In this paper, return migration from Sweden to three sources of refugee immigration is analysed, with a focus on the effect of political change in 1990. Chilean immigrants reacted more strongly to political liberalization in the home country than Polish immigrants did, primarily due to more favourable economic circumstances in Chile compared to Poland in the 1990s. In fact, the increase in Polish return migration propensity after 1990 is not statistically different from the Iranian increase, in spite of the absence of political liberalization in Iran. There are significant cohort differences within the Chilean group, indicating an element of economically motivated migration within the last waves of Chilean refugee immigration in the late 1980s. Hence, successful implementation of schemes of voluntary return migration for refugees will not only be dependent on an improved political situation in the source country, but will also be highly dependent on economic circumstances.


a hemianopic from the good side, and many other simple but very worthwhile measures which can easily be put into practice by their attendants. The message to medical students and housemen is perhaps to become more personally involved in this aspect of patient care which is too often left entirely to physiotherapists and occupational therapists. With adequate rehabilitation 'the reward may be very rich even after an apparent catastrophe'.


The article triangulates Schatzki's practice theory (2002) and Thévenot's (2001) 'regimes of engagement' with the nascent field of 'social futures' or future-oriented cultural sociology (e.g. Coleman and Tutton 2017; Mische 2009). We present a reading of Thévenot's regimes of engagement that is ontologically compatible with Schatzki's account of social practices and argue that practices are more or less enmeshed in distinct regimes of engagement. We aver that while people engage reality through distinct regimes of engagement they do so, to follow Schatzki, primarily in the context of social practices. We then articulate this account with Giuliana Mandich's (2019) work on the different modes of engagement with the future, or forms of reflexive projectivity, that are expressed through Thévenot's regimes: that of practical anticipation for the regime of the familiar; of probability for the regime of the plan; of possibility for the regime of justification; and of discovery for the regime of exploration. This synthesis enables a practice theoretical account of the different modes through which actors engage with the future that is, we suggest, analytically superior to both Thévenot's and Schatzki's tendency towards a mono-dimensional view of agents' projectivity towards the future. We illustrate the synthesis of practices, regimes of engagement and modes of projectivity chiefly through a study of domestic laundry practice conducted by Southerton and Mylan (2018). We suggest this theoretical development may be productively applied to practice theoretical work informing understanding of issues such as sustainable consumption, mobility and energy use, as well as social change more broadly.


Gastroesophageal reflux disease is increasingly associated with ear, nose, and throat symptoms, including laryngitis. Many patients are unaware of the gastroesophageal etiology of their symptoms. A variety of criteria are used to diagnose this condition, including laryngoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and the use of ambulatory pH and impedance monitoring. However, no test serves as the gold standard for the diagnosis given their lack of sensitivity and specificity for reflux disease. Numerous trials have assessed the role of proton pump inhibitor therapy in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux and most have revealed no benefit to acid suppression over placebo. Despite many uncertainties there has been some progress regarding the role of acid-suppressive therapy as well as other agents in this unique group of patients. In this review we explore therapeutic options and their rationale for patients with laryngeal signs and symptoms.


The objective of this work was to determine the potential of five species of Scelionidae wasps - Telenomus podisi, Trissolcus basalis, Trissolcus urichi, Trissolcus teretis and Trissolcus brochymenae - as natural enemies of the neotropical stink bug Dichelops melacanthus, and to determine if the presence of eggs of other stink bug species influences the parasitism and development of the parasitoids. Two kinds of experiments were done in laboratory: without choice of hosts (eggs of D. melacanthus) and with choice (eggs of D. melacanthus and of Euschistus heros). Biological parameters, including proportion of parasitism, immature survivorship, progeny sex ratio, immature stage development period, and host preference were recorded. All the evaluated parasitoids can parasitize and develop on D. melacanthus eggs. The first choice of eggs did not influence the proportion of D. melacanthus eggs parasitized by Tr. basalis, Tr. teretis or Tr. brochymenae. However, D. melacanthus eggs as the first choice of Te. podisi and Tr. urichi increased, respectively, 9 and 14 times the chance for parasitism on eggs of this species. Behavioral and ecological aspects of parasitoids should be considered prior to their use in biological control programs.


Hydrogel scaffolds provide a beneficial microenvironment in transected rat spinal cord. A combinatorial biomaterials based strategy provided a microenvironment that facilitated regeneration while reducing foreign body reaction to the 3-dimensional spinal cord construct. We used poly lactic-co-glycolic acid microspheres to provide sustained release of rapamycin from Schwann cell (SC)-loaded, positively charged oligo-polyethylene glycol fumarate scaffolds. Three dose formulations of rapamycin were compared to controls in 53 rats. We observed a dose-dependent reduction in the fibrotic reaction to the scaffold and improved functional recovery over 6 weeks. Recovery was replicated in a second cohort of 28 animals that included retransection injury. Immunohistochemical and stereological analysis demonstrated that blood vessel number, surface area, vessel diameter, basement membrane collagen, and microvessel phenotype within the regenerated tissue was dependent on the presence of SCs and rapamycin. TRITC-dextran injection demonstrated enhanced perfusion into scaffold channels. Rapamycin also increased the number of descending regenerated axons, as assessed by Fast Blue retrograde axonal tracing. These results demonstrate that normalization of the neovasculature was associated with enhanced axonal regeneration and improved function after spinal cord transection.


This paper presents our latest work on assisting AMS (application management service) clients or accounts to generate effective cross-skill training plans. Specifically, we aim to answer the following two questions: "Whom to train?" and "What to train?", both of which are very critical to training plan generation. To achieve this goal, we first analyze a given account's service request data and identify a set of candidate categories (which indicate skills) for each account consultant to be trained upon, then we measure the following three important metrics: the importance of each such category, consultant's resource utilization, and the temporal correlation between such category and the categories that the consultant can already handle. Finally, we present all measurements to the account team allowing it to generate very flexible cross-skill training plans based on various goals. So far, we have applied this tool to a couple of real AMS accounts, and have received some initial yet encouraging feedback.


There is now ample evidence that historical colonial institutions impact contemporary economic outcomes and some suggest that these links might be mediated by the influence of colonial institutions on electoral processes and outcomes. This paper examines this under-researched link in the context of India, focusing on two colonial institutions that potentially influence electoral outcomes - the type of rule, i.e. whether a territory was under direct British rule or whether it was under native rule - and the type of land tenure installed by the British. I measure electoral outcomes by three variables: voter turnout (VT), margin of victory (MV) and electoral competition (EC) and ask: Do historical colonial institutions impact contemporary electoral outcomes and if yes, in what ways? Do such impacts persist in the longer term? I focus specifically on the elections at the cusp of decolonization (1951) and those in 1970s, to assess short and longer-terms impacts. Results indicate a 4 higher VT in native ruled areas in the long run and 5 higher VT in the non-landlord areas in the short run. The latter dissipates in the longer term because of tenancy reforms. I find EC consistently higher in British and landlord areas but no robust impact on MV is noted. These results are consistent with the role played by landlords and erstwhile princes of native states after decolonization. The paper provides evidence on the potentially important mediating role of electoral outcomes in link between historical institutions and economic outcomes and suggests that research on elections should not overlook the role of historical institutions and those exploring the historical origins of economic outcomes should not overlook the role of elections.


In this paper, the factors influencing the oxidation resistance of superalloys are studied. A model is proposed by which the Al2O3-forming properties of a given composition can be estimated, based upon the thermodynamic and kinetic factors influencing scale growth. The numerical modelling is tested by experimental work on a number of compositional variants of the newly-developed SCA425+ superalloy, which contains appreciable quantities of Cr. The modelling is shown to be in broad agreement with experiment. The effects of Al, Cr and Si on the oxidation resistance of this class of alloy have been rationalised.


Clustering has become a core technology in machine learning, largely due to its application in the field of unsupervised learning, clustering, classification, and density estimation. A frequentist approach exists to hand clustering based on mixture model which is known as the EM algorithm where the parameters of the mixture model are usually estimated into a maximum likelihood estimation framework. Bayesian approach for finite and infinite Gaussian mixture model generates point estimates for all variables as well as associated uncertainty in the form of the whole estimates' posterior distribution. The sole aim of this survey is to give a self-contained introduction to concepts and mathematical tools in Bayesian inference for finite and infinite Gaussian mixture model in order to seamlessly introduce their applications in subsequent sections. However, we clearly realize our inability to cover all the useful and interesting results concerning this field and given the paucity of scope to present this discussion, e.g., the separated analysis of the generation of Dirichlet samples by stick-breaking and Polya's Urn approaches. We refer the reader to literature in the field of the Dirichlet process mixture model for a much detailed introduction to the related fields. Some excellent examples include (Frigyik et al., 2010; Murphy, 2012; Gelman et al., 2014; Hoff, 2009). This survey is primarily a summary of purpose, significance of important background and techniques for Gaussian mixture model, e.g., Dirichlet prior, Chinese restaurant process, and most importantly the origin and complexity of the methods which shed light on their modern applications. The mathematical prerequisite is a first course in probability. Other than this modest background, the development is self-contained, with rigorous proofs provided throughout.


Key Points Question Accounting for underreporting, what is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease burden in the US? Findings In this cross-sectional study using data from public health surveillance of reported coronavirus disease 2019 cases and seroprevalence surveys, an estimated 46 910 006 SARS-CoV-2 infections, 28 122 752 symptomatic infections, 956 174 hospitalizations, and 304 915 deaths occurred in the US through November 15, 2020. Meaning Findings of this study suggest that although more than 14% of the US population was infected with SARS-CoV-2 by mid-November, a substantial gap remains before herd immunity can be reached.


1. Eavesdropping behaviour can increase the total amount of information available to an individual and therefore has the potential to provide substantial benefits. Recent research has suggested that some species are 'information givers', particularly social species with cooperative vigilance systems, and that these species may consequently affect community structure by influencing the behaviour and niche utilization of other species. 2. Here, using behavioural observations and playback experiments, we compared the behavioural change in a solitary species (the scimitarbill) and a social species (the pied babbler), to the presence and alarm calls of one another. 3. Our results revealed that scimitarbills underwent significant behavioural changes in the presence of social pied babblers: they reduced their vigilance rate by over 60%, increased their foraging efficiency and expanded their niche by moving into open habitat and excavating subterranean food items. In contrast, pied babblers ― who have an effective intraspecific sentinel system ― did not show significant behavioural changes to the presence or alarm calls of scimitarbills. 4. These results suggest that interspecific interceptive eavesdropping can provide significant benefits, influencing the behaviour and habitat utilization of eavesdropping species.


To study the anti-seismic performance of the viscous damper and the E shaped steel bearing on the continuous girder bridge, two models of the Taibai bridge located in Xi'an are analyzed by the nonlinear time-history method and the Midas/Civil software, considering the interaction between pile and soil. The related data are obtained through the two computational models. The results show that the bending moments and shear forces of the bottom of the fixed pier are reduced and it is effective to reduce the displacements of the top of the fixed pier and the end of the girder. And, the viscous damper and the E shaped steel bearing form the large hysteresis loops, dissipate the earthquake energy and reduce the earthquake response of the bridge.


Chronic otitis media (OM) is a common cause of deafness in children. Two novel murine models of chronic OM, Junbo and Jeff, generated by chemical mutagenesis with ethyl nitrosurea (ENU), have been developed at MRC Harwell. Junbo heterozygote mice (Jbo/+) mice have a mutation in transcription factor Evi-1 and Jeff heterozygote mice (Jf/+) mice have a mutation in gene for Fbxo protein Fbxo11. Pathologic hypoxia has been characterized as a common feature of the inflamed middle ear in both models. HIF-VEGF pathways dysregulation has been indicated in both models previously. However, the mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of OM in these two models are yet to be elucidated. In this thesis I have described an in-vitro model system to study cellular processes in OM to study and identify pathways involved in OM pathogenesis. This model system involves culturing BMDM and exposing them to various treatments under standard defined conditions. Results from this thesis reveal that Evi-1 is expressed at comparable levels in both WT and Jbo/+ genotypes and that Evi-1A2288T mutation is a loss of function mutation which results in dysregulated expression of Smad responsive and hypoxia responsive genes such as Vegf and Glut-1 under prolonged hypoxic conditions. Although Jbo/+ BMDM are hyper-responsive to LPS in normoxia, as was indicated by higher Vegf and IL-6 levels, macrophage phagocytic function is potentially attenuated in Jbo/+ under hypoxic conditions as was indicated by lower levels of Tnf-α and IL-1β in Jbo/+ BMDM in LPS and hypoxia combination treatment. A perturbed resolution of IL-6 and IL-1β in hypoxia was also observed. Studies performed in this thesis revealed dysregulation in TGF-β pathway in both Jbo/+ and Jf/+ BMDM in normoxia which suggests a common role of TGF-β signalling in OM pathogenesis. Differential expression of cytokines was observed in Jbo/+ BMDM after prolonged treatment with TGF-β and hypoxia indicating a pro-angiogenic and pro-inflammatory phenotype. Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, C5a, IL-17, IL-23, and Ccl5 were higher in Jbo/+ BMDM and levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1ra, IL-10, and IL-4 were lower in Jbo/+ BMDM after prolonged hypoxia and TGF-B treatment which further validates the role of dysregulated HIF and TGF-β signalling pathways in OM in Jbo/+ mice. The differential cytokine expression observed in Jbo/+ BMDM is favourable for Th17 cell differentiation and may indicate a role of cross-talk of innate immunity and cell mediated immunity in OM chronicity in hypoxia. To conclude, HIF signalling and TGF-β signalling in Jbo/+ BMDM is dysregulated. Pro-angiogenic function, impaired resolution of inflammation and predisposition to Th17 cell differentiation by Jbo/+ BMDM under hypoxia contribute to the prolonged and chronic inflammation in Jbo/+ mice and may provide some evidence of pathways that could be affected in OM patients.


PurposeThe article reviews major developments in the literature on knowledge management and intellectual capital management. It provides a description and visualization of the structure and content of the ISO 30401 and critically benchmarks its clauses against comprehensive taxonomies from the literature.Design/methodology/approach2018 saw the release of the ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems Standard, a type A regulation which may serve as a basis for certification. It builds on and integrates a broad and conceptually diverse literature on knowledge resources (e.g. intellectual capital theory, knowledge management theory). This article aims to show how the management systems standard relates to the literature it is built on and provides directions for its further operationalization by certification bodies and implementation by managers.FindingsThe ISO 30401 successfully integrates a diverse body of literature in a broadly applicable cross-industry standard. To operationalize and implement it, certification bodies and managers should build on empirical evidence of "what works," taking into account market characteristics as well as organizational properties. Further research should support the implementation of the standard by developing KM measurement frameworks and context-specific studies of KM tools and methods.Originality/valueThis article is the first to systematically compare the ISO 30401 to the underlying theory. This paper uncovers avenues for research and makes suggestions for the standard's operationalization in practice.


Urban dispersal events are processes where an unusually large number of people leave the same area in a short period. Early prediction of dispersal events is important in mitigating congestion and safety risks and making better dispatching decisions for taxi and ride-sharing fleets. Existing work mostly focuses on predicting taxi demand in the near future by learning patterns from historical data. However, they fail in case of abnormality because dispersal events with abnormally high demand are non-repetitive and violate common assumptions such as smoothness in demand change over time. Instead, in this paper we argue that dispersal events follow a complex pattern of trips and other related features in the past, which can be used to predict such events. Therefore, we formulate the dispersal event prediction problem as a survival analysis problem. We propose a two-stage framework (DILSA), where a deep learning model combined with survival analysis is developed to predict the probability of a dispersal event and its demand volume. We conduct extensive case studies and experiments on the NYC Yellow taxi dataset from 20142016. Results show that DILSA can predict events in the next 5 hours with F1-score of 0:7 and with average time error of 18 minutes. It is orders of magnitude better than the state-of-the-art deep learning approaches for taxi demand prediction.


The human face communicates an impressive number of visual signals. Although adults' ratings of facial attractiveness are consistent across studies, even cross-culturally, there has been considerable controversy surrounding attempts to identify the facial features that cause faces to be judged attractive or unattractive. Studies of physical attractiveness have attempted to identify the features that contribute to attractiveness by studying the relationships between attractiveness and (a) symmetry, (b) averageness, and (c) nonaverage sexually dimorphic features (hormone markers). Evolutionary psychology proposes that these characteristics all pertain to health, suggesting that humans have evolved to view certain features as attractive because they were displayed by healthy individuals. However, the question remains how single features that are considered attractive relate to each other, and if they form a single ornament that signals mate quality. Moreover, some researchers have recently explained attractiveness preferences in terms of individual differences that are predictable. This article briefly describes what is currently known from attractiveness research, reviews some recent advances, and suggests areas for future researchers' attention.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to review the most recent studies from the last 15 years, in search of clinical studies that report the relationship between TMD and orthodontic treatment and/or malocclusion. Our intention was to determine whether orthodontic treatment would increase the incidence of signs and symptoms of TMD, and whether orthodontic treatment would be recommended for treating or preventing signs and symptoms of TMD.

METHODS
Literature reviews, editorials, letters to the editor, experimental studies in animals and short communications were excluded from this review. Were included only prospective, longitudinal, case-control or retrospective studies with a large sample and significant statistical analysis. Studies that dealt with craniofacial deformities and syndromes or orthognathic surgery treatment were also excluded, as well as those that reported only the association between malocclusion and TMD.

RESULTS
There were 20 articles relating orthodontics to TMD according to the inclusion criteria. The studies that associated signs and symptoms of TMD to orthodontic treatment showed discrepant results. Some have found positive effects of orthodontic treatment on signs and symptoms of TMD, however, none showed a statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSIONS
All studies cited in this literature review reported that orthodontic treatment did not provide risk to the development of signs and symptoms of TMD, regardless of the technique used for treatment, the extraction or non-extraction of premolars and the type of malocclusion previously presented by the patient. Some studies with long-term follow-up concluded that orthodontic treatment would not be preventive or a treatment option for TMD.


Objective: Three-dimensional (3D) computer animation is not commonly used to illustrate surgical techniques. This article describes the surgery-specific processes that were required to produce animations to teach cleft lip and palate surgery. Materials and Methods: Three-dimensional models were created using CT scans of two Chinese children with unrepaired clefts (one unilateral and one bilateral). We programmed several custom software tools, including an incision tool, a forceps tool, and a fat tool. Results: Three-dimensional animation was found to be particularly useful for illustrating surgical concepts. Positioning the virtual "camera" made it possible to view the anatomy from angles that are impossible to obtain with a real camera. Transparency allows the underlying anatomy to be seen during surgical repair while maintaining a view of the overlaying tissue relationships. Finally, the representation of motion allows modeling of anatomical mechanics that cannot be done with static illustrations. The animations presented in this article can be viewed on-line at http://www.smiletrain.org/programs/virtual_surgery2.htm. Conclusions: Sophisticated surgical procedures are clarified with the use of 3D animation software and customized software tools. The next step in the development of this technology is the creation of interactive simulators that recreate the experience of surgery in a safe, digital environment.


The isothermal elliptical contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problem in ball screw with rotating nut was studied.Numerical solution to the problem was obtained for various parameters with a multigrid solver.Based on work mentioned above,the influence of the working parameters such as the rotating speed of screw shaft and the contact force,on the lubricant oil film thickness and pressure is analyzed .The results showed that, with the increasing loads,the pressure became higher,the film thickness became smaller. On the other hand,when the angular velocity was higher,the film thickness was higher, while the pressure spike was closer to the center of the contact. Because of the spinning, the slide-roll ratio was not a constant.


Of the many waveforms the bowed string can assume, theso-called "Helmholtz motion" (Helmholtz 1862) gives the fullestsound in terms of power and overtone richness. The developmentof this steady-state oscillation pattern can take manydifferent paths, most of which would include noise caused bystick-slip irregularities of the bow-string contact. Of thefive papers included in the thesis, the first one shows, notsurprisingly, that tone onsets are considered superior when theattack noise has a very limited duration. It was found,however, that in this judgment thecharacterof the noise plays an important part, as thelistener's tolerance of noise in terms of duration isalmost twice as great for "slipping noise" as for "creaks" or"raucousness" during the tone onsets. The three followingpapers contain analyses focusing on how irregular slip-sticktriggering may be avoided, as is quite often the case inpractical playing by professionals. The fifth paper describesthe triggering mechanism of a peculiar tone production referredto as "Anomalous Low Frequencies" (ALF). If properly skilled, aplayer can achieve pitches below the normal range of theinstrument. This phenomenon is related to triggering wavestaking "an extra turn" on the string before causing thestring's release from the bow-hair grip. Since transverseand torsional propagation speeds are both involved, twodifferent sets of "sub-ranged" notes can be produced this way.In the four last papers wave patterns are analysed andexplained through the use of computer simulations.Key words:Key words:Bowed string, violin, musicalacoustics, musical transient, anomalous low frequencies,Helmholtz motion


Research in schema evolution has been driven by the need for more effective software development and maintenance. Finding impacts of schema changes on the applications and presenting them in an appropriate way are particularly challenging. We have developed a tool that finds impacts of schema changes on applications in object-oriented systems. This tool displays components (packages, classes, interfaces, methods and fields) of a database application system as a graph. Components potentially affected by a change are indicated by changing the shape of the boxes representing those components. We have evaluated the tool by own judgement on a real-life application and by a controlled student experiment. Our results indicate that identifying impacts at the level of fields and methods can reduce the time needed to conduct schema changes and reduce the number of errors compared with identifying impacts at the level of classes. Moreover, the subjects of the experiment appreciated the idea of visualizing the impacts of schema changes.


Our research was focused on young people's moral self-determination based on different levels of self-regulation. The author's theoretical model and methodical approach to self-determination study is presented. Selfdetermination implies active individual self-development, search of ones own existential position and the choice of decisions in problematic situations. The self-regulation phenomenon appears in planning and programming life goal achievements, taking into account significant external and internal conditions, estimation of results and correcting ones' own activity for subjectiveacceptable result achievements, also it appears in the degrees of development and realization of self-organizing processes. The results have shown that young people with a medium level of self-regulation have a less positive moral position than people with high and low levels of self-regulation. For young men, the higher level of self-regulation corresponds to a more positive moral position in the case of separate conceptions of morality and moral strategies. But such regularity isn't peculiar to young women.


ABSTRACT The bootstrap is typically less reliable in the context of time-series models with serial correlation of unknown form than when regularity conditions for the conventional IID bootstrap apply. It is, therefore, useful to have diagnostic techniques capable of evaluating bootstrap performance in specific cases. Those suggested in this paper are closely related to the fast double bootstrap (FDB) and are not computationally intensive. They can also be used to gauge the performance of the FDB itself. Examples of bootstrapping time series are presented, which illustrate the diagnostic procedures, and show how the results can cast light on bootstrap performance.


This paper empirically explores small and medium enterprises export intensity dynamics in Argentina, over the 2004-2011 period, and its decomposition by regions and technology sectors. Evidence is presented about general determinants of the export intensity, defined as the exported share of total sales. Results confirm an export intensity contraction showing a larger size since 2007. High technology sectors present minor relative contraction, in the same way as central regions with large clusters and less costs. Finally, firm size effect differs across geographic region and technology sector.


Background To address the obesity epidemic, there is a need for novel paradigms, including those that address the timing of eating and sleep in relation to circadian rhythms. Electronic health records (EHRs) are an efficient way to identify potentially eligible participants for health research studies. Mobile health (mHealth) apps offer available and convenient data collection of health behaviors, such as timing of eating and sleep. Objective The aim of this descriptive analysis was to report on recruitment, retention, and app use from a 6-month cohort study using a mobile app called Daily24. Methods Using an EHR query, adult patients from three health care systems in the PaTH clinical research network were identified as potentially eligible, invited electronically to participate, and instructed to download and use the Daily24 mobile app, which focuses on eating and sleep timing. Online surveys were completed at baseline and 4 months. We described app use and identified predictors of app use, defined as 1 or more days of use, versus nonuse and usage categories (ie, immediate, consistent, and sustained) using multivariate regression analyses. Results Of 70,661 patients who were sent research invitations, 1021 (1.44%) completed electronic consent forms and online baseline surveys; 4 withdrew, leaving a total of 1017 participants in the analytic sample. A total of 53.79% (n=547) of the participants were app users and, of those, 75.3% (n=412), 50.1% (n=274), and 25.4% (n=139) were immediate, consistent, and sustained users, respectively. Median app use was 28 (IQR 7-75) days over 6 months. Younger age, White race, higher educational level, higher income, having no children younger than 18 years, and having used 1 to 5 health apps significantly predicted app use (vs nonuse) in adjusted models. Older age and lower BMI predicted early, consistent, and sustained use. About half (532/1017, 52.31%) of the participants completed the 4-month online surveys. A total of 33.5% (183/547), 29.3% (157/536), and 27.1% (143/527) of app users were still using the app for at least 2 days per month during months 4, 5, and 6 of the study, respectively. Conclusions EHR recruitment offers an efficient (ie, high reach, low touch, and minimal participant burden) approach to recruiting participants from health care settings into mHealth research. Efforts to recruit and retain less engaged subgroups are needed to collect more generalizable data. Additionally, future app iterations should include more evidence-based features to increase participant use.


The biggest mistake in tax reform is the label itself. Saying that one is in favor of tax reform is about as informative as saying that one is in favor of expenditures reform. Despite this murk, I suggest that there is a consensus base on which fundamental reform can and should rest -- the type of foundational base on which any tax system itself should rest and, by the way, the base on which reform in 1986 reform proceeded. That base is nothing more or less than developing, first, reform options that adhere to basic principles or taxation and, second, a legislative process that gives them heed.


Brief overheating of the 89 mm OD 6.4 mm wall thickness titanium heater tubes (ASTM B337, grade 2) was caused by a flow stoppage in a leach heater. Blue-tinted areas and patches of flaky white, yellow, and brown oxide scale was revealed on visual examination. It was disclosed by subjecting the overheated tube to a flattening test that the tube no longer met ASTM B 337 specifications. Large grain size and numerous needlelike hydride particles were disclosed in the microstructure of the overheated tube. Heating to approximately 815 deg C was revealed by the presence of the flaky oxide and increased grain size. Hydrogen and oxygen absorption was revealed by the presence of hydrides and the shallow surface embrittlement and thus susceptibility to cracking at ambient temperatures was observed. It was concluded that the titanium tubes were embrittled due to overheating the tubes and the severe surface embrittlement resulted from oxygen absorption which made the surface layers susceptible to cracking under start up and shutdown. Replacement tubes made of a heat-resistant alloy (e.g., Hastelloy C-276) were recommended.


The analysis of satisfaction, employability and economic perspectives after the Ph.D. in Italy has not received adequate attention in the past, especially in terms of comparison among universities. To analyze these aspects, in this paper we consider data from the survey 'Statistica in TEma di Laureati e LAvoro' on doctors who achieved the title on 2007, 2008 and 2009 [CILEA, Laureati STELLA, indagine occupazionale post-dottorato, dottori di ricerca 2007–2008, Tech. Rep., CILEA, Segrate, 2010; CILEA, Laureati STELLA, indagine occupazionale post-dottorato, dottori di ricerca 2008–2009, Tech. Rep., CILEA, Segrate, 2011]. To deal with the complex, multidimensional nature of the concept, we propose a flexible two-step procedure for the construction of a composite indicator, and make a first attempt to rank some Italian universities. In the first step, indicators for single dimensions are derived from cumulative link models with proportional odds. In the second step, aggregation through standard, ad hoc methods is proposed.


This thesis describes the requirements for, and design of, a suite of a sub-systems which support the introduction of Identity Based Encryption (IBE) to Intrenet communications.
Current methods for securing Internet transmission are overly complex to users and require expensive and complex supporting infrastructure for distributing credentials such
as certificates or public keys. Identity Based Encryption holds a promise of simplifying the process without compromising the security. In this thesis I will outline the theory behind the cryptography required , give a background to e-M ail and messaging protocols,the current security methods, the infrastructure used, the issues with these methods, and the break through that recent innovations in Identity Based Encryption hopes to deliver.I will describe an implementation of a sub-system that secures e-Mail and other protocolsin desktop platforms with as little impact on the end user as possible.


ABSTRACT Bacillus subtilis grown at 37°C synthesizes saturated fatty acids with only traces of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs). However, when cultures growing at 37°C are transferred to 20°C, UFA synthesis is induced. We report the identification and characterization of the gene encoding the fatty acid desaturase of B. subtilis. This gene, called des, was isolated by complementation of Escherichia coli strains with mutations in either of two different genes of UFA synthesis. The desgene encodes a polypeptide of 352 amino acid residues containing the three conserved histidine cluster motifs and two putative membrane-spanning domains characteristic of the membrane-bound desaturases of plants and cyanobacteria. Expression of thedes gene in E. coli resulted in desaturation of palmitic acid moieties of the membrane phospholipids to give the novel mono-UFA cis-5-hexadecenoic acid, indicating that theB. subtilis des gene product is a Δ5 acyl-lipid desaturase. The des gene was disrupted, and the resulting null mutant strains were unable to synthesize UFAs upon a shift to low growth temperatures. The des null mutant strain grew as well as its congenic parent at 20 or 37°C but showed severely reduced survival during stationary phase. Analysis of operon fusions in which the des promoter directed the synthesis of alacZ reporter gene showed that des expression is repressed at 37°C, but a shift of cultures from 37 to 20°C resulted in a 10- to 15-fold increase in transcription. This is the first report of a membrane phospholipid desaturase in a nonphotosynthetic organism and the first direct evidence for cold induction of a desaturase.


Understanding agent behaviour in Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) is an important problem in domains such as autonomous driving, disaster response, and sports analytics. Existing MAS problems typically use uniform timesteps with observations for all agents. In this work, we analyse the problem of agent location imputation, specifically posed in environments with non-uniform timesteps and limited agent observability (~95% missing values). Our approach uses Long Short-Term Memory and Graph Neural Network components to learn temporal and inter-agent patterns to predict the location of all agents at every timestep. We apply this to the domain of football (soccer) by imputing the location of all players in a game from sparse event data (e.g., shots and passes). Our model estimates player locations to within ~6.9m; a ~62% reduction in error from the best performing baseline. This approach facilitates downstream analysis tasks such as player physical metrics, player coverage, and team pitch control. Existing solutions to these tasks often require optical tracking data, which is expensive to obtain and only available to elite clubs. By imputing player locations from easy to obtain event data, we increase the accessibility of downstream tasks.


Precipitation and deposition of asphaltene during petroleum production is a challenging problem confronted by the oil industry compromising the profitability of production fields through loss efficiency of recovery process as well as create remedial cost. Hence, developing a robust model for assessment of asphaltene stability in crude oil is necessary. Δ RI (Δ RI = RI - PRI ) is a novel criterion for stability determination of asphaltene in crudes. An integrated intelligent method, called neuro-fuzzy (NF) has been used in this study for estimation of Δ RI from SARA fraction data. NF develops a fuzzy inference system which is subsequently optimized by virtue of learning capability of neural network (NN). Since NN structure, embedded in NF systems is highly at risk of sticking in local minima, another improved fuzzy model is constructed and is subsequently optimized by virtue of particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. Correlation coefficients for neuro-fuzzy and PSO-fuzzy model are found to be 0.857 and 0.9102, respectively. Comparison between constructed models show optimization of fuzzy model by virtue of PSO technique significantly improves accuracy of final prediction. Implementation of the proposed method indicate that PSO-fuzzy model is capable of accurately predicting asphaltene stability


The contribution of this paper is the introduction of the event-condition-action (ECA) paradigm for the design of modular logic controllers that are reconfigurable. ECA rules have been used extensively to specify the behavior of active database and expert systems and are recognized as a highly reconfigurable tool to design reactive behavior. This paper develops a method to design modular logic controllers whose dynamics are governed by ECA rules, with the ultimate goal of producing reconfigurable control. Modularity, integrability, and diagnosability measures that have in the past been used to measure the reconfigurability of manufacturing systems are used to assess the reconfigurability of the developed controllers. For the modularity measure, criteria found in computer science to evaluate the modularity of object-oriented programs are adapted to evaluate the modularity of modular logic controllers. The results of this paper are that reconfigurability is highly dependent on the level of modularity of the logic control system, and that not all "modular" structures are reconfigurable. There are approaches, such as the one shown in this paper using ECA rules, that can greatly increase the modularity, integrability, and diagnosability of the logic control system, thus increasing its reconfigurability. Note to Practitioners-This paper has been motivated by the problem of designing reconfigurable modular logic controllers. Reconfiguration is important in manufacturing, but it has also been an issue in the software design domain. There are software systems that currently exist, such as active data bases or expert systems with very powerful reconfiguration capabilities enabled by event-condition-action (ECA) rules. This paper applies the ECA concept to the design of modular logic controllers. This paper begins by describing what an ECA logic system is and then focuses on how ECA logic systems can be implemented with modular control approaches. To this end, two designs are considered. First, modular finite state machines are used to construct ECA logic systems, and a theoretical framework is built using this approach. Three qualitative measures for reconfigurability (modularity, integrability, and diagnosability) are presented and the controllers are evaluated using these measures. Second, an implementation using the IEC 61499 function block standard is presented as it is a widely understood and accepted standard for modular control applications. Future work entails theoretical analysis using modular verification techniques that exploit a controller structure


Silver chlorobromide (AgClxBr1−x, 0 < x < 1) nanocubes with a highly uniform size, morphology, and crystallinity have been successfully synthesized through a co-precipitation of Ag+ ions with both Cl− and Br− ions in ethylene glycol containing polyvinyl pyrrolidone at mild temperatures. Compositions of the synthesized nanocubes can be easily tuned by controlling the molar ratio of Cl− to Br− ions in the reaction solutions. The size of the nanocubes is determined by varying a number of parameters including the molar ratio of Cl− to Br− ions, injection rate of Ag+ ions, and reaction temperature. The real-time formation of colloidal AgClxBr1−x nanocubes has been monitored, for the first time, by in situ high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The time-resolved results reveal that a fast injection rate of Ag+ ions is critical for the formation of AgClxBr1−x nanocubes with a highly pure face-centered cubic crystalline phase. The improved uniformity of the AgClxBr1−x nanocubes is beneficial for assembling them into order superlattices (e.g., photonic crystals) even by simply applying centrifugation forces. The stop band of the resulting photonic crystals can be easily tuned from the ultraviolet to the infrared region by using AgClxBr1−x nanocubes with different sizes. The variation of the dielectric constant of AgClxBr1−x associated with the change of the relative concentration of halide ions provides an additional knob to tune the optical properties of photonic crystals.


In this bachelorassignment, Small Advanced Mobility (SAM) has been helped with
the design of the Cito vehicle. This was done by taking a closer look at the windscreen,
windscreen wipers, roof and trunk of the Cito. At least one concept had been
developed for each component, indicating it's dimensions and location on the
vehicle.
Before the components were actually designed, the first computer model of the Cito
was studied. This was done with the use of Dined, a site where various dimensions
of the human being can be found. It appeared that the roof of the first model wasn't
high enough for the tallest people in the target group. This problem was solved in the
second model, mainly by lowering the driver's seat.
THE FRONT WINDSHIELD
The front windshield was the first component of the Cito that had been designed. With
the use of European directive 70/156/EEG, which states the minimum field of view
that a driver must have from it's car, the minimum dimensions of the windshield could
be determined. Because the lower limit of the minimum field of view didn't match
the lower limit of the windshield, the driver's seat had to be lifted with 51.53mm.
The upper limit of the windshield is determined by the position of traffic lights above
the streets. The total length of the entire winshield measures up to 1295,18mm.
As for the material of the windshield, laminated glass (the material of which
the windows of virtually all current vehicles are made), seemed the best choice.
THE WINDSCREEN WIPER
Now that the size of the front windshield is determined, the wiperblade and wipersystem
can be designed. This time, European directive 78/318/EWG is used. This
directive states the minimum area of the windscreen that has to be wiped. For the
wiper to reach this area, it has to have a length of at least 514,91mm. To also wipe
the area of the windshield directy in front of the largest person of the target group,
the wiper must have a minimum length of 742,75mm.
To choose the best wipersystem, various systems were examined. There's also looked
at several wiper systems of similar vehicles as the Cito, namely the Carver and the
Monotracer. Finally the wipersystem of the Carver One is chosen for the Cito. However,
the standard wiper on this system will be replaced by a flat wiperblade. Re-
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT | 5
search namely has shown that flat wiperblades are better than wipers with bracket
The final length of the blade will be 800mm. According to Bosch, this is the maximum
length in wich flat wiperblades are available (in Nov. 2009).
THE ROOF
In order to design the roofsystem, the available space on the roof of the Cito had to
be looked at first. The front limit was determined by the left limit of the windshield,
the rear limit by the rear curvature of the vehicle. The available length for the roof
system was 1659.32 mm, the width 692.00mm. For a better understanding of the
possibilities for a roof system with these dimensions, the company "Inalfa Roof Systems"
was visited and various roof systems at the IAA in Frankfurt were studied.
The designed roofsystem consisted of two sliding panels of each 400mm in lenght
and 572mm wide, one for the driver and one for the passenger.
THE LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT
The size of the luggage compartment is related to a folding crate of 600x400x320mm.
A study among several companies who sell these crates, showed that this was the
largest shopping crate available.
A place in the Cito now had to be created to place this crate. This wasn't easy because
the Cito was packed with batteries (it's an electric car). After having had a
discussion with the packaging team, responsible for the placement of all the parts
inside the vehicle, the crate was placed between and above the rear wheels.
Next, the trunk lid had to be designed. It would be a plus if the trunk could be opened
even if the rear roof panel was slided open. To achieve this, the angle in which the
trunk can be opened, had to be limited to 115 degrees. For further development of
the tailgate, solutions used in existing vehicles were investigated, and the ergonomic
side was studied. Finally, the volume of the trunk has been calculated roughly, the
outcome; approximately 185 liters


Author(s): Gippoliti, Spartaco; Cotterill, Fenton P.D.; Groves, Colin P.; Zinner, Dietmar | Abstract: Genetic rescue is a measure to mitigate the effects of reduced genetic variation in endangered small, isolated (inbreed) populations by introducing new genetic variation into such populations. This is usually accomplished by translocating individuals from a related population, assumed to belong to the same, often polytypic species, into the endangered population. If, however, the taxonomic classification does not reflect the 'true' diversity, genetic rescue can have detrimental effects on the survival of the endangered population (e.g. outbreeding depression). Here we point to problems if erroneous taxonomy informs such translocating strategies. Actions that promote artificial admixture of evolutionary lineages may be ineffective, or they may homogenize existing diversity and biogeographic patterns instead of protecting them. The extreme result is to drive target species and/or cryptic lineages to silent extinction. We single out conspicuous examples to illustrate the negative impacts of actions, which have resulted from artificial interbreeding of evolutionary distinct species or ill-conceived 'genetic augmentation'. In such cases, translocations negate the overarching objective of biodiversity conservation: embodied in the concept of phylogenetic distinctiveness (PD), the encompassing scientific foundation of biodiversity conservation aims to maximize representation of the evolutionary history at the levels of species and ecosystems. A major underlying problem that we identify is persisting taxonomic inertia maintaining e.g., an overly simplified ungulate taxonomy, which is in most cases equivalent to a certain genomic incompatibility or a dilution of specific adaptations. Translocations and genetic rescue should only be employed, if potentially negative effects of the measures can be ruled out (including wrong taxonomy). Poor taxonomy has been – and indeed remains – at fault.


Recent advances in the use of single bubble cavitation [D. F. Gaitan et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 3166 (1992)] have made it possible to examine both the temporal and spectral characteristics of sonoluminescence [B. P. Barber et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 3061 (1992)]. Direct comparison of the spectra of single‐bubble sonoluminescence to multibubble sonoluminescence has proved difficult, however, due to differences in experimental conditions. Examination has begun of both single‐bubble and multibubble sonoluminescence spectra of various aqueous solutions under closely similar conditions, where, in a systematic way, a variety of dissolved gases, volatile organic liquids, and involatile inorganic salts have been introduced. Qualitative comparisons of these spectra will be discussed. [Work supported by ONR and NSF.]


– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the application of Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to analyze the barriers in implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM is explained in brief with emphasis on maintenance programs to improve quality of products, reliability of processes and reduction in cost. Barriers in implementation of TPM are also discussed. Concept of ISM and steps in developing ISM are described in detail. The authors then illustrate the research methodology which involves applying ISM to analyze barriers in TPM. , – The paper starts off by describing the concepts of TPM and ISM. Barriers in implementation of TPM are discussed. It explains ISM as a methodology to understand the underlying interrelationship among the inhibiting factors. The authors draw up an action plan to carry out research on the usage of ISM to study the TPM inhibitors, to develop an integrated model to establish the relationship among the different TPM inhibiting factors and to suggest action plan to mitigate these factors. , – Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) can be used to analyze the driving and dependence power of the variables inhibiting implementation of TPM. The barriers to implement TPM are described with detailed explanation. The complexity of the problem and the degree of interconnection among the variables can be found out. This will help Managers take action on mitigating the barriers. , – By analyzing the interrelationships among the barriers and their strengths, management can chalk out the strategy to implement TPM in an organization. Management will become aware of the barriers which have the maximum influence and then can act accordingly to mitigate these barriers. This will help in implementing TPM faster and in an organized manner. , – Many authors have used ISM to study various issues. A couple of authors have used ISM to determine barriers in implementation of TPM. The authors feel that most of the papers describe ISM in brief making it slightly difficult for readers to understand. This paper aims to explain elaborately step-by-step on how to develop an ISM making it easier for researchers to understand the ISM concept. Even though there are papers on TPM and difficulties in implementation of TPM, this paper explains the barriers in implementing TPM based on the experience of the corresponding author having worked in the refinery industry.


The study aims to identify the existing differences between the maladaptive cognitive schemas of inmates and individuals outside the correction system, as well as possible gender differences. The theoretical foundation of the study started from the main theories in the specialised literature regarding early maladaptive cognitive schemas. The research involved a number of 492 adult subjects, split into two groups (incarcerated and non-incarcerated).


This study sheds light on the problem of communicative inequality, neglected both by linguists and communication scholars, among speakers of different languages. It provides a four-step Critical Theory analysis of language-based inequality and distortion between speakers of a few dominant languages, especially English, and speakers of minority languages in the context of international and intercultural communication. Based on a theoretical framework of "Distorted Communication" developed by J. Habermas and C. Muller, the analysis focuses on a critical description, definition, and interpretation of "Distorted Intercultural Communication", and exposes the ideology that legitimates linguistic inequality and distortion in communication.


Purpose: Th e American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Residency Review Committee (RRC) have mandated that all gastroenterology (GI) fellowship programs should provide the requisite training opportunities in nutrition. Despite the establishment of these guidelines, questions have been raised about the eff ectiveness of current curriculum used in GI fellowships. Th e aim of this study was to determine the perceived eff ectiveness of nutrition education among GI fellows. Methods: A survey was created to collect demographic data and perceived nutritional knowledge on components of nutrition specifi c to GI fellows, including: nutrition assessment, nutrition support, micro/macronutrient requirements, nutrition in GI diseases and obesity. A list of all 162 U.S. accredited fellowship programs and the contact information for all their fellowship coordinators was obtained from the AGA website. All fellowship coordinators were sent an email asking them to forward an internet link to SurveyMonkeyTM website, where fellows could anonymously complete the survey. Results were tallied using SurveyMonkeyTM. Results: Of the approximately 1,400 GI fellows in the U.S., 137 fellows attempted the survey (66.4% males, 33.6% females). Postgraduate year of training was distributed equally among first, second and third year fellows (49, 49 and 39 fellows, respectively). Of the fellows surveyed, 83.9% reported receiving no formal education in nutrition before fellowship. During fellowship, 34.3% reported receiving no formal education, 51.1% reported some nutritional education, and 14.6% reported completion of a formal rotation or training in nutrition. The majority of fellows (86.6%) reported that they would like to have more nutrition-focused education. Only 5.1% fellows reported that they planned on specializing in nutrition and incorporating it into their practice. Fellows perceived themselves as having the least knowledge in micro/macronutrients and providing nutritional support to patients. Included in analysis, only 45.5% of GI fellows reported a good understanding of nutrition as it relates to obesity. Fellows perceived themselves as having the strongest knowledge in technical skills to manage nutritional issues. Conclusion: Current nutritional curriculum used in most GI fellowships is limited. GI fellows believe their knowledge of nutrition is sub-optimal, and would like more nutrition education to be incorporated into their fellowship curriculum. Most concerning is the lack of understanding in the topic of obesity among fellows. Formal nutrition education should be developed in the context of GI fellowship education.


Background: Critical ill will be accessed by sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation. Circulating ischemia-modified albumin is generated under ischemic and oxidative conditions and it reflects the disease severity. Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare the sensitivity and rapidness of Ischemia Modified Albumin as a biomarker with that of an already established biomarker, C-Reactive Protein in patients identified as critically ill septic patients. Materials and Method: A group of 30 subjects were identified using qSOFA as patients suffering from sepsis and their blood samples were taken. These samples were tested for ischemia modified albumin, an inflammatory biomarker, and each sample was also assessed for CRP. Similarly, control patients were assessed for IMA and CRP as well. Results: The results showed that IMA and CRP were both significantly elevated in sepsis, with mean values of 103.77 ± 15.61 ABSU for IMA and 35.58 ± 19.82 mg/L for CRP. However, it was found that the test performed for serum IMA is a quicker and more cost-effective test than that of CRP. Conclusion: This methodology will lead to the usage of a cheaper and more effective diagnostic and prognostic tool for patients succumbed to sepsis.


We compare relativistic transport model calculations to recent data on the sideward flow of neutral strange K^0_s mesons for Au+Au collisions at 6 AGeV. A soft nuclear equation of state is found to describe very well the positive proton flow data measured in the same experiment. In the absence of kaon potential, the K^0 flow pattern is similar to that of protons. The kaon flow becomes negative if a repulsive kaon potential determined from the impulse approximation is introduced. However, this potential underestimates the data which exhibits larger antiflow. An excellent agreement with the data is obtained when a relativistic scalar-vector kaon potential, that has stronger density dependence, is used. We further find that the transverse momentum dependence of directed and elliptic flow is quite sensitive to the kaon potential in dense matter.


This dissertation consists of three essays that examine banking and corporate finance in developing countries. Specifically, it explores the theoretical and empirical implications of open capital markets, foreign bank entry, and the role of bond markets during banking crises. Chapter 1 analyzes the impact of opening capital markets using a theoretical model that incorporates both foreign and domestic lenders in the presence of asymmetric information. The model suggests that when foreign lenders are limited in their ability to obtain information about entrepreneurs, they may engage in cream-skimming by only targeting the largest, most profitable firms. This cream-skimming can induce a reallocation of credit that may either increase or decrease overall net output of the open economy. The consequences of this credit reallocation depend on the type of financial opening and the quality of domestic institutions. Chapter 2 examines the entry of foreign banks as a specific case of opening capital markets. I estimate the impact of entry using variation in the location of foreign banks established in India following a policy change in 1994. The estimates indicate that the 10 percent most profitable firms received larger bank loans, but that on average, firms were 7.6 percentage points less likely to have a loan after entry. The decline in loans was uncorrelated with firms' profitability and driven by a decrease among group-affiliated firms. The reallocation is consistent with the presence of asymmetric information, and similar estimates are obtained using the location of pre-existing foreign firms as an instrument for the location choice of new banks. Chapter 3, co-authored with Simon Johnson and Changyong Rhee, uses a quasi-natural experiment in Korea after the 1997-98 financial crises to assess bond markets in emerging economies. Evidence confirms that bond markets can develop quickly during a banking crisis and act as a 'spare tire' even when almost all previous private finance flowed through the banking system. However, access to bonds was feasible only for the largest firms, and there is no evidence that bond finance was better directed than bank finance. Firms with weaker precrisis corporate governance were no less likely to obtain bond financing. Thesis Supervisor: Daron Acemoglu Title: Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics Thesis Supervisor: Simon Johnson Title: Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship


Investment-linked Takaful is a recent innovation introduced in Malaysia. This study focuses on Investment-linked takaful plan selection in Malaysia. We have used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from 143 respondents from the Klang Valley area. Data collected through the survey was analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. Results indicate that fee payment and benefits play a significant role in Takaful operator selection while coverage and benefits affect the investment-linked product selection in Malaysia. This study is unique as it provides empirical evidence on the investment-linked takaful investment which is limited in supply. Results provided by this study can be useful for takaful operators in designing the most appropriate investment-linked product for attracting customers.


Recent years have seen the rapid growth of social media platforms that enable people to express their thoughts and perceptions on the web and share them with other users. Many people write their opinion about products, movies, people or events on blogs, forums or review sites. The so-called User Generated Content is a good source of users' opinion and mining it can be very useful for a wide variety of applications that require understudying of public opinion about a concept. Blogs are one of the most popular and influential social media. The rapid growth in the popularity of blogs, the ability of bloggers to write about different topics and the possibility of getting feedback from other users, makes the blogosphere a valuable source of opinions on different topics. To facilitate access to such opinionated content new retrieval models called opinion retrieval models are necessary. Opinion retrieval models aim at finding documents that are relevant to the topic of a query and express opinion about it. However, opinion retrieval in blogs is challenging due to a number of reasons. The first reason is that blogs are not limited to a single topic, they can be about anything that is of interest to an author. Therefore, a large number of blog posts may not be relevant to the topic of query. The second reason is that a blog post relevant to a query, can be also relevant to a number of other topics and express opinion about one of the non-query topics. Therefore, an opinion retrieval system should first locate the document relevant to a query and then score documents based on the opinion that is targeted at the query in a relevant document. Finally, blogs are not limited to a single domain, an opinion retrieval model should be general enough to be able to retrieve posts related to different topics in different domains. In this thesis, we focus on the opinion retrieval task in blogs. Our aim is to propose methods that improve blog post opinion retrieval performance. To this end, we consider an opinion retrieval model to consist of three components: relevance scoring, opinion scoring and the score combination components. In this thesis we focus on the opinion scoring and combination components and


OBJECTIVE
To know the production of theoretical approaches on issues related to offshore work and the work of offshore nurses.

METHOD
Integrative literature review conducted in the databases of LILACS, BDENF, MEDLINE, SciELO and Index PSI.

RESULTS
We selected 33 studies published in national and international journals between 1997 and 2014. The thematic analysis corpus resulted in four central themes: offshore work environment; amid work adversities, an escape; structuring of offshore health and safety services; in search of safe practices.

CONCLUSION
This study contributes to the offshore work of nurses in relation to the nature of work, acting amid adversities and the restless search for safe practices in the open sea.


We report on a new series of small band gap conjugated polymers utilizing donor-acceptor-donor substructures in the polymer backbone to broaden and extend the optical absorption to longer wavelengths. Three polymers were prepared by Suzuki polymerization, using the same donor-acceptor-donor segment but with different comonomers. The goal was to investigate how the optical and electronic properties of the polymers were influenced by the different comonomers. Electrochemical spectroscopy, using square-wave voltammetry, shows that increasing the electron-donating strength of the comonomer will raise the HOMO energy level of the polymer, resulting in a decreased band gap. This result is also manifested by comparing open-circuit voltages from the corresponding laboratory fabricated solar cells. The best performing photovoltaic cell, based on APFO-Green15/[60]PCBM (1 : 4 w/w), reached a J(sc) of 4.2 mA cm(-2), a V-oc of 0.73 V, and a FF of 0.54, giving a PCE of 1.7%.


As many carnivores occur outside protected areas, they are vulnerable to anthropogenic threats. In South Africa, the largest proportion of the distribution range of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) is outside protected areas along the northern border of the country. Lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) have been extirpated from these areas, leaving the depauperate carnivore guild dominated by cheetahs, leopards (Panthera pardus) and brown hyaenas (Hyaena brunnea). To determine how cheetahs use these areas, tracking collars were fitted to nine individuals from September 2003 to July 2009 in the Thabazimbi area, Limpopo, South Africa. Local Convex Hulls (&agr;LoCoH) were used to determine home range sizes and 50 and 95 utilization distributions (UDs) were calculated. Male 95UDs ranged from 121.5 km2 to 607 km2 while females ranged from 14.7 km2 to 703.3 km2. Cheetahs utilized several ranches and mean home ranges sizes were larger than mean ranch size and larger than cheetah home ranges recorded in other southern African countries, with the exception of the more arid Namibia. This study provides valuable and relevant data on cheetahs and aids conservation practitioners in mitigating human—cheetah conflict on South African farmland.


OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to examine the association of continuous care in the medical home and health insurance on up-to-date vaccination coverage by using data from the National Survey of Children's Health and the National Immunization Survey. METHODS. Interviews were conducted with 5400 parents of 19- to 35-month-old children to collect data on demographics and medically-verified vaccinations. Health insurance coverage was categorized as always, intermittently, or uninsured for the previous 12 months. Insurance types were private, public, or uninsured. Having a personal doctor or nurse and receiving preventive health care in either the past 12 or 24 months constituted continuous primary care in the medical home. Children were up-to-date if they received all vaccinations by 19 to 35 months of age (≥4 doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine, ≥3 doses of poliovirus vaccine, ≥1 dose of any measles-containing vaccine, ≥3 doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine, and ≥3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine). RESULTS. Bivariate analyses revealed children who were always insured had significantly higher vaccination coverage (83%) than those with lapses or uninsured during the past 12 months (75% and 71%, respectively). Those with continuous primary care in the medical home had significantly higher coverage than those who did not (83% vs 75%, respectively). In multivariate analysis, the same pattern of association was observed for insurance status and medical home, but the only statistically significant association was for children of never-married mothers who had significantly lower coverage (74%) compared with children of married mothers (84%). CONCLUSIONS. Among children with the same insurance status and continuity of care in the medical home, children of single mothers were less likely to be up-to-date than children of married mothers. Interventions assisting single mothers to obtain preventive care for their children should be a priority.


Abstract: The goal of this study is to compare two supervised classification methods on a crucial meteorological problem. The data consist of satellite measurements of cloud systems which are to be classified either in convective or non convective systems. Convective cloud systems correspond to lightning and detecting such systems is of main importance for thunderstorm monitoring and warning. Because the problem is highly unbalanced, we consider specific performance criteria and different strategies. This case study can be used in an advanced course of data mining in order to illustrate the use of logistic regression and random forests on a real data set with unbalanced classes. Download associated data (Zip file - 15,5 Mo)


Application of coagulation and flocculation in leachate treatment is common nowadays. Chemical coagulant is commonly applied compared to natural coagulant. Thus, this study compared the effectiveness of landfill leachate treatment by single coagulant which are chemical and natural coagulant through the removal of suspended solid (SS), sludge settling rate and sludge volume index. The experiment was carried out using standard jar test method and raw leachate sample was collected from Landfill Simpang Renggam. The chemical coagulant used was polyaluminium chloride and natural coagulant was Tapioca flour. Tapioca flour has characteristic as coagulant where it has sticky characteristic that can remove pollutant in leachate without leaving any side effects latter and it is available in abundance, cheaper, and environmentally friendly. Result of this study shown that, the optimum dosage and pH of PAC was 3g/L at pH 8 and for tapioca flour was 1g/L at pH 4. The percentage removal by PAC as in term of removal of suspended solid, sludge volume index and sludge settling rate were 94%, 5273 mL/gm and 1.58 cm/min, respectively. While, for tapioca flour there was minimal sludge formation and the removal of SS was 13.3%. The particles size for sludge leachate after treatment for optimum dose was in range of 20µm and the floc were arranged compacted, and shaped elongated. Hence, this study shows that PAC is more effective than Tapioca flour as single coagulant in terms of sludge volume index, sludge settling rate, removal of suspended solid and particle size of sludge.


Alterations in the permeability to Evans-blue dye of the blood-brain-barrier were encountered in a group of squirrel monkeys that were being readied for surgical occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Extravasation of the dye and grossly visible hemispheric cerebral swelling took place before the artery was clipped. These permeability modifications are felt to be directly related to any of the following factors: (1) use of unipolar electrocautery on the scalp and underlying muscles, (2) exertion of mechanical pressure (i.e., retraction) on the surface of the cerebrum, and (3) exposure of the arachnoid membrane and underlying cerebral cortex to atmospheric conditions for periods of up to five hours. Previously reported experiments involving alterations in the permeability of cerebral vessels should be reevaluated in the light of the findings herein reported. Methods are described to avoid the previously mentioned artefacts on the function of the blood-brain-barrier.


We describe an extension of the active homodyne technique to produce stabilised, (pi) /2 radian phase steps in a full-field interferometer. We have implemented the technique in a single mode fibre optic fringe- projector for shape measurement. The interference intensity (and hence phase) is maintained constant by feedback control to a phase modulator in one of the fibre arms. The feedback system has been modified to produce (pi) /2 radian phase steps in the projected fringes. The phase stability and accuracy of each step was measured to be 17 milliradians in a 50 Hz bandwidth. The technique can be used to produce stabilised phase-stepped images in any fibre or bulk optic interferometer where active homodyne feedback control can be implemented.


feelings in that child after the break-up of what has previously been a close-knit relationship.3 We think the psychiatric aspects of this tragic family disorder differ in important respects from those of classical child abuse and that at present they are a long way from being fully understood. The analogy with the Munchausen syndrome4 is valid as a description of the family's presentation and of the pathological cry for help, but it cannot explain the disturbed family relationship. We note that in Lorber's account' the father was strikingly present through a complete absence of any description at all, and also that the mother was described as 'a psychopathic personality and ... a pathological liar' without reference to the family system she is, or was, a part of. Our cases have been managed with a psychiatric approach and psychiatric inpatient treatment for parent or child; this approach, rather than punitive legal action, seems to have been successful for an earlier patient reported from Sheffield.5 Much might be learnt from long-term follow-up of the many cases now known to paediatricians throughout the country, and we would like to co-operate with other workers to try to find the most appropriate course of action to take for subsequent management.


The article defines different methodological approaches to the essence of insurance. Insurance is a special type of economic activity in the process of which an insurance fund is created, from which, in the event of an insured event provided for by law or contract, payments to policyholders are made. In a market economy, insurance is, on the one hand, a means of protecting business and the well-being of people, and on the other – a kind of entrepreneurial activity that generates profit. The basis for the classification of insurance is the discrepancy: in the areas of insurance companies, in approaches to providing insurance protection of property interests of legal and natural persons, as well as in determining the objects of insurance and in the forms of its conduct. Classification of types of insurance is carried out on a historical, legal and economic basis. The emphasis was placed on the importance and necessity of insurance protection for economic entities from various unfavorable consequences of actions of devastating phenomena from the standpoint of various aspects. The need for insurance protection is due to the desire to limit both tangible and intangible losses associated with certain risks. Today insurance is one of the most important sectors of the economy for any country, because thanks of insurance, pressure on the expenditure part of the budget is reduced for damages. Insurance also contributes to attracting investment funds into the economy, solving social problems in society.


Since the late 1970s the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, has been developing and supplying reference materials (RMs) in support of gas measurements for measuring ambient air pollution. These RMs have been developed for federal and state governments in the United States (US), such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as academia, research laboratories such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (CARB), and other laboratories around the world. Many of these volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pose health concerns and are monitored at ground level to assist U.S. government agencies in assessing the need for emission studies and controls. Ozone is also a ground level pollutant of great concern. Hydrocarbons are ozone precursors and are measured to track, in particular, automobile emissions. RMs are split into two groups containing either multicomponent mixtures of VOCs or non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). Typically these RMs are produced at the 0.02–10 nmol/mol (ppb) level. The research into the preparation and stability of such chemical compounds contained in gas mixtures has led to the development of two Standard Reference Materials (SRMs); a 30component VOC (SRM 1804) and 18-component NMHC (SRM 1800) at 5 nmol/mol per component. NIST has participated in international comparisons with other National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) through bilaterals and CCQM key and pilot comparisons for many of these VOCs and NMHCs. Results of these comparisons have shown equivalency among these NMIs, helping to underpin their measurement and standards claims. Development of these SRMs and RMs, as well as the international comparisons will be discussed.


Recently, trimmable resistors have been in high demand due to their properties. Many manufacturers of electronic equipment see the benefits of using these components in theory; however, the results can be quite different in practice without knowledge of laser trimming technology. To fully realize the benefits of these devices, it is necessary to carefully set up and control the trimming process, which will also greatly influence the component's achievable performance. This paper will explore trimmable resistors and the trimming process.


To what does the term "culture" refer in the French imagination, what spontaneous ideas are associated with it and with which registers are they associated? To find out, and as part of the latest 10-yearly survey into cultural practices in France (which has been carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Communication since 1970), the Department for Studies, Forward Planning and Statistics has carried out a survey of the forms and values associated with culture based on a sample of 1500 individuals representative of the French population as a whole.Spontaneous mention of words and expressions to refer to culture may be grouped, according to semantic proximity, into 28 registers. The first of these, cited by 41% of French people, refers to learning and knowledge, the second to literature and reading and the third to music and dance. Whilst there may be an observable consensus that cultural heritage and the arts, as well as travel, science and cuisine form part of culture in all cases, there are also fairly clearly delineated areas of exclusion, whereby reality TV and television series, video games and theme parks are seen as falling outside of the cultural sphere.Four major notional areas of culture emerge from this: cultural liberalism (everything is cultural), critical eclecticism (everything is potentially cultural, according to certain criteria), the conservative view (the cultural sphere is not extensible) and the anti-establishment view (real culture is elsewhere).Whilst young people (those aged 15-24) more readily include media-based forms of expression and culture in their definition, and women include a greater range of content and activities than men, overall there appears to be a lower influence of the variables which have historically determined cultural participation, in particular social background. It seems very much as though there is a fairly broad and firmly-established common view of culture which crosses all social classes.


Significance Some of the genes responsible for the evolution of light skin pigmentation in Europeans show signals of positive selection in present-day populations. Recently, genome-wide association studies have highlighted the highly polygenic nature of skin pigmentation. It is unclear whether selection has operated on all of these genetic variants or just a subset. By studying variation in over a thousand ancient genomes from West Eurasia covering 40,000 y, we are able to study both the aggregate behavior of pigmentation-associated variants and the evolutionary history of individual variants. We find that the evolution of light skin pigmentation in Europeans was driven by frequency changes in a relatively small fraction of the genetic variants that are associated with variation in the trait today. Skin pigmentation is a classic example of a polygenic trait that has experienced directional selection in humans. Genome-wide association studies have identified well over a hundred pigmentation-associated loci, and genomic scans in present-day and ancient populations have identified selective sweeps for a small number of light pigmentation-associated alleles in Europeans. It is unclear whether selection has operated on all of the genetic variation associated with skin pigmentation as opposed to just a small number of large-effect variants. Here, we address this question using ancient DNA from 1,158 individuals from West Eurasia covering a period of 40,000 y combined with genome-wide association summary statistics from the UK Biobank. We find a robust signal of directional selection in ancient West Eurasians on 170 skin pigmentation-associated variants ascertained in the UK Biobank. However, we also show that this signal is driven by a limited number of large-effect variants. Consistent with this observation, we find that a polygenic selection test in present-day populations fails to detect selection with the full set of variants. Our data allow us to disentangle the effects of admixture and selection. Most notably, a large-effect variant at SLC24A5 was introduced to Western Europe by migrations of Neolithic farming populations but continued to be under selection post-admixture. This study shows that the response to selection for light skin pigmentation in West Eurasia was driven by a relatively small proportion of the variants that are associated with present-day phenotypic variation.


334 Abstract— A biometric system provides automatic identification of an individual based on a unique feature or characteristic possessed by the individual. Iris recognition is regarded as the most reliable and accurate biometric identification system available. Most commercial iris recognition systems use patented algorithms developed by Daugman, and these algorithms are able to produce perfect recognition rates. However, published results have usually been produced under favorable conditions, and there have been no independent trials of the technology. The work presented in this paper involved developing an 'open-source' iris recognition system in order to verify both the uniqueness of the human iris and also its performance as a biometric. For determining the recognition performance of the system one databases of digitized grayscale eye images were used. The iris recognition system consists of an automatic segmentation system that is based on the Hough transform, and is able to localize the circular iris and pupil region, occluding eyelids and eyelashes, and reflections. The extracted iris region was then normalized into a rectangular block with constant dimensions to account for imaging inconsistencies. Finally, the phase data from 1D Log-Gabor filters was extracted and quantized to four levels to encode the unique pattern of the iris into a bit-wise biometric template. The Hamming distance was employed for classification of iris templates, and two templates were found to match if a test of statistical independence was failed. Therefore, iris recognition is shown to be a reliable and accurate biometric technology.


Echocardiography is one of the most important diagnostic tools in cardiology today. One-dimensional phased arrays have been used extensively because they have a small footprint and allow beam steering. Their major limitation lies in that these devices can only be used to acquire images of two-dimensional slices in real-time and that the slice thickness cannot be controlled. To allow real-time three-dimensional imaging of the heart and focusing of the ultrasonic beam in two-dimensional, two-dimensional arrays, the design and fabrication of which are enormous engineering challenges, are required. Before reaching this ultimate goal, limited focusing in the elevational plane can be achieved with 1.5-dimensional arrays. Focusing in the elevational plane allows a reduction in slice thickness and thus an improvement in the image quality over a larger depth of view.


The reduction-atmosphere of CO, H2/N2 or H2 is commonly used for the synthesis of divalent manganese ion (Mn2+) activated luminescent materials. Herein, by using KMnO4 or MnO2 as the manganese source, the spontaneous-reduction of Mn7+ or Mn4+ to Mn2+ in air with intense Mn2+-emission peaking at 536 nm has been first demonstrated in Zn2GeO4 synthesized by a high temperature solid state reaction method. The effects of synthetic conditions including Mn sources (MnCO3, MnO2 or KMnO4) and doping concentration on the crystal structure, spontaneous-reduction behaviors, photoluminescence and long-persistent luminescence properties have been investigated and discussed in detail. Based on the static and dynamic spectral measurements, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), XPS and crystal structure characterization, a charge compensation mechanism has been proposed to interpret the spontaneous-reduction phenomenon of Mn4+(Mn7+) to Mn2+ in Zn2GeO4, which is extended to some other germanates A2BGeO4 (A = Li, Na; B = Zn, Mg) as well. These findings would be beneficial not only for developing a low-cost and safe strategy to produce Mn2+ activated luminescent materials but also for providing new insights into improving the photoluminescence and long-persistent luminescence properties of Mn2+.


Four experiments are reported which assess repetition priming between parts of famous faces and whole faces. Their results are compared with the predictions of a computational model based on principles of interactive activation with competition (IAC). Experiment 1 showed that familiarity decisions to whole-face photographs were primed more by prior recognition of the whole face than by recognition of part of the face (the internal features). Experiments 2 and 3 found that priming from recognizing one part of a face to recognizing a different, non-overlapping part was less than the priming observed from one part to itself. These results are as predicted by the IAC model. That model also predicts that the recognition of part of a face will be primed more by prior recognition of the whole face than by recognition of the same part, but Expt 4 found more priming from a part to itself than from the whole to the part. This result can be accommodated within a revised IAC model if at least some missing features are treated as adding noise to the recognition process rather than simply a lack of input. We suggest that this treatment of missing features is compatible with the notion of global features suggested by the concepts of wholistic coding. The ability of alternative, episode-based theories of repetition priming to explain the obtained results is discussed.


: The electrical activity and tissue respiration of the cortex and subcortex (posterior hypothalamic nucleus, Deiters' vestibular nucleus) have been studied in the rabbits during 3-month exposure to vibration (60H2, for 3h daily). On days 15-30 of exposure to vibration the electrocorticogram demonstrated the prevalence of alfa-waves whereas in the subcortex the teta-waves were dominated. On long-term vibration exposure (2-3 months), the synchronized slow waves were recorded on the EEG. Comparison of a changed electrical activity of the various structures of the brain with the level of oxidizing metabolism enabled us to reveal their definite interrelationship. In the early stage of vibration exposure there has been observed an increased absorption of oxygen by the brain structures and the elevated activity of succinate dehydrogenase. The prolonged vibration resulted in a decreased level of tissue respiration and activity of respiratory enzyme. Under vibration exposure there has been revealed a statistically significant direct relationship between the content of absorbed oxygen, activity of succinate dehydrogenase and the shifts in the electrical activity of cerebral structures.


The paper presents the spectroscopic and the fluorescence properties of the Pr3+ doped low-energy phonon and nonhygroscopic chloride and bromide single crystals KPb2Cl5 and CsCdBr3. Room temperature absorption spectra have been registered and analyzed, by using standard as well as modified versions of the Judd–Ofelt formalism, to derive the values for the radiative lifetimes and the branching ratios of the various emission transitions in both compounds. Low temperature absorption and emission spectra have been registered and exploited to derive the detailed positions of the Pr3+ energy levels in KPb2Cl5. These experimental values have been confronted to and completed by calculated ones obtained by using a standard crystal-field procedure. These data, combined with results of fluorescence decays and emission spectra measurements, then have been used to determine the emission and gain cross sections of the main midinfrared (mid-IR) emission transitions of interest in these materials. Finally, the different ...


The use of particles obtained from biopolymers is of interest in fields such as bioengineering and nanotechnology, with applications in drug encapsulation, tissue engineering, and edible biofilms. A method used to obtain these particles is electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA), which can generate different structures depending on the process conditions and raw materials used, opening a wide range of research in the biopolymers field, where starch is considered an excellent material to produce edible and biodegradable films. This chapter is a compilation and analysis of the newest studies of this technique, using starch with or without modifications to prepare films or membranes and their potential applications. A systematic literature review, focused on starch, and EHDA was carried out, finding 158 articles that match these criteria. From these results, a search inside them, using the words edible and biodegradable was conducted, showing 93 articles with these key words. The information was analyzed observing the preference to use corn, potato, rice, and cassava starches, obtaining mainly scaffolds and fibers and, in much less proportion, films or capsules. This review shows a window of opportunity for the study of starchy materials by EHDA to produce films, coatings, and capsules at micro or nano levels.


The stable tearing behavior of thin sheets of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy was investigated for middle crack tension, M(T), and compact tension, C(T), specimens. The surface crack-tip opening angle (CTOA), applied loads, crack extension, and local displacements were measured. A critical CTOA fracture criterion was incorporated into a two-dimensional, elastic-plastic finite element code and used to simulate the experimental fracture behavior. The CTOA measurements and observations of the fracture surfaces have shown that (a) large values for surface CTOA were observed for small crack extensions (less than the sheet thickness), (b) substantial tunneling of the crack was associated with small crack extensions, (c) crack tunneling in the M(T) specimen was less than that observed in the C(T) configuration, (d) for larger crack extensions, the measured CTOA values were determined to be approximately 6° for both the M(T) and C(T) configuration, and (e) for larger crack extensions, crack tunneling was small and remained constant. The two-dimensional finite element predictions of fracture behavior assumed a constant critical CTOA value of 6° and accounted for local crack tip constraint with a plane strain core of elements ahead of the crack tip. The plane strain core extended 2.5mm above and below the crack plane. The simulations were within ′4% of the maximum applied load for the C(T) tests and within 2% for the M(T) tests.


Recent research shows that the establishment of new parks in historically disinvested neighbourhoods can result in housing price increases and the displacement of low-income people of colour. Some suggest that a 'just green enough' approach, in particular its call for the creation of small parks and nearby affordable housing, can reduce the chances of this phenomenon some call 'green gentrification'. Yet, no study has tested these claims empirically across a sample of diverse cities. Focusing on 10 cities in the United States, we run multilevel logistic regressions to uncover whether the location (distance from downtown), size and function (active transportation) of new parks built in the 2000–2008 and 2008–2015 periods predict whether the census tracts around them gentrified. We find that park function and location are strong predictors of gentrification, whereas park size is not. In particular, new greenway parks with an active transportation component built in the 2008–2015 period triggered gentrification more than other park types, and new parks located closer to downtown tend to foster gentrification more than parks on a city's outskirts. These findings call into question the 'just green enough' claim that small parks foster green gentrification less than larger parks do.


This paper studies the case of integration of Islamic and Human Sciences in theory and practice by highlighting the achievements of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). This paper follows qualitative descriptive analysis approach. It highlights that IIUM is the pioneering institution in cultivating the idea of integration, and the Kulliyah (Faculty) of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS) plays a vital role in that process. Integration of knowledge is a process/method/way to generate a comprehensive educational reform for the betterment of humankind. It should not be considered a new phenomenon as Muslims have embraced integration of religious and human sciences throughout Islamic history. The first part of the paper deals with the meaning of integration and its necessity in establishing the Qur'anic worldview for the Muslim Ummah. The second part of the paper discusses the role of the Kulliyah of IRKHS (or KIRKHS) in realizing the idea of integration. It argues that KIRKHS inculcates integration of Islamic and human sciences through training its faculty members and student development, and through curriculum and teaching material design. The last part of the paper states that the KIRKHS has achieved a significant success in its integration journey, which could be replicated by other educational institutions. In conclusion, this study underscores the necessity of integration of knowledge between revealed and modern sciences as a need of the time, as well as a prerequisite for further development of the Ummah, and suggests that integrated minds are capable of contributing to the society and humanity in a better way.