Objectives: Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) associated with citrus fruits has been previously reported. However, in Japan, although rare, citrus allergy is also associated with food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA). This study was done to determine whether different allergens may be involved in these two responses, and to examine cross-reactivity between popular citrus fruits and local pollen allergens. Methods: Twelve patients were studied who had a history of OAS (8 cases) or FDEIA (4 cases), and had positive IgE antibody titers or tested positive with a skin prick test to citrus antigens. Serum immunodetection assays and immunoblot inhibition assays were performed with extracted Valencia orange (rCit s 2), selected antigens in white birch pollen (WBP) and orchard grass pollen (OGP). Results: Immunodetection assays demonstrated an allergen associated with OAS as the 14-kDa protein, Cit s 2. An as yet unidentified 54-kDa protein was demonstrated in FDEIA patients. Cross-reactivity between orange and pollen antigens was confirmed by the following results: 1) Significant correlations between serum specific IgE levels for orange and OGP, 2) Immunoblot inhibition with WBP and OGP pollen antigens against rCit s 2. In Immunoblot inhibition, WBP and OGP both pollen antigens inhibited against rCit s 2. Conclusion: The main allergen of OAS induced by orange was Cit s 2, which has cross-reactivity with WBP and/or OGP in Japanese patients with orange allergy. IgE-binding protein pattern in patients with FDEIA induced by orange were different from that in OAS. A 54-kDa protein was assumed to be a candidate for clinically relevant allergens in the development of the FDEIA.


The classical maximum closure problem is of particular importance to the mining industry because it is the underlying formulation related to mine design and production scheduling; this problem can be easily solved by a polynomial time max-flow/min-cut algorithm. However, if a single capacity constraint is added to the maximum closure formulation, the classical structure is destroyed and is classified in a category of NP-hard problems. Using classical integer programming techniques to solve these formulations with capacity constraints, it can take several days to solve linear programming (LP) relaxation of the real instances. This phenomenon has hindered the development of exact optimization approaches for open pit mine design and production scheduling of realistic sized problems. In this paper, we develop an algorithm to solve the LP relaxation of the maximal closure problem with a single constraint, which is often referred to as the precedence constrained knapsack problem. The proposed algorithm expands on an existing parametric maximum flow model, and it is shown that the LP relaxation of the precedence constrained knapsack problem can be solved at the cost of only a constant factor of the worst-case time bound of the max flow algorithm. Computational results show that it is possible to solve the LP relaxation less than one minute for open pit mines with hundreds of thousands of mining blocks to be scheduled.


Purpose Pancreatic cancer is characterized by a hypoxic microenvironment and resistance to most currently available treatment modalities. Prolyl hydroxylase domain 3 (PHD3) is a rate-limiting enzyme that regulates the degradation of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and is deregulated in pancreatic cancer cells. Whether such alteration of PHD3 expression contributes to the sustained growth and radioresistance of pancreatic cancer cells remains largely unknown. Materials and methods PHD3 was overexpressed in pancreatic cancer Mia-paca2 cells via lentiviral expression. Cell cycle progression and apoptosis were assayed by flow cytometry. HIF-1α, EGFR, and PHD3 protein expression was assessed by Western blotting. Cell survival was determined in a colony formation assay. Results PHD3 overexpression suppressed HIF-1α protein expression and EGFR phosphorylation and enhanced the 2 Gy irradiation-mediated reductions in HIF-1α and phosphorylated (p)-EGFR under either normoxic or hypoxic conditions. PHD3 overexpression inhibited the growth and colony formation of Mia-paca2 cells in response to irradiation under either normoxic or hypoxic conditions. PHD3 overexpression exacerbated irradiation-induced apoptosis, with a greater effect under hypoxia than normoxia. Cell cycle distribution analysis demonstrated that PHD3 overexpression resulted in further shortened S phase and lengthened G2/M phase in response to irradiation. Conclusion PHD3 expression may contribute to the radiotherapy efficacy of pancreatic cancer cells and serve as a novel biomarker for improving radiotherapy efficacy in pancreatic cancer.


BACKGROUND
Patients with long-standing ulcerative colitis (UC) are at an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Risk stratification is important to identify patients who require more frequent endoscopic surveillance. Serrated epithelial change (SEC) found in patients with long-standing colitis may be associated with neoplasia and serve as a marker to stratify patients at higher risk of colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS
A case-control study was performed to compare the rates of neoplasia between UC patients with SEC and UC patients without SEC who were matched for age, disease duration, and disease extent. Paired tests, conditional logistic regression, and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to compare groups. A systematic review with meta-analysis was performed, combining our local data with previously published data.

RESULTS
This study included 196 UC patients without prior neoplasia, 98 with SEC and 98 without SEC. Ulcerative colitis patients with SEC had a significantly higher rate of synchronous or metachronous neoplasia than UC patients without SEC (26.5% vs 3.1%; P < 0.001). Synchronous or metachronous high-grade dysplasia and CRC were found more frequently in UC patients with SEC than UC patients without SEC (11.2% vs 2.0%; P = 0.02). A meta-analysis was consistent with these findings, showing a higher rate of neoplasia in patients with SEC compared with those without SEC (16.4% vs 3.9%; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Serrated epithelial change is associated with a significantly increased risk of synchronous and metachronous neoplasia including high-grade dysplasia and CRC in patients with UC. Histopathological findings of SEC should warrant closer endoscopic surveillance for CRC.


The relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, family history of cancer, medical history, and reproductive factors and breast cancer was investigated in a population-based case-control study of French Canadians in Montreal. In this study, a total of 414 French-Canadian cases and 429 age- and language-matched population controls were interviewed. Ever-married women showed significantly lower risk (OR: 0.64 [0.45-0.92]) for breast cancer, as did smokers (OR: 0.73 [0.55-0.98]), particularly of nonfilter cigarettes (OR: 0.36 [0.17-0.72]). Weight history, both for the year before the diagnosis of breast cancer and 10 years previously, was associated with risk for the disease. A strong inverse relationship was found between the number of full-term pregnancies (OR: 0.48 [0.28-0.82]) and the risk of breast cancer, while the p trend for late age at first pregnancy (p = 0.02) and menopause (p = 0.004) was statistically significant. A history of breast problems (OR: 1.87 [1.34-2.60]) and a history of breast cancer in relatives (OR: 2.95 [1.63-5.34]) were strongly associated with risk. This study confirms the risk factors of late age at first full-term pregnancy, nulliparity, late age at menopause, and positive family history of breast cancer in the etiology of this disease. Perhaps the protective effect of smoking against breast cancer could be due to its antiestrogenic influence.


Top-k approximate querying on string collections is an important data analysis tool for many applications, and it has been exhaustively studied. However, the scale of the problem has increased dramatically because of the prevalence of the Web. In this paper, we aim to explore the efficient top-k similar string matching problem. Several efficient strategies are introduced, such as length aware and adaptive q-gram selection. We present a general q-gram based framework and propose two efficient algorithms based on the strategies introduced. Our techniques are experimentally evaluated on three real data sets and show a superior performance.


Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) perovskite solar cells have recently attracted increased interest because of a significantly enhanced interface between perovskite and the n-type material in the active layer for efficient charge separation and increased power conversion efficiency (PCE). [6,6]-Phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) is the most commonly used n-type material in BHJ perovskite solar cells owing to its high electron mobility. However, it is very difficult to fabricate BHJ perovskite films because of the poor solubility of PC61BM in the commonly used solvent dimethylformamide (DMF). In this study, we introduced two kinds of fluorinated PC61BM (3F-PC61BM and 5F-PC61BM) as n-type materials in a BHJ perovskite film, which have higher solubility in DMF than that of PC61BM. Thus, a BHJ perovskite film can be easily fabricated in one step using a single solvent in a BHJ precursor solution system for planar perovskite solar cells. A BHJ device with a high PCE of 16.17% can be obtained by adding 0.1 wt% of 3F-PC61BM in a perovskite precursor solution to fabricate a solar cell, which outperforms the PCE of 14.12% of the pristine device. However, the addition of 5F-PC61BM decreased the PCE to lower than that of the pristine device regardless of its amount. We systematically studied the effects of the amount and type of fluorinated PC61BM on the morphology of BHJ perovskite films using SEM, AFM, GISAXS and GIWAXS. The results reveal that 3F-PC61BM can fill the pinholes between perovskite grains and passivate the defects in the pristine film. Thus, the current density (Jsc) is greatly increased. On the other hand, the self-aggregation of 5F-PC61BM in BHJ perovskite films caused the films to be full of large voids, which led to poor device performance. The dense and flat surface morphology of BHJ perovskite films containing 3F-PC61BM can also prevent the permeation of moisture into grain boundaries and enhance the device stability. Therefore, the device could maintain 80% of its original efficiency over 550 hours without any encapsulation in comparison with 240 hours for the pristine device. Our results provide a novel strategy for fabricating high-PCE and high-stability BHJ perovskite solar cells for the production of low-cost solar cells in the near future.


Smartphones are increasingly ubiquitous, and many users carry multiple phones to accommodate work, personal, and geographic mobility needs. We present Cells, a virtualization architecture for enabling multiple virtual smartphones to run simultaneously on the same physical cellphone in an isolated, secure manner. Cells introduces a usage model of having one foreground virtual phone and multiple background virtual phones. This model enables a new device namespace mechanism and novel device proxies that integrate with lightweight operating system virtualization to multiplex phone hardware across multiple virtual phones while providing native hardware device performance. Cells virtual phone features include fully accelerated 3D graphics, complete power management features, and full telephony functionality with separately assignable telephone numbers and caller ID support. We have implemented a prototype of Cells that supports multiple Android virtual phones on the same phone. Our performance results demonstrate that Cells imposes only modest runtime and memory overhead, works seamlessly across multiple hardware devices including Google Nexus 1 and Nexus S phones, and transparently runs Android applications at native speed without any modifications.


Wireless Communications is one of the fastest growing segments in the communications industry. Wireless Network is the network that facilitates communication among two or more devices connected through the standard network protocols, without network cabling. Due to the battery constrained the network performance will get reduced i.e. If the energy of the wireless sensor node (WSN's) is drained, recharging of the sensor nodes in unattended environment is very difficult. As WSN nodes are usually battery-powered devices, the important and most critical aspects to face concern is how to reduce the energy consumption of WSN nodes, so that the network lifetime can be enhanced to an extent. Routing the Data in sensor nodes plays a vital role in transferring the data to the base station (BS). Different types of routing algorithm have been used such multihopping, grid based, hierarchical based and clustering based such LEACH, HEED etc... In this we have focused on incorporating clustering technique based on evolutionary technique namely ICA cluster optimization to improve the lifetime of the sensor nodes. We compare our proposed clustering model with LEACH protocol and analyze its efficiency.


The JGP is pleased to announce that Sharona Gordon, associate professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Washington, has become an associate editor. Sharona has held a Jules and Doris Stein Research to Prevent Blindness Professorship and served with distinction on many national and institutional committees, including the National Institutes of Health/CSR Neurotransmitter Transporter, Receptors and Channels study section, the Biophysical Society Council, and the Biophysical Society Program Committee, which she has chaired for the 2012 meeting. She has been a member of the JGP Editorial Board since 2000, and in 2010 was the organizer and editor of the excellent Perspectives on Local Calcium Signaling (Gordon, 2010; JGP 136:117). Sharona brings to the editorial position a depth of research experience with cyclic nucleotide–activated and TRP channels, and a broad knowledge of neuronal signaling. She also brings to the job a special passion for the recruiting, training, and education of young scientists.

Experiment in publishing: Video summaries of articles
The editors want to notify the Journal's authors of an experiment that we will undertake in the upcoming months: the publication of video summaries of JGP articles. The Journal's goal for this voluntary effort is to enhance access to the scientific content of articles, as though the author were presenting a poster on the work to non-specialists at a general scientific meeting. As a rough guide, the Video Summary will encompass five to seven slides, including an introductory slide and one summary (or future directions) slide and will last 5 minutes. The spoken portion of the presentation should be 650–700 words, presented at a pace making it accessible to nonnative English speakers. The authors' objective in the Video Summary should be to present the question posed in the work and the main results, for example, as described in the article's abstract. Authors will be able to submit a Video Summary up to two months after an article's publication. Video Summaries will remain indefinitely accessible on the JGP website.

A Video Summary submission will comprise a written script and PowerPoint presentation that will be submitted by the authors and vetted by the editors around the time of acceptance of a paper. The authors of all accepted articles will be invited to submit a Video Summary, but the decision to do so will lie completely with the article's authors. The presenter should introduce him/herself along with the title of the paper (if desired, by talking directly to the camera), and then proceed to the introductory slide(s), which should ensure that the non-specialist can understand the point of the research and the specific question(s) it addresses. The presenter will then proceed to the key results, making sure that each item presented is clearly and concisely explained, and keeping in mind that the interested reader can always turn to the published paper to examine control experiments, statistics, etc., to assess the validity of the conclusions. The final slide of the video summary should provide bullet points and or a diagram explaining the main conclusions, and if possible some questions for future research that may have arisen from the study.

The JGP will publish a complete description of the Video Summary in the Instructions for Authors. We hope that authors will take advantage of this new option and provide the Journal's "viewership" with many stimulating and informative presentations.


In our previous paper, a new gas exchange concept termed divided exhaust period regulated two-stage (DEP R2S) system has been proposed. In this system, two exhaust valves in each cylinder are separately functioned with one valve feeding the exhaust mass flow into the high-pressure (HP) manifold, while the other valve evacuating the remaining mass flow directly into the low-pressure (LP) manifold. By adjusting the timing of the exhaust valves, the target boost can be controllable while improving the engine's pumping work and scavenging is attainable which results in better fuel efficiency from the gas exchange perspective. This paper will continue this study by adding an appropriate knock model to examine the benefits this concept could bring to the combustion phasing. The results at full load showed that under knock limited spark advance (KLSA) and fully optimized exhaust valve timing condition, the DEP R2S system benefited from lower pumping loss and better scavenging due to the reduced backpressure and improved pulsation interference despite suffering from reduced expansion ratio and expansion work. The combustion phasing was advanced across the engine speed which is mainly attributed to the reduced residual and the reduced requirement of gross indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP). The net brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was observed to improve by up to 3% depending on the engine operating points. At part load, the DEP R2S system could be used as a mechanism to extend the "duration" of the exhaust valve. This will reduce the recompression effect of the exhaust residuals during the beginning and the end of the exhaust stroke compared to the original R2S model with late exhaust valve opening and early exhaust valve opening. In addition, increased internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) due to the increased overlap between the LP and the intake valve is also beneficial for the improved pumping mean effective pressure (PMEP) as the throttle can be further opened to reduce the corresponding throttling loss. The average net BSFC improvement is expected to be approximately 6–7%.


Transcription of Herpesvirus saimiri was characterized during the initial phases of productive infection by Northern blot analyses and hybridizations of radioactive cDNA with cloned fragments of virion L-DNA. Under conditions of immediate-early transcription, e.g., blocking of viral protein synthesis by cycloheximide, a single cytoplasmic polyadenylated viral RNA of 2.7 kilobases was found in infected cells. The sequence coding for this RNA was between map units 0.89 and 0.93; it was transcribed from right to left in prototype arrangement of M-DNA. The immediate-early mRNA of lytically infected cells appeared to be very similar, if not identical, to the single viral RNA species found in lymphoid cells transformed by H. saimiri.


The assessment of biomechanical loading is quite important for exercise prescription and injury prevention in the scope of Exercise Biomechanics. The study of ground reaction forces, joint forces and joint moments of force at ankle, knee and hip, allows the understanding of the magnitude of external and internal loading experienced by the lower ex- tremity joints and the pattern of force-absorbing adjustments while performing a dynamic activity. The main purposes of this study were to compare the peak values of those forces, during the ascending and the descending phases of four Step- Exercise patterns (basic-step, knee-lift, run-step and knee-hop), performed at varying stepping-rate conditions (125, 130, 135 and 140 beats per minute), in a group of 18 skilled females. The results showed that vertical ground reaction forces and joint forces at ankle varied from: 1.6-1.7 BW (body weight) in basic-step, 1.3-1.6 BW in knee-lift, 1.7-2.1 BW in run- step and, 1.0-1.8 BW in knee-hop; vertical joint forces at knee and hip varied from: 1.5-1.7 BW in basic-step, 1.2-1.5 BW in knee-lift, 1.5-2.0 BW in run-step and, 0.8-1.8 BW in knee-hop. Significant greater values were found in run-step for all parameters. No significant differences were found among conditions of stepping-rate. The anterior-posterior forces varied from 0.2-0.6 BW considering the four movements. Significant greater values were found in the two propulsive move- ments. Also, these forces increased with faster stepping-rates. The joint moments of force varied from 0.1-1.0 Nm/BW considering the four movements. Significant greater values were found: at ankle, in basic-step and run-step; at knee, in run-step and knee-hop (ascending-phase); and at hip, in run-step. No significant differences were found among conditions of stepping-rate, at ankle and at knee (decending-phase). Joint moments increased with faster stepping-rates at knee (as- cending-phase) and at hip. The results suggest that experienced steppers are capable of stepping at different cadences, with generally similar patterns of kinematics and kinetics. We concluded that lower extremity internal loading can be ef- fectively controlled by varying stepping-rate during Step classes.


The purpose of the study aims to explore the role of advertisement on attitude s towards buying behaviour. Advertising is a growing business in India today. It has been gaining importance in its economy. Advertising is that activity by which visual or oral messages are addressed to the general public. It purposes is to inform or influence them in order to increase th e sales of the advertisement. It is done with a view to sell the goods or services, offered by the advertisers. It is a process of informing, persuading and motivating the targeted audience through effective communication. The significance of advertising continues to increase year by year. Advertising is a form of communication and used to help sell products and services. Advertisements play a crucial role to boost up any business.


Field trials were carried out over a 4 year period (2004–2007) to determine the effect of agronomic factors, specifically cultivar resistance, irrigation, crop duration and chemical control (in-furrow application of azoxystrobin), on black dot development on potato tubers grown in fields where soilborne inoculum of Colletotrichum coccodes was present. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, two field trials were performed each year and in 2007, 19 mini-field trials were carried out across Scotland and England. Cultivar resistance was clearly demonstrated to be an effective method of reducing black dot disease severity on tubers (described here as the percentage of unmarketable tubers, i.e. those with symptoms covering a surface area of >10%). In the four field trials carried out in 2004 and 2005, in irrigated and fungicide-untreated plots, 43·8% of tubers of cv. Maris Piper were unmarketable, compared with 17·0% of tubers of cv. Sante. Assessments of disease development on underground plant parts (stems, stolons and roots) revealed that cultivar resistance acted only at the tuber level, as disease symptoms on other parts were often high irrespective of published disease resistance ratings. Irrigation increased the severity of disease on tubers in two trials (England 2004 and 2006), but its effect was less significant when rainfall was high. Delaying harvest by 2 weeks increased disease severity in all six trials, whilst application of azoxystrobin consistently reduced black dot severity. There were significant interactions between factors. The results clearly show how black dot disease severity can be reduced through an integrated approach to disease management.


Carrier aggregation increases the throughput of LTE mobile networks by aggregating bandwidth at different frequencies. The theoretical effectiveness of carrier aggregation has been widely studied in the literature and operators claim it substantially increases the network data rate. However, to the best of our knowledge no practical evaluation of the performance of carrier aggregation has been performed using real traffic data. We perform a thorough measurement-based study to assess how carrier aggregation improves the service offered in selected locations in Madrid, Spain. Although the best results for data rate boost are in line with the operator claims, we find that resource usage in aggregated bands is frequently suboptimal, and higher data rates could be achieved by simply overloading a single band. On the other hand, the quality of service achieved by users effectively exploiting carrier aggregation could not be achieved without it.


An optically based rigid-body six-degrees of freedom (DOF) measurement system optimized for prospective (real-time) motion correction in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications is described. By optimizing system capabilities to the specific applications requirements, the six-DOF measurement is accomplished using a single camera and simple three-disc fiducial at rates of 50 Hz. The algorithm utilizes successive approximation to solve the three point pose problem for angles close to the origin. Convergence to submicroradian levels occurs within 20 iterations for angles in an approximate half-radian (29°) arc centered on the origin. The overall absolute accuracy of the instrument is 10-100 μm for translational and <100 μrad (0.005°) for rotational motions. Results for head nodding and speech tasks are presented for subjects in the MR scanner, and the instrument results are compared to standard prospective acquisition correction.


Objective: Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (NP) is hypothesized to have pathophysiological impact on the disease. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP), especially human beta-defensin-3 (hBD-3) and LL-37, are an important part of the multifactorial defence against microorganisms in barrier organs like the nasal mucosa. The interaction of S. aureus colonization and AMP in nasal secretions and mucosa of NP were investigated in this study. Patients and methods: AMP were quantified in nasal secretions of 13 normal controls (NC) and 12 NP patients, each with and without S. aureus colonization, by ELISA. Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the cellular sources of AMP in the nasal mucosa. To explore the AMP response of primary nasal epithelial cell cultures (NEC) towards S. aureus stimulation, a functional assay was established. Results: AMP could be demonstrated in nasal secretions of all groups without differences in hBD-3 concentrations comparing S. aureus carriers vs. non-carriers. In NC, higher LL-37 concentrations were observed in S. aureus colonized as compared to non-colonized patients. This effect was not detectable in NP patients. Epithelial cells, submucosal glands and cells of the connective tissue could be identified as sources of AMP by immunohistochemistry. An AMP response of NEC towards S. aureus stimulation was detected in all groups. Conclusion: In NP patients, LL-37 response towards S. aureus colonization is disturbed while the ability of NEC to respond on S. aureus challenge is preserved. This deregulation of the nasal barrier could be involved in the multifactorial pathophysiology of NP.


This article contrasts the predictive ability of the Fed funds futures versus the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC's) projections, as expressed in their dot plots. The results reveal that Fed funds futures are consistently better in predicting the prevailing Fed funds effective rate as compared with the standard aggregates (mean, median, and mode) of the dot plots of the Fed policy makers. This article's distinctive contribution to the literature stems from the fact that it provides evidence that the dot plots contributed a great deal toward increasing Fed transparency and are helpful in forecasting the effective Federal funds rate by the markets. One implication of these results is that dot plots should be best interpreted in conjunction with the Fed funds rates implied in the Fed funds futures contracts.


We report a study on the non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NA-MD) of the charge transfer (CT) process in the boron subphtalocyanine chloride (SubPc)/fullerene (C60) interface using our newly implemented Libra-X software package, which is based on an interface of the Libra NA-MD library and the GAMESS electronic structure software. In particular, we address the following aspects of the simulation protocol: (a) the choice of the potential used to treat interatomic interactions and its effect on the structures of the complex and CT rates; (b) the choice of the electronic structure methodology used; and (c) the choice of the trajectory surface hopping (TSH) methodology used. From our analysis of the electronic structure, we suggest that the distortion of the SubPc conical structure affects orbital localization and that the "breathing" motion of SubPc drives the CT process in SubPc/C60. This study illustrates that the choice of the TSH methodology and electronic decoherence are crucial for the CT simulation. We extend our analysis of CT in SubPc/(C60)n models by increasing the number of C60 molecules up to n = 4. We find that the details of the interfacial SubPc/(C60)n geometry determine the CT rate. Finally, we find the computed CT timescale to be in the range of 2.2-5.0 ps, which is in agreement with the experimentally determined timescale in the order of magnitude of ∼10 ps. The developed open-source Libra-X package is freely available on the Internet at https://github.com/Quantum-Dynamics-Hub/Libra-X.


The male bias of the expedition era has left its mark upon the anthropology of Polynesian culture. Until recently the objects of analysis have been almost exclusively the chiefly system and warriorhood, which were ethnocentrically interpreted. However, women were active and central in transmitting high rank and Polynesian history provides examples of women who became important chiefs. The question then arises: what in traditional society explains the prominence some females achieved? As mediators between a bounded structure and what lay beyond it, be it political authority, supranormal spheres, or Western culture-bearers, the female played a decisive role. They also acted as chiefs, sometimes even as warriors. This poses a paradox, for the structural position of women, cosmic in nature, does not allow for female chieftaincy. What is important here is a gendered category and not particular males and females. Thus, whole social groups and islands can be regarded as "warriors" or as "females." Actual women who have historically achieved chieftaincy do so as sociological males, not as females, for, while women are a means to the end of chieftaincy, chieftaincy is still gendered as male. But becoming male for a female is as possible as becoming female is for a male, just add the causative prefix 'aka and act like one.


We conducted this study to determine whether antiprothrombin antibody (aPT) [to prothrombin (PT) alone or PT/phosphatidyl serine (PS) complex] actually existed in patients with lupus anticoagulant (LA) and/or anticardiolipin antibody (aCL). aPT to PT alone was positive in 2/7 LA-positive (29%) and 3/7 LA/aCL-positive (43%) patients. aPT to PT/PS complex was positive in 4/7 LA-positive (57%) and 4/7 LA/aCL-positive (57%) patients in the presence of Ca2+. However, none of the aCL-positive patients without LA or the LA/aCL-negative patients were positive for aPT and aPT/PS. Thus, we confirmed the existence of aPT and aPT/PS specifically among LA-positive patients. However, the clinicopathological significance of aPT and aPT/PS in this clinical setting is yet to be clarified.


This study aims to identify the dominant teaching styles of the English Language lecturers as perceived by the students. This study also investigates the perception and preference of the students with respect to their English language lecturers' teaching styles. Comparisons were made between (i) male and female students' perceptions with respect to their lecturers' teaching styles (ii) male and female students' preferences with respect to their lecturers' teaching styles and (iii) the students' perceptions and preferences with respect to their lecturers' teaching styles. The teaching styles mentioned are based upon Grasha's Model (1996) consisting of Expert style, Formal Authority style, Personal Model style, Facilitator style and Delegator style. This study is a survey method using 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire as the instrument to collect data. The data collected was analysed using SPSS version 13.0. Simple random sampling was employed in this study. The samples were 175 semester 5 students from the three Engineering Departments of Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Polytechnic, Shah Alam, Selangor. Descriptive ststistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and deviation were used to describe the respondents' profile and, perceptions and preferences with respect to their lecturers' teaching styles. Meanwhile, t-tests were used to analyse the differences between (i) gender with respect to the lecturers' teaching styles, and (ii) perceived and preferred teaching styles. The results of the study showed that the three most dominant teaching styles of the lecturers perceived by the students were Expert, followed by Personal Model and then Delegator. It was also found that the students' most preferred teaching style was Facilitator style while Formal Authority style being the least preferred. In terms of gender, there was no significant difference in perceptions as well as preferences between the male and female students in any of the mean scores of all teaching styles. The students' perceptions and preferences differed significantly in all teaching styles of the Grasha's Model (1996) except for Expert teaching style. The results demonstrated statistically significant higher scores in terms of preferences to Formal Authority, Personal Model, Facilitator and Delegator styles. There was no significant difference between the students' perceptions as well as preferences for Expert teaching style.


In presented paper we propose a discrete tracking control algorithm for a two-wheeled mobile robot. The control algorithm consists of discrete Adaptive Critic Design (ACD) in Action Dependant Heuristic Dynamic Programming (ADHDP) configuration, PD controller and a supervisory term, derived from the Lyapunov stability theorem and based on the variable structure systems theory. Adaptive Critic Designs are a group of algorithms that use two independent structures for estimation of optimal value function from Bellman equation and estimation of optimal control law. ADHDP algorithm consists of Actor (ASE - Associate Search Element) that estimates the optimal control law and Critic (ACE - Adaptive Critic Element) that evaluates quality of control by estimation of the optimal value function from Bellman equation. Both structures are realized in a form of Neural Networks (NN). ADHDP algorithm does not require a plant model (the wheeled mobile robot (WMR) model) for ACE or ASE neural network weights update procedure (in contrast with other ACD configurations e.g. Heuristic Dynamic Programming or Dual Heuristic Programming that use the plant model). In presented control algorithm Actor-Critic structure is supported by PD controller and the supervisory term, that guarantee stable implementation of tracking in an initial adaptive critic neural networks learning phase, and robustness in a face of disturbances. Verification of proposed control algorithm was realized on the two-wheeled mobile robot Pioneer-2DX.


The link between armed conflict and the production and trafficking of illicit drugs has been much noted in the popular literature, and recent research tentatively indicates a link between lootable resources, including narcotics, and conflict duration. Yet the specific dynamics of the linkage between narcotics and conflict remain poorly understood. Evolving theory on the link between organized crime and terrorism enhances and supplements the debate on economic incentives in civil war, proposing mechanisms whereby insurgent groups interact with narcotics production—a crime–rebellion nexus. Studies of nine major narcotics-producing areas indicates strong support for this nexus. Rather than generating or being generated by drug cultivation, armed conflict qualitatively and quantitatively transforms existing drug cultivation. Importantly, armed conflict is itself deeply affected by the narcotics industry, which tends to strengthen the capacity of insurgent movements while weakening that of the state. A momentous aspect of the crime–rebellion nexus is the effect that the drug industry tends to have on the motivational structures of insurgent groups: criminal involvement in some instances creates an economic function of war and vested interests in the continuation of armed conflict. This has substantial implications for strategies to resolve armed conflict involving the production and trafficking of illicit drugs.


Objective To analyse the data from Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) linking HIV serological data and fertility, and to recommend new age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) ratios of HIV-positive women to HIV-negative women to be used in the WHO/UNAIDS HIV estimates. Methods The authors obtained ASFRs and ASFR ratios from HIV-infected women and HIV-uninfected women from 20 DHS surveys collected between 2003 and 2007. The authors then computed mean and median ASFR ratios, and performed general linear modelling to estimate the overall ASFR ratio for each age group, and finally performed an analysis to identify determinants to national ASFR ratio for women aged 15–19 years old. Results The overall ASFR ratio estimated by regression was highest among women aged 15–19 years old (ASFR ratio of 1.20), and decreased with age (ASFR ratio of 0.76, 0.71, 0.65, 0.59 and 0.53, respectively for every 5-year bracket of 20–44 years old). The mean and median of ASFR ratios among 20 countries were similar to the results above. The analysis suggested that country-specific proportion of sexually active women aged 15–19 years old could be a determinant of the ASFR ratio for this group. The higher proportion of sexually active women in this group suggested a lower ASFR ratio in young women. Conclusion This study confirmed previous findings of a high ASFR ratio among women younger than 20 years old, and of decreasing ASFR ratios with age among those aged 20 years or older, based on nationally representative data from a large number of countries. The study updated the assumptions used in the annual WHO/UNAIDS HIV epidemic estimates. Countries should compute their own ASFR ratio of 15–19-year-old women accounting for the sexually active rate among young females.


Gallo et al. suggest that smoking may affect the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The editorial by Weisskopf and Ascherio maintains that incidence and mortality figures are not always identical and this may complicate the analysis. Indeed, if the incidence of ALS is identical in smokers and nonsmokers, but survival is shorter in smokers, more patients will die in a given period among smokers in a given cohort, but in a steady state the incidence and mortality will be the same. Smoking is also a major contributor to stroke, supposedly by enhanced atherosclerosis. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) recent data prove that smoking increases the incidence of dementia, probably by inducing a mixed dementia combining a neurodegenerative process and vascular lesions. A vascular contribution, however, is unlikely in ALS. In Parkinson's disease (PD) smoking seems to be protective. This is surprising as both oxidative stress and vascular factors may be involved in PD pathogenesis. This led to the suggestion of an inverse causation; ie, that PD patients are less likely to smoke, perhaps reflecting personality traits. Paralleling this logic, some premorbid factors or certain biologic processes that "cause" ALS may also trigger smoking behavior years before the disease is expressed. However, if smoking "causes" ALS through an intoxicant, a dose-response relationship might be reflected as an earlier age at disease onset among smokers, as examined by us in PD. Another possibility is that smoking may unmask subclinical ALS. If the preclinical phase of ALS is long, as in AD and PD, then possibly an unknown number of preclinical ALS patients die before they are diagnosed clinically. The nicotinic effects of smoking at the neuromuscular junction could allow earlier expression of the disease, particularly of lower motor neuron manifestations. Thus, if smoking uncovers the disease, it may identify patients early and artificially increase the number of smokers diagnosed with ALS. This hypothesis can be tested (at least partially) if age at diagnosis and disease duration were provided. Thus, if smoking allows an earlier expression of the disease, the age at diagnosis should be lower among smokers. If, however, smoking accelerates the disease process, then disease duration should be reduced among smokers (although other factors may also affect survival). Thus data on age of onset and disease duration among smokers and nonsmokers would be of interest.


This paper presents a comparative study of selected global gender inequality indices: The Global Gender Gap Index (GGI); the Gender Inequality Index (GII); and the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). A Principal Component Analysis approach is used to identify the most important factors or dimensions, such as, health, social conditions and education, economic and labour participation and political empowerment that impact on gender and drive gender inequality. These factors are compared with the Sustainable Development Goal targets to assess how well they align. The findings show that while economic participation and empowerment are significant factors of gender equality, they are not fully incorporated into gender equality indices. In this context, the paper also discusses the absence of international trade, a key driver of economic development, from the gender equality measures and makes some tentative recommendations for how this lacuna might be addressed.


General Game Playing is the design of AI systems able to understand the rules of new games and to use such descriptions to play those games effectively. Games with imperfectinformation have recently been added as a new challenge forexisting general game-playing systems. The HyperPlay technique presents a solution to this challenge by maintaining a collection of models of the true game as a foundation for reasoning, and move selection. The technique provides existing game players with a bolt-on solution to convert from perfect-information games to imperfect-information games. In this paper we describe the HyperPlay technique, show how it was adapted for use with a Monte Carlo decision making process and give experimental results for its performance.


The Netherlands reformed its disability insurance (DI) scheme in 2006. The reform increased the period on sickness benefits from 12 to 24 months. Access to disability benefits after this period became more difficult and the benefits became less generous. Using administrative data on all individuals who reported sick shortly before and after the reform, we study the impact of the reform on labor participation of individuals who fell sick and their spouses during the next ten years. Difference-in-differences estimates imply that the reform increased the labor participation of sick individuals and their spouses by 1.1 and 0.9 percentage points, respectively. Both effects are persistent in the years following the reform. We interpret the effect on the spouse as an "added worker effect" where additional earnings of the spouse compensate the sick individual's income loss so that both partners share the burden of a more stringent disability scheme. This interpretation is confirmed by estimations that distinguish between individuals who had a permanent work contract, a temporary contract, or were unemployed when falling sick. It is also in line with differences between reform effects on sick individuals with and without a spouse.


In this article we introduce the themed issue 'Mediated Mobilities'. We begin by articulating some of the potential relationships between media and mobility critically addressing the key conceptual distinctions that underpin them and the methodological demands placed on media studies when exploring the complex ways in which mobility is embedded in contemporary media ecologies. In the first instance we consider precisely what is meant by mobility, and, more specifically, interrogate the dynamic relationship between mediated mobility and immobility. We then move on to develop a methodological framework or agenda for research on mediated mobilities. This framework traces how existing analytical trajectories in media studies research need to be developed and synthesized in order to be able to account for the multiple modes of mobility facilitated by media technologies, texts, institutions and audiences. In the last part of the article we examine the development of innovative methodologies and forms of analysis that give emphasis to movement and trajectory, but also human and algorithmic agency.


This paper presents a numerical study to investigate the feasibility of transporting water mist to the rotating blades of a high-pressure turbine. The idea of using mist film cooling to enhance conventional air cooling has been proven to be a feasible technique under laboratory conditions. However, there are challenges in implementing this scheme for real gas turbine systems. The first challenge is how to transport the mist to the rotating blades and the second challenge is delivering the mist to the injection holes and getting the particles to survive within the harsh gas turbine environment. Both a zero-dimensional mist evaporation analytical model and a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) scheme are employed for analysis. In the CFD simulation, the Lagrangian–Eulerian method is used along with the discrete phase model (DPM) to track the evaporation process of each individual water droplet. For transporting the mist to the blades, the high-pressure water mist is injected into the stream of cooling air extracted from the compressor through two different passages. The first passage passes through the rotor cover-plate cavity before entering the blade base. The second passage passes through a diaphragm box on the base of the second vane, then tangentially through a cooling passage in the rotating shaft, and eventually to the blade base. The results show that it is feasible to transport the mist from the turbine casing to the blade through both passages, provided that droplets with sufficient particle diameter and mist loading are used. The shorter passage, through the nozzle diaphragm, alleviates a lot of challenges facing the passage through the blade cavity and seems to be more practical. A side benefit of transporting mist through the internal passages is the additional cooling of the preswirler and rotor cover plates. The results are encouraging for implementing the mist cooling technique under real gas turbine conditions.


ABSTRACT This paper examines the external validity of health intervention by comparing the impacts of providing free eyeglasses on the educational performance of nearsighted children in two settings: rural public schools in Western China and urban private migrant schools in Eastern China. The intervention significantly improves educational outcomes by 0.14 standard deviations in math in rural public schools but not in private migrant schools. The difference in measured impacts is due in part to lower quality schooling in migrant schools in Eastern China. Our findings show that only when school is providing a quality education, health interventions might increase student learnings.


The purpose of this research is to gather information about the costs per fatality of traffic accidents in various nations. The values adopted by the authorities in different countries are analyzed and compared, and the estimation methods are also analyzed and compared. Comparisons are performed between different countries and over time, for the time period 1990-1999.


In this diachronic study of dialogic features in football, articles from three different sports events have been focused: The World Cups 1958, 1974 and the Euro Cup 2004. This period of almost 50 years distinguishes itself as a time period when new channels for communication have emerged: television, Internet, computer-mediated communication. This has made it possible to bridge the gulf between the communicators. Dialogue features such as questions, directives, addressing the readers with you (second person singular) and using an inclusive we are numerous in the football articles studied. The articles show an increasing tendency to address the readers with you in the articles from Euro 2004. Moreover, the sports writers refer to given responses from readers in the articles from 2004.


Pyrrhotite [1] is a common ferrimagnetic mineral in terrestrial rocks and has been identified recently as the major remanence carrier in Martian rocks, as in SNC (Shergotty-Nakhla-Chassigny) type meteorites. This compound undergoes a low temperature magnetic transition around 32 K with a change in the natural magnetic remanence [2]. This transition is going to be of growing importance in paleomagnetism and rock magnetism. To determine the structure change at 32K neutron diffraction was performed on two crystal samples at 50K and 20K (D10-ILL). Based on the magnetic torque measurements, performed on the same samples, a model of low-temperature triclinic structure was build. This model, explains previous Mössbauer experiments [4], the torque measurements, the magneto-crystalline anisotropy decreasing.


We study the consequences of substituting an error-laden proxy W for an instrument Z on the interpretation of Wald, local instrumental variable (LIV), and instrumental variable (IV) estimands in an ordered discrete choice structural system with heterogeneity. A proxy W need only satisfy an exclusion restriction and that the treatment and outcome are mean independent from W given Z. Unlike Z, W need not satisfy monotonicity and may, under particular specifications, fail exogeneity. For example, W could code Z with error, with missing observations, or coarsely. We show that Wald, LIV, and IV estimands using W identify weighted averages of local or marginal treatment effects (LATEs or MTEs). We study a necessary and sufficient condition for nonnegative weights. Further, we study a condition under which the Wald or LIV estimand using W identifies the same LATE or MTE that would have been recovered had Z been observed. For example, this holds for binary Z and therefore the Wald estimand using W identifies the same "average causal response," or LATE for binary treatment, that would have been recovered using Z. Also, under this condition, LIV using W can be used to identify MTE and average treatment effects for e.g., the population, treated, and untreated.


Randomised Clinical Trials (RCT) are one of the most powerful tools of medical re- search and provide the basis for changing clinical practice. In oncology, the RCT is of particular importance in searching for new therapies and treatment approaches for patients diagnosed with cancer. Many of these trials have overall survival as a primary endpoint and are often designed with marginal e�ects being of clinical interest. As a result trials are typically large and are expensive in both time and money.
Given the substantial cost involved in running clinical trials, it is an ethical imper- ative that statisticians endeavour to make the most e�cient use of any data obtained. A number of methods are explored in this thesis for the analysis of survival data from clinical trials with this e�ciency in mind. Statistical methods of analysis which take account of extreme values of covariates are proposed as well as a method for the analysis of survival data where the assumption of proportionality cannot be assumed. Beyond this, Bayesian theory applied to oncology studies is explored with examples of Bayesian survival models used in a study of pancreatic cancer. Also using a Bayesian approach, methodology for the design and analysis of trial data is proposed whereby trial data are supplemented by the information taken from previous trials. Arguments are made towards unequal allocation ratios for future trials with informative prior distributions.


A subfield of artificial intelligence is that of natural language processing and sentiment analysis. The interest in sentiment analysis has increased with the development of the internet and web 2.0. With sentiment analysis it is possible to analyse the sentiment or emotions of written communication through dictionary-based sentiment analysis or machine learning algorithms. However, sentiment analysis also holds the potential of supporting people with disadvantages in interpreting the nuances in written communication. One such group is autistic people. The aim of the study is to examine autistic peoples' perceptions of important design factors and functionality for an application with sentiment analysis to support emotional navigation in written communication.
This study has been conducted with the first steps of design science to outline the requirements of a potential application that can support autistic people to navigate the emotions in written communication with sentiment analysis. The problem to be addressed was identified through related research and one of authors' own experience of navigating written communications with autism. The requirements for the application were the main focus for this study and has been the primarily concern for data collection. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with autistic people and analysed with thematic analysis.
Results of the study provide several important recommendations for the design of applications with sentiment analysis to support autistic people navigate the emotions in written communication. The study further provides an understanding of autistic peoples' needs when navigating written communication. These findings can be used by researchers and developers to design support-applications with autistic peoples' needs in the centre. An interesting next step of research would be to develop a prototype with the findings of this study addressed in the application's functionality and design, which could then be evaluated on a larger scale.


Co-existence of chylothorax and chyloabdomen is a rare clinical entity. Apart from surgery and extra-surgical trauma, malignancies, liver cirrhosis, nephrotic syndrome, thrombosis in the superior vena cava and acute pancreatitis play roles in the etiology. The case presented in this article was a 35-year-old woman, and the chronic infectious pathology in the cytology, plus the other supportive nonspecific infection parameters prompted us in establishing this diagnosis. Obstruction in the abdominal lymphatics leads to chylous ascites and chylothorax develops in due course. Similar to our case, the clinical entities of chylothorax and chyloabdomen of nonspecific infectious origin may co-exist in the same patient.


Objective To identify the factors associated with cesarean sections in a high complexity university hospital in southern Brazil. Methods Cross-sectional study carried out at the Obstetric Hospital Unit of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Data were gathered from questionnaires carried out with 361 puerperal women and maternal and neonatal records, from February to April 2013. For the analysis, Prevalence Ratio through Univariate Poisson Regression was used. Results The prevalence of cesarean sections was 31%. The category of hospitalization, cervix dilation and its characteristics, fetal presentation, and uterine dynamics, at the time of admission, were statistically related to cesarean sections; not having a previous cesarean section and night shift (from midnight to 6AM) were protective factors. Conclusions The prevalence of cesarean sections is above the rate recommended by the World Health Organization, but it is similar to rates found in other university hospitals, thus pointing out the need for the proposition of actions aimed at improving this indicator.


This paper uses data from the Argentine House of Representatives to study the relationship between legislative effort and political success, as measured by reelection, becoming a leader of the House, and moving to higher political positions. It is found that more effort is associated with a higher probability of being reelected, and also that for those legislators that are reelected, higher effort is positively associated with acquiring leadership positions in the House. This happens in a context of fairly high legislative turnover and in a political context in which career paths of legislators are largely dictated by provincial party leaders. Interestingly, it is found that higher legislative effort is associated with a lower probability of improving politically outside Congress. These findings suggest the presence of various alternative career paths for Argentine politicians, and some degree of sorting. The paper concludes with some speculation on these politician types and with ideas for further research.


Economic choices depend on our predictions of the future. Yet, at times predictions are not based on all relevant information, but instead on the single most likely possibility, which is treated as though certainly the case— that is, digitally . Two sets of studies test whether this digitization bias would occur in higher-stakes economic contexts. When making predictions about the future asset prices, participants ignored conditional probability information given relatively unlikely events and relied entirely on conditional probabilities given the more likely events. This effect was found for both financial aggregates and individual stocks, for binary predictions about the direction and continuous predictions about expected values, and even when the "unlikely" event explicitly had a probability as high as 30%; further, it was not moderated by investing experience. Implications for behavioral finance are discussed.


A practicum was designed to intervene and assist borderline elementary school RSP (Resource Specialist Program) students in special education classes and/or through extra assistance within the r4,ular classroom. Borderline RSP students who had been referred to the Student Study Team (SST) for below-grade-level scores and classroom functioning in reading and related subject areas were placed in the RSP pull-out program. The 11 students worked in an elementary school RSP classroom 3 days a week for 3 months to improve their phonetic skills and other areas of language arts. One day for a week for 3 months, the resource specialist and her aide presented enrichment lessons coupled with cooperative learning activities to school-based RSP students ald regular classroom students. Practicum results were positive. Studeats' attitudes about reading, school, and related subjects after the intervention were generally positive. Most of these students were able to receive a passing score by decoding words. The combination of RSP services to remediate decoding skills and other weak areas in language arts, as well as the cooperative learning experiences in the regular classroom, helped to improve the school-based borderline RSP students' attitudes about school and reading. Findings provide support for the use of school-based provision for borderline RSP students' early enrollment in the program. Seven tables and one figure are inclu;ed; special education terms and abbreviations, forms related to the program, a decoding word list work sample, and a questionnaire are attached. Contains 41 references. (Author/RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Improving Attitudes and Reading Skills of Prospective RSP Students by Using Direct Instruction and Cooperative Learning Techniques in Regular and RSP Classrooms


A large microsatellite data set from three species of bear (Ursidae) was used to empirically test the performance of six genetic distance measures in resolving relationships at a variety of scales ranging from adjacent areas in a continuous distribution to species that diverged several million years ago. At the finest scale, while some distance measures performed extremely well, statistics developed specifically to accommodate the mutational processes of microsatellites performed relatively poorly, presumably because of the relatively higher variance of these statistics. At the other extreme, no statistic was able to resolve the close sister relationship of polar bears and brown bears from more distantly related pairs of species. This failure is most likely due to constraints on allele distributions at microsatellite loci. At intermediate scales, both within continuous distributions and in comparisons to insular populations of late Pleistocene origin, it was not possible to define the point where linearity was lost for each of the statistics, except that it is clearly lost after relatively short periods of independent evolution. All of the statistics were affected by the amount of genetic diversity within the populations being compared, significantly complicating the interpretation of genetic distance data.


Farmers produce products for markets that demand food safety and environmental sustainability, while working in a world challenged by a changing climate and decreasing water and energy resources. To meet these challenges they need to adapt and change their farming practices. We argue that studying farmer orientation from the perspective of 'good farming' offers an improved understanding of change in farm practices. In this article we develop the concept of 'breadth of view' to account for how farmers view the impact of their farming practices on social and environmental wellbeing, We then link this cultural capital to their self ascribed adaptive propensity and financial emphasis. Factor and cluster analysis of farmer survey data identified four clusters of farmers each with different combinations of levels of cultural capital to do with social and environmental breath of view, adaptive propensity and financial emphasis. By considering the sheep/beef farmers from the ARGOS programme within these survey clusters we were able to associate the overall attitudinal qualities of each cluster with on-farm environmental and financial practices and outcomes. One cluster, which had the highest adaptive propensity and the highest social and environmental breadth of view achieved some higher environmental and economic outcomes on their farms. Using our knowledge of the farmers in this cluster we were able to ascertain the nature of their adaptation to demonstrate how they did things that were unthinkable to other farmers. The results are interpreted in terms of how breadth of view may have different effects, that is, be either a source of new ideas or a driver of conformity, and also to show how farmers may be able to achieve the unthinkable, suggesting it is possible for farmers to farm environmentally, socially and economically sustainably in quite different ways.


Multiple description coding (MDC) is an error-resilient scheme for transmission over packet erasure channels. In this paper, we propose a channel-balancing scheme for the transmission of an MDC source over time-varying channels, such as wireless links. We consider a system in which there are more subchannels than the number of descriptions and the transmission rate is adapted to the channel variation. The proposed balancing scheme is based on the polynomial-time set-partitioning algorithm using the differencing method. It is shown that the proposed scheme results in a low-delay and high-throughput transmission, which is desirable for real-time multimedia content delivery over wireless channels.


Quantitative Methods is a comprehensive guide to the techniques any student of business or finance is likely to need. The authors' coaching, learning-by-doing approach coupled with the text's clear structural outline makes these essential mathematical skills far less daunting. В A bestselling and popular text in its previous editions, it has been fully updated with: В * new 4 color text design* New and improved Companion Website* More empirical examples, from across the business, management and finance spectrum* VLE-compatible web content for Blackboard and WebCT* Updated commands and exercises in light of new version Excel and SPSS* New content on: data mining, OLAP, text mining, non-parametric methods, index numbers, productivity software tools.With its learn-by-doing approach, this guide will appeal to a wide audience, from undergraduates of business and finance to postgrad students studying quants.


Numerical simulations of evolving atmospheric phenomena are considered. The height of the vortices
is small with respect to their width and depending on the atmospheric phenomenon being
considered can have a diameter of hundreds if not thousands of kilometres. They can therefore be
thought of as large flat structures in a shallow atmosphere. A weakly compressible atmosphere is
assumed for both Earth-bound and Saturn simulations. The atmospheric fluid motion is subject
to the Coriolis pseudo-force, due to atmospheres being in a non-inertial rotating reference frame.
The simulations involve reducing the fully spherical nature of the atmosphere to a localised region,
so that the commonly used 'tangent plane' approximations apply. The advantage of using 'tangent
plane' approximations is that necessary spheroidal effects can be studied using Cartesian based
equations. Three types of 'tangent plane' approximations are used, (i) the f-plane, where the
Coriolis parameter is assumed constant over the entire region; (ii) the β-plane, where the Coriolis
parameter varies linearly with latitude and (iii) the δ-plane, which is a high latitude approximation
where quadratic effects of the Coriolis term are accounted for.
Large-scale low-pressure systems in the atmosphere are occasionally observed to possess
Kelvin-Helmholtz fingers spiralling outwards, and an example is shown in this thesis. However,
these structures are hundreds of kilometres long, so that they are necessarily affected strongly
by non-linearity. They are evidently unstable and are commonly observed to dissipate after a few
hours, and in rare cases may last for days. A model for this phenomenon is presented in this thesis,
based on the usual f-plane equations of meteorology, assuming an atmosphere governed by the
ideal gas law. Large-amplitude perturbations are accounted for, by retaining the equations in their
non-linear forms, and these are then solved numerically using a spectral method. Finger formation
is modelled as an initial perturbation to the nth Fourier mode, and the numerical results show that
the fingers grow in time, developing structures that depend on the particular mode. Results are compared with predictions of the β-plane theory and there is close alignment with f-plane results
at mid-latitudes. An idealized vortex in the northern hemisphere is considered, but the results are
at least in qualitative agreement with an observation of a system in the southern hemisphere.
Vortices in the atmosphere are rarely observed to be singular entities. Thus the non-linear behaviour
of interacting mid-latitude vortices is also investigated. The vortices studied are coupled
binary systems and the high- or low-pressure in each vortex is modelled initially using an exponential
function. Non-linear results in the f-plane approximation are discussed at mid-latitudes.
It is found that the vortices do or do not interact, depending on their initial radii and the location
of their centres. A scaling law is found numerically for the ratio of these two quantities, which
determines whether interaction does occur at the approximate mid-latitude 43°N. An approximate
rule has been developed, to generalize the scaling law to other latitudes.
Atmospheric vortices are rarely circular structures and have been observed to have a definite
polygonal form. Saturn's North Polar Hexagon is an example of such a vortex, and was discovered
by Godfrey [31] who pieced together map projections of images captured by the Voyager
mission to unveil a hexagonal structure over the north pole of Saturn. This thesis attempts to answer
whether or not a hexagonal structure can be formed through anti-cyclones impinging on the
dominant eastward circumpolar flow and is in part based upon the proposed theory by Allison et
al. [1] that the Hexagon may be the result of at least one impinging anti-cyclone perturbing a
circumpolar jet centrally located around the 76°N latitude. A high-latitude δ-plane approximation
is used to simulate the interaction between an initially circular circumpolar jet and at least one perturbing
anti-cyclone. The simulations with one perturbing anti-cyclone failed to form a hexagonal
structure; yet by including an additional anti-cyclone it was found that depending on the strength,
location and radius of the perturbing anti-cyclones a hexagonal feature could develop. However,
the longevity and drift rate of the actual Hexagon must be attributed to other factors not considered
in this thesis.


Although gastroesophageal reflux disease is among the most common disorders seen by gastroenterologists, the wide variation in both its symptoms and severity has led to a lack of consensus about the most appropriate practical approach to treatment of patients with acute symptoms. This review considers the efficacy of the most widely used pharmacologic agents in the acute treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease: H2-receptor antagonists, proton-pump inhibitors, and prokinetic agents. Possible treatment strategies in which they may be used are discussed and it is proposed that individualized treatment strategies should be developed based on symptoms and severity of disease. Emphasis is placed on the fact that, given the wide variety of effective agents available, the use of the same agent in every patient, regardless of their symptoms, is a most inappropriate approach. A stepwise approach to therapy utilizing a number of drug classes is discussed and the rationale for and appropriate use of both a 'step-up' and 'step-down' approach is considered.


In this work, was proposed to produce nanosized α-Al2O3 powder from precipitation reactions, in order to reduce the alumina ceramics sintering temperature. For this an addition of nanosized powder in the commercial microsized powders was done. The nano and microsized powder particle mixtures were obtained by precipitation of nanosized aluminum hydroxide in microsized Al2O3 in liquid suspension. Several compositions of nano and microsized powders were carried out. These powder compositions were based on data of simulated particle packing. The nano and microsized powder mixtures was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TGA and DTG). The powder mixtures were compacted by uniaxial (75MPa) and isostatic (300MPa) pressing, producing cylindrical samples. The powder compacted samples were sintered at 1400oC. Sintered ceramics were characterized by XRD and SEM. The results showed that the higher density of sintered ceramic was obtained for 65% of microsized powder and 35% of nanosized powder mixture. This composition of size of particles of the powder was in agreement with the theoretical simulation.


Vessel segmentation algorithms are critical components of circulatory blood vessel analysis systems. We present a survey of vessel extraction techniques and algorithms, putting the various approaches and techniques in perspective by means of a classification of the existing research. While we target mainly the extraction of blood vessels, neurovascular structure in particular we also review some of the segmentation methods for the tubular objects that show similar characteristics to vessels. We divide vessel segmentation algorithms and techniques into six main categories: (1) pattern recognition techniques, (2) model-based approaches, (3) tracking-based approaches, (4) artificial intelligence-based approaches, (5) neural network-based approaches, and (6) miscellaneous tube-like object detection approaches. Some of these categories are further divided into sub-categories. A table compares the papers against such criteria as dimensionality, input type, preprocessing, user interaction, and result type.


The most fascinating feature of time is that there is no time at all. This study introduces the concept of event-driven time. Time is considered a count of changes or events that set up a local "clock" in each system. With such an approach, every system runs its own local time. Time does not exist without changes in the system. As two systems interact, they generate a sequence of interaction events that are being added to the internal pool of events in each system. Any observation is made with the local time of the observer system and this fact changes the observer's local time by adding observation events to the observer's time count. Local time in any finite and closed system is finite and obeys the saturation principle due to limitations of the event counting capacity of the system. Traditional continuous time is a convenient approximation for the enormous number of events occurring in our world that set up our local "clock". The event-based approach does not conflict with modern physics but proposes a new view of the fundamental notion of time and brings us one step closer to understanding the world in which we live. The greatest mystery of the notion of time is that there is no time at all.


A 52-year-old female complained of lumbago and weakness in the lower extremities 6 days after craniotomy for clipping an aneurysm. Neurological examination revealed symptoms consistent with lumbosacral cauda equina compression. The symptoms affecting the lower extremities spontane ously disappeared within 3 days. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging 10 days after the operation demonstrated a lumbar spinal subdural hematoma (SSH). She had no risk factor for bleeding at this site, the symptoms appeared after she began to walk, and MR imaging suggested the SSH was subacute. Therefore, the SSH was probably due to downward movement of blood from the cranial subdural space under the influence of gravity. SSH as a complication of cranial surgery is rare, but should be con sidered if a patient develops symptoms consistent with a lumbar SSH after craniotomy.


4–6 December 2013, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, in cooperation with the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), organised the workshop Strengthening Police Oversight and Accountability in Southern Africa , with financial support from Swedish Development Cooperation. The workshop was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was attended by parliamentarians from southern Africa, representatives of the SADC PF Secretariat, civil society organisations with an interest in police oversight and human rights, and national human rights institutions from the region as well as other experts on police oversight. The workshop provided a forum for practice-oriented discussions on police oversight, and aimed at stimulating the increased involvement of regional and national stakeholders in promoting policing in southern Africa that is accountable and meets international human rights standards. The workshop concluded with the development of a draft plan of action to strengthen parliamentary oversight of police at the national and regional levels. This report is a joint publication developed by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and APCOF. It serves to summarise the workshop deliberations, and to present the recommendations stemming from the workshop. The report is available in a three language version; English, French and Portuguese.


Experiments were performed comparing the response of fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) to vertical geophones installed on the surface. The DAS consisted of an optical interrogator attached to an optical fiber. The fiber was part of an optical cable that was installed at depths of 0.3 to 0.76 meters in a coastal environment composed of unconsolidated sand. Seismic signals generated with an impact hammer were recorded simultaneously with both systems and directly compared. Experiments were performed with two different configurations, broadside and end-fire, between the source and the fiber optic cable. The seismic signals recorded in the two configurations and with the two sensor systems were processed identically using the Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave method. The results demonstrate the suitability and limitations of using DAS for near-surface seismic measurements.


Common sense in designing a stability control system for hydraulic servo systems (HSS) is performed by evaluating the bode diagram of open- and/or closed-loop control systems. In this paper, using MATLAB to determine the open-loop transfer function, combined with extreme pzmap to analyze the distribution and stbility of its open-loop system in nyquist maps, and time-domain analysis and performance comparison. The method by developing bode and nyquist stability-criterian, is an intuitive and very easy to determine the stability of the system.


Story link detection is part of a broader initiative called Topic Detection and Tracking, which is defined to be the task of determining whether two stories, such as news articles or radio broadcasts, are about the same event, or linked. In order to mine more information from the contents of the stories being compared and achieve a more high-powered system, motivated by the idea of the word co-occurrence analysis, we propose our dynamic co-occurrence, which is defined to be a pair of words that satisfy certain relation restriction. In this paper, relation restriction refers to a set of features. This paper evaluates three features: capital, location and distance. We use dynamic co-occurrence in the similarity computation when we apply it in the story link detection system. Experimental results show that the story link detection systems based on the dynamic co-occurrence perform very well, which testify the great capabilities of the dynamic co-occurrence. At the same time, we also find that relation restriction is critical to the performance of dynamic co-occurrence.


Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) is associated with increased vascular resistance due to sustained contraction and enhanced proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC); the abnormal tone and remodeling in the pulmonary vasculature may relate, at least in part, to decreased cyclic nucleotide levels. Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs), of which 11 families have been identified, catalyze the hydrolysis of cAMP and cGMP. We tested the hypothesis that PASMC isolated from patients with PHT, either idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) or secondary pulmonary hypertension (SPH), have increased expression and activity of PDE isoforms that reduce the responsiveness of agents that raise cellular cAMP. Real-time PCR and immunoblotting demonstrated that the expression of PDE1A, PDE1C, PDE3B, and PDE5A was enhanced in PASMC from both IPAH and SPH patients compared with control PASMC. Consistent with this enhanced expression of PDEs, agonist-stimulated cAMP levels were significantly reduced in IPAH and SPH PASMC unless a PDE inhibitor was present. The use of specific PDE inhibitors revealed that an increase in PDE1 and PDE3 activity largely accounted for reduced agonist-induced cAMP levels and increased proliferation in IPAH and SPH PASMC. Treatment with PDE1C-targeted small interference RNA enhanced cAMP accumulation and inhibited cellular proliferation to a greater extent in PHT PASMC than controls. The results imply that an increase in PDE isoforms, in particular PDE1C, contributes to decreased cAMP and increased proliferation of PASMC in patients with PHT. PDE1 isoforms may provide novel targets for the treatment of both primary and secondary forms of the disease.


The next-to-next-to-leading order spin1-spin2 potential for an inspiralling binary, that is essential for accuracy to fourth post-Newtonian order, if both components in the binary are spinning rapidly, has been recently derived independently via the ADM Hamiltonian and the Effective Field Theory approaches, using different gauges and variables. Here we show the complete physical equivalence of the two results, thereby we first prove the equivalence of the ADM Hamiltonian and the Effective Field Theory approaches at next-to-next-to-leading order with the inclusion of spins. The main difficulty in the spinning sectors, which also prescribes the manner in which the comparison of the two results is tackled here, is the existence of redundant unphysical spin degrees of freedom, associated with the spin gauge choice of a point within the extended spinning object for its representative worldline. After gauge fixing and eliminating the unphysical degrees of freedom of the spin and its conjugate at the level of the action, we arrive at curved spacetime generalizations of the Newton-Wigner variables in closed form, which can also be used to obtain further Hamiltonians, based on an Effective Field Theory formulation and computation. Finally, we make use of our validated result to provide gauge invariant relations among the binding energy, angular momentum, and orbital frequency of an inspiralling binary with generic compact spinning components to fourth post-Newtonian order, including all known sectors up to date.


This paper examines the Parmalat case, with particular regard to the accounting and corporate governance issues which caused the scandal. The aim of the paper is to understand why the financial reporting system and the corporate governance system have failed in the Parmalat case. It describes the ownership and control structure at Parmalat, with special attention to the role of the Tanzi family as ultimate controlling shareholder. It argues that although financial misreporting is the most evident issue, it is not due to a lack of the generally accepted accounting principles that allowed Parmalat to obscure its true financial position. The role of the board of statutory auditors, the auditing firm, and the board of directors is examined to describe the failure of these gatekeepers. The paper also investigates the role of demand side information agents, with a particular focus on financial analysts, and discusses to what extent an external analyst could have been suspicious of Parmalat's reported economics and financial results.


Abstract : The implications for determining whether wnt-5a and wnt-4 act as mediators of normal cell growth are relevant to the detection, diagnosis, and the treatment of breast cancer. That is, it is important ultimately to understand whether the inappropriate downregulation of certain wnt-genes that are spatially-temporally expressed in developing mammary glands, such as wnt-5a and wnt-4, leads to loss of growth control. C57MG mammary epithelial cells have recently been found to endogenously express wnt-5a and wnt-4 whose RNA levels are reduced in the presence wnt-gene family members which transform this cell line. The intent of this proposal has been to develop new cell lines by transfecting C57MG cells with DNA wnt-5a and/or wnt-4 constructs which express antisense or sense RNA to determinethe effect on cell transformation will occur. Results found in experiments outlined in this proposal are consistent with the importance for normal wnt-5a and/or wnt-4 RNA transcripts levels in directing C57MG mammary epithelial cell phenotype, including cell proliferation and transformation. This has important ramifications for breast cancer since it is known that wnt-5a and wnt-4 genes are downregulated in human breast cancer tissue and in human breast malignant cell lines.


Feder formulated the first model with an explicit mechanism connecting international trade and economic growth. We present new econometric estimates of this unique model for 30 developing countries studied by Feder. We replicate Feder's 1964 – 73 cross-section estimates for 1974 – 83 and 1984 – 93 and find that the export variables lose significance and that the model has less explanatory power overall. We also try to improve on time-series estimates by Ram and find that the coefficient of Feder's total factor productivity differential in favour of the export sector was positive and significant for 18 of the 30 countries. The export externality coefficient proved to be positive and significant in 13 countries although significant multicollinearity occurs in the regressions for eight of the 13. Comparisons of the results among countries suggest that the impact of exports on growth depends on population size, trade orientation, and the importance of manufacturing.


Background Immunoglobulins (Ig) and immune complexes (ICs) intervening with complement and Fc receptors (FcR) are important for the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thus, B-cells are interesting targets for controlling chronic inflammation and autoantibody production (rheumatoid factors (RF) and ACPAs), especially in seropositive disease. In inflamed RA joints, accumulated FcR bearing monocytes/macrophages contribute to inflammation by cytokine release and antigen presentation. These cells consist of subpopulations with different features and may be defined by the composition of specific membrane receptors. However, the association between RA-specific antibodies and monocyte function in early RA is poorly studied. Objectives We have previously reported on altered monocyte FcR expressions, FcγR function and IgG load in an early RA cohort which reflected joint disease activity (ref). Here we were interested in evaluating the systemic B-cell activity in the same patients and related these findings to monocyte subpopulations, the FcγR function and to treatment response. Methods The sera of 20 early DMARD- and steroid naïve RA patients and 33 matched HCs were analyzed for Ig isotypes, IgG subclasses, the IgM, IgG and IgA RF isotypes and ACPA-IgG with standardized methods or with ELISA kits. Correlations of the Ig measurements with available data on the patients' monocyte FcγR function (eq. IgG1/IgG3 IC binding and TNFα production after IgG1/IgG3 stimulation) and monocyte subpopulations (defined by CD14/CD16 expression) were performed. The patients were evaluated before and after 3 months of treatment with methotrexate (MTX) and prednisolone (PRED). At follow up the individual treatment effect was determined using the EULAR response criteria. The distribution and the amount of the 3 RF isotypes among the responder groups were determined. Results The RA patients presented higher levels of total IgG, the IgG1 and IgG3, and all tested RF isotypes than the HCs. These findings correlated negatively with the monocyte FcγR function; high levels of all 3 RF isotypes reflected low IgG1-IC binding capacity, and high IgA-RF titers were associated with low monocytic TNFα release after IgG1- and IgG3-IC stimulation. These findings did not apply to the ACPA-IgG titers. A general observation of higher pre-treatment levels of Igs and auto-antibodies in the non responders was made, these individuals also maintained high levels of IgG3 and IgM-RF at follow up. Interestingly, an increase in the classical monocyte subset was seen in the non responders compared to the HC. And these non responders also had fewer non classical monocytes compared with the good responders. A good treatment response was observed in those patients who initially presented with few concurrent RF isotypes and low titers thereof. Conclusions In early naïve seropositive RA elevated specific IgG subclasses and RFs reflect an immune state of decreased monocyte FcγR function. An altered distribution of the monocyte subpopulations can be observed which may reflect the patients' treatment response. A good response to a combined MTX/PRED therapy is more likely to be observed in those patients who present low systemic B-cell activity. References P Matt et al: Elevated Membrane and Soluble CD64: A Novel Marker Reflecting Altered FcγR Function and Disease in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis That Can Be Regulated by Anti-Rheumatic Treatment. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137474 Disclosure of Interest None declared


The transmission of infrared (IR) and visible frequencies through modern energy-saving glass, due to etching of bandpass frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs), is analysed. Energy-saving glass panels employ a very thin layer of metallic oxide on one side of the ordinary glass. Due to the presence of this layer, IR waves are attenuated whereas visible wavelengths can pass through, providing good see-through effect. However, one drawback with such energy-saving glass panels is that they also attenuate useful radio frequency (RF)/microwave (MW) signals such as those used for mobile (e. g. global system for mobile communication (GSM)), global positioning system (GPS) and personal communication systems, due to the resistance of metallic oxide coating. To overcome this problem, an aperture-type bandpass FSS may be etched in the glass coating to selectively improve the transmission of useful signals. However, such an FSS also leads to an increase in overall IR transmission through energy-saving glass which is unwanted. In this study the authors analyse the effect of etching an FSS on the transmission of RF/MW, IR and light waves, for two types of commercial energy-saving glass panels. For example, an FSS with 8 mm aperture designed to improve MW transmission by 20 dB (from about -30 to -10 dB) at 1.3 GHz causes an increase in overall IR transmission from 23.8% to 33.8% (10%), which may be acceptable. An FSS with a narrower (4 mm) aperture improves MW transmission by 16 dB with 6.2% increase in IR transmission. Theoretical and measured results are presented. (Less)


The term levels of analysis has been used in several ways: to distinguish between ultimate and proximate levels, to categorize different kinds of research questions and to differentiate levels of reductionism. Because questions regarding ultimate function and proximate mechanisms are logically distinct, I suggest that distinguishing between these two levels is the best use of the term. Integrating across levels in research has potential risks, but many benefits. Consideration at one level can help generate novel hypotheses at the other, define categories of behaviour and set criteria that must be addressed. Taking an adaptationist stance thus strengthens research on proximate mechanisms. Similarly, it is critical for researchers studying adaptation and function to have detailed knowledge of proximate mechanisms that may constrain or modulate evolutionary processes. Despite the benefits of integrating across ultimate and proximate levels, failure to clearly identify levels of analysis, and whether or not hypotheses are exclusive alternatives, can create false debates. Such non-alternative hypotheses may occur between or within levels, and are not limited to integrative approaches. In this review, I survey different uses of the term levels of analysis and the benefits of integration, and highlight examples of false debate within and between levels. The best integrative biology reciprocally uses ultimate and proximate hypotheses to generate a more complete understanding of behaviour.


ABSTRACT Male microchimerism, the presence of a small number of male cells, in women has been attributed to prior pregnancies. However, male microchimerism has also been reported in women with only daughters, in nulliparous women and prepubertal girls suggesting that other sources of male microchimerism must exist. The aim of the present study was to examine the presence of male microchimerism in a cohort of healthy nulliparous Danish girls aged 10–15 y using DNA extracted from cells from whole blood (buffy coats) and report the association with potential sources of male cells. A total of 154 girls were studied of which 21 (13.6%) tested positive for male microchimerism. There was a tendency that girls were more likely to test positive for male microchimerism if their mothers previously had received transfusion, had given birth to a son or had had a spontaneous abortion. Furthermore, the oldest girls were more likely to test positive for male microchimerism. However, less than half of microchimerism positivity was attributable to these factors. In conclusion, data suggest that male microchimerism in young girls may originate from an older brother either full born or from a discontinued pregnancy or from transfusion during pregnancy. We speculate that sexual intercourse may be important but other sources of male cells likely exist in young girls.


Author(s): Parameswaran, Shibin | Advisor(s): Nguyen, Truong Q | Abstract: Cameras have become ubiquitous leading to an increase in the amount of video and image data captured by amateurs and professionals alike. Their ease of deployability makes them a great sensor for security applications as well. Hence, there is an ever-growing need to \textit{efficiently} process and enhance captured image and videos for improving the performance of subsequent computer vision algorithms or simply for aesthetic reasons. To address this need, we focus on creating efficient techniques for large scale image and video denoising with varying degrees of genericity. We start by introducing a robust patch matching technique that increases the efficacy of denoising algorithms that build patch-specific filters. We show that using our matching criterion in multiple leading denoising algorithms provides additional performance gains over using default distance metrics. Next, we present a strategy to extend patch-based image denoising algorithms into a decompressed video denoising paradigm without increasing computational complexity. We leverage pre-calculated motion vectors present in a compressed video's bitstream to establish temporal correspondences, thus keeping the per-frame complexity of the video denoising algorithm equivalent to that of the corresponding image denoising method. Following this, we relax the patch-specific constraint on design of denoising filters leading to one of the fastest algorithms that uses \textit{targeted} local patch prior. Recognizing that a \textit{targeted} patch prior could be a limiting factor for a wide variety of natural images, we develop an efficient denoising algorithm that uses a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to model a \textit{generic} patch prior for image restoration. It is two orders of magnitude faster than similar methods while providing a very competitive quality-vs-speed operating curve. The final work presented in this thesis improves upon GMM priors by proposing a more expressive distribution using Generalized Gaussian Mixture Models (GGMM) patch priors. We circumvent the prohibitive computational complexity of using GGMM patch priors for image restoration by introducing asymptotically accurate but computationally efficient approximations to the bottlenecks encountered in this formulation. Our evaluations indicate that the GGMM prior is consistently a better fit for modeling image patch distribution and performs better on average in image denoising task.