Models for segregation of racemic mixtures of chiral amphiphiles and lipophiles in aqueous solutions show that the amphiphiles with active isomerization kinetics can perform a spontaneous symmetry break during the segregation and self-assemble to homochiral matter. Based on physico-chemical facts, it is argued that D-glyceraldehyde, which was synthesized from the volatiles at the hydrothermal reactors at the origin of life, could be the origin of homochirality in biological systems.


The exchange rate is an important determinant of Australian exports and imports. Movements in the exchange rate affect the relative prices of traded goods and services, and thus the competitiveness of domestic producers of exports and import-competing goods and services. This article provides estimates of the sensitivity of Australian exports and imports to changes in the exchange rate at the aggregate and component level. Other things equal, a 10 per cent depreciation in the real exchange rate is estimated to increase export volumes by around 3 per cent and decrease import volumes by about 4 per cent after two years, which implies a cumulative net exports contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of around 1½ percentage points over this period. However, the aggregate responses of exports and imports disguise substantial variation in the responses of the components. Trade in services is generally more responsive to movements in the exchange rate than trade in goods, although it takes longer for the full effect to be seen in services trade volumes.


Rankings of strategy journals are important for authors, readers, and promotion and tenure committees. We present several rankings, based either on the number of articles that cited the journal or the per-article impact. Our analyses cover various periods between 1991 and 2006, for most of which the Strategic Management Journal was in first place and Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (JEMS) second, although JEMS ranked first in certain instances. Long Range Planning and Technology Analysis & Strategic Management also achieve a top position. Strategic Organization makes an impressive entry and achieves a top position in 2003-2006.


This paper presents some new applications of a coupled BEM/optimization technique for solution of fluid flow problems with a free surface. The problems considered herein are the flow over a spillway and seepage through an earth dam. An iterative procedure combining the BEM and a nonlinear programming algorithm is used to determine the free surface location and the flow discharge over a spillway.


Introduction The problems of the tectonics of the Coast Ranges have interested the writer for a number of years. His attention was first called to this field of research by the discovery that certain high-angled faults in the vicinity of Mount Diablo, middle California, were older than the Pliocene-Pleistocene folds of that area. The mapping showed conclusively that several of these faults originated in pre-Miocene time. Also, it was found that some of them had formed the margins of the former basin of deposition, and that, in the case of marine invasions into the area, the shorelines were in close proximity to the faults. Detailed mapping on both sides of these lines of faulting showed sudden thickening and thinning of the sediments; on one side would be found overlaps and erosion contacts together with marked hiatuses in the sequence, and on the other side would be a much greater thickness . . .


Mungbean is an important kharif crop of Pakistan as well as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The overall yield of this crop is low and one of the main reasons is the poor genetic background of the existing mungbean varieties in the country. Mungbean varieties adapted to the growing conditions have purple hypocotyls, whereas mungbean varieties with green hypocotyls have an additional potential for sprouts production. In order to replenish the existing pool of mungbean varieties with better ones, a locally adapted mungbean variety "NM 92" and an exotic Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus (MYMV) susceptible variety "VC 1560D" were crossed (NM 92 x VC 1560D) in kharif 2004 at Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar. Single plants selections for more pods plant, semi erect growth, purple/green hypocotyls color, resistance to MYMV disease, and confirmation of breeding behavior of these traits were carried-out in F2 – F5 generations during 2006-2010. One of the recombinants designated as NFM-5-36-27 was selected on the basis of overall better performance with green hypocotyls color, and further evaluated in disease screening nurseries and various replicated yield trials. NFM-5-36-27 produced seed yield of 530 to 2076 kg ha in replicated yield trials conducted during different years and locations compared with the check variety Ramzan (316 – 1417 kg ha) with 38% to 68% increases in seed yield over Ramzan. In Mungbean National Uniform Yield Trial conducted in 2015 and 2017, NFM-5-36-27 produced higher seed yields of 725 and 996 kg ha, respectively compared with national checks. NFM-536-27 has a future potential for mungbean sprouts production in the country due to its green hypocotyls color. NFM-5-36-27 was recommended as new mungbean commercial variety with the name "NIFA Mung – 19 by the KP Provincial Seed Council in its 38 meeting held on 3 January, 2018 at Peshawar.


Background: Patient falls are considered a challenge to the patient's safety in hospitals, which, in addition to increasing the length of stay and costs, may also result in severe injuries or even the death of the patient. This study aims to investigate the associations between risk factors among fallers in comparison with the control group. Methods: A prospective nested case control study was performed on 185 patients who fell and 1141 controls were matched with the patients at risk of fall in the same ward and during the same time. This study was conducted in a university educational hospital in Tehran with 800 beds during a 9-month period. The data included demographics, comorbidities, admission details, types of medication, clinical conditions, and activities before or during the fall. The data was collected from clinical records, hospital information system, error reporting system and observations, and the interviews with the fallers, their families and care givers (physicians, nurses, etc). Data analysis was conducted through time-based matching using a multi-level analysis. Results: In a multilevel model including patient-related, medication, and care-related variables, the factors that were significantly associated with an increased risk of patient falls included: longer length of stay (odds ratio [OR] = 1.01; CI=0.32 to 0.73), using chemotherapy drugs, sedatives, anticonvulsants, benzodiazepines, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, visual acuity (OR=6.93; CI=4.22 to 11.38), balance condition (OR= 6.41; CI=4.51 to 9.11), manual transfer aid (OR=8.47; CI=5.65 to 12.69), urinary incontinence (OR= 8.47, CI= 5.65 to 12.69), and cancer (OR=2.86, CI=1.84-4.44). These factors were found to be associating with more odds for a falling accident among patients. Several characteristics such as fall history (OR=0.48; CI= 1.003 to 1.02), poly-pharmacy (OR=1.37, CI=00.85 to 2.2), stroke (OR=0.94, CI= 0.44 to 2.02), and nurse to patient ratio (incidence rate ratio=1.01, CI=0.01 to 0.03) were not significantly associated with falling in hospitals. Conclusion: It seems that a combination of both patient-related factors and history of medication should be considered. Moreover, modifiable clinical characteristics of patients such as vision improvement, provision of manual transfer aid, diabetes control, regular toilet program, and drug modification should be considered during the formulation of interventions.


The article deals with metaphors of betrayal in English. The concept of betrayal studied concerning the peculiarities of its national and cultural actualization. The main issue of the work is to identify the principles of knowledge and ideas about the extra lingual reality presentation in English language consciousness. The significance of the study lies in identifying the axiological dominants of the researched concept cognitive structure, its ethnocultural specificity. The research data includes 543 examples naming betrayal inventoried through the complete selection from dictionaries, the thesaurus of English metaphors, fiction texts, etc. The method applied in this research corresponds to the objectives and data. The semantic and contextual analysis provided in lexicographical sources and fiction texts helps sort out the data collected. All examples divided into blocks: to betray- to scam, to deceive, to betray – to reveal the secret, to betray relations, to betray yourself. The analysis showed that betrayal actualized with the verbs, which contain semes to send a beep, to move in space, to remove, to leave, to put something over something, to leave; nouns – somatics; fauna; geographical objects; artifacts; adjectives with the semantic imperfect; adverbs – out, away. The result of the study shows that to respect confidentiality, personal life, ability to keep the secrets, to be honest, decent, to respect private interests are of primary importance for the English. They mostly appreciate loyalty, devotion, reliability, respect, tolerance in human relationships.


: The mechanical response to the electrochemical charging of nanoporous metals with their pore space wetted by electrolyte have been studied in-situ using dilatometry and wide angle x-ray diffractometry techniques. The actuation strain reported in this manuscript is purely elastic and completely reversible. The capacitive double layer charging became more effective near to the potential to zero charge (pzc) and contribute significantly to the variations of surface stress and crystal strain. In a suitable experimental setup, the actuator effect from porous metals can be amplified, where deliberate movements of the actuator parts are desirable with minimum external force, suggesting that metallic foam-like materials with high surface to volume ratio could be used to mimic natural muscles.


BACKGROUND
We undertook an assessment of current use of evidence-based guidelines for the use of cardiac biomarkers in Europe (EU) and North America (NA).

METHODS
In 2013-2014 a web-based questionnaire was distributed via NA and EU biochemical societies. Questions covered cardiac biomarkers measured, analytical methods used, decision thresholds, and use of decision-making protocols. Results were collated using a central database and analyzed using comparative and descriptive nonparametric statistics.

RESULTS
In EU, returns were obtained from 442 hospitals, 50% central or university hospitals, and 39% from local hospitals from 35 countries with 395/442 (89%) provided an acute service. In NA there were 91 responses (63.7% central or university hospitals, 19.8% community hospitals) with 76/91 (83.5%) providing an acute service. Cardiac troponin was the preferred cardiac biomarker in 99.5% (EU) and 98.7% (NA), and the first line marker in 97.7% (EU) and 97.4% (NA). There were important differences in the choice of decision limits and their derivations. The origin of the information was also significantly different, with EU vs NA as follows: package insert, 61.9% vs 40%; publications, 17.1% vs 15.0%; local clinical or analytical validation choice, 21.0% vs 45.0%; P = 0.0003.

CONCLUSIONS
There are significant differences between EU and NA use of cardiac biomarkers. This probably relates to different availability of assays between EU and NA (such as high-sensitivity troponin assays) and different laboratory practices on assay introduction (greater local evaluation of assay performance occurred in NA).


IEEE 1559 is a new multilayer music code whose international standardisation was recently achieved. Its development follows the guidelines of IEEE P1599, "Recommended Practice Dealing With Applications and Representations of Symbolic Music Information Using the XML Language". This project proposes to represent music symbolically in a comprehensive way, opening up new ways to make both music and music-related information available to musicologists and performers on one hand, and to non-practitioners on the other. Its ultimate goal is to provide a highly integrated representation of music, where score, audio, video, and graphical contents can be enjoyed together. In this paper, two different aspects of the matter are discussed: the key features of the standard that make it suitable for both music education and training, and some examples implemented to achieve such goals.


As measured by [(3)H]thymidine uptake, spleen cells of mice injected 7 d previously with a single dose of cyclophosphamide (Cy) (125 mg x kg (-1)) gave an enhanced response to dextran sulfate (DS), a diminished response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and a normal response to concanavalin A. Addition of syngeneic thymocytes to spleen cells inhibited the enhanced response of the cells to DS and slightly enhanced their response to LPS. Pretreatment of thymocytes by 4-hydroxyperoxycyclophosphamide (4HP-Cy) in vitro (an in vitro active derivative of Cy) abrogated the effect of thymocytes on the DS response but not on the LPS response. Pretreatment of spleen cells by small doses of 4HP-Cy (0.1-1.0 μg. ml(-1)) in vitro enhanced the capacity of the cells to respond to DS but either did not affect, or even diminished their capacity to respond to LPS. The enhancement of the DS response by 4HP-Cy treatment could not be detected using spleen cells depleted of T cells or lacking functioning T cells. 4HP-Cy doses more than 3 μg ml(-1) diminished or abolished the capacity of the spleen cells to respond to LPS as well as their capacity to respond to DS. The results show (a) that in contrast to the LPS-reactive B-lymphocyte subset, the proliferative capacity of DS-reactive subset is negatively controlled by a Cy- and 4HP-Cy-sensitive T-cell subset and (b) that these T- suppressor cells are more sensitive to Cy and 4HP-Cy (to their respective active alkylating metabolites) than B lymphocytes and T cells carrying other immunological functions.


Hydroxyurea when injected intraperitoneally into rats either as a single dose or as three consecutive daily doses, markedly inhibited thymidine kinase activity in cerebellum on 7th day. The inhibitory effect of the drug was found to be both dose and time dependent. The drug has however, failed to exert any inhibitory action when added to the reaction mixture in vitro. It is concluded that the well established inhibition on DNA synthesis by hydroxyurea may not be solely due to its action on ribonucleotide reductase (EC 184.108.40.206) but probably due to its interference at several other sites including thymidine kinase.


This study investigated a means of controlling the altered physiologic effects that occur when tourniquet inflation time is > or = 50 min during orthopaedic surgery in children. Forty patients were assigned randomly, 20 in each group. Both groups received inhalational anesthesia for induction. The control group had nitrous/narcotic with inhalation anesthesia for maintenance. The other group received a sympathetic blockade with 0.5% epidural bupivacaine, which was confirmed with the use of thermography technique and supplemented with 0.5-1% isoflurane. Duration of surgery and length of tourniquet inflation time were equal in the two groups. There was a significant difference in physiologic changes related to the tourniquet inflation time. The group with sympathetic blockade had only minor changes in blood pressure, pulse rate, and temperature compared with the control group.


This study focuses on Bamako, the capital of Mali, that dominates the country's urban landscape. Acentral premise of policy-making in cities is that the flexibility, practicality, and focus of local governments make them ideal players to understand and respond to the needs of their citizens. Indeed, cities mostly aim their problem-solving at local conditions. In Mali, the economic importance of the capital city cannot be understated – it is the nerve center of the national economy. If the capital, Bamako, were to be removed, Mali would lose 36 percent of GDP. Thus, reforms and investments aimed at tackling urban development challenges in the capital will have knock-on effects on national economic development. This report also demonstrates how a variety of data could be used for urban innovations: opportunistic data, which is collected for one purpose and then used for another (such as data owned by cellphone companies and then used to understand urban mobility); purposely-sensed data, which is collected using cheap and ubiquitous sensors that can be deployed in public spaces (for instance, to better understand land and building use); and user-generated data, which comes from engaging people through social media platforms or crowdsourcing (for instance, through Open Street Map communities to track urban infrastructure investments and use). A summary of recommendations for unleashing Bamako's potential includes coordinating land use and connective infrastructure, financing and managing better public service delivery, and investing in urban institutions.


We distinguish between three types of outliers in a one-way random eeects model. These are formally described in terms of their position relative to the main part of the observations. We propose simple rules for identifying such outliers and give an example which involves median-based statistics.


Surprisingly little research exists on the role of wisdom within legal decision making. To shed light on this topic, we interviewed 11 U.S. judges who were nominated by their peers for their legal wisdom. They were asked to describe their experience of wise legal decision making and the qualities and processes they felt characterize wise judges. Their interviews were subjected to a grounded theory analysis to develop an understanding of the psychological processes and interpersonal performances that constitute wise legal decision making. Among other findings, results identified attitudes in judges that were thought to lead to better decisions, such as an attitude of curiosity. They identified courtroom management styles that were characterized by magnanimity and compassion as instilling public faith in the system, in contrast to a distant or overly adversarial tone. They tended to agree that, when possible and within the confines of the law, rulings oriented toward rehabilitation were preferable to punitive ones. As well, wise judges described the ways they managed personal challenges arising from value conflicts or ambiguous evidence when making decisions. The article provides clarity on the meanings of the term wisdom within the judicial profession and its construction within the alternative discourses of retributive and procedural justice.


The positive effect of orally administered collagen peptides on skin health has been demonstrated in several clinical trials. In this placebo-controlled study, the impact of specific fish-derived Bioactive Collagen Peptides (BCP) on skin elasticity and wrinkle reduction was investigated. A total of 76 Asian and Caucasian women (62.2 ± 8.2 years of age) received a daily dosage of 5 g BCP or placebo. Skin elasticity and changes in eye wrinkle volume were evaluated at the beginning of the study, after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment and 4 weeks after the last intake (regression phase). In a subgroup analysis, differences between the results for Asian and Caucasian participants were investigated. The data showed a statistically significant (p<0.05) improvement in skin elasticity after only 4 weeks of BCP supplementation, compared with placebo. This positive effect persisted after 8 weeks of supplementation, and 4 weeks after BCP intake was stopped (p<0.05). Wrinkle volume was also reduced in a statistically significantly (p<0.05) manner after BCP treatment, compared to placebo. A pronounced decrease in eye wrinkle volume could be determined 4 weeks after BCP treatment commenced. After 8 weeks, a wrinkle reduction of 15% was observed and the efficacy of the treatment was confirmed at the end of the regression phase (p<0.05). The subgroup analysis revealed no statistically significant differences. The BCP treatment was effective in both Asian and Caucasian subjects. The results clearly demonstrated the efficacy of orally administered fish-derived BCP on skin health.


The recently formulated stochastic geometrical theory of diffraction combines localization and transport of high-frequency fields and their statistical measures along the geometrical rays in deterministic background. Conventionally, these statistical measures are associated with the average statistical moments of the field, thereby restricting the propagation process to one-directional propagation and not permitting the consideration of double-passage effects. This limitation is now removed by introducing paired random functions in which the random information along the propagation path is preserved. To render these statistical measures physically meaningful and analytically tractable, the choice of appropriate propagators plays a central role. Here a two-scale expansion asymptotic procedure is applied to solve the partial differential equations for the corresponding propagators in a statistically homogeneous random medium. The resulting solutions are presented in a multiple-integral form and contain enough spectral information to reproduce the expressions obtained from the two-scale solutions of the equations for the averaged statistical moments. Moreover, the fact that the solutions obtained here contain the information about the variation of the random part of the refractive index makes them suitable for application to backscattering problems. These solutions may be tested by applying them to a canonical double-passage problem of a point source and a point scatterer. Together with reciprocity conditions they permit the choice and demonstration of an appropriate propagator for a simple example of plane-wave reflection from a plane mirror.


Objective Little is known about persistence of or recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in adolescents. Previous studies have small sample sizes, short follow-up or have focused on fatigue rather than CFS/ME or, equivalently, chronic fatigue, which is disabling. This work aimed to describe the epidemiology and natural course of CFS/ME in adolescents aged 13 – 18 years. Design Longitudinal follow-up of adolescents enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Setting Avon, UK. Participants We identi fi ed adolescents who had disabling fatigue of >6 months duration without a known cause at ages 13, 16 and 18 years. We use the term ' chronic disabling fatigue ' (CDF) because CFS/ME was not veri fi ed by clinical diagnosis. We used multiple imputation to obtain unbiased estimates of prevalence and persistence. Results The estimated prevalence of CDF was 1.47% (95% CI 1.05% to 1.89%) at age 13, 2.22% (1.67% to 2.78%) at age 16 and 2.99% (2.24% to 3.75%) at age 18. Among adolescents with CDF of 6 months duration at 13 years 75.3% (64.0% to 86.6%) were not classi fi ed as such at age 16. Similar change was observed between 16 and 18 years (75.0% (62.8% to 87.2%)). Of those with CDF at age 13, 8.02% (0.61% to 15.4%) presented with CDF throughout the duration of adolescence. Conclusions The prevalence of CDF lasting 6 months or longer (a proxy for clinically diagnosed CFS/ME) increases from 13 to 18 years. However, persistent CDF is rare in adolescents, with approximately 75% recovering after 2 – 3 years.


Prawn shell waste collected from shrimp-processing plants in Cochin, India, was subjected to fermentation using 20 chitinoclastic and proteolytic/non-proteolytic bacterial strains. The products generated were analysed for protein, lipid, total sugars, N-acetyl glucosamine, free amino acids and ash. Shrimp diets were prepared using these 20 fermented products and a control diet using raw prawn shell waste. Feeding experiment was conducted with postlarvae (PL21) of Indian white prawn, Fenneropenaeus indicus for a period of 21 days. Biogrowth parameters such as mean weight gain, feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate and protein efficiency ratio were estimated and the animals were challenged with white spot virus orally via diet. Enhanced growth could be observed in prawns fed F134 and F124, incorporated with the fermentation products generated using Bacillus spp., C134 and C124 respectively. The percentage survival of prawns after 7 days of challenge was found to be highest for groups fed diet F111 incorporated with fermentation product generated using Bacillus sp. These products of bacterial fermentation hold promise as growth enhancers and immunostimulants in aquaculture.


The American Medical Association reported in 2015 that physicians 65 years and older currently represent 23% of the physicians in the United States. Unlike other professions such as commercial airline pilots, who by law must have regular health screenings starting at 40 years and must retire at 65 years, few health care institutions or systems have any policies regarding the late-career physician. Although there is an increase in accumulated wisdom and verbal knowledge with age, there is also an overall decline in recall memory, cognitive processing efficiency, and executive reasoning. The goal of physicians and health care institutions is to provide safe and competent care to their patients. Therefore, when considering the performance of a physician, the quality of care provided and safety of the patient are of the utmost importance. It is important to establish systems-based competency assessments to monitor and address physicians' health and the effect age has on performance and outcomes. Retention strategies can support areas of cognitive or technical decline while capitalizing on the aging doctor's strengths, and workplace adaptations should be adopted to help obstetrician-gynecologists transition and age well in their practice and throughout their careers.


Existing approaches to multi-view learning are particularly effective when the views are either independent (i.e, multi-kernel approaches) or fully dependent (i.e., shared latent spaces). However, in real scenarios, these assumptions are almost never truly satisfied. Recently, two methods have attempted to tackle this problem by factorizing the information and learn separate latent spaces for modeling the shared (i.e., correlated) and private (i.e., independent) parts of the data. However, these approaches are very sensitive to parameters setting or initialization. In this paper we propose a robust approach to factorizing the latent space into shared and private spaces by introducing orthogonality constraints, which penalize redundant latent representations. Furthermore, unlike previous approaches, we simultaneously learn the structure and dimensionality of the latent spaces by relying on a regularizer that encourages the latent space of each data stream to be low dimensional. To demonstrate the benefits of our approach, we apply it to two existing shared latent space models that assume full dependence of the views, the sGPLVM and the sKIE, and show that our constraints improve the performance of these models on the task of pose estimation from monocular images.


The researchers conducted a randomized experiment involving 824 third-grade children in 14 elementary schools (K-5) to examine the effects of a scaffolded summer reading intervention that provided books matched to children's reading level and interests and teacher scaffolding in the form of end-of-year comprehension instruction. Within each school, children and teachers were randomly assigned to (a) a control condition involving six math lessons, (b) a treatment condition with six reading comprehension lessons and an afterschool family literacy event, and (c) an enhanced treatment that also included follow-up phone calls to parents. During summer vacation, children in the treatment conditions received two lesson books and eight matched books. A treatment by socioeconomic status (SES) interaction effect on reading comprehension posttests revealed larger positive effects for children in high poverty schools than children in moderate-high poverty schools. In addition, among a random subsample of children (n = 121) who were part of a home visit study, there were positive treatment effects on the quantity and the diversity of books at home and trends suggested larger effects for children from low SES families. The results highlight the variability in treatment effects across different school and family contexts.


This article discusses hostile regulation of Chinese laundries in the American West from the 1860s to the early twentieth century. Anti-Chinese laundry laws generally took one of four forms: licensing legislation, maximum hours laws, zoning ordinances, and taxation. These laws were almost always facially neutral.The laundrymen challenged dozens of laundry ordinances in court. State courts faced with legal challenges by Chinese laundrymen to laundry regulations generally upheld the laws on police power grounds, but federal courts usually invalidated them. Some of the latter opinions preceded the infamous Lochner case by decades, but anticipated Lochner's reasoning and rhetoric.Traditional legal scholarship has criticized Lochnerian jurisprudence on three grounds: (1) judicial protection of economic liberties during the Lochner era was based on the reactionary political views of the judges involved; (2) courts invalidated progressive legislation meant to rein in corporate power and ameliorate the plight of the poor and vulnerable; and, (3) Lochnerism helped the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the rest of society, especially the poor and members of minority groups.The history of the anti-Chinese laundry laws contradicts the received wisdom. First, pro-Chinese laundry decisions fail to reveal economic class bias, but do show the courts' commitment to natural rights/free labor theory and opposition to "class legislation." Second, the history discussed in this paper provides evidence that much regulatory legislation was neither wise nor humane, but anti-competitive and discriminatory. And, third, Lochnerism protected the vulnerable and disenfranchised Chinese from hostile regulations.


Population genetic and comparative analyses in diverse taxa have shown that numerous genes involved in reproduction are adaptively evolving. Two genes involved in germline stem cell regulation, bag of marbles (bam) and benign gonial cell neoplasm (bgcn), have been shown previously to experience recurrent, adaptive evolution in both Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. Here we report a population genetic survey on eight additional genes involved in germline stem cell regulation in D. melanogaster and D. simulans that reveals all eight of these genes reject a neutral model of evolution in at least one test and one species after correction for multiple testing using a false-discovery rate of 0.05. These genes play diverse roles in the regulation of germline stem cells, suggesting that positive selection in response to several evolutionary pressures may be acting to drive the adaptive evolution of these genes.


Aim: There is limited contemporary data on achievement of risk factor goals for secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) disease from countries in many regions of the world. This report describes the global and regional prevalence of CV risk factors and use of preventive medications at baseline in participants in the ongoing STabilization of Atherosclerotic plaque By Initiation of darapLadIb TherapY (STABILITY) trial. Methods and Results: Detailed individual data on CV risk factors were obtained before randomization in 15,828 patients with chronic coronary heart disease (CHD) from 39 countries on five continents. Subjects had a history of myocardial infarction, prior coronary revascularization, or multi-vessel CHD without revascularization and at least one additional CV risk factor. The majority were taking a statin (97%), antiplatelet therapy (96%), beta-blocker (79%), or angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker (77%). However, a large proportion of patients did not achieve guideline-recommended targets. For instance, in 29% low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was >2.5 mmol/l and in 46% blood pressure was ≥140/90 mmHg or ≥130/80 mmHg in those with diabetes or renal impairment. The body mass index was >30 kg/m2 in 36%, waist circumference ≥102 cm for men or ≥88 cm for women in 54%, and 18% were smoking. Regional differences in risk factor prevalence and target achievement were observed and were more marked for LDL cholesterol and obesity. Conclusion: The prevalence of modifiable CV risk factors was generally high in the STABILITY population. Although, most patients were receiving evidence-based secondary preventive therapy many subjects from all regions did not reach recommended secondary prevention goals.


The ultrastructural detection and identification of human retroviruses HTLV (human T-cell lymphotropic virus) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) have become an everyday task for pathologists and virologists as well as for cell and molecular biologists. The development of better and conventionally available immunocytochemical techniques, such as preor postembedding immunocytochemical methods, cryofixation-variants and low temperature embeddings, have made it possible to use them in this field. With the help of these methods the structural proteins of HTLV-1 and HIV have been identified in infected cells. The virus assembly at the cell membrane has also been described in detail. Using these methods the incorporation of human transplantation antigens into the envelope of these viruses can be followed. Future studies should establish the pathological significance of this process.


Abstract The Oberbeck-Boussinesq equations are reduced to a two-dimensional form governing "roll" convection between two free surfaces maintained at a constant temperature difference. These equations are then transformed to a set of ordinary differential equations governing the time variations of the double-Fourier coefficients for the motion and temperature fields. Non-linear transfer processes are retained and appear as quadratic interactions between the Fourier coefficients. Energy and heat transfer relations appropriate to this Fourier resolution, and a numerical method for solution from arbitrary initial conditions are given. As examples of the method, numerical solutions for a highly truncated Fourier representation are presented. These solutions, which are for a fixed Prandtl number and variable Rayleigh numbers, show the transient growth of convection from small perturbations, and in all cases studied approach steady states. The steady states obtained agree favorably with steady-state solutions ob...


Background Storage triacylglycerols in castor bean seeds are enriched in the hydroxylated fatty acid ricinoleate. Extensive tissue-specific RNA-Seq transcriptome and lipid analysis will help identify components important for its biosynthesis. Methodology/Findings Storage triacylglycerols (TAGs) in the endosperm of developing castor (Ricinus communis) seeds are highly enriched in ricinoleic acid (18:1-OH). We have analysed neutral lipid fractions from other castor tissues using TLC, GLC and mass spectrometry. Cotyledons, like the endosperm, contain high levels of 18:1-OH in TAG. Pollen and male developing flowers accumulate TAG but do not contain 18:1-OH and leaves do not contain TAG or 18:1-OH. Analysis of acyl-CoAs in developing endosperm shows that ricinoleoyl-CoA is not the dominant acyl-CoA, indicating that either metabolic channelling or enzyme substrate selectivity are important in the synthesis of tri-ricinolein in this tissue. RNA-Seq transcriptomic analysis, using Illumina sequencing by synthesis technology, has been performed on mRNA isolated from two stages of developing seeds, germinating seeds, leaf and pollen-producing male flowers in order to identify differences in lipid-metabolic pathways and enzyme isoforms which could be important in the biosynthesis of TAG enriched in 18:1-OH. This study gives comprehensive coverage of gene expression in a variety of different castor tissues. The potential role of differentially expressed genes is discussed against a background of proteins identified in the endoplasmic reticulum, which is the site of TAG biosynthesis, and transgenic studies aimed at increasing the ricinoleic acid content of TAG. Conclusions/Significance Several of the genes identified in this tissue-specific whole transcriptome study have been used in transgenic plant research aimed at increasing the level of ricinoleic acid in TAG. New candidate genes have been identified which might further improve the level of ricinoleic acid in transgenic crops.


The aim of this study was to test whether zirconia abutments exhibit the same clinical and esthetic outcomes as titanium abutments in single-tooth implant restorations in the esthetic area. The 24 treated patients were randomly assigned to a test (zirconia abutment) or control (titanium abutment) group. Objective evaluations were carried out using the Implant Crown Aesthetic Index (ICAI) and the Papilla Index (PI) at the 1-month and 12-month follow-up examinations after crown cementation. No significant differences, either in ICAI or in other periodontal or radiographic measurements, were observed. At 1 year, zirconia and titanium abutments exhibited the same esthetic outcomes.


It is often said that the sensitivity of a gas sensor made of an oxide semiconductor film is enhanced by making the film porous. However, the porosity of sensor films has not been sufficiently examined. In this study, SnO2 films were deposited using DC magnetron sputtering under various substrate temperatures and discharge gas pressures. In addition to the structural analysis by means of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, the density and the BET surface area were measured to clarify the film porosity. The sensitivity to H2 gas of undoped and Pd-doped SnO2 films upon exposure to 1000 ppm H2 was measured at 300 . SnO2 films generally showed a columnar structure. The film deposited at a low temperature and a high pressure showed a low density and a large effective surface area. The H2 sensitivity increased as the density decreased, that is, as the effective surface area increased.


In automated planning current research is focused
on developing domain-independent planning engines.
These require domain models, written in a standard
input language such as PDDL to supply knowledge of
the planning application and task, before they can be
used. The main component of a domain model is the
representation of actions in the form of lifted opera-
tor schema. The acquisition and engineering of these
schema is an important area of research, as this process
is recognised as being di�cult and laborious even for
planning experts.
A fruitful line of research is to investigate mechanisms
to automatically learn planning domain models. Re-
cent research has studied learning from structured or
re�ned inputs supplied by a training agent (Cress-
well, McCluskey, and West 2011; Zhuo et al. 2010;
Wu, Yang, and Jiang 2005; McCluskey et al. 2010). An
alternative method would be to allow planning agents
to learn and develop the domain models by observa-
tion. One freely available source for learning actions
is selected web text; here actions are represented as
verbs in natural language. This project aims to in-
vestigate the possibility of extracting formal structures
representing actions from free text. We intend to utilise
large text corpuses available on-line from which to ex-
tract such action knowledge, and learn operator schema
in a formal language that can be converted to PDDL.


Objective: To describe the incidence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) in the Danish population in 2000–2013, at national and regional level, and to investigate any trends in incidence over time. Methods: From the Danish National Patient Registry (NPR), we identified patients diagnosed with AS (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision: M45) or SpA (M46) from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2013. Patients without a relevant contact in NPR at 12–24 months after initial diagnosis were excluded. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated using the background population of men and women aged 18–45 years in 2000–2013 as a comparator. Variations in incidence between periods and the five Danish regions were evaluated. Results: In total, 3042 incident cases were identified (AS: 1849; SpA: 1193). AS incidence increased from 476 in 2000–2004 to 660 in 2010–2013; the IRR (95% confidence interval) increased from 1.49 (1.33–1.67) in 2005–2009 to 1.74 (1.53–1.97) in 2010–2013. SpA incidence increased from 156 in 2000–2004 to 707 in 2010–2013; the IRR increased from 2.45 (2.03–2.94) in 2005–2009 to 6.31 (5.27–7.55) in 2010–2013. The incidence of both AS and SpA increased in all five regions. Conclusion: The incidence of both AS and SpA in Denmark increased from 2000 to 2013. However, the proportion of patients diagnosed with SpA rather than AS was significantly higher in 2010–2013. This may be due to increased awareness of SpA and new treatment options, but possibly also misclassification of patients with SpA.


Ernest Hemingway is one of the most popular and important American writers of the 20th century. His fiction, ranging from the short story to the novel, is well known, but his medical knowledge, and in particular his knowledge of obstetrics, often is not recognized. To achieve the realistic depiction of the childbirth scenes in A Farewell to Arms required that Hemingway acquire special knowledge of obstetrics practice.


The diet of the white-chinned petrel at Bird Island, South Georgia was studied during chickrearing in 1986 by quantitative analysis (by weight, frequency of occurrence and number of individuals) of regurgitated or lavaged adult stomach contents. Antarctic krill comprised over 90% of prey items and formed 47% of the diet by weight; fish and squid occurred in 67% and 35% of samples and formed 33% and 19% of the diet by weight, respectively. Decapods, amphipods and salps occurred in a few samples. The fish were mainly lanternfish (Myctophidae) of eight species (chiefly Electrona and Gymnoscopelus, forming 80% by number and 52% by mass of fish prey) and the nototheniid Patagonotothen guntheri (14% by number and 35% by mass). Of squid taken, the ommastrephid Martialia hyadesi comprised 57% by number and 52% by mass and the gonatid Gonatus antarcticus 14% by number and 42% by mass. These dietary data confirm white-chinned petrel as the most important avian consumer of fish and squid at South Georgia (and the third most important consumer of krill). In 1986 the nototheniid fish were probably obtained via commercial fishing operations but the myctophids and squid were probably live-caught, most likely at night. Meal size increased rapidly until chicks were three weeks old and then remained constant until the chicks were within 10 days of fledging, when it decreased. Meal delivery rate was high (one per day) for young chicks (1–10 days old) and thereafter fluctuated between 0.56 and 0.88 meals per day until close to fledging, when it was halved. These provisioning rates, and the proportion of krill in the diet, are higher than those recorded previously at South Georgia and Indian Ocean sites, probably reflecting high local availability of krill at South Georgia in 1986. In many respects, white-chinned petrels at South Georgia are intermediate ecologically between prions and albatrosses, although specialized in their extensive consumption of myctophids. Because krill and all the main fish prey are currently the targets of substantial commercial fishing and the main squid prey (Martialia) is a potential target, the ecological role and status of white-chinned petrels are of additional importance.


The objective of this research is to measure and compare the importance of the contribution of inequality of opportunity in child health inequality. The latter is decomposed into within opportunity inequality and the between opportunity inequality using a non-parametric approach after building groups with deducted circumstance variables.
The results showed that the total health inequality experienced a decrease between 1998 and 2013 from 0.65 to 0.26 in 15 years unlike the inequality of opportunities which has increased. It goes from 0.14 to 0.18 respectively in 1998 and 2013. The relatively low levels of inequality of opportunity are interpreted as an estimate of the lower bound of the set of variables of circumstances that can influence child health. Considering the results, the increase in the level of inequality of health opportunity would come more from the increase of the "unfavorable opportunity" group's contribution.


To investigate the relative importance of homogenizing factors, such as gene flow, and diversifying factors, such as drift, genetic variation in pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) in two Fennoscandian regions (North and South) was analysed with microsatellites. Allelic richness and the degree of differentiation were significantly higher in the North (FST= 0·20) than in the South (FST= 0·064). In northern areas, assignments of genotypes were almost exclusively to the population of origin, but in southern areas, the proportion of correct assignments was significantly lower. Most samples exhibited significant heterozygote deficits, and the level of relatedness was higher than expected from randomness. These combined results suggest that there has been more gene flow between populations in southern areas than in northern areas, where the importance of genetic drift has been greater. Effective population sizes were small (c. 100) and did not differ between areas. The effect of a common history appears minor, and thus processes such as genetic drift and gene flow have been more influential in shaping the patterns of genetic diversity in this species.


A performance-based approach to the interaction of geometric design, speed, and safety is considered given the availability of two key documents: the Highway Safety Manual and Modeling Operating Speed: Synthesis Report. A historical look at the concept of design speed shows that although the definition of design speed has changed on more than one occasion, the same basic philosophy that related design speed to a safe speed is still reflected in current policy in supplemental guidance related to the selection of design speed. A conservative approach to establishing design criteria, used to address the range of driver, vehicle, and roadway conditions and capabilities that a designer must consider, is demonstrated. Operating speeds are shown to be higher than design speeds for design speeds of approximately 55 mph or less. This outcome may be considered undesirable, but that categorization seems to be based more on subjective judgments of what is desirable than on actual safety findings. Finally, the idea of speed management through the use of roadway geometrics (i.e., geometric designs that influence driver selection of operating speed)—one component of self-enforcing, self-explaining roadway design—is explored. Findings uncover possible challenges to implementing this idea. Five related questions are addressed: (a) What is known about the relationships between road geometry and operating speeds? (b) To what degree does road geometry influence operating speeds? (c) How are safety and security influenced by road geometry? (d) What are the potential impacts on large vehicles? and (e) What is the nature of the speed–safety trade-off?


Summary
1Maternal effects often explain a significant amount of variation in offspring phenotype, and can be important in the evolution of life histories. Incubation of eggs is an important maternal effect, and optimal growth and development of avian embryos takes place within a narrow range of incubation temperatures, but the effect of incubation microclimate on neonate phenotype remains relatively unexplored in birds.
2In this study of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa Linnaeus) we examined effects of incubation temperature on the length of incubation period and neonate quality. We monitored nest temperatures and incubation periods of naturally incubated Wood Duck nests and found a strong inverse relationship between incubation period and average nest temperature.
3Next, we collected three unincubated eggs from each of 48 nests, and randomly assigned eggs from each nest to one of three incubation temperatures (34·6, 36·0 and 37·4 °C). Experimental incubation temperatures overlapped average nest temperatures of naturally incubated Wood Duck nests.
4Hatching success varied with incubation temperature and was lowest for eggs incubated at the lowest temperature. Incubation period of experimental eggs decreased with increasing temperature but was not affected by fresh egg mass.
5Wood Duck embryos catabolized an estimated 34–38% of egg lipids and 25–33% of egg protein during incubation. Percentage change of lipids increased with decreasing incubation temperature, but not significantly. Embryos incubated at lower temperatures used a greater percentage of protein than embryos incubated at higher temperatures.
6In analyses using fresh egg mass as the covariate, we found that wet and dry mass of ducklings increased with increasing incubation temperature. Decreases in lipid content of Wood Duck neonates with decreasing incubation temperature were not significant, but eggs incubated at low temperatures produced ducklings that had reduced protein mass and that were structurally larger than ducklings from eggs incubated at high temperatures.
7Our study illustrates the importance of incubation temperature on the development of Wood Duck embryos. Decisions made by incubating parents that influence egg temperature can modify incubation period and offspring phenotype. Investigations of incubation as a reproductive cost should consider how parental decisions influence both parents and offspring.


The past few decades have seen significant changes and transformations in China, from the ideological, political, legal, social and economic perspectives. These changes lead to the argument that the regime in China now can be labeled as a developmental authoritarian state, which has seen a gradual opening-up of the space for associational life. In this context, in the face of rapid economic development and massive construction, local developments have witnessed a conflict between preserving the past for its intrinsic value and the need for change. In particular, there are different actors involved in heritage conservation, including the local government, the developer, specialists, the media and ordinary people. Since the notion of "a deliberative democracy" was made prominent by the Chinese government, there is a dilemma between the pursuit of economic development and the call for a democratic process in decision-making in heritage conservation. Thus, to follow this from one small clue, heritage conservation becomes a window to look into Chinese local governance.
However, little research has been done on power structures within heritage conservation and how different forces interact and negotiate in transitional economies at the local level in China. Using the grounded theory method (Charmaz, 2006), the research aims to explore the dilemmas of changes in Chinese local governance through the lens of heritage conservation and to investigate the interactions between key players in the society. Based on the theoretical framework of networked governance by Bevir and Rhodes (2012) and their interpretive analysis, this study "decentres" the local governance in heritage conservation, providing the different narratives of the local government, specialists, the media and ordinary people, as well as their interactions. A comparative study between an urban and a rural case is conducted using a combination of qualitative research methods, including text analysis, in-depth interviews and participant observation.
The study indicates that, facing the dilemmas of heritage conservation and local development, local governments employ different governing approaches, such as "public participation under government leadership", "the rule of law" and "ideological cultivation". I argue that local governments in China re-adapt the traditions in current local governance as a response to the dilemmas. In the city, there is an increasing importance of business enterprises and entrepreneurial elite in local policy and decision making. China's urban governance thus features entrepreneurialism which shares both commonalities with and differences from its western counterparts. It is characterized by market regulation and official-businessperson collusion, and centred on land speculation in implementing entrepreneurialism. However, in the countryside, rural governance experiences a combination of changes and traditions: a formal institutional authority of the grassroots self-governance system and an informal form of authority generated under the influence of inclusive social and kinship ties. I suggest that local China is now experiencing the "authoritarian deliberation" put forward by He and Warren (2009), which is inherited from the governing traditions and is reinforced by continuing social and economic development.
This study opens up a new discussion on how democracy survives under rapid economic development in China. This study also contributes to the knowledge of changes in Chinese local governance and the interpretations of different actors. As an empirical study using "decentring" approach, this study explores local governance from different perspectives, which emphasizes the traditions, dilemmas and networks in governance theory.


Late Cambrian to early Ordovician trilobites, the family Olenidae, were tolerant of oxygen-poor, sulfur-rich sea floor conditions, and a case is made that they were chemoautotrophic symbionts. Olenids were uniquely adapted to this habitat in the Lower Paleozoic, which was widespread in the Late Cambrian over Scandinavia. This life habit explains distinctive aspects of olenid morphology: wide thoraces and large numbers of thoracic segments, thin cuticle and, in some species, degenerate hypostome, and the occasional development of brood pouches. Geochemical and field evidence is consistent with this interpretation. Olenids occupied their specialized habitat for 60 million years until their extinction at the end of the Ordovician.


Intelligence as a term can have at least three general meanings. It can be a process, by which governments request, collect, analyze and disseminate certain types of required information, and the rubric by which covert operations are planned and executed. The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between clandestine diplomacy and Kenya's foreign policy. This study applied Realism Theory in evaluating the complex relationship between clandestine diplomacy and Kenya's foreign policy - which assumes that the character of foreign policy can only be ascertained through the examination of the political acts performed, as a result realism seems to seek security and order. This study aims to strengthen National Security Advisory Council and other key policy makers to develop stronger policies that are driven by intelligence in Kenya. In addition this study aims to contribute to action oriented strategies by the Government and particularly key actors in Kenya's Foreign Policy. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative research approaches within a stage of the study or across two of the stages of the research process. The collected data was sorted and analyzed using document analysis and thematic analysis techniques, based on the emerging issues that were under investigation. The results (outcomes) obtained were presented in form of frequency tables, histograms and narratives, so as to give graphical representations. The study found that a country's foreign policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors. Therefore intelligence was found to be used for public diplomacy when it is publicly presented to support a policy decision. Public diplomacy is combined with intelligence when the government seeks to harness the political power of an intelligence assessment to justify some policy or action to the public. Diplomacy and foreign policy are central features of international politics. Subsequently the study found that most participants were referring to National Intelligence Service (NIS) in their definition of the Kenyan context of intelligence, since the NIS is both the main national domestic and foreign intelligence agency of Kenya. The study revealed that since independence, Kenya has had no written foreign policy until President Uhuru Kenyatta launched one on 20th January, 2015. The study concludes that inattention to the role and position of intelligence is considered one of the main reasons for faulty understanding of policymaking trends in Kenya's foreign policy apparatus. The study recommends that parliament play an active role in foreign affairs in a systematic manner, it is necessary to activate the Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs of the two Houses. The study further recommends that important issues and projects relating to the foreign economic relations should be handled by specific departments as with each key national concern such as security, labour and foreign investments


By analysis of feces collected from bats in the field, we determined that aquatic insects, particularly chironomid Diptera, made up the major portion of the diet of Myotis lucifugus at sites in southern Ontario, northern New York, and Nova Scotia. The diets of adult males reflected the available insect prey as sampled by a malaise trap, while those of lactating females included proportionally more caddis flies and moths than were present in the malaise trap samples. The diets of subadults of both sexes showed greater variation than those of adults, although chironomids and caddis flies were important components. While we observed the aforementioned pattern at sites in Nova Scotia, northern New York, and southern Ontario, the diets of adult M. lucifugus in northern Ontario were as variable as those of subadults from more southerly areas. We suggest that M. lucifugus is opportunistic in its feeding habits, and that the adults efficiently harvest s warms of aquatic insects, a trait not fully acquired by the ...


The present investigation was designed to study cardiohemodynamics and endothelium-dependent vascular reactivity estimated by the reactive hyperemia--one of the endothelium-dependent vascular responses--in 55 healthy highlanders (2,200 m a.s.l.) compared to 55 healthy lowlanders matched by sex, age, body weight and height. Among the basic parameters of the central hemodynamics and myocardium contractility, there was revealed statistically significant increase in diastolic blood pressure, stroke volume and blood flow rate in the highlanders. The stroke volume increment was stipulated by rising in myocardial contractile activity. A mild hypertrophy of the myocardial ventricles and signs of pulmonary hypertension were observed in the highlanders much more often than in the residents of sea level. The endothelium-dependent reactive hyperemia simulation revealed more pronounced vasodilator responses in the highlanders. The peak values of the forearm blood flow, both absolute and relative, were significantly higher compared to those in the lowlanders. The obtained results allow to make a conclusion that continuous action of moderate hypoxia causes strengthening in cardiac pump and contractile functions, increase in endothelium-dependent vascular reactivity and widening the vasodilator reserve due to increasing the production and/or release of vasodilator agents, in particular nitric oxide. Such widening of the vasodilator reserve might be considered as one of the adaptive mechanisms of cardiovascular regulation in extreme conditions.


Supporting transmission of stream media over wireless mobile networks is often difficult because packets may be lost due to the rerouting of packets during handoff, and also because bursts of packet loss may occur during handoff due to the disparity in the amount of available bandwidth among different cells. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end multipath handoff scheme that provides smooth handoff for stream media in wireless networks with different amounts of available bandwidth from cell to cell. In the proposed scheme, multiple paths are established during handoff to reach a mobile destination node. The stream media sources are equipped with an adaptive multilayer encoder, and important layers in the encoded video stream are duplicated and transmitted over multiple paths during handoff. The effectiveness of the proposed multipath handoff scheme is verified and compared with existing schemes through extensive simulations. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides higher throughput and better quality for stream media.


Large diameter pipes and elbows are vastly used in industry especially in mining and oil and gas production. Solid particle erosion is a common issue in these pipelines, and it is important to predict it to avoid failures. Currently, laboratory experiments reported in the literature are limited to diameters less than 4 inches. Therefore, there is not much experimental data available for large diameter elbows. However, the erosion can be predicted by CFD simulations and applying erosion equations in such elbows. The goal of this project is to examine the effects of elbow diameter and Stokes number on erosion patterns and magnitude for various flow conditions for elbow diameters of 2, 4, 8, and 12 inches.
 The approach of this work is to first perform CFD simulations of liquid-solid and gas-solid flows in 2-inch and 4-inch elbows, respectively, and evaluate the results by available experimental data. Then CFD simulations are carried for 2, 4, 8, and 12-inch standard elbows for various Stokes numbers corresponding to gas dominant flows with the velocity of 30 m/s, and liquid dominant flows with the velocities of 6 m/s. For gas dominant flows erosion in air and for liquid dominant flows erosion in water is investigated. All these simulations are carried for four particle sizes of 25, 75, 150, and 300 microns. The results indicate that Stokes number and diameter of elbows have significant effects on erosion patterns as well as magnitudes in this geometry.
 This work will have various applications, including validating mechanistic models of erosion predictions in elbows and developing an Artificial Intelligence (machine learning) algorithm to predict erosion for various flow conditions. Such algorithms are limited to the range of conditions they are trained for. Therefore, it is important to expand the database these codes are accessing. Overall, the CFD database of large diameter elbows will reduce the computational costs in the future.


A review of the key features of a series of seabed based scientific lander deployments undertaken by the National Oceanography Centre at Liverpool, UK as part of the UK Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry (UK-SBS) Programme (www.uk-ssb.org) is provided in this document. A bespoke lander design provided a unique platform for a broad range of scientific measurements to facilitate novel benthic or near seabed scientific research. A complex and diverse set of lander based instrumentation included dissolved oxygen flux or 'eddy correlation' sensors, sonar based localised seabed distance and contour profiling, high resolution water velocity measurements and measurements of suspended particulate matter in the lower water column. The sensor suite was complimented by an automated, water sampler for collecting and preserving samples with a programmable sample volume and collection time. These seawater samples were suitable for determining dissolved inorganic nutrient levels close to the seabed. Inline filters were used to assess the levels of particulate concentrations at the time of each sample collection. A series of scientific survey cruises, using the research vessel RRS Discovery, occurred from March 2014 to September 2015 as part of the UK-SSB programme. Within this sequence of scientific cruises four key Celtic Sea based sites were surveyed. The lander deployment sites used provided a diverse range of seabed based scientific study conditions.


This paper presents a novel face detection method by applying distribution-based distance (DBD) measure and support vector machine (SVM). The novelty of our DBD-SVM method comes from the integration of discriminating feature analysis, face class modeling, and support vector machine for face detection. First, the discriminating feature vector is defined by combining the input image, its 1-D Haar wavelet representation, and its amplitude projections. Then the DBD-SVM method statistically models the face class by applying the discriminating feature vectors and defines the distribution-based distance measure. Finally, based on DBD and SVM, three classification rules are applied to separate faces and nonfaces. Experiments using images from the MIT-CMU test sets show the feasibility of our new face detection method. In particular, when using 92 images (containing 282 faces) from the MIT-CMU test sets, our DBD-SVM method achieves 98.2% correct face detection accuracy with 2 false detections, a performance comparable to the state-of-the-art face detection methods, such as the Schneiderman-Kanade's method.


Different methods for transforming N-heteroarenes into more reactive derivatives for catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation are highlighted. The first strategy consists of facilitating hydrogenation by the formation of positively charged derivatives of the heteroarene. Catalyst deactivation processes arising upon binding of the substrate to the metal center can thus be prevented and, additionally, hydrogenation of positively charged heteroarenes may also be more favored than that of their neutral analogues. The second strategy is based on introducing a ligating group onto the substrate to assist its coordination to the metal center and facilitate hydrogenation by chelation assistance. The last strategy involves breaking the aromaticity of the heteroarene by inducing a double-bond migration process. This microreview summarizes advances made in the above strategies, which have allowed the development of highly enantioselective catalytic hydrogenation of N-heteroarenes for the production of fully or partially saturated chiral heterocycles.


Recently, the IntelliDrive initiative has been proposed by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT)
to enhance on-road safety and efficiency. In this study, we provide a mathematical framework which predicts the effect of such technologies on the efficiency of multilane highway systems prior to their real-life deployment. Our study shall encompass mixed traffic conditions in which a variety of assisted, automated and unequipped vehicles coexist. We show that intervehicular communications improves the flow of vehicles by reducing the perception-reaction (P-R) times of drivers and, in some cases, allowing for more efficient lane-changing operations. As we shall see, unlike the latter, the former effect of IntelliDrive on driver P-R time is always there, regardless of the specific traffic conditions.


The direct effect of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in utero on the development of the lung parenchyma is not known. We used design-based stereologic methods to evaluate in utero and postnatal ETS exposure on alveolar and respiratory bronchiole (RB) development in the rhesus macaque. Methods Timed-pregnant rhesus macaques and their offspring were exposed to filtered air or various amounts of ETS during the prenatal and postnatal period. The left cranial lobe from necropsied infants was evaluated by design-based stereological methods and general pathological review. Results Infants in the in utero and six-month ETS groups had an 18% and 17% relative decrease, respectively, in alveolar number and a 57% and 33% increase, respectively, in alveolar size compared to filtered air (FA) monkeys. Lung volume positively correlated with alveolar number in the FA and six-month ETS group and negatively correlated in the in utero ETS group. The distribution of alveolar size was much more variable in the in utero group. Overall, RB volume was significantly increased in the six-month ETS group (p < .04). Conclusions Taken together, these results indicate that in utero and postnatal ETS exposure is associated with altered parenchymal lung development.


This paper outlines the development and testing of a novel, feedback-enabled attention allocation aid (AAAD), which uses real-time physiological data to improve human performance in a realistic sequential visual search task. Indeed, by optimizing over search duration, the aid improves efficiency, while preserving decision accuracy, as the operator identifies and classifies targets within simulated aerial imagery. Specifically, using experimental eye-tracking data and measurements about target detectability across the human visual field, we develop functional models of detection accuracy as a function of search time, number of eye movements, scan path, and image clutter. These models are then used by the AAAD in conjunction with real time eye position data to make probabilistic estimations of attained search accuracy and to recommend that the observer either move on to the next image or continue exploring the present image. An experimental evaluation in a scenario motivated from human supervisory control in surveillance missions confirms the benefits of the AAAD.


The accurate and timely retrieval of agricultural water use, crop health and related plant biophysical parameters, represent key elements in delivering an effective crop management and monitoring strategy. In arid and semi-arid environments, where the availability of water is generally limited, determining the dynamics of these variables is especially important. With the rapid developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the capacity to develop customized retrievals of crop information now exists. While there remain challenges in the routine application of autonomous airborne systems, the state of current technology together with sensor developments provide an opportunity to further explore the operational potential. UAVs offer the capacity to bridge the spatio-temporal divide that exists between satellite and ground based sensing, offering new insights into process dynamics and behavior and providing the data necessary to produce a truly multi-scale framework for improved agricultural characterization. In this paper we will focus on the retrieval of vegetation parameters from UAV platforms, using high-resolution satellite data from RapidEye and Landsat sensors to evaluate retrievals. A focus on traditional parameters such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) will be supplemented with estimates of thermal infrared based land surface temperature. We will also discuss how UAVs can support the development of farm-level monitoring, particularly in the determining crop water-use and crop health.


Low dosages of chloramphenicol (25-50 micrograms/ml) brought about a 2-4-fold stimulation of acid phosphatase activity in 48 h-germinated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) embryos. However, at high concentrations of chloramphenicol (100-1000 micrograms/ml), there was a progressive decline in enzyme activity. The stimulatory effect of the drug on acid phosphatase activity was relatively specific, since no significant stimulation of activities of proteinase, deoxyribonuclease, ribonuclease, o-diphenolase and peroxidase was observed in germinating cotton embryos. Chloramphenicol, however, did promote the activities of isocitric lyase and alkaline phosphatase. Sephadex G-200 chromatography of the enzyme fraction revealed high (230 000)- and low (106 000)-molecular-weight multiple forms of acid phosphatase in the chloramphenicol-treated embryos, in contrast with a single molecular form (mol.wt. 106 000) in the untreated embryos. Thus the treatment of cotton embryos with chloramphenicol induced both a qualitative and a quantitative change in the acid phosphatase activity. Chloramphenicol-stimulated acid phosphatase activity was strongly inhibited when Pi was included in the germination medium. However, the control embryos showed less pronounced inhibition of enzyme activity in presence of Pi ions.


Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a prototypic systemic fibrotic disease with unclearly characterized genetic basis. Implicated genes have been associated with autoimmune dysregulation with relatively few variants associated with fibrosis [1]. We have discovered that mutations in FAM111B gene cause hereditary fibrosing poikiloderma with tendon contractures, myopathy, and pulmonary fibrosis (POIKTMP)[2], a multisystem fibrotic condition with clinical aspects of SSc [3]. This observation has established FAM111B as a candidate gene for SSc. Objectives The objective is to investigate whether FAM111B gene mutations are present in SSc patients and further explore relationships between FAM111B mutations and clinical expression of SSc. Methods Patients with a definite diagnosis of SSc attending the Rheumatology outpatient departments at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, and Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg, were enrolled into the study. Physical examination assessing the extent of disease was done in all patients and the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) was used to determine the extent of the skin involvement. Blood samples were collected for DNA extraction and mutation screening using the high-resolution melt technique. Samples with abnormal electropherograms were selected for Sanger sequencing to identify mutations. Public databases were used to verify the frequency of variants in FAM111B . Results 131 patients were genotyped, 13 men and 118 women, with a mean age of 26.6 years and mean age of symptom onset at 25.3 years. The majority of patients were black (59.5%). 72% of patients had diffuse systemic sclerosis (DSSc) with a median mRSS of 11. Genetic analysis revealed seven rare genetic variants (C832G>A; C855G>T; C917A>G; C937G>A; C988C>T; C995A>C and C1006G>C) in eight patients (five patients from Johannesburg and three patients from Cape Town) [table 1]. These variants were missense mutations of unknown significance with a minor allele frequency FAM111B mutations that cause POIKMT were found in patients with SSc. Conclusions Rare genetic variants of unknown significance (GVUS) in FAM111B gene were found in patients with SSc. It is possible that the GVUS may modify the function of FAM111B , and influence the pathogenesis of SSc or are rare polymorphisms with no functional impact. References Romano, E., et al., The genetics of systemic sclerosis: an update. Clin Exp Rheumatol, 2011. 29(2 Suppl 65): p. S75–86. Mercier, S., et al., Mutations in FAM111B cause hereditary fibrosing poikiloderma with tendon contracture, myopathy, and pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Hum Genet, 2013. 93(6): p. 1100–7. Khumalo, N.P., et al., Poikiloderma, tendon contracture and pulmonary fibrosis: a new autosomal dominant syndrome? Br J Dermatol, 2006. 155(5): p. 1057–61. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The backtracking based Davis Putnam (DPLL) procedure remains the dominant method for deciding the satisfiability of a CNF formula. In recent years there has been much work on improving the basic procedure by adding features like improved heuristics and data structures, intelligent backtracking, clause learning, etc. Reasoning with binary clauses in DPLL has been a much discussed possibility for achieving improved performance, but to date solvers based on this idea have not been competitive with the best unit propagation based DPLL solvers. In this paper we experiment with a DPLL solver called 2CLS+EQ that makes more extensive use of binary clause reasoning than has been tried before. The results are very encouraging-2CLS+EQ is competitive with the very best DPLL solvers. The techniques it uses also open up a number of other possibilities for increasing our ability to solve SAT problems.


Drought is a major environmental stress that limits growth and development of cool-season annual grasses. Drought transcriptional profiles of resistant and susceptible lines were studied to understand the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.). A total of 4718 genes exhibited significantly differential expression in two L. multiflorum lines. Additionally, up-regulated genes associated with drought response in the resistant lines were compared with susceptible lines. Gene ontology enrichment and pathway analyses revealed that genes partially encoding drought-responsive proteins as key regulators were significantly involved in carbon metabolism, lipid metabolism, and signal transduction. Comparable gene expression was used to identify the genes that contribute to the high drought tolerance in resistant lines of annual ryegrass. Moreover, we proposed the hypothesis that short-term drought have a beneficial effect on oxidation stress, which may be ascribed to a direct effect on the drought tolerance of annual ryegrass. Evidence suggests that some of the genes encoding antioxidants (HPTs, GGT, AP, 6-PGD, and G6PDH) function as antioxidant in lipid metabolism and signal transduction pathways, which have indispensable and promoting roles in drought resistance. This study provides the first transcriptome data on the induction of drought-related gene expression in annual ryegrass, especially via modulation of metabolic homeostasis, signal transduction, and antioxidant defenses to improve drought tolerance response to short-term drought stress.


We present a novel three-jet microreactor design for localized deposition of gallium arsenide (GaAs) by low-pressure Metal-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) for semiconductor devices, microelectronics and solar cells. Our approach is advantageous compared to the standard lithography and etching technology, since it preserves the nanostructure of the deposited material, it is less time-consuming and less expensive. We designed two versions of reactor geometry with a 10-micron central microchannel for precursor supply and with two side jets of a dilutant to control the deposition area. To aid future experiments, we performed computational modeling of a simplified-geometry (twodimensional axisymmetric) microreactor, based on Navier-Stokes equations for a laminar flow of chemically reacting gas mixture of Ga(CH3)3-AsH3-H2. Simulation results show that we can achieve a high-rate deposition (over 0.3 μm/min) on a small area (less than 30 μm diameter). This technology can be used in material production for microelectronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, solar cells, etc.


Pressure on the world's oceans for economic gain and consumption has led to a rapid and unceasing decline in marine wildlife. Unsustainable fishing practices continue, as regulation is lax on enforcement around the world. Many species are on the verge of extinction and most fisheries on the brink of collapse, if extinction or collapse has not happened already. Health risks of seafood consumption due to mercury and other contaminants has become a notable reason for ceasing fish consumption. Despite health detriments and environmental degradation, seafood demand is high and increasing as the world population grows. In its increasing commitment to sustainability, Smith College should address its own impact on the world's oceans, and if continuing to buy seafood, the college should buy the seafood that is recommended as sustainable. Through email questionnaires to Dining Services, personal interviews with local fish suppliers in Northampton, and surveys to students, the actual sustainability of Smith seafood was assessed, and recommendations made to better our purchasing and consumption behavior. While currently Smith's ocean impact is drastic, Dining Services is committed to making the best seafood choices possible. Already they are listening to student feedback and removing some of the unsustainable seafood, though it is just the beginning. Students seem interested in being included in the decision-making process regarding the seafood they consume, either by survey or taste-test. With appropriate recommendations of local, sustainable seafood sources, and student input to determine what we, the primary consumers want to eat, Smith's impact on the world's oceans can change for the better.


1. The propagated massed potentials which follow stimulation of the radial nerve in Arbacia, Diadema, Echinus and Paracentrotus are described. 2. Approximate values for the averaged absolute and relative refractory periods and the conduction velocity were obtained. 3. The response of Diadema has a double peak which is shown to represent responses of nerves differing in excitability and conduction velocity. The fast potential is concerned with spine movement. The slow potential is related to inhibition of spine movements excited photically.


Management in Africa is under researched by scholars both within and outside of the continent. As a result, nowhere is management research-practice gap so wide than in Africa. This paper aims to assess the management research practices and challenges in selected Ethiopian higher education institutions (HEIs) and contributes to the improvement of management research practice in general. The study employed qualitative approach and a descriptive case study designed to assess management research practices in 7 selected public and private higher institutions in Addis Ababa. The study result indicated that the status of management research and publication in these institutions is limited and lack focus. There is only once a year call for papers and publishing of proceedings. The themes were selected by research coordinators or committees often without consultation with staffs and other stakeholders. There are lacks of genuine commitment from the institutions; rather they face saving activities made to meet the minimum standards for the renewal of their licenses. The major challenges were shortage of finance, staff competency deficiencies and lack of commitment, absence of research culture, lack of incentives and encouragements, and lack of involvement and engagement of key stakeholders in the research process. Hence, to improve their visibility, their staff and education quality HEIs are recommended to establish their research program through involvement of internal and external stakeholders in the research process from identification of research areas to the use of the results, develop research competency of their staff, provide incentives, and promote research culture.

 Key words: Management research, research program, research stakeholders' involvement, challenges, business schools, higher education institutions.


Over the last two decades, agile methods have transformed and brought unique changes to software development practice by strongly emphasizing team collaboration, customer involvement, and change tolerance. The success of agile methods for small, co-located teams has inspired organizations to increasingly apply agile practices to large-scale efforts. Since these methods are originally designed for small teams, unprecedented challenges occur when introducing them at larger scale, such as inter-team coordination and communication, dependencies with other organizational units or general resistances to changes. Compared to the rich body of agile software development literature describing typical challenges, recurring challenges of stakeholders and initiatives in large-scale agile development has not yet been studied through secondary studies sufficiently. With this paper, we aim to fill this gap by presenting a structured literature review on challenges in large-scale agile development. We identified 79 challenges grouped into eleven categories.


Least-squares inversion of seismic arrivals can provide remarkably detailed models of the Earth's subsurface. However, cycle skipping associated with these oscillatory arrivals is the main cause for local minima in the least-squares objective function. Therefore, it is often difficult for descent methods to converge to the solution without an accurate initial large-scale velocity estimate. The low frequencies in the arrivals, needed to update the large-scale components in the velocity model, are usually unreliable or absent. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a multi-objective inversion scheme that uses the conventional least-squares functional along with an auxiliary data-domain objective. As the auxiliary objective effectively replaces the seismic arrivals by bumps, we call it the bump functional. The bump functional minimization can be made far less sensitive to cycle skipping and can deal with multiple arrivals in the data. However, it can only be used as an auxiliary objective since it usually does not provide a unique model after minimization even when the regularized-least-squares functional has a unique global minimum and hence a unique solution. The role of the bump functional during the multi-objective inversion is to guide the optimization towards the global minimum by pulling the trapped solution out of the local minima associated with the least-squares functional whenever necessary. The computational complexity of the bump functional is equivalent to that of the least-squares functional. In this paper, we describe various characteristics of the bump functional using simple and illustrative numerical examples. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-objective inversion scheme by considering more realistic examples. These include synthetic and field data from a cross-well experiment, surface-seismic synthetic data with reflections and synthetic data with refracted arrivals at long offsets.


The purpose of this session is to present research-based strategies for improving doctoral candidate retention and completion rates. We will first discuss findings from a qualitative phenomenological study examining factors associated with doctoral persistence. Derived from these findings and a synthesis of the literature on doctoral attrition, we present 5 practical strategies for improving doctoral persistence. Throughout this discussion, we will model specific practices that are found to be effective on an individual, course, program, and institutional level for increasing social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Session attendees will learn about technologies and practices they can implement to increase sense of community and, thus, persistence in their own doctoral programs. We conclude the session with a reflective discussion about how participants can modify current practices to encourage increased persistence in their doctoral programs.


Climate change politics refers to attempts to define climate change as a physical phenomenon as well as to delineate current and predict future effects on the environment and broader implications for human affairs as a foundation for political action. Defining the causes, scale, time frame, and consequences of climate change is critical to determining the political response. Given the high stakes involved in both the consequences of climate change and the distributive implications of policies to address climate change, climate change politics has been and remains highly contentious both within countries and across countries.
 Climate politics presents difficulties for study given its interdisciplinary nature and the scientific complexities involved in climate change. The international relations literature surrounding climate politics has also evolved and grown substantially since the mid-2000s. Efforts to address the consequences of climate change have evoked controversial ethical and distributive justice questions that have produced an important normative literature. These debates increasingly inform the ongoing negotiations surrounding responsibility for the problem of climate change and the policies required to address climate change. There is also a larger debate regarding the complex linkages between climate change and broader ecological as well as economic and political consequences of both the effects of climate change and policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or remove them from the atmosphere. As we enter the 2020s, a new debate has emerged related to the implications of the posited transition to the Anthropocene Epoch and the future of climate politics. Normative and policy debates surrounding climate change politics remain contentious without a clear path to meaningful political action.


The corrosion behavior of CoCr films (∼500 to 1000 nm thick) deposited on glass by RF sputtering has been examined by classical electrochemical methods which provide a simple and rapid means for comparing one material with another. The development of a specially designed holder to allow electrical contact to the film and exposure to a sulfuric acid electrolyte was required. A comparison of potentiodynamic polarization curves for films containing various amounts of Cr with similar data from the literature for bulk CoCr alloys showed analogous behavior in the shape of the curve and in the level of Cr required to produce passivity, about 15-17%. Results indicate the formation of a passive layer containing a chromium oxide. In addition, comparison of an as-received sample with an electrochemically treated sample using Auger electron spectroscopy along with polarization results showed that Co oxides are apparently stabilized by the presence of Cr. Auger results also suggest that corrosion and passivation occur along the spaces or crevices between columnar grains during electrochemical treatment as indicated by the presence of a significant oxygen content.


The design of future high-energy and high-intensity hadronic machines, such as FCC-hh, relies on the ability of detectors to sustain harsh radiation environments while keeping excellent performances on tracking and tagging all the interaction products. In order to face the challenge, a vast R&D effort is required.

In this paper, we propose a novel concept of tracking system, that combines the possibility to track particles up to fluences of the order of 10$^{17}$ n$_{eq}$/cm$^2$ together with a precise time information, $\sigma_t \sim$ 10 ps. For this purpose, Low-Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGAD) are the suited technology.

For the innermost, most irradiated portion of the detector, very thin sensors (20 – 40 $\mu$m) with moderate gain ($\sim$ 5 – 10) can provide the required tolerance to the radiation. For such detectors, the internal gain mechanism of LGAD allows to provide the same amount of charge released by a particle passing 100 – 200 $\mu$m of standard PiN diodes up to $\Phi \sim$ 0.5$\cdot 10^{16}$ n$_{eq}$/cm$^2$. Above those fluences, the thin doped layer responsible for the signal multiplication gets deactivated, but if operated at the proper bias voltage ($\sim$ 500 V) the signal multiplication happens inside the whole irradiated bulk volume.

Moreover, in the region of the tracker detector where the level of overall fluence keeps $\leq$ 0.5 – 1$\cdot 10^{16}$ n$_{eq}$/cm$^2$, LGAD with a geometry optimised for timing measurement, the so-called Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD), can be used to provide precise position and timing information at the same time. Considering the current timing performances of UFSD under irradiation and assuming a $\sigma_t \sim$ 40 ps from sensor + ASIC, the usage of track-timing layers alternated to tracking only layers can provide an ultimate $\sigma_t \sim$ 10 ps per single track.


In this paper, we analyse the occurrence of negative electricity prices on the German day-ahead spot market for the years 2008 and 2009. An empirical analysis shows that either a low system load combined with a moderate wind generation or a moderate system load combined with a high wind generation is a neccessary condition for the appearence of negative prices. However, the linear correlation between the negative market prices and global variables that characterise the system status (system load, wind generation, net export, residual load) is relatively low - wind generation having the highest correlation (−0.42). By elaborating the actual volumes of renewable electricity that are traded on the spot market, a marginally better correlation can be achieved. Limited transparency in this field makes this type of market-oriented analysis difficult. We also find that the negative spot market prices cause higher capacity prices in the negative minute reserve market. The influence on the secondary reserve is less definite because of the long contracting periods in this market.


Idiomorphic, one-dimensional (1-D), and high-quality hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocrystals were successfully, directly, and densely grown on a Ti substrate at the relatively low temperature of 300 °C using a KNO3–LiNO3 flux coating method. The grown HAp crystals have a 1-D shape with a very high aspect ratio (much larger than 100) and an average size of 3250 × 25 nm (length × width). The ultralong 1-D crystals grown at 300 °C were identified as highly crystalline HAp by their X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, which clearly displayed the four characteristic lines of HAp between 31.5° and 34.5°. Additionally, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images demonstrated that these ultralong whiskers were high-quality because point and line defects were not observed. From the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, major components were homogeneously distributed in the HAp whiskers. In addition, the effects of holding temperature and starting composition on the forms and average sizes...


An alternative to inverters with add-on charging circuits or standby uninterruptible power supply (UPS) hardware, the bimode UPS, is discussed. The bimode UPS uses common circuitry and power components for DC-to-AC inversion and battery charging. It also provides an automatic and nearly instantaneous AC power transfer function when the engine-generator is started or stopped. The components of the renewable hybrid energy system are described to provide a background for understanding the bimode evaluation. Operating characteristics and requirements of each part of the system are provided. A short description of standby UPS is given, and a comparison of the two systems is made to establish their similarities; the similarities show how the UPS may be used in hybrid systems. Evolution of the UPS to the bimode UPS allows simplification of the hybrid system if the bimode UPS proves its compatibility with loads, batteries, and engine generator. The renewable conversion device operates independently of the UPS. The incorporation of the bimode UPS is discussed, and the Abacus bimode UPS is evaluated.<<ETX>>


In this paper, a new concept of wavelet transform (WT)-based technique is introduced to detect various types of shunt faults in a wind farm integrated double circuit transmission line. The information of fault contained in the current signals of both circuits is captured using wavelet transform. The fifth level detail coefficients of current signals of both circuits are then calculated which aspires at detecting the fault and identifying the faulty phase. Test results show that the proposed fault detection scheme effectively detects the fault and discriminates the faulted phase. The proposed technique offers primary protection to the total transmission length using data recorded at relaying location only. The fault cases such as variation in fault type, fault resistance, close-in faults, remote-end faults, transforming faults, multi-location faults and cross-country faults are taken into account.


The US has reduced the number of people admissible under its controversial H-1B visa program, which lets skilled foreign workers - many in the computer technology field - take jobs in the country for up to six years. The H-1B visa program has sparked ongoing controversy. Many technology companies say they hire US workers when possible but need higher visa caps to fill important positions requiring skills for which qualified domestic workers aren't readily available. H-1B opponents, on the other hand, have assailed the program for taking away scarce technology jobs from US workers and giving them to workers from other countries who, they say, often accept lower salaries. US technology firms are currently finding some of the overseas employees they want by using L-1 visas, which permit intracompany transfers of foreign managers and workers with specialized skills.


This article is concerned with the producer market in patented technology, and whether price differentiation based on field-of-use – a common strategy adopted by businesses with high fixed costs – is economically efficient. The focus is on the licensing of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms and conditions, including also the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, and the economic growth in the digital economy, especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The central argument proposed is that the absolute difference in the value between usages of essential standardized technologies determines whether a single price for all usages or specific field-of-use prices are economically efficient. A small difference in value should result in a single price and a large difference in different prices. Pricing policy is critical to create a world-wide sustained technology development including contributions from, and applications for, emerging markets and developed markets, thereby growing the digital economy.

In this literature review, three evaluation angles of the literature are used: a market analysis under neo-classical assumptions of price-taking agents and marginal (incremental) value; an expanded market analysis where the willingness to pay (WTP) replaces marginal cost as criteria for what price should be paid for licences; and an analysis of market designs with similar characteristics as the SEP market in terms of risk, using experimental economics (behavioural) and auction theory. All analyses angles investigate the principle of field-of-use licensing, established already in the first known patent law in 1474.