This paper presents the design of an algorithm that joins different digital image processing techniques; witch is applied to endoscopic images of vocal folds. The aim of this research is to provide a method to analyse vascularization level to the doctor, in order to support his diagnosis and change the current subjective view. The processing is based on the FFT Band Pass Filter, the mathematical operations and Hough Transform between treated images, in order to highlight the level of vascularization. The final result will be presented in a results report with the following information: the processed image with veins detected and highlighted by Hough Transform.


BACKGROUND
The therapeutic use of melatonin in children is based on research into the properties of the product and on experience gained from its use in specific populations. Our knowledge about melatonin is increasing steadily.

AIM
To summarise the state of our knowledge regarding melatonin and to assess the clinical relevance of this knowledge.

METHOD
The PsycINFO and Pub Med databases were used to locate and study the relevant literature, using as key words 'melatonin', 'child*' and 'adolescen*'.

RESULTS
Melatonin is a fat-soluble neuro-hormone which is produced in the pineal gland and is characterised by a circadian secretion that operates via a feedback circuit. Research has identified various neurobiological mechanisms which have chronobiotic, hypnotic, anticonvulsive, anxiolytic and antioxidant effects. With regard to the use of melatonin for chronobiotic and hypnotic purposes, the literature seems to be unanimous concerning the efficacy and safety of melatonin, at least in the short-term, in cases where the secretion of melatonin is disrupted. In clinical applications the efficacy is assessed by compiling a 24-hour profile within which the moment of the nocturnal increase in secretion is compared to the time at which the patient is expected to fall asleep. So far not enough is known about the effects of long-term use and about the interaction of melatonin with pubertal development. No consensus has yet been reached concerning the role of melatonin in the treatment of affective disorders. Recently there has been increasing interest in the effects of melatonin on seizures and the mechanism involved.

CONCLUSION
Melatonin is a product with considerable potential provided it is administered in a controlled manner and the results are assessed accurately. At the moment it seems advisable to use melatonin only in clinical trials.


In recent years, studies carried out in the educational field have concluded that the Flipped Classroom methodology offers numerous advantages for both teachers and students. In this sense, this approach is worked on at the university to develop skills necessary for the future professional of students, as well as increase their commitment to the subjects. The general objective of this research is to verify if the learning acquired through the Flipped methodology, as well as the perception of it, are useful for university students of the Degree in Primary Education. For this, two types of designs are used: pretest-posttest and validation through structural equations (PLS) of the scale to evaluate the degree of acceptance of the Flipped methodology based on the TAM model. The results show the adequacy of the training proposal based on Flipped methodology for university students. The students perceive the incorporation of the inverted methodology as an adequate strategy, highlighting the ease of use in the classroom, the acceptance of its integration, the transformation of interest in learning and showing a positive attitude towards its use in the future. Together, the level of acceptance as regards the validation of the TAM model is high. Finally, the possibility of replicating the model in similar investigations or through the so-called emerging technologies is evaluated.


The new Zintl compound strontium tin antimonide, SrSn(3)Sb(4), has been synthesized, and its structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group -Pnma with a = 10.060(2) Å, b = 4.361(1) Å, c = 22.934(4) Å, and Z = 4 at 22 degrees C. The structure of SrSn(3)Sb(4) may be described as consisting of large, narrow channels running along [010] defined by 30-membered rings constructed from an anionic framework of linked SnSb(4) tetrahedra, SnSb(3) trigonal pyramids, and zigzag Sb-Sb chains. Sr(2+) cations are situated within these channels. The channel structures of SrSn(3)Sb(4) and Ba(2)Sn(3)Sb(6) are closely related.


Strokes are a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The long-standing gold standard in stroke therapy, intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), is limited by strict timing parameters and modest efficacy in large strokes caused by thrombi in the proximal cerebral vasculature. Multiple recent randomized controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy for patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs). Recent clinical guidelines have been updated to include mechanical thrombectomy as a standard of care in properly selected stroke patients, with ongoing and future studies working to refine the optimal clinical and technical variables of this approach.


This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on human rights in Algeria. No direct link is discovered between foreign investment and the repression of human rights. This is largely due to the peculiarities and, in the special case of Algeria, the location of the hydrocarbon sector, which together make repression less necessary. First, since the hydrocarbon sector uses relatively little labour, there are fewer occasions on which labour rights would be suppressed. Second, oil and gas reserves are concentrated in a thinly populated region of Algeria, where there are fewer people to protest the allegedly negative effects of foreign investment and, hence, fewer people to repress. Nevertheless, case study findings indicate that FDI has indirectly sustained repression in Algeria. Explanation is attributed to the centrality of the country's hydrocarbon resources to the global economy. It is suggested that countries in demand of Algeria's oil and gas have exercised restraint in criticising Algeria's human rights record. Buttressed by the diplomatic support of their partners as well as by large arms transfers, the Algerian government has been able to choose repression over concession as its primary response to domestic unrest. This study also points to ways in which the Algerian experience provides the grist for theoretical refinement. Specifically, it suggests that repression is more likely in industries that are more labour-intensive and concentrated in densely populated regions.


The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed fast growth in urban development in the past four decades. A plan to build 7270 houses by 2021 has been initiated by the local authorities. Different local sustainability guidelines are being implemented, including the Public Realm Manual in Abu Dhabi. These local guidelines are tailored to consider the hot and arid climate of the UAE as well as the applied materials, the inclusion of greenery, shading devices, etc. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain are cities that have imposed the application of such guidelines. Additionally, the newly developed housing programs match the governmental plan. To understand the effect of these design programs on the outdoor thermal comfort (OTC), further investigations are necessary for each city. The most widely built prototype is detached villas, which result in untreated waste areas without shading or greenery. In the old local neighborhoods, Arabic houses were built next to each other to maximize the shading and to ease pedestrians' walkability. This study aims to examine the districts where the housing programs are applied and to determine the most effective strategy to minimize the outdoor air temperatures and enhance walkability. The methodology implements the following processes in order: district analyses of the buildings as well as the externally applied materials, microclimate site measurements, ENVI-met (main software used) models of the current and future scenarios, results and recommendations. The strategies have different impacts in both cites due to the microclimate and other conditions.


The examinations of auto-transport Kazakh drivers have indicated that there is a significant reduction in some immunological parameters HLA-B5 and HLA-DR5-proliferative responses of lymphocytes to mitogens, production of interleukin-1 and interleukin-2, activity of NK and LAK-cells. It is suggested that these impairments occur with their long-term exposure to automobile transport effluents (ATE), since the same changes in immunological parameters were found previously in the experiments with animals exposed to ATE for a long time. Some of the detected immunoresponsive disorders are associated with the availability of definite HLA antigens, such as HLA-B5 and HLA-P5. The new immunomodulating agents thymohexin (TH) and phyto-extraction drugs C4 and C6 used in vitro substantially restored the lower functional activity of immunocompetent cells and production of cytokines (thymohexin was particularly effective). The most marked recovery was observed in the drivers with the phenotype HLA-B6+ and HLA-P5+, i.e. in persons with maximally ATE-reduced immunological parameters.


The present study attempts to observe the recent changes in the Indian health care utilization pattern based on secondary data from three National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) rounds. The study focuses on urban households across different classes of towns emphasizing the most recent births to married women within a recall of period 365 days. Three dimensions of maternal care services have been discussed in this study, namely, prenatal care services, delivery services and postnatal care services. It is found that the utilization of prenatal, postnatal and delivery services are positively correlated with the economic status of households as measured by the per capita monthly consumption expenditure (MPCE). It is also noted that the household educational and employment index are correlated with the level of prenatal and postnatal care utilization and the dimension of correlation is positive and statistically significant. But in case of delivery services the degree of correlation has changed from being highly positive to negative, specifically in case of household employment index. This study also attempts to understand the changes in utilization of maternal health care services with respect to public health infrastructure. It is found that the use of public health facilities has significantly reduced over time. The correlation between household economic status and the use of public facilities for the prenatal, postnatal and delivery care present a strong negative and the degree of correlation becomes stronger over time. A similar dimension of association is found in the case of household educational index. It may be the improvement in utilizing public health infrastructure among households from the formal sector. The discrepancy in access to health facilities among different classes of cities can be cited as one of the reasons for lower utilization of maternal health care services. Such discrepancies are relatively lower in case of small towns especially in the case of delivery and prenatal care services.


Apicomplexan parasites are responsible for numerous important human diseases including toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, and most importantly malaria. There is a constant need for new antimalarials, and one of most keenly pursued drug targets is an ancient algal endosymbiont, the apicoplast. The apicoplast is essential for parasite survival, and several aspects of its metabolism and maintenance have been validated as targets of anti-parasitic drug treatment. Most apicoplast proteins are nuclear encoded and have to be imported into the organelle. Recently, a protein translocon typically required for endoplasmic reticulum associated protein degradation (ERAD) has been proposed to act in apicoplast protein import. Here, we show ubiquitylation to be a conserved and essential component of this process. We identify apicoplast localized ubiquitin activating, conjugating and ligating enzymes in Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum and observe biochemical activity by in vitro reconstitution. Using conditional gene ablation and complementation analysis we link this activity to apicoplast protein import and parasite survival. Our studies suggest ubiquitylation to be a mechanistic requirement of apicoplast protein import independent to the proteasomal degradation pathway.


Text segmentation is important for signaling a document's structure. Without segmenting a long document into topically coherent sections, it is difficult for readers to comprehend the text, let alone find important information. The problem is only exacerbated by a lack of segmentation in transcripts of audio/video recordings. In this paper, we explore the role that section segmentation plays in extractive summarization of written and spoken documents. Our approach learns robust sentence representations by performing summarization and segmentation simultaneously, which is further enhanced by an optimization-based regularizer to promote selection of diverse summary sentences. We conduct experiments on multiple datasets ranging from scientific articles to spoken transcripts to evaluate the model's performance. Our findings suggest that the model can not only achieve state-of-the-art performance on publicly available benchmarks, but demonstrate better cross-genre transferability when equipped with text segmentation. We perform a series of analyses to quantify the impact of section segmentation on summarizing written and spoken documents of substantial length and complexity.


Abstract Labelled as the third wave of migration out of post-reform China, the recent emigration of wealthy Chinese has attracted worldwide attention. Although this form of mobility involves primarily the richest 0.1 per cent of the Chinese population, the high profile of the people who move and the amount of wealth implied have made it a sensational social phenomenon. Through interviews, participant observation and media reports, this paper searches for the social meanings of this trend of emigration. Journalists generally attribute the exodus of the rich to a desire to secure their wealth, an aspiration for a different education for their children, or concerns with air pollution and food safety. What this paper argues is that underneath these stated motivations, emigration is in fact a form of class-based consumption, a strategy for class reproduction, and a way to convert economic resources into social status and prestige. "Emigration" (yimin), a form of mobility that may not entail settling abroad, is a path created by wealthy Chinese striving to be among the global elite. 摘要 近年中国富裕阶层纷纷移民国外, 在中国被称为改革开放后的 "第三次移民潮"。虽然能够走投资移民这条路线的人口仅是中国最富有的千分之一, 他们的经济地位和可携走财富使此移民现象不仅震动中国社会, 也在全世界受到瞩目。本篇论文通过个人访谈, 参与观察及媒体报道, 试图深层次分析这次移民潮的社会含义。中外媒体一般认为中国富人大量出国或是为了保证自己的财产安全, 或是为孩子教育考虑, 也或是出于对中国空气污染, 食品安全之类生活环境的忧虑。虽然这些因素确有存在, 本文认为, 富人移民实质上是一种阶层性消费, 一种社会阶层再生产的手段, 也是一种把经济资源转化为社会地位和身份威望的方式。 "移民", 对于当代中国富人来说, 并不意味着移居国外, 更是一条通向全球精英行列的途径。


Jackson, Darrell D. (Ph.D., Education; Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice) Racing: A Critical Race Theorist's Qualitative Analysis of Whether African American Male Law School Alumni Were Mismatched or Maligned Thesis directed by Professor Michele S. Moses Despite the vast research on African Americans and affirmative action, little qualitative analysis has been done to investigate how race exists and functions in American law schools. This dissertation researches the ways in which race is constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed within two American law schools. Three primary lenses guide this exploration: (a) Omi and Winant's theory of racial formation; (b) Bonilla-Silva's theory of color-blindness; and (c) critical race theory. The central question of this dissertation is: What can the experiences and voices of African American male former law school students reveal about race and how it functions in law schools? Additionally, how are these experiences related to attending more-selective or lessselective law schools? In the United States, the value of African Americans' law school experiences has been, most recently, reduced to a statistic. Missing from the statistics are the unique voices, perspectives, and experiences of African Americans who attended law school. Through individual and focus group interviews, my study investigated, compared, and contrasted the experiences of 10 African American male former law students who attended a less-selective or more-selective law school. Against a backdrop of 6 law school faculty interviews, to gain institutional perspective, I considered the former law students' "costs" and "benefits" as suggested by Sander (2004) and others. The participants revealed that both institutions must better address racial issues and impediments before identical statistical outcomes can be expected at any level. Ultimately, this dissertation calls for a replacement of the mismatch theory with, what I call-the process of progress. Where the mismatch theory is grounded in exclusion, my theory is grounded in inclusion. In the struggle for equity, the focus must be on the institutions, not the individuals. I call upon the institutions to pay particular attention to groups who have historically been disenfranchised from the law school process. In the end, as long as law schools are a microcosm of American society, by implication, the process of progress will better serve America and our democratic ideals. For my family those who forged the path before me those who walk this journey beside me and those I have yet to meet


A series of new 4-amino tetrazolo[1,5-a]quinolones 4(a-o) are synthesised from 4-chloro tetrazolo[1,5-a]quinolines. The synthesized compounds were characterized through FT-IR, Mass spectrometry, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. These synthesized compounds have been screened for antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, E. coli and A. niger, A. alternata. Compounds (4a, 4e, 4f, 4g, 4j, 4m) were highly active against S.aureus and E. coli with less MIC.


There are many methods to diagnose Leishmania spp. a microscopic, serological or molecular method. However, finding a fast and accurate diagnostic assay is a necessary and urgent requirement nowadays. here, we improved nano detection method to diagnose Leishmania spp. In blood samples. In this study, we used a probe of oligonucleotide sequences associated with AuNPs 20 nm to diagnose different Leishmania spp. in blood samples of dogs. For this purpose, three series replicate of 10 μl of 23 ng / μl of Leishmania spp. DNA are used. A change in the solution colour to red is an indicator of a positive result, while the change to purple is a negative result. Then we compared these results with the molecular assay of IST1 gene. The overall relative sensitivity of the result is 90%. The result shows that 10 out of 10 samples of visceral Leishmania are positive with relative sensitivity and specificity 100%. Eight out of 10 samples of cutaneous leishmania are positive with relative sensitivity and specificity 80%. The present method is a fast and accurate method for detecting small amounts of DNA, and it is easy to distinguish by visual inspection.


Problem. Increasing scientific evidence reveals that this planet is in serious environmental jeopardy. Since 1977, when an international group of K-12 educators met in the USSR and established goals for teaching environmental education worldwide, many schools have endeavored to fulfill these goals through the use of various curricula and teaching strategies. Although some progress has been made, most K-12 public schools have not done enough to meet the demands of environmental problems. In 1996, my co-teacher and I designed and implemented an environmental project, called Mission Environment, that we hoped would help our students develop long-term positive environmental attitudes and behaviors. Purpose. This study is an attempt to discover how effective the Mission Environment project (ME) was in contributing to long-term, positive environmental attitudes and behaviors among the participating students. Methodology. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods. Data were collected by surveying the members of a high-school senior class to determine their current environmental attitudes, behavior, affect, and knowledge. Of the 71 students surveyed, 28 indicated that they had been ME participants during their eighth-grade year (1996-97). The survey data were analyzed using the students' independent samples t test and chi square. Additionally, through student interviews, the study investigated the hypothesis that the teaching methods used during the course of the project contributed to producing these long-term effects. As a result of reflective interviews about the ME project and data from the literature review, a model has been created for a middle-school environmental education project in the form of an Innovation Configuration. This model is presented as part of the results of this study. Findings and Conclusions. The results of the statistical analysis of the environmental survey data showed statistically significant differences between the ME participants and the non-participants. The ME participants reported more positive environmental attitudes, behavior, and affect than the non-participants. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups of students in environmental knowledge. From these findings, it could be conjectured that the possession of knowledge about the environment is not necessarily an indicator of positive conservation behavior. This conclusion is consistent with the findings of several researchers who suggest that environmentally relevant behaviors do not naturally evolve from knowledge, but appear to be the result of knowledge combined with the application of action strategy skills. Additionally, the student interviews seemed to suggest that the students acquired other positive benefits from the project. The study highlighted the importance of environmental education projects like ME, which integrate experiential, service-learning opportunities.


Samples were collected for several fractions of particulate matter (PM) at a roadside site - on The Archway Road (the A1) - in North London over a period of 6 weeks commencing 29/06/1998. Twenty-four hour samples were collected for Total Suspended Particulates (TSP) using a Rotheroe and Mitchell L30 pump. PM₁₀ , PM₂.₅, PM₁ fractions were monitored using a Partisol Starnet 2000 system (USEPA standard method for PM₁₀). Twenty-four hour Black Smoke (BS) samples were collected using an eight port BS sampler. Twenty four hour PM₁₀ was also collected using a portable
AirMetric MiniVol(TM) PM₁₀ monitor for comparison. Data collected for different fractions were analysed and compared. Comparisons were also made for the sub-sets of the data for weekends and weekdays.
The 24-hour PM₁₀ samples from both monitors were compared using regression analysis. Comparison of means suggested that the AirMetric readings were 110% higher than the Partisol readings. Both PM₁₀ data sets were regressed against Partisol PM₂.₅ data, indicating a 4.7% (& a fixed 2.2 μg error) on the part of the AirMetric monitor. Field controls showed that the AirMetric filter housings produced larger filter weight gains than the Partisol filter housings, this was accepted as being partly fixed error. Partisol data showed a PM₁₀: PM₂.₅: PM₁ ratio of 100:76:62, therefore, the equivalent PM₂.₅: PM₁ ratio was found to be 100:81. All PMIO data was found to be below the National Air Quality Standard (NAQS) limit of 50 μg m⁻³ with an average of 21 μg m⁻³. Both PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ were found to compare well with data from other London roadside sites in terms of trends and concentrations. Rural sites were found to compare less well with consistently lower concentrations.

Twenty-four hour TSP was found to average 23 μg m⁻³, which was found to be low in comparison to published data. Rush hour data showed elevated average concentrations for both morning (RHAM) and evening (RHPM) samples of 40 μg m⁻³ and 42 μg m⁻³ respectively. Week day RHPM concentrations
showed more elevation than week end RHPM, whereas weekend RHAM rush hours showed highest levels with the maximum recorded concentration being a week day evening rush hour. Average BS concentrations were found to be 22 μg m⁻³ with slightly higher concentrations being found during
weekdays in comparison to week-ends. Regression analysis of all 24 hour data sets showed that BS had very weak relationships with all other fractions, whilst TSP displayed no relationships with other fractions and all PMx fractions were well corelated. Partisol errors were determined by regressing colocated PM₂.₅ data sets.


Introduction: Post Chikungunya Arthralgia is a major health issue in present era as there is persistent Arthralgia seen in many patients of chikungunya fever after treatment. The disease is characterized by a sudden onset of high-grade fever, rash and arthralgia. The current literature reports that CHIKV can result in a severe chronic arthralgia and/or arthritis that can last months to years following the initial infection. In Ayurveda, Vaatdosha performs all the activity in body including the movements of the joints. When Vaatdosha at Sandhisthan is vitiated and mixed with Aamdosha it produces symptoms like Sandhishool, Sandhishoth and Sashoolkriya or stiffness in joints. There are many formulations mentioned for treatment for such conditions. Laxminrayan rasa vati is classicle Ayurvedic herbomineral formulation cited in Yogratnakara Samhita in context of Vaatvyadhi Chikitsa hence selected for concerned research work of post chikungunya arthralgia. Material and methods: Formulation is made in tablet form. This paper is made to standardize the formulation through Pharmacognostical and Pharmaceutical measures. The formulation was analysed and standardized scientifically through qualitative and quantitative analysis by physico-chemical parameters and High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) and pharmacognostical measures. Results and Discussion: Pharmacognostical analysis showed characteristics of all the ingredient drugs in the tablet. In Pharmaceuticals analysis, HPTLC was done in Toluene, Ethyl acetate, Acetic acid (7:2:1) in which 10 and 4 spots were distinguished at 254 nm and 366 nm respectively. This study may be used as reference standard in the further researches. KEY-WORDS: Laxminrayan rasa vati, Pharmacognostical, Pharmaceutical, Post Chikungunya arthralgia


During phosphate starvation, Snf1-related kinase 1 (SnRK1) activity significantly decreases compared with plants growing under normal nutritional conditions. An analysis of the expression of the genes encoding for the catalytic subunits of SnRK1 showed that these subunits were not affected by phosphate starvation. Transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants overexpressing the AKIN10 and AKIN11 catalytic subunits fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP) were produced, and their localizations were mainly chloroplastic with low but detectable signals in the cytoplasm. These data were corroborated with an immunocytochemistry analysis using leaf and root sections with an anti-AKIN10/AKIN11 antibody. The SnRK1 activity in transgenic plants overexpressing AKIN11-GFP was reduced by 35% to 40% in phosphate starvation, in contrast with the results observed in plants overexpressing AKIN10-GFP, which increased the activity by 100%. No differences in activity were observed in plants growing in phosphate-sufficient conditions. Biochemical analysis of the proteins indicated that AKIN11 is specifically degraded under these limited conditions and that the increase in AKIN10-GFP activity was not due to the phosphorylation of threonine-175. These results are consistent with an important role of AKIN10 in signaling during phosphate starvation. Moreover, akin10 mutant plants were deficient in starch mobilization at night during inorganic phosphate starvation, and under this condition several genes were up-regulated and down-regulated, indicating their important roles in the control of general transcription. This finding reveals novel roles for the different catalytic subunits during phosphate starvation.


The Only Book Thats 100% Focused on Maximizing the Business Value of SharePoint 2013 Essential SharePoint 2013 approaches Microsoft SharePoint 2013 from a strict business value perspective, helping you plan and implement solutions that achieve effective business results. Leading SharePoint experts draw on their unsurpassed experience to provide business-focused guidance on strategy, governance, planning, deployment, and more. Youll find in-depth insights for success with collaboration, knowledge and content management, governance, and user adoption. The authors help you choose features, organize information, define security models, and launch your solution. They present best practices for search, workflow, business intelligence, and integrating information from Office 2013 and beyond. Each chapter includes a section introducing new SharePoint 2013 capabilities, from improved site branding to native iPhone mobile apps. Throughout, the authors identify success factors, intangibles, and gotchas, helping you reduce risk and time-to-value. Learn how to Ask the right questions to craft a plan that maximizes business value Efficiently deploy either green field solutions or upgrades Integrate web, Office, and mobile devices into a comprehensive collaboration solution Plan effective governance of content, operations, and applications Deliver enterprise content management, integrating documents, data, web content, and rich media Use search to help find the right knowledge and people Measure and optimize user adoption to increase ROI Evaluate the cloud-based SharePoint Online option Use social tools to promote deeper user interaction Collaborate and communicate with customers, partners, and suppliers Quickly create agile solutions with mashups and composites Whether youre a business leader, IT manager, architect, analyst, developer, or consultant, this book will help you tightly align SharePoint projects with business strategy to deliver outstanding results.


This paper reflects on the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) with techno-spirituality and science fiction (SF). The paper considers science fiction treatments of spirituality, religion and "the numinous" --- a mysterious presence that evokes fascination, awe and sometimes dread --- as stimulus for exploring techno-spiritual design through "imaginary abstracts", a form of design fiction. It presents an imaginary abstract --- a summary of a paper that has not been written about a prototype that does not exist [6] --- to explore possible user reactions to an artificial intelligence system that provides spiritual advice drawn from diverse sacred texts as relevant to the user's question. The paper argues that SF is a valuable resource for creating design fiction and may help HCI build a vocabulary for techno-spiritual experiences.


Background: The development of digital imaging systems for radiology in combination with the possibility to transfer large quantities of data over the Internet has increased the interest in teleradiology. Transferring nighttime examinations to an evaluation center in a daytime zone may provide improved patient security, better working hours for radiologists, and reduced costs for emergency radiological services. Purpose: To evaluate the time required for transferring radiological information from Uppsala (Sweden) to Sydney (Australia). Material and Methods: A radiologist in Sydney reported on radiological examinations performed in Uppsala. The time required for downloading 75 examinations and returning 24 reports was registered. Results: Downloading was completed in <60 min for all conventional radiological examinations, but only 44% of computed tomography (CT) examinations with >65 images. Reports were completed in <10 min. Turnaround time was directly related to the time required for downloading the images. The Sydney report was available in Uppsala within 30 min of the in-house report in 79% of examinations. Conclusion: The main challenge for emergency teleradiology is the time required for downloading large volumes of data over the Internet.


Background Late-life depression is often associated with non-response or relapse following conventional antidepressant treatment. The pathophysiology of late-life depression likely involves a complex interplay between aging and depression, and may include abnormalities in cortical inhibition and plasticity. However, the extent to which these cortical processes are modifiable by antidepressant pharmacotherapy is unknown. Methods Sixty-eight patients with late-life depression received 12 weeks of treatment with open-label venlafaxine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (≤ 300 mg/d). We combined transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left motor cortex with electromyography recordings from the right hand to measure cortical inhibition using contralateral cortical silent period and paired-pulse short-interval intracortical inhibition paradigms; cortical facilitation using a paired-pulse intracortical facilitation paradigm; and short-term cortical plasticity using a paired associative stimulation paradigm. All measures were collected at baseline, 1 week into treatment (n = 23) and after approximately 12 weeks of treatment. Results Venlafaxine did not significantly alter cortical inhibition, facilitation or plasticity after 1 or 12 weeks of treatment. Improvements in depressive symptoms during treatment were not associated with changes in cortical physiology. Limitations The results presented here are specific to the motor cortex. Future work should investigate whether these findings extend to cortical areas more closely associated with depression, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Conclusion These findings suggest that antidepressant treatment with venlafaxine does not exert meaningful changes in motor cortical inhibition or plasticity in late-life depression. The absence of changes in motor cortical physiology, alongside improvements in depressive symptoms, suggests that age-related changes may play a role in previously identified abnormalities in motor cortical processes in late-life depression, and that venlafaxine treatment does not target these abnormalities.


A partially-purified neuraminidase from the mucinase complex of Vibrio cholerae was used to prepare a specific anti-neuraminidase antiserum in rabbits. When the neutralising potency of this serum against V. cholerae neuraminidase was assessed in conventional tests, the enzymic activity, as measured by thiobarbituric acid, methoxyphenol-neuraminate and goblet-cell assays, apparently increased. These results are attributable to the presence of a sialylated glycoprotein substrate and small amounts of sialidase in the crude antiserum. However, a twice-purified DEAE-IgG fraction of the antiserum neutralised the enzymic activity of the V. cholerae neuraminidase.


Stunting is a condition of chronic growth failure experienced by toddlers that can cause children to experience difficulties in achieving optimal growth and development according to their age. Stunting can be minimized if the factors that affect stunting in the region can be controlled properly. Many factors are thought to influence the incidence of stunting, one of which is food security. If food insecurity occurs in a household, this can increase the proportion of stunting events that are increasing which can directly increase the national stunting incidence rate and will continue to be a major health problem in Indonesia. Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between household food security and household social factors with the incidence of stunting. The research was conducted in Palembang City, precisely at the 11 Ilir Health Center in Palembang. The research method used is a cross-sectional design. The determination of the research sample was carried out by purposive sampling based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the sample that had been determined in this study. The research sample was toddlers aged 0 – 59 months totaling 40 people. Analysis of the data used is chi-square with = 0.05. In this study, it was found that there was a significant relationship between household food security (p = 0.031), and household size (p = 0.000) with the incidence of stunting, while for the variable mother's age (p = 0.393) and mother's education level (p = 0.283) is known to have no significant relationship with the incidence of stunting. Household food security is directly related to the incidence of stunting, families in households who are not food insecure tend to have children under five who are classified as stunting, this is due to the lack of nutritional intake received both in terms of quantity and quality and does not meet the nutritional adequacy standard for stunting toddlers. It is hoped that to reduce the incidence of stunting, the government needs to add a local food-based work program in reducing the incidence of stunting.


Many countries shift substantial public resources across jurisdictions to mitigate spatial economic disparities. We use a general equilibrium model with multiple asymmetric regions, labor mobility, and costly trade to carve out the aggregate implications of fiscal transfers. Calibrating the model for Germany, we find that transfers indeed deliver smaller disparities across regions. This comes at the cost of lower national output, however, because economic activity is diverted away from core cities and toward remote areas with low productivity. But despite this loss in output per capita by about 2 percent in our baseline specification, welfare still increases by 0.07 percent because the transfer scheme countervails overcongestion in large cities. If the optimal transfer regime was implemented, welfare would increase by 0.06 percent. (JEL H77, J61, R12, R13, R23)


The article is based on the actual collection of silk fabrics price in oriental silk market and surrounding areas for data support, using related theory and experiment analysis method of artificial neural network to analyze and predict regional silk fabrics price index, second class silk fabrics price index and single variety silk fabrics price index. Compare the accuracy and applicability by related index, applied the accumulative total of instant statistics to analysis the silk market fluctuations through the reasonable modeling prediction method. This article confirms that the neural network is a kind of good method used in Analysising and forecasting of regional silk fabrics price index.


Obstetric hemorrhage remains the leading cause of maternal death in the United States, and 54% to 93% of these deaths may have been preventable. Leaders must honor the lives of women who die from obstetric hemorrhage by reviewing their deaths and sharing lessons learned. Shortening the current 3 to 7 year data gap will allow for timely initiation of quality improvement efforts. Designated leaders and researchers from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses are ideally positioned to lead these quality initiatives.


Over the past decade there has been a major shift in the housing preferences of New Zealanders away from low density, suburban, stand-alone housing towards higher density, urban apartments. As more people experience this style of accommodation, liveability issues have become apparent. An international literature review has found a gap between the research-based academic knowledge and the expectations of prospective occupants as represented by the national, popular press. For occupants their crucial issues are readily assessable (e.g. spatial and visual design), but often these issues do not have direct or long term health effects. The academic literature minimises these issues while placing importance on health and liveability issues (e.g. thermal and acoustic environments). This thesis presents the development of an assessment methodology to enable prospective buyers/tenants to easily and quickly evaluate and compare apartment liveability over a wide range of indicators, not just those of immediate concern. The New Zealand Apartment Liveability Index [NZ ALI] considers over 100 factors that influence liveability in higher density housing and presents this information in a simple, easily understandable format. The indicators have been organised into a weighted hierarchal system divided into five main categories: Community; Configuration; Governance; Indoor Environmental Quality; and Quality. There are 332 components within the New Zealand Apartment Liveability Index and all are weighted in order to provide a simple Liveability Rating (single score) or Liveability Profile (performance profile). Six criteria were applied in the development of the New Zealand Apartment Liveability Index to ensure that it is fit for purpose. The development criteria considered relevancy to liveability, objectivity & practicality of assessments, accuracy of evaluations, and generality & user friendliness of the tool. The New Zealand Apartment Liveability Index is intended to provide the public with a simple, easy to use tool to help them make informed decisions when purchasing or leasing apartments. It will also be of value to regulatory agencies to help better understand the minimum liveability standards for apartments, as well as to designers and developers to help them better meet the needs of their current clients and future building users.


In the context of entity resolution (ER) in highly heterogeneous, noisy, user-generated entity collections, practically all block building methods employ redundancy to achieve high effectiveness. This practice, however, results in a high number of pairwise comparisons, with a negative impact on efficiency. Existing block processing strategies aim at discarding unnecessary comparisons at no cost in effectiveness. In this paper, we systemize blocking methods for clean-clean ER (an inherently quadratic task) over highly heterogeneous information spaces (HHIS) through a novel framework that consists of two orthogonal layers: the effectiveness layer encompasses methods for building overlapping blocks with small likelihood of missed matches; the efficiency layer comprises a rich variety of techniques that significantly restrict the required number of pairwise comparisons, having a controllable impact on the number of detected duplicates. We map to our framework all relevant existing methods for creating and processing blocks in the context of HHIS, and additionally propose two novel techniques: attribute clustering blocking and comparison scheduling. We evaluate the performance of each layer and method on two large-scale, real-world data sets and validate the excellent balance between efficiency and effectiveness that they achieve.


This paper explores a flexible manufacturing paradigm in which robot grasping is interactively specified and skeletal images are efficiently used in combination to allow rapidly setting up surface flaw identification tasks in small-quantity/large-variety manufacturing. Two complementary technologies are combined to make implementation of inspection as rapid as possible. First, a novel material handling approach is described for robotic picking and placing of parts onto an inspection table using virtual tools. This allows an operator to point and give directives to set up robotic inspection tasks. Second, since specification may be approximate using this method, a fast and flexible means of identifying images of perfect and flawed parts is explored that avoids rotational or translational restrictions on workpiece placement. This is accomplished by using skeleton pixel counts as neural network inputs. The total system, including material handling and skeleton-based inspection, features flexibility during manufacturing set-up, and reduces the process time and memory requirements for workpiece inspection.


Summary: The regulation of the first step in methionine biosynthesis, homoserine-O-transsuccinylase, has been examined in a methionine-requiring mutant of the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans. Using an improved assay for homoserine-O-transsuccinylase, no evidence of derepression of the biosynthesis of this enzyme was found, even under conditions of acute methionine starvation. End-product inhibition of the enzyme by homoserine, cystathionine and methionine was demonstrated, and shown in the latter case to be of an allosteric nature. The lack of transcription control of this enzyme is discussed as an example of a general phenomenon in this group of micro-organisms.


Commercial fishers face a range of stressors that impact physical and mental health.
However, there is limited research on the level of mental ill-health among fishers and
on the nature of stressors that contribute to their psychological distress. This paper
focuses on the experiences of commercial wild-catch fishers and analyses the results
of an Australian national survey conducted in 2017 (n = 872) (Appendix S1). We first
assess underlying themes in perceived stressors, identifying three distinct categories
termed 'traditional risks', 'modern uncertainties' and 'future concerns'. Second, we
assess the level of self-reported psychological distress, demonstrating higher occurrence of high to very high psychological distress among commercial fishers in comparison with the national population. Third, we examine the relationship between
different groups of stressors and psychological distress, finding that stronger perceptions of both 'traditional risks' and 'modern uncertainties' are associated with greater
levels of psychological distress among fishers. Third, recognizing diversity within the
industry, we examine differences in these relationships among skippers and crew
(work role), and inshore versus offshore fishers (fishing location). Our analysis demonstrates that 'traditional risks' and 'modern uncertainties' differentially impact on
fisher mental health and depend on the individual's role in the industry and their fishing location. The findings suggest that changes to factors associated with modern uncertainty stressors—including government management techniques, red tape, media
representation and political support—could significantly improve mental health in the
commercial fishing sector.


Acute myeloid leukemia is heterogeneous with respect to clinical outcome and molecular pathogenesis. Approximately 20% of AML cases are refractory to induction chemotherapy, and about 50% of patients ultimately relapse within a time interval that ranges from months to years. At the molecular level, diverse chromosomal abnormalities and genetic mutations have been observed across patients1. Although several clinical factors (age, white blood cell count), cytogenetic aberrations (t[15;17] translocation, loss of chromosome 5) 2-4, and genetic mutations (DNMT3A, FLT3) have been associated with differences in survival 5,6, these factors are of limited prognostic utility. Moreover, few studies have integrated sequence data with clinical and cytogentic factors to build predictive models of patient outcome. Here, we sought to identify genomic predictors of refractory disease or early relapse. We used whole genome and exome sequencing to analyze the genomes of 71 adult de novo AML patients treated with anthracycline and cytarabine-based induction chemotherapy. Of these, 34 had refractory disease or relapsed within 6 months, 12 relapsed in 6-12 months, and 25 had a long first remission (>12 months). We also developed an enhanced exome sequencing (EES) approach to identify and follow leukemia-associated variants over time. In 12 additional patients that achieved morphologic remission after induction chemotherapy, we used EES to identify and track variants at time of diagnosis, time of morphologic remission (roughly 30 days later), and a final time point corresponding to eventual relapse (n=8) or extended remission (n=4). No novel coding or non-coding variants present at the time of diagnosis were found to be predictive of refractory disease or early relapse. Using EES, however, we were able to detect leukemia-associated variants in the initial remission bone marrow in all eight patients who eventually relapsed. One persistent leukemia-associated variant was also detected in one patient still in remission, but all other variants in that patient were eliminated. We also detected 64 somatic variants that became enriched following chemotherapy, but were not detected in the original leukemic cells. These may represent relapse-specific variants or oligoclonal hematopoiesis after bone marrow recovery. Overall, our data suggest that the persistence of leukemia-associated variants after bone marrow recovery from cytotoxic therapy is strongly correlated with relapse, and may be used to complement more traditional, morphologic measures of leukemic cell clearance. 1. Cancer Genome Atlas Research N. Genomic and epigenomic landscapes of adult de novo acute myeloid leukemia. The New England Journal of Medicine 2013;368:2059-74. 2. Byrd JC, Mrozek K, Dodge RK, et al. Pretreatment cytogenetic abnormalities are predictive of induction success, cumulative incidence of relapse, and overall survival in adult patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia: results from Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB 8461). Blood 2002;100:4325-36. 3. Grimwade D, Hills RK, Moorman AV, et al. Refinement of cytogenetic classification in acute myeloid leukemia: determination of prognostic significance of rare recurring chromosomal abnormalities among 5876 younger adult patients treated in the United Kingdom Medical Research Council trials. Blood 2010;116:354-65. 4. Schlenk RF, Dohner K, Krauter J, et al. Mutations and treatment outcome in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia. The New England Journal of Medicine 2008;358:1909-18. 5. Kihara R, Nagata Y, Kiyoi H, et al. Comprehensive analysis of genetic alterations and their prognostic impacts in adult acute myeloid leukemia patients. Leukemia 2014;28:1586-95. 6. Ley TJ, Ding L, Walter MJ, et al. DNMT3A mutations in acute myeloid leukemia. The New England Journal of Medicine 2010;363:2424-33. Citation Format: Jeffery M. Klco, Christopher A. Miller, Malachi Griffith, Allegra Petti, David H. Spencer, Shamika Ketkar-Kulkarni, Lukas D. Wartman, Matthew Christopher, Tamara L. Lamprecht, Jacqueline E. Payton, Jack Baty, Sharon E. Heath, Obi L. Griffith, Dong Shen, Jasreet Hundal, Gue Su Chang, Robert S. Fulton, Michelle O9laughlin, Catrina Fronick, Vincent Magrini, Ryan Demeter, David E. Larson, Shashikant Kulkarni, Bradley A. Ozenberger, John S. Welch, Matthew J. Walker, Timothy A. Graubert, Peter Westervelt, Jerald P. Radich, Daniel C. Link, Elaine R. Mardis, John F. DiPersio, Richard K. Wilson. Genomic approaches for risk assessment in acute myeloid leukemia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Translation of the Cancer Genome; Feb 7-9, 2015; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(22 Suppl 1):Abstract nr PR11.


We measure experimentally the effects of injection current modulation on the statistical distribution of time intervals between power-dropout events occuring in an external-cavity semiconductor laser operating in the low-frequency fluctuation regime. These statistical distributions are sensitive indicators of the presence of pump current modulation. Under most circumstances, we find that weak low-frequency (in the vicinity of 19 MHz) modulation of the current causes the dropouts to occur preferentially at intervals that are integral multiples of the modulation period. The dropout events can be entrained by the periodic perturbations when the modulation amplitude is large (peak-to-peak amplitude /spl ges/8% of the dc injection current). We conjecture that modulation induces a dropout when the modulation frequency is equal to the difference in frequency between a mode of the extended cavity laser and its adjacent antimode. We also find that the statistical distribution of the dropout events is unaffected by the periodic perturbations when the modulation frequency is equal to the free spectral range of the external cavity. Numerical simulations of the extended-cavity laser display qualitatively similar behavior. The relationship of these phenomena to stochastic resonance is discussed and a possible use of the modulated laser dynamics for chaos communication is described.


A maximum principle is derived for the optimal control of a beam with Kelvin–Voigt damping subject to an external excitation with the control exercised by means of piezoelectric patch actuators. The objective functional is defined as a weighted quadratic functional of the displacement and velocity which is to be minimized at a given terminal time. A penalty term is also part of the objective functional defined as the control voltage used in the control process. The maximum principle makes use of a Hamiltonian defined in terms of an adjoint variable and the control function. The optimal control problem is expressed as a coupled system of partial differential equations in terms of state, adjoint and control variables subject to boundary, initial and terminal conditions. The solution is obtained by expanding the state and adjoint variables in terms of eigenfunctions and determining the optimal control using the maximum principle. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the applicability and the efficiency of the proposed method.


Background: Obesity has reached epidemic levels in Mississippi. In the shadow of these skyrocketing obesity levels, there are comorbid high levels of depression. Both obesity and depression complicate and, in many cases, compromise critical health outcomes. A significant association between obesity and depression has been suspected for decades. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between obesity and depression among patients receiving medical care from a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in a southern state. Methods: The sample was comprised of 3,272 subjects. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to measure the severity of depression, and the Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to measure obesity. Results: Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the likelihood of depression decreased as the level of BMI increased, which is the opposite of the results in most previous research. Good physical health lessened the likelihood of depression. Less stress and fewer traumatic life events and greater self-esteem lowered the chance of depression. Conclusion: The findings indicated a need for health education and interventions to influence changes within communities and to address the medical and emotional needs of individuals with obesity and depression.


We introduce confidence region techniques for analyzing and visualizing the performance of two-dimensional parametric shape estimators. Assuming an asymptotically normal and efficient estimator for a finite parameterization of the object boundary, Cramer-Rao bounds are used to define an asymptotic confidence region, centered around the true boundary. Computation of the probability that an entire boundary estimate lies within the confidence region is a challenging problem, because the estimate is a two-dimensional nonstationary random process. We derive lower bounds on this probability using level crossing statistics. The same bounds also apply to asymptotic confidence regions formed around the estimated boundaries, lower-bounding the probability that the entire true boundary lies within the confidence region. The results make it possible to generate asymptotic confidence regions for arbitrary prescribed probabilities. These asymptotic global confidence regions conveniently display the uncertainty in various geometric parameters such as shape, size, orientation, and position of the estimated object, and facilitate geometric inferences. Numerical simulations suggest that the new bounds are quite tight.


Protein-protein interaction networks (PINs) are scale-free networks with a small-world property. In a small-world network, the average cluster coefficient () is much higher than in a random network, but the average shortest path length () is similar between the two networks. To understand the evolutionary mechanisms shaping the structure of PINs, simulation studies using various network growth models have been performed. It has been reported that the heterodimerization (HD) model, in which a new link is added between duplicated nodes with a uniform probability, could reproduce scale-freeness and a high . In this paper, however, we show that the HD model is unsatisfactory, because (i) to reproduce the high  in the yeast PIN, a much larger number (n HI) of HD links (links between duplicated nodes) are required than the estimated number of n HI in the yeast PIN and (ii) the spatial distribution of triangles in the yeast PIN is highly skewed but the HD model cannot reproduce the skewed distribution. To resolve these discrepancies, we here propose a new model named the non-uniform heterodimerization (NHD) model. In this model, an HD link is preferentially attached between duplicated nodes when they share many common neighbors. Simulation studies demonstrated that the NHD model can successfully reproduce the high , the low n HI, and the skewed distribution of triangles in the yeast PIN. These results suggest that the survival rate of HD links is not uniform in the evolution of PINs, and that an HD link between high-degree nodes tends to be evolutionarily conservative. The non-uniform survival rate of HD links can be explained by assuming a low mutation rate for a high-degree node, and thus this model appears to be biologically plausible.


Most existing approaches so far on position/force control of constrained robots always suffer from the complexity of the arm model that may cause difficulty in practical application. In this paper, a robust joint-model-based controller is proposed to deal with the problem of hybrid position/force control for constrained robots. The development of the controller is based on a novel formulation of the joint dynamic model and a combination of nonlinear state transformation and sliding mode method. The proposed controller possesses not only the sliding mode control like robustness but also the independent joint control like simplicity. In addition, it can be easily implemented. To evaluate the control performance, the proposed controller is applied to a two-link constrained robot through simulations. Comparing with some existing approaches based on arm model, the simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme can achieve similar and satisfactory control performance.


Iterating with new and improved OCR solutions enforces decision making when
it comes to targeting the right candidates for reprocessing. This especially
applies when the underlying data collection is of considerable size and rather
diverse in terms of fonts, languages, periods of publication and consequently
OCR quality. This article captures the efforts of the National Library of
Luxembourg to support those targeting decisions. They are crucial in order to
guarantee low computational overhead and reduced quality degradation risks,
combined with a more quantifiable OCR improvement. In particular, this work
explains the methodology of the library with respect to text block level
quality assessment. Through extension of this technique, a regression model,
that is able to take into account the enhancement potential of a new OCR
engine, is also presented. They both mark promising approaches, especially for
cultural institutions dealing with historical data of lower quality.


This paper presents a continuation of prior research exploring the impact of motivation factors on performance in cornerstone and capstone design courses. The previous longitudinal study focused on a single cohort of 32 students, examining their motivation at two instances in time: their freshman cornerstone design course and their senior capstone design course. The results from the prior quantitative research revealed that student grades in their freshman cornerstone design course were impacted by their anxiety levels with significance. The student's senior capstone design grades were determined by their intrinsic motivation, and the delta in their grade between their freshman and senior year was correlated to their freshman year anxiety and their residency. An interesting finding from the quantitative survey was the student's anxiety levels did not decrease significantly between their cornerstone and capstone design course. However, the student's capstone design grades were not affected by their anxiety. This indicated that there was a paradigm shift in which the students no longer allowed their anxiety to dictate their performance in design courses. This prompted the authors to further explore the impact of motivation on the student's performance in their senior capstone design courses. This study focuses on a cohort of 80 students, and uses data from two instances in time: their Fall and Spring senior capstone design course. The findings from the prior longitudinal study also impelled the authors to implement a qualitative survey to gain insight into the student's perspective of their motivation. Both of the surveys measure five factors of student motivation: cognitive value, intrinsic value, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and test/presentation anxiety. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative results to further explore the impact of student motivation on their performance in senior capstone design courses. The study also examines the student's motivation factors with regard to their demographic information. This includes the student's gender, age, residency (domestic or international), family income, and the highest degree attained by parents. The results of the study indicate that the students' fall, spring, and change in performance are all impacted by their intrinsic value, with the students' spring performance being further exacerbated by their cognitive value. Their performance in the spring is also found to be closely related to their residency. Interestingly, the student's intrinsic value actually dropped, with significance, between the beginning of the fall and end of the spring semester. The results of the qualitative study indicate that the students who were confident entering into senior capstone design identify necessary areas of improvement by the end of the two semester course.


In software engineering (SE), team plays an important role in determining the project
success. To ensure the optimal outcome of the project the team is working on, it is essential to ensure that the team comprises of the members with right characteristics. In a team assigning the right role to each team member in order to make certain that the most appropriate individuals are chosen for specific tasks and their efforts contribute maximum to the overall team performance. One of the prevalent team roles is Belbin team role. Belbin developed this theory for formation a successful team. This theory is centered on the team roles and how they should be matched in order to avoid conflicts and build sound teams that are optimally managed. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to develop an automated software team formation method based on Belbin Team Role
by using a Fuzzy technique. Fuzzy technique was chosen because it allows analyzing of imprecise data and classifying selected criteria. In this study, two roles in Belbin Team role, which are Shaper (Sh) and Plant (Pl) were chosen to assign the specific role in software team – team leader and programmer, respectively. These roles were chosen because the combination of these roles is able to determine effective team members in SE team. The proposed automated software team formation was then evaluated using an expert review. The participants consist of 12 software developers from Asiacell
Telecommunication Company in Kurdistan Region Government of Iraq (KRG). The results demonstrate that the method is useful to be used for forming SE team in industrial setting. The proposed automated software team formation can serve as a useful tool for managers when assigning new team members to a software project. In addition, by using the proposed method, it can help decision makers specifically managers to form effective and equal teams. Effective and equal teams can have an equal chance to experience good team work and thus, to be a successful team.


Background: Previous studies of living with prostate cancer have shown that the illness and the treatment cause physical as well as psychosocial problems. Objective: The aim of this study was to illuminate men's experiences living with localized or local advanced prostate cancer when curative treatment such as surgery or radiation therapy is not an option at the time of diagnosis. Methods: The study was conducted via qualitative interviews, using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Ten men treated with endocrine therapy or under active surveillance were interviewed. Results: Being diagnosed with prostate cancer was described as a shock, with different aspects of the illness revealed gradually. The limited amount of time available for meeting with health care providers contributed to patients' feelings of being left alone with difficulty getting information and help. Sexual and urinary problems were perceived as a threat to their manhood. The spouses provided the closest everyday support. Conclusion: The life situation of these patients can be understood as living in a "state of readiness," expecting something to happen regarding their illness, and not always knowing where to get help. Implications for Practice: The results confirm existing knowledge of patient's experiences in living with prostate cancer regarding the initial shock perceived by the patients, the bodily alterations, and the important role of their spouses. Nurses, as well as general practitioners, must play a more active role in follow-up to ensure that the men and their spouses receive better help and support.


This study is an attempt to investigate the possibility of applying PBL in some Bahraini Primary Sschools. It also aimed to explore the challenges that might occur during the application of PBL in actual classroom situation. Both questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed in gathering the data. A total of 24 pre-service teachers in 8 schools took part in this study during the academic year 2016/2017. The findings of the study revealed that more than 3/4 of the participants were unable to implement PBL with their students. The various challenges they encountering were also indentified. These included choosing a significant content, time management, monitoring and assessment, and lack of facilities. Finally, based on the results, some suggestions and recommendations that could help teachers, schools and decision makers in implementing PBL were offered.


Retrotransposons constitute a major source of genetic variation, and somatic retrotransposon insertions have been reported in cancer. Here, we applied TranspoSeq, a computational framework that identifies retrotransposon insertions from sequencing data, to whole genomes from 200 tumor/normal pairs across 11 tumor types as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Pan-Cancer Project. In addition to novel germline polymorphisms, we find 810 somatic retrotransposon insertions primarily in lung squamous, head and neck, colorectal, and endometrial carcinomas. Many somatic retrotransposon insertions occur in known cancer genes. We find that high somatic retrotransposition rates in tumors are associated with high rates of genomic rearrangement and somatic mutation. Finally, we developed TranspoSeq-Exome to interrogate an additional 767 tumor samples with hybrid-capture exome data and discovered 35 novel somatic retrotransposon insertions into exonic regions, including an insertion into an exon of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene. The results of this large-scale, comprehensive analysis of retrotransposon movement across tumor types suggest that somatic retrotransposon insertions may represent an important class of structural variation in cancer.


Since Antiquity philosophy has abounded with provocative arguments in which what appear to be relatively simple and indisputable assumptions lead to unexpected and often baffling conclusions. Zeno's paradoxical arguments against the existence of motion (e.g. Achilles will never catch up the tortoise), or the Liar Paradox which undermines our belief that propositions must be either true or false, or Berkeley's argument against the existence of matter, are just a few examples. In contemporary discussion of the terms of intergenerational justice, which arises out of our concern with environmental problems and our sense of obligation to leave the world to our succesors in an inhabitable state, we encounter one particular argument which - very much like those time-honoured arguments mentioned above - appears to reach highly paradoxical conclusions. From rather simple assumptions, which we might be inclined to accept, we unexpectedly arrive at conclusions which most of us would be inclined to reject since they seem to violate deeply engrained convictions, or common sense, or our moral intuitions. Several authors have discoverd this particular argument, which is now known in the literature as the Identity Problem, or the Non-Identity Problem (both names come from Parfit), or as the Paradox of the Future Individuals (as Kavka calls it).2 The Identity Problem leads to the conclusion that, whatever policy we adopt towards the future, we are not harming future people. Therefore, we have no moral obligations towards them and we are free to choose any policy we like. Whatever choice we make, future generations would have no grounds for complaint even if we left them a very depleted world or exposed them to risks, such as the risks of nuclear radiation. There is no need to emphasize the possible practical significance of this conclusion if we were to accept it and to allow it to provide moral guidance. Much of the environmental debate involving economists, philosophers, politicians, and environmental activists would become pointless. It would no longer be morally relevant whether we leave to our successors enough natural resources and a clean and safe environment. Most of the major environmental questions (including the question of our moral obligations to future generations) discussed today would seem a waste of time. In a sense, therefore, the Paradox of Future Individuals is a prior problem as regards the problem of inter-generational justice. Only if it can be circumvented is there much point in pursuing further other aspects of inter-generational justice - e.g. whether one should adopt a Rawlsian framework, or a Utilitarian framework, or whatever. One of the most interesting apects of the apparently morally inadmissable Paradox of Future Individuals is that it does not follow from any assumptions about our selfishness, or our lack of concern about the future , or even from a belief in the priority of the needs of the present generations over those of future ones. Rather it claims to follow logically from certain assumptions concerning the concept of harm and the concept of personal identity . It is the purpose of this paper to discuss these assumptions and to argue that they do not, in fact, lead to the conclusion that we have no obligations to the future generations.


In the context of the dramatic changes in the European security and defence environment, the European Union needs to increase its resolve and determination in ensuring its own security and defence, both in cooperation with NATO but also on its own. The complex framework of the European security and defence, rather generic and flawed by many shortfalls, should be refined and optimized in many areas. A functioning European defence framework, regardless of its final format, can only be build on the foundations of EU institutions manned by military and civilian personnel that use the same doctrines, concepts, definitions, sets and values and mind-sets, related to the common European goals, as an addition to their national cultural values and backgrounds. This requires a decisive reform in the education and training of the personnel working in the various bodies and agencies related to the Common European Security and Defence. In this context, the use of the existent E-Education and e-Training concepts bears a significant importance in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of this process. At the same time, a major challenge would be the necessity to integrate and correlate the educational objectives, the curricula and the newest IT@C technologies to facilitate the attainment of the desired educational outcomes. This paper aims to propose a model of analysis and implementation of a process geared towards an integrated and coordinated education and training for the military and civilian personnel involved in the CSDP framework, in order to allow the optimization of the fulfilment of the European defence and security missions and objectives.


Author(s): Ohashi, Minori | Advisor(s): Lowry, William | Abstract: Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that predominately affects females and is one of the most common causes of intellectual disability in females. The syndrome is characterized by developmental stagnation, cognitive deficits, seizures and other autism-like symptoms. In more than 95% of cases, Rett syndrome results from de novo mutations in the gene encoding methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2), which is found on the X chromosome. However, despite numerous studies implicating the loss of this protein in Rett syndrome disease pathology, the precise reason why loss of MECP2 expression causes these clinical symptoms remains unclear. To further determine the role for mutations of MECP2 in Rett syndrome, we have generated isogenic lines of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), neural progenitor cells (NPCs), and neurons from patient fibroblasts that either express or lack MECP2 to minimize genetic variability. Our data showed the neurons derived from NPCs adopted typical morphologies regardless of MECP2 expression, and all NPCs produced neurons and glia at the same rate. In patient iPSC-derived neurons, loss of MECP2 was correlated with Akt deactivation and reduced dendritic complexity. Molecular profiling uncovered a reduction of 5hmC, increased expression of subtelomeric genes, and shortening of telomeres in the absence of MECP2 in hiPSCs, NPCs, and neurons. Neurons made without MECP2 show signs of stress, including induction of gamma-H2aX, p53, and senescence, which are typical molecular responses to telomere shortening. The induction of p53 appeared to affect dendritic branching in Rett neurons, as p53 inhibition restored dendritic complexity. Examination of Rett patient brains uncovered similar molecular phenotypes suggesting that our disease-in-a-dish model yielded insights into authentic human Rett syndrome patient phenotypes. These data point towards a role for MECP2 in regulating telomeres and could form a molecular basis for a new understanding of the etiology of Rett syndrome.


This chapter explores children's experiences of domestic violence. Academic research on domestic violence tends to focus on children as damaged by domestic violence, with an extensive consideration of the negative impact on children's mental health, social, interpersonal and educational outcomes. This literature establishes children living with domestic violence as a vulnerable group, in need of significant intervention and support. This construct of vulnerability extends into professional talk about children's lives, with mental health, social work and domestic violence support professionals describing children as vulnerable, damaged, and needy - often inevitably so. In contrast, we argue that framing children as "vulnerable" functions to undermine an understanding of their located capacity for agency, and can render children voiceless in specific contexts. Gatekeeping practices intended to protect vulnerable children have an unintended consequence of preventing them from articulating their own experience. We present examples that challenge the positioning of children who experience domestic violence as vulnerable and damaged, and that highlight young people's capacity to articulate their experiences of violence, its impact, their coping practices, and their capacity for agency. In doing so, we challenge the notion of a single developmental trajectory for the construction of healthy or adaptive identities (Burman, 2016; James & Prout, 2015). This notion constructs a sense of normal childhood reliant on a well functioning, nuclear family and a stable family home in which to grow and develop. Such a construction implicitly others children who experience domestic violence, and this sense of them as having different and problematic childhoods entrenches the idea that they are passive witnesses, damaged by their experiences. In contrast, we argue that children who experience domestic violence find ways of managing their familial experiences using a range of paradoxical resiliencies. Such resilience's contribute to the maintenance of a sense of agency for children, constituted within the constraints and enabling elements of family life, of home and of other material spaces. Children's experiences of violence do not occur in a social vacuum, and nor do the resources they develop to cope with that violence: both are located within both the lived realities and social constructions of childhood, of family life, and of the spaces and places they inhabit.


A Q-band two-beam cryogenic receiver for the Tianma Radio Telescope (TMRT) has been developed, and it uses the independently-developed key microwave and millimeter-wave components operating from 35 to 50GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 35%. The Q-band receiver consists of three parts: optics, cold unit assembly and warm unit assembly, and it can receive simultaneously the left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized waves. The cold unit assembly of each beam is composed of a feed horn, a noise injection coupler, a differential phase shifter, an orthomode transducer and two low-noise amplifiers, and it works at a temperature range near 20 K to greatly improve the detection sensitivity of the receiving system. The warm unit assembly includes four radio-frequency amplifiers, four radio-frequency high-pass filters, four waveguide biased mixers, four 4–12 GHz intermediate-frequency amplifiers and one 31–38 GHz frequency synthesizer. The measured Q-band four-channel receiver noise temperatures are roughly 30–40 K. In addition, the single-dish spectral line and international very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations between the TMRT and East Asia VLBI Network at the Q-band have been successfully carried out, demonstrating the advantages of the TMRT equipped with the state-of-the-art Q-band receiver.


The management of many human diseases linked to oxidative stress requires extensive research to explore novel agents with a potential antioxidant activity. In this study, the seeds of Granny Smith apples were extracted by four solvents; water, methanol, chloroform, and n-hexane. Extraction was performed using three techniques, which are kinetic maceration, ultrasound- and microwaves- facilitated extraction methods. These methods were carried out in three styles including non-serial, serial descendingly- and ascendingly- ordered in polarity. Phytochemical screening tests performed on the resultant extracts indicated the presence of coumarins in the methanol and chloroform extracts obtained from the applied techniques and styles. Five novel simple coumarins were isolated and their chemical structures elucidated by matching their physical properties and spectral data with those found in literature. Two in vitro biological activities were studied for the isolated products; the antioxidant strength which was studied by examining their capacity to scavenge DPPH and hydroxyl free radicals, and prefatory antitumor activity which was tested by MTT versus HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. The results showed that the isolated coumarins have promising free radicals scavenging capacity and antitumor activity with superiority to compounds R3 and R5. It is concluded that there is a positive correlation between the antioxidant activity of the isolated coumarins and their antitumor activity.


An overview is given of analytical techniques for the characterization of the electrical and transport parameters in thin (<1 µm) semiconductor layers. Some of these methods have been applied to the lifetime and diffusion length study in thin strain-relaxed buffer (SRB) layers of strained silicon (SSi) substrates, while a second group was dedicated to Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) materials and devices. The employed techniques can be divided into two groups, whether a device structure (junction, MOS capacitor, MOSFET) is required or not. However, the MicroWave Absorption (MWA) technique can be used in both cases, making it a versatile tool to study both grown-in and processing-induced electrically active defects. The transport properties of SSi wafers are strongly determined by the density of threading and misfit dislocations, although the dependence of the recombination lifetime is weaker than expected from simple Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) theory. This is related to the high injection regime typically employed, enabling the characterization of the 250-350 nm thick Si1-xGex layer only. At longer carrier decay times, multiple trapping events dominate that can be described by a stretched exponent approach, typical of disordered materials. For SOI substrates, transistor-based techniques will be demonstrated that enable to assess the generation or recombination lifetime in the thin silicon film (<100 nm). The lifetime can be severely degraded by irradiation or hot-carrier degradation. Finally, it will be shown that Generation-Recombination (GR) noise spectroscopy as a function of temperature allows identifying residual ion-implantation-damage related deep levels, which are otherwise hard to detect even by Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS).


The Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse-Width Modulation (SHE-PWM) has been an inclusive research area in the field of Power Converters. This technique offers a tight control of the harmonic spectrum of a given voltage waveform generated by a power electronic converter along with a low number of switching transitions. It involves the solution of non-linear transcendental equation sets representing the relation between the amplitude of the fundamental wave, harmonic components and the switching angles. This paper reports solutions to the Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) method based on novel usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique such as Genetic algorithm (GA) for single-phase unipolar waveform. This paper uses Matlab GA Toolbox to generate the gate pulse pattern to eliminate the required order of harmonics at any demanded fundamental output voltage.


We investigate Echo State Networks (ESN), which implement a new training
paradigm for recurrent neural networks. We first demonstrate their
gesture classification performance considering two feature sets with
very distinct complexity.
Second, we introduce the recurrence analysis for qualitative and
quantitative description of the gesture input and the system dynamics of
an ESN, and show that the methodology complements classic stability
measures. Finally, we address the reservoir itself and propose an
algorithm for pruning connectivity in a one-shot learning scenario.


Abstract Simulations of simple solutes (charged and uncharged spheres) in model water have been performed in order to elucidate aspects of solvation in water at ambient and supercritical states. The variation of solvation entropy as a function of solute charge has been used to investigate hydrophobic and hydrophilic ordering and the structure-making and structure-breaking effects of ions. Simulations with model solvents, which differ from water in certain features, have been used to try to identify the particular properties of water that are associated with these phenomena.


Public Expenditure and Tracking Surveys (PETS) was launched in order to expose the anomalies in the process of flow of funds and to gauge the degree to which funds trickle down to their intended destinations. PETS consolidates information from frontline service providers who can impart useful insight into and the reasons for the disparity in the outcome of public spending (quantity or input) and quality and performance (output) of service delivery systems. Such information also provides a platform for enquiry into leakage of funds due to corruption or private gain. PETS has a multilevel focus with the service providers being the key unit of analysis. PETS was first introduced in Uganda in 1996. Thereafter a number of countries have implemented it. This case study highlights the application of PETS in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Honduras. It analyses the linkage between public spending and development outcomes, the factors responsible for the emergence of inefficiencies in the system, and the role of the culture of accountability and transparency in fostering a sustainable alliance among the different institutional strata. Finally, it outlines the impact of such an initiative.


Various spatial density profiles can develop in partially miscible stratifications when a phase A dissolves with a finite solubility into a host phase containing a dissolved reactant B. We investigate theoretically the impact of an A+B→C reaction on such density profiles in the host phase and classify them in a parameter space spanned by the ratios of relative contributions to density and diffusion coefficients of the chemical species. While the density profile is either monotonically increasing or decreasing in the nonreactive case, reactions combined with differential diffusivity can create eight different types of density profiles featuring up to two extrema in density, at the reaction front or below it. We use this framework to predict various possible hydrodynamic instability scenarios inducing buoyancy-driven convection around such reaction fronts when they propagate parallel to the gravity field.


The innovative highly flexible wings made of extremely light structures, yet still capable of carrying a considerable amount of non- structural weights, requires significant effort in structural simulations. The complexity involved in such design demands for simplified mathematical tools based on appropriate nonlinear structural schemes combined with reduced order models capable of predicting accurately their aero-structural behaviour. The model presented in this paper is based on a consistent nonlinear beam-wise scheme, capable of simulating the unconventional aeroelastic behaviour of flexible composite wings. The partial differential equations describing the wing dynamics are expanded up to the third order and can be used to explore the effect of static deflection imposed by external trim, the effect of gust loads and the one of nonlinear aerodynamic stall. As to provide a rationale evaluation of the important nonlinear contributions in aeroelastic wing simulations, the aeroelastic governing equations in linear, quadratic, and cubic forms, are considered and compared. Critical conditions will be investigated. The governing equations will be solved based on a discretization technique, along with Galerkin's method starting with a reduced order procedure and passing through a multi-modal approach. Three degrees of freedom in edgewise, flapwise, and torsion, are needed to describe efficiently the dynamics of the wing. Interesting design indicators will be highlighted.


ABSTRACTKingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region are frequently exposed to major dust storms and anthropogenic emissions from rapidly growing industrial activities that affect aerosols optical and physical characteristics. This paper integrates observations from space-borne sensors namely MODIS and CALIPSO, together with AERONET ground observations to examine eight years aerosols characteristics during the (March–May) season of 2003 to 2010 over Saudi Arabia. Aerosol analysis from the interdependent data assessment show comparable aerosols characteristics over the eight year period with higher aerosols mean optical depths over enhanced dust load region, (46–50°E, 25–29°N), during March–May of 2009 and 2010. The mean angstrom exponent during March–May 2003 to 2008 was found ~17% higher than the same period during 2009. The major dust storm on March 9 and 10, 2009 could have an effect on the coarse mode particles increment during 2009. Over the eight years the highest angstrom exponent was observed on 2004 suggesting dominance of fine-mode particles, whereas a declination in the angstrom exponent values is observed during 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The aerosols size distribution measured by sunphotometer indicates a maximum value of ~47% higher in 2009 compared to 2010 suggesting the domination of coarse mode particles in 2009. Using the CALIPSO volume depolarization ratio, a possible mixing of anthropogenic aerosols with dust was observed during March–May of 2009 and 2010 featured by coarse particles domination and high percentage of fine particles during 2009. The effect of precipitation prior to dust storms on dust loading was investigated. Our observation suggests a possible impact of the varying precipitation rate prior to dust storms outbreak and the actual dust loading during dust events.


We consider the Banach–Mackey property for pairs of vector spaces E and E0 which are in duality. Let A be an algebra of sets and assume that P is an additive map from A into the projection operators on E. We define a continuous gliding hump property for the map P and show that pairs with this gliding hump property and another measure theoretic property are Banach-Mackey pairs, i. e., weakly bounded subsets of E are strongly bounded. Examples of vector valued function spaces, such as the space of Pettis integrable functions, which satisfy these conditions are given.


We have cloned a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthetic gene from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 that complements the defect in the production and incorporation of LPS O side chains in the LPS-rough strain AK1012. This gene was characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, deletion and restriction mapping of the cloned DNA, and biochemical analysis of the protein product. The cloned DNA was found to map to the 7-to-11-min region of the P. aeruginosa chromosome, and the gene needed for complementation of the LPS-rough phenotype was contained on a 2.6-kb HindIII-SacI fragment. This same size restriction fragment contains the alginate gene algC, which encodes the enzyme phosphomannomutase (PMM) and also maps to this region of the P. aeruginosa chromosome. The LPS-rough strain AK1012 was deficient in PMM activity, and this activity was restored to parental levels when the cloned gene was transferred to strain AK1012. In addition, the cloned gene could complement the PMM deficiency in the algC mutant strain 8858, and the cloned algC gene could restore the LPS-smooth phenotype to strain AK1012. These results indicate that the gene we have cloned is equivalent to the alginate gene algC. We designate this gene pmm to emphasize that it encodes the enzyme PMM, which has been shown to be essential for alginate production, and we demonstrate that PMM activity is required for the LPS-smooth phenotype in P. aeruginosa PAO1.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies have suggested that metabolite profiles of elevated acylcarnitines were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in populations with established coronary disease. However, to our knowledge, this association has not been evaluated in the context of primary cardiovascular prevention.

OBJECTIVES
We evaluated the association between 28 plasma acylcarnitine species and risk of incident CVD and the potential modifying effect of Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) interventions.

DESIGN
We measured plasma acylcarnitines with the use of high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry at baseline and after 1 y of follow-up, both individually and classified into short-, medium-, or long-chain scores, in a case-cohort study within the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea (PREDIMED) study, which is a randomized Mediterranean dietary intervention for primary cardiovascular prevention. A randomly selected subcohort (n = 751) and all available incident CVD cases (n = 229) after 4.8 y of follow-up were included in the current study.

RESULTS
After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and other CVD risk factors, participants in the highest quartile of baseline short- and medium-chain acylcarnitines had a higher risk of CVD than did participants in the lowest quartile [HRs: 1.80 (95% CI: 1.11, 2.91; P-trend 0.01) and 1.55 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.48; P-trend = 0.04), respectively]. Increased short-chain acylcarnitines after 1 y were associated with higher risks of total CVD and stroke. Participants with higher baseline concentrations of short-, medium-, and long-chain acylcarnitines who were randomly assigned to the control group had a higher risk of CVD than did subjects with lower concentrations of acylcarnitines who were assigned to the MedDiet group.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data support the conclusion that metabolite profiles characterized by elevated concentrations of acylcarnitines are independently associated with risks of total CVD and stroke alone in participants at high risk of CVD. MedDiet interventions may mitigate the adverse associations shown between higher concentrations of acylcarnitines and CVD. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN35739639.


Iridocytes, containing multiple stacks of proteinaceous platelets and crystalized guanine, alternating with thin cytoplasm sheets, are specialized cells that act as multilayer nano-reflectors. Convergence evolution led to their arising across a broad range of organisms, including giant clams of the Tridacninae subfamily – the only sessile and photosymbiotic organism, among animals known to possess iridocytes. Through the interference of light with their nanoscale architecture, iridocytes generate "structural colors," which are reported to serve different purposes, from intra-species communication to camouflage. In giant clams, iridocytes were previously reported to promote a lateral- and forward scattering of photosynthetically productive radiation (PAR) into the clam tissue, as well as the back reflection of non-productive wavelengths. Hence, they are assumed to promote an increased efficiency in the use of available solar energy, while simultaneously preventing photodamage of the algal symbionts. We report the use of guanine crystals within Tridacna maxima giant clam iridocytes as a basis for photonic cooperation between the bivalve host and their photosynthetic symbionts. Our results suggest that, in addition to the previously described scattering processes, iridocytes absorb potentially damaging UV radiation (UVR) and, through successive emission, emit light at longer wavelengths, which is then absorbed by the photosynthetic pigments of the algal symbionts. Consequently, both, host and algal symbionts are sheltered from (potentially) damaging UVR, while the available solar energy within the PAR spectrum increases, thereby potentially enhancing photosynthetic and calcification rates in this large bivalve. Further, our results suggest that this photonic cooperation could be responsible for the broad repertoire of colors that characterizes the highly diverse mantle patterns found in T. maxima.


We study the statistical distribution of nodal domains in the eigenvectors of quantum chaotic maps in the semiclassical limit. For generic quantum maps, which are believed to behave statistically like random matrices, the nodal domains are described by an uncorrelated critical percolation model. This leads to predictions for the distribution of the number, size and fractal dimension of the nodal domains, which are tested numerically. Furthermore, we find that the corresponding nodal lines can be modelled by stochastic Loewner evolution (SLE) with parameter κ close to 6. Interestingly, the percolation model and SLE are also found to describe the statistical properties of the nodal domains for the quantum cat map, which is non-generic in that its spectral statistics do not fall into any of the random matrix universality classes.


A green and efficient one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of 2-pyridone and functionalized azaxanthone frameworks using indium triflate as an environmentally friendly, reusable catalyst. In this one-pot reaction, 3-formylchromones display a diverse pattern of reactivity upon reaction with different classes of alkenes. An indium triflate-promoted reaction with (Z)-N-methyl-1-(methylthio)-2-nitroethenamine leads to 3-formylchromone annulations to 2-pyridone and analogues via a remarkably facile chromone ring opening. The analogous reaction with N,N'-dimethyl-2-nitro-ethene-1,1-diamine results in the formation of synthetically useful functionalized azaxanthones via a 6π-electrocyclization reaction.


Dimensional stability of wood-based panels is generally improved with application of suitable additives. Most of these additives, such as paraffin wax, are petroleum-based and with relatively high cost, and therefore, it is desirable to develop low-cost and effective substitutes from renewable resources. This work studied the potential of using a renewable water-repellent additive, such as tall oil fatty acid, for lab-scale manufacturing of medium density fibreboards (MDF). Tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) was used at 1 and 3% w/w of urea formaldehyde (UF) resin. MDF panels with similar concentrations of paraffin wax (wax) and panels without adding a water-repellent agent were served as controls. It was assessed the dimensional stability of the panels in terms of thickness swelling and water uptake after 4 and 24h immersion in water, and their mechanical performance in terms of modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture and internal bonding. Results showed no obvious differences in the strength behaviour of the panels by addition of water-repellent agents. Dimensional stability, however, considerably improved by addition of TOFA, but it was still inferior when compared to that provided by wax.