hardfacing alloys significantly. The results of this work provide significant contribution in designing better corrosion resistant HCWI hardfacing alloys for wear resistance applications.


This is a study on texture, decrystallization, and recrystallization in rolled and heat treated semi–crystalline polymers. Experiments were conducted using wide angle Debye-Scherrer-type X– ray diffraction. Changes in crystallinity were quantitatively monitored as a function of strain and annealing time. It was observed that crystallinity drastically drops during deformation in PET. We suggest that amorphization (decrystallization) is a deformation mechanism which acts as an alternative to crystallographic slip depending on the orientation of the nanocrystalline lamellae. Heat treatment leads to the recrystallization of amorphous PET material and to an enhancement of the original texture of the deformed crystals observed before the heat treatment. We explain this phenomenon in terms of oriented nucleation where amorphous material crystallizes alongside existing crystalline lamellae.


Abstract Choice is an essential feature in personal construct psychology, and arguably the main task of the personal construct is to clarify why the person chooses one course of action rather than another. Yet the choice corollary appears to be in danger of being tautological, saying that whatever the person did constituted the elaborative choice. G. A. Kelly proposed the choice corollary as a useful heuristic device to counter external observers' beliefs that they can know what is best for the person. However, there is a danger in overcorrecting, in assuming that every action of the person constitutes an elaborative choice. This is most likely to occur in the neurotic paradox, where clients experience self-definition as problematic for them. I argue that we should emphasize construing as inseparable from action. This leads us to a phenomenological rather than a cognitive reading of construct theory. M. Merleau-Ponty's (1962) concept of sedimentation is then helpful in understanding the type of self-defin...


Material and methods: A 33 years old primigravida presented at our institution for pregnancy control. Ultrasound at 10 weeks revealed a monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancy. One of the fetuses presented a nuchal translucency of 6mm. At 12 weeks both fetuses presented nuchal translucency thickness of 1 and 1,4 mm. Nasal bone was present in both, Ductus venosus had a normal pattern, with positive ''A wave''. The patient was offered fetal cariotiping, which she refused. At 20 weeks of gestation a discordancy of 20% of fetal weights was noted. Both bladders were full, and both sacs presented normal amniotic fluid. Both cords were found to insert very nearby. iARED could be demonstrated in the smaller fetus, and the communicating vessel between both cords is also presented. The small fetus presents also a single umbilical artery. No other anomalies were found in none of the fetuses. The patient was counselled and offered cord occlusion of the small fetus, which she refused, and we continued with expectant management. We hypothesize that the transient nuchal edema at 10 weeks was a consequence of a feto-fetal transfusion trough the anastomosis, which corrected as soon as both fetuses recovered their normal heart ratio. Conclusion: Very transient nuchal translucency thickness in a monochorionic twin pregnancy can be a risk marker of developing iARED.


Executive Summary Leaders' qualities are an essential part of economic growth and policymaking. Nonetheless, in many cases, the information about leaders' qualities and characteristics is limited. This study investigates and provides new information about leadership characteristics in Indonesia. We collect novel datasets from the curriculum vitae of local leaders (e.g., mayors, vice mayors, regents, and vice-regents) at districts in Indonesia to understand the leaders in Indonesia's political environment. We find that most of the local leaders in Indonesia are male, highly educated, experienced, and had experience in bureaucracy. Our results suggest that Indonesia's political system is still dominated by specific groups and exclusive to certain groups. However, our study suggests that since it transitioned into a democratized country in 1998, the quality of elected leaders' quality in Indonesia has improved. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether these characteristics lead to better policy choices.


General functional decomposition has important applications in many fields of modern engineering and science. However, it is mainly perceived as a method of logic synthesis for implementation of Boolean functions into FPGAbased architectures. In this paper, an application of functional decomposition in other fields of modern engineering is presented. The experimental results demonstrate that a method of synthesis based on functional decomposition can help in implementing sequential machines using flip-flops or ROM memory. It also can be efficiently used as a method of multilevel logic synthesis for VLSI technology.


Although many studies have focused on risk factors for 30-day readmission after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, there is very little known about the prevention of modifiable risk factors associated with readmission. The research questions that guided this focused literature review were (1) What are the modifiable risk factors of 30-day readmission after CABG surgery identified in recent literature? and (2) What are the clinical programs and strategies available in preventing 30-day readmission after CABG surgery? A focused literature review from 1997 to 2014 yielded 17 published reports. Findings of this review revealed a significant gap between addressing modifiable patient-specific risk factors and the current clinical program initiatives, which are focused on care processes. Clinical programs and strategies for 30-day readmission after CABG surgery are evolving. Many programs and studies have included discharge planning and education as interventions to prevent 30-day readmissions; however, there is inconsistency in the literature on the impact of early discharge on readmission. Future studies need to focus on targeting the clinical modifiable risk factors and discharge planning and education, which may help to prevent 30-day readmissions.


On the basis of metal cutting and rigid-plastic finite element theories, taking cutting force in turning process as the research object, a FEA model for turning process using a MDT cutter on a centre lathe CA6140 is constructed to simulate its metal cutting process. Using Deform 3D, cutting forces are calculated according to different cutting parameters. The influences of the cutting parameters on the cutting forces are investigated. In order to validate the FEA model, cutting experiments are conducted. Comparison between simulated cutting forces and experimental forces shows similar trends and reasonable agreement.


The temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra of BaIn2O4, prepared by coprecipitation, are measured and discussed. Aside from the reported 3.02-eV violet emission, the 1.81-eV yellow emission involved with oxygen vacancy is also observed at room temperature wherein the deep donor level is at 1.2 eV. With the temperature increasing, the peak energies for both emissions show a red shift. Moreover, the yellow emission intensity decreases while the violet emission intensity increases. The temperature dependence of the yellow emission intensity fits very well into the one-step quenching process equation, indicating a fitted activation energy at 19.2 meV.


The view that female mammals are more docile appears to arise in part from imposing human values on animal studies. Many reports of sexual dimorphism in physical aggression favouring the male in laboratory rodents appear to select circumstances where that expectation is supported. Other situations that favour the expression of conflict in females have been (until recently) relatively little studied. Although female rodents generally do not show the "ritualised" forms of conflict that characterise male sexual competition, they can use notably damaging strategies (especially if they are of short duration). Such considerations might weigh in the selection of strategies by our own species.


Linking small farmers to global markets through contract farming has become an important policy recommendation aiming to increase farmers' income and foster rural development. Nevertheless, some of the arrangements involving small farmers have been reported to loose participants or collapse over time. Trust is an informal institution that can discourage opportunism and facilitate the compliance of contracts in a setting with an expensive and weak legal system. Nevertheless, the study of trust has been addressed mostly in lab experiments, but in the agribusiness context it has been addressed only by a few authors in a rather descriptive way We use a framed field experiment with prior signaling on a sample of 180 small broccoli farmers in the highlands of Ecuador to explore the effect of opportunistic behavior on small farmers ́ trust. The results reveal that this group of farmers has lower than average trust towards unknown people. Furthermore, we use a signal that mimics the payment of a loan by the B partner as treatment in the predesigned trust game. Results show that a positive signal increases trust, but a negative signal has no effect on it. Reacting slowly to external negative signs can threaten individuals who will not protect themselves towards opportunism. If farmers do not react quickly enough, they might face larger losses and will not be able to stay in business. In addition, if informal norms include weak sanctions, contract farming will be less likely and individuals will prefer the spot market were only one-time exchanges take place.


Join Tobin as he learns how to be a good friend! Tobin is a lonely red engine who cannot seem to make friends. But with the help of his buddies, he discovers that there are little things he can do to be nicer to those around him. Tobin soon finds that he is surrounded by friends who truly enjoy working and playing with him. Parents and teachers can use this book to teach friendship skills to children who find social interactions challenging. Important social lessons include: sharing, being polite, taking turns, talking quietly, the importance of 'personal space', and more.


This paper relates to three strands of literature: the theory of reasoned action, the technology acceptance model, and the theory of diffusion. This study uses these theories as a lens to understand the factors that influence the adoption of e-business in the automotive industry. It posits that: attitude towards an innovation significantly influences the behavioral intent to adopt the innovation; perceived voluntariness towards an innovation significantly influences the user's intent to adopt the innovation; and the relationship between subjective norm and the intent to adopt e-business. The primary focus of the research is the behavior an individual represents when using information technology. Understanding the determinants of behavior is important because other outcomes such as satisfaction and impact are predicated upon system use. In this context, technology acceptance models and theories attempt to explain and predict individual behavior toward an innovation, manifested through system use. Thus, for these models, system success is equivalent to individual use of e-business technology. Survey-based research was implemented to test these theories. Data were collected from original equipment manufacturers and suppliers to measure the institutional pressures they face and their intentions to adopt e-business technology.


The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the dietary betaine supplementation on the survival rate, weight gain and feed conversion ratio of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.), cultivated in recirculation system. The fish were fed with extruded pellets "Aqua UNI", with size 2 mm. Betaine in amount of 1% and 3% was added in the feed of the rainbow trout from the experimental groups EG1 and EG2 respectively, the control group (CG) received no betaine supplementation of the diet. In regards to the survival of the fish from different groups no discrepancies were observed. The average individual gain of the rainbow trout was as follows: CG-70.23 ± 1.42 g, EG1-71.93 ± 1.33 g and EG2-73.91 ± 1.30 g, the differences were significant (P<0.01). The best feed conversion ration had the rainbow trout from EG2 - 1.04 ± 0.01% and it was lower than that of the groups EG1 and CG by 1.07 ± 0.01% and 1.13 ± 0.02% respectively, the differences were significant (P<0.01). The economic conversion ratio of fish production in the groups, receiving 1% and 3% dietary betaine supplementation was identical 3.47, that is lower than these ones of the fish from control group by 4.32%.


Molecularly imprinted polymers prepared using acrylamide as the hydrogen bonding functional monomer exhibited good enantiomeric recognition properties in aqueous solutions. Our results indicate that the recognition improved with increased mobile phase water percentage and ionic strength, and was also very much pH dependent upon the ionisation properties of the sample molecules. The results can be interpreted in terms of specific hydrophobic interactions between the enantiomeric species and the recognition sites of imprinted polymers. A study of substrate selectivity showed differences between a pure organic system and a water/organic system as the mobile phases. The hydrophobicity of the test compounds was found to be an important parameter in determining the selectivity.


The precision by which a region is located or measured on the image plane is limited by the sampling density. In this paper, the worst-case precision errors are determined for calculating the average image location of an edge, line, and straight-edged region. For each case, it is shown how the worst-case error can be minimized as a function of the geometric parameters. These results can be used to determine the worst case error by which the location of a known shape is measured. Another application is to design shapes for use in registration, such as fiducial marks used in electronic assembly. The main conclusion of this paper is that, to achieve better precision, measurement of a straight-edged region should be made at an angle askew to the sampling axis (not 0, 45, or 90 degrees) and this should be at a certain length that is a function of this skew angle.


: A survey of long-term hospitalised Zulu psychiatric patients at Ekuhlengeni Sanatorium, Umbogintwini, Natal, revealed a 31% incidence of neuroleptic-related abnormal movements. Length of hospitalisation was the only risk factor significantly associated with the development of tardive dyskinesia. Direct comparisons between these findings and those in white South African patients are invalid because of many uncontrolled variables such as diet and the differing therapeutic approaches of individual psychiatrists. The study confirms that black patients are susceptible to the development of tardive dyskinesia with a prevalence rate comparable to those reported in other population groups, and suggests that they may develop the condition sooner and at lower dosages of neuroleptic drugs than whites.


This book makes clear how, and why, after World War II American diplomats tried to make the atom bomb a winning weapon," an absolute advantage in negotiations with the Soviet Union. But this policy failed utterly in the 1948 Berlin crisis, and at home the State Department opposed those scientists who advocated international cooperation on nuclear matters.Originally published in 1988.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


The production cross sections of the inclusive Drell-Yan processes W (cid:1) ! '(cid:1) and Z=(cid:2) (cid:2) ! '' ( ' ¼ e , (cid:3) ) are measured in proton-proton collisions at ffiffiffi s p ¼ 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The cross sections are reported integrated over a fiducial kinematic range, extrapolated to the full range, and also evaluated differentially as a function of the W decay lepton pseudorapidity and the Z boson rapidity, respectively. Based on an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb (cid:3) 1 collected in 2010, the precision of these measurements reaches a few percent. The integrated and the differential W (cid:1) and Z=(cid:2) (cid:2) cross sections in the e and (cid:3) channels are combined, and compared with perturbative QCD calculations, based on a number of different parton distribution sets available at next-to-next-to-leading order. The inclusive heavy-quark cross at These with on transverse momentum of partons involved in ^ p . No systematic uncertainties for the and heavy-quark cross since methods normalization and their systematic uncertainties from (see


Efforts in legal education have been made to adapt the curriculum, teaching methodologies, and materials to bring students attention to the matters concerning the linkages between poverty, inequality, human rights, and development. In Latin America, due to its socio and economic realities, these efforts are permanently required. The present research aims at exploring and documenting the experience of the Law & Poverty Group, founded in 2006 at the University of São Paulo Law School. More specifically, this paper discusses the implementation of the Law & Poverty Group approach of three interlocking cycles (formation, investigation, and intervention), considering its teaching methodologies, and multidisciplinary materials, which focuses on legal, historical, and institutional perspectives to address effectively the challenge of poverty and inequality. By analyzing its publications and interviewing its current and previous members, ultimately, the purpose of this paper is to postulate reproducing patterns of the Law & Poverty Group experience, so it can be replicated, with adaptations, throughout Latin America and the Global South, spreading critical legal thinking and action in unequal countries. This paper is structured in following three parts. First, it presents the creation of the Law & Poverty Group and its themes related to Legal Structuralism and the required multidisciplinary approach. Second, it presents how the conductive learning is applied in the Law & Poverty Group, enabling students to actively participate in discussions, critically understand Brazilian problems, and creatively produce solutions pulling away compensatory measures, blind legal transplants and one-size-fits-all models. Following, it presents LPG's projects, focusing on three initiatives: a book, a case, and a database. Finally, it presents the Law & Poverty Group perspectives for the future, and what it is in for the next ten years.


This book puts writing at the centre of sociolinguistic inquiry drawing on a range of academic fields including New Literacy Studies, semiotics, genre studies, stylistics and new rhetoric. The key question the book explores is- what do we mean by 'writing' in the 21 century?

Using examples from across a range of contexts the book argues that writing, involving both old and new technologies, is a pervasive and complex communicative feature of contemporary life.

The book is organised around the following areas:
• The multimodal nature of writing
• The verbal dimension to writing
• Writing as everyday practice
• Writing as a differentiated semiotic and social resource
• Writing as the inscription of identity

A range of analytic tools for analysing writing as text and practice are illustrated including genre, register, discourse and metaphor, as well as notions which emphasise the mobile potential of writing such as genre chains, networks, literacy brokers and text trajectories. This book seeks to redress the neglect of writing in the field of sociolinguistics by introducing readers to the nature and consequences of what it means to do writing in a globalised world.


The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) were established on 11 February 1993 and 8 November 1994 respectively by the Security Council to prosecute persons responsible for flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. The aim of the Security Council was to put an end to such violations and to contribute to the restoration and maintenance of peace, and the establishment of the ad hoc tribunals undoubtedly represents a major step in that direction. Moreover, it sends a clear signal to the perpetrators and to the victims that such conduct will not be tolerated.


Background: Advanced parotid cancers larger than 4 cm were firmly fixed around the tissue, and the main trunk of the facial nerve could hardly be detected in the narrow working space between the mastoid tip and parotid gland with cancer. Though the facial nerve was preserved, facial nerve stretching during surgery can have the serious effect of postoperative facial palsy. Methods: The study was performed on 23 advanced parotid cancers that were larger than 4 cm and invaded firmly around the parotid. Seventeen cases were fresh cases and 6 were recurrent cases. Number of Stage III, IVA, and IVB were 4, 11, and 8, respectively. Results: Twenty-three patients required either mastoid tip removal (n: 19) or extended temporal bone resection (n: 4) for advanced parotid cancer. In nine cases, the main trunk of the facial nerve was sacrificed, and in five cases, tumors in the lower division of the nerve were resected. Theses facial nerves were reconstructed immediately. Negative margins were achieved in 100% of the patients. Conclusion: Removing the mastoid tip for advanced parotid tumors facilitates identification of the facial nerve and, therefore, better preservation of the normal facial nerve function.


Recombinant interleukin-1 alpha and -beta (Il-1 alpha and -beta) have been evaluated for their abilities to stimulate ACTH and catecholamine secretion in the intact adult male rat. Additionally, the role of adrenergic-dependent pathways in mediating Il-1-induced ACTH release has been assessed. The iv or intracerebroventricular injection of either Il-1 alpha or Il-1 beta caused dose-related increases in plasma ACTH, epinephrine, and norepinephrine levels. While at low iv doses (less than or equal to 10 ng), Il-1 beta was more effective than Il-1 alpha at releasing ACTH, no measurable differences were noted at higher doses. In contrast, Il-1 beta was significantly more active at all doses in elevating plasma ACTH levels after intracerebroventricular injection. Similarly, Il-1 alpha was more effective than Il-1 beta at stimulating epinephrine, but not norepinephrine, secretion after icv injection. Because of the ability of catecholamines to alter ACTH secretion, we then examined the role of adrenergic-dependent pathways as possible mediators of Il-1-induced ACTH secretion. Blockade of adrenergic receptors by the concomitant administration of prazosin and propanolol prevented the simultaneous actions of phenylephrine and isoproterenol on the corticotrophs, but did not significantly alter the effect of peripherally administered Il-1 alpha on ACTH release. These results suggest that both Il-1 alpha and Il-1 beta stimulate ACTH and catecholamine secretion in the rat. Despite the ability of the lymphokine to elevate plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine values, circulating catecholamines do not appear to represent essential modulators of ACTH release induced by acutely injected Il-1.


The infection control liaison nurse (ICLN) is a nurse in the ward, appointed to participate in education for infection control, and to liaise between the ward and the infection control nurse (ICN). The efficacy of ICLNs was evaluated when a guideline on urinary catheter care was introduced in a 1000-bed hospital in Hong Kong. The 27 public wards were divided randomly into a test (24 wards) and control group (three wards), and ICLNs were appointed in the test group by the nursing administration. For education, the ICN conducted in-service lectures for both groups, while in the test group, the ICLNs also conducted tutorials for all ward nurses. Before and after the education programme, prevalence surveys were conducted to detect incorrect practices on urinary catheter care. Three practices were evaluated: the securing of catheters, presence of kinking and the use of urinary bags with a drainage spigot. Before education, the percentage of incorrect practices in the test groups was 63%, which was comparable to the 68% of the control group (P = 0.40, chi 2 = 0.71). After education, the percentage of incorrect practices in the test group (36%) was significantly lower than the 48% in the control group (P less than 0.05, chi 2 = 4.25). This indicates that ICLNs can indeed enhance the education programme for infection control.


This article provides a stochastic agent-based model to exhibit the role of aggregation metrics in order to mitigate polarization in a complex society. Our sociophysics model is based on interacting and nonlinear Brownian agents, which allow us to study the emergence of collective opinions. The opinion of an agent, xi(t) is a continuous positive value in an interval [0,1]. We find (i) most agent-metrics display similar outcomes. (ii) The middle-metric and noisy-metric obtain new opinion dynamics either towards assimilation or fragmentation. (iii) We show that a developed 2-stage metric provide new insights about convergence and equilibria. In summary, our simulation demonstrates the power of institutions, which affect the emergence of collective behavior. Consequently, opinion formation in a decentralized complex society is reliant to the individual information processing and rules of collective behavior.


INTRODUCTION AND AIM
We report the 2-year efficacy and tolerability of intravesical botulinum A toxin (BoNT/A) injections in patients with painful bladder syndrome (PBS) associated with increased urinary frequency refractory to conventional treatments.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thirteen women were prospectively included in the study. The preliminary assessment included voiding diary, urodynamics, urinary tract ultrasound and the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain quantification. All patients received multiple injections of 200 U commercially available BoNT/A diluted in 20 ml 0.9% NaCl, under cystoscopic guidance. Clinical evaluation, urodynamics, urinary tract ultrasound and VAS were repeated at least two times per year throughout the follow-up.

RESULTS
A total of 58 injections were administered with a mean of 4.8 +/- 0.8 injections per patient. The mean interval between two consecutive injections was 5.25 +/- 0.75 months. At 1 and 4 mo follow up ten patients reported a subjective improvement. Mean VAS scores, mean daytime and night-time urinary frequency decreased significantly. Nine patients at 1 month and seven at the 4-month check-up complained of dysuria. The three non-responders to the first intravesical treatment session underwent another three months later with satisfactory results. At 1 and 2 years follow up the beneficial effects persisted in all patients. We did not observe any systemic side effects during the observation time.

CONCLUSIONS
Intravesically injected BoNT/A is effective and safe in the medium-term management of patients with PBS. As the beneficial effect decreased progressively within a few months after treatment, repeat injections of the neurotoxin were needed over time.


d Aims To highlight the importance of sphingolipids and their metabolites in plant biology. d Scope The completion of the arabidopsis genome provides a platform for the identification and functional characterization of genes involved in sphingolipid biosynthesis. Using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an experimental model, this review annotates arabidopsis open reading frames likely to be involved in sphingolipid metabolism. A number of these open reading frames have already been subject to functional characterization, though the majority still awaits investigation. Plant-specific aspects of sphingolipid biology (such as enhanced long chain base heterogeneity) are considered in the context of the emerging roles for these lipids in plant form and function. d Conclusions Arabidopsis provides an excellent genetic and post-genomic model for the characterization of the roles of sphingolipids in higher plants. a 2004 Annals of Botany Company


The report aims to investigate the influence of chemical reactions on comb crack formation and propagation in coated cemented carbide milling inserts with different compositions. A series of novel experimental techniques have been developed and applied to understand oxidation and corrosion effects on comb cracks. Furthermore microstructure changes in the region of the comb cracks on worn milling inserts were studied by high resolution microscopy. It has been observed that the main effect of the oxidation and corrosion on comb cracks is connected to an attack of the binder phase, affecting its composition, distribution and morphology. Different comb crack types for dry and wet milling have been observed. In the presence of cooling media (wet machining) inserts present lateral cracks (fatigue induced) connected to the principal comb crack, which form at regions where the binder has been strongly corroded. Despite the addition of Cr and (Ta,Nb)C enhance both the oxidation and corrosion attack resistance have a minor effect on the formation and propagation of comb cracks. Schematic models based on the experimental results and scientific discussions are presented to understand the influence of oxidation and corrosion in the formation and propagation of comb cracks.


One of the most important features of a unified power flow controller (UPFC) is its multiple control function that may be implemented by multiple controllers. However, simulation study has demonstrated the existence of the dynamic interactions among different UPFC controllers, i.e. power flow controller, AC voltage controller and DC voltage controller. In this paper a novel analytical approach based on normal form theory is proposed for the analysis of nonlinear interactions among the multi-controller channels of UPFC installed in a simple power system. Then, nonlinear participation factor is developed as an index to indicate the interaction extent among these UPFC controllers, which cause the negative interaction responsible for the closed-loop instability. The proposed approach is general and easy to be extended to include other FACTS devices. A single machine infinite bus system is used to validate the effect of these control channel interactions by simulation.


THE PURPOSE. Of this work is to estimate parameters for a sufficiently comlete thermal decomposition of tarry products of the fixed-bed gasification of wood fuel. METHODS. To this end, mathematical models are used in different statements: the decomposition of the tar is considered in the approximations of one- and two-reaction kinetic scheme; to assess the influence of the bed height and temperature, the convection-diffusionreaction equation with a given temperature distribution along the length of the reaction zone is used; the temperature of the gasification process is estimated from experimental data and thermodynamic calculations. Along with the numerical model of the decomposition of the tar, a simplified analytical expression (for large Peclet numbers) is applied, the limits of its applicability are determined. RESULTS. Of calculations show that the efficiency of the airblown gasification of wood is determined by the temperature level of the oxidation stage: in the range of modes in which the optimal values of efficiency are achieved, the conversion of tarry products does not proceed sufficiently completely due to kinetic limitations; an increase in the specific consumption of the oxidizer leads to a decrease in efficiency due to stoichiometric reasons. CONCLUSION. Physicochemical limitations do not allow reaching the limiting values of gasification efficiency, shifting the optimal modes towards increasing the specific air consumption; a decrease in the yield of tar requires, first of all, changes in the thermal modes of gasification (for example, external heating or an increase in the oxygen concentration).


ABSTRACT Pesticides have been used on cocoa for more than 50 years in Ghana. Notable among these pesticides were the organochlorines lindane, DDT and aldrin. However, after the banned of the organochlorine pesticides came other pesticide groups like the organophosphorous, carbamates and synthetic pyrethroids in cocoa production in Ghana. With cocoa being a major cash crop in Ghana, the purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution pattern of pesticide residues in cocoa beans produced in Ghana in order to advise producers and buyers of the possible residual trend in cocoa production in Ghana. A total of 44 distinct samples of fermented dried cocoa beans were randomly collected from two main cocoa beans warehouses, identified from the six cocoa growing regions in Ghana. The extracting solvent was acetonitrile, followed by two solid phase extraction cartridges; C18 and Envi-carb/LC-NH2 for extract clean-up. The investigating pesticides consist of 15 organochlorines, 12 organophosphorous and 9 synthetic pyrethroids pesticides. The results showed traces of organochlorine pesticides in cocoa beans from all six cocoa growing regions of Ghana, withAshanti region recording the highest occurring frequency of 54 percent and the Volta region with 1.5 percent frequency of occurrence as the least.


Hermes Trismegistus, «Iatromathematics»: Introduction, Text, and Translation
This paper provides a new critical edition of a non-canonical Hermetic treatise, the Iatromathematika, an abridgment on medical astrology which can now be safely dated to the 5th-6th c. AD. The reconstructed text marks an improvement over former editions, as they have used solely codices descripti and failed to take passages from related epitomes such as Ps.- Galen's Prognostica de decubitu and the Epitome of Pancharius into consideration. The complicated textual history of these works is dealt with extensively in order to establish their exact relations; the outcome is a parallel edition of the Iatromathematika and the relevant portions of the Prognostica de decubitu alongside with a German translation of the former, the first one into a modern language. An introduction contextualises the treatise by discussing its astronomical, astrological, medical, and pharmacological aspects. The use of melothesia, which plays a crucial role in combining astrology and medicine, is investigated with respect to other ancient iatromathematical works. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to prosopography in the course of the codicological inquiry so that the reception of the Iatromathematika can be assessed more accurately.


Introduction: Obesity is a metabolic disease in children and adults.gobak sodor play is one of those games that can be given to school-age children to increase physical activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of playing therapy gobak sodor changes in anthropometry school-age children who are obese at SDN Kedungdoro V No.310 Surabaya. Methods: A Quasy Experimental method was used in this study. Population was obese children at SDN Keungdoro V No.310since May–June 2013. Respondents were 20 children who were taken by purposive sampling. Independent variable was playing therapy:go back through the door. Dependent variable was antropometry. Data were collected by using observation sheet and was analyzed by Paired T-Test and Independent T-Testwith significance level of p≤0.05. Result: The result of this study showed that playing therapy: go back through the door had changed BMI and abdominal circumferenceon anthropometric but had no effect on upper arm circumference in school-age children whith obese in SDN Kedungdoro V No.310 Surabaya with t-test. In the treatment group BMI paired t-test p=0.000, abdominal circumference p=0.002 and upper arm circumference p=0.002, while in the control group BMI paired t-test p=0.228, abdominal circumference p=0.168 and upper arm circumference p=0.168, independent t-test BMI p=0.002, abdominal circumference p=0.000 and upper arm circumference p=0.771. Discussion: This concluded that go back through the doorplaying therapy could affect only on BMI and abdominal circumference among obese children. Further research, focus to analyze on confounding factors such dietary and activities on obese children is needed.


Background In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be aberrantly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC). The deregulation of miRNAs is implicated in the formation and progression of CRC, and participates in the regulation of a wide range of biological behaviors. Considering the crucial role of miRNAs in CRC, miRNAs are thought to have significant promise in the diagnosis and therapy of patients with this malignancy. Material and methods Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect miR-769 expression in CRC tissues and cell lines. MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis were used to determine the effects of miR-769 upregulation in CRC cell proliferation and apoptosis, respectively. The influence of miR-769 overexpression in CRC cell migration and invasion was evaluated through migration and invasion assays. Notably, the possible mechanisms underlying the action of miR-769 in CRC cells were explored. Results In the present study, miR-769 was frequently found to be poorly expressed in CRC tissues and cell lines. Functional assays showed that recovery of miR-769 expression suppressed CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, increased cell apoptosis in vitro, and inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) was the direct target of miR-769 in CRC cells. CDK1 was overexpressed in CRC tissue samples and negatively correlated with miR-769 expression. In addition, CDK1 inhibition imitated the tumor suppressor activity of miR-769 in CRC cells, and restoration of CDK1 expression partially abolished the tumor-suppressing roles of miR-769 in malignant CRC cells. Conclusion The results of this study demonstrated that miR-769 was downregulated in CRC and directly targeted CDK1 to be implicated in the regulation of CRC cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Thus, the miR-769/CDK1 axis might be an effective therapeutic target for treating patients with CRC.


Abstract In the European Union Regulation No. 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the law applicable to contractual obligations (the so called Rome I regulation) governs which law to apply to contracts containing international elements. With the continuing internalization of business activities, such rules have elementary importance. However, beside the unified rules of the regulation, numerous EU rules exist, which also have relevance. This is because of a provision in Rome I, which states that the regulation shall not prejudice the application or adoption of rules of the institutions of the EU which lay down rules concerning particular areas of contractual law. As an effect, several rules exist which override the provisions of Rome I. Thus, the present system of rules is fragmented, which may cause serious malfunctions in the legal practice. Most of these provisions can be found in consumer law directives, but other fields like employment law may also be of relevance. The article tries to collect these "hidden" provisions and analyze their effect to the Hungarian legal regime.


Fractal Analysis of Fingerprints by John C. Deal Master of Science in Electrical Engineering West Virginia University Matthew Valenti, Ph.D., Chair Current methods for comparing fingerprints have weaknesses that have opened them to criticism. Current methods concentrate on the comparison of minutia in the print either manually or with the assistance of a computer algorithm. This causes these methods to depend highly on the presence of minutia and their relationship to one another. Absence or rotations of minutia can prevent current methods form making accurate comparisons. The goal of this process is to develop a new method for analyzing fingerprints that addresses many of the concerns with current methods. The developed process uses an iterated function sequence (IFS) to convert the image of a fingerprint into a fractal pattern. The input for the IFS is constructed by a random walk through the image. Once a fingerprint is converted into a fractal pattern, the fractals can be used to make comparisons. Fractals are well defined mathematical objects that make them far easier to compare than fingerprints themselves. This process addresses many of the issues with current methods. This method is global in nature and thus it is not dependent on a set number of minutiae. Moreover, the rules for the random walk are constructed so as to make the fractal produced invariant of orientation of the print. This method offers a new fast way to compare images. This method can be used to increase confidence, both in court and public opinion, in the use of fingerprints as identification. It can offer both an independent and/or supplemental method to the current ones used.


The low affinity glucose-phosphorylating enzyme glucokinase shows the phenomenon of intracellular translocation in beta cells of the pancreas and the liver. To identify potential binding partners of glucokinase by a systematic strategy, human beta cell glucokinase was screened by a 12-mer random peptide library displayed by the M13 phage. This panning procedure revealed two consensus motifs with a high binding affinity for glucokinase. The first consensus motif, LSAXXVAG, corresponded to the glucokinase regulatory protein of the liver. The second consensus motif, SLKVWT, showed a complete homology to the bifunctional enzyme 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFK-2/FBPase-2), which acts as a key regulator of glucose metabolism. Through yeast two-hybrid analysis it became evident that the binding of glucokinase to PFK-2/FBPase-2 is conferred by the bisphosphatase domain, whereas the kinase domain is responsible for dimerization. 5′-Rapid amplification of cDNA ends analysis and Northern blot analysis revealed that rat pancreatic islets express the brain isoform of PFK-2/FBPase-2. A minor portion of the islet PFK-2/FBPase-2 cDNA clones comprised a novel splice variant with 8 additional amino acids in the kinase domain. The binding of the islet/brain PFK-2/ FBPase-2 isoform to glucokinase was comparable with that of the liver isoform. The interaction between glucokinase and PFK-2/FBPase-2 may provide the rationale for recent observations of a fructose-2,6-bisphosphate level-dependent partial channeling of glycolytic intermediates between glucokinase and glycolytic enzymes. In pancreatic beta cells this interaction may have a regulatory function for the metabolic stimulus-secretion coupling. Changes in fructose-2,6-bisphosphate levels and modulation of PFK-2/FBPase-2 activities may participate in the physiological regulation of glucokinase-mediated glucose-induced insulin secretion.


Spatio-temporal clustering is a process of grouping objects based on their spatial and temporal similarity. It is relatively new subfield of data mining which gained high popularity especially in geographic information sciences due to the pervasiveness of all kinds of location-based or environmental devices that record position, time or/and environmental properties of an object or set of objects in real-time. As a consequence, different types and large amounts of spatio-temporal data became available that introduce new challenges to data analysis and require novel approaches to knowledge discovery. In this chapter we concentrate on the spatio-temporal clustering in geographic space. First, we provide a classification of different types of spatio-temporal data. Then, we focus on one type of spatio-temporal clustering trajectory clustering, provide an overview of the state-of-the-art approaches and methods of spatio-temporal clustering and finally present several scenarios in different application domains such as movement, cellular networks and environmental studies.


In the course of studies on the evidences of autonomic imbalance which follow removal of cerebral cortex, 1 it has been possible to show that some of these effects are specifically due to frontal injury. One of these, as indicated in a preliminary report, 1f and the easiest to follow is reticulocytosis. The present investigation is concerned with the latency and degree of this response of the blood as engendered by a frontal lesion. EXPERIMENTS Adult dogs which had been examined for freedom from parasites were placed on a standard diet and, after a preliminary observation period of thirty days during which the weight and reticulocyte count were frequently checked to ascertain that stability was being maintained, were subjected to simultaneous bilateral removal of all frontal cerebral cortex, as far back as and including the postsigmoid gyrus. Care was taken to avoid infringing on the caudate nuclei or the ventricular


In recent years a very intensive research work is concerned with design of digital filters. The filter shave two uses: signal separation and signal restoration. Signal separation is needed when a signal has been contaminated with interference, noise, or other signals. Signal restoration is required when a signal has been distorted in some way. Every linear filter has an impulse response, a step response and a frequency response .Each of these responses contains complete information about the filter, but in a different form. The filter design process can be described as an optimization problem where each requirement contributes with a term to an error function which should be minimized. Classical optimization methods cannot optimize such objective functions and cannot converge to the global minimum solution. To reduce all these drawbacks encountered with the classical optimization methods, several researchers have utilized many heuristic and meta-heuristic evolutionary optimization algorithms, the majority of which are based on the natural selection and evolution technique. A new algorithm binary discrete optimization method based on cat swarm optimization (CSO). BCSO is a binary version of CSO generated by observing the behaviors of cats. As in CSO, BCSO consists of two modes of operation: tracing mode and seeking mode. The obtained results are compared with a number of different optimization problems including genetic algorithm and different versions of binary discrete particle swarm optimization is the best. It is shown that the proposed method greatly improves the results obtained by other binary discrete optimization problems. Keywords— Digital filter, PSO, GA, CSO, BCSO


The use of digital technology in art is growing rapidly in the field of creativity. This has emerged to a unique art popularly known as digital art. Digital art, which is the general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative or presentation process, should be taught in art and design schools so that students can meet up with the ever changing pace of the world of digital art. This paper aims to assess the importance of digital arts vis-a-vis hand skilled art. Samples of works analyzed are taken from students of the Department of Art, Design and Printing Technology, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria. Particular focus is on design creativity. Relationships between digital art/hand skilled art were submitted for statistical analysis. Findings show that modern techniques of finding solution to graphic design problems are preferred amongst students because of its numerous advantages. Results also demonstrated that digital art plays an important role in design creativity.


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rations capacity to reduce en route delay, especially those caused by bad weather. This is accomplished via Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) which has been recently developed to provide a mechanism for flight operators to communicate their route preferences for each flight via a Trajectory Option Set (TOS), as well as a mechanism for the FAA to assign the best possible route within the set of trajectories in the TOS for a given flight, i.e. the route with the lowest adjusted cost after consideration of system constraints and the requirements of all flights. The routes assigned to an airline depend not only on the TOS's for its own flights but also on the TOS's of all other flights in the CTOP, which are unknown. This paper aims to provide a detailed algorithm for the airline to design its TOS plan which is robust to the uncertainties of its competitors' TOS's. To this purpose, we model the CTOP problem as a Bayesian game, and use Linear Program (LP) to compute the security strategy in the Bayesian game model. This security strategy guarantees the airline an upper bound on the sum of the assigned times. The numerical results demonstrate the robustness of the strategy, which is not achieved by any other tested strategy.


Abstract The secret police archives present the life of the religious underground as seen by the secret officers who were seeking to facilitate those communities' destruction. The state's official narrative about these clandestine groups is mirrored in alternative documents and narratives. This article focuses on the Old Calendarist Orthodox monastic community of the Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in the Strada Televiziunii in Bucharest at the end of the communist regime. It showcases the life of the monastery as described in the diary of a monastic novice whose written account of becoming a monk described the last days of the monastery before its destruction by the secret police in 1983.


Over the last decade or so, the rise to prominence of the study of images, and of visuality more generally, has given birth to three principal strands of research in the human sciences: the rediscovery of the capacity of pictures to document various dimensions of social life, in a manner that complements or can be substituted for other ethnographically-based qualitative methods (e.g., visual sociology and anthropology;) the status and power of the image as a cultural and political icon, and to extent to which iconicity is affected by the transition from analog and print technologies to their digital and internet-based equivalents; and normative debates about representational politics (how an event or group should be represented, etc.,) notably the impact of dominant representational regimes depicting historically stigmatized or subordinate groups on Western audiences. While these questions are essential, relatively little attention recently has been devoted to the question of understanding how images work in the social world – that is to say, how they are organized as semiotic (and therefore signifying) objects, where they come from and by whom they are created, as well as how they appear in public spheres. Therefore, in order to further explore the socio-cultural life of images, this paper focuses on iconic suffering via the topic of humanitarian visuality, that is to say, the historically constituted Euro-American visual economy created and reproduced in and through iconic still and moving images of suffering persons and groups during humanitarian crises. To properly investigate the topic, the following pages propose a conceptual model designed around the sociological notions of structure, convention, network, and field. The first component of this model, then, is the notion of the semiotic structure of the image of iconic suffering, namely, the structural relations between signs mediating the relations among subjects, objects, and context that generate this image's initial meaning. The idea of iconographic convention is the second concept of interest, since it assists in the identification of the socio-historical formation and repetition of a set of patterns and tropes in the semiotic structure of pictures of iconic suffering. Thirdly, the notion of circulatory network can be used to trace the non-chronological "stages" of production, selection, distribution, and reception through which these images circulate in public spaces and the complex organizational relations between institutional actors and technologies that participate in processes of circulation. Finally, we can turn to the idea of an iconological field, for the Bourdieusian principles of relationality and hierarchical differentiation enable us to trace the positions of institutional actors involved in the ideological coding of iconic images of suffering and their representational styles.


Advisors often have conflicts of interest: a potential clash between professional responsibilities and self-interests. Disclosure—informing advisees of the conflict—is a common policy response to manage such conflicts. However, extant research on disclosure has often confounded disclosure with poor-quality advice. In this article, we explore whether laws requiring conflict of interest disclosure damage the advisor–advisee relationship more than is intended. Across 6 experiments (N 1,766), we examine situations in which advisors give high-quality advice but still must disclose a conflict of interest. As predicted, such disclosures yield negative attributions regarding the advisor's character, even when advice is of high quality (and advisees have full information to judge advice quality), and even when the advisor's professional responsibility and self-interest are aligned, or the advice runs counter to the advisor's self-interest. This disclosure penalty decreases trust in honest advisors but can be mitigated if the advisees are explicitly told that their advisor's conflict of interest arose from external factors beyond the advisor's control. When advisors' recommendations run counter to their self-interests, conflict of interest disclosure creates an independent competing effect—the altruistic signal—which increases trust. The net effect on trust depends on which effect—the disclosure penalty or altruistic signal—is stronger. We discuss the implications of these findings for law and policy.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Oral mucositis (OM) is still a common and severe acute side-effect of many oncologic treatments, especially in patients treated for head and neck cancer. It may affect quality of life, require supportive care and impact treatment planning and its efficacy. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) seems to promote pain relief and reduces OM incidence and its severity. It has been recommended for these patients as a treatment option but without any consensus in the LLLT procedure. New recommendations and perspectives for clinical trials will be discussed. Materials (Subjects) and Methods: Step by step, the efficacy of soft laser in the management of iatrogenic oral mucositis has been evaluated during the last two decades. Its effectiveness and level of recommendation got stronger with time. We will report and discuss some major results and the latest recommendations published on this topic.

RESULTS
The major clinical results have been reported and analysed last year in a first meta-analysis (1)). 11 randomized placebo-controlled trials were selected with a total of 415 patients treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. The relative risk for developing OM was significantly reduced after LLLT but only for a dose between 1 to 6 Joules per point. Pain, severity and duration of OM grade ≥ 2 were also reduced without difference with placebo for possible side-effects. Nine years after the positive results published for patients treated by radiotherapy alone (2)), a new French randomized, multicentric, phase III trial for patients treated with new standard treatment, using LLLT in accordance to recent recommendations is ongoing. Seven centers are specifically established for this trial which should include a hundred patients.

CONCLUSIONS
The very encouraging results of LLLT in the prevention and treatment of OM in patients treated by chemotherapy or radiotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer could soon be proposed as a new standard of care, according to the multinational Association of Supportive care in Cancer (MASCC) criteria. Modern lasers are less time consuming and extraoral applicators for a possible use by trained paramedical staff could be helpful to complete clinician practice. A preventive dose of 2 J/cm(2) and a curative dose of 4 J/cm(2) if using a red wavelength lasers are now recommended.


We examined the role of hypoxia and HIF factors in embryonic angiogenesis and correlated the degree of hypoxia with the level of HIF and VEGF expression and blood vessel formation. Quail eggs were incubated in normoxic and hypoxic (16% O2) conditions. Tissue hypoxia marker, pimonidazol hydrochloride, was applied in vivo for 1 hr and detected in sections with Hypoxyprobe‐1 Ab. VEGF and HIF expression was detected by in situ hybridization. HIF‐1α protein was detected in sections and by Western blot. Endothelial cells were visualized with QH‐1 antibody. Hypoxic regions were detected even in normoxic control embryos, mainly in brain, neural tube, branchial arches, limb primordia, and mesonephros. The expression patterns of HIF‐1α and HIF‐1β factors followed, in general, the Hypoxyprobe‐1 marked regions. HIF‐2α was predominantly expressed in endothelial cells. Diffuse VEGF expression was detected in hypoxic areas of neural tube, myocardium, digestive tube, and most prominently in mesonephros. Growing capillaries were directed to areas of VEGF positivity. Hypoxic regions in hypoxic embryos were larger and stained more intensely. VEGF and HIF‐1 factors were proportionately elevated in Hypoxyprobe‐1 marked regions without being expressed at new sites and were followed by increased angiogenesis. Our results demonstrate that normal embryonic vascular development involves the HIF‐VEGF regulatory cascade. Experimentally increasing the level of hypoxia to a moderate level resulted in over‐expression of HIF‐1 factors and VEGF followed by an increase in the density of developing vessels. These data indicate that embryonic angiogenesis is responsive to environmental oxygen tension and, therefore, is not entirely genetically controlled. Developmental Dynamics 235:723–733, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Intraperitoneal administration of aethimizol (25 mg/kg) was seen to bring down the quantity of glycogen, to raise the level of lactic and pyruvic acids and to increase the ration of lactate/pyruvate in the brain tissue of the rat. Caffeine and theophylline (25 mg/kg) caused similar, but not so pronounced changes in the content of the said substrates. All the 3 agents--aethimizol, caffeine and theophylline had some effect on the metabolic processes in the heart muscle.


Database security is a main challenge these days. Companies store sensitive information in databases, however, database security is sometimes not given as much attention and effort as other areas of computer security. These databases can be easily hacked to obtain sensitive information. In this paper, I present two main aspects of Database security- security as most people would understand it (security from outside attacks) and security from the inside (confidentiality policies).


With the ever-increasing maturity and popularization of the Internet of Things (IoT), tremendous business applications developed by distinct enterprises or organizations have been encapsulated into lightweight web services that can easily be accessed or invoked remotely. However, the big volume of candidate web services places a heavy burden on the users' service selection decision-making process. Under the circumstance, a variety of intelligent recommendation solutions have been developed to reduce the high decision-making cost. Traditional resolutions usually challenge in two aspects. First, the recommendation parameters, i.e., the quality of services (QoS), usually relies on user/service location heavily; therefore, low-quality recommended results may be returned to users if user/service location information is overlooked. Second, historical QoS data often contain partial sensitive information of users; therefore, it becomes a necessity to protect the sensitive QoS data while making accurate recommendation decisions. To tackle the above challenges, we introduce the concepts of user/service location information and locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) in the domain and propose a location-aware recommendation approach with privacy-preservation capability. A wide range of experiments is set up based on the popular WS-DREAM data set, whose results prove the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.


Infestation with gastro-intestinal nematodes (GIN) in small ruminants can cause severe economic losses and endanger animal welfare. The development of organic farming systems, the increased public awareness for drug residues in agricultural products and the development of resistant strains of parasites have enforced the search for sustainable alternatives.

The aim of this review is to summarise the current scientific knowledge of alternative strategies to prevent and control endo-parasitic diseases in organic sheep and goat farming systems. The conducted literature evaluation has revealed the major potential to be within the field of bioactive forages, phytotherapy, homeopathy and copper-oxide wire particles.

Alternative management pattern like grazing management, nematophagous fungi, improved fodder and breeding are not considered.

The administration and cultivation of bioactive forages and phytotherapy are displaying promise potential for endo-parasite control in organic sheep and goat farming. Scientific
research has mainly concentrated on the extracts of the plant species chicory, Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), Sulla (Hedysarum coronarium) and Quebracho (Schinopsis ssp.).

The analysis of these plants showed all plants to have some positive potential, but also highlighted individual limitations in application. However from the results of this literature review none of the investigated plants have been researched sufficiently in on farm experiments to recommend any for implementation at this stage.

No concrete recommendation for a single plant can be given, further research on promising species for the commercial use is strongly recommended, as is the review of the law concerning the appliance of plant based remedies.


Use the tutorials in this guide to learn how to search library research databases effectively and how to evaluate and cite sources correctly.


This study investigated how knowledge of causality representations affects the reading in Japanese. In Experiment 1, 24 participants read events presented in cause-to-effect or effect-to-cause order without causal conjunctions. The latter received longer reading times and more regressions than the former even when probability and predictability were balanced. Experiment 2 examined whether this reading order effect was derived from a default reasoning asymmetry (i.e., reasoning from cause to effect is favored over that from effect to cause). We utilized epistemic constructions to explicitly identify the reasoning direction. Self-paced reading results from 24 participants showed that readers were more efficient when reading cause-event as the evidence, effect-event as the conclusion vis-a-vis the counterpart, confirming the reasoning asymmetry. However, reading order effect remained robust, presumably reflecting that causal reasoning is temporally embodied.


Abstract For mothers, time is experienced in unique patterns reflecting mother-child relationships shaped by caring responsibilities and producing notions of belonging. The temporal and spatial rhythms of mothers' lives are determined by interembodiment and co-presence; particularly apparent when offspring are infants and incapable of independent mobility and self-care. For most mothers these rhythms evolve as children grow and develop, with a particular increase in independence experienced by many mothers when their children reach school age. However, for home educating mothers, the constant interembodiment and co-presence of the mother-child relationship extends into late childhood resulting in alternative habitus to mothers who attend to school and to work. This paper draws on blogs authored by unschooling mothers in the UK, Australia and the USA – mothers whose children engage in a child-led form of home education - to explore a geography of motherhood that contrasts with the mainstream experiences that determine socio-cultural and policy-generating expectations. In so doing, this paper contributes to geographical discourse concerning the way in which motherhood impacts on experiences of time and space whilst also challenging mainstream representations of motherhood and particularly the widespread problematisation of caring. This paper demonstrates the way that caring relationships embed an individual in complex reciprocal networks leading to a particular identity-in-space which in turn influences, and is influenced by, temporal rhythms.


: Peculiarities of behavior reactions of bacteria-symbionts created conditions for the selection of translocators-strains. In microsymbiocenosis of parodontal pockets, from which translocation of bacteria into the blood was observed, the number of signals from intermicrobial communication, inhibiting the expression of the factors of colonization, virulence and persistence, was decreasing. Meanwhile, the number of signals on the increase of the expression of the factors given was increased. In 75% of cases strains-translocators were leaders; they gave more often signals on the inhibition of the growth of other strains-symbionts.


Studies of insect population under field conditions to establish survival rates, longevity and dispersal rates are rare in the literature. These types of studies are important and can be used to inform studies of the effects of landscape composition and configuration on levels of biodiversity. Here the Cantharidae beetle, Rhagonycha fulva is studied under field conditions to derive estimates of daily survival rates for both males and females as well as local dispersal rates. Survival was studied at two sites, one in Wales and another in England, whilst dispersal was examined only at the Welsh site. Beetles were marked using different coloured enamel paints at the mid-point of a 200 m linear transect. The beetles were almost exclusively found (and marked) on common hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium. No difference in survival was found between males and females at both of the sites. The survival rates found at the two sites also did not differ. The overall daily survival rate was 0.771 equating with a median longevity of 4.37 days. Casual observations yielded a small number of marked individuals in excess of 400 m away from the point of marking. Movement of males along the transect differed from females. Marked females were never found far from the point of marking whilst males moved further away with time. This difference in behaviour is discussed in terms of hypothesized insect dispersal behaviour following emergence as mobile adults.


Introduction Despite the irrefutable failure of integration1 and multiculturalism, race theory in philosophy continues to endorse the dilapidated ideas of color-blindness (Bonilla-Silva 2003, 2001), (2) and liberal democracy, which ignore the historic and systemic racism of American society. (3) Currently, theories about race focus on the socially constructed nature of the term--its contingency, rather than the effects it has had on African descended people's political orientation in America and the cultural heritage various African thinkers have infused the term with over the centuries. The dominance of anti-essentialist rhetoric and cosmopolitan care ethics in philosophy has forced scholars to write a historical and textually skewed apologetics of historic Black figures as the condition for their acceptance into the canon. By ignoring key texts, inventing illusory continuities with established white philosophical traditions, limiting Africana philosophy to applied social/political thought, (4) and eliminating meaningful discussions of culture with charges of essentialism, philosophy has effectively enforced an anti-Black moratorium on any attempt to address the drastic cultural, social, and political conditions of African people in America. This essay is divided in three parts. In part I, I review and critique part of the extant literature on race, nationalism, and Delany. In part II, I argue that Delany's thesis that Blacks are a "nation within a nation" provides a fertile ground for theorizations about Black solidarity under the permanent conditions of oppression in America. In part III, I explore John E. Bruce's reformulation of Delany's concept of nation as a development of race. The theories of Delany and Bruce on race help articulate the theoretical contributions of a Nation-ist perspective to contemporary racial problems in the United States. I. Literature Review The analysis of racism that contextualizes the Black situation in the United States as a product of domestic colonialism is largely ignored in philosophical conversations about race. As illustrated by Hurricane Katrina, the colonial condition in America perpetuates Black vulnerabilities, poverty, and death. The conception of American racism as colonialism may appear as a pessimistic reality; but this reality needs to be confronted in contemporary philosophical works on Black solidarity and reflected in current "critical" understandings of the socially constructed nature of race in America. To date, the only literature that suggests a conceptual apparatus to explain the reality of African descended people's (hereafter ADP) subordinate status in the American context is Critical Race Theory (hereafter CRT), or more specifically Derrick Bell's racial realist account in CRT. According to Bell, Black people will never gain full equality in this country. Even those Herculean efforts we hail as successful will produce no more than temporary "peaks of progress," short-lived victories that slide into irrelevance as racial patterns adapt in ways that maintain white dominance. This is a hard-to-accept fact that all history verifies. We must acknowledge it and move on to adopt policies based on what I call: "Racial Realism." This mind-set or philosophy requires us to acknowledge the permanence of our subordinate status. That acknowledgement enables us to avoid despair, and frees us to imagine and implement racial strategies that can bring fulfillment and even triumph. (Bell 1992b: 373-374) Despite the philosophical insights and explanative power of Bell's theory, Black philosophers primarily rely on the promises of American liberalism and the hopes of democracy in the post-Civil rights era to fundamentally change the racial context of the United States and remedy individual attachments to racial loyalties. Under the integrationist teleology, the jettisoning of race is consistent with a normative universalism that equates truth and progress with the elimination of racial distinctions. …


: Obesity is causally linked with the development of cardiovascular disorders. Accumulating evidence indicates that cardiovascular disease is the collateral damage of obesity-driven adipose tissue dysfunction that promotes a chronic inflammatory state within the organism. Adipose tissues secrete bioactive substances, referred to as adipokines, which largely function as modulators of inflammation. The microenvironment of adipose tissue will affect the adipokine secretome, having actions on remote tissues. Obesity typically leads to the upregulation of proinflammatory adipokines and the downregulation of anti-inflammatory adipokines, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. In this review, we focus on the microenvironment of adipose tissue and how it influences cardiovascular disorders, including atherosclerosis and ischemic heart diseases, the systemic Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Compendium Epigenetic Changes in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk Epidemiology of Obesity and Diabetes and Their Cardiovascular Complications Lipid Use and Misuse by the Heart Cardiovascular Disease Complications of Obesity-Induced Changes in Adipose Tissue and Their Impact on Cardiovascular Disease Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Disorders in Diabetes Considerations of Antihyperglycemic for 2 Diabetes


The precondition for the systematic modulation of host impairing behavior of hyperactivated monocytes following trauma is to fully understand the mechanistic basis of cellular dysfunction. It was the objective of this study to scrutinize the synthesis patterns and the level of regulation of the functionally related inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1 beta and IL-8 under stressful conditions. We compared the quantity of cytokine protein release in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated in vitro cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes with the signal intensity of the corresponding detectable mRNAs. Fourteen patients with major burn or multiple trauma on consecutive days post-trauma and healthy volunteers were studied. We saw an almost identical pattern of synthesis for both monokines during the time of observation, with a considerable impairment until day 5 post-trauma and recovery thereafter. In contrast to IL-1 beta, a clear concurrence between mRNA signal intensity and the quantity of protein release was found in the majority of patients for IL-8. From these data we conclude that the launching mechanisms for the de novo synthesis for both monokines under stress differ greatly, with IL-8 being clearly regulated on the transcriptional level, whereas the downregulation of IL-1 beta occurs, most likely, on the post-transcriptional level.


We first consider the question of the productivity of the economy of Vietnam at the macro level. With theoretical models and empirical data, we find out the Leontief production function, and its associated TFP (Total Factor Productivity). We show that the TFP is one of the main engines of Vietnam economic growth. However when we move to the micro level with the capital productivity of 2,835 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), we discover there exists an over utilization of the physical capital and more importantly, diversion of the capital stock. This diversion may be due to a waste of capital stocks or to a special form of bribery we call "hidden overhead". To summarize, economic growth in Vietnam my be enhanced by investing in the founding components of TFP such as new technology, Human Capital, better organisational system, but also by fighting the bribery and the over utilization of the physical capital.


We develop a novel classifier In a kernel feature space related to the eigenspectrum of the Laplacian data matrix. The classification cost function measures the angle between class mean vectors in the kernel feature space, and is derived from an information theoretic divergence measure using Parzen windowing. The classification rule is expressed in terms of a weighted kernel expansion. The weighting associated with a data point is inversely proportional to the probability density at that point, emphasizing the least probable regions. No optimization is needed to determine the weighting scheme, as opposed to the support vector machine. The connection to Parzen windowing also provides a theoretical criterion for kernel size selection, reducing the need for computationally demanding cross-validation. We show that the new classifier performs better than the Parzen window Bayes classifier, and in many cases comparable to the support vector machine, at a computationally lower cost.