This paper examines the morphological interaction of possessor agreement and the number of the possessor and possessed noun in Turkish and Sakha, two distantly related Turkic languages. Of particular focus are third-person posses- sors, where both languages can use the regular nominal plural suffix -LAr to index 3PL possessors, and (similar to many Turkic languages) do not allow two instances of -LAr in sequence, resulting in a three-way ambiguity, e.g. Sakha at-tar-ï [horse-PL-3.POSS] a. 'his/her horses,' b. 'their horse,' c. 'their horses.' In Turkish, this ambiguity obtains only with pro-dropped possessors, as an overt plural possessor does not index plurality on singular nouns, whereas in Sakha 3PL agreement is obligatory. It is argued that in Sakha, 3PL possession is true agreement, whereas in Turkish the pattern that obtains under pro-drop is a result of the possessor's PL feature lowering onto the possessed noun. Further, we examine the nature of the *-lar-lar haplology (i.e. the fact that a 3PL-possessing-PL cannot be marked with -lar twice: e.g. Sakha *at-tar-dar-a [horse-PL-PL-3P] 'their horses,' contending that it is a particular property of the exponent -lar which occurs during Vocabulary-Insertion.


The effect of application of sole organic, inorganic fertilizers and their combinations was investigated on the growth and biological yield of Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) at the Teaching and Research Farm, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun state, Nigeria. Ten treatments were involved namely: No fertilizer (control), 100kgN/ha as Sulphate of Ammonia, SA (21%N), 100kgN/ha as Composted Maize Cob, CMC (0.97%N), 100kgN/ha as Composted Saw Dust, CSD (1.01%N), 50:50 CMC/SA combination, 50:50 CSD/SA combination, 50:50 CMC/CSD combination, 75:25 CMC/SA combination, 75:25 CSD/SA combination, 75:25 CMC/CSD combination, the treatments were replicated four times using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Seedling emergence, Leaf area, Leaf number, Plant height and dry matter weight of the crops were assessed. On the Plant height and Leaf number, application of 75:25 CMC/SA combination resulted in taller plants and more leafiness at 3 WAP compared to 75:25 CMC/CSD combination. The application of 100kgN/ha as sole Sulphate of Ammonia, gave the least leaf number and the shortest plant at 4WAP. The sole application of any of the organic fertilizers 100kgN/ha has proven to be superior in terms of (vegetative yield) of Telfairia occidentalis (ugu-elu) than its combination of each of the organic fertilizer with sulphate of ammonia.


Abstract Objective To implement and evaluate a problem-based learning (PBL) pain and palliative care elective course to develop students' pain and symptom management pharmacotherapy knowledge, clinical reasoning process, and self-directed learning skills. Methods Each week students received a patient case to independently develop an assessment and plan for each pain and symptom management problem. During class the students discussed their findings within small groups in preparation for a large-group discussion with the instructor. Students' course grades were based on weekly pre-class case preparation, individual case studies, and self-reflection questions. To assess knowledge gained over the semester a free-response pre-and post-course test was given. Results Twenty-five students enrolled in this course. A t-test comparison of the pre-and post-tests yielded a significant difference between the pre-and post-test scores (p < 0.001), with the mean score for the tests increasing from 9.6 (out of 20 points) on the pre-test to 14.1 on the post-test. Pearson's correlation coefficient between the pre-and post-test was 0.45, indicating increased scores were not a result of improvement only among the strong students. The normalized gain <g> was 0.43. The average score for each individual case study was slightly more than 80%. Four themes were noted in the students' self-reflections including patient/family goals of care, individualization of patient care and contrast to curative treatment, improved comfort with "gray therapeutic areas," and advantages and disadvantages of problem-based learning.


Stability is a major concern of semiconductor-metal-oxide (SMO) gas sensors in practical applications, as they may cause false alarm problems. Ambient temperature is a major factor affecting the SMO gas sensor's stability. In this paper, we use a novel way to improve temperature stability of SMO (tin oxide) gas sensors by applying a temperature feedback control circuits which are compatible with our microelectromechanical systems sensor fabrication. A built-in platinum temperature sensor can precisely detect the sensor's working temperature. It provides feedback information to compensate the microheater's current to maintain the sensor's working temperature constant, regardless of ambient temperature change. Test results showed that, with this approach, significant improvement of stability has been achieved compared to SMO gas sensors without temperature compensation under the same ambient variation. The algorithm is realized through a hardware circuit, whose advantages include real time, large feedback gain, and low cost.


We propose a learning-based method of estimating the compatibility between vocal and accompaniment audio tracks, i.e., how well they go with each other when played simultaneously. This task is challenging because it is difficult to formulate hand-crafted rules or construct a large labeled dataset to perform supervised learning. Our method uses self-supervised and joint-embedding techniques for estimating vocal-accompaniment compatibility. We train vocal and accompaniment encoders to learn a joint-embedding space of vocal and accompaniment tracks, where the embedded feature vectors of a compatible pair of vocal and accompaniment tracks lie close to each other and those of an incompatible pair lie far from each other. To address the lack of large labeled datasets consisting of compatible and incompatible pairs of vocal and accompaniment tracks, we propose generating such a dataset from songs using singing voice separation techniques, with which songs are separated into pairs of vocal and accompaniment tracks, and then original pairs are assumed to be compatible, and other random pairs are not. We achieved this training by constructing a large dataset containing 910,803 songs and evaluated the effectiveness of our method using ranking-based evaluation methods.


Organizational databases are pervaded with data of poor quality. However, there has not been an analysis of the data quality literature that provides an overall understanding of the state-of-art research in this area. Using an analogy between product manufacturing and data manufacturing, this paper develops a framework for analyzing data quality research, and uses it as the basis for organizing the data quality literature. This framework consists of seven elements: management responsibilities, operation and assurance costs, research and development, production, distribution, personnel management, and legal function. The analysis reveals that most research efforts focus on operation and assurance costs, research and development, and production of data products. Unexplored research topics and unresolved issues are identified and directions for future research provided. >


This dissertation tells the story of the life of Frances Julia
(Snow) Wedgwood (183,-1913). Snow has been mentioned in many
biographies of Robert Browning, and the edited correspondence between
her and Browning was published in 1937. E.M. Forster wrote an essay
about her in his book Two Cheers For Democracy, but this is the first
book-length biography of her. She herself wrote two novels, two
biographies, two books of philosophy and dozens of essays for magazines
like the Spectator and Contemporary Review, but her reputation as a
literary figure, important in the latter part of the nineteenth
century, has since fallen into obscurity.
Though she knew personally many of the most important literary
figures and theologians of the period, her own life has remained
obscure. However, in 1967 a collection of some seventy-five thousand
Wedgwood family letters and documents were put on deposit at the
University of Keele in Staffordshire by the Wedgwood Company. The
Wedgwood Archives at Keele are comprised of three main collections -
the Mayer Collection, the Leith Hill Collection and the Mosley
Collection. The Mosley Collection, which was only finally read and
catalogued in 1980, contains over two thousand letters written to, by
or about Snow. There are additional Snow letters, which are held
privately by members of the Wedgwood family, and also there are some
in other libraries - in particular, Cambridge University and, in
America, Yale University and Baylor University. This biography of the
great-grand-daughter of Josiah Wedgwood and a niece of Charles Darwin
stems from original source material and is the first to be written
about this significant Victorian writer and feminist whose life and
achievements ought not to be forgotten.


The delegation of political power has long been a central concern of political science. When, and why, do elected officials voluntarily give some of their own authority to others? In the past 20 years, this question has spawned a vast and sophisticated literature about the institutional presidency (Moe 1985; Hart 1995; Walcott and Hult 1995; Burke 2000), about congressional control of the bureaucracy (McCubbins and Schwartz 1984; Moe 1989; Aberbach 1990), and about the internal organization of Congress (Weingast and Marshall 1988; Krehbiel 1991; Cox and McCubbins 1993; Schickler 2001). Yet, surprisingly little has been written about a third set of institutions in the delegation universe: presidential commissions. For most, the term "presidential commission" conjures up a particular image: a blue ribbon panel of distinguished civilians, appointed directly by the president, that defuses, deflects, or delays presidential action on some controversial domestic issue without producing much in the way of substantive policy change. The Warren Commission on Kennedy's Assassination, the Kerner Commission on the 1967 race riots, and the Lockhart Commission on Obscenity and Pornography all come to mind. Although these kinds of commissions are as old as the Republic (George Washington appointed his first in 1794 to help defuse the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania), and although they receive the bulk of attention in the popular and scholarly literature (Epstein 1966; Drew 1968; Popper 1970; Lipsky and Olson 1977; Flitner 1986), they constitute a surprisingly small share of the commissions actually used by presidents and their appointees. Most presidential commissions are not used principally to deflect blame or give the appearance of "doing something." Most are not created solely by the president, but by legislation or executive directives from presidential appointees. And many--nearly 200 in the past 20 years--have been used to examine foreign, not domestic, policy issues. This article seeks to better understand when and why presidents choose to use commissions. It asks two central questions: (1) what functions do presidential commissions serve? and (2) what differences exist in how presidents use commissions for foreign and domestic policy issues? In part one of the article, I examine the presidential commission literature, highlighting four current limitations. In part two, I begin to address these limitations by developing a conceptual framework of commission types. The aim is to lay the foundation for more systematic analysis of commissions across presidents and policy domains. In part three, I suggest six exploratory hypotheses about differences in how presidents use commissions in foreign and domestic policy. Part four tests these exploratory hypotheses with a data set of all ad hoc presidential commissions from 1981 to 2001 and offers some thoughts about future commission research. The Literature Presidential commission scholars appear to agree on one thing: the field is an under-tilled area of inquiry (Marcy 1945, 2; Dean 1969, 101; Sulzner 1971, 438; Petracca 1986, 83; Campbell 2001, xiii). As David Flitner notes, "There have been but a handful of books relating to commissions in this century" (1986, 4). On most other issues, consensus within the literature remains elusive. While individual work offers insights about how commissions solve collective action problems (Mayer 1985), how they serve presidential interests (Wolanin 1975), or how they enable legislators to minimize agency problems when it comes to overseeing the bureaucracy (Balla and Wright 2001), the literature as a whole appears to be less than the sum of the parts. Much of the problem stems from data limitations. As Mark Petracca observes, scholars have been able to conduct systematic analysis of commissions only since 1972, when passage of the Federal Advisory Committee Act created requirements for government disclosure of commission activities (1986, 83). …


We have performed both experimental and numerical analyses of interleaved bidirectional transmission of 16 times 10-Gb/s dense-wavelength-division-multiplexed (DWDM) signals using differential-phase-shift-keying (DPSK) modulation format and in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). The constant intensity of DPSK-modulated DWDM signals enabled us to mitigate the crosstalk effects in the bidirectional SOA. We have demonstrated error-free bidirectional transmission of 16 channels over an 80-km single-mode fiber (SMF) with matching dispersion-compensating fiber and in-line amplification provided by an SOA. SOAs can be used for bidirectional transmission if the facet reflections can be controlled. In order to understand further the effect of the SOA facet reflectivity on transmission results, we developed a simulation model for our system. Based on the good agreement between our simulation and experimental results, we have found out that the system reflections can be minimized by careful optimization of the bias current and reflectivity of the SOA


Since the 2008 financial crisis, beneficiary organizations?like pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations?have been seeking ways to mitigate the risk of their investments and make better financial decisions. For them, Reframing Finance offers a path forward.
This book argues that institutional investors would better serve their long-term goals by putting money into large-scale, future-facing projects such as infrastructure, green energy, innovation in agriculture, and real estate development. At the same time, redirecting long-term investments would close significant financial gaps that government cannot. Drawing on key contributions in economic sociology, social network theory, and economics, the book conceptualizes a collaborative model of investment that is already becoming increasingly common: Large investors contribute more directly to private market assets, while financial intermediaries seek to foster co-investment partnerships, better aligning incentives for all. A combination of rich case studies and rigorous theory enables asset owners to move toward more efficient, private-market investing, while also laying groundwork for research at the frontier of finance.


Introduction: Distal femur fractures are difficult, complex injuries that can result in devastating outcomes. The intra-articular injury can vary from a simple split to extensive comminution. Articular involvement can lead to posttraumatic arthritis. These fractures constitute 4% to 7% of all femur fractures. There is a bimodal distribution defined by the mechanism of injury. The goal of any treatment is to maintain or restore the congruity of the articular surface and restore the length and alignment of the femur and subsequently the limb. Materials and methods: A prospective study carried out from February 2015 to February 2016 in government medical college Thiruvananthapuram, involving 24 patients with comminuted supracondylar fracture femur (OTA/AO type A2, A3, C2 and C3) treated by distal femoral LCP with fibular bone grafting. The period of follow up was 12 months and the outcome was assessed using Neer's score. Results: 24 patients which included 16 males and 8 females with mean age of 45.7 showing a bimodal pattern in age distribution were studied. Mechanism of injury included both road traffic accident and fall in which 14 patients (58.3%) sustained the fracture due to RTA and 10 patients (41.7%) sustained injury due to fall affecting both sides equally. In the study according to AO/OTA classification there were 7 A2, 2 A3, 6 C2 and 9 C3 fractures. The average duration of hospital stay was 10 days with time delay to surgery of average 5 days and average duration of surgery 104 min. 14 patients (58.3%) had more than 100° of knee flexion and 10 patients (41.7%) had less than 100 degree. The minimum flexion obtained was 70° and maximum being 120°. There were 2 patients with varus angulation of 10 and 15° and shortening of 1 and 2 cm each. Complication included 1 case of non-union and 1 case of superficial wound infection which subsided with antibiotics. 3 cases with extensor lag with an average of 6°. Outcome assessment using Neer's score showed 14 patients with excellent, 5 patients with good, 3 patients with fair and 2 patients with poor outcome. Conclusion: Distal femoral LCP with fibular strut graft appears to be a good treatment option for comminuted supracondylar fracture of femur.


The sensitivity to fluoroacetate (1080) of a number of species of rodents and dasyurids with and without evolutionary exposure to fluoroacetate-bearing vegetation was determined. Rattus fuscipes, and species of Pseudomys from populations with exposure to this vegetation, were particularly tolerant to fluoroacetate. However, the level of tolerance varied among the different populations of each species, depending on the degree to which the toxic plants were present in their microhabitat. The tolerance of the F1 offspring of sensitive R. fuscipes (South Australia) crossed with tolerant conspecifics from Western Australia was mid-range between those of the parental populations. The sensitivity of introduced R. rattus and Mus domesticus from areas with fluoroacetate-producing plants in Western Australia was similar to that reported elsewhere for these rodents. This suggests that their relatively short coexistence with the toxic plants has had little obvious impact on their level of sensitivity to fluoroacetate. The dibbler, Parantechinus apicalis, which coexists with the toxic vegetation, was exceptionally tolerant for a native carnivore/insectivore (LD50 ~35 mg 1080 kg–1). In contrast, however, Phascogale tapoatafa from southern Western Australia was more sensitive to 1080 than was expected, with an estimated LD50 of 7 mg 1080 kg–1. Although the level of tolerance to fluoroacetate was seen to vary depending on the level of exposure of each species/population to fluoroacetate-bearing vegetation, our findings provide further evidence of the evolutionary impact that fluoroacetate-producing plants appear to have had on the genetic composition of indigenous Australian fauna.


In this paper, we develop a unified Bayesian approach that enables the prediction of binary random events and random scalar fields from heterogeneous data collected by mobile sensor networks with different detectors and sensors. The heterogeneous uncertainties such as different false detection rates and measurement noises are taken into account. This proposed unified approach exploits the statistical correlations among heterogeneous random events and random fields via their latent random variables which are modeled by a Gaussian Markov random field. The statistical inference based on Gaussian approximation is then provided in order to predict the random events and/or scalar fields. The fully Bayesian approach based on the integrated nested Laplace approximation is also proposed to deal with the case where model parameters are not known a priori. Simulation results demonstrate the correctness and usefulness of the proposed approaches.


A survey is offered for the current knowledge of nonlocal electrodynamic equations which in some cases (e.g., in solving boundary value problems in optics) can replace Maxwell's equations. The nonlocal equations are derived using the semi-classical or quantum-electrodynamic approaches. The former involves an expansion of retarded potentials in appropriate parameters and a subsequent transition, to terms of order v2/c2, to quantum mechanical operators in the Lagrangian of a system of moving charges. The latter approach is to consider second- and third-order quantum electrodynamic effects for two hydrogen-like atoms arbitrarily far apart. Various nonlocal equations are derived for the propagation of photons and electromagnetic waves in spin systems, dielectrics, and metals, taking into account a variety of quantum transitions and intermediate states in the spectrum of the interacting atoms. By combining nonlocal field equations with relevant constitutive equations, a number of typical boundary-value optical problems are solved for semi-infinite media, superthin films, and for objects whose linear dimensions are much smaller than the light wavelength.


This paper addresses the risk of fraud in credit card transactions by developing a probabilistic model for the quickest detection of illegitimate purchases. Using optimal stopping theory, the goal is to determine the moment, known as disorder or fraud time, at which the continuously monitored process of a consumer's transactions exhibits a disorder due to fraud, in order to return the best trade-off between two sources of cost: on the one hand, the disorder time should be detected as soon as possible to counteract illegal activities and minimize the loss that banks, merchants and consumers suffer; on the other hand, the frequency of false alarms should be minimized to avoid generating adverse effects for cardholders and to limit the operational and process costs for the card issuers. The proposed approach allows us to score consumers' transactions and to determine, in a rigorous, personalized and optimal manner, the threshold with which scores are compared to establish whether a purchase is fraudulent.


Graph based sentence ranking algorithms such as PageRank and HITS have been successfully used in query-oriented summarization. With these algorithms, the documents to be summarized are often modeled as a text graph where nodes represent sentences and edges represent pairwise similarity relationships between two sentences. A deficiency of conventional graph modeling is its incapability of naturally and effectively representing complex group relationships shared among multiple objects. Simply squeezing complex relationships into pairwise ones will inevitably lead to loss of information which can be useful for ranking and learning. In this paper, we propose to take advantage of hypergraph, i.e. a generalization of graph, to remedy this defect. In a text hypergraph, nodes still represent sentences, yet hyperedges are allowed to connect more than two sentences. With a text hypergraph, we are thus able to integrate both group relationships formulated among multiple sentences and pairwise relationships formulated between two sentences in a unified framework. As essential work, it is first addressed in the paper that how a text hypergraph can be built for summarization by applying clustering techniques. Then, a hypergraph based semi-supervised sentence ranking algorithm is developed for query-oriented extractive summarization, where the influence of query is propagated to sentences through the structure of the constructed text hypergraph. When evaluated on DUC data sets, performance of the proposed approach is remarkable.


Restoration ecology provides the conceptual and practical frameworks to guide management interventions aimed at repairing environmental damage. Restoration activities range from local to regional and from volunteer efforts to large-scale multiagency activities. Interventions vary from a "do nothing" approach to a variety of abiotic and biotic interventions aimed at speeding up or altering the course of ecosystem recovery. Revised understanding of ecosystem dynamics, the place of humans in historic ecosystems, and changed environmental settings owing to rapid environmental change all impact on decisions concerning which interventions are appropriate. Key issues relating to ecosystem restoration in a rapidly changing world include understanding how potentially synergistic global change drivers interact to alter the dynamics and restoration of ecosystems and how novel ecosystems without a historic analogue should be managed.


All corporations engaged in multiple lines of business face a paramount strategic imperative imposed by the stock market: Maximizing the profitable growth that is possible from their constituent businesses. Meeting this imperative over the long term requires such corporations to develop new strategy-making capabilities. So how can company leaders identify and exploit the opportunities that take the fullest advantage of their companies' capabilities and potential to pursue new strategies?

In their attempts to meet the stock market's imperative, multibusiness companies in the past have pursued operational efficiencies by integrating business activities and have extended their existing strategies by combining resources from various business units. But that is not enough, say Robert A. Burgelman, professor of management at Stanford University, and Yves L. Doz, professor of global technology and innovation at INSEAD. Multibusiness corporations need to develop a capability for what the authors call complex strategic integration, which involves the discovery and creation of new business opportunities by combining resources from multiple units within the firm ? each with its own perspective and vested interests ? in order to extend the corporate strategy in new directions.

Only a few multibusiness companies are currently trying to develop a CSI capability. But the challenges and imperatives for all companies are the same. Company leaders need to manage the evolving tension between reinforcing the company's core business and redirecting strategy in new directions, as well as the sharing and transferring of resources. They also must ensure that senior executives develop the political and entrepreneurial skills necessary to effectively pursue CSI initiatives, along with the ability to conceive of these new strategies. Above all, company leaders have to create a corporate context that facilitates CSI as an ongoing institutionalized process rather than as an infrequent occurrence that depends on the ad hoc championing efforts of some highly dedicated senior managers. That includes developing the appropriate organizational structures, control systems and incentives.


: Serratia protease (TSP) [EC 3.4.24] was bound stoichiometrically to alpha 2 macroglobulin (alpha 2M), which was purified and crystallized from human plasma, but apo TSP was not bound. On formation of the TSP-alpha 2M complex the enzymatic activity of the bound TSP was affected with respect to substrates; Km values of the bound TSP were unchanged but Vmax values were reduced. alpha 2M was cleft at the mid-region of its subunits chains by TSP, which resulted in a conformational change of the alpha 2M molecule with TSP.


Physical and chemical factors are dynamic in nature, and anthropogenic activities can affect these changes. The residents have used Kware Lake as a source of drinking water, irrigation, and fishing activities. The destruction of structural buildings inside and surrounding the lake served as the impetus for this investigation. Selected physicochemical factors were identified, and three study locations (Inlet, Mid, and Outlet) were chosen. For a period of six months, monthly samples of water and sediment were taken (October 2021 to March 2022). The amounts of Ca+ , Mg+ , SO4, and NO3 were found to be significantly changed across months when measured using standard methods, although, Na+ values were not and there was little seasonal variation in electrical conductivity (EC). However, at p<0.05, the variables pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved oxygen (DO), and Ammonia (NH4) indicated a significant difference across months. Additionally, according to a sediment investigation, there were no appreciable variations in electrical conductivity, organic carbon (OC) and clay between the months. However, in February and March of 2022, elevated pH and EC concentrations were observed. To ensure that the Kware residents continue to use the water daily, continuous monitoring is necessary


Many immediate early genes (IEGs) have activity‐dependent induction in a subset of brain subdivisions or neuron types. However, none have been reported yet with regulation specific to thalamic‐recipient sensory neurons of the telencephalon or in the thalamic sensory input neurons themselves. Here, we report the first such gene, dual specificity phosphatase 1 (dusp1). Dusp1 is an inactivator of mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), and MAPK activates expression of egr1, one of the most commonly studied IEGs, as determined in cultured cells. We found that in the brain of naturally behaving songbirds and other avian species, hearing song, seeing visual stimuli, or performing motor behavior caused high dusp1 upregulation, respectively, in auditory, visual, and somatosensory input cell populations of the thalamus and thalamic‐recipient sensory neurons of the telencephalic pallium, whereas high egr1 upregulation occurred only in subsequently connected secondary and tertiary sensory neuronal populations of these same pathways. Motor behavior did not induce high levels of dusp1 expression in the motor‐associated areas adjacent to song nuclei, where egr1 is upregulated in response to movement. Our analysis of dusp1 expression in mouse brain suggests similar regulation in the sensory input neurons of the thalamus and thalamic‐recipient layer IV and VI neurons of the cortex. These findings suggest that dusp1 has specialized regulation to sensory input neurons of the thalamus and telencephalon; they further suggest that this regulation may serve to attenuate stimulus‐induced expression of egr1 and other IEGs, leading to unique molecular properties of forebrain sensory input neurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:2873–2901, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Nitrides and oxynitrides of silicon and aluminum occupy prominent positions among other non-oxide members of ceramics on account of their inherent unique combination of properties arising out of their directional covalent bonding in the condensed state. Since many reviews could be found in the literature on the materials either individually or combining some of them, the present article is devoted to the key areas of the present research on the developments of these materials. For example, α' – SiAlON is now attracting significant attention and the article highlights how compositional variations could lead to easy densification and improvement of its mechanical properties. Experimental results from various authors show that the mechanism of stabilization of α' – SiAlON is very complex and cannot be explained on the basis of the size of the metal cations and solubility in the transient glassy phase. Y, Yb, Dy and to some extent Ca are good for stabilization of the phase. Evolution of different phases during temperature rise and how these phases affect sintering of the α' material has been presented in this article. In-situ formation of elongated β' grains have been shown to increase the toughness of the material. Simultaneously, the development of AlN ceramics in regard to application of this ceramic in different areas apart from that of microelectronics has been discussed. +Improved mechanical and electrical properties of AlN and its composites have shown their promise in diverse applications such as armors, electron tube components and dielectric devices.


Introduction
At AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals (ANPC), production takes place at several production sites
across the world. Each production site contains multiple Production Units (PUs) that are only
suitable for producing a fraction of the complete product portfolio of ANPC. The production
process implies changeover and inventory costs, which we define as the lot sizing costs.
Currently, ANPC has insufficient insight in the relation between the decision for the lot sizes and
the resulting costs:
1. There is no unambiguous rule regarding how to determine the changeover costs.
2. The validity of the methods that support ANPC in deciding on the lot sizes is unknown. In
this report we define these methods as the current lot sizing policy.
In addition, internal research shows that ANPC scores low on inventory costs with respect to the
competition. Moreover, AkzoNobel's Board of Management announced that ANPC should focus
on cost reduction, due to the impact of the credit crunch. For this reason, we study the relation
between the decision for the lot sizes and the resulting changeover and inventory costs: We study
how we can support ANPC in improving the lot sizes and reducing the lot sizing costs. We reflect
this need in the goal of our research:
To support AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals in improving the quantity and timing of
production orders, in order to reduce the lot sizing costs.
Current situation
Every week, the Planning Department (PD) of ANPC determines the Production Plan (PP). This
PP indicates the quantity and timing of production runs of product families and is determined
based on the current lot sizing policy. ANPC classifies a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) as one
product of the total product portfolio and classifies a product family as multiple SKUs with similar
chemical characteristics. When deciding on the PP, the PD tries to ensure that the due dates of
customers are respected. At the same time, the sum of the production time and the changeover
time is limited by the available production capacity of the PU: A changeover between two product
families requires a changeover in the PU. Moreover, the inventory levels cannot exceed the
available inventory storage capacity for some SKUs, while it is possible to rent or buy additional
storage capacity for other SKUs. Consequently, the problem that ANPC faces when deciding on
the lot sizes is defined as the Capacitated Lot Sizing Problem (CLSP) with changeover times.
Due to the restrictions and the magnitude of the number of product families that ANPC produces
in a PU, developing the PP can be quite a puzzle. The PD uses the PP to develop the Weekly
Schedule (WS), on SKU level.
Heuristic
In order to attain our research goal we develop a heuristic that is based on the Simulated
Annealing (SA) algorithm, an iterative improvement algorithm. This heuristic calculates a PP for a
PU in which the lot sizing costs are minimized, while the capacity restrictions and due dates are
respected. We consider the planning on product family level and assume that all data is timevarying,
but known with certainty. In accordance with the requirements from ANPC, our heuristic
is easy to understand and execute in practice by employees of ANPC.
Results
We design six different heuristics that are all based on the SA algorithm and calculate the results
for twelve different problem instances. In addition, we design two mathematical models that
describe the CLSP with changeover times at ANPC and calculate the PP for every problem
instance by using optimization software for solving the mathematical models. Next, we compare
this output with the output of the heuristics: We compare the lot sizing costs. Unfortunately, the
optimization software does not attain the optimal solution for most problem instances. Yet, for two
problem instances, which contain five product families, the optimization software does attain the
optimal solution. The heuristics approach the optimal solution to respectively 3% and 6%.
3
One heuristic outperforms the other five heuristics. This heuristic, which we define as KK-NS1,
first develops a starting solution based on the algorithm of Silver and Meal (1973) and Kirca and
Kokten (1992). Next, the heuristic searches for improvements via the SA algorithm by iteratively
rearranging two succeeding runs for a product family. The results show that the performance of
the heuristic decreases when the number of product families, which need to be included in the
PP, increases. In addition, the performance decreases when the demand level increases.
Next to assessing the performance of the heuristic by using the output of the optimization
software, we analyze whether the heuristic could be used to improve the lot sizing at ANPC: We
use the actual data of four PUs and calculate the PP by using KK-NS1. The heuristic attains a
valid PP for two problem instances. Following, we compare the lot sizing costs for these valid PPs
with the current lot sizing costs: We conclude that the lot sizing costs in both PUs could be
decreased with respectively 45% and 15%. For the other two PUs, the heuristic did not attain a
valid planning. Yet, we present several possibilities for realizing a valid planning by adapting the
demand data. After adapting the demand data, we indicate that the current policy could be
improved by 30% and 45% respectively. Still, in practice, adapting the demand could lead to
additional costs: We cannot quantify the improvements for these two PUs.
Conclusions
The results show that our heuristic could be used in decreasing the total lot sizing costs at ANPC.
Since the results show a possible cost reduction for two PUs, we recommend that the heuristic is
implemented in other PUs as well. There are 31 other PUs around the globe in which the heuristic
can be applied. As such, we anticipate that the contribution that the heuristic can deliver, with
respect to decreasing the lot sizing cost, is promising. In order to support the implementation of
the heuristic, we develop a manual and provide functional training for the end-users.


There is an ever-increasing trend in advanced food analysis and foodomics to use more and more sophisticated analytical platforms that generate large and complex data structures, which in turn require more and more sophisticated data analysis tools for converting data into information. The choice of multivariate chemometric methods is primarily determined by the design of the study, type of the data, and the conclusions sought. In order to validate multivariate models, scientists are required to have basic chemometric knowledge and to be familiar with the variance structure of the investigated data. This review outlines some of the key aspects of applying common chemometric methods used within foodomics and provides selected examples of current applications. The review aims to provide simple insight into various multivariate methods and to illustrate pros and cons of unsupervised and supervised methods. The main analytical platforms used in foodomics are briefly discussed from the application point of view and the utilization of the generated data is illustrated. In addition, advanced data pre-processing tools, prior to multivariate analysis, are explained and relevant tools are demonstrated.


We investigated the radiocarbon age and stable isotope composition of bioapatite from bone, enamel, and dentine material from 3 different species of extinct mammals in South America. Most samples of Eremotherium laurillardi, Toxodon platensis, and Notiomastodon platensis were collected in natural depressions located in the northeastern Brazilian provinces of Sergipe, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Norte. All samples studied were devoid of collagen, which had decomposed as a result of high microbiological activity in this tropical region. We have instead analyzed the bioapatite fraction of the samples, which was relatively well preserved even in these harsh tropical conditions. The mineral fraction of bone and tooth material does not usually undergo microbiological decomposition but may be exposed to isotopic exchange with environmental carbonates. The problem thus becomes one of separating the diagenetic carbonates without destroying the bioapatite. We offer a technique for removing the secondary diagenetic carbonates by treatment with diluted acetic acid in a vacuum. We also demonstrate that proper pretreatment of bone and tooth samples allows the separation of diagenetic carbonates from bioapatite, as long as the carbon in these samples has not degraded completely. Bone, enamel, and dentine samples from individuals of the 3 mammalian species were dated using this technique and were compared to results by other researchers from the literature. Date ranges for the species presented were in good agreement with prior research. A comparison with other dating techniques such as U/Th and ESR shows the reliability of the treatment described and the feasibility of 14C dating the bioapatite fraction given certain conditions. In 2 cases, we dated bone enamel and dentine samples from the same individuals of N. platensis, with results between 14 and 21 ka. Results from dating samples of T. platensis are between 11.5 and 13 ka. The oldest tissue in both cases was dentine. The dating of enamel and dentine from the same species did not show regular differences; however, more often the dentine material was older. The oldest date, ≃22.5 ka for E. laurillardi, was obtained on the bioapatite fraction of dentine.


Over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, etc., have changed consumers' content consumption behavior. Globalization and Digitalization have encouraged consumers to have limitless access to the Internet for information, leisure, entertainment, and social interconnectedness. The increase in the availability of high-speed Internet, the latest smartphones, and breakthroughs in technology have created great opportunities for the OTT sector, with people preferring to consume content on-the-go digitally rather than traditional media services, such as cable television. The Covid'19 pandemic has seen an increase in viewership's and subscriptions towards these streaming platforms, with people of different age groups adapting to changing viewership trends. This study aims to understand Generation X's behavioral shift (Age 41 to 55) towards OTT during Covid'19 in India. The literature review talks about the Generation X cohort of consumers, their behavioral habits, and attitudes towards technology. It also discusses the changing trends of online content consumption and how Covid'19 has created a spark in viewership's towards India's online media services. The research study aims to perform explanatory research to establish a relationship between the increase in consumption and subscriptions of OTT services in India by Generation X and the impact of Covid'19 on the same. Data will be collected from consumer's age amongst 41 to 55 in India via survey questionnaires, and linear regression tests will be performed to test the hypotheses and establish a correlation between the dependent and independent variables.


This study examines the profitability of phase farming with lucerne for a farming system on the South Coast of Western Australia. Consistent with previous studies, lucerne appears promising within niches in the farming system. However, further improvements in the production and / or utilisation of lucerne are likely to be required before widespread adoption is financially attractive. Several important conclusions emerge from this study: The profitability of lucerne is primarily due to savings on supplementary feed costs over summer and autumn. While lucerne does provide benefits to following crops, the net impact of lucerne on the profitability of a farmer's cropping programme is likely to be negligible. The profitability and optimal area of lucerne is likely to be significantly higher on farms where prime lamb production occurs. This will especially be the case where lambs are sold as carryover stock in mid-late summer. The economic value of lucerne diminishes as a larger area is established. The implication of this is that just because some lucerne is good, more may not necessarily be better. Lucerne appears able to provide some reduction in recharge without a loss in profit. However, for the farming district examined in this study, the dominance of high recharge soil groups creates particular challenges. Significant improvements in lucerne production and / or utilisation will be required before it will compete with current land uses on some of the major soil groups.


Nanothermite mixtures are made up of nano-sized metallic fuel and inorganic oxidizer components. As this solid mixture represents a metastable intermolecular composite, an increase in nanothermite temperature can initiate a highly exothermic reaction. As the oxidation takes place at the surface of nanoparticles, the nanothermite composite is characterized by a very high reactivity compared to other type of solid propellants such as their micro-sized counterparts. Furthermore, as their geometries and molecular make up are highly tuneable, so are their burning characteristics. These characteristics are well suited for a number of engineering applications such as pyrotechnics, igniters, explosives, and propellants. Literature contains many studies with experimental results for different nanothermite mixtures and in different setups such as consolidated pellets. Numerical studies are limited and have focused on quantifying the reaction rather than the aggregate effects of the pellet. When the nanothermite mixture of powders is pressed into a pellet form, porosity arises due to the imperfect contact between the particles. Literature does accept that burning occurs primarily due to conduction or convection; the later of which is dominant when porosity is high (lightly pressed). This thesis will introduce a continuum method of modelling the reaction propagation mechanisms in Al/CuO nanothermite pellets following the experimental results from a previous University of Waterloo graduate student, now doctorate holder. Some researchers have undertaken meta-scale models as an attempt to simulate the pellet and its governing processes. The modelling framework here will build on this by coupling the field of porous media to capture the porosity effects of the pellet. Al/CuO generates a significant amount of gas, which will play an important role in modelling the convective heat transfer. With that said, this framework can be extended to other gas generating nanothermite reactions. Reaction details are secondary to this study, so the reaction is modelled with a simplified reaction model. A non-dimensional analysis of this model was used to identify important characteristics of combustion to process the results. A Finite Volume Method was developed in Python to numerically solve the proposed


The plights and miseries of persons with disabilities (PWDs) have been highlighted and discussed since the inception of Pakistan; however, no concrete measures have been taken for the rights of PWDs. According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 15% of the world's population live with some sort of disability. Nevertheless, according to 1998 census only 2.49% and according to 2017 census only 0.48% of the population had disability in Pakistan. Moreover, only 136,928 PWD's has been issued national identity cards and may be regarded registered PWDs in the country. Though disability is more prevalent in developing countries as compared to developed countries and poverty, illiteracy, natural disasters and continuous exposure to armed conflicts predispose people to disability,  yet the lower number of reported PWD's in Pakistan clearly shows that there is huge discrepancy in the reported statistics. The ground reality is that, these figures are just assumption and because of under reporting of disability there are thousands of PWD's which are not registered and the fact is that, the exact figure of PWD's is much higher than this. If we even don't know exact number of PWD's, so how can we plan to address issues related PWD's. Scarcity of reliable disability epidemiologic data is one of the major barrier in addressing issues related to PWD's in Pakistan.
 The words "Disable" and "Disability" are often used in negative sense in Pakistani society. PWD's are never accepted in society and they are often disregarded and mistreated. Because there are limited opportunities of education and employment for these PWD's, majority of PWD's live a dependent life. In Pakistan, due to lack of facilities, mostly PWD's are unable to continue their education and therefore unable to get higher degrees which is main hindrance in getting high level posts. But the truth is that in majority of cases even highly qualified PWD's are deprived of job opportunities. Majority of people living in community are unaware of the capabilities of PWD's and that's why administrators are usually hesitant to employ PWD's as they have reservations that PWD's might not be able to carry out their duties efficiently. There are reports that due to the fear that hiring of PWD's may affect output, employers prefer to pay fine rather than hiring PWD's. Another important barrier to employment of PWD's in Pakistan is that majority of places including government departments in country are not wheel chair accessible. Similarly, public transport is also not accessible to PWD's. Negative attitude and superstitious beliefs towards PWD's is reported by many research studies and is evident throughout history. Though many studies conducted in Pakistan, reported social rejection of PWD's in country and truth is that problems of PWD's are much more than that yet due to religious affiliations, general population living in Pakistan demonstrate strong afflation's towards PWD's. Islamic teachings focuses on the fact that it is the responsibility of government as well as of society to support PWD's and provide equivalent opportunities of learning and employment to PWD's.
In order to protect rights of PWD's and to make them functional members of society, Government of Pakistan provide many constitutional and legal provisions to PWD's living in Pakistan. The most important national policy in this regard is fixed job quota for PWD's in both government and private sector. In 1981, ex-president of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, allocated 1% job quota for PWD's through ordinance "Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance (DPO-1981)" while in 1998Prime minister Pakistan Nawaz Sharif increased PWD's job quota from 1% to 2%. The present job quota for PWD's in all provinces of Pakistan is 2% except Punjab where the quota was raised to 3% in 2015. National policy for PWD's (2002) clearly mentioned that "Pakistan joined the select group of countries, which has not only ratified ILO Convention 159, but have also taken active legal steps to introduce legislation which lays down quota for the employment of persons with disabilities". It is further added that, "The penalty clauses will also be amended to make its implementation more effective". Section 11 of The Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance, 1981 also emphasizes that "An establishment which does not employ a disabled person shall pay in to the Funds each month the sum of money it would have paid as salary or wages to a disabled person had he been employed". Keeping in view the fact, that 2% quota for PWD's is not following in Pakistan, Aisha Syed, member of National Assembly of Pakistan presented "The Disabled Persons (Employment) and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Act 2015" in National Assembly in order to strengthen the rights of PWD's in Pakistan. The said bill emphasizes that serious action to be taken against departments which ignores 2% quota of PWD's.
 To sum up, it can be concluded that despite the fact that a number of national policies exist regarding legal rights of PWD's in the country, PWD's are still deprived of their rights in Pakistan. They remained marginalized part of society and they are almost always neglected and ignored in the community. The main reason behind it is that these policies are only present in papers and never implemented. These policies are useless until and unless they are implemented with true spirit.


This paper presents a study of 1/f2 phase noise in quadrature oscillators built by connecting two differential LC-tank oscillators in a parallel fashion. The analysis clearly demonstrates the necessity of adopting a time-variant theory of phase noise, where a more simplistic, time-invariant approach fails to explain numerical simulation results even at the qualitative level. Two topologies of 5-GHz parallel quadrature oscillators are considered, and compact but nevertheless highly general, closed-form formulas are derived for the phase noise caused by the losses in the LC-tanks and by the noisy currents in the MOS transistors. A large number of spectreRF simulations, covering a wide range of working conditions for the oscillators, is used to validate the theoretical analysis


A commercial spray-cast aluminum alloy, having a composition of Al-11.5% Zn-2.5% Mg-0.9% Cu-0.2% Zr, was processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) to give an ultrafine-grained microstructure with a grain size of ~0.3 μm and a fracturing of the rod-shaped MgZn2 precipitates. The mechanical properties of the alloy were investigated using microhardness testing at ambient temperature and tensile testing at a temperature of 673 K. In addition, creep tests were conducted using a double-shear testing facility at temperatures from 473 to 673 K. The results show the microhardness decreases with increasing numbers of passes in ECAP and high strain rate superplasticity is achieved after processing by ECAP at 473 K for 6 or 8 passes. A maximum elongation of >1000% was recorded at a strain rate of 10-2 s-1 when testing at 673 K. The creep tests show the creep rates are faster in the as-pressed material than in the as-received material when testing at the same applied stress and testing temperature.


ABSTRACT There is considerable literature concerning the impact of education in divided societies. Some seek to defend separate schools, often for different faith groups, while others stress the benefits of school integration on social cohesiveness. Contact theory has been employed in efforts in many countries to address social discord. Northern Ireland is a deeply divided multicultural society with a largely separate system of education for its two main communities. There is also a small but growing Integrated schools sector, where the communities learn together and where contact is maintained. A more recent intervention in Northern Ireland is that of Shared Education where separate schools are retained but shared classes and other opportunities for sharing are offered. This paper examines these models of educational provision and evaluates them in light of political developments. This is of particular importance as the structure of education is key to social cohesion for the people in Northern Ireland, as well as in other jurisdictions across the world contemplating educational solutions for divided societies.


On the surface, it would seem that Brazil and Germany present many opportunities for fruitful bilateral trade and investment. In terms of comparative advantages, the Brazilian export portfolio tacks heavily towards precisely the raw materials German manufacturers require—and lack domestically. Conversely, German producers specializing in high-end technological and
knowledge-based goods could find an expanding consumer base both in the burgeoning Brazilian middle class and in business-to-business trade with Brazilian partners. In terms of investment, Brazil would appear to be a prime destination for surplus German savings. For example, Brazil faces an infrastructure deficit while German firms have achieved particular sophistication in this field. For German firms, investment in this sector in Brazil can offer returns currently unavailable in continental Europe.


The author supposed that media education models can be divided into the following groups: - educational-information models (the study of the theory, history, language of media culture, etc.), based on the cultural, aesthetic, semiotic, socio-cultural theories of media education; - educational-ethical models (the study of moral, religions, philosophical problems relying on the ethic, religious, ideological, ecological, protectionist theories of media education; - pragmatic models (practical media technology training), based on the uses and gratifications and 'practical' theories of media education; - aesthetical models (aimed above all at the development of the artistic taste and enriching the skills of analysis of the best media culture examples). Relies on the aesthetical (art and cultural studies theory); - socio-cultural models (socio-cultural development of a creative personality as to the perception, imagination, visual memory, interpretation analysis, autonomic critical thinking), relying on the cultural studies, semiotic, ethic models of media education.


Introduction Osteoarthritis of the trapeziometacarpal joint affects approximately 10%–25% of women, especially those who are postmenopausal. It may result in thumb dysfunction. Among the treatments, intra-articular injections of corticosteroid (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) are both effective and recommended. However, clinical trials have shown that HA improves functional capacity, whereas CS only produces a decrease in pain. The synergy of these two drugs has not been evaluated. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether the association between HA and CS produce an additional decrease of more pain during thumb movement at three months postinjection, compared to the level of pain relief from CS alone. Methods and analysis RHIZ'ART is a prospective, multicentre, comparative, randomised, controlled, double-blind trial. Patients referred to the rheumatology department for thumb rhizarthrosis will receive an injection of betamethasone with HA or placebo (serum saline) based on central randomisation and stratification by centre. Injections will be given under ultrasound guidance. The primary outcome will compare the pain Visual Analogue Scale with motion at three months for both groups using a mixed model. The expected decrease in pain intensity in the CS group is 25% and 35% in the CS with HA group. In order to achieve a 80% power for detecting this difference with α set at 5%, 73 patients are needed in each group (146 total). The main secondary outcomes are the Cochin score (hand function) and grip strength. Follow-up visits are at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Ethics and dissemination The study project has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee (CPP île de France III, 2017-002298-20). In agreement with current French regulations, a signed informed written consent will be obtained from each patient. Results of the main trial and of the secondary endpoints will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Trial registration number NCT03431584.


Obesity is recognised as the leading cause of malnutrition in cats and dogs (Legrand-Defretin 1994) and is reported to be one of the most important and frequently seen welfare issues in small animal practice (Yeates and Main 2011). Despite the recognised burden of overweight/obesity on the companion animal population, a review of the published literatureidentified several gaps. This thesis aimed to address three of the those gaps.
Gap A: No published national prevalence estimates for cats, dogs and rabbits in Great Britain were available and no studies had explored whether prevalence varied across Great Britain. Chapter 3 and 4 estimated the national prevalence of overweight/obesity in cats, dogs and rabbits to be 11.5%, 25% and 7.6% respectively. After adjusting for differences in demographics between locations, there was a significantly higher prevalence of canine overweight/obesity in Scotland compared to England and Wales. But no spatial variations were found in the prevalence of feline overweight/obesity within Great Britain.
Gap B: There was a lack of consistency in the risk factors found to be associated with overweight/obesity between previous published studies and no assessment of the impact of various risk factors on the prevalence of canine and feline overweight/obesity was apparent in the literature. Non modifiable risk factors identified for dogs in Chapter 3 included being female, neutered status, and age with peak of risk at 5 to 8 years of age. These effects were independent of location. Chapter 4 identified neutered status, being male and middle age (around 7 years) as feline non modifiable risk factors. Neutered status was the only significant risk factor found for rabbit overweight. Chapter 5 and 7 expanded the canine and feline overweight/obesity risk factor analyses to include modifiable risk factors. Risk factors for canine overweight/obesity (Chapter 5) identified were owner income, owner age, frequency of snacks and treats and hours of exercise the dog received each week. For cats (Chapter7), the significant risk factors were frequency of feeding and neutered status. The calculated population attributable risks (Chapter 3 and 4) showed possible differences in the impact of non modifiable risk factors between cats and dogs. For cats, neutered status was the most important factor whereas in dogs age and neutered status were equally important.
Gap C: Misperception of body shape has been recognised to play an important role in human obesity management. Previous studies had only described owner misperception of pet body shape as a risk factor for obesity/overweight. The objective of Chapter 6 and, in part, Chapter 7 was to explore the concept of owner misperception of canine and feline body shape. Owners of cats and dogs appeared to "normalise" their animal's body shape i.e owners of overweight animals were more likely to think their pet was an ideal shape rather than overweight and owners of underweight animals were more likely to think they were an ideal shape rather than underweight. Risk factors identified for misperception in dog owners were gender of owner and age of the dog. Only one risk factor was identified for misperception by cat owners; that is whether the cat was long haired or not.
In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that overweight/obesity in cats, dogs and rabbits is widespread. Despite the limitations of these data, the results show the complexity of risk factors that contribute to overweight/obesity in companion animals and highlight areas for future research.


The range of foods featuring lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with potential associated health benefits has expanded over the years from traditional dairy products to meat, cereals, vegetables and fruits, chocolate, etc. All these new carriers need to be compared for their efficacy to protect, carry, and deliver LAB, but because of their profusion and the diversity of methods this remains difficult. This review points out the advantages and disadvantages of the main food matrix types, and an additional distinction between dairy and nondairy foods is made. The food matrix impact on LAB viability during food manufacturing, storage, and digestion is also discussed. The authors propose an ideal hypothetical food matrix that includes structural and physicochemical characteristics such as pH, water activity, and buffering capacities, all of which need to be taken into account when performing LAB food matrix design. Guidelines are finally provided to optimize food matrix design in terms of effective LAB delivery.


The assessment of service quality in a hospital for organ transplantation has been mainly ignored by health care suppliers, although it has vital importance for human life. In this study, service quality parameters are determined in the light of four SERVQUAL dimensions, including responsiveness, reliability, tangibles, and empathy, and a survey has been conducted. Twenty-one patients who are suffering from kidney failure and also their relatives have attended this survey. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is constructed to select the best hospital in Istanbul for kidney transplantation based on these service quality parameters, and results are discussed.


We present seismological evidence for tearing of the Pacific plate at the northern termination of the Tonga subduction zone. Seismicity cross sections indicate (1) abrupt termination of intermediate-depth seismicity along an east-west–trending zone coincident with the northern termination of the subduction zone and (2) shoaling of the subducted slab at its northern termination. Earthquake distribution and source-mechanism determinations indicate progressive downwarping and tearing of the Pacific plate as it enters the northernmost segment of the Tonga subduction zone. Source mechanisms for 57 events located along a narrow belt of high seismicity in northernmost Tonga indicate dip-slip faulting along near-vertical planes oriented ∼285°, coinciding with the observed direction of plate convergence. Precisely determined depths for 21 events (18–57 km) suggest that the plate is downwarped >15 km prior to initiation of tearing; depths of the 7 April 1995 (M s =8) event and aftershocks suggest tearing of the plate may extend through the entire thickness of the oceanic lithosphere.


This report describes the development and experimental validation of a coordination scheme between friction and discretely variable compression brakes for a Class 8 Freightliner truck used as a development platform in the California PATH program. The coordination scheme that we developed maintains the speed tracking performance of the nominal PID controller which was originally designed by the UCLA team for the case of friction brakes only. Through the coordination scheme, the command of the nominal PID controller is split into a friction brake command and compression brake command. The integration of the compression brake into the speed control framework reduces the usage and wear of the conventional friction brakes. This report describes the experimental hardware and software setup; open-loop experiments that were conducted to identify the models for the friction brake and the compression brake; the identification procedure of the friction brake and compression brake characteristics and the identification results; the development of the coordination scheme for the friction and compression brakes and the results of closed loop experiments that were used to validate the coordination scheme performance.


Abstract Background The Student Curriculum Review Team (SCRT) was founded at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) in 2012 to refine pre-clinical courses. Since then, SCRT has provided a voice for student feedback – offering forums for discussion through 'Town Hall meetings' and confidential avenues for peer-to-peer comments. Here, we assess the perceived efficacy and utility of SCRT among the student body and faculty course directors. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted in 2019 using an anonymous survey distributed to second- (MS2) and third-year (MS3) medical students as well as faculty course directors at JHUSOM. Results A total of 113 student surveys and 13 faculty surveys were returned. The majority of students (97%) endorsed SCRT as effective in enabling them to express their concerns. Most faculty (69%) reported SCRT's impact on their respective course as positive and found SCRT suggestions to be 'realistic and actionable.' Students (84%) and faculty (62%) alike considered SCRT to meet needs not met by other curricular organizations at JHUSOM. Conclusion Students and faculty find that SCRT satisfies an unfilled position in the landscape of curricular feedback at JHUSOM. This study may be beneficial for other academic institutions considering ways to better engage students in curricular reform.


Construction professionals understand the complexity and everchanging nature of the built environment which continues to raise enormous challenges for managers. The industry has embraced managing people as an effective strategy in managing successful projects. In Nigeria, the industry employs and deploys an extremely diverse range of workers from various backgrounds, expected to be managed and supervised. Ineffective management caused by lack of updated skills and competences (SC), has been identified in several literatures as a major setback in the Nigerian construction industry (NCI). The purpose of this study was to identify and understand these SC, examine the critical success factors that promote their development, and investigate the challenges associated with their development and application. The data, on which this study was based, was sourced from 155 completed and usable survey questionnaires and 30 semi-structured interviews with registered construction professionals in Nigeria. Participants were drawn from membership of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, practicing in both private and public sectors. The objectives of this study include exploring and documenting the current SC development approaches in the NCI and its impact on project outcomes. The study inter-alia revealed, that training and online self-education are two popular ways Nigerian construction managers and supervisors develop their SC. Training infrastructure and standard, measuring SC attainment and reward system, lack of commitment, values and unguaranteed loyalty of trainees, general education and knowledge sharing culture, political interference, regulation and policies, expensive SC development and lack of sponsorship, corruption and ethical issues are key challenges to SC development in the NCI. The study developed and validated a framework and a set of guidelines for the development of construction management SC the NCI. The study established that SC development help save time, cost and positively impacts quality and general project outcome. It identified and documented the top twenty important SC, top twenty difficult SC and the top twenty SC that need development. These SC; team building, communication, programme design, motivation, programme maintenance, supervision of others, quality control/assurance, employee training, creativity, leadership, company law, construction law, recruitment/selection, health and safety, material planning and control, manpower planning and control, in no order of preference, were rated in both top twenty important and difficult SC. Only employee training, as an SC, was rated in the top twenty SC that need development as well as previous two categories. Organisations are responsible for SC development and can now use the identified SC to prioritize and profile their managers and supervisors before investing in their development. The critical success factors for SC development in the NCI are willingness to learn, obtaining valuable certified qualification, promotion and career development, obtaining respect of peers, job creation and generating wealth. Organisational culture and structure are other established success factors in SC development in the NCI. The study recommends that all aspects of SC trainings be practical and technical. It also recommended that knowledge-sharing should be encouraged in every construction organisation. Furthermore, students in construction management programmes in Nigeria tertiary institutions should be exposed to acquire experience from the industry. Further study could investigate how SC of managers and supervisors can be profiled and monitored. Similarly, there is need to develop a model for monitoring and identifying shortages and gaps in construction management SC in Nigeria.


Abstract - In the digital era like nowadays, The information system is well developed. As an indicator can be seen advances in technology of the data security that are increasingly developed along with the needs of people with communication data. The Analysys Of Data Security Using Base64 Algorithm is an analyse about how  well this level of security algorithm that often used by developer. As more developed the science is, also developed the Base64 Algorithm. Base64 is a method for encoding binary data to texts. The binary data is encoded to 7-bit character format. With this analyse we can know the data security level using Base64 algorithm.


Various researches are going on in the field of medical image processing. In this paper we have done a comparative study of various computer based abnormity detection method in medical image processing. This paper also discusses about various algorithms proposed by researchers time to time in this area of medical imaging. This study is helpful for better use of new existing method and improving the performance of object detection.


We have been studying the differing characteristics of oligodendrocyte- type-2 astrocyte (O-2A) progenitors isolated from optic nerves of perinatal and adult rats. These two cell types display striking differences in their in vitro phenotypes. In addition, the O- 2Aperinatal progenitor population appears to have a limited life-span in vivo, while O-2Aadult progenitors appear to be maintained throughout life. O-2Aperinatal progenitors seem to have largely disappeared from the optic nerve by 1 mo after birth, and are not detectable in cultures derived from optic nerves of adult rats. In contrast, O-2Aadult progenitors can first be isolated from optic nerves of 7-d-old rats and are still present in optic nerves of 1-yr-old rats. These observations raise two questions: (a) From what source do O-2Aadult progenitors originate; and (b) how is the O-2Aadult progenitor population maintained in the nerve throughout life? We now provide in vitro evidence indicating that O-2Aadult progenitors are derived directly from a subpopulation of O-2Aperinatal progenitors. We also provide evidence indicating that O-2Aadult progenitors are capable of prolonged self renewal in vitro. In addition, our data suggests that the in vitro generation of oligodendrocytes from O-2Aadult progenitors occurs primarily through asymmetric division and differentiation, in contrast with the self-extinguishing pattern of symmetric division and differentiation displayed by O-2Aperinatal progenitors in vitro. We suggest that O-2Aadult progenitors express at least some properties of stem cells and thus may be able to support the generation of both differentiated progeny cells as well as their own continued replenishment throughout adult life.


Artificial blood is a product made to act as a substitute for red blood cells, blood substitutes are used to fill fluid volume and/or carry oxygen and other blood gases in the cardiovascular system. More accurate terms are volume expanders for inert products, and oxygen therapeutics for oxygen-carrying products. It is required to overcome the Hypovolemic Shock During Accidents, Surgery Etc..,. Ideal blood substitute should have Universal compatibility: elimination of cross matching, Pathogen free, Minimal side effects, Survivability over a wider range of storage temperatures, Long shelf life, Cost efficient etc. Their main function is replacing lost blood volume and oxygen carrying capacity. Haemoglobin-based oxygen carriers vaguely resemble blood. Two major areas of research in this Endeavour are Hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOC) and per fluorocarbon -based oxygen carriers (PFBOC). These can reach tissues more easily than normal red cells and can delivery oxygen directly and extensive clinical trials are being conducted to their safety and efficacy.


Of the convulsive disorders none is more severe than tetanus. Its victim is conscious (except in the terminal stages) and suffers excruciating pain from generalized spasms so violent as frequently to cause compression fractures of the vertebrae. When these convulsions involve the respiratory muscles, as they commonly do, sudden death from acute asphyxia may ensue. Although the ultimate cause of death in tetanus may be organic changes in the brain 1 or inhibition of some vital enzymatic action, 2 the immediate cause appears clinically to be either respiratory spasms or a terminal aspiration bronchopneumonia. The active treatment of tetanus is twofold and consists specifically in the injection of tetanus antitoxin to neutralize the unbound circulating toxin and symptomatically in the administration of sedatives (such as solution of tribromoethanol or one of the barbiturates) or anticonvulsants (magnesium sulfate, for example) to control the spasms. Unfortunately the administration of tetanus antitoxin does


Fourth Amendment "reasonableness" jurisprudence as currently constituted is incapable of providing consistent decisions reflective of the underlying philosophical and moral structure of the Constitution. Increasingly, courts have allowed reasonableness analysis to devolve into little more than an awkward balancing exercise between the needs of law enforcement and the interests of "privacy." Upon initial consideration, this seems appropriate; the Fourth Amendment has been long been understood as a bulwark against unreasonable privacy invasions in the course of law enforcement. This understanding is, however, incomplete. As courts have moved towards an almost exclusive focus on privacy as the counter-balance to the government's law enforcement interest, the government's interests have predominated and the sphere of protection afforded to the individual has shrunk. Privacy, an exceedingly broad and often misunderstood concept, is unequal to the task of providing a doctrinal framework that supports a vigorous Fourth Amendment. In this article, I propose that human dignity, as defined, should stand alongside privacy as a primary animating principle of the Fourth Amendment. While "human dignity" as a concept has always existed around the periphery of constitutional search and seizure jurisprudence, and has intermittently been cited by the Supreme Court as a consideration in the reasonableness analysis, it has been severely underdeveloped both in the case law and in the academic literature. I seek to bring dignity to the fore as a usable interpretive device that supports a truly protective Fourth Amendment.


A police request was made to the ambulance service to attend an adult victim of an alleged assault. On arrival the patient was found to be alert (AVPU: alert, responds to verbal stimuli, responds to pain, unresponsive), in a seated position, and complaining of head, neck and back pain. The airway was clear; a mild diffuse polyphonic wheeze was noted bilaterally throughout both lungs. Respiratory rate was 16 bpm and heart rate was 126 bpm. Oxygen therapy was commenced via a duo mask (fractional inspired oxygen (FiO2) 0.53) as oxygen saturation was recorded initially at 94% on air. The mechanism of injury caused concern regarding possible c-spine injury as the patient's head had been struck forcefully against the wall. The patient denied any loss of consciousness. Bony tenderness was elicited during c-spine examination and a c-spine collar was applied with full spinal precautions. The patient was immobilised using …


This study investigated the possibility of using aerial color infrared (CIR) photography as a survey technique for egg populations of Psorophora columbiae within a riceland agroecosystem. To accomplish this, eight photographic missions were flown over study fields during a variety of seasons and at various altitudes. Assessment of resulting photographic data indicates features reported in the literature as being attractive for oviposition by Ps. columbiae (i.e., rice field levees, tire tracks, ditches and low areas) can be readily detected on aerial CIR photographs. Features associated with Ps. columbiae oviposition sites were easily visible on photographs at scales as small as 1:42,000.


Improve the Safety, Flexibility, and Reliability of Autonomous Navigation in Complex Environments Autonomous Vehicle Navigation: From Behavioral to Hybrid Multi-Controller Architectures explores the use of multi-controller architectures in fully autonomous robot navigationeven in highly dynamic and cluttered environments. Accessible to researchers and graduate students involved in mobile robotics and fully autonomous vehicle navigation, the book presents novel techniques and concepts that address different complex mobile robot tasks. The author examines the development of reliable elementary controllers and proposes mechanisms to manage the interaction of these multi-controller architectures while addressing different constraints and enhancing metrics/criteria linked to the safety, flexibility, and reliability of the proposed control architectures. He covers the modeling of subtasks, reliable obstacle avoidance, appropriate stable control laws for target reaching/tracking, short- and long-term trajectory/waypoint planning, navigation through sequential waypoints, and the cooperative control and interaction of a group of mobile robots. The authors website provides MATLAB and Simulink source code of the main procedures related to the task modeling, planning, and control of mobile robots. It also includes videos showing the main simulations and experiments given in the text. In addition to flexible and bottom-up construction, multi-controller architectures can be formally analyzed to achieve reliable navigation in complex environments. This book reveals innovative control architectures that can lead to fully autonomous vehicle navigation in these challenging situations.


Language-based information-flow control (IFC) techniques often rely on special purpose, ad-hoc primitives to address different covert channels that originate in the runtime system, beyond the scope of language constructs. Since these piecemeal solutions may not compose securely, there is a need for a unified mechanism to control covert channels. As a first step towards this goal, we argue for the design of a general interface that allows programs to safely interact with the runtime system and the available computing resources. To coordinate the communication between programs and the runtime system, we propose the use of asynchronous exceptions (interrupts), which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been considered before in the context of IFC languages. Since asynchronous exceptions can be raised at any point during execution-often due to the occurrence of an external event-threads must temporarily mask them out when manipulating locks and shared data structures to avoid deadlocks and, therefore, breaking program invariants. Crucially, the naive combination of asynchronous exceptions with existing features of IFC languages (e.g., concurrency and synchronization variables) may open up new possibilities of information leakage. In this paper, we present $\mathrm {M}\mathrm {A}\mathrm {C}_{async}$, a concurrent, statically enforced IFC language that, as a novelty, features asynchronous exceptions. We show how asynchronous exceptions easily enable (out of the box) useful programming patterns like speculative execution and some degree of resource management. We prove that programs in $\mathrm {M}\mathrm {A}\mathrm {C}_{async}$ satisfy progress-sensitive non-interference and mechanize our formal claims in the Agda proof assistant.


SUMMARY In this study, the effects of meloxicam, a not steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), on the oxidative status were evaluated in exercised horses. Sixteen healthy horses were normally trained for 2 hours and immediately after, the half of them were intravenously injected by a single dose of meloxicam (0.6 mg/kg) whereas the 8 others were treated with NaCl 0.9% in the same way. Physical parameters (rectal temperature, heart and respiratory frequencies) and eventual inflammatory clinical signs, venous blood gas, serum biochemical markers such as glucose and protein concentrations, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were investigated before (-2 hours), immediately after the exercise and 1, 3, 5 and 7 hours after. Immediately after the exercise which has induced a transient CO2 accumulation coupled to a high and prolonged O 2 consumption, the physical parameters, the serum AST activities and the plasma MDA concentrations significantly increased whereas the plasma SOD activities were greatly reduced. Compared to the control horses, the meloxicam treated horses exhibited a more rapid clinical recovery associated to a more efficient CO2 elimination and tissue O 2 delivery, less prolonged AST variations and marked increases in the SOD activities in the post-exercise period. These results demonstrate that a strenuous exercise induced an oxidative stress in horses and that meloxicam affects the oxidative status by strengthening the SOD activity.


The effects of oceanographic patterns on marine genetic biodiversity along the SW Iberian Peninsula are poorly understood. We addressed the question of whether gene flow in this region depends solely on geographic distance between isolated patches of suitable habitat or if there are superimposed effects correlated with other factors such as current patterns. Zostera noltii, the dwarf eelgrass, is the keystone habitat-structuring seagrass species on intertidal mudflats along the Iberian west coast. We used 9 microsatellite loci to analyze population genetic diversity and differen- tiation for all existing 8 populations from NW Spain (Ria de Vigo) to SW Spain (Puerto Real, Cadiz). Populations are highly genetically differentiated as shown by high significant FST,Wright's fixation index, (0.08 to 0.26) values. A neighbor-joining tree based on Reynold's distances computed from allele frequencies revealed a split between northern and southern populations (bootstrap support of 84%). This pattern of differentiation can be explained by (1) ocean surface current patterns present during Z. noltii's reproductive season which cause a dispersal barrier between the northern and southern populations of this region, (2) habitat isolation, due to large geographic distances between suitable habitats, preventing frequent gene flow, and (3) small effective population sizes, causing high drift and thus faster differentiation rates.


Shuanglong Lake is a shallow lake in the urban city, which has been a typical eutrophic lake. After synthesizing harnessing and control of outside pollutions, the endogenesis pollutions caused by polluted sediment may become the main nutritional burden of the lake. As for this, it is important to ascertain the releasing principles of nitrogen, which is the restrict nutrition factor of the lake. It can rehabilitate and maintain water quality of the Shuanglong lake, provide that the scientific foundation for harnessing the lake and protecting the environment. This paper had reported the investigation of nitrogen release from sediment of lake, and marked environmental factors include temperature,dissolvable oxygen, pH and hydrodynamic power, the releasing model can be obtained: r=12.931+0.103[T]-0.36[pH]-0.728[DO]+0.490[K], which can be applied to analyzing and estimating nitrogen released from polluted sediment, and control the release by raising the level of dissolvable oxygen in the lake.


OBJECTIVE
The care of very sick babies requires the use of invasive catheters in the neonatal intensive care unit. Our objective was to review the invasive catheters placed (umbilical and epicutaneous) between 1994 and 1998 and describe the guidelines used to take care of the intravenous lines.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Two periods were compared (January 1994 until June 1997 and July 1997 until September 1998) and characteristics of the patient and catheter were analyzed. During the first period, sepsis related to the catheter was diagnosed according to clinical and analytical criteria and required a positive blood culture. The same criteria were required in the second period, but coincidence of the organisms in the peripheral and catheter blood culture was also needed.

RESULTS
A total of 1,285 central catheters were studied in 958 newborn admissions. Umbilical catheter were used in 6% of the cases and epicutaneous in 23%, most of which were in the upper extremities. The most frequent reason to remove the catheter was the end of the indication. The incidence of catheter related sepsis in the first period was 1% and during the second period 6%. Strict diagnostic criteria used in the second period were more predictive for sepsis. If premature babies were considered alone, the incidence increased to 14%. The most frequent organism isolated was Staphylococcus epidermidis.

CONCLUSIONS
To decrease the incidence of sepsis related to catheters, a strict protocol for placement and maintenance must be followed.


Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) is considered an antiplatelet molecule. Previously, we introduced a new parameter called the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio, which indicates the proportion of PECAM-1 in the thrombus and provides a precise description of human platelet activity (in vitro). The aim of this study was to determine whether the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio could serve as a predictive factor for bleeding events during off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB). To achieve this, we collected blood samples from 20 patients scheduled to undergo OPCAB surgery. We assessed the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio by evaluating thrombus formation on collagen fibers under flow conditions. Subsequently, we compared the ability of the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio in predicting bleeding risk with other methods that evaluate hemostasis activity. These methods included assessing platelet P-selectin secretion, platelet exposure of phosphatidylserine, plasma coagulation and fibrinolysis system activity, and thrombus formation using the T-TAS assay. Our findings revealed a positive correlation between the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio and the amount of blood component units transfused (BCUT) during the OPCAB surgery. Furthermore, BCUT did not show any significant correlation with other measured hemostasis parameters. This preliminary study suggests that the PECAM-1/thrombus ratio might be a good predictor of bleeding risk during the OPCAB procedure.


We review some of the newest findings on the spin dynamics of carriers and excitons in GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells. For intrinsic wells, whose optical properties are dominated by excitonic effects, we show that exciton–exciton interaction produces a breaking of the spin degeneracy in two-dimensional semiconductors. For doped wells, the two spin components of an optically created two-dimensional electron gas are well described by Fermi–Dirac distributions with a common temperature but different chemical potentials. The rate of the spin depolarization of the electron gas is found to be independent of the mean electron kinetic energy but accelerated by thermal spreading of the carriers.


Increasing need for application benchmarking and testing purposes requires large amounts of data. However, obtaining realistic data from the industry for testing purposes, is often impossible due to confidentiality issues and expensive data transfer over the network i.e., Internet. Hence, there is a gap between the need to benchmark and the lack of a common testing environment to achieve it. The scope of this thesis is to contribute in narrowing the above presented gap, by introducing a theoretical framework of data generation for the simulation of data processes. Therefore, we aim at generating input data and hence, providing a common testing environment for testing and evaluating data processes. Specifically, we focus on generating data for ETL data processes by analyzing the semantics of the ow. The motivation comes from the fact that ETL processes are often time-consuming and error prone. Therefore, it is of high importance to evaluate and benchmark them, in order to identify bottlenecks and constantly improve their performance. Moreover, we introduce a layered architecture design for developing a prototype of the ETL data generation framework. In addition, we present a pilot tool developed for implementing the ETL data generation framework following the proposed architecture and the ETL semantics principle. As a conclusion to our work, we introduce the data generation approach and moreover show its feasibility to generate workload scenarios useful for testing and benchmarking ETL processes.


The firms in the floriculture industry in Kenya have been facing myriad of challenges emanating from environmental concerns. The recent challenges came from the overseas markets when the Kenyan flowers were said to be the major pollutants of the environment due to their mode of transport. It took long negotiations and lobbying for the issue to be resolved. But the results were almost disastrous and it is therefore important that issues of marketing ecologically friendly products be addressed by the firms. The study sought to determine the green marketing practices within the floricultural firms in Kenya and also to assess the extent to which green marketing is practiced within floricultural firms in Kenya. A descriptive survey design was selected for the study. From the population of 104 firms, 52 firms were selected based on stratified random sampling. The data collection was through selfadministered questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions. The respondents of the questionnaires were the senior managers of the selected firms. The result of the study was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages and mean scores. The Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to carry out the analyses. The results were then presented in the form of tables and charts. In relation to the green marketing practices, the results show that the respondents were aware of green marketing practices in the industry. Such practices were manifest in areas such as modifications of obsolete technology, embracing of entirely new technology, and elimination of some unnecessary processes of production. It is therefore concluded that green marketing practices are practiced to a larger extent within the flower firms in Kenya as seen in use of new technology, elimination of unnecessary production processes, and remanufacturing of some products using available resources. The study recommends that to achieve successful green marketing, the concerned companies must organize aggressive awareness programs to adequately inform all employees and industry participants. In addition, organizations need to establish guiding policies and practices that ensure a formal process of operation.


This paper is the first to investigate the role of firm-level upstreamness (i.e. the number of steps before the production of a firm meets final demand) in explaining wage differences according to workers' origin. Using unique linked employer-employee data relative to the Belgian manufacturing industry for the period 2002-2010, our estimates show that firms that are further up in the value chain pay significantly higher wages. However, the wage premium associated with upstreamness is also found to vary substantially depending on the origin of the workers. Unconditional quantile estimates suggest that those who benefit the most from being employed in more upstream firms are high-wage workers born in developed countries. In contrast, workers born in developing countries, irrespective of their earnings, appear to be unfairly rewarded. Quantile decompositions further show that, while differences in average values of upstreamness according to workers' origin play a limited role, differences in wage premia associated with upstreamness account for a substantial part of the wage gap between workers born in developed and developing countries, especially at the top of the earnings distribution. These results are shown to be robust to a number of sensitivity tests, including broader or narrower definitions of workers' wages and different firm environments in terms of technological and knowledge intensity.


Abstract: 40 years had passed since China implemented its iconic Open Policy and reform. In the past 40 years, the proportion of tertiary industry in large cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou has surpassed that of the primary and secondary industries. Even small and medium cities are currently transitioning from the primary and secondary industries towards the second and tertiary industries. Following this transition, the old industrial edifices and buildings are gradually abandoned and neglected. This paper examines the feasibility of Nanchong's transformation from the textile industry to tertiary or service industry through a comprehensive survey of the status, conservation and application of Nanchong industrial heritage, and explore the new direction for China's industrial heritage.


To avoid the exposure of original source code in a Web application, the variable names in JS code deployed in the wild are often replaced by short, meaningless names, thus making the code extremely difficult to manually understand and analysis. This paper presents JSNeat, an information retrieval (IR)-based approach to recover the variable names in minified JS code. JSNeat follows a data-driven approach to recover names by searching for them in a large corpus of open-source JS code. We use three types of contexts to match a variable in given minified code against the corpus including the context of the properties and roles of the variable, the context of that variable and relations with other variables under recovery, and the context of the task of the function to which the variable contributes. We performed several empirical experiments to evaluate JSNeat on the dataset of more than 322K JS files with 1M functions, and 3.5M variables with 176K unique variable names. We found that JSNeat achieves a high accuracy of 69.1%, which is the relative improvements of 66.1% and 43% over two state-of-the-art approaches JSNice and JSNaughty, respectively. The time to recover for a file or a variable with JSNeat is twice as fast as with JSNice and 4x as fast as with JNaughty, respectively.