A combined theoretical and experimental study shows how weak attractive interactions of a neighboring group can strongly promote chain walking and chain transfer. This accounts for the previously observed very different microstructures obtained in ethylene polymerization by [κ2-N,O-{2,6-(3',5'-R2C6H3)2C6H3-N═C(H)-(3,5-X,Y-2-O-C6H2)}NiCH3(pyridine)], namely hyperbranched oligomers for remote substituents R = CH3 versus high-molecular-weight polyethylene for R = CF3. From a full mechanistic consideration, the alkyl olefin complex with the growing chain cis to the salicylaldiminato oxygen donor is identified as the key species. Alternative to ethylene chain growth by insertion in this species, decoordination of the monomer to form a cis β-agostic complex provides an entry into branching and chain-transfer pathways. This release of monomer is promoted and made competitive by a weak η2-coordination of the distal aryl rings to the metal center, operative only for the case of sufficiently electron-rich aryls. This concept for controlling chain walking is underlined by catalysts with other weakly coordinating furan and thiophene motifs, which afford highly branched oligomers with >120 branches per 1000 carbon atoms.


When successive monopolies transact through noncooperative linear pricing, the resulting double markup decreases their joint profits relative to vertical integration. However, if there are downstream rivals (which are not double marginalized), the same noncooperative interaction often inadvertently raises their joint profits. Profit effects depend on how the well-understood harm from misaligned interests compares to the value of the resulting strategic effect. When profitable, vertical noncooperation incidentally approximates strategic delegation a la Bonanno & Vickers (1988), but avoids its credibility problem, suggesting an inability to bargain may be indirectly beneficial. The "conjectural consistency" concept helps to explain the disparate profit effects, and to synthesize the literature on strategic delegation and vertical control. The optimal way to "distort" a downstream firm's behavior is always to make it behave as if it has a consistent conjecture, no matter the distortion mechanism. If upstream competitors do this in parallel, they induce a "consistent conjectures equilibrium" (CCE) -- or else a close analogue -- evincing a strong link between ordinary Nash games and the CCE.


Community engagement (CE) is a key focus of UK museum policy and practice, increasingly used as a strategy to democratise museums and position them as social agents. However, the practices of CE have not evolved far beyond what I call the 'contributory museum', which focuses on how communities can benefit the museum. In this thesis I propose the distributed museum as an alternative contribution to museological theory and practice, and call for a conceptual and practical reconfiguration that focuses on how museums can benefit communities.

This concept arises from a deep investigation of the politics of CE practice at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. The research takes a unique organisational perspective, focusing on museum professionals' perspectives to examine how CE is constructed and managed across the museum's different departments, and highlighting varying practices, competing meanings and discourses, and the operational and cultural barriers to this work. Using a novel collaborative-ethnographic methodology, the research examines how the museum's Outreach Team negotiates institutional barriers, and how their practices have evolved towards more collaborative ways of working with community organisations and localities.

Arising from this close examination of practice, the thesis finds evidence for the distributed museum in some elements of current Outreach practice, but it is yet to be realised across the whole museum institution. It suggests that two distinctive practices make the distributed museum: care and craft. These practices are analysed drawing on the geographies of care literatures, and actor-network and assemblages theories. Critically, this thesis presents a politics of practice that works from within the logics of the museum and therefore attends to the competing demands that are currently placed on museums. I argue that if CE is reconfigured in these ways – as a practice of care and as craft – then community engagement will enable a new basis for collaborative practice with communities. The thesis ends with implications for museum policy and practice, and further research.


This paper explores statistical simulation as a fast simulation technique for driving chip multiprocessor (CMP) design space exploration. The idea of statistical simulation is to measure a number of important program execution characteristics, generate a synthetic trace, and simulate that synthetic trace. The important benefit is that a synthetic trace is very small compared to real program traces. This paper advances statistical simulation by modeling shared resources, such as shared caches and off-chip bandwidth. This is done (i) by collecting cache set access probabilities and per-set LRU stack depth profiles, and (ii) by modeling a programpsilas time-varying execution behavior in the synthetic trace. The key benefit is that the statistical profile is independent of a given cache configuration and the amount of multiprocessing, which enables statistical simulation to model conflict behavior in shared caches when multiple programs are co-executing on a CMP. We demonstrate that statistical simulation is both accurate and fast with average IPC prediction errors of less than 5.5% and simulation speedups of 40X to 70X compared to the detailed simulation of 100M-instruction traces. This makes statistical simulation a viable tool for CMP design space exploration.


Background: In low-to-middle-income countries, repair of the left-to-right shunts congenital heart disease (CHD) are often done with existing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Long-term outcomes data of this condition in either low-to-middle or high-income countries are limited. We conducted a study to evaluate the outcomes of children with PAH related to left-to-right shunt CHD who underwent surgical or transcatheter repair. Methods: All cases of PAH related to left-to-right shunt CHD repairs from 2015–2018 were retrospectively reviewed with additional new patients who underwent repair within our study period (2019–2020). Cases with complex congenital heart disease and incomplete hemodynamic echocardiography or catheterization measurements were excluded. Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank test, Cox regression with Firth's correction and restricted mean survival time were used for survival analysis. Results: Of the 118 patients, 103 patients were enrolled and 15 patients were excluded due to complex congenital heart disease and missing hemodynamic measurements prior to repair. Overall, median age at intervention was 44 months, mPAP mean was 43.17 ± 16.05 mmHg and Pulmonary Vascular Resistance index (PVRi) mean was 2.84 ± 2.09 (WU.m2). Nine patients died after repair. The survival rate for patients with PAH-CHD at 1 day, 30 days and 1400 days (4 years) was 96.1%, 92.1%, and 91.0% respectively. Patients with persisting PAH after correction had –476.1 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: –714.4, –237,8) shorter survival over 4 years of follow up compared to patients with reversed PAH. PVRi was found to be the influencing covariate of the difference of restricted mean survival time between these groups. Conclusion: In low-to-middle income settings, with accurate PAH reversibility assessment prior to intervention, repair of left-to-right shunt CHD with existing PAH in children has a favourable outcome. Inferior survival is found in patients with persistence of PAH. PVRi at baseline predicts between-group survival difference.


The Covid-19 pandemic introduces new challenges and constraints for return to work business planning. We describe a space allocation problem that incorporates social distancing constraints while optimising the number of available safe workspaces in a return to work scenario. We propose and demonstrate a graph based approach that solves the optimisation problem via modelling as a bipartite graph of disconnected components over a graph of constraints. We compare results obtained with a constrained random walk and a linear programming approach.


We investigate the relationship between the kinematics (infinitesimal motion model) of a calibrated Stereo Rig and point and line image feature measurements seen at two time instances of the rig's motion (four images in all). In particular we are interested in the byproduct of this analysis providing a direct connection between the spatio-temporal derivatives of the images at two time instances and kinematics of the 3D motion of the Rig. We establish a fundamental result showing that 3 quadruples of point-line-line-line matches (i.e., point in the reference image and lines coincident with the corresponding points in the remaining three images) are sufficient for a unique linear solution for the kinematics of the rig. In other words, the projected instantaneous motion of "one and a half" 3D lines is sufficient for recovering the kinematics of the moving rig. In particular, spatio-temporal derivatives across 3 points are sufficient for a direct estimation of the rig's motion. Consequently, we describe a new direct estimation method for motion estimation and 3D reconstruction from stereo image sequences obtained by a stereo rig moving through a rigid world. Correspondences (optic flow) are not required as spatio-temporal derivative are used instead. One can then use the images from both pairs combined, to compute a dense depth map. Finally, since the basic equations are linear, we combine the contribution coming from all pixels in the image using a Least Squares approach.


A severe spinal cord involvement may rarely occur in patients with cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases; this complication is usually associated with overt liver failure and surgical or spontaneous porto-systemic shunt. Hepatic myelopathy (HM) is characterized by progressive weakness and spasticity of the lower extremities, while sensory and sphincter disturbances have rarely been described and are usually less important. The diagnosis is assigned in the appropriate clinical setting on clinical grounds after the exclusion of other clinical entities leading to spastic paraparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging is often unremarkable; however, also intracerebral corticospinal tract abnormalities have been reported recently. The study of motor evoked potentials may disclose central conduction abnormalities even before HM is clinically manifest. HM responds poorly to blood ammonia-lowering and other conservative medical therapy. Liver transplantation represents a potentially definitive treatment for HM in patients with decompensated cirrhosis of Child-Pugh B and C grades. Other surgical treatment options in HM include surgical ligation, shunt reduction, or occlusion by interventional procedures.


For applications in high frequency communications and radar, small-size microwave power modules (MPMs) are being developed which provide power at various levels. bandwidths and frequencies. They incorporate miniature traveling-wave tubes, TWTs. consisting of helical structures, with inherent mechanical limitations. Advanced electromagnetic computer codes make it possible to accurately model and explore the suitability of other novel structures for these and other applications. Using the threedimensional electromagnetic computer code MAFIA (solution of Maxwell's equations by the Finite-Integration-Algorithm)' , cold-test parameters of the conventional helix TWT used in the Northrop C-band MPM, and of a conceptually novel design, comprising a cylindrical waveguide of the same inner dimensions as the helix TWT, with a helical groove of the same pitch carved on the inside, were calculated. Experimental measurements of the dispersion characteristics of the Northrop TWT-structure were also carried out. Several advantages in favor of the helical-groove structure were found. The helical-groove structure exhibits a higher frequency bandwidth than the traditional helical structure for the same physical dimensions. It is also physically more robust, and is less susceptible to excessive spikes in current during switching operations. Its interaction impedance and efficiency compare favorably with those of the conventional structure. It needs no dielectric supports, though dielectric loading could be applied to shape the dispersion characteristics. Fabrication of the helical-groove structure would be less involved as the dimensions for the same frequency and bandwidth are larger than the helix structure.


Consider the joint power and admission control (JPAC) problem for a multiuser single-input single-output (SISO) interference channel. Most existing works on JPAC assume the perfect instantaneous channel state information (CSI). In this paper, we consider the JPAC problem with the imperfect CSI, i.e., we assume that only the channel distribution information (CDI) is available. We formulate the JPAC problem into a chance (probabilistic)-constrained program, where each link's SINR outage probability is enforced to be less than or equal to a specified tolerance. To circumvent the computational difficulty of the chance SINR constraints, we propose to use the sample (scenario) approximation scheme to convert them into finitely many simple linear constraints. Furthermore, we reformulate the sample approximation of the chance SINR-constrained JPAC problem as a composite group sparse minimization problem and then approximate it by a second-order cone program (SOCP). The solution of the SOCP approximation can be used to check the simultaneous supportability of all links in the network and to guide an iterative link removal procedure (the deflation approach). We exploit the special structure of the SOCP approximation and custom-design an efficient algorithm for solving it. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed sample approximation-based deflation approaches by simulations.


This e-book will introduce users to the RStudio framework for using and programming R, the widely used open source statistical computing environment. The RStudio framework, is an open source project that brings together many powerful coding tools into an intuitive interface. It runs under all major platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and through a web browser (using the server installation). This text should appeal to newer R users and students who want to explore the interface to get the most out of R and to older R users who want to use a more modern looking development environment. The book will serve as both a resource to look up specific features provided by RStudio and as an introduction to the following processes with R: data analysis, programming and report generation.


Mobile mixed-reality experiences mix physical and digital spaces, enabling participants to simultaneously inhabit a shared environment online and on the streets. These experiences take the form of games, educational applications and new forms of performance and art, and engender new opportunities for interaction, collaboration and play. As mobile mixed-reality experiences move out of the laboratory and into more public settings they raise new challenges concerning how to support these experiences in the wild.

This thesis argues that mobile mixed-reality experiences in which artists retain creative control over the content and operation of each experience, particularly those that are deployed as theatrical performances, require dedicated support for content authoring and reactive orchestration tools and paradigms in order to be successfully and robustly operated in public settings. These requirements are examined in detail, drawing on the experience of supporting four publicly toured mobile mixed-reality experiences; Can You See Me Now?, Uncle Roy All Around You, I Like Frank in Adelaide and Savannah, which have provided a platform to practically develop, refine and evaluate new solutions to answer these challenges in the face of presenting the experiences to many thousands of participants over a four year period.

This thesis presents two significant supporting frameworks. The ColourMaps system enables designers to author location-based content by directly colouring over maps; providing a simple, familiar and yet highly flexible approach to matching location-triggers to complex physical spaces. It provides support for multiple and specialised content layers, and the ability to configure and manage other aspects of an experience, including filtering inaccurate position data and underpinning orchestration tools. Second, the Orchestration framework supports the day-to-day operation of public experiences; providing dedicated control-room tools for monitoring that reveal the content landscape and historical events, intervention and improvisation techniques for steering and shaping each participant's experience as it unfolds both physically and virtually, and processes to manage a constant flow of participants.


We are proposing a comprehensive program to study transverse momentum dependence of valence quark transverse and longitudinal spin distributions through measurements of spin-azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive electroproduction of kaons using the upgraded JLab 11 GeV polarized electron beam and the CLAS12 detector with longitudinally polarized proton and deuteron targets. Main objectives include studies of correlations of the transverse spin of quarks with their transverse momentum, leading to observable spin and azimuthal asymmetries. The measurement of the sin 2φ azimuthal moment of the semi-inclusive production of hadrons in DIS with longitudinally polarized targets, in particular will provide direct information on spin-orbit correlations by measuring the leading twist transverse momentum dependent (TMD) parton distributions related to the interference between states with different orbital momenta. Measurements with kaons are complementary to measurements with pions and will provide additional information on the Collins fragmentation mechanism. The PT dependence of the double spin asymmetry will provide additional information on the flavor and polarization dependence of transverse momentum dependence of helicity distributions of quarks, providing complementary to SSA measurements access to spin-orbit correlations. The x, z, PT and Q 2 dependences of the sin 2φ and sinφ moments will be studied to probe the underlying T-odd distribution and fragmentation functions. The experiment will use the upgraded CLAS12 detector, 11 GeV highly polarized electron beam and longitudinally polarized solid ammonia targets (NH3 and ND3). Kaon identification in the complete kinematic range will be done by the proposed CLAS12-RICH proximity-focusing detector. The large acceptance of CLAS12 would allow simultaneous detection of the scattered electrons and leading hadrons from the hadronization of the struck quark, providing information on its flavor and transverse momentum. We request 30 days of running on NH3 and 50 days of running on ND3 (or possibly 6Li D or HD), including about 20% overhead for target anneals, polarization reversal, and auxiliary measurements. This measurement will simultaneously run with already approved measurements using pion electroproduction.


The aim of the present study was to extend the existing findings on environmental flow precursors by adopting the DIAMONDS taxonomy of psychologically meaningful situation characteristics as a comprehensive theoretical framework. It was hypothesized that an individual's perception of the flow-related situation, particularly the dimensions of duty, intellect and positivity, would represent a more powerful predictor of the intensity of flow as compared to his or her basic personality traits. The first sample consisted of 169 employees who had to focus on the most engaging work-related event they had experienced in the past three months. They rated the characteristics of that situation and estimated the intensity of their flow experience. The second sample consisted of 96 students who participated in a challenging group activity. After the activity, they filled-in the same questionnaires as the first sample. Participants from both samples also rated their basic personality traits. Despite differences in the settings and flow-related situations evaluated, the obtained findings were similar for the two samples studied. While the association between flow and personality was weak, the situation characteristics were more strongly related to flow. Although the two samples differed with respect to the mean levels of the flow-related situation characteristics, regression analyses yielded similar results, suggesting that the intensity of flow at work and in studying is most prominently determined by situation characteristics related to intellect and positivity. Stable personality characteristics, on the other hand, had low predictive power in explaining the intensity of flow.


Abstract A transmission electron microscope investigation was performed on a series of synthetic clinopyroxenes with compositions between Ca0.7Mg1.3Si2O6 and Ca0.5Mg1.5Si206. For samples with Ca content lower than 0.6 atoms per formula unit (apfu) selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns showed the presence of reflections violating the C2/c space group (b type, h+k odd), indicating a transition to the P21/c symmetry at room temperature. Antiphase domains induced by the transition could be imaged, with irregular boundaries and size decreasing with increasing Ca content. The antiphase domain size and shape appears unrelated to the non-periodic mottled texture that could be imaged in samples with Ca lower than about 0.65 apfu. A comparison with data reported in the literature suggests a different behavior in the cell parameters of the P21/c clinopyroxenes along the diopside-eustatite (Di-En) join. For compositions between Di60En40 to about Di40Eu60, cell parameters deviate little with respect to the trend shown by Ca-rich C2/c clinopyroxenes, whereas for compositions richer in Mg than about Di40En60, a significant deviation is present, which is marked by discontinuities in the c and β cell parameters.


Several months after the onset of the epidemic, COVID-19 remains a global health issue. Scientific data on pregnancy, perinatal outcomes and vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 are constantly emerging but are still limited and unclear. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize current evidence on vertical transmission rates, maternal, perinatal and neonatal outcomes and mode of delivery in pregnancies affected by COVID-19. An extensive search was conducted in PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, and Scopus databases up to June 20, 2020. A total of 133 articles (51 case reports, 31 case series, 40 cohort studies and 2 case-control studies) reporting data from 8,092 subjects (6,046 pregnant women and 2,046 neonates) were considered eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. A substantial proportion of pregnant women with COVID-19 underwent caesarean section (case reports 82.2%, case series 74.2% and cohort studies 66.0%). Regarding vertical transmission, most neonates were tested negative (case reports 92.7%, case series studies 84.2%, cohort studies 97.1% and case control studies 100%). Maternal mortality rates ranged from 1% in cohort studies to 5.7% in case reports; neonatal mortality ranged from 2% in case reports to 3.3% in case series. Vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from mother to child is rare. Careful screening of pregnant women seems important and specific guidelines with evidence-based decision algorithms for the mode of delivery in the context of a pregnancy affected by COVID-19 should be established.


This rapid review updates a previous report (Fraser and Martineau-Searle, 2018) with evidence from 2018 onwards. It finds an evidence base on online gender-based violence (OGBV) covering a wider range of countries than the previous report. Some key findings on the nature and prevalence of OGBV include: The most recent surveys show a prevalence of OGBV ranging from 16% to 58%; Men and boys also experience online abuse in high numbers, but it is less likely to be gender-based; Several studies from different countries identify Facebook as the top location for incidents of OGBV; Higher levels of online harassment and abuse are faced by people with intersecting inequality factors; According to victim-survivors, perpetrators are more likely to be unknown and acting alone, but large numbers are known to the victims. Perpetrators themselves report divergent, multifaceted and often over-lapping motivations for their actions; Analysis of underlying drivers of OGBV highlights an overarching theme of power and control, and heteronormative expectations around gender roles and sexual practice. Many authors recommend that OGBV be understood as part of a continuum of abuse where normalised behaviours, such as sexual harassment in public spaces, shade into behaviours widely recognized as criminal, such as physical assault. The societal impact of OGBV includes: Media freedom is compromised; Democracy being undermined; Economic losses resulting from lost productivity; A 'climate of unsafety' prevails. Evidence base: The number of surveys about self-reported experiences with online harassment has increased rapidly. The majority of the research found during the course of this rapid review came from international and domestic non-governmental organisations and think-tanks. Academic research studies were also found, including several literature reviews.


In recent years, Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLCs) are gradually accepted by people and used in different areas as storage devices. This paper studied the working mechanism of EDLC and discussed two kinds of models of EDLC. Based on the advantages of EDLC, this paper proposed EDLC-battery combine storage system in stand-alone photovoltaic system and designed Energy Control System (ECS). Test results show that the hybrid storage system can collect more energy generated by solar panels, enhance the power output ability of energy storage system and extend battery's life.


This paper presents some results that may be used as previous considerations to a hydrogen peroxide electrogeneration process design. A kinetic study of oxygen dissolution in aqueous solution is carried out and rate constants for oxygen dissolution are calculated. Voltammetric experiments on vitreous carbon cathode shown that the low saturation concentration drives the oxygen reduction process to a mass transfer controlled process which exhibits low values of limiting currents. Results have shown that the hydrogen peroxide formation and its decomposition to water are separated by 400 mV on the vitreous carbon surface. Diffusion coefficients for oxygen and hydrogen peroxide are calculated using data taken from Levich and Tafel plots. In a series of bulk electrolysis experiments hydrogen peroxide was electrogenerated at several potential values, and concentration profiles as a function of the electrical charged passed were obtained. Data shown that, since limiting current plateaus are poorly defined onto reticulated vitreous carbon, cathodic efficiency may be a good criterion for choosing the potential value in which hydrogen peroxide electrogeneration should be carried out.


Abstract This work presents a study of the effects of multi-Higgs doublets on the properties of neutrino sector and heavy quark systems. The phenomenological implications of multi-Higgs models, which contain multi-Higgs doublets, in the neutrino and quark sector are discussed in this dissertation. The two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), in which two Higgs doublets are introduced, is the simplest extension to the scalar sector of the standard model (SM). A new boson state was recently seen in the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) and ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). We investigate the multi-Higgs models contributions in understanding various phenomena in the neutrino sector. Introducing a model to explain the neutrino oscillation phenomenon within the framework of multi-Higgs doublets is considered. We introduce different flavor symmetries in the lepton sector and study the phenomenological consequences in both the scalar and lepton sectors. The leptonic mixing in the symmetric limit can be, among other structures, the bi-maximal (BM) or the tri-bimaximal (TBM) mixing. We find that a mixing model with 2-3 flavor symmetry can explain the nonzero θ13 measurements. In our study, neutrino masses were proposed where its smallness is not due to the seesaw mechanism, i.e. not inversely proportional to some large mass scale. It comes from a one-loop mechanism with dark matter in the loop consisting of singlet Majorana fermions within a model with A4 flavor symmetry. A relevant point of interest in the neutrino sector is the study of the nonstandered interactions and its implications to neutrino oscillation. Here, we introduce the nonstandard interaction effects at the detectors of neutrino oscillation experiments and the impact of iiThis work presents a study of the effects of multi-Higgs doublets on the properties of neutrino sector and heavy quark systems. The phenomenological implications of multi-Higgs models, which contain multi-Higgs doublets, in the neutrino and quark sector are discussed in this dissertation. The two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), in which two Higgs doublets are introduced, is the simplest extension to the scalar sector of the standard model (SM). A new boson state was recently seen in the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) and ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). We investigate the multi-Higgs models contributions in understanding various phenomena in the neutrino sector. Introducing a model to explain the neutrino oscillation phenomenon within the framework of multi-Higgs doublets is considered. We introduce different flavor symmetries in the lepton sector and study the phenomenological consequences in both the scalar and lepton sectors. The leptonic mixing in the symmetric limit can be, among other structures, the bi-maximal (BM) or the tri-bimaximal (TBM) mixing. We find that a mixing model with 2-3 flavor symmetry can explain the nonzero θ13 measurements. In our study, neutrino masses were proposed where its smallness is not due to the seesaw mechanism, i.e. not inversely proportional to some large mass scale. It comes from a one-loop mechanism with dark matter in the loop consisting of singlet Majorana fermions within a model with A4 flavor symmetry. A relevant point of interest in the neutrino sector is the study of the nonstandered interactions and its implications to neutrino oscillation. Here, we introduce the nonstandard interaction effects at the detectors of neutrino oscillation experiments and the impact of ii Abstract extracting the neutrino mixing angles is studied. The extractions of the atmospheric mixing angle θ23 rely on the standard model cross sections for ντ +N → τ− +X in ντ appearance experiments. Corrections to the cross sections from the charged Higgs and W ′ contributions modify the measured mixing angle. We include form factor effects in the new physics calculations and find the deviations of the mixing angle. The quark sector has enriched our knowledge of particle physics. Lots of new theories and discovering new attributes of particles have been done in the quark sector. Therefore, we study the decay channel of the quarkonium ηb → τ+τ− to search for the existance of an additional Higgs field or a new gauge boson. We estimate the standard model branching ratio for this decay to be ∼ 4× 10−9. We show that considerably larger branching ratios, up to the present experimental limit of ∼ 8%, is possible in models with a light pseudoscalar or a light axial vector state. Also, in this dissertation we study the forward-backward asymmetry AFB in the top quark pair production in the tt rest frame. In this work we seek for a new gauge boson to accommodating the CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) measurement of the AFB, which has a deviation from the next-to leading order (NLO) SM prediction. A u → t transition via a flavor-changing Z ′ can explain the data. We consider the most general form of the tuZ ′ interaction, which includes vector-axial vector as well as tensor type couplings, and study how these couplings affect the top forward-backward asymmetry.extracting the neutrino mixing angles is studied. The extractions of the atmospheric mixing angle θ23 rely on the standard model cross sections for ντ +N → τ− +X in ντ appearance experiments. Corrections to the cross sections from the charged Higgs and W ′ contributions modify the measured mixing angle. We include form factor effects in the new physics calculations and find the deviations of the mixing angle. The quark sector has enriched our knowledge of particle physics. Lots of new theories and discovering new attributes of particles have been done in the quark sector. Therefore, we study the decay channel of the quarkonium ηb → τ+τ− to search for the existance of an additional Higgs field or a new gauge boson. We estimate the standard model branching ratio for this decay to be ∼ 4× 10−9. We show that considerably larger branching ratios, up to the present experimental limit of ∼ 8%, is possible in models with a light pseudoscalar or a light axial vector state. Also, in this dissertation we study the forward-backward asymmetry AFB in the top quark pair production in the tt rest frame. In this work we seek for a new gauge boson to accommodating the CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) measurement of the AFB, which has a deviation from the next-to leading order (NLO) SM prediction. A u → t transition via a flavor-changing Z ′ can explain the data. We consider the most general form of the tuZ ′ interaction, which includes vector-axial vector as well as tensor type couplings, and study how these couplings affect the top forward-backward asymmetry.


Objectives: To study the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis (OP) among residents of the Kyrgyz
Republic in 3 different age categories (18-39 years, 40-59 years, and 60-79 years), Give a comparative
assessment of the prevalence of osteopenia and OP depending on gender and Based on the results, make
proposals for the identification and diagnosis of osteopenia and OP in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Materials and Methods: An Ultrasound bone densitometry (USBD) studied the Bone mineral density
(BMD) in a total of 1200 people with 691 women and 509 men of 3 different age categories (18-39 years,
40-59 years, 60-79 years).
Results: In the first group from 18-39 years, normal values found in 55.6% of people, osteopenia in 38.9%
of people and OP in 5.5% of people. In the second group, from 40-59 years old, normal values found in
30.9% people, osteopenia in 60.2% people and OP in 8.9% people. Moreover, in the third group, from 60-
79 years, normal values were found in 9.5%, osteopenia is seen in 50.2% and OP in 40.3% of older people.
Conclusion: Osteopenia and OP are quite common not only in the older age but even affect people of a
younger age. The frequency of detection of osteopenia and OP is the highest recorded in older age groups.
Women mostly exposed to OP that has pronounced degrees of BMD affection.


BACKGROUND
Pre-existing cognitive impairment (CI) is emerging as a predictor of poor post-operative outcomes in elderly patients. Little is known about impaired preoperative cognition and outcomes after elective spine surgery in this patient population. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of neuro CI in elderly patients undergoing deformity surgery and its impact on postoperative outcomes.

METHODS
Elderly subjects undergoing elective spinal surgery for correction of adult degenerative scoliosis were enrolled in this study. Pre-operative baseline cognition was assessed using the Saint Louis Mental Status (SLUMS) test. SLUMS consists of 11 questions, which can give a maximum of 30 points. Mild CI was defined as a SLUMS score between 21-26 points, while severe CI was defined as a SLUMS score of ≤20 points. Normal cognition was defined as a SLUMS score of ≥27 points. Complication rates, duration of hospital stay, and 30-day readmission rates were compared between patients with and without baseline CI.

RESULTS
Eighty-two subjects were included in this study, with mean age of 73.26±6.08 years. Fifty-seven patients (70%) had impaired cognition at baseline. The impaired cognition group had the following outcomes: increased incidence of one or more postoperative complications (39% vs. 20%), higher incidence of delirium (20% vs. 8%), and higher rate of discharge institutionalization at skilled nursing or acute rehab facilities (54% vs. 30%). The length of hospital stay and 30-day hospital readmission rates were similar between both cohorts (5.33 vs. 5.48 days and 12.28% vs. 12%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
CI is highly prevalent in elderly patients undergoing surgery for adult degenerative scoliosis. Impaired cognition before surgery was associated with higher rates of post-operative delirium, complications, and discharge institutionalization. CI assessments should be considered in the pre-operative evaluations of elderly patients prior to surgery.


Pot experiment was performed to investigate the effects of increasing NH4NO3 doses with or without Microbion UNC bacterial fertilizer application on dry matter production of ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Experiment was set up on calcareous chernozem soil of DebrecenLátókép and on humus sandy soil of Őrbottyán. The bi-factorial trials were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Grass was cut three times. Dry matter production was determined and the sum of biomass of cuts was calculated as cumulated dry weights. Analysis of variance was carried out on the data in order to provide a statistical comparison between the treatment means. The least significant difference (LSD5%) test was used to detect differences between means. On the basis of our results it can be concluded, that the dry weights of ryegrass cultivated on chernozem soil were higher than on sandy soil. With increasing nitrogen supply the dry matter production of grass significantly increased in both types of soils. In case of sandy soil the increasing effect was more expressed, but dry weights of this soil never reached the appropriate values of chernozem soil. Application of Microbion UNC had positive effect on dry matter production of ryegrass grown on both two types of soils but the effect was more expressed on chernozem soil. Finally it can be concluded that the increasing effect of NH4NO3 on biomass weights was more expressed in both types of soils, the biofertilizer application also increased the dry weights of plant in a small degree.


The intention of this paper is to examine the range of interdependent processes that influence the decisions of Irish footballers to migrate from teams based in the League of Ireland to English Premier League and Football League clubs. Using data derived from a series of qualitative interviews conducted with a group of Irish players that had relocated to English clubs at different points over a 20-year period, the analysis reveals that the players' decisions to migrate are predicated upon the interdependency of a number of processes that push the migrants from Ireland and pull them to England. The paper shows how these processes are reflected in a series of migrations where the players are not simply passive social agents but, rather, dynamic interlocutors whose decisions must be framed within the local contexts between which their movements are situated.


Female mallard ducks ( Anas platyrhynchos ) exhibit diverse vocalizations. Duck
hunters mimic these vocalizations using artificial calls made from hardwoods or plastics.
Hardness of these calls and extent to which humans can mimic live mallards using an
artificial call were unknown before this study. I compared hardness of 7 species of
hardwoods and cast acrylic and found acrylic, cocobolo ( Dalbergia retusa ), bocote
( Cordia alliodora ), osage orange ( Maclura pomifera ), and pecan ( Carya sp.) were the
hardest materials tested. I also compared acoustic metrics of field recordings of
vocalizing female mallards to those of experienced duck callers using calls of these
materials equipped with single or double reeds. I found that cocobolo, osage orange,
pecan, acrylic, and bocote calls with double reeds were acoustically most similar to
female mallards. I recommend that duck call manufacturers use acrylics and harder wood
species with single or double reeds, recognizing that double reed calls generally
performed superior in this study.


Roses are important plants for human beings with important economical and biological traits like continuous flowering, flower architecture, color and scent, that current model plants do not feature, thus are becoming ideal models for studying these traits. Due to high heterozygosity of rose genomes likely caused by frequent inter-species hybridization, a high-quality and well-annotated genome for Rosa plants is not available yet. Developing genetic and genomic tools with high quality has become necessary for further roses breeding and for disentangling the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying roses domestication. We here generated the high quality and comprehensive reference transcriptomes for Rosa chinensis 'Old Blush' (OB) and R. wichuriana 'Basyes' Thornless' (BT), two roses contrasting at several important traits. These reference transcriptomes showed transcripts N50 above 2000bp. The two species shared about 23310 transcripts (N50 = 2364bp), among which about 8975 orthologs were conserved within genera of Rosa. Rosa plants shared about 5049 transcripts (Rosaceae-common) with these from Malus, Prunus, Rubus, and Fragaria. Finally, a pool of 417 transcripts unique to Rosa plants (Rosa-specific) was identified. These Rosaceae-common and Rosa-specific transcripts should facilitate the phylogenetic analysis of Rosaceae plants and investigation of Rosa-specific traits. The data reported here should provide the fundamental genomic tools and knowledge critical for understanding the biology and domestication of roses.


Biometric security measures are becoming a popular approach to securing computer systems, computer networks, as well as access to workplaces and recreational facilities. Unfortunately biometric systems can be a target of impersonation attacks, making their security questionable. In this paper we concentrate on ways of spoofing behavioral biometrics and analyze the types of spoofing attacks which can be employed against biometric systems. The concept of strategy-based behavioral biometrics is introduced followed by our experimental results from spoofing security systems based on strategy-based biometric technology. Finally an existing methodology is suggested to counteract spoofing attacks against behavior-based biometric systems.


Background A negative association between injuries and team success has been demonstrated in professional football, but the nature of this association in elite Rugby Union teams is currently unclear. Aim To assess the association between injury burden measures and team success outcomes within professional Rugby Union teams. Methods A seven-season prospective cohort design was used to record all time-loss injuries incurred by English Premiership players. Associations between team success measures (league points tally and Eurorugby Club Ranking (ECR)) and injury measures (injury burden and injury days per team-match) were modelled, both within (changes from season to season) and between (differences averaged over all seasons) teams. Thresholds for the smallest worthwhile change in league points tally and ECR were 3 points and 2.6%, respectively. Results Data from a total of 1462 players within 15 Premiership teams were included in the analysis. We found clear negative associations between injury measures and team success (70-100% likelihood), with the exception of between-team differences for injury days per team-match and ECR, which was unclear. A reduction in injury burden of 42 days (90% CI 30 to 70) per 1000 player hours (22% of mean injury burden) was associated with the smallest worthwhile change in league points tally. Conclusions Clear negative associations were found between injury measures and team success, and moderate reductions in injury burden may have worthwhile effects on competition outcomes for professional Rugby Union teams. These findings may be useful when communicating the value of injury prevention initiatives within this elite sport setting.


Trichoderma koningii G-39 produced xylanases in submerged culture using oat spelt xylan or crystalline cellulose, Avicel, as the sole carbon source. A low-Mr xylanase was purified from the culture filtrate by ion-exchange chromatography on SP-Trisacryl-M and gel filtration on Fractogel TSK HW-50F. It was homogeneous on SDS/PAGE and isoelectric focusing. A typical procedure provided about 11-fold purification with 4.5% protein yield and 50% activity recovery. The purified enzyme has an Mr value of about 21,500 and a pI of 8.9. Its specific activity was 6100 units/mg of protein, with optimal activity towards 0.5% xylan at about pH 5.5 and 60 degrees C. The purified enzyme had no activity against CM-cellulose with a degree of substitution of 0.63. It also showed no beta-xylosidase activity. The Km and Vmax. values, as determined with the soluble fraction of oat spelt xylan as substrate, were 0.70 mg/ml and 1.85 x 10(6) mumol/min per mg of enzyme respectively. Hg2+ (1 mM) and SDS (10 mM) completely inhibited xylanase activity, whereas Ca2+ showed no significant effect on the enzyme activity at 1 mM, but gave 80% inhibition at 10 mM. The enzyme contained about 4.4% carbohydrate and showed an immunological relationship to a cellobiohydrolase from the same fungal strain.


A 72-year-old female bladder cancer patient presented with a history of ileal conduit urinary diversion; a urethral balloon catheter was inserted to control her urinary tract stoma. The patient, who reported a foul odor emanating from her urine for several days, visited our hospital as an outpatient when her urine bag developed a purple hue, although there was no change to the color of her urine. The patient's body temperature was 36.8°C, her blood pressure was 124/68 mmHg, pulse rate was 74 beats per minute (regular), and respiratory rate was 18 breaths per minute. Urinalysis revealed white blood cells, urine nitrite, and gram-negative rod bacilli in her urine. Although voided urine color was normal, urine in the bag had developed a purple hue; therefore, purple urine bag syndrome was diagnosed due to a urinary tract infection (Fig. 1). Urine color improved after treatment with oral cefaclor. Escherichia coli was also detected in the urine culture. Purple urine bag syndrome, a clinical condition during which the bag develops a purple hue, is triggered by constipation or urinary tract infection during urethral catheter use and can occur even after urinary diversion. Tryptophan (an essential amino acid) is absorbed from the intestinal tract following degradation by intestinal bacteria, and is then excreted in the urine after being conjugated with sulfate in the liver. Tryptophan is also modified by the sulfatases or phos phatases produced by urine bacteria, resulting in an indigo (blue) or indirubin (red) hue. Tryptophan produces an indigo, purple, or red color according to the specific ratio of each pigment. Because these pigments are insoluble, urine bag coloration occurs when they adhere to the inside of the bag.


AbstractA new synthesis method was developed to prepare an aluminum-based metal organic framework (MIL-96) with a larger particle size and different crystal habits. A low cost and water-soluble polymer, hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), was added in varying quantities into the synthesis reaction to achieve >200% particle size enlargement with controlled crystal morphology. The modified adsorbent, MIL-96-RHPAM2, was systematically characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR, BET and TGA-MS. Using activated carbon (AC) as a reference adsorbent, the effectiveness of MIL-96-RHPAM2 for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) removal from water was examined. The study confirms stable morphology of hydrated MIL-96-RHPAM2 particles as well as a superior PFOA adsorption capacity (340 mg/g) despite its lower surface area, relative to standard MIL-96. MIL-96-RHPAM2 suffers from slow adsorption kinetics as the modification significantly blocks pore access. The strong adsorption of PFOA by MIL-96-RHPAM2 was associated with the formation of electrostatic bonds between the anionic carboxylate of PFOA and the amine functionality present in the HPAM backbone. Thus, the strongly held PFOA molecules in the pores of MIL-96-RHPAM2 were not easily desorbed even after eluted with a high ionic strength solvent (500 mM NaCl). Nevertheless, this simple HPAM addition strategy can still chart promising pathways to impart judicious control over adsorbent particle size and crystal shapes while the introduction of amine functionality onto the surface chemistry is simultaneously useful for enhanced PFOA removal from contaminated aqueous systems.


PurposeDue to the lack of relevant literatures on the application of mobile augmented reality (AR) service in beauty industry, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the mobile AR service on consumers' purchase behavior and brand awareness in beauty industry. And this study also wants to identify the different effects of the relationship among flow experience (concentration, playfulness and exploratory behavior), decision comfort and purchase intention moderated by different levels of consumer characteristics (individualism and fashion innovativeness).Design/methodology/approachThis study set up a research model based on SOR model. The study used AR mobile app named "Youcam Makeup" as stimulus to do the questionnaire survey. First, the authors describe the way to use this AR mobile app and make sure each participant experience this app for about 5 min to understand AR well and finally, finished the questionnaire. SPSS and AMOS were used to do data analysis.FindingsThe results of this study showed that first, in the field of fashion and beauty makeup, compared with the ability to control or modify virtual contents – the perception of vividness, reality and aesthetics – are more relevant to consumers. Second, besides the playfulness that AR provides, AR technology can also encourage exploratory behavior in consumers, which will directly affect their intention to purchase. Finally, when using mobile AR technology, consumers with different levels of individualism or fashion innovativeness will gain different perceptions of their purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the study targets millennial female consumers. The future studies can be conducted on consumers of different age groups. Second, the sampling of this study is insufficient; if it had more samples, the results would be more accurate. Finally, AR is integrated into people's lives; therefore, to not be limited to millennial consumers, demographic characteristics need to be applied to future research.Practical implicationsThis study provides a theoretical basis for marketers to formulate marketing strategies. First of all, marketers can use this technology to provide consumers with a more vivid and specific online shopping experience. Second, technical developers can focus on developing the features of AR with the strongest consumer perception based on the results of this study. Finally, this study researched consumer traits that can deepen understanding of both emerging technologies and consumer behavior as compared to research only on mobile AR services. Marketers need to understand the characteristics of consumers when making marketing plans and expand the characteristics of AR technology corresponding to the characteristics of consumers to attract consumers with different attributes.Social implicationsBy using interactive technology, the brand can be closer to consumers and provide help and fun for consumers when they consume online. AR can also lead to future tool reuse behavior, thus establishing long-term relationships with consumers. More than that, AR can be used with the mobile phone, which can be used anytime and anywhere, eliminating space and time constraints. Therefore, the brand can establish cheap and extensive technology as a marketing strategy. Also, it can become one of the most common marketing tools.Originality/valueThis research fills the gap in the literature on mobile AR technology in the beauty industry. Such knowledge will not only facilitate the online development of brands but also help support retailers' development in the beauty industry, providing necessary capabilities for the expansion and application of this new technology. With regard to marketing strategies, the study on consumer characteristic provides the knowledge foundation for marketers to create marketing strategies, which is easier for them to formulate marketing schemes favorable to the brand for varying consumers.


Objective: This study compared surgical outcome and quality of life of patients who had extraction of impacted mandibular third molars using standard technique and a less invasive approach. Methods: All consecutive patients who had their symptomatic impacted mandibular third molar extracted via the transalveolar or a less invasive technique, at the Oral Surgery Clinic of our institution, were prospectively studied over a 3-year period. Oral quality of life score was assessed using the United Kingdom Oral Health Related Quality of Life (UK-OHQoL) questionnaire.Results: The demographic data, indications for extractions, as well as preoperative QoL scores in both the experimental and study groups were comparable. All the teeth were of the mesioangular impaction type. The duration of extractions was significantly (P=0.001) longer in the transalveolar (29.2 ± 2.13) than the routine extraction group (16.6 ± 2.44). Of the three fractured teeth in the flapless technique, only one of them required raising of a mucoperiosteal flap and a transalveolar approach to extract the apical remnant, giving a success rate of 96.7% for the less invasive treatment approach for extraction of impacted mandibular third molar. The mean Oral health quality of life scores were significantly higher for patients in the routine extraction group compared to those in transalveolar group up to first 3days after surgery (P<0.001). At days 7 and 14 there no differences between the mean domain scores in both study populations. Conclusion: Routine extraction of mesioangular impacted mandibular third molar is possible for selected cases. This will avoid the potential morbidities associated with surgical extractions of impacted third molars, and thus giving better QoL in patients undergoing third molar surgery.


The Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS) is one of few instruments able to measure the size and mass spectra of individual airborne particles with high temporal resolution. Data analysis is challenging and in the present study, we apply three different techniques (PMF. ART-2a and K-means) to a regional ATOFMS dataset collected at Harwell, UK. For the first time, Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) was directly applied to single particle mass spectra as opposed to clusters already generated by the other methods. The analysis was performed on a total of 56,898 single particle mass spectra allowing the extraction of 10 factors, their temporal trends and size distributions, named CNO-COOH (cyanide, oxidized organic nitrogen and carboxylic acids), SUL (sulphate), NH4-OOA (ammonium and oxidized organic aerosol), NaCl, EC+ (elemental carbon positive fragments), OC-Arom (aromatic organic carbon), EC- (elemental carbon negative fragments), K (potassium), NIT (nitrate) and OC-CHNO (organic nitrogen). The 10 factor solution from single particle PMF analysis explained 45% of variance of the total dataset, but the factors are well defined from a chemical point of view. Different EC and OC components were separated: fresh EC (factor EC) from aged EC (factor EC+) and different organic families (factors NH4-OOA, OC-Arom, OC CHNO and CNO-COOH). A comparison was conducted between PMF, K-means cluster analysis and the ART-2a artificial neural network. K-means and ART-2a give broadly overlapping results (with 9 clusters, each describing the full composition of a particle type), while PMF, by effecting spectral deconvolution, was able to extract and separate the different chemical species contributing to particles, but loses some information on internal mixing. Relationships were also examined between the estimated volumes of ATOFMS PMF factors and species concentrations measured independently by GRAEGOR and AMS instruments, showing generally moderate to strong correlations. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the therapeutic benefit of postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (PCRPLND) in patients with persistently elevated serum tumor markers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
One hundred fourteen patients with metastatic germ cell cancer with elevated serum tumor markers after first-line (50 patients) or second-line chemotherapy (64 patients) who underwent PCRPLND between 1977 and 2000 with a minimum follow-up of 2-years were included in this retrospective study.

RESULTS
The 5-year overall survival was 53.9%. Sixty-one patients (53.5%) are alive with a medium follow-up of 72 months. Fifty-three patients died of disease, with a medium time to death of 8.0 months. Mean preoperative serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (betaHCG) levels were 483 ng/mL and 555 mU/mL, respectively, with no difference in 5-year survival (P = .2). Retroperitoneal pathology revealed germ cell cancer in 53.5% of patients, teratoma in 34.2% of patients, and fibrosis in 12.2% of patients, with 5-year survival rates of 31.4%, 77.5%, and 85.7%, respectively (P < .0001). Predictors of retroperitoneal pathology included an increasing serum AFP or betaHCG, betaHCG more than 100 ng/mL, redo retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND), and second-line chemotherapy. Poor prognostic variables by multivariable analysis included betaHCG status, serum AFP level, redo RPLND, and germ cell cancer in the resected specimen.

CONCLUSION
A subset of patients with elevated serum tumor markers after chemotherapy is curable with surgery. The prognostic factors predictive of outcome in this analysis include an increasing betaHCG, serum AFP level, redo RPLND, and germ cell cancer in the resected specimen. These factors, along with clinical and surgical experience, should aid in determining the appropriate integration of surgery and chemotherapy in this population.


Menopause and the years leading to the menopausal transition are associated with significant decline in sex steroid levels. In contrast to the abrupt decline in estrogens at the time of menopause, a fall in the circulating testosterone and the adrenal preandrogens most closely parallel increasing age. Their accelerated decrease occurs in the years preceding menopause. It is now recognized that the decline in androgens plays a significant role in affecting perimenopausal and menopausal symptomatology and quality of life. Loss of circulating levels of androgens affects libido, vasomotor symptoms, mood and well-being, bone structure, muscle mass. Also, it influences cardiovascular profile. In the menopausal female (in whom these symptoms are clearly linked to low levels of bioavailable testosterone levels), hormone replacement therapy may be of benefit. Recently, interest is increasing in the use of androgen replacement not only for women who have undergone premature or surgical menopause but also for those who experience natural menopause and premenopausal loss of libido from diminished free testosterone.


The performance of 463 decentralised PV systems with a total installed peak power of 1.2 MWp, has been evaluated for a period of five years (2001-2006). The systems are situated in the urban area Nieuwland in the town of Amersfoort in the Netherlands and are part of one of the largest decentralised PV projects in the world. The evaluated systems are situated in eight sections and are characterized by different architectural designs, tilt and azimuth angles. In six of the sections the majority of the systems perform well. Data indicate that in those cases there is no substantial lowering of the performance during 5 years. However, several individual systems in those sectors do not perform well. Often defects in the PV system or changes in the roof construction are the cause. For example, string errors are not recognized as such and as a consequence not repaired. In two other sections the performance of the systems is insufficient, but no clear explanation could be found.


Military members, veterans, and their families belong to a unique American subculture. Studies have identified the need for mental health professionals to attain military cultural competency to practice more effectively within this subculture. As an 88-year-old counseling and training agency with a record of service to the military/veteran communities, it was appropriate that Council for Relationships commit to providing training in military culture for its therapists and students. From 2017 to 2019, the course highlighted in this paper was part of an approved Institutional Review Board (IRB) study intended to assess the success of graduate-level instructional activities focused on promoting participants' military and veteran-related cultural competency. This article includes an evaluation of the 2013–14 four-day training on military culture that preceded the course. In both, the unique cultural factors associated with military and veteran service were addressed within the context of evidence-based behavioral health treatment. A survey of the four-day participant training and qualitative interview follow-ups revealed that information about the military and its impact on veterans and families promoted changes in attitudes, knowledge, and clinical practice for both experienced and newly trained clinicians. These findings were replicated in the three-year evaluation results. This assessment provides valuable insight about military culture training for practicing and future mental health clinicians. Since there is very little information available in the literature on successful military culture competency training, sharing these results with the broader military and academic communities will give others information on the important components of effective training programs for clinicians, thus, potentially improving therapeutic services to these populations.


We use Grounded Theory to study the evolution of requirements practices of 16 software startups as they grow and introduce new products and services. These startups operate in a dynamic environment, with significant time and market pressure, and rarely have time for systematic requirements analysis. Our theory describes the evolution of practice along six dimensions that emerged as relevant to their requirements activities: requirements artefacts, knowledge management, requirements-related roles, planning, technical debt and product quality. Beyond the relationships among the dimensions, our theory also explains the turning points that drove the evolution along these dimensions. These changes are reactive, rather than planned, suggesting an overall pragmatic lightness, i.e., flexibility, in the startups' evolution towards engineering practices for requirements. Our theory organises knowledge about evolving requirements practice in maturing startups, and provides practical insights for startups' assessing their own evolution as they face challenges to their growth. Our research also suggests that a startup's evolution along the six dimensions is not fundamental to its success, but has significant effects on their product, their employees and the company.


Scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) is a dopant profile extraction tool with nanometer spatial resolution. While it is based on the high-frequency MOS capacitor theory, there are crucial second-order effects which make the extraction of dopant profile from SCM data a challenging task. Due to the small size of the SCM probe, the trapped charges in the interface traps at the oxide-silicon dioxide interface surrounding the probe significantly affect the measured SCM data through the fringing electric field created by the trapped charges. In this paper, we present numerical simulation results to investigate the nature of SCM dC/dV data in the presence of interface traps. The simulation takes into consideration the traps' response to the ac signal used to measure dC/dV as well as the fringing field of the trapped charge surrounding the probe tip. In this paper, we present an error estimation of experimental SCM dopant concentration extraction when the interface traps and fringing field are ignored. The trap distribution in a typical SCM sample is also investigated.


OBJECTIVES
The intraaortic balloon pump (IABP) is currently an essential tool to improve hemodynamics in patients with advanced heart failure (HF). This study investigated predictors for hemodynamic improvement or stabilization with IABP therapy in patients with advanced HF.

METHODS
Patients with advanced HF and hemodynamic deterioration treated with IABP were enrolled in this retrospective study. Invasive hemodynamics were measured before IABP implantation and 2 weeks after IABP initiation. Significant degree of hemodynamic improvement was defined as 30% improvement in all three of the following variables: central venous pressure (CVP); pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP); and cardiac index (CI). Hemodynamic stabilization was counted in patients reaching CVP <12 mm Hg, PCWP <18 mm Hg, and CI >2.0 L/min/m² or CI >2.2 L/min/m² on inotropes.

RESULTS
Ninety-one patients (55 ± 12 years; 78% males) were evaluated. Seventeen patients (18.7%) achieved significant hemodynamic improvement, and baseline CVP >16 mm Hg was associated with this endpoint (P<.05). Thirty-two patients (35.2%) achieved hemodynamic stabilization; lower baseline heart rate (HR) and PCWP were associated with this stabilization (P<.05). Patients with HR <92 beats/min and PCWP <25 mm Hg achieved hemodynamic stabilization more frequently than those without HR <92 beats/min and PCWP <25 mm Hg (66.7% vs 19.7%; P<.05).

CONCLUSION
Elevated CVP and lower HR and PCWP before IABP initiation help predict high response to IABP.


Abstract High performance computational platforms are required by industries that make use of automatic methods to manage modern machines, which are mostly controlled by high-performance specific hardware with processing capabilities. It usually works together with CPUs, forming a powerful execution platform. On an industrial production line, distinct tasks can be assigned to be processed by different machines depending on certain conditions and production parameters. However, these conditions can change at run-time influenced mainly by machine failure and maintenance, priorities changes, and possible new better task distribution. Therefore, self-adaptive computing is a potential paradigm as it can provide flexibility to explore the machine resources and improve performance on different execution scenarios of the production line. One approach is to explore scheduling and run-time task migration among machines' hardware towards a balancing of tasks, aiming performance and production gain. This way, the monitoring of time requirements and its crosscutting behaviour play an important role for task (re)allocation decisions. This paper introduces the use of software aspect-oriented paradigms to perform machines' monitoring and a self-rescheduling strategy of tasks to address non-functional timing constraints. As case study, tasks for a production line of aluminium ingots are designed.


People who live in food-insecure households face significant unmet health needs. At the same time, this population may be under-represented in clinical research studies because of the population's limited and intermittent engagement with the health care system. We describe preliminary results of a research partnership between UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and Crossroads Community Services (CCS), the largest charitable food distributor of the North Texas Food Bank. The goal of the study is to improve understanding of this population's health- and mammography-related needs, knowledge and service utilization. Eight structured focus groups were conducted in English (n = 4) and Spanish (n = 4) at CCS. Discussions focused on 13 open-ended questions designed to solicit group communication about members' health status, healthcare access, mammography awareness and utilization, and attitudes toward participation in future health research. Participants included 42 CCS clients, about 90% of whom were Hispanic or African-American women. Key findings include: (1) Participants reported multiple co-morbid conditions among themselves and household members, yet utilization of health services was cost-dependent and often limited to emergency triage. (2) Many participants did not know what a mammogram was and utilization was closely linked to having health insurance, which most did not. (3) Despite reporting numerous daily life challenges, the majority were interested in participating in future research-related focus groups as a means of communicating their health needs and obtaining information and emotional support from peers. Recruitment from charitable food distribution sites will target a high-need, underserved population. The community-academic partnership between CCS and UTSW has created a robust foundation for cancer prevention research that has already produced important insights about the population's needs and willingness to participate in research. Ongoing research is focused on implementing longitudinal health assessments of CCS clients. These data will be used to guide future interventions to increase awareness and utilization of cancer prevention services, e.g. mammography, in a population facing multiple barriers to care.


The contribution by Tracy Stark in the November 2013 TLE is one of the few papers directly addressing the theme of that issue's special section, broadband seismology. How can current seismic imaging access the broadest range of frequencies possible to attain the highest possible resolution (HPR)? In fact, as Stark astutely observes, both Dan Wisecup and I do precisely this, but in different ways and addressing different seismic images. My objective here is to highlight the distinctions between these methods. There is no effort on my part to diminish in any way the excellent work of both Stark and Wisecup.


Fluid Jet Polishing (FJP) is a promising ultra-precision machining technology which shows great potential with regard to the application value in the generation of freeform surfaces with sub-micrometre form accuracy and nanometric surface finish. The polishing tool influence function (TIF), which is affected by various parameters and commonly assessed in terms of width, maximum depth and volumetric material removal rate, is critically required for corrective polishing and deterministic machining. In this study, a series of experiments was conducted to study the effect of various process parameters on the polishing tool influence function. The polishing machine used is a Zeeko IRP 200 ultra-precision freeform polishing machine, with three linear axes and three rotational axes. All polishing experiments were performed on BK7, which is one of the most common technical optical glass materials for high-quality optical components in the visible range. These specimens were polished using Al2O3 (Aluminium oxide) abrasive particles and measured by a Zygo Nexview 3D Optical Surface Profiler. All these experiments were conducted by changing one process parameter and keeping the other process parameters constant. In this paper, the experimental results are described in detail to show the relationships between the material removal and the various parameters (i.e. slurry pressure, standoff distance, impingement angle, etc.), and some interesting experimental results are explained.


Cooperative learning model played a dynamic role in improving students' achievement in mathematics. The purpose of this research study was to compare the effects of three instructional methods on students' mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics among secondary students in Natore, Bangladesh. These instructional methods were used to teach students in three experimental groups such as group 1 with structured cooperative learning, group 2 with unstructured cooperative learning and group 3 with conventional teaching. 105 students took part in the experiment and completed pre-test and post-test of mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The statistical analysis such as ANOVA, MANOVA and post hoc pairwise comparison were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significant effect of structured cooperative learning on mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The findings revealed that the structured cooperative students outperformed the unstructured cooperative and conventional students on mathematics achievement due to structured form of cooperative learning integration. Therefore, structured cooperative learning can successfully be implemented to promote students' achievement in mathematics.


The aerospace sector is a dynamic, highly technology-driven industry with a remarkable societal impact. Partially fueled by air transportation and space exploration, the United States aerospace and defense industry generated 143 billion worth in exports in 2017. In light of conventional marketing and management practices pertaining to product development, traditional, non-adaptive product life-cycle management often falls short in this industry, explicitly under circumstances when the customer experience is neglected on a holistic level. Notably, such an approach could indeed result in overlooked business opportunities and strategic planning inconsistencies. In this paper, a specific overlooked aerospace business opportunity is dissected with objectives to depict the potential existence of secondary markets and to suggest a holistic approach to product life-cycle management.


The importance of prioritizing requirements stems from the fact that not all requirements can usually be met with available time and resource constraints. Although several papers have been published in this domain, they mainly focus on descriptive research endeavors to suggest different requirement prioritization approaches. Prescriptive research dealing with design science for a systematic and holistic understanding of the prioritization process is still scarce. The gap motivates our research, which aims at arriving at a set of design principles that explains the form and function of software requirement prioritization artifacts. We resort to a non-experimental approach using content analysis to identify and analyze articles on requirement prioritization published up to 2009 in order to arrive at the set of initial design principles. This subsequently is evaluated based on expert feedbacks. We close the paper by indicating our research continuation plans, and highlighting issues for future considerations.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of fetal Echocardiography in evaluating anatomic details of the functional single ventricle heart and the outcome of fetuses diagnosed with this anomaly. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 128 fetuses with single ventricle of our database (from January 2004 to March 2011): Double inlet single ventricle (DISV) (n = 16), tricuspid valve atresia (TA) (n = 18), Mitral valve atresia and hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) (n = 75), hypoplastic right-heart syndrome (HRHS) (n = 16) and heteroataxy syndrome with common auriculoventricular valve (HS) (n = 3). The results of fetal echocardiography were compared with the diagnoses at postnatal echocardiography or anatomopatologic findings. Postnatal surgical outcome of survival patients was reviewed. Results: We had 81 terminations of pregnancy (TOP) (63.1%: 50% DISV; 50% TA; 69% HLHS; 50% HRHS and 100% HS) and 2 intrauterine fetal death. Anatomical findings were correlated in 91% of cases. In 7 morphology of the predominant ventricle was not identified. Diagnostic accuracy was present in visceral situs, presence of pulmonary or aortic outflow tract obstruction and presence of obstructed pulmonary venous outflow (sensitivity 100%). However, the ability to predict a ductal dependent pulmonary circulation was poor (sensitivity 63%). Of the 45 newborns, intervention was elected in 40 (88%), nonintervention in 5, and 9 died after intervention (6 after Norwood procedure). Of the cohort of operated newborns 71% are presently alive after various stages of intervention. Conclusions: Accurate diagnosis of the fetal single ventricle heart is possible, and outcome is improving. The rate of TOP is high in single ventricle anomalies. Caution must be taken in judging ventricular morphology and in predicting ductal dependent pulmonary circulation.


The papers presents the current stage of the development of VerICS - a model checker for real-time and multi-agent systems. Depending on the type of a system considered, it enables to test various classes of properties - from reachability to temporal, epistemic and deontic formulas. The model checking methods used to this aim include both SAT-based and enumerative ones. In the paper we focus on new features of the verifier: SAT-based model checking for multi-agent systems and several extensions and improvements to real-time systems' verification.


The article adopts the image decomposition idea in MS (Mumford-Shah) model, and proposes a new MSWD (Mumford-Shah with Decomposition) model. Based on the model, with the piecewise constant level set method, we propose an image segmentation algorithm. The MSWD model can extract the texture (or noise) in the segmentation, and effectively avoids the influence of unsupervised texture (or noise), also simultaneously enhances the operating speed. Further through the experiments, we testify therationality and validity of the MSWD model and the algorithm.


The Compton profile of molecular hydrogen has been determined at an incident photon energy of 20 keV based on the third generation synchrotron radiation, and the statistical accuracy of 0.2% is achieved at pz = 0. Different theoretical methods, i.e., the density functional method, and the Hartree–Fock method, were used to calculate the Compton profiles of hydrogen with different basis sets, and the theoretical calculations are in agreement with the experimental observation in the whole pz region. Compared with the HF calculation, the DFT-B3LYP ones are in better agreement with the present experiment, which indicates the electron correlation effect is very important to describe the wavefunction in the ground state of hydrogen.


Stochastic search algorithms are general black-box optimizers. Due to their ease of use and their generality, they have recently also gained a lot of attention in operations research, machine learning and policy search. Yet, these algorithms require a lot of evaluations of the objective, scale poorly with the problem dimension, are affected by highly noisy objective functions and may converge prematurely. To alleviate these problems, we introduce a new surrogate-based stochastic search approach. We learn simple, quadratic surrogate models of the objective function. As the quality of such a quadratic approximation is limited, we do not greedily exploit the learned models. The algorithm can be misled by an inaccurate optimum introduced by the surrogate. Instead, we use information theoretic constraints to bound the 'distance' between the new and old data distribution while maximizing the objective function. Additionally the new method is able to sustain the exploration of the search distribution to avoid premature convergence. We compare our method with state of art black-box optimization methods on standard uni-modal and multi-modal optimization functions, on simulated planar robot tasks and a complex robot ball throwing task. The proposed method considerably outperforms the existing approaches.


In unsupervised causal representation learning for sequential data with time-delayed latent causal influences, strong identifiability results for the disentanglement of causally-related latent variables have been established in stationary settings by leveraging temporal structure. However, in nonstationary setting, existing work only partially addressed the problem by either utilizing observed auxiliary variables (e.g., class labels and/or domain indexes) as side information or assuming simplified latent causal dynamics. Both constrain the method to a limited range of scenarios. In this study, we further explored the Markov Assumption under time-delayed causally related process in nonstationary setting and showed that under mild conditions, the independent latent components can be recovered from their nonlinear mixture up to a permutation and a component-wise transformation, without the observation of auxiliary variables. We then introduce NCTRL, a principled estimation framework, to reconstruct time-delayed latent causal variables and identify their relations from measured sequential data only. Empirical evaluations demonstrated the reliable identification of time-delayed latent causal influences, with our methodology substantially outperforming existing baselines that fail to exploit the nonstationarity adequately and then, consequently, cannot distinguish distribution shifts.


Basaltic lavas from Grenada, Lesser Antilles, may be divided into two series on the basis of CaO-MgO relations. The C-series roughly corresponds to the ankaramites or high-Sr series of the earlier literature and may be distinguished from the M-series basalts by higher CaO at a given MgO and by their strongly augite-phyric nature. Compositional variation within the C-series is dominated by fractional crystallization of augite and plagioclase but this was accompanied by assimilation of sedimentary material from the island arc crust. The assimilation-fractional crystallization process is well illustrated by an increase in 206Pb/204Pb from 18.6 to 19.4 with fractionation, and correlated increases in Nd/Sr, Zr/Sm and Rb/Ba. The most primitive members of the C-series can not be generated from erupted M-series near-primary basalts, but instead show evidence for an origin by olivine fractionation from high-Mg basalts never seen at the surface. These appear to have been derived from a source similar to that of MORB, but enriched in 87Sr and other hydrophile elements by dehydration of subducted lithosphere, and in REE and radiogenic Pb by a small component of subducted sediment.


The aim of the present study was to examine the possibility that Cl- uptake into both villus and crypt epithelial cells of rat duodenum occurs via an electroneutral Na-K-Cl coupled-transport mechanism. Sheets of villus cells and whole crypts were isolated using a Ca2+ chelation technique combined with continuous vibration at low temperatures. Structurally intact, viable epithelia from defined regions along the villus-crypt axis were produced. Uptake of 86Rb+ (as a proxy for K+) into both villus and crypt cells appeared to depend on a coupled process, as evidenced by the inhibition of 86Rb+ uptake by bumetanide and by the removal of either Na+ or Cl- from the bathing media. We report an improved method of isolation of viable enterocytes from defined regions along the villus-crypt axis. We demonstrate the presence of Na-K-Cl cotransport in both villus and crypt duodenal enterocytes.


The mission of organizations' activities, especially hospitals, is to ensure the growth and sustainability of activities, continuous acquisition of knowledge and the development of new knowledge. In other word, old methods of administrating can't cover today's rapid changes, andthese changes redounded new concept like knowledge management to be formed . Hence, the aim of this study was to design a knowledge management model in Esfahan hospitals. This study was a descriptive - correlation survey conducted in selected Isfahan hospitals. The validity of questionnaire was computed by experts judgment, and the reliability was also computed by using Cronbach alpha. Afterwards, to confirm the acquired factors confirming factor analysis(CFA)Method was used; data analysis was done through Confirmatory Factor Analysis by Using AMOS version 16.0 . Finally, Refine Knowledge (0.94) had the highest regression weight or effect and Disseminate Knowledge had the lowest regression weight .The Capture Knowledge (0.84), Application Knowledge (0.24) , culture knowledge(0.67), and evaluation Knowledge(0.53) were determined as an effective dimensions for Knowledge Management Model. Refine Knowledge had the highest regression weight on Knowledge Management This means that the use of new knowledge in their proper place should be undertaken.


Abstract : Instructional System Development (ISD), a complex interactive training model employed by the Air Training Command, guides the development and revision of technical training courses. The present effort focused on the first two steps of the model - analyze system requirements and define education and training requirement. Job inventories were administered to incumbents and supervisors in 18 Air Force specialties (AFSs). Incumbents checked and rated the relative time spent on tasks performed in their current jobs. Supervisors also rated the tasks on several different task factors, including a new factor called Recommended Training Emphasis. Acceptable levels of interrater agreement among supervisors on all task factors were obtained. Further analyses included the development of separate regression equations for the 18 AFSs to predict Recommended Training Emphasis, and the testing of a number of average regression equations of various aggregates of specialties, to determine their generalizability and utility. Results showed that regression equations for each specialty demonstrated high predictive efficiency and that two sets of averaged regression equations were required, as a minimum, to predict training emphasis recommendations for tasks in all 18 specialties. These research findings have led to the conclusion that the criterion, Recommended Training Emphasis, should be collected and not estimated from other task factor data. This conclusion is based on the findings that: (a) Recommended Training Emphasis ratings can be reliable collected, (b) the ratings are construct valid in terms of ISD theory, and (c)more economical to collect Recommended Training Emphasis ratings that to estimate them.


This paper investigates short-packet communications for the dual-hop decode-and-forward relaying system to facilitate ultra-reliable and low-latency communications. In this system, a selected relay having the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) serves as a forwarder to support the unavailable direct link between the source and destination, whereas a maximum ratio combining technique is leveraged at the destination to achieve the highest diversity gain. Approximated expressions of end-to-end (e2e) block error rates (BLERs) are derived over quasi-static Rayleigh fading channels and the finite-blocklength regime. To gain more insights about the performance behavior in the high-SNR regime, we provide the asymptotic analysis with two approaches, from which the qualitative conclusion based on the diversity order is made. Furthermore, the power allocation and relay location optimization problems are also considered to minimize the asymptotic e2e BLER under the configuration constraints. Our analysis is verified through Monte-Carlo simulations, which yield the system parameters' impact on the system performance.


We investigate the foreclosure policy of collateral-based loans in which the endogenous collateral value plays a crucial role. If creditors are able to commit, then the equilibrium arrangement is more likely to feature forebearance lending by specifying a lower level of liquidation (or roll over all of the loans) relative to the expost efficiency criterion for each realization of the interim signal. The key is that collateral value may drop too low when banks call in loans by auctioning off borrowers? collateral and this makes clearing up non-performing loans less attractive. We attribute the banks? leniency as we have observed in Japan during the 1990s to an equilibrium arrangement where banks can commit due to either relationship banking or an implicit lenderborrower contract, such as the arrangement under Japan?s main-bank system.


We present an improved quark mass density-dependent model which includes the quark and non-linear scalar field coupling. The wavefunction of quark is given. The rms charge radius, the magnetic moment, and the ratio between the axial-vector and the vector β-decay coupling constants of the nucleon are calculated. We find that the results given the present model are in agreement with experiments.


Exosomes are biological nanovesicles that participate in intercellular communication by transferring biologically active chemical compounds (proteins, microRNA, mRNA, DNA, and others). Due to their small size (diameter 40–100 nm) and high biological compatibility, exosomes are promising delivery tools in personalized therapy. Because artificial exosome synthesis methods are not developed yet, the urgent task is to develop an effective and safe way to obtain exosomes from natural sources. Milk is the only exosome-containing biological fluid that is commercially available. In this regard, milk exosomes are unique and promising candidates for new therapeutic approaches to treating various diseases, including cancer. The appearance of side effects during the use of cytotoxic and cytostatic agents is among the main problems in cancer chemotherapy. According to this, the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents can be a potential solution to the toxic effect of chemotherapy. The ability of milk exosomes to carry out biologically active substances to the cell makes them promising tools for oral delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. This review is devoted to the methods of milk exosome isolation, their biological components, and prospects for their use in cancer treatment.


Deviations from put-call parity contain information about future stock returns. Using the difference in implied volatility between pairs of call and put options to measure these deviations, we find that stocks with relatively expensive calls outperform stocks with relatively expensive puts by 50 basis points per week. We find both positive abnormal performance in stocks with relatively expensive calls and negative abnormal performance in stocks with relatively expensive puts, which cannot be explained by short sale constraints. Rebate rates from the stock lending market directly confirm that our findings are not driven by stocks that are hard to borrow. The degree of predictability is larger when option liquidity is high and stock liquidity low, while there is little predictability when the opposite is true. Controlling for size, option prices are more likely to deviate from strict put-call parity when underlying stocks face more information risk. The degree of predictability decreases over the sample period. Our results are consistent with mispricing during the earlier years of the study, with a gradual reduction of the mispricing over time.


The rapid development of Web sites providing extensive coverage of a topic, coupled with the development of powerful search engines (designed to help users find such Web sites), suggests that users can easily find comprehensive information about a topic. In domains such as consumer healthcare, finding comprehensive information about a topic is critical as it can improve a patient's judgment in making healthcare decisions, and can encourage higher compliance with treatment. However, recent studies show that despite using powerful search engines, many healthcare information seekers have difficulty finding comprehensive information even for narrow healthcare topics because the relevant information is scattered across many Web sites. To date, no studies have analyzed how facts related to a search topic are distributed across relevant Web pages and Web sites. In this study, the distribution of facts related to five common healthcare topics across high-quality sites is analyzed, and the reasons underlying those distributions are explored. The analysis revealed the existence of few pages that had many facts, many pages that had few facts, and no single page or site that provided all the facts. While such a distribution conforms to other information-related phenomena, a deeper analysis revealed that the distributions were caused by a trade-off between depth and breadth, leading to the existence of general, specialized, and sparse pages. Furthermore, the results helped to make explicit the knowledge needed by searchers to find comprehensive healthcare information, and suggested the motivation to explore distribution-conscious approaches for the development of future search systems, search interfaces, Web page designs, and training.


Key features of satellite communications such as wide-scale coverage, broadcast/multicast support and high availability, together with significant amounts of new satellite capacity coming online, anticipate new opportunities for satellite communications services as an integral part within upcoming 5G systems. To materialize these opportunities, satellite communications services have to be provisioned and operated in a more flexible, agile and cost-effective manner than done today. In this context, this paper describes a solution for the virtualization and dynamic orchestration of satellite communication services that builds on the introduction of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies within the satellite ground segment systems. Along with the description of the main system architecture traits, the flowchart of a general procedure for the dynamic instantiation of virtualized satellite networks on top of a SDN/NFV-enabled satellite ground segment system is provided. The paper also presents experimental results for the dynamic customization of satellite network services through the implementation of a set of virtualized satellite network functions that can be orchestrated over general purpose open virtual platforms.


Preparing students to be competent in the Information Technology (IT) world is a goal of technology-based departments in colleges and universities. Telecommunications is one part of the IT area in which students need to be prepared. Many colleges and universities teach telecommunications courses at different levels or incorporate telecommunications topics in more than one course. This, along with the challenge of keeping up with an ever-changing information technology environment, provides a challenge to academicians. Seeking input from IT professionals is one way to help keep curricula current. This research is an extension of a 1997 Delphi study dealing with telecommunications course content for a beginning telecommunications course at the college or university level. The 1997 participants were members of the Organizational Systems Research Association (OSRA) and had either taught telecommunications topics and/or researched in the area. The final course content topics and subtopics from the 1997 study served as Round one data for the participants of this 2003 Delphi study. The participants were members of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP). This study identifies the common consent (two-thirds of the participants rating the topics/subtopics with a 5 Definitely Do Include the Topic) and the consensus (all participants rating the topics/subtopics with a 5) course content lists for a telecommunications course taught at the college/university level.


In this paper, we illustrate that inaccurate knowledge can be efficiently implemented in a quantum environment. For this purpose, we analyse the correlation between certainty factors and quantum probability. We first explore the certainty factors approach for inexact reasoning from a classical point of view. Next, we introduce some basic aspects of quantum computing, and we pay special attention to quantum rule-based systems. In this context, a specific use case was built: an inferential network for testing the behaviour of the certainty factors approach in a quantum environment. After the design and execution of the experiments, the corresponding analysis of the obtained results was performed in three different scenarios: (1) inaccuracy in declarative knowledge, or imprecision, (2) inaccuracy in procedural knowledge, or uncertainty, and (3) inaccuracy in both declarative and procedural knowledge. This paper, as stated in the conclusions, is intended to pave the way for future quantum implementations of well-established methods for handling inaccurate knowledge.