Growing technological progressions have given rise to many issues concerning the contemporary decision making in business, which is a difficult phenomenon without Business Intelligence/ Machine Learning. The linking of machine learning with business intelligence is not only pivotal for business decision making but also for the business intelligence in totality, owing to the reason that in absence of machine learning, decision making couldn't take place efficaciously. Machines need to learn, re-learn, and then only they can help your learning process. The below paper seeks to make this concept simple/ easy by removing the ambiguities using a general framework. In order to prove the impact of machine learning on business intelligence, we need to forecast the trends, what is going around the world – business has to stay updated, then only it can be a successful endeavour.  The paper posits the basic theories and definitions of business intelligence and machine learning. To learn from the past and forecast the future trends, many companies are adopting business intelligence tools and systems. Companies have understood the brilliance of enforcing achievements of the goals defined by their business strategies through business intelligence concepts and with the help of machine learning. It describes the insights on the role and requirement of real time BI by examining the business needs. Keywords: Business Intelligence (BI); Machine Learning (ML); Artificial Neural Networks (ANN); Self-Organizing Maps (SOM); Data Mining (DM); Data Warehousing (DW).


The TOR protein kinase functions in two distinct complexes, TOR complex 1 (TORC1) and 2 (TORC2). TORC1 is required for growth in response to growth factors, nutrients and the cellular energy state; TORC2 regulates AKT signaling, which can modulate cytoskeletal polarization. In its ecological niche, Dictyostelium engulf bacteria and yeast for nutrient capture. Despite the essential role of TORC1 in control of cellular growth, we show that nutrient particle capture (phagocytosis) in Dictyostelium is independent of TORC1-mediated nutrient sensing and growth regulation. However, loss of Dictyostelium TORC2 components Rictor/Pia, SIN1/RIP3 and Lst8 promotes nutrient particle uptake; inactivation of TORC2 leads to increased efficiency and speed of phagocytosis. In contrast to phagocytosis, we show that macropinocytosis, an AKT-dependent process for cellular uptake of fluid phase nutrients, is not regulated by either of the TOR complexes. The integrated and balanced regulation of TORC1 and TORC2 might be crucial in Dictyostelium to coordinate growth and energy needs with other essential TOR-regulated processes.


In this paper, we propose a symmetric key establishment scheme for wireless sensor networks which tries to minimize the resource usage while satisfying the security requirements. This is accomplished by taking advantage of the communication pattern of wireless sensor networks and adopting heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. By considering the unique communication pattern of wireless sensor networks due to the nature of information gathering from the physical world, the number of keys to be established is minimized and, consequently, the overhead spent for establishing keys decreases. With heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, we can build a hybrid scheme where a small number of powerful nodes do more works than a large number of resource-constrained nodes to provide enhanced security service such as broadcast authentication and reduce the burden of resource-limited nodes. In addition, an on-demand key establishment scheme is introduced to support extra communications and optimize the resource usage. Our performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme is very efficient and highly scalable in terms of storage, communication and computation overhead. Furthermore, our proposed scheme not only satisfies the security requirements but also provides resilience to several attacks.


Background: Pals1-associated tight junction protein (PATJ) is an important regulator of Myosin-driven morphogenetic processes. Results: PATJ associates with two different apical complexes and accomplishes its function by a redundancy of its protein interaction domains. Conclusion: The correct targeting of PATJ to distinct apical domains is important for its function in Drosophila development. Significance: Learning how adaptor proteins can be regulated by protein targeting to distinct cellular compartments. The transmembrane protein Crumbs (Crb) and its intracellular adaptor protein Pals1 (Stardust, Sdt in Drosophila) play a crucial role in the establishment and maintenance of apical-basal polarity in epithelial cells in various organisms. In contrast, the multiple PDZ domain-containing protein Pals1-associated tight junction protein (PATJ), which has been described to form a complex with Crb/Sdt, is not essential for apical basal polarity or for the stability of the Crb/Sdt complex in the Drosophila epidermis. Here we show that, in the embryonic epidermis, Sdt is essential for the correct subcellular localization of PATJ in differentiated epithelial cells but not during cellularization. Consistently, the L27 domain of PATJ is crucial for the correct localization and function of the protein. Our data further indicate that the four PDZ domains of PATJ function, to a large extent, in redundancy, regulating the function of the protein. Interestingly, the PATJ-Sdt heterodimer is not only recruited to the apical cell-cell contacts by binding to Crb but depends on functional Bazooka (Baz). However, biochemical experiments show that PATJ associates with both complexes, the Baz-Sdt and the Crb-Sdt complex, in the mature epithelium of the embryonic epidermis, suggesting a role of these two complexes for the function of PATJ during the development of Drosophila.


TCP remains the protocol of choice for bulk data transfers over the Internet. A range of mathematical approaches were proposed to evaluate the performance of TCP, approaches validated through synthetic or endpoint controlled traffic, typically unsuitable for short-lived transfers or clients with unknown behaviour. This paper aims to overcome these problems by using a supervised adaptive learning approach to build the relationship between TCP performance and the influencing parameters. An earlier study indicated several advantages of the approach, as well as several issues, particularly related to the efficiency of the model on real traces. Comparison against the mathematical models showed that the proposed model provides more accurate estimates for real time traffic without losses, with tests results indicating that the average error of the connection duration, estimated using the proposed model, was 50% smaller than the value obtained using the mathematical approach.


Overparameterization is shown to result in poor test accuracy on rare subgroups under a variety of settings where subgroup information is known. To gain a more complete picture, we consider the case where subgroup information is unknown. We investigate the effect of model size on worst-group generalization under empirical risk minimization (ERM) across a wide range of settings, varying: 1) architectures (ResNet, VGG, or BERT), 2) domains (vision or natural language processing), 3) model size (width or depth), and 4) initialization (with pre-trained or random weights). Our systematic evaluation reveals that increasing model size does not hurt, and may help, worst-group test performance under ERM across all setups. In particular, increasing pre-trained model size consistently improves performance on Waterbirds and MultiNLI. We advise practitioners to use larger pre-trained models when subgroup labels are unknown.


ABSTRACT Background: Neurological rehabilitation service in developing countries like India is a great challenge in view of limited resources and manpower. Currently, neurological rehabilitation with a multidisciplinary team is limited to a few major cities in the country. Tele-neurorehabilitation (TNR) is considered as an alternative and innovative approach in health care. It connects the needy patients with the health-care providers with minimum inconvenience and yields cost-effective health care. Aim: The aim of this study was to study the socioclinical parameters, feasibility, and utility of TNR services in India. Methodology: A retrospective file review of TNR consultations provided through Telemedicine Center at a quaternary hospital-based research center in south India between August 2012 and January 2016. Results: A total of 37 consultations were provided to the patients belonging to four districts of Karnataka. The mean age of the patients was 34.7 (±19.5) years, 23 (62.1%) were aged between 19 and 60 years, and 31 (83.8%) were male. Thirty-one patients (83.8%) had central nervous system-related disorders such as stroke, cerebral palsy, and tubercular meningitis with sequelae or neuromuscular disorders such as Guillain–Barre Syndrome and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Twelve patients (32.4%) were advised to consult higher centers in the vicinity, and the rest was referred to the district hospital. Conclusion: The findings suggest that TNR services are feasible, effective, and less resource intensive in delivering quality telemedicine care in India. More clinical studies are required to elucidate its full utility at different levels and in different parts of the country.


Abstract Drawing on Bekker's (2007) study on the dentalisation of /s/ among young middle-class females from Johannesburg, this research aims to test whether the other traditionally alveolar oral obstruents, namely /z/, /d/ and /t/, are similarly fronted. The speech of two groups, one consisting of five females from prestigious private schools in Johannesburg and the other consisting of five females from similar schools in Cape Town, was recorded and the data analysed acoustically. For /z/, a spectral moments analysis was employed (Jongman, Wayland & Wong, 2000), which examined four parameters: centre of gravity, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis. For /d/ and /t/, a metric established by Jongman, Blumstein and Lahiri (1984) was used, one which involves calculating the ratio of the root mean square (rms) amplitude at the onset of voicing against the rms amplitude of the stop burst. Results support the hypothesis that /z/ is dentalised by Johannesburg speakers, but do not support a similar hypothesis for /d/ and /t/.


Ultrafast orientational motion and spectral diffusion of the carbonyl stretch vibration of the functionalized fullerene, PCBM, blended with the conjugated polymer, CN-MEH-PPV, are examined with two-dimensional infrared and polarization-resolved IR pump probe spectroscopy. In previous contributions from our group, the carbonyl stretch frequency of PCBM has been used as a local vibrational reporter to measure the temperature dependence of the time scale for dissociation of charge transfer excitons in CN-MEH-PPV:PCBM polymer blends. It was found that the rate of charge separation is independent of temperature, indicating that charge separation occurs through an activationless pathway. This assignment was supported by the observation at room temperature that thermal fluctuations do not give rise to spectral diffusion of the carbonyl stretch vibration on the picosecond and longer time scale. In this contribution, we examine the temperature dependence of the carbonyl vibrational dynamics to determine whether thermal fluctuations might give rise to spectral diffusion at other temperatures. We find that the time scale for fast wobbling-in-cone orientational motion is independent of temperature on the subpicosecond time scale. Similarly, spectral diffusion is not observed on the picosecond and longer time scale at all temperatures examined confirming our earlier interpretation of the frequency shift dynamics exclusively in terms of charge separation. Interestingly, the half angle characterizing the wobbling-in-cone orientational motion does increase at higher temperature due to increased free-volume resulting from thermal expansion of the polymer blend.


This paper presents a new low complexity design of Reed Solomon model, which is the key technology for RAID system advanced codec. The real-time constraint of codec leads to a heavy computational bottleneck on today's data storage devices. To overcome this problem, design analysis and optimization of Reed Solomon code are addressed at the algorithmic level. First, the dominant calculation of spreading function is replaced with small look- , up tables. Second, a method which greatly reduces the number of multipliers in performing the multiplication operations of the codec process is proposed to reduce the RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) system codec complexity while maintaining the quality. Moreover, our algorithm can be expanded to correct multiple failed disks. Therefore, the failed data in disks can be recovered and system still can work as usual without broken. This technique is different from the traditional methods. The proposed design could be implemented in a real-time Reed Solomon codec RAID system with reduction of hardware complexity by 28%. A hybrid strategy considering both data layout and load of storage nodes has a 13-25% higher I/O performance than conventional RS RAID.


Following a desk-based asessment and visual inspection report by Oxford Archaeology North in 2004 (OA North 2004), it was recommended that a watching brief be carried out during any groundworks associated with the restoration of St
Saviour's CE Church, Ribchester, Lancashire (NGR SD 65385 35980). Accordingly, a watching brief was undertaken by OA North between 16th and 24th February 2006 during the excavation of new and replacement land drains to the immediate exterior of the church.
A single feature was observed in Trench 4, which comprised an east/west aligned linear ditch that apparently underlay the structure of the church. Although there were no diagnostic finds within its fill, its position beneath the building dictates that it must pre-date the building of the present church, and is likely to be medieval in date or
possibly even Roman. A fairly substantial assemblage of pottery was recovered from unstratified deposits in
Trench 2. The dates ranged from the Roman and late-medieval periods through to the nineteenth century. This span was not continuous, but corroborates the known history of the site from the medieval period through to the nineteenth century, with the addition of evidence from the Roman period as well.
The works contributed to our understanding of the potential development of the church, but no recommendations are made for further archaeological intervention during the course of the present refurbishment.


The vast quantity of scientific data produced in life sciences demands the use of sophisticated storage and analysis techniques. In particular, for biological pathways graph analysis plays an important role and data is commonly available in XML-based formats. Thus, there is a growing need to make analysis capabilities available through query languages for XML. This paper presents an approach to extend XQuery for graph analysis with focus on data for biological pathways. A graph model is introduced within the XQuery environment. New built-in functions define the available operations on the graph model. XQuery expressions can be utilized to populate graphs with data and execute graph algorithms. Graph data and results of algorithms can be accessed in an XML representation for further processing. In addition, a reference mechanism can be used to preserve associations from graph data to the original XML data. The approach has been implemented as an extension to exist. First evaluations of the implementation show that the introduced approach is practical and efficient for reaction networks with several thousand vertices and edges.


The molecular mechanism underlying the protective role of propofol against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remains poorly understood. Previous studies have shown that ferroptosis is an imperative pathological process in myocardial I/R injury. We hypothesized that propofol prevents myocardial I/R injury by inhibiting ferroptosis via the AKT/p53 signaling pathway. The ferroptosis-inducing agent erastin (E) and AKT inhibitor MK2206 (MK) were used to investigate the role of propofol in myocardial I/R injury. H9C2 cells treated without any reagents, erastin for 24 h, propofol for 1 h before adding erastin were assigned as the control (C), E, and E + P group, respectively. Cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the expression of antioxidant enzymes, including ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1), cysteine/glutamate transporter (XCT), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in H9C2 cells. Rat hearts from the I/R + P or I/R groups were treated with or without propofol for 20 min before stopping perfusion for 30 min and reperfusion for 60 min. Rat hearts from the I/R + P + MK or I/R + MK groups were treated with or without propofol for 20 min, with a 10-min treatment of MK2206 before stopping perfusion. Myocardial histopathology, mitochondrial structure, iron levels, and antioxidant enzymes expression were assessed. Our results demonstrated that erastin increased H9C2 cell mortality and reduced the expression of antioxidant enzymes. I/R, which reduced the expression of antioxidant enzymes and increased iron or p53 (p < 0.05), boosted myocardium pathological and mitochondrion damage. Propofol inhibited these changes; however, the effects of propofol on I/R injury were antagonized by MK (p < 0.05). In addition, AKT siRNA inhibited the propofol-induced expression of antioxidant enzymes (p < 0.05). Our findings confirm that propofol protects myocardium from I/R injury by inhibiting ferroptosis via the AKT/p53 signal pathway.


Robert Triffin (1911-1993) played an important role in the international monetary debates in the postwar period. He was known as one of the main advocates of a multipolar international monetary system. In this paper we analyse the origins of riffin's "regional" approach towards international monetary integration. We argue that Triffin's experience with the European Payments Union (EPU)played hereby a crucial role. Triffin was not only an "architect" of the EPU, but the EPU also led to an important shift in Triffin's view of the geography of the international monetary system. Before his work on the EPU, Triffin thought of the international economy as composed of two geographical entities: national economies and the world economy. With his work on the EPU he introduced a third geographical entity: the region. The EPU would so be at the basis of Triffin's advocacy of a regional approach towards international monetary integration. Moreover, while Triffin was initially quite positive on the IMF, he became, through his EPU experience, more critical of the IMF and its worldwide approach.


Medical net discount rates (MNDRs) are calculated using monthly data for the period 1981:01–2012:06 based on the medical consumer price index and annual percentage yields based on 3-month, 6-month and 1-year U.S. Treasury Securities. Stationarity is tested for each series and the results of time-series analytics through 2000:05 are compared to previously published results (Ewing, Payne and Piette, 2001) that omitted Treasury Securities of shortest duration. The various series are extended to 2012:06 and the time series properties are examined. Although the results are mixed, they are more supportive of total offset (i.e., a zero MNDR) than previously published research findings have been.


Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum/chagasi represents the second most challenging infectious disease worldwide, leading to nearly 500,000 new cases and 60,000 deaths annually. Zoonotic VL caused by L. infantum is a re-emergent canid zoonoses which represents a complex epidemiological cycle in the New world where domestic dogs serve as a reservoir host responsible for potentially fatal human infection and where dog culling is the only measure for reservoir control. Life-long immunity to VL has motivated development of prophylactic vaccines against the disease but very few have progressed beyond the experimental stage. No licensed vaccine is available till date against any form of leishmaniasis. High toxicity and increasing resistance to the current chemotherapeutic regimens have further complicated the situation in VL endemic regions of the world. Advances in vaccinology, including recombinant proteins, novel antigen-delivery systems/adjuvants, heterologous prime-boost regimens and strategies for intracellular antigen presentation, have contributed to recent advances in vaccine development against VL. Attempts to develop an effective vaccine for use in domestic dogs in areas of canine VL should be pursued for preventing human infection. Studies in animal models and human patients have revealed the pathogenic mechanisms of disease progression and features of protective immunity. This review will summarize the accumulated knowledge of pathogenesis, immune response, and prerequisites for protective immunity against human VL. Authors will discuss promising vaccine candidates, their developmental status and future prospects in a quest for rational vaccine development against the disease. In addition, several challenges such as safety issues, renewed and coordinated commitment to basic research, preclinical studies and trial design will be addressed to overcome the problems faced in developing prophylactic strategies for protection against this lethal infection.


The usage of whey proteins as a source of nutrition in foods and beverages is ever increasing, creating a demand for highly concentrated and functional forms of protein. Their use as an ingredient to increase protein content in foods is growing, and the ability to withstand thermal treatment while concentrated is paramount to reducing process instability, e.g., high viscosity, precipitation and/or fouling of heat exchangers. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the effect of protein concentration on the heat-induced aggregation of whey proteins and subsequent increases in viscosity in dispersed and emulsified systems. Increasing the protein content of whey solutions from 1 to 12% (w/w) was accompanied by a reduction in denaturation temperature and increase in both viscosity and the shear rate at which onset of turbulent flow was observed. On heating to 85 °C for 30 s, the particle size (Dynamic light scattering, DLS) of aggregates was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by both protein concentration (1 to 12 % w/w) and pH (6.2, 6.7 and 7.2). Aggregates of ~ 50 nm were formed at higher pH (7.2) and protein concentration (12%), contributing to greater heat stability upon subsequent heating compared to aggregates of ~ 100 nm formed from the heat-treatment of 1% whey at pH 6.2. In an emulsified system, simulating that of a 1st stage infant formula, increasing the ratio of α-lactalbumin to β-lactoglobulin significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the level of large soluble aggregates formed on heating, improved emulsion stability and reduced apparent viscosity during concentration. Differences in these physicochemical properties are attributed to underlying molecular changes in the mechanism(s) of aggregation due to a reduction in the total number free thiol groups in the system as β-lactoglobulin is replaced by α-lactalbumin.
To better understand the complex interactions involving β-lactoglobulin, 1H13C HSQC solution NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance [13C,1H]–Heteronuclear Single Quantum Correlated spectroscopy) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to observe molecular rearrangement at low (1% (w/w)) and high concentration (12% (w/w)) at either 62 or 85 °C. FTIR showed that there was formation of antiparallel inter-bonded β-sheets in both 1 and 12% samples heat-treated at 85 °C for 10 minutes, indicating protein denaturation and subsequent aggregation. Partial reversible denaturation was observed by NMR after heat-treatment at 62 °C; however, at 85 °C, denaturation and the subsequent aggregation of β-lactoglobulin monomers was extensive. Results suggest that although β-lactoglobulin monomers and dimers are denatured, the aggregates formed are comprised of unfolded β-lactoglobulin monomers that behaved "native-like". This thesis demonstrates that by controlling the extent and size of aggregates through reduction in β-lactoglobulin and soluble 'seed' aggregates, it is possible to modulate viscosity in concentrated whey protein dispersions and emulsified systems.


A Trial Introduction Program (TIP) for newly-arrived immigrants to Sweden was set up in October 2006 in order to meet the main criticisms directed at existing introduction programs. Two primary innovations were introduced, flexible language instruction parallel with other labor market activities at the Public Employment Service (PES) and intensive counselling and coaching by PES caseworkers with considerably reduced caseloads. Within participating municipalities, newly-arrived immigrants were randomly assigned into TIP or the control group, i.e., regular introduction programs. Results indicate small but significant treatment effects on the probability of attaining regular employment and subsidized employment. In addition, TIP participants were considerably more likely to enter intermediate PES training programs. Hazard rates into PES training programs were also significantly higher for participants in TIP in comparison to participants in regular introduction programs.


Abstract:
 Five taxa in Euphorbia section Tithymalus subsection Inundatae are recognized, two representing undescribed taxa here named Euphorbia inundata var. garrettii and Euphorbia rosescens. All are endemic to portions of the outer coastal plain, ranging from southern Georgia to southern Florida and extending west to southern Mississippi, in pyrogenic-evolved pinelands or Florida scrub. Taxonomy of Euphorbia floridana and Euphorbia telephioides is unchanged, with lectotype designation for all Chapman-named species. Euphorbia floridana, an outer East Gulf Coastal Plain endemic, is found on yellowish sands of longleaf pine-turkey oakwiregrass xeric sandhills. Euphorbia telephioides, an Apalachicola Lowlands narrow endemic, is confined to coastal Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties of the east-central Florida panhandle in xeric, scrubby pinelands. Euphorbia inundata var. garrettii is allopatric with var. inundata, occurring in wet pinelands of southwestern and southcentral Florida. Euphorbia rosescens, a southern Lake Wales Ridge narrow endemic, is known only from Highlands County in peninsular Florida. It is a gap specialist found in Florida scrub types exclusively on xeric, white sand entisols. Morphological, geographical, and ecological factors are shown to distinguish members of the subsection Inundatae, of which all are recognizable by vegetative characters.


Measurements of the time-resolved early afterglow of the helium spectrum show that the Hopfield continuum and the visible bands occur primarily as an afterglow following pulsed excitation. Following a relatively rapid build-up, the slower afterglow decay of both the Hopfield continuum and the molecular transition 3pπ, E1Πg → 2s, A1Σu+ is an exponential function of time, for approximately 50 μsec. Within the range of experimental variables, the decay rate is found to depend on the He pressure, but not on other discharge conditions. The kinetic constant associated with the exponential decay increases linearly with the He pressure, indicative of a two-body process. Separate studies of two regions of the Hopfield continuum, near 825 A and 680 A show that, for fixed pressure, the kinetic constant associated with 825 A is the same as that observed for the transition E–A within experimental error. The kinetic constant at 680 A is slightly smaller. The rate of change of the kinetic constant with pressure is the same in all three cases. The two-body rate constant obtained is 38 ± 2 × 10−15 cm3/atom · sec. Both the magnitude and form of the pressure dependence of the observed rate constant indicate that the three-body process He+ + 2He → He2+ + He is not the dominant process of He2+ production in the early afterglow. The data are consistent with the rapid production of He2+ in a two-body collision of an excited and a ground-state atom. Residual-impurity quenching by H2, Ne and N2 did not affect the afterglow decay. Values of quenching rates for all three gases are reported. Possible interpretations of the observed afterglow kinetics are discussed.


In this paper, we present the results for the security and the possible attacks on a new symmetric key encryption algorithm based on the ergodicity property of a logistic map. After analysis, we use mathematical induction to prove that the algorithm can be attacked by a chosen plaintext attack successfully and give an example to show how to attack it. According to the cryptanalysis of the original algorithm, we improve the original algorithm, and make a brief cryptanalysis. Compared with the original algorithm, the improved algorithm is able to resist a chosen plaintext attack and retain a considerable number of advantages of the original algorithm such as encryption speed, sensitive dependence on the key, strong anti-attack capability, and so on.


Ab s t r Ac t Objectives: Our objectives were to improve the quality and safety of future intrauterine device (IUD) insertion by introducing a systematic approach to identifying patients at risk for IUD misplacement and dislocation using the 3D ultrasound. Design: Risk factors for IUD misplacement and dislocation were assessed in a case-control study of patients who presented to our ultrasound clinic for IUD localization: 49 cases (women with IUD misplacement and/or dislocation) were compared to 108 controls (women with IUDs in the normal position). Adjusted odds ratios (AOR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and p values were calculated from logistic regression models using Firth's penalized maximum likelihood estimation to reduce bias. Results: The most common type of IUD complication was caudal dislocation in the lower uterine segment (LUS) and/or cervix, with or without an embedment, occurring in 41 patients (83.67%). The presence of submucosal and/or intracavitary uterine fibroids (vs other fibroid location or no fibroids) was positively associated with IUD misplacement and dislocation: AOR = 19.24, 95% CI: 1.42–260.23, p = 0.03. The presence of sonographic features of adenomyosis was positively associated with IUD dislocation, AOR = 7.40, 95% CI: 2.71–20.24, p < 0.0001. Both narrow (<30 mm) and wide (>32 mm) uterine cavity transverse diameters of the fundus assessed in the coronal plane increased the odds of a displaced IUD (vs a diameter of 30–32 mm): narrow diameter AOR = 4.95 (95% CI: 1.41–17.36, p = 0.013), and wide diameter AOR = 5.44 (95% CI: 1.39–21.22, p = 0.015). The AOR for IUD dislocation for a uterine cavity length of <30 mm (vs 30 mm or greater) was 3.60, 95% CI: 1.40–9.21, p = 0.008. Copper-containing IUDs (TCu380A/ParaGard®) were displaced more frequently than other types of IUDs: AOR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.04–7.65, p = 0.04. Conclusion: Our data confirm that 3D ultrasound is the method of choice for IUD localization and can be used for the objective selection of candidates for intrauterine contraception.


The fate and transport of chemical signature molecules that emanate from buried landmines is strongly influenced by physical chemical properties and by environmental conditions of the specific chemical compounds. Published data have been evaluated as the input parameters that are used in the simulation of the fate and transport processes. A one-dimensional model developed for screening agricultural pesticides was modified and used to simulate the appearance of a surface flux above a buried landmine and estimate the subsurface total concentration. The physical chemical properties of TNT cause a majority of the mass released to the soil system to be bound to the solid phase soil particles. The majority of the transport occurs in the liquid phase with diffusion and evaporation driven advection of soil water as the primary mechanisms for the flux to the ground surface. The simulations provided herein should only be used for initial conceptual designs of chemical pre-concentration subsystems or complete detection systems. The physical processes modeled required necessary simplifying assumptions to allow for analytical solutions. Emerging numerical simulation tools will soon be available that should provide more realistic estimates that can be used to predict the success of landmine chemical detection surveys based on knowledge of the chemical and soil properties, and environmental conditions where the mines are buried. Additional measurements of the chemical properties in soils are also needed before a fully predictive approach can be confidently applied.


Methodologies are proposed for determining capture efficiencies in the ventilation systems of surface treatment tanks, using test-scale equipment. The equipment, which incorporates a lateral and push-pull ventilation system, can measure and control the variables of interest because it incorporates a tracer gas generator (sulfur hexafluoride, the concentration of which is measured by infrared spectrometer). The experimental methodologies described determine total efficiency (when the tracer is emitted uniformly from the whole surface of the tank) and the so-called transversal linear efficiency (when the tracer is emitted linearly through a perforated tube situated over the tank, parallel to the exhaust hood face). The analytical and graphical relationships that can be are established between the two efficiencies make it possible to detect where the emissions not captured by the ventilation system are produced (i.e., losses to the outside). At the same time, such losses can be quantified. Several experiments, results of which are analyzed by the methods described, are included.


A giant magnetocaloric effect has been observed around the Curie temperature, TC ∼ 42 K, in NdMn1.7Cr0.3Si2 with no discernible thermal and magnetic hysteresis losses. Below 400 K, three magnetic phase transitions take place around 380 K, 320 K and 42 K. Detailed high resolution synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction (10-400 K) confirmed the magnetic transitions and phases as follows: TN intra ∼ 380 K denotes the transition from paramagnetism to intralayer antiferromagnetism (AFl), TN inter ∼ 320 K represents the transition from the AFl structure to the canted antiferromagnetic spin structure (AFmc), while TC ∼ 42 K denotes the first order magnetic transition from AFmc to canted ferromagnetism (Fmc + F(Nd)) due to ordering of the Mn and Nd sub-lattices. The maximum values of the magnetic entropy change and the adiabatic temperature change, around TC for a field change of 5 T are evaluated to be −ΔSM max ∼ 15.9 J kg−1 K−1 and ΔTad max ∼ 5 K, respectively. The first order magnetic transition associated with the low levels of hysteresis losses (thermal


Whether they are illegal or commissioned, writing and street art (and with them urban art in the broad sense) are now integral parts of our daily lives: so much so that they are no longer dismissed as vandalism pertaining to the urban suburbs subject to phenomena of degradation, but are promoted as expressive acts typical of ur-ban areas subject to phenomena of regeneration. However, despite being admitted to the most pres-tigious museum circuits (just think of the space reserved in the Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin), writing and street art have always encountered difficulties in entering the Academy, also as the related items have never been included in the lists of disciplinary fields of the Visual Arts area recognised by AFAM (Higher Education in Art, Music and Dance established by Ministry for University and Research). This was the case up to the recent educational in-itiatives promoted by the "Pietro Vannucci" Acad emy of Fine Arts of Perugia, which on several oc-casions, between the academic years 2012-2013 and 2017-2018, saw the introduction of modules reserved for writing and street art. With an ex-perimental propensity which is far from surpris-ing, given that the Academy of Perugia has always been at the forefront, also and above all from the point of view of didactic experimentation, as it was the first Academy to introduce the teachings of descriptive geometry during the direction of Baldassare Orsini (1791-1810), of futurist aer-opainting during the direction of Gerardo Dottori (1940-1945), and of alchemical art during the di-rection of Edgardo Abbozzo (1984-2002). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.24.2020.2


The limited-view problem is studied for thermoacoustic tomography, which is also referred to as photoacoustic or optoacoustic tomography depending on the type of radiation for the induction of acoustic waves. We define a "detection region," within which all points have sufficient detection views. It is explained analytically and shown numerically that the boundaries of any objects inside this region can be recovered stably. Otherwise some sharp details become blurred. One can identify in advance the parts of the boundaries that will be affected if the detection view is insufficient. If the detector scans along a circle in a two-dimensional case, acquiring a sufficient view might require covering more than a pi-, or less than a pi-arc of the trajectory depending on the position of the object. Similar results hold in a three-dimensional case. In order to support our theoretical conclusions, three types of reconstruction methods are utilized: a filtered backprojection (FBP) approximate inversion, which is shown to work well for limited-view data, a local-tomography-type reconstruction that emphasizes sharp details (e.g., the boundaries of inclusions), and an iterative algebraic truncated conjugate gradient algorithm used in conjunction with FBP. Computations are conducted for both numerically simulated and experimental data. The reconstructions confirm our theoretical predictions.


While South Africa has made significant improvements in basic and tertiary education enrollment, the country still suffers from significant challenges in the quality of educational achievement by almost any international metric. The paper finds that money is clearly not the main issue since the South Africa's education budget is comparable to OECD countries as a percent of GDP and exceeds that of most peer sub-Saharan African countries in per capita terms. The main explanatory factors are complex and multifaceted, and are associated with insufficient subject knowledge of some teachers, history, race, language, geographic location, and socio-economic status. Low educational achievement contributes to low productivity growth, and high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Drawing on the literature, the paper sketches some policy considerations to guide the debate on what works and what does not.


In this study, microteaching was tested to improve pre-service Turkish Language teachers' speaking anxieties. The purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of microteaching on pre-service Turkish Language teachers' speaking anxieties. This study which was carried out within the context of Speaking Education course was conducted in the spring term of 2014-2015 academic year. The study group of this research which progressed during all the term consists of the students who took Speaking Education course in the term aforesaid in Yuzuncu Yil University, College of Education, Turkish Language Education Department. For this study which was carried on with true experimental design two groups were formed one of them being Experimental Group and the other one being Control Group. While Speaking Education course was given to Experimental Group based upon microteaching, the same course was given traditionally (the continuous teaching style) to Control Group. Pretests and posttests were implemented to both groups for the study and, at the end of the study, not only both groups' interior differences between pretests and posttests were analyzed, but also two groups' difference between posttests was analyzed. In the analysis of data t-test were used. Besides, effect size was computed with Cohen's d . At the end of the study, it was found that there was a significant decline (from intermediate level to beginner level) in experimental group's speaking anxieties posttest scores while there wasn't any decline in control group's speaking anxieties posttest scores.  Article visualizations:


Abstract
Japan's civic environmentalism combines a tradition of local protest and activism with a national environmental movement that is limited in size and policy influence. A strong legislative and administrative response to the country's severe pollution crisis of the 1960s and 1970s helped tamp down that era's wave of protests and keep the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power. While the state has generally supported local organizations engaged in environmental improvement activities, it has erected barriers that limit the scope of non-governmental organization (NGO) activities and inhibit the development of an influential national environmental movement. The 1990s reforms, inspired in part by the citizen response to the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, made it easier for NGOs to attain legal status and raise funds. Yet Japan's civic environmentalism – by most measures – still lags well behind that of peer industrialized countries. The 2011 tsunami and nuclear crisis brought another opportunity for major reforms to the nation's civic environmental culture – but the evidence to date indicates that the much anticipated transformation is turning out to be of a lesser magnitude than many had initially expected.


Active learning can actively select or construct examples to label to reduce the number of labeled examples needed for building accurate classifiers. However, previous works of active learning can only ask specific queries. For example, to predict osteoarthritis from a patient dataset with 30 attributes, specific queries always contain values of all these 30 attributes, many of which may be irrelevant. A more natural way is to ask "generalized queries" with don't-care attributes, such as "are people over 50 with knee pain likely to have osteoarthritis?" (with only two attributes: age and type of pain). We assume that the oracle (and human experts) can readily answer those generalized queries by returning probabilistic labels. The power of such generalized queries is that one generalized query may be equivalent to many specific ones. However, overly general queries may receive highly uncertain labels from the oracle, and this makes learning difficult. In this paper, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that asks generalized queries. We demonstrate experimentally that our new method asks significantly fewer queries compared with the previous works of active learning. Our method can be readily deployed in real-world tasks where obtaining labeled examples is costly.


Abstract In the present study the attenuation of seismic-wave energy in and around the source area of the Chamoli Earthquake of 29 March 1999 is estimated using aftershock data. Most of the analyzed events are from the vicinity of the main central thrust (MCT), which is a well-defined tectonic discontinuity in the Himalayas. The method of a single backscattering model is employed to calculate frequency dependent values of coda Q ( Q c ). A total of 30 aftershock events are used for Q c estimation at central frequencies 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 Hz through five lapse-time windows from 10 to 50 sec starting at double the travel time of the S wave. The observed Q c is strongly dependent on frequency, which indicates that the region is seismically and tectonically active with high heterogeneities. The variation of Q c has also been estimated at different lapse times to observe its effect with depth. The variation of Q c with frequency and lapse time shows that the lithosphere becomes more homogeneous with depth. Q c -values for higher frequencies increase very fast with depth within about the top 63 km of the lithosphere and then become more or less constant beyond this depth. This indicates that turbidity at higher frequency decays very fast with depth, and the mantle may be transparent to high-frequency waves. The variation of Q c at 1.5 Hz with lapse time matches quite well with those predicted by Gusev (1995). However, the frequency parameter n in the relation Q c = Q 0 f n , where Q 0 = Q c at 1 Hz, does not follow the expected pattern given in his model. This could be due to faster depth decay of turbidity as mentioned previously.


The rapid, specific, and sensitive detection of biomarkers for disease state and progression has become an expansive field in research due to advances in both the understanding of biomarkers and diagnostic detection strategies. The detection of both cellular and molecular biomarkers through electrochemical means provides a rapid and sensitive strategy for the detection of specific markers of disease, in this case neuroblastoma. Chapter 1 of this thesis reviews the current literature reports on both cellular and molecular biomarkers for neuroblastoma disease progression as well as detection methods, both electrochemical and otherwise, that may be applied to the detection of neuroblastoma.

In Chapter 2 the detection of cellular biomarkers of neuroblastoma via electrochemical analysis is discussed, chiefly focusing on the immobilisation of neuroblastoma cells to an electrode surface and the subsequent detection of immobilised cells through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and amperometric detection of electrocatalytic platinum nanoparticles. Following on from this, Chapter 3 focuses on the detection of a molecular biomarker of neuroblastoma disease progression, miR-132. This detection strategy relies on the partial hybridisation of the miRNA target, miR-132, to a self-assembled monolayer of nucleic acid strands on the surface of an electrode. Electrocatalytic platinum nanoparticles uniformly decorated with probe oligonucleotides are then hybridised to the free end of the miRNA target and detected amperometrically through the electrocatalytic reduction of H2O2 at the nanoparticle surface.

The focus of this work then shifts in Chapter 4 to the formation of a detection strategy based on electrochemiluminescence, whereby a luminophore, Ruthenium II (bis-2,2-bipyridyl)-2(4-aminophenyl) imidazo[4,5-f][1,10] phenanthroline is immobilised to the surface of a nanoparticle decorated electrode surface and is detected by ECL. This body of work explores possible avenues for the enhancement of the electrochemiluminescent signal generated by immobilised luminophore by plasmonic enhancement of luminescent signal through nanotexturing of electrode surfaces. Chapter 4 then details work carried out to translate this work to a working assay for the detection of miRNA using multiple combinations of nanoparticle (Au/Ag/Pt) and luminophore. By carefully selecting the electrode surface and luminophore an overall enhancement of signal is observed for immobilised probes and a calibration plot for the concentration of miR-132 applied to the electrode surface can be obtained.


Criminal network analysis tools are widely used by law enforcement, mainly in cases of organized crime. The data required for a majority of these tools are police records and databases. In many cases, forensically collected data contains valuable information about the suspect's social network. This information is normally obtained by manual inspection of the collected documents using forensic tools' queries and other basic search features. The information is then manually entered in the police database. There are no known tools that provide methods to automatically extract social networks from raw documents on behalf of the investigator add them to a knowledge base and then analyze them. In this thesis, we propose a method that is capable of performing these tasks. In our proposed system, we claim three distinct contributions to cyber forensics investigations. The first is by constructing the social network of one or multiple suspects from documents in a file system. Secondly, we provide an analysis of the interactions and structures of these social networks and the communities comprising them. Thirdly, potential evidence and leads are identified by extracting conceptual links between members of the social network across the document set.
Finally, the proposed method is implemented and experimental results are obtained to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.


7TM receptors are easily fused to proteins such as G proteins and arrestin but because of the fact that their terminals are found on each side of the membrane they cannot be joined directly in covalent dimers. Here, we use an artificial connector comprising a transmembrane helix composed of Leu-Ala repeats flanked by flexible spacers and positively charged residues to ensure correct inside-out orientation plus an extracellular HA-tag to construct covalently coupled dimers of 7TM receptors. Such 15 TM concatameric homo- and heterodimers of the β2-adrenergic and the NK1 receptors, which normally do not dimerize with each other, were expressed surprisingly well at the cell surface, where they bound ligands and activated signal transduction in a manner rather similar to the corresponding wild-type receptors. The concatameric heterodimers internalized upon stimulation with agonists for either of the protomers, which was not observed upon simple coexpression of the two receptors. It is concluded that covalently joined 7TM receptor dimers with surprisingly normal receptor properties can be constructed with use of an artificial transmembrane connector, which perhaps can be used to fuse other membrane proteins.


The machining of shape memory alloys (SMAs) is fairly essential and integral part in the manufacture of components for utilizing in engineering applications. An effort has been made in the present work to study the effect of wire electro discharge machining process parameters such as pulse on time ( T _on), pulse off time ( T _off) and servo voltage (SV) have been analyzed on material removal rate and surface roughness. The investigation clearly reveals that an increased pulse on time with decrease in pulse off time as well as SV increases the amount of material removed in machining of SMAs. On the other hand, the surface roughness increases with increased pulse on time and decreases with increased pulse off time as well as SV. The surface topography of the machined surface was analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and confocal micrographs. Phase changes on the machined surface with respect to pulse on time and SV were evaluated from X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analysis.


The pathogenesis of blood pressure (BP) rise in aging women remains unexplained, and one of the many incriminating factors may include abnormalities in arteriolar resistance vessels. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of unopposed estrogen on arteriolar distensibility, baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS), BP changes, and rate-pressure product (RPP). We tested the hypotheses that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) enhances arteriolar distensibility and ameliorates BRS, which leads to decreases in BP and RPP. Postmenopausal women participated in a single-blind crossover study; the participants of this study, after baseline measurements, were randomly assigned to receive estrogen (ERT) or a drug-free treatment with a 6-wk washout period between treatments. The single-blind design was instituted because subjects become unblinded due to physiological changes (i.e., fluid shifts, weight gain, and secretory changes) associated with estrogen intake. However, investigators and technicians involved in data collection and analyses remained blind. After each treatment, subjects performed identical autonomic tests, during which electrocardiograms, beat-by-beat BPs, and respiration were recorded. The area under the dicrotic notch of the BP wave was used as an index of arteriolar distensibility. The magnitude of the reflex bradycardia after a precipitous rise in BP was used to determine BRS. Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability was used to assess autonomic activity. BPs were recorded from resistance vessels in the finger using a beat-by-beat photoplethysmographic device. RPP, a noninvasive marker of myocardial oxygen consumption, was calculated. Repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed a significantly enhanced arteriolar distensibility and BRS after ERT ( P < 0.05). A trend of a lower sympathovagal balance at rest was observed after ERT; however, this trend did not reach statistical significance ( P = 0.061) compared with the other treatments. The above autonomic changes produced significantly lower systolic and diastolic BP changes and RPPs ( P < 0.05) at rest and during isometric exercise. We conclude that short-term unopposed ERT favorably enhances arteriolar distensibility, BRS, and hemodynamic parameters in postmenopausal women. These findings have clinical implications in the goals for treating cardiovascular risk factors in aging women.


It has been reported that productivity developments in construction are slow compared to other sectors. Measuring productivity is however not easy and it might have been underestimated due to deficiencies in the index that is used when the value added in current prices is converted into value added at constant prices. A central problem when deflating nominal prices is that the deflation should only take away price changes for identical products and not price changes related to quality changes and improvements necessitated by new environmental conditions and legislation as well as demand for higher safety. The aim of this project is to help fill this gap by looking at the quality changes over time in road construction. A combination of comparative studies and interviews with practitioners from public and private sectors that are involved in road construction projects were conducted. It was found that there had been both direct quality changes in the roads, primarily to improve safety on the roads and for noise protection, and indirect quality changes related to building in more difficult circumstances because of giving higher weight to other social objectives, especially environmental objectives. As these quality increases are not taken into account when productivity is measured, productivity improvements could be underestimated by around 1% per year.


Central and Eastern Europe is a region that is expected to need more data on the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the ambient air in the future. Passive air sampling is a cheap screening method for comparison of contamination on various sites or for verification of information obtained by active samplers. Passive air samplers are sensitive enough to mirror even small-scale differences, which makes them capable of monitoring spatial, seasonal, and temporal variations. Different passive air samplers were employed between 1990 and 2013 from time to time in six Estonian air monitoring stations. The concentrations of PCB and its congeners, HCB, PeCB, HCH, and DDT (the same for PBDE, PCN, PCDD/F) in Estonian ambient air were very low, but they allow tracking transboundary air pollution. The main aim of this article is analysis of changes in the ambient air pollution in Estonia during a long period of time (1990-2013). Also, selection of Lahemaa background station for monitoring POPs in the European area is addressed.


Abstract This paper discusses tests for the cointegration rank of integrated vector autoregressions when the series are recursively adjusted for deterministic components. To this end, the asymptotic properties of recursive, or adaptive, procedures for the removal of general additive deterministic components are analyzed in two different, complementary, situations. When the stochastic component of the examined time series is weakly stationary (as would be the equilibrium errors), the effect of recursive adjustment vanishes with increasing sample size. When the suitably normalized stochastic component converges weakly to some limiting continuous-time process with integrable paths (as would be the case with the common stochastic trends), recursive adjustment has a permanent effect even asymptotically: the normalized recursively adjusted process converges weakly to a recursively adjusted version of the limiting process. The null limiting distributions of the cointegration rank tests can be expressed in terms of recursively adjusted Brownian motions. Moreover, the finite-sample properties of the cointegration rank tests with recursive adjustment are examined in cases of empirical relevance: the considered deterministic components are a constant, and a constant and a linear trend, respectively. Compared to the likelihood ratio tests or the tests with generalized least squares adjustment, improvements in terms of empirical rejection frequencies under the null are found in finite samples; improvements are found under the alternative as well, with the likelihood ratio test performing increasingly better as the magnitude of the initial condition increases. Regarding rank selection, a very simple combination of the three testing procedures with different adjustments performs best.


Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHP-FRC) was introduced in the mid-1990s and has made striking advances in recent years. Ductal® is a UHP-FRC technology that offers a unique combination of characteristics including but, not limited to ductility, strength and durability, while providing highly moldable products with quality surfaces. Compressive strengths, and equivalent flexural strengths reach up to 200 and 40 MPa, respectively. UHP-FRC also shows an outstanding performance under dynamic loading in structures subjected to extreme loading conditions such as impact, earthquake and blast. Moreover, UHP-FRC indicates an optimized combination of properties for a specific application. Three series of tests including compression, indirect tension, and flexure were conducted under various strain rates from quasi-static to dynamic loading with low strain rates. The objective of this project is to enhance knowledge of strain rate effects on UHP-FRC with various fiber contents and to report Dynamic Increase Factor (DIF).


In this thesis I have used computer simulations to study the structure and dynamics of grafted polymers during confinement. These systems are of importance for understanding e.g. colloidal stability and surface coatings. We have used Brownian dynamics simulations with the polymers modeled as discrete wormlike chains allowing for a variable persistence length as well as different non-bonded interactions. The size and shape of the chains are characterized by the radius of gyration and the degree of oblateness/prolateness, and the entanglement is followed by calculating the mean overcrossing number. Starting in the dilute regime with a single polymer mushroom we have investigated how the rate of compression and solvent quality effects the behaviour of a compressed chain. In the brush regime, we investigated how the surface coverage effects the behaviour during compression. For low coverages the chains have the possibilty to increase their lateral extension during confinement but in general, the chains have a low inter-entanglement, as they strive to keep their integrity during the confinement process.To go from a polymer brush to the construction of a connected network, we have developed a method to construct a closed network without using periodic boundary conditions by building the network on a sphere in R4. In this way we avoid the restrictions of periodicity at the cell boundaries. We finally also show how to develop the idea of using spherical boundary conditions, by presenting a novel algorithm for simulating diffusion on a spherical surface. The method is more stable and allows for larger time steps, compared to commonly used methods in computer simulations.


One of the most striking features of novel 2D semiconductors (e.g., transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers or phosphorene) is a strong Coulomb interaction between charge carriers resulting in large excitonic effects. In particular, this leads to the formation of multi-carrier bound states upon photoexcitation (e.g., excitons, trions and biexcitons), which could remain stable at near-room temperatures and contribute significantly to optical properties of such materials. In the present work we have used the Path Integral Monte Carlo methodology to numerically study properties of multi-carrier bound states in 2D semiconductors. Specifically, we have accurately investigated and tabulated the dependence of single exciton, trion and biexciton binding energies on the strength of dielectric screening, including the limiting cases of very strong and very weak screening. The results of this work are potentially useful in the analysis of experimental data and benchmarking of theoretical and computational models.


Given the high exposure in Haiti to natural hazards, ensuring that proper disaster preparedness and response mechanisms are well established and managed can save lives. Systems such as Municipal Civil Protection Committees (Comites Communaux de Protection Civile – CCPCs) have played an important role in reducing casualties from natural disasters in recent years. However, structural and behavioral barriers have limited desired evacuation behaviors in Haiti. This report leverages behavioral science to identify key entry points to improve early warning systems (EWS) and enable people to evacuate to safe locations before adverse natural events, including hurricanes. The behavioral approach allows for the detection of barriers related to psychological and social factors that go beyond access and cost. The objective of this report is to understand, through a behavioral approach, the structural and behavioral barriers that limit evacuation decisions in Haiti. Our goal is to identify key entry points to improve EWS and enable people to evacuate to safe locations in anticipation of a hurricane. This type of approach is based on the understanding that people think automatically, socially, and with mental models (World Bank, 2015). The framing of a problem, the context in which decision making takes place, and details of the design of an intervention play such an essential role in determining behavior that not accounting for them can result in an ineffective intervention. Thus, looking for both structural and behavioral barriers means to examine a wider set of influences and pay attention to the social, psychological, as well as economic factors that affect what people think and do.


Critiques of most existing competence development programs with respect to small firms is that they are not fully relevant to the firms; entrepreneurs in small firms need alternatives. An experiential learning approach, based on collaborative learning and work-related problems in learning networks, may fit the needs of the entrepreneur better than traditional methods based on passive theory-centred lecturing. The distinctive nature of learning in small firms and the appropriateness of programs to support learning and development in those firms are largely unexplored from an empirical perspective. The purpose of this article is to suggest how different conditions related to learning networks may facilitate an appropriate learning situation for entrepreneurs. The findings show that for entrepreneurs to gain useful learning in learning networks, the management of the network should be demanding and various constructs in the learning situation must be considered.


In this study, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based quantification method for the total protein using o-phthalaldehyde is reported for the first time. For this purpose, o-phthalaldehyde was chosen to form a complex with protein, and SERS signal was observed in the presence of gold nanoparticles. A calibration curve was obtained by plotting the intensity of the SERS signal at 727 cm−1 versus the concentration of protein standard (bovine serum albumin, BSA). Thus, the correlation was found to be linear within the range of 0.054–0.72 mg/ml of BSA, and the limit of detection was determined to be 0.08 mg/ml. All tests were carried out using a portable Raman instrument with an analysis time of 5 min. In addition, the ability of the developed method to quantify total protein in milk samples was investigated, and the obtained results were compared to the conventional ultraviolet methods. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The Whipple and South mountains of the southwestern United States have undergone a strikingly similar sequence of deformations. In both ranges, gently dipping mylonitic fabrics have been overprinted by successively more brittle structures associated with a low-angle detachment fault. Kinematic indicators reveal that the mylonitic rocks, brittle structures, and detachment faults are kinematically coordinated and were all formed by top-to-the-northeast shear. The structural evolution of both areas can be explained in terms of major, shallow-dipping shear zones that accommodated Tertiary crustal extension. We suggest that detachment faults and associated zones of brecciation, cataclasis, and seismic slip were originally continuous downdip along the low-angle shear zones into mylonitic gneisses formed below or near the ductile-brittle transition. As the mylonites were drawn out from beneath the brittlely extending upper plate, they were progressively uplifted above the ductile-brittle transition and were overprinted by successively more brittle structures.


OpenFlow is a protocol-implementing Software Defined Networking, a new networking paradigm, which segregates packet forwarding and accounting from the routing decisions and advanced protocols. This segregation increases agility and flexibility and reduces operational expenses of the networking infrastructure. Despite the apparent benefits, many companies are unable to upgrade their networks to OpenFlow unless they renew their supplementary management and security infrastructures as well. The proposed solution, called NetFlow for OpenFlow (NFO) bridges the gap between trusted state-ofthe-art network monitoring infrastructures and standard OpenFlow networks. The proposed Flow Discovery technique enables the highest granularity per-flow monitoring while the Flow Assignment algorithm balances the monitoring resources to avoid overloading of routers. Overall, NFO makes the collection of flow-statistics in OpenFlow environment easier, cheaper, and more


Wide range of digital systems from wireless devices to multi-media terminals are characterized by their multi-mode behavior. Many of these systems are deployed in high-radiation environments [5]. SRAM-based FPGAs are popular platforms to implement multi-mode systems, because of their high performance and reconfigurability. However, high susceptibility of FPGAs toward Soft Errors makes them less-than-reliable platforms. To overcome the reliability issue, various redundancy techniques have been proposed. These techniques exhibit different design and reliability characteristics. Considering the combined effect of design decisions and reliability techniques on system characteristics a coherent strategy should be devised to meet system requirements and constraints. In this work we propose a method to explore the design space for implementing a reliable multi-mode system. As we will show, different selections of design parameters and redundancy techniques generate a range of solutions which trade-off total area, reconfiguration overhead and reliability of the system. The choice of a specific solution remains a decision made by the system-designer.


The Zuni Indians of New Mexico are experiencing an epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Zuni Pueblo created the Zuni Kidney Project (ZKP) to decrease the burden of CKD in the community. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of CKD among Zuni Indians using National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative criteria. The ZKP conducted a population-based, cross-sectional survey to estimate the prevalence of CKD and related risk factors among Zuni Indians aged > or =20 yr (n = 1113). GFR was estimated using equations based on serum creatinine, and urine albumin:creatinine ratio was calculated in a single spot urine sample. ESRD counts were obtained from health care providers. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of CKD among the Zuni Indians was >2.5-fold higher than that among the US composite population. The estimated prevalence of CKD stages 1 and 2 combined was three- to four-fold higher than that of CKD stages 3 and 4 combined. This ratio was significantly higher than that in the US composite population (1.4-fold). The prevalence of CKD stage 5 was eight-fold higher among the Zuni Indians than among the composite US population. The Zuni Indians have an expanded pool of CKD that contributes to the high burden of ESRD. The high prevalence of CKD stages 1 and 2 provides a unique opportunity to develop innovative treatment programs to reduce the burden of CKD in Zuni Pueblo.


Protein kinase CK2 is a highly ubiquitous and conserved protein serine/threonine kinase that has been found to be involved not only in cell growth and proliferation, but also in suppression of apoptosis. CK2 is capable of dynamic intracellular shuttling in response to a variety of signals. It is localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm in normal cells, but is particularly predominant in the nuclear compartment in cancer cells. CK2 has been found to be uniformly dysregulated in all the cancers that have been examined. Downregulation of CK2 by chemical or molecular methods promotes apoptosis in cells. We have shown that antisense CK2alpha is particularly potent in inducing apoptosis in cancer cells in culture as well as in xenograft models of cancer such as prostate cancer and squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck. The antisense CK2alpha oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) mediates tumor cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner such that at an appropriate concentration of the antisense, a complete resolution of the xenograft tumor is observed. Interestingly, normal and benign cells (in culture as well as in vivo) demonstrate a relative resistance to the antisense CK2alpha ODN treatment, which raises the possibility of a significant therapeutic window for this therapy. Further, novel approaches such as the delivery of antisense CK2alpha ODN encapsulated in sub-50-nm tenascin nanocapsules have become available for its targeting specifically in cancer cells. Our studies minimize generally held concerns regarding suitability of CK2 as a target for cancer therapy and provide the first encouraging results for potential future application of this approach for cancer therapy.


It has always been a great deal to balance both security and performance. But here we have presented a scenario in which a local scheduler of a networked system can schedule its jobs on and across other systems in the network securely. There by creating an environment in which no system is idle when even two systems are communicating. This clubs both distributed computing and load sharing. Thus high performance is assured.When we look onto the other side of the coin of such networked systems, security concerns arise. These issues are handled by employing new level of managerial systems called Authenticated Distribution Managers (ADMs) for managing the co-operating systems. ADM does the work of job division and integration based on the security implications of its Authenticator. Any system can select any other system as an ADM and transfer its security policies to it. Thus the security is not compromised even if there is load distribution across various systems. Thus we have presented an overview of a high performance network without security being compromised.


If the right poets for the times don't exist, then they have to be invented. Working with this axiom, I co-created the works described above. While collaboration is a major mode of contemporary poesis, and these poems have been parts or wholes of at least 5 performances, this project is unique in collecting multi-authored collaborations under one concept. I was able also to combine working with both well-known and emergent writers of various poetical persuasions. It was a unique experiment in the creation of fictive 'author-functions' and exposes the fiction of 'voice' as a construct of careful artifice. This collection marks a continuation of the work Sheppard ventriloquised through his creation, the fictional bilingual Belgian poet Rene Van Valckenborch, in A Translated Man. Although devised before the neologism 'Brexit' was spat across the bitter political divide, this sample of 28 poets of the EUOIA (European Union of Imaginary Authors) takes on new meanings in our contemporary world that is far from fictive, 'fake news' or not.


This study documents the acute toxicity effects of varying concentrations of zinc on certain fishes native to Illinois. Fourteen-day bioassays were performed with bluegill fry, channel catfish fingerlings, and largemouth bass fingerlings in waters relatively high in alkalinity and the salts of calcium and magnesium. The 14-day median tolerance limit at 20 C was 11.0 mg/l soluble zinc for the bluegill, 8.2 mg/l soluble zinc for the channel catfish, and 8.0 mg/l soluble zinc for the largemouth bass. For protection of the fishes investigated, and in compliance with Illinois water pollution regulations, soluble zinc concentrations in Illinois streams having high alkalinity and hardness should not exceed 0.8 mg/1.


The use of renewable raw material has increased every year and climate change is
becoming a wide spread issue in both public sector and enterprises. For both energy
and chemical industry today's most prominent alternative for fossil feedstock is
biomass. Vattenfall plans to expand its use of biomass and for this reason cooperation
between the energy and chemical industry with respect to biomass use could be of
interest.
This Master's thesis will look at biorefinery technologies giving solid residues, and
further see if these residues can be used in co-combustion with coal. Another
perspective will be to see how biorefinery technologies can be combined in order to
produce "right" target products and residues. A carbon cycle and energy balance has
been performed to see if integration between these industries can be sustainable out of
a biomass supply perspective,
To evaluate different biorefinery technologies a classification and a ranking system
has been developed. Categories in classification are base on Cherubini (2010) and
chapter 3, 4 and 5 in this report. The ranking system is designed by seven criteria's
with different weighting factors, these are closely connected to the objective of this
thesis. The c-cycle and energy balance will show how much biomass is needed to
replace crude oil within chemical industry. Both calculated values are then compared
with available farmland in EU-27.
This thesis discusses ten different technologies that give eight valuable solid residues,
five of these are of special interest for co-combustion with coal. The ranking shows
that fermentation 2nd is the most promising technology, both due to target product
production and valuable residue. Further promising technologies are pyrolysis,
gasification and hydrolysis.The c-cycle and energy balance shows that there is enough
arable land to cultivate biomass and replace the use of crude oil.
Today there are good technical possibilities for cooperation between chemical and
energy industry and there are several suitable residues for co-combustion with coal.
Out of a sustainability perspective it is theoretical possible to exchange crude oil with
biomass, but the complex land use question has to be further investigated. Also more
research has to look into process integration of both different biorefinery technologies
and process integration between biorefinery and coal fired power plant.


In approximately 10-30% of patients presenting with angina complaints, normal or non-obstructive coronary arteries are found on angiography. In this review paper, available literature on the underlying pathophysiological substrate explaining these discrepancies is reviewed. Both histological studies as well as studies using intravascular ultrasound e.g. the PROSPECT trial, show that epicardial coronary vessel significant lumen stenosis may be delayed until a plaque occupies 40% of the internal elastic lamina area. Limited available data suggest that these angiographically undetectable plaques are associated with an abnormal vasodilation capacity of the coronary circulation and may results in reversible perfusion defects on myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). Organic non-atherosclerotic causes of epicardial coronary artery disease such as anomalous coronary arteries that course between the aorta and pulmonary artery, myocardial bridging and coronary vasospasm may also contribute to MPI results suggesting the presence of ischemia in the presence of normal coronary arteries on coronary angiography. Additional causes of reversible perfusion defects on MPI in the presence of a normal coronary angiogram are intraventricular conduction disturbances. The existence of reversible perfusion defects in the anteroseptal region in most of the patients suffering from left bundle branch block (LBBB) on MPI following physical exercise as stressor is well documented. As the observed reduced septal uptake of both 201Tl and 99mTc-sestamibi/tetrofosmin in LBBB reflects coronary autoregulation in response to lower oxygen demands, not surprisingly, dipyridamole which uniformly exploits flow reserve, has proven more accurate for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients suffering from LBBB. Although patients with a permanent ventricular pacemaker have a similar conduction abnormality as patients presenting with a LBBB, most of the defects found on MPI imaging in this patient population (in up to 78% of patients with a normal coronary angiogram that area continuously paced) are localized in the inferoposterior (71%), apical (50%) and inferoseptal (28%) wall; coronary flow velocities in the left anterior descending (LAD) and dominant coronary artery and coronary flow reserve are also significantly lower when compared to a control group. Contrary to what is seen in LBBB patients, dipyridamole stress does not significantly reduce the incidence of abnormalities found but limits the defects to the inferior wall. Furthermore, the frequency of abnormalities found on MPI increases over time with right ventricular outflow tract pacing. Previous histologic studies have shown that microvessel disease is often accompanied by a slow-flow phenomenon reflecting decreased resting flow velocity. Thus, not surprisingly, MPI reversible abnormalities in the presence of a normal coronary angiogram have been reported in a wide variety of diseases characterized by microvessel disease such as diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behçet's disease and metabolic syndrome. In these patients, low adiponectin and high lipoprotein(a) levels are found which are known to be associated with endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Furthermore, in these patients, limited available data suggest that reversible perfusion defects on MPI confer a significantly poorer prognosis both in terms of hard event rate (MI and cardiac death) and total event rate (MI, cardiac death or late revascularization). It is thus suggested that MPI could discriminate patients with a more severe prognosis. Finally, physical training in patients with primary microvascular angina appears to be associated with reduction of myocardial perfusion abnormalities.


3-D metrology systems are used from examination and qualification of micro manufacturing techniques to reverse engineering of microstructures. For this purpose, the generation of capable and reliable 3-D coordinates in large numbers is essential. Combining classical triangulation with a new technique of calibrating measurement labels results in high rates of reliable 3-D metrology data. The triangulation setup consists of a stereomicroscope mounted on a 5-axis-gantry to generate all necessary points of view. Measurement labels are projected through one port of the stereomicroscope while their positions are localized through the second port. Providing a calibration rule is defined, the measurement system assigns each localized position to an absolute coordinate. For registration purposes, measurement labels are projected on a semitransparent mirror. Localizing measurement labels simultaneously with an observation and a calibration camera in connection with the working distance defines the calibration rule. By modifying the working distance between calibration camera and stereomicroscope, the measurement volume is scanned. The grid of the calibration camera chip acts as a measurement standard for the measurement labels. This approach features the spatial registration of a huge amount of measurement labels, covering the measurement volume, without building up the optical model of the imaging in a short time.


ABSTRACT This article proposes power transformation of absolute returns as a new proxy of latent volatility in the stochastic model. We generalize absolute returns as a proxy for volatility in that we place no restriction on the power of absolute returns. An empirical investigation on the bias, mean square error and relative bias is carried out for the proposed proxy. Simulation results show that the new estimator exhibiting negligible bias appears to be more efficient than the unbiased estimator with high variance.


The largely successful method of training neural networks is to learn their weights using some variant of stochastic gradient descent (SGD). Here, we show that the solutions found by SGD can be further improved by ensembling a subset of the weights in late stages of learning. At the end of learning, we obtain back a single model by taking a spatial average in weight space. To avoid incurring increased computational costs, we investigate a family of low-dimensional late-phase weight models which interact multiplicatively with the remaining parameters. Our results show that augmenting standard models with late-phase weights improves generalization in established benchmarks such as CIFAR-10/100, ImageNet and enwik8. These findings are complemented with a theoretical analysis of a noisy quadratic problem which provides a simplified picture of the late phases of neural network learning.


A Type 2 pressure vessel for hydrogen storage, which is made of a combination of a seamless linepipe steel liner and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), was developed for hydrogen refueling stations operated at over 70 MPa hydrogen. This newly developed vessel was designed based on various standards such as ASME Sec. VIII Div. 3. However, a leak before break (LBB) methodology has not yet been established for hydrogen. The current study assessed LBB of the Type 2 vessel by a cyclic pressure test in a hydrogen gas atmosphere. The vessel with an artificial flaw was subjected to a cyclic test at pressures between 35 and 93 MPa hydrogen. Hydrogen gas leaked at 7,973 cycles. Eventually, LBB failure was confirmed. This number of cycles to leak was in good agreement with the simulated number, of 9,082 cycles using the crack growth properties in the presence of hydrogen and stress distribution of the thickness direction of the liner calculated by a finite element method. It is suggested that the fatigue crack growth behavior of the pressure vessel can be accurately estimated by using the fatigue crack growth properties in the presence of hydrogen, which correspond to the crack-tip stress-intensity range of an actual pressure vessel.


This paper applies probit regression models to a nationally representative household survey dataset collected in 2016-2017 to analyze the relationships between various socio-demographic variables and adult Body Mass Index (BMI) in Suriname. Our results indicate that women, the elderly, and couples either married and/or living together are more likely to be obese or overweight. As expected, this is also true for individuals who have chronic illnesses. The analysis also finds that individuals who engage in a sport or in other forms of exercise, even if modest, have lower odds of being overweight or obese. Interestingly, the findings indicate that individuals who benefit from government social safety net programs are less likely to be associated with being overweight or obese. The results of this study have implications for the adjustment of current Surinamese nutritional guidelines as well as the design and implementation of targeted obesity-reduction policies that recognize that being overweight is influenced by various characteristics. Although the results are country-specific, they have the potential to influence action in all countries in the Caribbean that lack policies to address obesity.


ABSTRACT
 The tomato-potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), was recently shown to be a vector of "Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum" (Lso), a phloem-limited bacterium that is the putative causal agent of "zebra chip" in potato and unnamed diseases in other solanaceous species. Despite its importance, very little is known about B. cockerelli stylet probing behaviors that control transmission of Lso to its host plants. Herein, we report the first study characterizing the electrical penetration graph waveforms representing stylet penetration behaviors of the B. cockerelli feeding on potato. Waveforms produced by adult B. cockerelli on potato were also correlated using light microscopy of salivary sheath termini in plant tissue after probes were artificially terminated during the identified waveforms. In addition, behavioral activities were inferred based on electrical origins of waveforms as well as similarities in waveform appearances with those of other psyllids, aphids, and whiteflies. Adult B. cockerelli produced six waveform families and four types, which represent the following proposed biological meanings: family A, initial penetration and sheath salivation; family B, penetration of epidermal cells; family C, secretion of most of the salivary sheath and stylet pathway in mesophyll and parenchyma, with two types, C1 and C2, of unknown meaning; family D, initial contact with phloem cells; family E, activities in phloem cells, with two types, El, putative phloem salivation, and E2, phloem sap ingestion; and family G, xylem ingestion. In addition, a previously unreported variant of waveform G was characterized and correlated with applied signal type. Variation in D and G waveform appearances was correlated with polarity, type, and magnitude of applied signal. Results suggest that active phloem sap ingestion during E2 may play a critical role in acquisition of Lso bacterial cells. E1 may be important in inoculation of the bacterium into phloem sieve elements because it may represent salivation into phloem sieve elements. Analysis of B. cockerelli waveforms could lead to faster development of resistant host plant varieties, strengthen integrated pest management strategies by incorporating alternative plant hosts, and maximize the efficiency of pesticides.


Asset pricing models and investment styles have been researched intensively in equities, bonds, FX, and commodities. However, a new asset class has emerged since the end of 2008, namely, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, among others. The author uses an extensive data set of over 1,500 cryptocurrencies and shows that almost none of the traditional investment styles such as momentum or defensive appear to be successful in this young asset class. Cryptocurrencies are also independent from the macroeconomic environment and cannot be explained by a standard asset pricing model. A cryptocurrency specific model yields clearly better results. In addition, the whole cryptocurrency space is dominated by only a few individual digital coins. Equally weighted mean monthly returns appear to be random with low or even no correlation with traditional asset classes such as US equities and global FX. TOPICS: Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, performance measurement, portfolio management/multi-asset allocation


Abstract A new computer model to predict catchments and time-of-travel zones to boreholes is described. It takes account of spatially varying recharge which is not included in the most commonly used analytical solution. The model can also accommodate four arrangements of aquifer boundaries, two of which represent strip aquifers while the other two are rectangular. The bases of the model are new analytical solutions for the velocity components due to both recharge and pumping from boreholes. Boreholes in rectangular aquifers are modelled by the method of images. Examples show that taking account of recharge and boundaries gives significantly different results for catchment sizes and shapes from the analytical solution commonly used. The size of time-of-travel zones can be significantly smaller when recharge is taken into account. The main uses of the model will be in reconnaissance and sensitivity studies.


A framework for fast multiview fusion of Single Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) images based on a spatially-variant point spread function (PSF) model recorded using fluorescent point markers (beads) inserted into the surrounding medium is presented. The beads are used for the registration of the images as well as for the estimation of the spatially-varying PSF function. A new fusion algorithm based on regularized Lucy-Richardson deconvolution and the Overlap-Save method (LROS-TV) is presented and tested on SPIM images. Our framework proposes a method of decomposing the image into small packages thus saving memory space and allowing for parallel processing. As to our knowledge this is the first framework allowing modeling of spatially-variant PSF functions for SPIM images.


In this paper those conditions which cause jaundice in early infancy and are of direct interest to the surgeon are considered. While the treatment of this group is essentially surgical, an accurate diagnosis can only he made after a careful consideration of all aspects of the case in order to exclude the commoner causes of jaundice in early infancy and in particular to differentiate between the two principal causes of obstructive jaundice in young infants.


The main goal of this paper is to show that crowdworkers collaborate to fulfill technical and social needs left by the platform they work on. That is, crowdworkers are not the independent, autonomous workers they are often assumed to be, but instead work within a social network of other crowdworkers. Crowdworkers collaborate with members of their networks to 1) manage the administrative overhead associated with crowdwork, 2) find lucrative tasks and reputable employers and 3) recreate the social connections and support often associated with brick and mortar-work environments. Our evidence combines ethnography, interviews, survey data and larger scale data analysis from four crowdsourcing platforms, emphasizing the qualitative data from the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform and Microsoft's proprietary crowdsourcing platform, the Universal Human Relevance System (UHRS). This paper draws from an ongoing, longitudinal study of Crowdwork that uses a mixed methods approach to understand the cultural meaning, political implications, and ethical demands of crowdsourcing.


Abstract The aim of the study was to compare initial clinical, hemodynamic, and vegetative parameters in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) who had undergone physical rehabilitation with different results. The subjects were 106 male patients aged 48.6 +/- 0.95 years undergoing sanatorium rehabilitation after MI. According to the dynamics of exercise tolerance (ET) during the course of treatment, the subjects were divided into three groups: group one consisted of 39 patients with a significant ET growth of more than 10W, group two consisted of 47 patients with no changes in ET or its insignificant growth of less than 10W, and group three consisted of 20 patients with a decrease in ET revealed during a repeated test. In group three patients, the initial EchoCG examination revealed a higher degree of myocardial lesion, which was manifested by lowered ejection fraction and sphericity index, increased end-diastolic volume, and increased degree of left ventricular (LV) asynergy. Furthermore, day-time ventricular extrasystoles were more frequent in these patients; the number of patients with large-focal MI, LV aneurysm, and post-infarction stenocardia was also higher in group three. Correlation and multiple step regression analysis revealed that both initial parameters of vegetative nervous system, data from initial load test, and the EchoCG measurements of the right atrium were associated with the degree of ET growth according to VEM results. The data from the study are able to help individualize rehabilitation of MI patients, especially those with severe myocardial lesion.


The minimum hub cover is a new NP-hard optimization problem that has been recently introduced to the literature in the context of graph query processing on graph databases. The problem has been introduced as a new graph representation model to expedite graph queries. With this representation, a graph database can be represented by a small subset of graph vertices. Searching over only that subset of vertices decreases the response time of a query and increases the efficiency of graph query processing. We introduce the problem of finding a subgraph including the minimum number of vertices as an optimization problem referred to as the minimum hub cover problem. We demonstrate that searching a query over the vertices in minimum hub cover increases the efficiency of query processing and surpasses the existing search methods. We also introduce several mathematical programming models. In particular, we give two binary integer programming formulations as well as a novel quadratic integer programming formulation. We use the linear programming relaxations of the binary integer programming models. Our relaxation for the quadratic integer programming model leads to a semidefinite programming formulation. We also present several rounding heuristics to obtain integral solutions after solving the proposed relaxations. We also focus on planar graphs which have many applications in planar graph query processing and devise fast heuristics with good solution quality for minimum hub cover. We also study an approximation algorithm with a performance guarantee to solve the minimum hub cover problem on planar graphs. We conduct several numerical studies to analyze the empirical performances of solution methods proposed in this thesis.


The quality of temperature and humidity retrievals from the infrared SEVIRI sensors on
the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites is assessed by means of a
one dimensional variational algorithm. The study is performed with the aim of improving
the spatial and temporal resolution of available observations to feed analysis systems designed
for high resolution regional scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The
non-hydrostatic forecast model COSMO (COnsortium for Small scale MOdelling) in the
ARPA-SIM operational configuration is used to provide background fields. Only clear sky
observations over sea are processed.
An optimised 1D–VAR set-up comprising of the two water vapour and the three window
channels is selected. It maximises the reduction of errors in the model backgrounds while
ensuring ease of operational implementation through accurate bias correction procedures and
correct radiative transfer simulations.
The 1D–VAR retrieval quality is firstly quantified in relative terms employing statistics
to estimate the reduction in the background model errors. Additionally the absolute retrieval
accuracy is assessed comparing the analysis with independent radiosonde and satellite observations.
The inclusion of satellite data brings a substantial reduction in the warm and dry
biases present in the forecast model. Moreover it is shown that the retrieval profiles generated
by the 1D–VAR are well correlated with the radiosonde measurements.
Subsequently the 1D–VAR technique is applied to two three–dimensional case–studies:
a false alarm case–study occurred in Friuli–Venezia–Giulia on the 8th of July 2004 and a
heavy precipitation case occurred in Emilia–Romagna region between 9th and 12th of April 2005. The impact of satellite data for these two events is evaluated in terms of increments
in the integrated water vapour and saturation water vapour over the column, in the 2 meters
temperature and specific humidity and in the surface temperature.
To improve the 1D–VAR technique a method to calculate flow–dependent model error
covariance matrices is also assessed. The approach employs members from an ensemble
forecast system generated by perturbing physical parameterisation schemes inside the model.
The improved set–up applied to the case of 8th of July 2004 shows a substantial neutral
impact.