BACKGROUND
 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a condition with symptoms that vary over time. The typical 3- to 6-month interval between physician visits may lead to patients failing to recall or underreporting symptoms experienced during the interim. Wearable digital technology enables the regular passive collection of patients' biometric and activity data. If it is shown to be strongly related to data captured by patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures, information collected passively from wearable digital technology could serve as an objective proxy or be complementary to patients' subjective experience of RA symptoms.

 OBJECTIVE
 The goal of this study is to characterize the extent to which digital measures collected from a consumer-grade smartwatch agree with measures of RA disease activity and other PROs collected via a smartphone app.

 METHODS
 This observational study will last 6 months for each participant. We aim to recruit 250 members of the ArthritisPower registry with an RA diagnosis who will receive a smartwatch to wear for the period of the study. From the ArthritisPower mobile app on their own smartphone device, participants will be prompted to answer daily and weekly electronic PRO (ePRO) measures for the first 3 months.

 RESULTS
 The study was launched in December 2018 and will require up to 18 months to complete. Study results are expected to be published by the end of 2021.

 CONCLUSIONS
 The completion of this study will provide important data regarding the following: (1) the relationship between passively collected digital measures related to activity, heart rate, and sleep collected from a smartwatch with ePROs related to pain, fatigue, physical function, and RA flare entered via smartphone app; (2) determine predictors of adherence with smartwatch and smartphone app technology; and (3) assess the effect of study-specific reminders on adherence with the smartwatch.

 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT
 DERR1-10.2196/14665


The installation of high-speed rail in the world during the last two decades resulted in significant socioeconomic and environmental changes. The U.S. has the longest rail network in the world, but the focus is on carrying a wide variety of loads including coal, farm crops, industrial products, commercial goods, and miscellaneous mixed shipments. Freight and passenger services in the U.S. dates to 1970, with both carried out by private railway companies. Railways were the main means of transport between cities from the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. However, rapid growth in production and improvements in technologies changed those dynamics. The fierce competition for comfortability and pleasantness in passenger travel and the proliferation of aviation services in the U.S. channeled federal and state budgets towards motor vehicle infrastructure, which brought demand for railroads to a halt in the 1950s. Presently, the U.S. has no high-speed trains, aside from sections of Amtrak s Acela line in the Northeast Corridor that can reach 150 mph for only 34 miles of its 457-mile span. The average speed between New York and Boston is about 65 mph. On the other hand, China has the world s fastest and largest high-speed rail network, with more than 19,000 miles, of which the vast majority was built in the past decade. Japan s bullet trains can reach nearly 200 miles per hour and dates to the 1960s. That system moved more than 9 billion people without a single passenger casualty. In this systematic review, we studied the effect of High-Speed Rail (HSR) on the U.S. and other countries including France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and China in terms of energy consumption, land use, economic development, travel behavior, time use, human health, and quality of life.


One's ability to maintain their center of mass within their base of support (i.e., balance) is believed to be the result of multisensory integration. Much of the research in this literature has focused on integration of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive cues. However, several recent studies have found evidence that auditory cues can impact balance control metrics. In the present study, we sought to better characterize the impact of auditory cues on narrow stance balance task performance with different combinations of visual stimuli (virtual and real world) and support surfaces (firm and compliant). In line with past results, we found that reducing the reliability of proprioceptive cues and visual cues yielded consistent increases in center-of-pressure (CoP) sway metrics, indicating more imbalance. Masking ambient auditory cues with broadband noise led to less consistent findings; however, when effects were observed they were substantially smaller for auditory cues than for proprioceptive and visual cues - and in the opposite direction (i.e., masking ambient auditory cues with broadband noise reduced sway in some situations). Additionally, trials that used virtual and real-world visual stimuli did not differ unless participants were standing on a surface that disrupted proprioceptive cues; disruption of proprioception led to increased CoP sway metrics in the virtual visual condition. This is the first manuscript to report the effect size of different perturbations in this context, and the first to study the impact of acoustically complex environments on balance in comparison to visual and proprioceptive contributions. Future research is needed to better characterize the impact of different acoustic environments on balance.


The performance increase of computing systems is hindered by the power dissipated by the system. Multi-core systems enable the performance increase under such power-constrained environment with high-level interconnection of power-efficient processing elements. High-density and high-bandwidth interconnects are crucial for such systems, and optical interconnects promise to provide the required features, such as data rate, channel density, power dissipation. In this paper, we have demonstrated a high-density, chip-based optical interconnect exploiting a waveguide-integrated surface laminar circuit (SLC) board. A build-up polymer waveguide layer is formed on a SLC, and optical and electrical chips constructing optical interconnects are flip-chip mounted on the SLC much like low-cost electrical packaging using printed circuit boards. Assembled optical interconnect transmitter and receiver have demonstrated 10 Gbps operations.


In order for automated agent-based e-Commerce transactions to blossom, well-defined, analyzable and easily customizable interaction protocols or choreographies of involved parties need to be developed. Although, several domain-depended protocols have already been developed, efficient methodologies and technologies for facilitating the definition, deployment, reuse and maintenance of interaction protocols should be developed. This paper proposes a rule-based, reusable, analyzable and easily comprehensible by the user choreography definition methodology, called K-SWAN. Ohe proposed choreography scheme separates the definition of the agent shared interaction protocol from the private agent interaction strategy and enables agents to choose the appropriate protocol for the transaction, from a library of re-usable interaction protocols, and automatically combine it with their personal strategy, from a private library, by using SW technologies for both. Complying with K-SWAN methodology will let agents participate seamlessly in different interaction processes and/or modify their behavior with a minimal programming effort. Finally, this paper presents the integration of the K-SWAN methodology into EMERALD, a multi-agent knowledge-based framework based on SW standards, which maximizes reusability and interoperability of behavior between agents.


The 50 th year anniversary of Rachel Carson's monumental Silent Spring invites reflection on how the controversy over chemical pesticides shaped environmental discourse in the modern era. This essay focuses on uncertainty as a boundary device that shapes scientific ethos in crucial ways and negotiates a relationship between technical science and public deliberation. Situated in rhetorical analysis, the author takes a comparative approach towards the use of uncertainty and scientific ethos in the Silent Spring controversy. Drawing from Carson's published book, and from the famous CBS Reports investigative television program seven months after the book's publication, this essay demonstrates how CBS Reports directly received, and amplified, Carson's uncertainty frameworks, and used them to drive the public evaluation of scientific ethos. This analysis reveals three ways uncertainty shapes scientific ethos: uncertainty as a probability (ethos of expertise), as a moral certainty (ethos of civic participant), and as an unknown or unconcern (ethos of ignorance). Finally, the author suggests that the circulation of these uncertainty frameworks of scientific ethos helped drive the momentum from the books' publication, to public evaluation, to policy-making, and suggests these uncertainty frameworks are enduring forces in debates about the role of experts in scientific controversies.


It has been known for nearly 20 yr that the pseudo-phase-space density profile of equilibrium simulated dark matter halos, ρ(r)/σ3(r), is well described by a power law over three decades in radius, even though both the density ρ(r) and the velocity dispersion σ(r) deviate significantly from power laws. The origin of this scale-free behavior is not understood. It could be an inherent property of self-gravitating collisionless systems, or it could be a mere coincidence. To address the question we work with equilibrium halos and, more specifically, the second derivative of the Jeans equation, which, under the assumptions of (i) the Einasto density profile, (ii) the linear velocity anisotropy–density slope relation, and (iii) ρ/σ3 ∝ r−α, can be transformed from a differential equation to a cubic algebraic equation. Relations (i)–(iii) are all observed in numerical simulations and are well parameterized by a total of four or six model parameters. We do not consider the dynamical evolution of halos; instead, taking advantage of the fact that the algebraic Jeans equation for equilibrium halos puts relations (i)–(iii) on the same footing, we study the (approximate) solutions of this equation in the four- and six-dimensional spaces. We argue that the distribution of best solutions in these parameter spaces is inconsistent with ρ/σ3 ∝ r−α being a fundamental property of gravitational evolution and conclude that the scale-free nature of this quantity is likely to be a fluke.


Americium-241 and plutonium determinations will become of greater importance over the coming decades as 137Cs and 241Pu decay. The impact of 137Cs on environmental chronology has been great, but its potency is waning as it decays and diffuses. Having 241Am and Pu as unequivocal markers for the 1963 weapon fallout maximum is important for short time scale environmental work, but a fast and reliable procedure is required for their separation. The developed method described here begins by digesting samples using a lithium borate fusion although an aqua regia leachate is also effective in many instances. Isolation of the Am and Pu is then achieved using a combination of extraction chromatography and conventional anion exchange chromatography. The whole procedure has been optimized, validated, and assessed for safety. The straightforwardness of this technique permits the analysis of large numbers of samples and makes 241Am-based techniques for high-resolution sediment accumulation rate studies attractive. In addition, the technique can be employed for the sequential measurement of Pu and Am in environmental surveillance programs, potentially reducing analytical costs and turnround times.


Pressure to force or induce the consolidation of rural schools through legislation is common across the United States. Whereas consolidation was once chiefly about school improvement, today it is more likely to be about fiscal savings. Legislative battles have produced many lessons for rural school advocates which are discussed here. Consolidation is also on the agenda of many of the school reform movements at work in the United States, many of which see rural schools as too numerous, too attached to the communities they serve, and too democratically managed to reform from without. As reformers grapple with the resistance to reform in many rural community schools, they assume the haughty and arrogant style of the fading English aristocracy that Oscar Wilde lampooned in The importance of Being Earnest. The essay closes with a caricature of the "education reform aristocracy" attributing to it some of the sentiments expressed by Wilde's pompous characters.


Groundnut, the most important grain legume in Ghana, is largely cultivated under rainfed conditions within the Guinea savanna zone of the country. The pods and haulms are important sources of income for smallholder farmers in the region. There is an emerging market for groundnut haulms as livestock feed in Ghana. A population of 30 groundnut genotypes were evaluated for yield (pod and haulm) and its components as well as good haulm nutritive value. High significant differences were observed among the genotypes for all agronomic traits. Average pod yield ranged from 1.6 to 5.7 t/ha with SAMNUT 23 and ICGV-IS 13081 being the most productive. Eight out of the 30 genotypes produced haulm yields above 8 t/ha. There was no significant difference among genotypes for in vitro gas production, digestible organic matter, ash, neutral detergent fibre, and metabolizable energy. However, crude protein, crude fibre, and acid detergent fibre were significantly different. Crude protein content was highest (12.53%) in GAF 1723 and lowest (8.00%) in ICGV-IS 08837. Genotypes GAF 1723, ICGV 00064, and ICGV-IS 13998 combined good pod/haulm yield with high haulm nutritive quality. Their utilization will improve farmers' income and livelihoods in the Guinea savanna of Ghana.


In this paper we compare the results of our adiabatic theory (Gribakin and Kuchiev 1997 Phys. Rev. A 55 3760) with other theoretical and experimental results, mostly for the halogen negative ions. The theory is based on the Keldysh approach, and shows that the multiphoton detachment rates depend only on the asymptotic parameters A and of the bound-state radial wavefunction . Simple analytical expressions for the differential and total n-photon detachment cross sections are obtained. They allow us to estimate the cross sections for almost any negative ion. Our approach suggests a new physical interpretation of the nontrivial oscillatory behaviour of the differential cross sections that has been observed in experiments. It also predicts oscillations in the energy dependence of the total n-photon cross sections, due to interplay among different partial waves.


The methods of line selection today focus on one target of the signal such as amplitude, frequency or phase. A novel method based on holospectrum algorithm to detect single-phase faults in distribution systems is proposed in this paper. After structuring analytic signals of zero sequence current and voltage, the holospectrum algorithm is applied. Thus the analysis of combined signal of amplitude, frequency and phase is realized. Compared with the use of single amplitude, frequency or phase, combined signal carries more details and information of transient signal. Theoretical analysis and simulation based on Simulink of MATLAB show that the presented method can exactly and effectively choose the faulty line in single-phase-to-ground fault.


In this article, the spinel NiCo2O4 nanosheets with diameters of 100-200 nm were prepared by calcinations of co-precipitates, which were obtained by co-precipitation method. Different kinds of precipitants, including NaOH, KOH, Na2CO3 and ethanedioic acid aqueous solutions were investigated, and regular hexagonal nanosheets are synthesized only when the precipitant is strong KOH or NaOH solution. The morphology and structure of the hexagonal precursor particles and nanosheets were investigated, and the mechanism of the formation of hexagonal nanosheets is discussed.


Women are particularly susceptible to mental health challenges during the perinatal period. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, much concern was raised about the impact that the associated isolation, uncertainty, grief, loss and economic upheaval would have on mental health. Women experienced a disproportionate amount of environmental strain during this time, including economic stress and challenges associated with being essential workers; stressors were perhaps most prevalent in communities of color and immigrant groups. For women who were pregnant during the height of the pandemic, it is clear that stress, anxiety, and depression were increased due to changes in medical care and decreases in social support. Increased mental health challenges in the perinatal period have been shown to impact social-emotional, cognitive and behavioral health in infants and children, so the potential consequences of the COVID-19 era are great. This paper discusses these potential impacts and describes important pathways for future research.


Ensuring long-term performance from key infrastructure is essential to enable it to serve society and to maintain a sustainable economy. The future-proofing of key infrastructure involves addressing two broad issues: (i) resilience to unexpected or uncontrollable events (e.g., extreme weather events); (ii) adaptability to required changes in structure and/or operations of the infrastructure in the future. Increasingly, infrastructure owners, designers, builders, governments and operators are being required to consider possible future challenges as part of the life cycle planning for assets and systems that make up key infrastructure. A preliminary study is reported here that aimed at exploring the following questions related to infrastructure (systems): what does 'future-proofing' of infrastructural assets mean? Why and when should critical infrastructure be future-proofed? How can infrastructure assets (systems) be prepared for uncertain future events? How can future-proofing considerations be incorporated into infrastructure asset management practices? To seek answers to the above questions, two industrial workshops were conducted that brought together leading practitioners in the UK infrastructure and construction sectors, along with government policymakers. This paper captures lessons learnt from the workshops and proposes a framework for linking future-proofing into asset management considerations. Case studies of Dawlish railway and Heathrow airport are also presented.


Sexual dysfunctions such as diminished libido, erectile dysfunction, arousal problems, or delayed orgasm are common side effects of antidepressant medication. However, spontaneous ejaculation is a rare side effect caused by antidepressants. Several case of spontaneous ejaculation have been reported about escitalopram, venlafaxine and reboxetine in the literature. In this paper, a 46-year-old man who developed spontaneous ejaculation with duloxetine is discussed.


: The genetic structure of the HLA gene complex, which represents the major histocompatibility complex of man, is described. The polymorphisms at the various HLA loci as well as the biologic function of the HLA system with respect to the immune response are discussed.


Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is considered the gold standard method for radiotherapy dose calculation. However, achieving high precision requires a large number of simulation histories, which is time-consuming. The use of computer graphics processing units (GPUs) has greatly accelerated MC simulation and allows dose calculation within a few minutes for a typical radiotherapy treatment plan. However, some clinical applications demand real-time efficiency for MC dose calculation. To tackle this problem, we have developed a real-time, deep learning (DL)-based dose denoiser that can be plugged into a current GPU-based MC dose engine to enable real-time MC dose calculation. We used two different acceleration strategies to achieve this goal: (1) we applied voxel unshuffle and voxel shuffle operators to decrease the input and output sizes without any information loss, and (2) we decoupled the 3D volumetric convolution into a 2D axial convolution and a 1D slice convolution. In addition, we used a weakly supervised learning framework to train the network, which greatly reduces the size of the required training dataset and thus enables fast fine-tuning-based adaptation of the trained model to different radiation beams. Experimental results show that the proposed denoiser can run in as little as 39 ms, which is 11.6 times faster than the baseline model. As a result, the whole MC dose calculation pipeline can be finished within ∼ 0.15 s, including both GPU MC dose calculation and DL-based denoising, achieving the real-time efficiency needed for some radiotherapy applications, such as online adaptive radiotherapy.


We continue the analysis of the multiwavelength evolution of the recurrent nova T Pyx during its 2011 outburst, focussing on the spectral development on the 1150–3000 Å region. This extraordinary data set presents the longest temporal baseline high resolution view of the ultraviolet for any nova to date (classical or recurrent). The observations cover the early Fe-curtain stage, when the UV was completely optically thick, to 834 days after discovery when the outburst was effectively over. We present an analysis of dynamics and abundances of the interstellar species whose resonance lines are accessible in the UV. The Lyα profile is consistent with only interstellar absorption at all epochs and agrees with the H I 21 cm column density. The distance obtained to T Pyx is about 5 kpc, based on the ISM analysis. For the ejecta evolution we have been able to follow the changes in ionization and structure with previously unobtained resolution and cadence. The excited state isoelectronic transitions of C III, N IV], and O V displayed the same detached absorption lines as the optical He I transitions during the optical maximum. This is explained as resonance absorption within the ejecta of FUV ground state lines from the 300–1000 Å range. The resonance lines of all species showed absorption components between –1000 and –3000 km s−1 as soon as the Fe-curtain turned transparent (from day 105); these persisted at the same velocities and varied in strength from one ion to another through day 834. The last ultraviolet spectrum, taken more than 800 days after outburst, showed the same absorption lines on N V and C IV as day 105. There was no evidence of circumstellar absorbers. This and the related observations of profile evolution effectively rule out any wind model for the spectrum. The picture that emerges is of ejecta that became optically thin after visual maximum as the X-ray emission became visible following an outwardly propagating ionization front and for which the ionization stages froze because of ejecta expansion after the end of the soft X-ray illumination.


Chemicals safety control and eco-properties have become a priority for the textile industry to avoid the negative effects on humans and environment. The European regulations limit the presence of 24 listed carcinogenic aromatic amines by 30 mg/kg of textile material. The paper aims to present a comparison between different parameters of procedures for the extraction, reduction and purification of the amines obtained by the reductive cleavage of azo dyes in order to choose the optimal method. In order to test the amine extracts obtained, the 8-point calibration curve was performed for the mixture of the 24 standard amines and the solutions obtained from the extraction of the dyestuffs from the textile samples were analysed. Their testing was performed by liquid chromatography and the results were confirmed by the gas chromatography method.


Background IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently recognized systemic disease of unknown etiology and prevalence [1]. Retrospective single center series have provided evidence that 13–63% of patients with idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (IRPF) could be reclassified as IgG4-RD. Since immunesuppressants or B-cell targeted therapies may halt or reverse progression, early diagnosis and treatment is important to prevent terminal fibrosis. Objectives To estimate the occurrence of IgG4 related retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) in Danish patients diagnosed with IRPF. Methods The National Danish Pathology Register was searched for biopsy codes relating to retroperitoneal tissue and inflammation from 01.01.2004 through 31.12.2013. Patients below 18 years of age, secondary causes, malignancies, infections, and specimens with multinucleated giant cells or granulomas were excluded. Among 724 candidate cases 68 were identified with IRPF. Among these 25 were left out due to small tissue samples, unavailable patient files or lack of consent. Clinical, laboratory data and imagings were reviewed. Paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were retrieved from 18 pathology departments. Four sections were prepared and stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Weigerts elastin and IgG4 immunostaining. Histopathologic features suggesting an IgG4-RD background were recorded (table). Cut-off levels for IgG4 positive cells at ≥30 per HPF and IgG4: total IgG ratio at ≥40% were applied. Patients were categorized as IRPF, definite or possible IgG4-RD according to international consensus [2]. Intergroup comparisons were done using Mann-Whitney U test or Chi square test. Results Forty three patients (29 males), median age 56 years were included among which 19 (44%) met the criteria for IgG4-RD comprising 7 with definite, 12 with possible IgG4-RD and 24 with IRPF. Biopsies were available from all participants. Extraretroperitoneal manifestations, standard laboratory measures and serum IgG4 (in 5 individuals) did not differ significantly between RPF subsets. Patients with an IgG4: total IgG ratio ≥40% had significantly more histopathologic features of IgG4-RD compared to a ratio <40% (table). Patients with ≥30 IgG4 positive cells per HPF had higher numbers of tissue eosinophils than those with lower IgG4+ cell counts.Table 1. Histopathologic findings in RPF biopsies (N=43) according to IgG4: total IgG ratio IgG4/IgG ratio ≥40% IgG4/IgG ratio <40% p-value N=21 N=22 Lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate 21 13 0,002 Storiform fibrosis 12 3 0,004 Obliterative phlebitis 5 1 0,078 Phlebitis without obliteration 4 2 0,378 Increased numbers of eosinophils 13 6 0,030 Conclusions A total of 44% of IRPF patients was diagnosed with IgG4-RD, 16% with definite and 28% with possible IgG4-RD. This estimate may be conservative because specimens with multinucleated giant cells or granulomas were excluded. The closer association of IgG4: total IgG ratio ≥40 vs. lower ratios with histopathologic findings supports a direct pathogenic role by IgG4 bearing cells or IgG4 in IgG4 RPF. References Stone JH, Zen Y, Deshpande V. IgG4-related disease. N Engl J Med 2012;366 6: 539–51. Deshpande V, Zen Y, Chan JK, Yi EE, Sato Y, Yoshino T et al. Consensus statement on the pathology of IgG4-related disease. Mod Pathol 2012;25 9: 1181–92. Disclosure of Interest None declared


When we, as authors, first started writing the papers in this special issue, the competing and colluding forces of nationalism, misogyny, Islamophobia, Western elitism, inequality, and discourses of ethnic purity had not reached the force that they have as this issue goes to print. These papers were originally thought of as a way to give voice to counter-narratives that push against Western colonial norms and expectations around gender and education; they were meant to inform a conversation about women and education at American Educational Research Association. These themes still exist in the papers as the issue goes to print, but now the papers have taken on increased force and meaning as the authors have worked and reworked the papers within a context of a rising turn toward ethnic nationalism and misogyny. The papers argue for an understanding of policy and ideology that is based in a local context. The papers push against the idea that there is a "global context" for policy and ideology because—most often— "global policy" is a shorthand way of saying Westernized policy and expectations. Thus, the papers challenge the Western-centrism of a "global" lens. However, the authors also see their work as part of a conversation—a conversation that needs to be truly global. The polarities of global conversation and attention to local contexts have shaped the articles in this special issue.


This article discusses recent developments in the regulatory and legislative spheres that are of interest to energy practitioners. The authors reviewed regulatory initiatives, decisions, related case law, and legislation from provincial, territorial, and federal authorities. Topics of note include: recent climate change policy updates, renewable energy policy initiatives, oil and gas regulatory developments, pipeline project updates, and Aboriginal case law developments. The period covered is May 2016 to June 2017, inclusive.


In the present work, the microstructure, phase composition and microhardness of Cr3C2-NiCr, WCCo, and powdered composite NiCrSiBCr10%,Fe2.5%,Si3.1%,Bi2.1%C; NiCrSiBFe5; NiCrSiBCr5; NiCrSiBFe2.5Cr2.5; HVOF coatings applied on the Al-Si substrate have been compared. The coating cross-sections were examined by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron transmission microscopy (TEM). For hard Cr3C2-NiCr and WC-Co coatings, a total microhardness level of about 860 and 1240 HV, respectively, was obtained. The microhardness of composite coatings was essentially lower and comprised in the range of values between 420 and 540 HV. The lowest level of microhardness showed the NiCrSiBFe2.5Cr2.5 coating. The most refined microstructure was found in Cr3C2 and WC coatings. The mean size of splat granules obtained in Cr3C2-NiCr had the value of about 2.7 m and of 0.5 m in WC-Co. For comparison, the granules obtained in composite coatings had the dimensions of about 30 μm. An Xray diffraction (XRD) revealed the presence of Cr3C2 and WC carbides in Cr3C2-CrNi and WC-Co coatings. In composite coatings, the phases of Cr3Ni5Si2, Ni3Si, FeSi, Fe2B, Cr3Si, BCr as well as other phases were found. The existence of the analyzed phases was additionally confirmed by the selective etching of coating microstructure. The annealing of coatings at 823K resulted in pore disappearance and increased the coating microhardness.


In recent decades, economists are gradually showing their interests in the study of happiness. They even put forward some challenges to the traditional theories. In contrast, studies on Chinese happiness problem are not enough in terms of breadth and depth. This paper used the data provided by China General Social Survey to conduct an empirical analysis. The model author adopted is Ordered Discrete Choice model. In the empirical section, author analyzed the impact of income, macroeconomic variables, etc. Ultimately, based on the empirical results, author proposed some policy recommendations and further study suggestions.


This paper presents a possible future direction for agent-based simulation using complex agents that can learn from experience and report their individual evaluations. Adding learning to the agent model permits the simulation of potentially important agent behavior such as curiosity. The agents can then report evaluations of a design that are situated in their individual experience. The paper describes the architecture of curious agents used in the situated evaluation of designs. It then describes an example of the application of such curious agents in the evaluation of the curating of an exhibition in an art gallery.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 11 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Umblachery cattle are well-known indigenous breed for its draught power in Cauvery delta region. Conservation of Umblachery cattle breed gained importance in recent years. In this background, the study with the financial assistance from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Research Corpus Fund (TRCF) was conducted at Umblachery, a native village of Umblachery breed tract in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu to identify and prioritize the constraints in Umblachery breed cattle farming faced by farmers through participatory approach. Thirty progressive farmers in and around Umblachery village who were selected applying purposive random sampling technique, participated in focused group discussion to identify the constraints followed by personal interview to prioritize the constraints and group discussion to find the possible reasons behind constraints. The entire participatory method was carried out with the help of Department of Animal Husbandry, Tamil Nadu and representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Famers' association. Individually prioritized scores on the farmers' identified 15 constraints were subjected into Garrett ranking method to measure the significance. The results revealed that the lack grazing land having highest Garrett table mean score of 79.37 as the most important and serious constraint followed by improper maintenance of ponds (72.30), feed deficit (59.30), mechanization (53.77), dominance of fertilizer (51.60), inadequate farmers club (49.17), lack of bull (48.75), dominance of cross-bred animals (43.56), lower price of animals and its products on sale (42.55), unregulated marketing (39.44), lack of awareness about technologies (38.86), indiscriminate breeding (34.06), record maintenance (32.66), natural disaster proneness (30.58) and deficit of manpower (26.87). The results will foster the policy makers involved in Umblachery cattle breed conservation to develop and implement appropriate strategies to overcome the constraints in Umblachery breed cattle farming. K e y w o r d s Identification, Prioritization, Umblachery breed cattle, Participatory approach Accepted: 10 October 2018


We have investigated transient behavior of RE-123 coated conductors in fault current limiting operation based on experimental hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS). Fault current limiting function of superconducting electric power application is attractive to maximize the potential of power system; such a function can be realized by the transition to the resistive state of superconducting wire. However, the phenomena is relatively complicated: nonlinear current transport properties varying with time-dependent temperature rise. Furthermore, from practical point of view, the influence of spatially homogeneity of cooling and local critical current properties in RE-123 coated conductors must be clarified for reliable operation. To demonstrate this, we developed HILS system using real-time digital simulator. Fault current limiting operation was successfully demonstrated for dc electric railway system. This method enabled us to evaluate the real-time responses of RE-123 coated conductors such as nonlinear properties and thermal behaviors under a power grid network. In particular, we applied RE-123 coated conductors with spatially inhomogeneous cooling and local critical currents to the experiment to understand the influences of them on the fault current limiting and recovery functions. Furthermore, such transient phenomena were successfully described by an electrically and thermally coupled analysis taking into account of temperature dependent nonlinear transport properties of the RE-123 coated conductors based on the percolation transition model. The method and findings will become crucial for effective and reliable designs of superconducting fault current limiters.


This work elaborates on design of a Photovoltaic (PV) array model using Piecewise Linear Electrical Circuit Simulation (PLECS) block-set in Simulink. First it describes the model development procedure. Next it compares the I-V curves generated using the developed model with the experimental I-V curves of a HiS-M215SG reported in the product datasheet. Then it illustrates the use of the developed model for study of partial shading effect in a PV system.


Does too much transparency in the selection of judges undermine the independence of the judiciary? This Essay seeks to provide insight into answering this question by focusing on the opaque process by which federal bankruptcy judges are selected. Part I begins with an account that anchors the concepts of judicial independence and judicial accountability to the concept of judicial quality. It proceeds to situate within this account the selection process, suggesting that the process can function as a form of judicial accountability, albeit one that diminishes judicial quality in those instances where the process becomes politicized. A brief discussion follows regarding the concept of transparency in the context of the selection process, with emphasis on the distinction between transparency of the process itself and transparency of the judicial candidates. I then explain how process transparency may reduce the utility of a candidate transparency requirement and thus undermine judicial quality. Part II suggests that moving to an opaque process may solve this problem and uses the selection of bankruptcy judges as an example. The Essay concludes that process opacity may prevent candidate transparency from being co-opted for political ends, thus improving judicial quality. Although the scope of the Essay is limited to discussing appointment systems, rather than election systems, my hope is that it will shed new light on proposed selection reforms in both systems by prompting others to consider the utility of opacity in judicial selection.


A simple, automated on-line detector system has been fabricated and implemented to detect the arterial time-activity curve (TAC) for [O-15] water PET studies. This system offers two significant improvements over existing systems: a pump mechanism is not required to control arterial blood flow through the detector and dispersion correction of the time-activity curve is unnecessary. The [O-15] positrons emanating from a thin-walled, 0.134 cm inner-diameter plastic tube are detected by a 0.5 cm wide by 1.0 cm long by 0.1 cm thick plastic scintillator mounted to a miniature PMT. Photon background is shielded by a 2.0 cm thick cylindrical lead shield. Mean cerebral blood flow (mCBF) calculated from the TAC determined by 1-second automated sampling was compared to that calculated from every 5-second integrated manual samples. Improvements in timing resolution (1-sec vs. 5-sec) cause small but significant differences between the two sampling methods. Dispersion is minimized due to small tubing diameters, short lengths of tubing between the radial arterial sampling site and the detector and the presence of a 3-way valve 10 cm proximal to the detector.


We describe a case of pyogenic arthritis caused by S. milleri (S. anginosus) in a non-immunocompromised host. No other septic focus was found. S. milleri is now widely recognized as an important cause of pyogenic infection, though it eluded suspicion for many years. The rarity of reports of articular infections by S. milleri might be due to problems associated with its recognition.


OBJECTIVE
Transradial approach (TRA) for coronary angiography is a popular alternative approach to transfemoral coronary angiography due to the infrequent occurrence of access site complications such as bleeding, hematoma and pseudoaneursym formation. However, not all patients are suitable for TRA. This study aimed to determine the predictors of radial artery diameter in patients who are candidates for TRA.

METHODS
The study included 222 consecutive patients who underwent TRA due to suspected stable coronary artery disease. Radial artery diameter was evaluated prior to the procedure using B-mode ultrasonography.

RESULTS
Radial artery diameter was correlated with wrist circumference (r=0.539, p<0.001), height (r=0.258, p<0.001), weight (r=0.237, p<0.001), body mass index (r=0.167, p=0.013), shoe size (r=0.559, p<0.001), and pulse pressure (r=-0.161, p=0.016). The right radial artery was larger in men than in women (2.73±0.39 mm vs. 2.15±0.35 mm, p<0.001), and smaller in patients with sedentary office work than in physically active outdoor workers (2.42±0.45 mm vs. 2.81±0.37 mm, p<0.001). Wrist circumference (b=0.044, p<0.001, confidence interval (CI) 95%= 0.025-0.062), shoe size (b=0.075, p=<0.001, CI 95%=0.039-0.112) and occupation (b=0.228, p<0.001, CI 95%=0.138-0.318) were the independent predictors of radial artery diameter in regression analysis.

CONCLUSION
In addition to shoe size and wrist circumference, occupation may be an important predictor of radial artery diameter, and it should be evaluated with other clinical parameters in the prediction of radial artery diameter.


We investigate the effectiveness of European Structural Funds on employment, population and house prices in Local Labor Markets (LLM) located in Southern Italy. We exploit the variability in disbursements between 2007 and 2013 and estimate the impact of the interventions by allowing for LLM-specific fixed features and LLM-specific time trends. We find that the ability of these funds to offset the negative consequences of the economic crisis seems to have been limited.


While hydrogen is emerging as a clean alternative automotive fuel and energy storage medium, there are still numerous challenges to implementation, such as the economy of hydrogen production and deployment, expensive storage materials, energy intensive compression or liquefaction processes, and limited trial applications. Synthetic ammonia production, on the other hand, has been available on an industrial scale for nearly a century. Ammonia is one of the most-traded commodities globally and the second most-produced synthetic chemical after sulfuric acid. As an energy carrier, it enables effective hydrogen storage in chemical form by binding hydrogen atoms to atmospheric nitrogen. While ammonia as a fuel is still in its infancy, its unique properties render it as a potentially viable candidate for decarbonizing the automotive industry. Yet, lack of regulation and standards for automotive applications, technology readiness, and reliance on natural gas for both hydrogen feedstocks to generate the ammonia and facilitate hydrogen and nitrogen conversion into liquid ammonia add extra uncertainty to use scenarios. Unsettled Issues Concerning the Use of Green Ammonia Fuel in Ground Vehicles brings together collected knowledge on current and future prospects for the application of ammonia in ground vehicles, including the technological and regulatory challenges for this new type of clean fuel.


We introduce a novel method for encoding cost optimal delete-free STRIPS Planning as SAT. Our method is based on representing relaxed plans as partial functions from the set of propositions to the set of actions. This function can map any proposition to a unique action that adds the proposition during execution of the relaxed plan. We show that a relaxed plan can be produced by maintaining acyclicity in the graph of all causal relations among propositions, represented by the mentioned partial function. We also show that by efficient encoding of action cost propagation and enforcing a series of upper bounds on the total costs of the output plan, an optimal plan can effectively be produced for a given delete-free STRIPS problem. Our empirical results indicate that this method is quite competitive with the state of the art, demonstrating a better coverage compared to that of competing methods on standard STRIPS planning benchmark problems.


ABSTRACT Traditional historiographies of the Reformation, seeing it as a unified, directed transition from Catholicism to Protestantism, seem increasingly untenable. This article looks in detail at three individuals from the British Reformation whose careers did not fit this pattern: a Scotsman, John Eldar, and two Englishmen, John Proctor and John Redman. Enthusiasts for Henry VIII's Reformation, they found themselves alarmed, but disempowered and compromised, in the face of Edward VI's more radical religious changes. Redman died in 1551, but Proctor and Eldar both celebrated Mary I's Catholic restoration, while not entirely forgetting their Henrician sympathies. The article argues that these men represent a distinctive religious strand in Reformation Britain. Such 'latter-day Henricians' valued Henry VIII's distinctive Reformation: anti-papal, anti-heretical, sacramental, Erasmian, and Biblicist. The vicissitudes of religious politics in both England and Scotland in the 1540s and 1550s left no space for such beliefs, although the article suggests that traces of Henricianism can be seen in Elizabeth I herself. It also argues that the impotence of the latter-day Henricians under Edward VI is a symptom of the paralysing weakness of all English religious conservatives in the reign, a predicament from which they were rescued only by Mary's restoration.


Columns are the most important load bearing structural elements in buildings. Under the effect of external explosions near the building, columns in the ground and first floors may have severe damage that can cause progressive collapse of the whole building frames. Residual axial load bearing capacity of the reinforced concrete column after the effect of lateral blast loading could be a practical criterion to damage assessment of the column. This is essential to determine whether the column has to be replaced or repaired for future use. In this paper, residual axial capacity of the square RC columns under the effect of initial axial force and lateral blast loading is investigated. Explicit finite element package LS-DYNA is used for analysis of the considered models and determining their residual capacity. There are some empirical formulas for estimating of the residual axial capacity of the blast damaged RC columns including Bao and Li (2010), Wu et al (2010) and Arlery et al (2013). Here, FEM results are compared to the estimations of these formulas. Different levels of initial axial force in the columns and different scale distances of blast loading are considered. Keywords: blast loading, reinforced concrete column, residual axial capacity, LS-DYNA.


Robust data-driven insights are critical for the design, adaptation, and improvement of clinical and operational management policies governing care pathways and resource models. However, understanding the requirements for data and analysis can be challenging when faced with disruptive innovations that offer new or reconfigured services such as COVIDOximetry@Home(NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2020), and when such change impacts multiple providers in an Integrated Care System (ICS). In this report we outline measurement, monitoring and analysis of COVIDOximetry@Homeusing evidence-based practice as the underpinning foundation for PDSA quality improvement[1]. Many operational and clinical decisions should be considered, and it is the purpose of the data and analytics to offer decision makers with insights necessary to design, assessment and implement of policies for better care. ▪Clinical: predict patient outcomes; understand the efficacy of interventions at different COVID patient disease stages and associated clinical care settings▪Operational: understand how clinical services respond to workload and resources for planning, optimisation, and reconfiguration; identification and validation of processes▪Compliance: understand the degree to which services are operating according to procedures and practices▪Programme Evaluation: deliver evidence as part of programme evaluation and for sustainability investment decisionsWhilst the COVID-19 Virtual Wards Data Provision Notice (NHS Digital 2020-1) mandates the "data to be collected for the evaluation of the Virtual Wards pilot", our work puts data into the context of digital systems, and ongoing clinical and operational quality improvement. We describe the COVID19 Virtual Ward concept and clinical setting, and then elaborate the clinical, operation, compliance, and evaluation requirements. Finally, we summarise a system view from an exemplar ICS, outlining the relation between structure and data.


This article discusses a methodology for managing a mutliasset portfolio in a tax-efficient fashion. The author starts with the need to manage a taxable portfolio as a whole and avoid a focus on the optimization of individual asset classes sub portfolios. This approach involves combining individual physical securities and derivative instruments, applied to a global equity portfolio. A variety of physical and hybrid strategies are tested to evaluate the validity of the testing methodology and the value potentially added by hybrid strategies. The article concludes that investors unwilling to consider using derivative securities should lean in the direction of passive or almost passive strategies, as very little of the manager's pretax value-added seems to persist in an after-tax basis. By contrast, it demonstrates that a judicious use of derivative instruments together with physical securities may be able to preserve a meaningful fraction of the manager's alpha and thus justify confidence in active investment management strategies.


Abstract For many years the earliest record of the class Crinoidea was a single late Tremadocian genus. In the past decade, five crinoid genera were described from the early and middle Tremadocian, near the base of the Ordovician. Together these six genera represent a diverse assemblage with all but one expressing existing subclass apomorphies. Two of the recently described genera were initially assigned to their own order (plesion) Protocrinoida but not to a subclass. Here they are placed in the camerates based on apomorphies of the tegmen complex. Protocrinoids exhibit plesiomorphies unlike typical camerates. Two genera group with cladids, one expressing dendrocrinine apomorphies and the other cyathocrinine. One genus is placed within disparids, with iocrinid apomorphies. Based on its ancient age and trait mosaic, the protocrinoid Titanocrinus is designated as outgroup in a phylogenetic analysis using all other Early Ordovician and select Middle Ordovician taxa as an ingroup. Character compilation and phylogenetic analysis posit early class-level plesiomorphies inherited from an unknown ancestry but lost during subsequent crinoid evolution. Class-level apomorphies also emerge, some of which were subsequently lost and others retained. Results are generally robust and consistent with earlier subdivisions of the class, but supporting lower rank reorganizations. Strong support for the camerate branch low in the crinoid tree mirrors findings of earlier workers. Cladids branch from a series of intermediate nodes and disparids nest highest. Branching of disparids from cladids could be homoplastic.


Plasma cell gingivitis is a rare disease with unclear etiology that is characterized by plasma cell infiltration. Clinically the gingival enlargement, redness, and bleeding are seen. Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (MRS) is a disesase characterized by triad of orofacial edema, recurrent peripheral facial paralysis and fissured tongue. The aetiology and pathogenesis is unknown. Patients often present as monosymptomatic or oligo-symptomatic. Here, a case who referred for complaint of recurrent swelling of the upper lip and right cheek and diagnosed as plasma cell gingivitis and possible MRS is presented. MRS should be considered in patients with angioedema who are unresponsive to antihistamine and steroid therapy.


The effect of indigenous Trichoderma isolates against the soil-borne phytopathogen Rhizoctonia solani was investigated in dual culture and bioassay on bean plants. Ap- - plication of the bioagent isolates as a conidial suspension (3*10 7 ) greatly reduced the disease index of bean plants caused by R. solani in different rates and the most effective Trichoderma harzianum isolate (Jn14) reduced the disease by 65%. In dual culture, the T. harzianum (Jn14) overgrew the pathogen R. solani in an average of 16.75 mm/day at 30 °C. In addition, the results showed that T. harzianum (Jn14) and T. hamatum (T36) were the most effective isolates at 25°C and inhibited R. solani mycelial growth by 42% and 78% respectively, due to fungitoxic metabolites production. The Effect of Trichoderma on bean seedlings growth was obvious; height was nearly doubled (160% - 200%), while fresh and dry weights increased by 133% and 217%, respectively. Ger- mination of bean seeds in treated soil with Trichoderma isolates occurred about four days earlier than those in untreated soils. The results revealed however some variation between isolates which was due to genetic variation, mycelium-coiling rate, sporulation rate, fungitoxic metabolites, induced growth response and temperature effect.


The given research-methodic manual examines in detail the social-economic development of Russia, the history of public administration, social thinking, foreign policy etc., in the context of the reign of Alexander I and Nicholas I. In this context the correlation between the mentioned processes and the personal characteristics of the two emperors is traced. From the historiographical point of view the manual's author analyses how Alexander and Nicholas were estimated in different periods, and which aspects of their activity drew historians' attention more than others. The manual also contains a large list of literature and sources, which may be useful for a reader for a deeper studying of the subject, and methodic exercises for school lessons.


The Galactic center is dominated by the gravity of a super-massive black hole (SMBH), Sagittarius A*, and is suspected to contain a sizable population of binary stars. Such binaries form hierarchical triples with the SMBH, undergoing Eccentric Kozai–Lidov (EKL) evolution, which can lead to high-eccentricity excitations for the binary companions' mutual orbit. This effect can lead to stellar collisions or Roche-lobe crossings, as well as orbital shrinking due to tidal dissipation. In this work we investigate the dynamical and stellar evolution of such binary systems, especially with regards to the binaries' post-main-sequence evolution. We find that the majority of binaries (∼75%) is eventually separated into single stars, while the remaining binaries (∼25%) undergo phases of common-envelope evolution and/or stellar mergers. These objects can produce a number of different exotic outcomes, including rejuvenated stars, G2-like infrared-excess objects, stripped giant stars, Type Ia supernovae (SNe), cataclysmic variables, symbiotic binaries, or compact object binaries. We estimate that, within a sphere of 250 Mpc radius, about 7.5–15 SNe Ia per year should occur in galactic nuclei due to this mechanism, potentially detectable by the Zwicky Transient Facility and ASAS-SN. Likewise, we estimate that, within a sphere of 1 Gpc3 volume, about 10–20 compact object binaries form per year that could become gravitational wave sources. Based on results of EKL-driven compact object binary mergers in galactic nuclei by Hoang et al., this compact object binary formation rate translates to about 15–30 events per year that are detectable by Advanced LIGO.


To prevent or reduce the formation of burr efficiently in metal cutting, it is necessary to reveal the burr formation mechanism. A finite element model of cutting-direction burr formation in orthogonal machining was presented in this paper. The simulation of the burr formation process was conducted. Undeformed chip thickness, rake angle, rounded cutting edge radius and workpiece material were included in cutting conditions, whose influences on burr formation were investigated, according to the simulation results. By comparing the results of the simulation and the experiment, good consistency is achieved which proves that the finite element model of burr formation in this paper is significant and effective to predict burr formation.


Microorganisms associated with Pacific shrimp (Pandalus jordani) were isolated and identified. Those on the iced raw shrimp, which yielded an average count of 1.6 x 10(6), were predominantly Moraxella, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Arthrobacter, and Flavobacterium-Cytophaga spp. The blanching and peeling reduced the microbial level to 3.3 x 10(4) and also selectively eliminated Moraxella spp. The microbial flora changed after each processing sequence, and the heat sensitivity and growth characteristics of the representative microbial groups suggested that the presence of Arthrobacter and Acinetobacter spp. in peeled shrimp may indicate inadequate cleaning of raw shrimp or a shorter blanching time. The presence of Moraxella and Flavobacterium-Cytophaga spp. would indicate the degree of secondary contamination, and the presence of Pseudomonas spp. would indicate the shelf-age of the processed shrimp.


Channel capacity characterizes the maximum transmission rate that a channel can support for error-free information delivery. As the performance upper limit for arbitrary transmission system, channel capacity provides valuable guidances for real-world transceiver design. The mathematical theory of channel capacity was established by Claude Shannon in the late 1940s, through his coding theorems. The advanced modulation and coding schemes developed afterward validate Shannon's pioneering vision. Error-control coding serves an effective capacity achieving solution. This chapter studies capacity and coding for wireless fading channels. We first discuss the capacity definition and sample error-control coding schemes for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. We then present the commonly used capacity definition for both flat and selective fading channels. In addition to the ergodic capacity and capacity with outage, we also introduce and derive the optimal power and rate adaptation (OPRA) capacity. We conclude the chapter with the discussion of interleaving technique, which is widely used in wireless systems to mitigate the effect of deep fade on coded transmission.


This thesis describes how the artistic work "The Noise" came to fruition, and the emergence of the term "symphonic-fiction novel" "The Noise" is a symphonic-fiction novel, which is at heart a novel written as an E-book. It has musical tracks imbedded in the book itself that have differing connections to the words and the story of the book. In "The Noise" I've written music for a vast array of ensembles, ranging from solo piano to the full orchestraIn this thesis I explore what happens when I combine my abilities within literature with my skills in musical composition. I will also discuss similar projects as this one, both on their own and in relation to "The Noise". I will briefly discuss the finding that "The Noise" is original since it is not based on synchronization as the other projects before it. This is a thesis in composition and is therefore firmly based on the musical part of the symphonic-fiction novel, yet I will also talk about the written part of the book.Overall, I feel that the project has successfully achieved the goals specified in the objective.


In this paper we characterize the impact of imperfect communication on the performance of a decentralized mobile sensor network. We first examine and demonstrate the trade-offs between communication and sensing objectives, by determining the optimal sensor configurations when introducing imperfect communication. We further illustrate the performance degradation caused by non-ideal communication links in a decentralized mobile sensor network. To address this, we propose a decentralized motion-planning algorithm that considers communication effects. The algorithm is a cross-layer design based on the proper interface of physical and application layers. Simulation results will show the performance improvement attained by utilizing this algorithm.


This study aims to explore how the families of patients with cancer respond to and act toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use. A qualitative research design based on grounded theory was adopted in this study. Semistructured and face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted. Each participant was involved in a one-to-one individual interview. Five categories emerged regarding how the families of patients with cancer responded to and acted toward CAM use: purposes of using CAM, CAM use between patients and families, role of family caregivers, actions when using CAM, and seeking religious practice. The core category following coding emphasized the paramount importance of patients' comfort. The findings revealed that the families of patients with cancer may respond and act differently regarding patients' use of CAM. During this process, patients may not inform family members that they are using CAM. Health care professionals should consider this in their interactions with family members.


Abstract : The catalytic subunit of telomerase (TERT) is a specialized reverse transcriptase that has been associated with cell immortalization and cancer. It was reported recently that TERT is expressed in neurons throughout the brain in embryonic and early postnatal development, but is absent from neurons in the adult brain. We now report that suppression of TERT levels and function in embryonic mouse hippocampal neurons in culture using antisense technology and the telomerase inhibitor 3' ‐azido‐2' 3' ‐dideoxythymidine significantly increases their vulnerability to cell death induced by amyloid β‐peptide, a neurotoxic protein believed to promote neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Neurons in which TERT levels were reduced exhibited increased levels of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction following exposure to amyloid β‐peptide. Overexpression of TERT in pheochromocytoma cells resulted in decreased vulnerability to amyloid β‐peptide‐induced apoptosis. Our findings demonstrate a neuroprotective function of TERT in an experimental model relevant to Alzheimer's disease, and suggest the possibility that restoration of TERT expression in neurons in the adult brain may protect against age‐related neurodegeneration.


Spatial cognition and memory help to build understanding of an organism's environment. Understanding how one comes to perceive and navigate an environment can give insight into the order and disorder of environmental processing. In this thesis, c-FOS was used as a measure of neural activation in eight regions within two neural circuits involved with spatial processing. One neural circuit is thought to be involved with the processing of overall spatial scene, while the other is thought to be involved in processing object-location information. The two neural circuits of interest are begun with efferents from superficial medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and superficial lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC), with MEC leading the loop processing overall spatial scene and LEC leading the loop processing object-location information. The MEC-led loop also involves proximal cornu ammonis 1 (CA1), distal subiculum, and deep MEC. The LEC-led loop involves distal CA1, proximal subiculum, and deep LEC. Environmental enrichment (EE) was used to study these loops, as EE is thought to cause activation in these regions. EE is the provision of stimulation using an environment containing toys, ramps, and platforms. Neural activation in the neural regions was manipulated through periodic EE /or a final EE session organized as a 2x2 factorial design, with four groups: No+No, EE+No, EE+EE, and No+EE (No/EE before + references periodic EE, No/EE after + references final EE). Four hypotheses were posed, with predictions of higher activation of just the No+EE group in superficial MEC, proximal CA1, distal subiculum, distal CA1, and proximal subiculum when compared to all other groups, and predictions of higher activation of the No+EE and EE+EE groups in superficial LEC, deep MEC, and deep LEC when compared to control groups (No+No and EE+No). Significantly higher neural activation was observed in the No+EE group in comparison to all other groups in superficial MEC, proximal CA1, and distal CA1 (p = .042, p = .003, and p < SPATIAL PROCESSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT 4 .001, respectively). In superficial LEC, distal subiculum, proximal subiculum, deep MEC, and deep LEC, No+EE and EE+EE groups showed significantly higher activation than control groups (No+No and EE+EE) (p= .017, p = .007, p < .001, p = .002, and p = .006, respectively), with no significant difference between No+EE and EE+EE groups. The findings suggest neural processing in superficial MEC and LEC and proximal and distal CA1 that is in accordance with current research in the field. These results also suggest a more involved role of the subiculum in spatial processing and add to the growing body of evidence investigating the role of deep entorhinal cortex (EC) in providing contextual feedback to superficial layers.


An emittance meter for pulsed, low-energy ion beams was developed. Based on the pepperpot method, the device is compact and portable. It has been installed at the S-EBIT Laboratory at AlbaNova, Stockholm University, to measure the emittance of highly charged ions extracted from the electron beam ion trap R-EBIT and the cooling trap of the high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometer SMILETRAP II. Using a fast delay-line anode detector, the emittance and time-of-flight of the extracted ions can be measured simultaneously. In this paper, design and data processing system are described and preliminary results are presented.


Welcome to the A-State Library! This guide will help you get started navigating around the library and using its resources. It's a big place, but there's no need to be intimidated.


: Various technologies within the dental armamentarium are applied to achieve the precise tooth preparations required for the different types of restorations. This article reintroduces the air microabrasion technique, which was first presented in 1945. The popular use of this technique had been postponed, pending the decrease in cost and development of compatible restorative materials to repair the tooth structure. With increased patient demand for less invasive preparation techniques and the decrease of the equipment cost, the use of air microbrasion for tooth preparation has been recognized. The history of the technology, its function, indications, advantages, and limitations are discussed, and a step-by-step clinical procedure is presented. The learning objective of this article is to familiarize the readers with this preparation procedure, enhancing the knowledge of preparation options.


Agricultural cooperatives find it difficult to forecast their interest costs and net income. If input and output prices are fixed, anticipatory hedging of future interest costs is appropriate. Banks for Cooperatives obtain funds in maturities longer than the three months of Treasury bills. Hence, anticipatory hedging of interest rates may require selling a "strip" of more than one Treasury bill futures contract. Adapting Peck's model of hedges against forecast error, hedge ratios generally exceed one-for-one, "naive" hedging, with effectiveness generally above 95 percent. Hedges closed out just before a delivery date have the highest effectiveness.


One of the things we discovered in the course of the Bridging the Unbridgeable project is that usage guides are predominantly produced by non-specialists. There are linguists, too, who wrote usage guides – David Crystal, for instance, Pam Peters and most recently Stephen Pinker – but authors are very often journalists and novelists. Kingsley Amis (1922–1995), whose The King's English was published posthumously in 1997, is a good example, and so is Rebecca Gowers, who revised and updated her great-grandfather's Plain Words in 2014. Examples of journalists-turned-usage-guide-writers are Simon Heffer (Strictly English, 2010) and Oliver Kamm (Accidence Will Happen, 2015). Writing is their job, so it is not surprising that novelists and journalists are drawn to language prescription as well. They may not be linguists in the strict sense, but they should be considered language specialists all the same.


The study sought to evaluate the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) competencies required by Business Education lecturers in Colleges of Education in the South East of Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of 53 lecturers in the five selected Colleges of Education in the South East zone of Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation for research questions while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test. The findings of the study showed that Business Education lecturers highly require ICT competencies like Microsoft word, internet, power point, spreadsheet and Database amongst others. The study also revealed that the knowledge of these ICT competencies is highly required for effective teaching of Business Education as a subject in Colleges of Education. The study thus recommends that lecturers should be encouraged to go for in service training to enable self-paced learning through e-leaning as well as by fostering a live contact between teachers and learners through e-mail, chalk session, web based learning including the use of internet.


OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this work was to examine pediatricians' responses to behavioral health concerns raised in the context of rural primary care visits with particular focus on time spent. METHODS. Research assistants directly observed 302 patient visits in 2 rural pediatric primary care offices. The length of the visit, concerns raised, and physicians' responses were recorded. Interrater reliability, scored for 25% of observed visits, was strong. RESULTS. Behavioral, emotional, or developmental concerns were raised by either the parent or physician in 23.6% of all primary care visits observed. Approximately 9% of all visits were identified as a psychological consultation before the visit and lasted ∼7 minutes longer than visits for other reasons. Behavioral concerns were raised during ∼18% of visits not originally identified as a psychological consultation. In these cases, visit length increased by >5 minutes on average, a statistically significant difference. In addition, during these visits, discussion of behavioral concerns often consumed more than half of the visit. Data suggested that physicians were responsive to behavioral, developmental, or emotional concerns, engaging in further assessment, supportive statements, treatment, or referral in ∼97% of the visits when such concerns were raised. CONCLUSIONS. Findings converge with previous research, showing that approximately one quarter of all primary care visits involve a discussion of behavioral, developmental, or emotional concerns. Moreover, this study is the first to document the specific impact of such concerns on pediatricians' time, often sited as a key reason why they struggle to effectively identify and treat behavioral concerns presenting in primary care. These data provide a starting point for controlled studies, including comparisons of rural versus urban samples and the impact of various collaborative models of care.


This publication describes how, while learning procedures like the markup or cloture, the legislative process can seem mechanical and dry. What students hunger for, and greatly benefit from, is seeing lawmaking from the inside—the backroom politics that makes the process so fascinating, so real, so compelling. This publication drives students through one piece of legislation—the surface transportation bill—showing them the maneuvering and negotiating that go on among members of Congress and their staffers as they haggle over a huge pot of money. The bill provides an example of both sides of the domestic legislative coin, as members of Congress formulating the bill fight over both policy issues (mostly along party lines) and money (mostly along regional lines). While working on the Hill, the authors were able to follow the path of this legislation from inception to law, observing firsthand the twists and turns of its journey. While filled with details and dialogue reminiscent of a good novel, the publication is sure to explain the various rules that structure legislation, the leadership styles and strategies at play, the tensions among levels of government, and the impact of the executive. Students are not only likely to read this intriguing case study of Hill life cover to cover, but they also might seriously consider an internship or future career on the Hill. More important, they will have absorbed conceptual ideas about Congress effortlessly.


The base curves of eighteen rigid gas permeable lenses of various powers and manufactors mere measured after hydration-dehydration cycles. The Halsey Lenscope allowed measuring of the central as well as peripheral base curves. The general trend of the measurements, verified the hypothesized flattening of the central and steepening of the peripheral base curve with medium and high minus tenses. This observation might explain the clinical mystery of a measured flattened base curve accompanied by symptoms of a tight lens.


PurposeLittle is known about the experiences of school leaders adopting and implementing real-world, scaled-up physical activity interventions in the Australian educational system. Transform-Us! is a novel physical activity and sedentary behaviour intervention available to all primary schools in Victoria, Australia, since September 2018. This study explored barriers and facilitators experienced by school leaders during the adoption and early implementation phases of Transform-Us!.Design/methodology/approachQualitative study involving seven semi-structured telephone interviews with school leaders implementing Transform-Us! in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Interview schedules were developed based on the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Interviews were coded using a framework analysis approach.FindingsFour key themes emerged relating to ten of the 14 TDF domains. Themes included: knowledge, goals, implementation factors and leadership. School leaders play a central role in creating a positive implementation environment including the delivery setting (classroom) and a supportive culture (knowledge sharing) in the school. The application of the TDF to the study bridges the gap between theory and practice and identifies potential future implementation strategies which may be further tested in professional practice future studies. Recommendations for increased adoption and sustained implementation related to seven core areas: presence of a school/programme champion(s); collaborative knowledge sharing; online training; school-based workshops; promotion of behavioural and mental health outcomes; teacher autonomy in delivery; and a supportive implementation environment.Originality/valueSchool leaders have a unique scope to influence the adoption and implementation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions. This study outlines specific barriers and facilitators for implementation of a physical activity programme in the Australian educational setting and offers recommendations for programme optimisation.


The authors of this article are actively involved as teachers and administrators on a taught `Master's' degree in `International Management' at Oxford Brookes University. In this article, we offer a series of critical reflections on the educational process that has resulted from our close engagement with students on the Brookes MSc. In addition to careful personal introspection, with students' permission we draw on data collected from assignments and observation of tutor-led exercises. The outcome of our observation and reflection is twofold: (1) we find much of the existing international management literature to be considerably lacking, complacent and potentially harmful in a number of respects; (2) we report on the critical insights we have gleaned into the motives of students and tutors on this kind of programme. In response to these criticisms, we suggest educators might fruitfully seek to `repoliticize' their approach. Such re-politicization would entail two strategies: one reflexively intellectual and one directly participative. The educator might strive, for instance, to pay due reflexive deference to the historical, social and geographical context of the knowledge and skills he or she brings to the learning arena. The second strategy necessitates close encounters in the classroom: a meeting of and between tutors and students in an attempt to explore constructively and perhaps even transcend difference.


Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have transformed the field of question answering (QA). However, evaluating LLMs in the medical field is challenging due to the lack of standardized and comprehensive datasets. To address this gap, we introduce CMExam, sourced from the Chinese National Medical Licensing Examination. CMExam consists of 60K+ multiple-choice questions for standardized and objective evaluations, as well as solution explanations for model reasoning evaluation in an open-ended manner. For in-depth analyses of LLMs, we invited medical professionals to label five additional question-wise annotations, including disease groups, clinical departments, medical disciplines, areas of competency, and question difficulty levels. Alongside the dataset, we further conducted thorough experiments with representative LLMs and QA algorithms on CMExam. The results show that GPT-4 had the best accuracy of 61.6% and a weighted F1 score of 0.617. These results highlight a great disparity when compared to human accuracy, which stood at 71.6%. For explanation tasks, while LLMs could generate relevant reasoning and demonstrate improved performance after finetuning, they fall short of a desired standard, indicating ample room for improvement. To the best of our knowledge, CMExam is the first Chinese medical exam dataset to provide comprehensive medical annotations. The experiments and findings of LLM evaluation also provide valuable insights into the challenges and potential solutions in developing Chinese medical QA systems and LLM evaluation pipelines. The dataset and relevant code are available at https://github.com/williamliujl/CMExam.


Growth, is the main occupation of children to adapts its development structures above others destabilizing factors. By the age of two the average child has spent around 9,500 h dreaming. Between two and five years, a child spends 50% of time asleep. And from childhood to adolescence sleep time accounts for about 40% of child�s day. It�s easy to understand the importance of sleep during growing time. If a destabilizing mechanism appears during this period the result could move away from an harmonious growth pattern. Sleep breathing disorders (SBD) should be considered before planning orthodontic treatment. Maxillary orthodontics increase airway dimensions and reduce the pharyngeal collapsibility. People with SBD will therefore to withstand more adverse conditions during breathing and reduce the risk of suffering these events compared with untreated conditions.


Silicon offers multiple advantages to power circuit designers, but at the same time suffers from limitations that are inherent to silicon material properties, such as low bandgap energy, low thermal conductivity, and switching frequency limitations. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), provide larger bandgaps, higher breakdown electric field, and higher thermal conductivity. Power semiconductor devices made with SiC and GaN are capable of higher blocking voltages, higher switching frequencies, and higher junction temperatures than silicon devices. SiC is by far the most advanced material and, hence, is the subject of attention from power electronics and systems designers. This paper looks at the benefits of using SiC in power electronics applications, reviews the current state of the art, and shows how SiC can be a strong and viable candidate for future power electronics and systems applications.


A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), University of Hong Kong, April 30, 1992.


The 2008 volume of Contemporary Issues in International Arbitration and Mediation - The Fordham Papers is a collection of important works in the field written by the speakers at the 2010 Fordham Law School Conference on International Arbitration and Mediation.


The aim of this paper is to illustrate how System Dynamics can beneficiate small and medium international nongovernmental organisations (hereafter NGOs). As the majority of small NGOs are based on voluntary work, few adopt strategic and professional management to enhance and guarantee their sustainability. Such context rises several challenges which NGOs must learn to recognise and to face. A System Dynamics model will be presented and used as a decision-making-tool to help these organisations understanding part of the complexity surrounding them as well as some long term consequences of their actions. A case study will be presented.


The hearing assessment is an important step in detecting any possible hearing loss which leads to specific communication and speech pathologies. Different speech intelligibility tests have been developed for some languages, but calibrated materials for Romanian language were not validated until now. We used a new originally kit test containing monosyllabic and bisyllabic words from spoken language, corresponding to the normal speech. The words were filtered by special software in order to select the most common and frequency spectrum homogeneous word lists, and the audiological assessment was made in standard test conditions. The aim of the study was to mathematically assess and validate this material in Romanian language for speech audiometry. In order to do this we recorded for each list the percentage of words correctly identified by different subjects with normal hearing at different sound intensities (in dB) and we generated the corresponding curve, which was then compared with the ideal curve known from literature, corresponding to a normal hearing. The difference between these curves was calculated as a normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE), and a tested list was validated when this difference was small enough. The simulations were made in MATLAB, and we wrote a dedicated algorithm in order to generate the curves and to calculate the proposed error. We tested 260 lists, among them 85.4% were identified with a NRMSE error smaller than 15%; these lists were kept as valid, the others being reformulated. The behaviour of the valid lists was further statistically analysed, in order to prove its usefulness as a clinical tool for widely use in the evaluation of hearing loss or communication disorders.


Objective: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease frequently coexist in the elderly. Warfarin-like drugs (WLDs) may be associated with a relatively greater decrease of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as compared to direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), but there is no evidence on the medium- and long-term changes. To further elucidate this issue in elderly patients with AF, we investigated the renal function deterioration in the two groups of the study (DOACs or WLDs). Patients and Methods: A total of 420 AF patients were enrolled (mean age: 77.0 ± 6.0 years; 136 on WLDs and 284 on DOACs). These patients underwent three eGFR measurements during the follow-up period. The between-arms difference of eGFR decline over time was investigated by Linear Mixed Models and group-based trajectory model analyses. Results: In the whole study cohort, after a median follow-up of 4.9 years (interquartile range: 2.7–7.0 years), eGFR decreased from 67.4 ± 18.2 to 47.1 ± 14.3 mL/min/1.73 m2 (p < 0.001). Remarkably, patients on DOACs experienced a significantly smaller eGFR decline than WLDs patients (−21.3% vs. −45.1%, p < 0.001) and this was true both in the medium-term (−6.6 vs. −19.9 mL/min/1.73 m2) and in the long-term (−13.5 versus −34.2 mL/min/1.73 m2) period. After stratification into five subgroups according to trajectories of renal function decline over time, logistic regression showed that DOACs patients had from 3.03 to 4.24-fold greater likelihood to belong to the trajectory with less marked eGFR decline over time than WLDs patients. Conclusion: Elderly patients with AF on treatment with DOACs had a relatively smaller decline of eGFR over time compared to those on treatment with WLDs. This is consistent with what was partly reported in the literature.


Art educators commonly incorporate warm-up exercises into their classroom routine. This illustrated text presents how incorporating play and humor into the warm-up ritual can reduce students' anxiety and support creative thinking. In addition to sharing practical examples that she has used in K-12 and higher education settings, the author also provides research on the connection between playful cognitive activity and innovative problem solving. She highlights scholars who suggest that appreciating metaphorical humor and creative thinking both involve discovering unanticipated connections between seemingly unrelated things.


This article aims to focus on two main aspects of Rome urban space vision and representation through Ettore Scola's filmography: on the one hand, we try to decode the interconnections between languages and cinematic architectural space and, on the other hand, we intend to disclose how Scola meant to create a connection between his personal cinematic narrative and the tangled urban space in the city of Rome.
Our investigation is mainly focused on the so called "urban village" Palazzo Federici, a town within the city, which is the A Special Day and The Story of a Poor Young Man's main location.
Palazzo Federici is an architectural complex of 400 dwellings designed by architect Mario De Renzi and built between 1931 and 1937; it is an ideal place to describe a hive shape building, with a squared structure inspired to a small fortified town, with a central courtyard and an empty fountain, that can represent the different faces of the suffocating fascist regime. The interrelation between the social and the architectural structures and between the mental and urban space anatomies are evident in these two films.
Palazzo Federici is a protagonist in the story narrated during the visit of Hitler in Rome, the 6th May 1938, the Special Day when Antonietta (Sophia Loren) and Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni) meet, and it leads the characters as a dark set for the Story of a Poor Young Man where it describes the drama of human solitude and desperation in a labyrinthine urban environment in Rome.


Needle biopsy of small or nonpalpable breast lesions has a high nondiagnostic sampling rate even when needle position is guided by stereotaxis or ultrasound. We assess the feasibility of using a near-infrared fiber optic probe and computer-aided detection for the microscopic guidance of needle breast biopsy procedures. Specimens from nine consented patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery were assessed intraoperatively using a needle device with an integrated fiber-optic probe capable of assessing two physical tissue properties highly correlated to pathology. Immediately following surgical resection, specimens were probed by inserting the optical biopsy needle device into the tissue, simulating the procedure used to position standard biopsy needles. Needle positions were marked and correlated with histology, which verified measurements obtained from 58 needle positions, including 40 in adipose and 18 in tumor tissue. This study yielded tissue classifications based on measurement of optical refractive index and scattering. Confidence-rating schemes yielded combined sensitivity of 89% (16/18) and specificity of 78% (31/40). Refractive index tests alone identified tumor tissue with a sensitivity of 83% (15/18) and specificity of 75% (30/40). Scattering profiles independently identified tumor tissue with a sensitivity of 61% (11/18) and specificity of 60% (24/40). These results show that a biopsy needle with an integrated fiber optic probe can be used to identify breast tumor tissue for sampling. Integration of this probe into current practices offers the potential to reduce nondiagnostic sampling rates by directly evaluating in situ microscopic tissue properties in real-time, before removal.


Abstract A data analysis method aiming to support cause and effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The resulting dataset is intended as input to a visualization construct based on colour-coding CAD models. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing that the predictive capability of the created, clustered, dataset is comparable to the original, unmodified, one.


A model of spatiotemporal signal processing by the cone–horizontal cell circuit in the primate outer retina is developed and validated using measurements on the H1 horizontal cell from the literature. The model extends an earlier temporal model that mainly addressed the regulation of sensitivity by the cones. Three elements are added to the earlier model to describe the full spatiotemporal processing by horizontal cells. First, the feedback gain from horizontal cells to cones is made adaptive, depending on field size. Second, the spatial filtering by the horizontal dendritic tree is modeled as a two-component spatial filter. Third, an adaptive temporal low-pass filter is added, also depending on field size. The resulting model adequately describes all available measurements on spatiotemporal processing in macaque H1 cells. The adaptive feedback gain is argued to contribute to negative afterimages and chromatic adaptation in human vision.


In the event of a generator loss or disturbance, the power system frequency declines quickly and overall system stability is at risk. During these scenarios, under frequency load shedding is triggered to restore the power system frequency. The main stage of modern adaptive under frequency load shedding techniques is disturbance estimation. However, the swing equation is widely used in disturbance estimation but has some critical estimation errors. In this paper, instead of using the swing equation we proposed the use of a disturbance observer to estimate the curtailed power. By making use of wide area measurements, a system frequency response model, which is a representative of the whole power system, can be realized in real time. Using different power system states of the developed model, a disturbance observer can be designed as well. The main advantage of the disturbance observer is that it can accurately estimate the disturbance magnitude and its location in a very short time. Further investigations show that by using the disturbance observer disturbances, which occur at the same time or at different times in different areas regardless of the magnitude or size, accurate estimations can be made. To ascertain the efficiency of the proposed scheme, simulations are done for a four-area power system using Matlab/Simulink.


The paper describes an empirical investigation into an industrial object oriented (OO) system comprised of 133000 lines of C++. The system was a subsystem of a telecommunications product and was developed using the Shlaer-Mellor method (S. Shlaer and S.J. Mellor, 1988; 1992). From this study, we found that there was little use of OO constructs such as inheritance, and therefore polymorphism. It was also found that there was a significant difference in the defect densities between those classes that participated in inheritance structures and those that did not, with the former being approximately three times more defect-prone. We were able to construct useful prediction systems for size and number of defects based upon simple counts such as the number of states and events per class. Although these prediction systems are only likely to have local significance, there is a more general principle that software developers can consider building their own local prediction systems. Moreover, we believe this is possible, even in the absence of the suites of metrics that have been advocated by researchers into OO technology. As a consequence, measurement technology may be accessible to a wider group of potential users.


Local businesses and retail stores are a crucial part of local economy. Local governments design policies for facilitating the growth of these businesses that can consequently have positive externalities on the local community. However, many times these policies have completely opposite from the expected results (e.g., free curb parking instead of helping businesses has been illustrated to actually hurt them due to the small turnover per spot). Hence, it is important to evaluate the outcome of such policies in order to provide educated decisions for the future. In the era of social and ubiquitous computing, mobile social media, such as Foursquare, form a platform that can help towards this goal. Data from these platforms capture semantic information of human mobility from which we can distill the potential economic activities taking place. In this paper we focus on street fairs (e.g., arts festivals) and evaluate their ability to boost economic activities in their vicinity. In particular, we collected data from Foursquare for the three month period between June 2015 and August 2015 from the city of Pittsburgh. During this period several street fairs took place. Using these events as our case study we analyzed the data utilizing propensity score matching and a quasi- experimental technique inspired by the difference-in-differences method. Our results indicate that street fairs provide positive externalities to nearby businesses. We further analyzed the spatial reach of this impact and we find that it can extend up to 0.6 miles from the epicenter of the event.


Nonlinear optics is an essential component of modern laser systems and optoelectronic devices. It has also emerged as an important tool in probing the electronic, vibrational, magnetic, and crystallographic structure of materials ranging from oxides and metals, to polymers and biological samples. This review focuses on the specific technique of optical second harmonic generation (SHG), and its application in probing ferroelectric complex oxide crystals and thin films. As the dominant SHG interaction mechanism exists only in materials that lack inversion symmetry, SHG is a sensitive probe of broken inversion symmetry, and thus also of bulk polar phenomena in materials. By performing in-situSHG polarimetry experiments in different experimental conditions such as sample orientation, applied electric field, and temperature, one can probe ferroelectric hysteresis loops and phase transitions. Careful modeling of the polarimetry data allows for the determination of the point group symmetry of the crystal. In epitaxial thin films with a two-dimensional arrangement of well-defined domain orientations, one can extract information about intrinsic material properties such as nonlinear coefficients, as well as microstructural information such as the local statistics of the different domain variants being probed. This review presents several detailed examples of ferroelectric systems where such measurements and modeling are performed. The use of SHG microscopic imaging is discussed, and its ability to reveal domain structures and phases not normally visible with linear optics is illustrated.


The objective of this paper is to present a methodology and pertinent equations for performing an engineering uncertainty analysis on the savings due to a particular energy conservation measure (ECM) as compared to a baseline system. Though this study is geared toward building cooling systems, the methodology can be applied with minor modification to most building measurement and verification programs that involve performing measurements of the system, identifying a regression model, and using the model to extrapolate for future behavior once the ECM has been implemented. The methodology covers the case in which a nested model is used, as when short-term data are used to develop a model for building secondary thermal loads, which is then used to drive a model for chiller electricity use. Hence, the methodology treats measurement errors, model internal prediction uncertainty, and model extrapolation bias uncertainty in the framework of a nested model approach. A notable feature of this paper is that a nomograph, consisting of six separate interlinked graphs, has been generated based on the equations presented herein, whereby a user can graphically determine the final uncertainty in savings by selecting appropriate values of the various sources of uncertainty. The use of this nomograph is explained by means of an example.


Aiming at the coupling problems of electrical field and flow field in porous media microchannels, the mathematical model of electroosmotic(EO) flow is built. For a single microchannel, the influence of voltage on velocity and joule heat is analyzed by using CoventorWare. Numerical analysis shows that the velocity is proportional to the voltage and the joule heat is small and negligible. For the porous media, the flow rate is investigated by truncated Gaussian distribution of pore diameter. The electroosmotic microporous pump is fabricated, and the experimental results indicate that the maximum flow rate of porous media micropump is 16.89ml/min and the maximum pressure is 120.1kPa.


The yield of grain nitrogen of 24 wheat cultivars grown in the field was found to be related to the activity of the enzyme nitrate reductase (EC22.214.171.124) in the first vegetative leaf of 21-day-old plants grown in a controlled environment. It was concluded that a cultivar's potential for yielding grain nitrogen could be predicted from the activity of nitrate reductase at the seedling stage. This could enable the plant breeder to identify, early in the selection program, lines worth keeping for more advanced testing. Harvest index for nitrogen varied considerably between cultivars, but was usually largest in cultivars with large yields of grain nitrogen. Improvement in harvest index for nitrogen should go some way towards breaking the inverse relation between grain yield and grain nitrogen percentage in plants grown on a limited supply of soil nitrogen.