ABSTRACT: We empirically examine the joint predictions of the pecking order theory and the theory of time-varying asymmetric information regarding the timing of security offerings around information disclosures. We analyze loan originations and bond offerings around earnings announcements and compare them against equity offerings. In support of the theories' predictions, we find a positive association between the information sensitivity of securities and the likelihood of their issuance after earnings announcements. In particular, we find that clustering after earnings announcements is weakest in loan originations, stronger in bond offerings, and strongest in equity offerings. Also consistent with the theories, we find that the size of news in earnings announcements matters in the timing decision. We find weak evidence regarding the theories' implication that the direction of news in the announcement plays a role in the timing decision. We test and find that this latter result is partly attributable to po...


Based on knowledge of the changes produced in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, segmented polymorphonuclears, non-segmented polymorphonuclears and platelets in patients with septicemia, a mathematic devise was developed and called septicemia index which correlated the four mentioned factors and made it possible to situate patients clinically suspicious of septicemia within three different groups: 1) positive, 2) probable and 3) negative. The method showed to be statistically significant in the early detection of septicemia in the infant and in cases without septicemia (p less than 0.01). The method may be carried out in general laboratories and no special techniques are required. The results may be obtained within a few hours in opposition to cultures that require from 3 to 5 days.


We propose a probabilistic model for interpreting gene expression levels that are observed through single-cell RNA sequencing. In the model, each cell has a low-dimensional latent representation. Additional latent variables account for technical effects that may erroneously set some observations of gene expression levels to zero. Conditional distributions are specified by neural networks, giving the proposed model enough flexibility to fit the data well. We use variational inference and stochastic optimization to approximate the posterior distribution. The inference procedure scales to over one million cells, whereas competing algorithms do not. Even for smaller datasets, for several tasks, the proposed procedure outperforms state-of-the-art methods like ZIFA and ZINB-WaVE. We also extend our framework to take into account batch effects and other confounding factors and propose a natural Bayesian hypothesis framework for differential expression that outperforms tradition DESeq2.


This study aims to explore the factors that influence family members in choosing the preferred place of death for hospitalized dying older patients in Taiwan. This study enrolled 100 family members. The relevant factors influencing the families' choice of the preferred place of death for older patients were family members' previous discussions with the patients about their expected place of death; patients' education levels; family members' incomes; whether they were hiring a caregiver to take care of the patients at the hospital; their degree of social support; and their family functioning. The logistic regression analysis showed that family members who had discussed the preferred place of death with the patients, and those with better family functioning, were 1.41 and 2.72 times more likely, respectively, to chose for patients to return home to die than for the patients to die in a hospital.


The thyroid glands of 31 chickens at the age of 17 to 24 months were investigated. Different methods of anatomical preparation, casts of vessels and scanning electron microscopy were used. The thyroid gland of birds is a paired organ. It is located on the ventral surface of the base of the neck within the thoracic inlet. The left thyroid gland is placed more cranially than the right one. Each thyroid gland is closely connected to the common carotid artery on the medial side, from which it is supplied and to the jugular vein on the lateral side. It is a reddish‐brown organ and of lenticular profile. The gland measures on average 10 mm in length, 6 mm in width and 2 mm in thickness, and is covered by a thin connective tissue capsule which holds adipose cells. It seems that each thyroid follicle is surrounded by a net of capillaries. The investigation by scanning electron microscopy proved that the follicles are oval with a pyramidal top on each end. The cuboidal epithelium cells leave impressions in the colloid. Epithelium cells carry microvilli on the follicle side surface. Described seasonal changes of the thyroid gland in size and activity were able to be confirmed by the examination of the organ in July and December. In winter the follicular cells were higher and the follicles had a greater volume.


This work presents the development of a robotic wheelchair that can be commanded by users. It provides flexibility to choose different modalities to command the wheelchair, in addition to be suitable for people with different levels of disabilities like partially paralyzed, by birth disabilities, accidental injuries etc. Users can command and control the wheelchair based on their head movements. Also, the user can control some home appliances. As a trial, we work on the lighting system in a room that is ON and OFF mechanism of a light. The wheelchair can also operate like an auto-guided vehicle, with the help of obstacle sensors, which detects the obstacles in front of it, and it either stops or takes deviation. A main door detection section is provided with a magnetic sensor in the wheelchair and a magnet fixed at the main door for safety and then the wheelchair stops. A security as well as a safety alarm is provided in the device, which beeps when the device may hit somewhere or an emergency situation occurs. Head movements are used for both moving the device and for controlling directions of the device. This device is capable of lighting the room by eye movements.


Abstract : To use a world model, a mobile robot must be able to determine its own position in the world. To support truly autonomous navigation, I present MARVEL, a system that builds and maintains its own models of world locations and uses these models to recognize its world position from stereo vision input. MARVEL is designed to be robust with respect to input errors and to respond to a gradually changing world by updating its world location models. I present results from real-world tests of the system that demonstrate its reliability. MARVEL fits into a world modeling system under development. (Author) (kr)


This article highlighted how the last parliamentary system government reached the verge of collapse due to both Sukarno and Nasution's restlessness regarding what they saw as a corrupt politician that made parliamentary democracy dysfunctional and ignored people's interests. The partnership between Sukarno and Nasution was formed to establish a new political governance structure that was underpinned by the army's more assertive role in politics, called Guided Democracy. The article showed the disunity between Hatta and Nasution which is resulted in a disjointed effort towards governance reform and anti-corruption initiatives that was later dismantled by Sukarno and his supporter. This article used a range of primary sources including diplomatic correspondents, memo, reports issued by the United Kingdom (UK) Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs. In complementing these data from the UK and the Australia Government, this article used other primary resources from Indonesian government such as relevant laws, presidential decrees and government regulations, presidential speeches, international donor reports or documents and national as well as international article newspaper. The main contribution of this article was to provide an ingrained account of Sukarno's Guided Democracy era in the context of governance reform and anti-corruption initiatives, which is currently lacking in the current academic corpus on Indonesia's politics of public


Deep Learning has been widely applied to problems in detecting various network attacks. However, no cases on network security have shown applications of various deep learning algorithms in real-time services beyond experimental conditions. Moreover, owing to the integration of high-performance computing, it is necessary to apply systems that can handle large-scale traffic. Given the rapid evolution of web-attacks, we implemented and applied our Artificial Intelligence-based Intrusion Detection System (AI-IDS). We propose an optimal convolutional neural network and long short-term memory network (CNN-LSTM) model, normalized UTF-8 character encoding for Spatial Feature Learning (SFL) to adequately extract the characteristics of real-time HTTP traffic without encryption, calculating entropy, and compression. We demonstrated its excellence through repeated experiments on two public datasets (CSIC-2010, CICIDS2017) and fixed real-time data. By training payloads that analyzed true or false positives with a labeling tool, AI-IDS distinguishes sophisticated attacks, such as unknown patterns, encoded or obfuscated attacks from benign traffic. It is a flexible and scalable system that is implemented based on Docker images, separating user-defined functions by independent images. It also helps to write and improve Snort rules for signature-based IDS based on newly identified patterns. As the model calculates the malicious probability by continuous training, it could accurately analyze unknown web-attacks.


A pervasive idea among many school professionals is that verbal praise for ability may have several undesirable consequences relative to verbal praise for effort. Despite these arguments, past research has produced conflicting results. The present study utilized single-subject research methods with seven students ages 9 to 12 to examine the potential effects of ability- and effort-based verbal praise statements on task performance and task persistence. For four of the seven participants, only very small differences, if any, in task persistence were noted between conditions. For the remaining participants, results were mixed with two participants demonstrating more task persistence during the effort-based condition and one demonstrating more task persistence during the ability-based condition. For task performance, results were also mixed with some participants performing better during the ability-based condition and others performing better during the effort-based condition. Results of this study do not support the criticism uniformly leveled against ability-based verbal praise. Limitations, possible explanations of the results, and directions for future research are discussed.


Background Skin problems are common in patients with hematological disorders. Dermatologists play an important role in providing consultative service to other medical specialties. While most requests for dermatologic consultations are for common skin conditions, challenging scenarios and diagnostic dilemmas are frequently encountered, especially in acutely ill, immunocompromised patients. Aim To characterize the profile of dermatological problems encountered in a hematology unit in a tertiary hospital, and to delineate clinical features that may help to distinguish cutaneous adverse drug reactions from toxic erythema of chemotherapy. Materials and methods A retrospective study was conducted reviewing all inpatient referrals for dermatology consultations from the hematology unit during a 6-month period from January 2010 to June 2010, at the largest multidisciplinary tertiary hospital in Singapore. Results Of the 692 referrals for dermatology consultation, 58 (8.3%) came from the hematology department. A total of 60 dermatological diagnoses were made. Most patients were referred for primary dermatological disorders (43.33%, n = 26). The most common diagnoses within this category were cutaneous infections (15%, n = 9) and dermatitis (13.33%, n = 8). Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (16.67%, n = 10) and toxic erythema of chemotherapy (10%, n = 6) were also frequently encountered. We could not identify any distinctive clinical feature that may help to differentiate the two conditions. Conclusion Our study reinforces the importance of inpatient medical dermatology in terms of both service and education to nondermatologists, who continue to face difficulties diagnosing common skin disorders. Cutaneous adverse drug reactions and toxic erythema of chemotherapy are clinically similar and difficult to differentiate. Larger prospective studies are needed to examine this problem.


Target expansion techniques facilitate pointing by enlarging the effective sizes of targets. As opposed to the numerous studies on target expansion solely focusing on optimizing pointing, we study the compound task of pointing at a Point of Interest (POI) and then interacting with the POI menu in handheld Augmented Reality (AR). A POI menu in AR has a fixed position because it contains relevant information about its location in the real world. We present two techniques that make the cursor jump to the closest opened POI menu after pointing at a POI. Our experimental results show that 1) for selecting a POI the expansion techniques are 31 % faster than the baseline screen-centered crosshair pointing technique, 2) the expansion techniques with/without a jumping cursor to the closest opened POI menu offer similar performances and 3) Touch relative pointing is preferred by participants because it minimizes physical movements.


Replacing the thoracic esophagus with the colon is one mode of reconstruction after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. There is, however, a high incidence of postoperative necrosis of the transposed colon. This study evaluated the outcomes of colon interposition with the routine use of superdrainage by microvascular surgery. Twenty-one patients underwent colon interposition from 2004 to 2009. The strategy for colon interposition was to: (i) use the right hemicolon; (ii) reconstruct via the subcutaneous route; (iii) perform a microvascular venous anastomosis for all patients; and (iv) perform a microvascular arterial anastomosis when the arterial blood flow was insufficient. The clinicopathologic features, surgical findings, and outcomes were investigated. The colon was used because of a previous gastrectomy in 18 patients (85.7%) and synchronous gastric cancer in three patients (14.3%). Eight patients (38.1%) underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy including three (14.3%) treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy. Seven patients (33.3%) underwent microvascular arterial anastomosis to supplement the right colon blood supply. Pneumonia occurred in four patients (19.0%). Anastomotic leakage was observed in five patients (23.8%); however, no colon necrosis was observed. The 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates were both 50.6%. Colon interposition with superdrainage results in successful treatment outcomes. This technique is one option for colon interposition employing the right hemicolon.


Existing research on exceptionalism in foreign policy suggests a number of confrontational features making it a threat to peaceful international relations. Largely based on US and European cases, and hardly ever taking a comparative approach, this literature overlooks a variety of exceptionalisms in non-Western countries, including so called "rising powers" such as China and India. A comparison between exceptionalist foreign policy discourses of the United States, China, India, and Turkey shows that exceptionalism is neither exclusive to the United States, nor a "new" phenomenon within rising powers, nor necessarily confrontational, unilateralist, or exemptionalist. As a prerequisite for comparative work, we establish two features common to all exceptionalist foreign policy discourses. In essence, such discourses are informed by supposedly universal values derived from a particular civilization heritage or political history. In order to systematize different versions of exceptionalism, we then propose four ideal types, each of which reflects exceptionalism's common trait of a claim to moral superiority and uniqueness but diverges across other important dimensions, with implications for its potentially offensive character. The article concludes by formulating a research agenda for future comparative work on exceptionalist foreign policy discourses and their repercussions for great power relations and global politics.


A large body of evidence demonstrates a significant correlation between week 14 infliximab trough levels (IFXTL) and several clinical outcomes. In patients with low IFXTL at week 14, proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) may potentially improve clinical results.

 Retrospective study including 181 patients (63.5% with Crohn's disease) under proactive TDM. IFXTL were measured at week 14 and every 2 infusions using a drug sensitive assay (Theradiag®, Lisa Tracker) with treatment proactively escalated to an IFXTL 5–10 ug/ml. We compared the clinical outcomes between patients with low (<5 ug/ml) and adequate IFXTL at week 14, in respect to clinical remission, fecal calprotectin (Fc) remission, C-reactive protein (CRP) remission, hospitalization, treatment discontinuation, and surgery up to 1 year of follow-up.

 Ninety-one patients (50.3%) had low IFXTL at week 14. These patients presented lower rates of clinical remission (69.2% vs 82.2%, P=0.031), Fc remission (41.9% vs 73.4%, P<0.001), and CRP remission (60.7% vs 72.7%, P= 0.061) at week 14 of treatment. Likewise, worse outcomes were also shown by the end of the study, with lower rates of clinical remission (64.8% vs 87.8%, P<0.001), and Fc remission (58.9% vs 77.9%, P=0.005), and higher rates of hospitalization (17.6% vs 6.7%, P=0.021), surgery (5.5% vs 0%, P=0.030), treatment discontinuation (36.3% vs 17.8%, P=0.004), and any unfavorable outcome (42.9% vs 21.1%, P=0.001). Following proactive treatment escalation, fifty-nine patients (64.8%) were successful in increasing IFXTL ≥5 ug/ml within subsequent infusions. These patients presented higher rates of clinical remission (79.7% vs 37.5%, P<0.001), and lower rates of treatment discontinuation (20.3% vs 65.6%, P<0.001), surgery (1.7% vs 12.5, P=0.05), and any unfavorable outcome (28.8% vs 68.8%, P<0.001), with a non-significant trend for higher rates of Fc remission (63.8% vs 50%, P=0.147). These patients also presented similar outcomes compared to patients with adequate week 14 IFXTL in respect to clinical remission (P=0.134), Fc remission (P=0.049), hospitalization (P=0.131), surgery (P=0.396), treatment discontinuation (P=0.426), and any unfavorable outcome (P=0.189).

 IFXTL significantly influence early and long-term treatment outcomes. In patients with inadequate IFXTL at week 14, proactive TDM was associated with improved clinical outcomes.


While water quality functions of conservation buffers established adjacent to cropped fields have been widely documented, the relative contribution of these re-established perennial plant systems to greenhouse gases has not been completely documented. In the case of methane (CH(4)), these systems have the potential to serve as sinks of CH(4) or may provide favorable conditions for CH(4) production. This study quantifies CH(4) flux from soils of riparian buffer systems comprised of three vegetation types and compares these fluxes with those of adjacent crop fields. We measured soil properties and diel and seasonal variations of CH(4) flux in 7 to 17 yr-old re-established riparian forest buffers, warm-season and cool-season grass filters, and an adjacent crop field located in the Bear Creek watershed in central Iowa. Forest buffer and grass filter soils had significantly lower bulk density (P < 0.01); and higher pH (P < 0.01), total carbon (TC) (P < 0.01), and total nitrogen (TN) (P < 0.01) than crop field soils. There was no significant relationship between CH(4) flux and soil moisture or soil temperature among sites within the range of conditions observed. Cumulative CH(4) flux was -0.80 kg CH(4)-C ha(-1) yr(-1) in the cropped field, -0.46 kg CH(4)-C ha(-1) yr(-1) within the forest buffers, and 0.04 kg CH(4)-C ha(-1) yr(-1) within grass filters, but difference among vegetation covers was not significant. Results suggest that CH(4) flux was not changed after establishment of perennial vegetation on cropped soils, despite significant changes in soil properties.


The aim of this study is to examine whether or not the positive and negative items in the Mathematical Self-Confidence Scale employed in TIMSS 2015 lead to wording effect. While examining whether the expression effect is present or not, analyzes were conducted both on the general sample and on a separate sample for female and male students. To this end, data of 5724 students from Turkey who participated in TIMSS 2015 were used. Six different measurement models were created in the analysis of data and tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The study revealed that positive items have a higher mean than the negative ones. In addition, it was concluded that the bifactor models fit the data better compared to the traditional DFA model, in which the model where negative items were taken as a separate factor are those that best fit the data. This situation is verified both in the general sample and the subgroups of females and males. In conclusion, it is recommended that the scale items should be created carefully and whether the positive and negative items result in separate factors should be examined.


Sensing techniques are often required to not only be versatile and portable, but also to be able to enhance sensor information. This paper describes and demonstrates a new approach to chemical signal analysis that we call fluctuation-enhanced sensing. It utilizes the entire bandwidth of the sensor signal in contrast to more conventional approaches that rely on the dc response. The new principle holds prospects for significantly reducing the necessary number of sensors in artificial noses and tongues, and it can provide improved sensitivity.


The use of social networking sites (SNS) is widespread. Older adults, who are more likely to be lonely in comparison with the rest of the population, lag in their SNS adoption compared with others. We hypothesize that SNS can be used to reduce loneliness as these increase an individual's social connections. This work-in-progress research uses Social Capital to bridge the knowledge gap of how the use of SNS may reduce loneliness for older adults.


: Interaction of the cells of Bacillus anthracis strain CH-7 with benzylpenicillin was studied. The cells of strain CH-7 were shown to contain the penicillinase gene in the repressed state. Spontaneous derepression of the gene at a rate of 10(-8) resulting in the synthesis of penicillinase was observed. Penicillinase was synthesized constitutionally and its synthesis did not depend on the presence of benzylpenicillin in the cultivation medium. The therapeutic effect of benzylpenicillin in the treatment of the experimental infection induced by the B. anthracis strain producing penicillinase was estimated. The efficacy was shown to depend on the time of the beginning of the antibiotic therapy. When the clinical signs of the infection were evident in the animals contaminated with the penicillinase-producing strain of B. anthracis, their treatment with the mean daily doses of benzylpenicillin failed.


Sweetpotato is increasingly important in sub-Saharan Africa due to its yield potential under sub-optimal growing conditions. But lack of planting material (seed) at the onset of the rains is a major constraint. This study examined smallholder strategies for sweetpotato seed conservation and multiplication, their agroclimatic determinants, and farmers' perceived drought risk at four sites (Dilla, Chuko, Hawassa, Sodo) in Ethiopia using informant interviews, a survey of 278 households, and agroclimatic statistics. Conservation practices were dictated by farming system and agroecological conditions. The long-term mean length of dry period when multipliers must conserve seeds ranged between 103 and 131 days across sites. Seed multipliers faced high uncertainty of rainfall onset that varied from the end of February to mid-May. Estimated probabilities of moderate and severe droughts affecting seed conservation ranged from 36–75%, and 15–58%, respectively. In drier sites, age of multiplier, land-holding size, sweetpotato production experience and access to extension were positively associated with being a vine multiplier. Knowledge of indigenous conservations strategies should inform seed system intervention design.


This dissertation examines the impulse — explicit in some texts, and at work in all — to go beyond endings and encompass the infinite. It describes and elucidates the category of the texte fleuve: those texts, regardless of their media, that most clearly foreground, operationalize, and adumbrate the infinitude shown to be at work in and among all texts by theorists such as Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida. In the text fleuve, I include both canonical (print) works of "high" literature and works more commonly thought of as popular culture artifacts. Along with Proust's Recherche, Virginia Woolf's The Waves, and Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home, I examine "open world" video games (in particular, Mojang AB's Minecraft and Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). In my chapters, I consider the theoretical issues surrounding the texte fleuve and lay out its characteristics, notably the various "endlessnesses" that it depicts or enacts (such as looping narratives, potentially infinite combinations of elements, endless networks, unlimited extension in time and virtual space, and so on). In tandem with my examination of these endlessnesses, I discuss the ludic aspect of the act of reading, this aspect being part of why novels and games can elucidate each other. My argument is based on a conception of reading as an interactive process that is never a passive act of consumption. Following the work of Johan Huizinga, Roger Caillois and Barthes, I claim that reading is a process with rules, the primary one being to find meaning. I also explore the text's relationship with what I call the "circumtext," a work's networked assemblage of textual responses (readings, rewritings, adaptations, translations, etc). This network, its growth driven by something like the infinite potentiality of Barthes' "writerly," prolongs the "central" work through a process of translation, and thus helps the work to resist its inevitable finitude, its own forgetting, its own death.


Purpose The goal of this study was to determine the adherence of glaucoma patients to their topical glaucoma medication. Furthermore, the relationships between the adherence behavior and the patients' demographic data, clinical characteristics, and their knowledge about glaucoma were evaluated. Methods This was a prospective study of 123 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma who were given two standardized questionnaires. The first questionnaire at time point T1 comprised a knowledge assessment and the self-reported adherence measures Adherence to Refills and Medication Scale 2 (ARMS2), visual analogue scale for adherence (VAS-AD), and missed doses in the past 14 days. Two months later at time point T2, a second questionnaire reevaluated the adherence measures ARMS2, VAS-AD, and missed doses in the past 14 days. Results There was a good correlation among all the three adherence measures at T1 and T2. The mean values of ARMS2 were in the lower range, with 3.38 at T1 and 2.8 at T2. The VAS-AD detected that 18.5% of patients always took their eye drops correctly, and 77.9% of patients reported not to have missed a single dose in the past 14 days. There was no significant correlation between the patients' demographic data or knowledge about glaucoma and the adherence measures ARMS2 or VAS-AD. Among the clinical characteristics, only single-eye blindness showed a significant correlation with VAS-AD. Conclusion In this study, no general relationships were found between medication adherence and the patients' demographic data, clinical characteristics, or knowledge about glaucoma. It may be assumed that more individualized strategies are required to optimize adherence behavior.


The examination is the pivotal axis around which the educational system evolves and the success or failure of that process is an indicator of the quality of education that we provide to our youth. The Higher Institute of Commercial Studies in Carthage (IHEC-Tunisia), which is a public higher educational institution well equipped with necessary modern facilities and academic experience, has opted to provide a personalized examination's rooms recommendation system in order to curb the malpractices that threaten the integrity of the examination process and enter a new era in which growing number of e-transparency systems will be employed. The goal of this work is to explore all aspects of the examination problem and employ an intelligent system that can be more accurate and provide better recommendations to the examination's supervisors. The adopted strategy is based on a Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) mechanism by analyzing user's behaviors. The main reason for the choice of this technique is that examination management focuses particularly on the use of experience. A system largely relying on old cases that contain supervisor's preferences, previously recorded conflicts and presence states will enable obtaining more convenient recommendations and avoid making conflicting assignments. The recommender system, which we named "Dynamic" software, is already finished and it has been successfully tested by the IHEC examination's office. The Dynamic software created a competitive advantage, increased the job satisfaction and also inspired other tunisian higher institutes to adopt and replicate its model for their own administrative needs.


This paper discusses grasp planning of a multi-fingered hand attached at the tip of a humanoid robotpsilas arm. Our planner can select a different grasping style even for the same object if a position/orientation of the object is changed. Also, if the planner cannot find a feasible grasping posture with arm/hand kinematics, a humanoid robot tries to use the whole body motion. These functions are necessary for realizing the robust grasp planning. Our planner defines convex models on both the object and each grasping style. By considering geometrical relationship among these convex models, we determine several parameters needed to define the final grasping configuration. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by several numerical examples and experimental results.


A DSP Embedded Optical Navigation System. (May 2003) Kiran Kumar Gunnam, B.Tech., Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. John L. Junkins Dr. Nasser Kehtarnavaz Spacecraft missions such as spacecraft docking and formation flying require high precision relative position and attitude data. Although Global Positioining Systems can provide this capability near the earth, deep space missions require the use of alternative technologies. One such technology is the vision-based navigation (VISNAV) sensor system developed at Texas A&M University. VISNAV comprises an electro-optical sensor combined with light sources or beacons. This patented sensor has an analog detector in the focal plane with a rise time of a few microseconds. Accuracies better than one part in 2000 of the field of view have been obtained. This research presents a new approach involving simultaneous activation of beacons with frequency division multiplexing as part of the VISNAV sensor system. In addition, it discusses the synchronous demodulation process using digital heterodyning and decimating filter banks on a low-power fixed point DSP, which improves the accuracy of the sensor measurements and the reliability of the system. This research also presents an optimal and computationally efficient six-degree-of-freedom estimation algorithm using a new measurement model based on the attitude representation of Modified Rodrigues Parameters.


The early gastric carcinomas measuring 10-25 mm in diameter, macroscopically I-II/C types and benign gastric tumours are relegated to laparoscopic wedge resection of the stomach. Authors report on the use of a new endoscopic assisted--"double-lifting"--laparoscopic resection of the gastric wall, in the course of removal of an early stage gastric carcinoma (13 mm in diameter, macroscopically II/C type) and a gastric lipoma (21 mm in diameter). The advantage of this method: the affected gastric wall could be removed safely far from the lesion and all layers of the gastric wall are available for histological examination.


This research examines the potential of parametric design and contemporary design practice according to the following question: "How might parametric design be utilised to express qualities of contemporary masculinity in men's products?" The goal of the research is to suggest a strategy that may be applied to contemporary design practise in order to more effectively support male consumer's identities, needs, and desires. This is addressed through a case study that prioritises the expression of contemporary masculinity and related qualities in the consideration of the employed materials, form and design details. In developing this research, participant interviews, and a series of questionnaires were utilised to gather responses leading to the construction of material photo studies and data visualizations. Based on the data collected, a parametric definition was developed that supports the customisation of product containers in addressing the expression of contemporary masculine qualities. The parametric definition was applied in the design of a series of initial product prototypes that expressed the contemporary masculine qualities as identified by participants. The prototypes were subsequently assessed through participant interviews alongside a series of material swatches of varying surface qualities. Feedback from the interviews led to refinements in the product container designs within the parametric interface and the generation of a series of higher fidelity digital prototypes. These prototypes sought to effectively reflect the participant's interpretations regarding the expression of contemporary masculinity.


Historians and theorists of Italian art have usually dealt with the Eighties with sufficiency, reading it through the lens of disengagement and focusing on painting movements based on the return to manual expression and expressionist figuration, interpreted as a reaction to the conceptual practices that dominated the previous decade. Actually, painting represents only a small part of Italian artistic production in the postmodern era, a production whose peculiarity—and this is undoubtedly one of the reasons for the short-sighted historical reading of the period—consists in its being transdisciplinary. Indeed, in those years, a new generation of artists and cultural producers experimented with performative and media practices, moving with ease from the field of contemporary art to those of theater, television, music, design and visual communication. The use of audiovisual technologies, both video and personal computers, which saw mass diffusion in the 1980s, represents the trait d'union between these practices. Adopting an approach between the historical and the phenomenological, the article offers an "overview" of the artistic practices of video in Italy in the 1980s, articulating its discussion around three interpretative lines connected to the ideas of: hybridization, body and media. The article opens with some art-historical considerations. It then continues with an outline of the international artistic situation and references to post-modernist theories and the visual culture of the decade. Some typologies of experimental video practices in Italy are then outlined: video sculptures and installations; the relationships between video and theater; between video and design; between video and television; music videos; and computer art. The final part is dedicated to the capillary Italian network of production, distribution and fruition of video, which includes distributors, exhibition spaces, festivals and magazines. The article closes with some reflections on the evolution of the classification and historicization criteria in light of the most recent studies of visual culture.


In the present paper, the fuzzy probability method is applied to assess the risk of international engineering project. Firstly, According to the risk from the whole cycle of international engineering project, The influential factors of the project bidding risk assessment are analyzed. The risk of international engineering project is divided into four parts, such as national risk, industrial risk, involved parties risk and project's risk, and an assessment index system of international project risk is constructed. Secondly, based on the fuzzy probability method, a new model of the risk assessment for international engineering project is developed. In order to assess index weighted value scientifically, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is introduced into the fuzzy weighted values. Finally, the validity and rationality of the risk evaluation for international engineering project is verified through the risk instance of a project.


Addressing subjects as wide-ranging as angelology, the court masque, pop art, caricature, the cult of the ruin, hip-hop, Spenser's Irish policy, and the aesthetics of silence, Brian McHale pulls varied threads together to identify a repertoire of postmodernist elements characteristic of the long poems he examines. As critic Jed Rasula explains, "McHale is wonderfully resourceful in changing the subject from chapter to chapter to fit the poems discussed, and while his approach adheres to the conventions of textual exegesis, the chapters really shine as orchestrations of issues. For instance, James Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover works unexpectedly well in raising the subject of found poetry and procedural composition; Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery and Edward Dorn's Gunslinger are effectively paired to demonstrate the period flavor of pastiche; Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns and Armand Schwerner's The Tablets explode the modernist fixation with depth; John Ashbery's work is given a nuanced reading as proto-theory; Letter to an Imaginary Friend by Thomas McGrath provides a lucid backdrop to raise the question of political efficacy in approaching language poet Bruce Andrews; and Susan Howe's The Europe of Trusts is explored for its intertextual tapestry." McHale shows how elements from these long poems overlap, interfere, pull in different directions, jar against, and even contradict each other; and he demonstrates how they also echo, amplify, and reinforce each other. They do not slot smoothly together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, but they do form (what else?) a difficult whole.


In this paper, we propose a two-layered multi-task attention based neural network that performs sentiment analysis through emotion analysis. The proposed approach is based on Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory and uses Distributional Thesaurus as a source of external knowledge to improve the sentiment and emotion prediction. The proposed system has two levels of attention to hierarchically build a meaningful representation. We evaluate our system on the benchmark dataset of SemEval 2016 Task 6 and also compare it with the state-of-the-art systems on Stance Sentiment Emotion Corpus. Experimental results show that the proposed system improves the performance of sentiment analysis by 3.2 F-score points on SemEval 2016 Task 6 dataset. Our network also boosts the performance of emotion analysis by 5 F-score points on Stance Sentiment Emotion Corpus.


[Over the past several years, Latin American moral theology, in which liberation theology and its ethics play a prominent role, has been creatively developing its method and content in response to social and cultural changes. While many have incorporated the personalist approach of postconciliar moral theology, it is from the perspective of the victims that they have been addressing issues in bioethics, ecology, cultural transformation, feminist ethics, human rights, and especially the economy. Most now locate solidarity at the center of their ethic.]


Dialogue is a concept replete with great potentiality for the re-orientating process towards the more inclusive transformation of society, which indeed the Covid-19 pandemic has made even more urgent. This study verifies this statement, while also identifying the specific factors which have had a meaningful impact upon the engagement of people, embedded in their various communities. The undertaken research shows that these factors –related to the agents' own role in the community, to their personal relationship with others and to their own perception of the general context– are interdependent and intersubjective. Indeed, feedback loops have emerged with an evident impact on the well-being of the community members and, therefore, of the community itself. The analysis of the data shows that a genuine dialogic culture, defined as a culture of acknowledging differences, embracing them with respectful openness and facilitating their expression through a non-hierarchical attitude, fosters positive feedback loops and, therefore, the development of sustainable communities. Communities, on the other hand, in which exclusion is tolerated place themselves in danger. The widespread reproduction of subtle discriminating practices, which were observed also in the framework of this study, remain thus alarming. Underlying the research design is indeed the formation process of international online communities in the context of an online simulation game. The crossmatching of the individual reflections of the members and the observation of their behaviour shows how their actions and interactions are entangled with handed down power structures, such as racism and sexism. Establishing an inclusive community implies therefore one fundamental condition: tackling the reproduction of power dynamics through conscious power-sharing.


Histories of women continue to debate wealthy women's access to leadership in the ancient world. Scholarly interpretations of women's religious status in the eastern Mediterranean have rested on views of women's (subordinate) social status. However, the frameworks used to analyze social status have not included a thorough economic analysis. Adequate investigation of texts about religion and socioeconomic status requires a critical framework that analyzes gender, race, ethnicity, marriage, slavery, sexuality, and colonialization as well as religion and access to wealth. Bain proposes an approach based on kyriarchy and guided by feminist historical material inquiry. Analyses of the ancient economy depend on contemporary economic theory, and women and lower-status men remain in the margins even in analyses of contemporary economic systems. The omission of gender, race, class, sexuality, and colonialism as categories of socioeconomic analysis has significant consequences for economic models, since these distinctions are embedded in notions of public/private, competition/ affection, productivity, family, household, and labor. After elaborating this approach and comparing it to other methods in use, Bain illustrates its potential in a conversation with current scholarship on the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Archaeological sources constitute an essential element of this analysis.


Lithium potassium sulphate (LiKSO4) exhibits a rich variety of structural phase transitions. Ten different phases have been reported over the temperature range from approximately 4 to 1000 K. The room temperature phase is hexagonal P63. On cooling, the room temperature phase transforms at approximately 205 K to another phase which is now believed to be trigonal P31c, although the symmetry of this phase has been controversial. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy has been used to measure the complete set of elastic constants of LiKSO4 over the temperature range of 200 to 300 K. The room temperature elastic constants are accurately described by hexagonal symmetry. At approximately 213 K on cooling there are large abrupt changes of as much as 80% in many elastic constants. The elasticity of this phase cannot be described by hexagonal symmetry, but trigonal symmetry fits the data well. The elastic constants return to the hexagonal values at approximately 243 K on warming. The results will be discussed in terms of...


Article represents the text of lecture at the round table "Sociocultural neotraditionalism and steady development of Russian regions" of the conference "Regions for steady development: education and culture of the people of Russian Federation" (March 25-27, 2010, Novosibirsk).


The Zr-C bond chem. and, particularly, its migration properties were studied where the metal is bonded to the dibenzotetramethyltetraaza[14]annulene (tmtaa) dianion in the model complexes cis-[Zr(tmtaa)R2]. In this respect the [Zr(tmtaa)] fragment was analyzed in comparison with the known [Cp2Zr] moiety, with the support of an extended Hueckel anal. The synthesis of [Zr(tmtaa)R2] (R = Me, 2; R = CH2Ph, 3) (shown as structure I) from [Zr(tmtaa)Cl2] (1) was achieved under highly controlled reaction conditions. Complexes 2 and 3 are thermally labile, and one of the alkyl groups undergoes a thermally-induced migration to one of the imino groups, leading to a trianionic ligand [Zr(R-tmtaa)R] (R = Me, 4; R = CH2Ph, 5). The nature of such complexes was elucidated by an x-ray anal. on the THF-solvated form of 4, [Zr(Me-tmtaa)(Me)(THF)] (6). Nucleophiles are even more effective in inducing the alkyl migration to the ligand. In the presence of THF or pyridine 5 may be easily converted to [Zr(R2-tmtaa)] (R = CH2Ph, 7), in which both alkyl groups have migrated to the imino groups of the ligand. The use of an excess of LiMe during the alkylation of 1 gave [Zr(Me2-tmtaa)¬?¬?¬?Li(THF)2] (8) via the intermediacy of 4. Complex 8 is a bifunctional carrier of LiMe. The general consequences of two electrophilic sites on the ligand, eventually, in competition with the electrophilic metal were analyzed. The net charge and electrophilic index are significantly higher for the metal in [Cp2Zr]2+ than in [Zr(tmtaa)]2+. The relatively higher thermal inertness of 3 allowed the authors to study the migration of the alkyl group toward the unsatd. incoming nucleophiles, ButNC and CO. The reaction of 3 with ButNC gave the bis(??2-iminoacyl) compd. [Zr(tmtaa)(??2-C(Me):NBut)2]. The four low-lying d orbitals can accommodate the two ??2-iminoacyl groups. The reaction of 3 with Bu'NC led to the formation of the bis(y2-iminoacyl) compound [Zr(tmtaa)(v2-C(Me)=NBut)2T]h.e four low-lying d orbitals can accommodate the two y2-iminoacyl groups. The reaction of 3 with CO gave [Zr(tmtaa)(yz-OC(CH2Ph)~)(]1 1) via the intermediacy of a very reactive oxycarbene $-acyl compound and ultimately gave 12 and 13, illustrating the reactivity of both zirconium and the iminato carbons in the [Zr(tmtaa)] fragment. The crystallographic details are as follows: 3 is orthorhombic, space group Pnma, a = 16.028(3) A, b = 20.666(4) A, c = 9.018(2) A, a = p = y = 90°, Z = 4, and R = 0.063. 6 is monoclinic, space group P2l/n, a = 19.859(5) A, b = 14.771(5) A, c = 9.072(4) A, a = y = 90°, /3 = 93.85(3)", Z = 4, and R = 0.044. 7 is monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 23.608(6) A, b = 9.529(3) A, c = 19.050(4) A, a = y = 90", p = 99.30(2)", Z = 4, and R = 0.046. 10 is triclinic, space group P i , a = 12.800(4) A, b = 15.795(5) A, c = 11.758(1) A, a = 91.8(2)", p = 93.56(1)", y = 97.81(2)", Z = 2, and R = 0.042.


Hate crimes carry many emotional and psychological detriments for those who are targeted because of who they are. The harms associated with hate are commonly theorized in the context of those directly targeted. Using a victimological lens, I consider how the harms of a mass anti-LGBT+ shooting in Orlando, Florida were carried across social media, indirectly victimizing LGBT+ people in the North East of England. This article examines seven distinct interviews conducted post-Orlando from a wider sample of 32. LGBT+ participants were victimized vicariously by receiving news of the Orlando shooting. They utilized social media to organize vigils, stand in solidarity with LGBT+ Floridians, and share in the emotional distress caused by the shooting. The findings contribute to our understandings of hate crime as a communicative tool, by examining the role of social media in carrying the emotional harms associated with hate. Through these in-depth narratives, this article encourages a conversation about how hate crimes, transmitted across social media, can victimize people who share the victimized identity with the direct victims.


Cutting fluids have been used extensively and play a significant role in machining processes. Cutting fluids affect the productivity of machining operations, tool life, quality of workpiece and prevent the cutting tool and machine from overheating as well. In general, a successful cutting fluid must not only improve the machining process performance, but also fulfill a number of requirements which are non-toxic, non-harmful to health for operators, not a fire hazard, not smoke or fog in use and cost less. One of the drawbacks of using conventional (mineral) oil based cutting fluids is the waste disposal after being used. Mineral oil has also poor biodegradability thus induces the potential for long term pollution of the environment. In this study, a comprehensive literature review of application of vegetable oil-based cutting fluids in machining different workpiece materials with different tool materials was done.
This study is divided into two main sections, the first section focused on the properties of palm kernel and cottonseed oils and formulation of oil-in-water emulsion cutting fluids using the two oils. The selection of cutting fluid additives (emulsifier, anticorrosive agent, antioxidant and biocide) for the formulation of oil-in-water emulsion using palm kernel and cottonseed oils are not dangerous or problematic to the environment or harmful to workers. The formulation of cutting fluid was based on Design of Experiment (DOE) of 24 full factorial designs and statistical analysis of the response value (pH) was employed using version 6 of DOE® software. The pH values of 10.46 and 10.98 were obtained for the palm kernel oil and cottonseed oil respectively, which are within the acceptable standard for cutting fluid for machining processes.
The second section considered the effect of the two formulated oil-in-water emulsion cutting fluids in turning AISI 4340 steel with coated carbide tools and compared with conventional (mineral) oil-based cutting fluid. Taguchi method with L27 (34) orthogonal array for experimentation was adopted. Cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut were output variables considered for experimentation. In addition to the cutting parameters, type of cutting fluid used was also considered as one of the critical input parameters while designing the experiment. Cutting force, surface roughness and tool wear are the output parameters obtained from the trials conducted as per L27 array experimentation and further analyzed. Minitab 14 statistical analysis software widely used in engineering application was used in the analysis of signal- to- noise (S/N) (dB) ratio and ANOVA for surface roughness, cutting force and tool wear. The ANOVA analysis shows that cutting speed (64.46%) and feed rate (32.19%) significantly affected surface roughness. Depth of cut (33.15%) and cutting fluid (51.12%) significantly affected cutting force and while cutting speed (85.36%) and feed rate (4.81%) significantly affected tool wear. The effect of cutting fluids on the type of chip formed was equally accounted for. Confirmation tests applied for Taguchi results and regression equations indicate reliable results.


To efficiently encode data-intensive multi-view imaging content, conventional hybrid predictive coding methodologies choose to address the compression by exploiting temporal and inter-viewpoint redundancy. However, their key yet time-consuming component, motion estimation (ME), is usually not efficient in inter-viewpoint prediction because inter-viewpoint motion is quite different from temporal motion. In essence, inter-viewpoint correlation is subject to epipolar geometry, which provides constraints for multi-view image sequences. A fast inter-viewpoint ME technique is hence proposed in this paper to accelerate the encoding by employing epipolar geometry. Theoretical analysis and experimental results prove that the proposed ME algorithm can greatly reduce search region and effectively track large and irregular motion that is typical for convergent multi-view camera setups. As a result, compared with fast full search at large search size adopted in H.264, our proposed ME algorithm can obtain a similar coding efficiency while achieving a speedup ratio of 2.9.


We performed a sequence of tests on a partially water-saturated sand sample contained in an x-raytransparent aluminum pressure vessel that is conducive to x-ray computed tomography (CT) observation. These tests were performed to gather data for estimation of thermal properties of the sand/water/gas system and the sand/hydrate/water/gas systems, as well as data to evaluate the kinetic nature of hydrate dissociation. The tests included mild thermal perturbations for the estimation of the thermal properties of the sand/water/gas system, hydrate formation, thermal perturbations with hydrate in the stability zone, hydrate dissociation through thermal stimulation, additional hydrate formation, and hydrate dissociation through depressurization with thermal stimulation. Density changes throughout the sample were observed as a result of hydrate formation and dissociation, and these processes induced capillary pressure changes that altered local water saturation.


In this paper a tool aimed at generating fast Fourier transform (FFT) cores targeting FPGA platforms was presented. The tool is able to generate different pipelined architectures of the FFT that provide different points of the design space: from high performance to low area implementations. The user can select the most suitable architecture based on a broad set of configuration parameters, as they are the number of points, sample size, truncation, etc. Moreover, a set of accurate estimators has been implemented to allow the designer an early and quick design space exploration before synthesizing the core. Experimental results validate our approach and provide significant measurements about the accuracy of the estimation and the tool execution time


This paper investigates the potential output power of a photovoltaic (PV) installation on top of battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Firstly, we discuss the available area on the roof of BEVs and HEVs for deploying PV cells. Secondly, we verify the impact of the curved surface on the available output power of photovoltaics. Furthermore, we discuss the impact of the curved surface and the ambient conditions on the possible alignment of PV cells. Here, we present a method of calculating the effective area of PV cells, useful for PV simulation models and calculating the available output power of PV cells with different longitudinal angles. Finally, we verify our method within experiments and present the results of them, showing that the model predicts the output power of PV cells with an accuracy better than 2.5%.


The evolution of neutrino physics demands new schemes to produce intense, collimated and pure neutrino beams. The current neutrino factory concept implies the production, collection, and storage of muons to produce beams of muon and electron neutrinos at equal intensities at the same time. Research and development addressing its feasibility are still going on. In the current paper, we propose a new neutrino factory concept, that could possibly achieve beams of similar intensity, perfectly known energy spectrum and a single neutrino flavour, electron anti-neutrino. The scheme relies on existing technology.


A novel method for high impedance fault (HIF) detection based on pattern recognition systems is presented in this paper. Using this method, HIFs can be discriminated from insulator leakage current (ILC) and transients such as capacitor switching, load switching (high/low voltage), ground fault, inrush current and no load line switching. Wavelet transform is used for the decomposition of signals and feature extraction, feature selection is done by principal component analysis and Bayes classifier is used for classification. HIF and ILC data was acquired from experimental tests and the data for transients was obtained by simulation using EMTP program. Results show that the proposed procedure is efficient in identifying HIFs from other events.


ABSTRACT The University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Medical Curriculum Committee (MCC) created the Curriculum Evaluation and Management Subcommittee (CEMS) in 2018. The committee was created to facilitate medical education curriculum content review and revision as discussed in Standard 8.3 of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation standards. The subcommittee consisted of librarians, instructional designers, academic faculty, curriculum team leaders, and a curriculum database manager. The purpose of the group was to recommend policies and best practices to guide writing of learning objectives. The secondary goal for the group was to create a framework for mapping learning objectives within the curriculum and promote detailed mapping of curricular objectives for assessment and continued program accreditation. From the subcommittee's inception, medical librarians advised the group to develop a controlled vocabulary to make curriculum mapping more efficient and led the group in developing one that matched the school's mission and programming.


The development and progression of many neurodegenerative diseases has been associated with the process of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). This arises as a result of an accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER lumen and induces an unfolded protein response (UPR) in cell as an effort to restore cellular homeostasis. This response consists of three pathways, at the beginning of which the sensory proteins on the ER membrane are activated by an increased amount of misfolded proteins.
    Inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) represents one of the UPR pathways. In addition to protein phosphorylation, it acts as endoribonuclease. Upon its activation, non-canonical splicing of X-box-binding protein 1 (XBP1) mRNA occurs and spliced mRNA is then translated to functional transcription factor providing increased expression of gene for E3 ubiquitin ligase synoviolin 1 (SYVN1). SYVN1 plays an important role in mechanism ensuring the degradation of misfolded proteins accumulated in the ER lumen.The aim of this project was to study the effect of the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine (IMI) on UPR of neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y in which ERS was induced by tunicamycin or thapsigargin. Imipramine enhanced the effect of ERS in these cells. Its application resulted in increased activation of the IRE1α-pathway, which resulted in an increase in the amount of spliced mRNA for XPB1. However, increased amount of SYVN1 induced by the impact of tunicamycin or thapsigargin application was not reported, which may be the cause of decreased survival of such cells.


The objective of this study was to make an analysis on the impact of e-commerce on the contracts made in Tanzania. The specific objectives are to identify the problems that surface the on-line contracts made in Tanzania which contradicts the provisions of the Law of Contract Act of Tanzania. Additionally the study looked at other laws which are affected by the on-line contracts made between the public, private, and international organizations in Tanzania give recommendation and conclusion. The researcher selected Dar –es –Salaam Region the capital city of Tanzania as the areas of study because most government departments are found in Dar-es-Salaam and many business activities being public or private are carried out in the same city therefore it is easy to access necessary information. The study found that the legal system of Tanzania is mainly based on common law principle where the formation of contract requires four main elements namely; offer, acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations. The foregoing elements are badly affected by modern technology that necessitates use of on-line business transactions. The problem is amplified by the legal requirements for writing and handwritten signatures in relation to offer and acceptance. Where in e-contract, contract as an agreement is created and signed in electronic form. Under traditional rules of contract which is rigidly applied in Tanzania, contracts for sale of any goods shall not be enforceable unless memorandum in writing of the contract is made and signed. The study found out that although the government of Tanzania has effected some amendments in the Law of Evidence to enable the documents produced electronically by computers and other electronic devices which can produce bank documents in the like manner; this is insufficient because only bank documents are recognized by such amendments.


v. 1. The Esdaile notebook -- v. 2. The mask of anarchy -- v. 3. Hellas -- v. 4. The mask of anarchy draft notebook -- v. 5. The Harvard Shelley poetic manuscripts -- v. 6. Drafts of: Prometheus unbound Ode to the west wind The sensitive plant Fragment of a satire on satire Una favola together with minor poems and fragments -- v. 7. Shelley's 1821-1822 Huntington notebook -- v. 8. Fair-copy manuscripts of Shelley's poems in European and American libraries -- v. 9, pt. 1. The Frankenstein notebooks / Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Draft notebook A. Pt. 2. Draft notebook B and fair-copy notebooks C1 and C2.


The flow of remittances can affect poverty rates, development, and investments in the receiving country and households. Using World Bank survey data from three countries, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya, this research addresses the senders' and recipients' characteristics may affect remittance amounts. The recipients' household income and living in a rural area tend to increase the amount of the remittance. Senders living in North America tend to send larger amounts than those living in Africa or Asia. Ethiopia and Uganda recipients tend to receive a larger amount than those living in Kenya. The effects of characteristics on remittance amounts are very similar between the countries. Only, Kenya appears to differ in three of the eighteen characteristics.


Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is systemic vascular inflammation. Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) is a major type of AAV in Japan. MPA often affects the kidneys and lungs, leading to death if untreated. Induction therapy (i.e., initial treatment) for MPA has not been optimized, although methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide are commonly used. Recently, rituximab (RTX) (a monoclonal antibody against the protein CD20) has also been used to treat refractory AAV. RTX at 375 mg/m2/week for 4 weeks (i.e., the conventional lymphoma dosing schedule) is used, but the optimal dosing schedule is controversial. Indeed, a single-dose of RTX successfully controlled nephrotic syndrome. However, to date, the effectiveness of a single RTX dose in treating MPA has not been fully investigated in Japan. This was a retrospective observational study. Six newly diagnosed patients with MPA were initially treated with methylprednisolone and a single dose of RTX (375 mg/m2). We investigated the patients' clinical features, as well as the efficacy and safety of RTX treatment. All patients attained remission on a tapered prednisolone dose of < 10 mg/day during the first 12 months. One patient relapsed after 12 months whereas another required hospitalization owing to infective spondyloarthritis. Adverse reactions to RTX infusion and late-onset neutropenia were not observed. Therefore, a single-dose treatment with RTX induced remission with few complications, and allowed tapering the prednisolone treatment. We conclude that a single dose of RTX is a promising induction therapy for MPA, reducing the cost associated with multiple doses.


Abstract: The involvement of members of the Legion of the Archangel Michael in the Romanian Army during World War II illuminates the relationship between fascist social movements and the state. Legionaries served even though the Legion was suppressed following an unsuccessful coup against dictator General Ion Antonescu. Legionaries could nonetheless reconcile their loyalties because the movement and the government shared core values. Serving either the Conducător or the Legion amounted to "fighting for the Romanian nation," and military service offered Legionaries a serendipitous opportunity to participate in mass violence against Jews and Roma, sometimes instigating pogroms and at other times simply following orders.


Aromatase inhibitor (AI) resistance is a major obstacle in the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Everolimus (EVE) ameliorates AI-resistant breast cancer and is therefore used in cancer treatment. However, some patients show resistance to EVE. Here, we used 30 clones of long-term estrogen-deprived (LTED) MCF-7 cells as a model of AI-resistant breast cancer. We examined changes in protein phosphatase type 2A (PP2A) and cancerous inhibitor of PP2A (CIP2A), a negative regulator of PP2A, in LTED cells treated with EVE. In LTED cells with high sensitivity to EVE, CIP2A expression decreased at low EVE concentrations; however, in LTED cells poorly sensitive to EVE, CIP2A and PP2A did not change upon exposure to EVE. Therefore, we hypothesized that there is a relation between expression of CIP2A and sensitivity to EVE. Knockdown of CIP2A increased the sensitivity to EVE in three clones poorly sensitive to EVE. Additionally, we found that treatment with FSK, which activates PP2A, increased the sensitivity of the cells to EVE. Our data point to CIP2A and PP2A as novel therapeutic targets for AI-resistant breast cancer.


Commentary on : Mohamed S, Johnson GR, Chen P, et al. Effect of antidepressant switching vs augmentation on remission among patients with major depressive disorder unresponsive to antidepressant treatment: the VAST-D randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2017;318,132–45.

Fifty per cent of patients with a major depressive disorder (MDD) do not yield a satisfactory response to an antidepressant. Even after several treatment approaches, the rate of patients with refractory depression is still 30%.1 In case of non-response to therapy, adding a drug from a different pharmaceutical class to the antidepressant treatment has been shown to have an augmentative effect.2 Most evidence is available for augmentation with lithium3 and atypical antipsychotics.4 Evidence for switching to another antidepressant is far weaker.5 The efficacy of combining two antidepressants is limited to some specific combinations.6 The Veterans Affairs Augmentation and Switching Treatments for Improving Depression Outcomes (VAST-D) randomised controlled trial (RCT) …


How do former armed militants exercise local political power after civil wars end? Building on recent advances in the study of "rebel rulers" and local goods provision by armed groups, this article offers a typology of ex-rebel commander authority that emphasizes two dimensions of former militants' power: local-level ties to civilian populations ruled during civil war and national-level ties to post-conflict state elites. Put together, these dimensions produce four trajectories of ex-rebel authority. These trajectories shape whether and how ex-rebel commanders provide social goods within post-conflict communities and the durability of ex-rebels' local authority over time. We illustrate this typology with qualitative evidence from northern Cote d'Ivoire. The framework yields theoretical insights about local orders after civil war, as well as implications for peacebuilding policies.


Metronidazole (MTZ) is a 5-nitroimidazole semi-synthetic compound. MTZ is antiamoebic, anti protozoal and antibacterial, anti parasitic and anti trichomonal agents. It has wide range of activity against anaerobic bacteria as gram negative, gram positive bacilli and cocci, certain capnophilic organisms, protozoa and parasites. It is indicated in infections caused by Helicobacter pylori, acne rosacea, anaerobic infections, parasitic infections, pseudomembranous colitis and Crohn's disease. ICH guidelines states the parameters which causes forced degradation of a drug product includes Time, Temperature and/ or with humidity, Acid/base Stress testing, photo degradation and pH variation (high and low). Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic process was developed to analyze and calculate the amount of drug in the presence of degradation products. According to the USP, the official assay limit of the content should NLT 90% and NMT 110% of labeled amount of metronidazole. When active of metronidazole and different brands (FGL, MNE, KNT) exposed to acidic medium of 1N HCl FGL, MNE and KNT show heavy degradation whereas as active MTZb didn't show any degradation. When active of metronidazole and FGL, MNE, KNT exposed to basic medium i.e. 1N NaOH, FGL show moderate degradation, MNE and KNT shows slight degradation whereas as active didn't show any degradation. FGL, MNE, KNT and ND MTZb when subjected to heat none of them show degradation. When MTZb, FGL, MNE and KNT subjected to UV light, MTZb exhibit heavy degradation whereas FGL, MNE and KNT exhibit no degradation. UV-Vis spectroscopy is a simple, rapid, cost effective, useful and fruitful method for determination of MTZ in their active and pharmaceutical dosage form (tablets) of different brands.


Context. The central star of the HR 8799 system is a γ Doradus-type pulsator. The system harbours four planetary-mass companions detected by direct imaging, and is a good solar system analogue. The masses of the companions are not accurately known because the estimation depends greatly on the age of the system, which is also not known with sufficient accuracy. Asteroseismic studies of the star might help to better constrain the age of HR 8799. We organized an extensive photometric and multi-site spectroscopic observing campaign to study the pulsations of the central star. Aims: The aim of the present study is to investigate the pulsation properties of HR 8799 in detail via the ultra-precise 47 d nearly continuous photometry obtained with the Microvariability and Oscillations in STars (MOST) space telescope, and to find as many independent pulsation modes as possible, which is the prerequisite for an asteroseismic age determination. Methods: We carried out Fourier analysis of the wide-band photometric time series. Results: We find that resonance and sudden amplitude changes characterize the pulsation of HR 8799. The dominant frequency is always at f1 = 1.978 d-1.Many multiples of one-ninth of the dominant frequency appear in the Fourier spectrum of the MOST data: n/9 f1, where n = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,14,17,18}. Our analysis also reveals that many of these peaks show strong amplitude decrease and phase variations even on the 47 d time scale. The dependencies between the pulsation frequencies of HR 8799 make the planned subsequent asteroseismic analysis rather difficult. We point out some resemblance between the light curve of HR 8799 and the modulated pulsation light curves of Blazhko RR Lyrae stars. Based on data from the MOST satellite, a Canadian Space Agency mission, jointly operated by Dynacon Inc., the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and the University of British Columbia, with the assistance of the University of Vienna.


This paper describes the aero-thermal design and validation of an advanced axial flow turbine. This turbine, which has evolved from the existing and proven GT26/GT24 design consists of an optimised annulus flow path using high lift airfoil profiles and improved aerodynamic matching between the turbine stages. A major design feature of the turbine has been to control and reduce the aerodynamic losses, with particular attention being devoted to minimising the secondary, trailing edge and blade tip losses. The advantages of these design changes to the overall turbine efficiency has been verified by extensive controlled experimentation in high-speed cascade test facilities; by the utilisation of 3D multi-row computational fluid dynamics analysis tools, and via engine tests.In addition to the aerodynamic design modifications of the turbine, the thermal designs of the turbine vanes, blades and heat-shields were also optimised. For the first stage film cooled vane and blade airfoils and platforms, both the film cooling layout and operating characteristics were improved. And for all the internally cooled airfoils, the internal heat transfer design features were additionally optimised, which allowed for more homogenous metal temperature distributions on the airfoil and endwall surfaces. The verification and validation of the thermal designs of the turbine components was confirmed via extensive dedicated testing in high-speed cascades for the film cooling performances, and in scaled perspex models for the internal heat transfer coefficients and local flow distributions.The complete turbine was further tested and validated in the GT26 Test Power Plant in Birr, Switzerland via a dedicated turbine thermal paint test run and a subsequent performance and mapping testing phase.Copyright © 2012 by Alstom Technology Ltd.


Technologies are known to alter social structures in the workplace, reconfigure roles and relationships, and disrupt status hierarchies. However, less attention has been given to how an emerging technology disrupts the meaning and moral values that tether people to their work and render it meaningful. To understand how workers respond to such an emerging technology, we undertook an inductive, qualitative study of military personnel working in unmanned aerial vehicles, or drone operations, for the U.S. Air Force. We draw on multiple data sources, including personal diaries kept by personnel involved in drone operations. We identified three characteristics of drone technology: remote-split operations, remote piloting of unmanned vehicles, and interaction through iconic representations. Our analysis suggests that drone technology has revolutionized warfare by (1) creating distanciated intimacy, (2) dissolving traditional spatio-temporal boundaries between work and personal life, and (3) redefining the legal and moral parameters of work. Drone program workers identified with these changes to their working environment in contradictory ways, which evoked emotional ambivalence about right and wrong. However, their organization gave them little help in alleviating their conflicting feelings. We illuminate how workers cope with such ambivalence when a technology transforms the meaning and morality of their work. We extend theory by showing that workers' responses to a changed working environment as a result of a remote technology are not just based on how the technology changes workers' tasks, roles, and status but also on how it affects their moral values.


Increased soil salinity is a significant agricultural problem that decreases yields for common crops. It is quite dynamic in time, which makes timely soil salinity data a crucial point in agricultural management. Remote sensing can provide the necessary spatial and temporal resolution, but widely accepted methods and techniques for soil salinity monitoring using remote sensing are not present yet. Canopy temperature change is one of the stress indicators in plants. Its behaviour in response to salt stress on individual plant level is well studied, but its potential for field or landscape scale studies is not investigated yet. In this study, potential of satellite and UAV thermography for plot, regional and global scale soil salinity assessment was investigated. The results demonstrated that using thermography for soil salinity monitoring is a valuable approach. It proved to be more universal, compared with previously used approaches, like vegetation indices. The universality has been reflected both in the diverse soil and vegetation conditions, under which the thermography approach was tested.


The Measurement of Psychological Mindedness: a validation study of the German version of the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness (BIPM) Objectives: The aim of the study is to examine central measurement properties of the translated Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness (BIPM) within a sample of German native speakers. Methods: Factor structure, validity and reliability of the BIPM was examined using data from a community sample of 399 participants. Additionally, associations between BIPM and socio-demographic variables were tested. Results: BIPM revealed a two factor structure (Insight and Interest), comparable to the original scale. Psychological mindedness (PM) correlated negatively with alexithymia, but did not correlate with emotional or cognitive irritation. Insight, but not Interest, correlated positively with psychological flexibility. Conclusions: The German translation proved to be a reliable, valid and economical measure for PM.


THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL AN elderly man, with his pretty daughter on his arm, was passing along the street, and emerged from the gloom of the cloudy evening into the light that fell across the pavement from the window of a small shop. It was a projecting window; and on the inside were suspended a variety of watches, pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold, all with their faces turned from the streets, as if churlishly disinclined to inform the wayfarers what o'clock it was. Seated within the shop, sidelong to the window with his pale face bent earnestly over some delicate piece of mechanism on which was thrown the concentrated lustre of a shade lamp, appeared a young man. ``What can Owen Warland be about?'' muttered old Peter Hovenden himself a retired watchmaker, and the former master of this same young man whose occupation he was now wondering at. ``What can the fellow be about? These six months past I have never come by his shop without seeing him just as steadily at work as now. It would be a flight beyond his usual foolery to seek for the perpetual motion; and yet I know enough of my old business to be certain that what he is now so busy with is no part of the machinery of a watch.'' ``Perhaps, father,'' said Annie, without showing much interest in the question, ``Owen is inventing a new kind of timekeeper. I am sure he has ingenuity enough.'' ``Poh, child! He has not the sort of ingenuity to invent anything better than a Dutch toy,'' answered her father, who had formerly been put to much vexation by Owen Warland's irregular genius. ``A plague on such ingenuity! All the effect that ever I knew of it was to spoil the accuracy of some of the best watches in my shop. He would turn the sun out of its orbit and derange the whole course of time, if, as I said before, his ingenuity could grasp anything bigger than a child's toy!'' ``Hush, father! He hears you!'' whispered Annie, pressing the old man's arm. ``His ears are as delicate as his feelings; and you know how easily disturbed they are. Do let us move on.'' So Peter Hovenden and his daughter Annie plodded on without further conversation, until in a by-street of the town they found themselves passing the open door of a blacksmith's shop. Within was seen the forge, now blazing up and illuminating the high and dusky roof, and now confining its lustre to a narrow precinct of the coal-strewn floor, according as the breath of the bellows was puffed forth or again inhaled into its vast leathern lungs. In the intervals of brightness it was easy to distinguish objects in remote corners of the shop and the horseshoes that hung upon the wall; in the momentary gloom the fire seemed to be glimmering amidst the vagueness of unenclosed space. Moving about in this red glare and alternate dusk was the figure of the blacksmith, well worthy to be viewed in so picturesque an aspect of light and shade, where the bright blaze struggled with the black night, as if each would have snatched his comely strength from the other. Anon he drew a white-hot bar of iron from the coals, laid it on the anvil, uplifted his arm of might, and was soon enveloped in the myriads of sparks which the strokes of his hammer scattered into the surrounding gloom.


Background/Objectives: Many policies are provided for promoting the software market. However, little research has studied medical experts' or software developers' requirements with regard to software platforms that focus on healthcare. Methods/Statistical Analysis: With a literature review and interviews with experts, questionnaires were developed in order to measure five topics: Fields to be developed, expertise, problems, effect and the factors that facilitate the platform. The survey was administered on a website for two weeks. The participants were medical experts and software developers. 97 software developers and 79 medical experts completed the survey. All of these completed surveys were analyzed using rank and priority test method. Findings: From the results of the survey of software developers and medical experts, it is possible to see the relevant priorities of these two groups. First, software developers and medical experts believe that health condition measurement and the prevention of disease/disorder are new markets that should be opened. Second, they want to share their expertise and knowledge if they participate in a healthcare software platform. Thus, we can verify that software developers and medical experts do not differ regarding the fields that should be considered and the expertise that should be offered. Third, software developers have concerns about the absence of preparation for healthcare software certification, the absence of preparation for a healthcare database and a shortage of information about the healthcare software market. Further, after adopting a healthcare software platform, software developers expect that it will enable them to utilize a specific healthcare database, utilize expertise and develop competitive content and share domestic/foreign information on healthcare. Finally, there are priority factors that software developers believe can facilitate the platform. Application/Improvements: It is relevant for this study to survey two key participating supply-side groups. The results may be utilized to help provide useful directions for Korean government's healthcare software platform policies.


A new paper released recently by Older and Bolder outlines the barriers to employment that older people face in Ireland.  The report Ageing, the Demographic Dividend and Work which was commissioned by Older & Bolder and written by Professor Desmond O'Neill discusses late life creativity and highlights the potential benefits to the Irish economy of developing a successful life-span strategy for work. However, the paper also highlights the dangers of a policy of extending the retirement age, without an accompanying and proactive commitment by Government to policies incorporating life-long training, age-friendly HR practices and work places and concerted action to eliminate ageism and prejudice against older workers.Director of the Older & Bolder alliance, Patricia Conboy, explained that Ageing, the Demographic Dividend and Work was commissioned by the alliance as part of their work on the National Pensions Framework (NPF). The NPF plans incremental increases in the qualifying age for the State Pension, commencing in 2014.  Ms. Conboy says that Older & Bolder favours the principle of choice for workers.  "We agree that people who wish to work longer, or who wish to work longer but flexibly, should be facilitated to do this. However the NPF does not address the workplace changes that are needed to accommodate late working and flexible working and this concerns us."The paper written by Professor O'Neill of Aois agus Eolas, The Centre of Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities at Tallaght Hospital Dublin, notes the low profile of ageing policy in Ireland and the fact that Ireland remains one of the very few countries in Europe who have not responded to the UN Madrid Action Plan on Ageing. Explaining that  Ageing, the Demographic Dividend and Work discusses the barriers to full inclusion of older people in the workforce, Professor O'Neill describes key 'Pull Factors' and 'Push Factors'.  'Pull Factors' include financial incentives to retire whereas 'Push Factors' represent failure of workplaces to engage with ageing - through ageist recruitment policies and negative perceptions of older workers and inflexible working practices.To read the full report please click here


Much more so than previous works in the field of U.S. foreign relations, this article explores the relationship between the Helsinki Accords and peace activism in the United States. The article explains how well-known groups such as U.S. Helsinki Watch and lesser-known ones such as Campaign for Peace and Democracy West/East used the Helsinki Final Act when they challenged U.S. peace activists to defend the rights of imprisoned anti-nuclear activists in the Soviet bloc and to link the causes of peace and human rights. The article also demonstrates how the exchanges between U.S. human rights and anti-nuclear activists fit into transnational debates about linkages between the issues of human rights, peace, détente, and the "Helsinki process."


In photo-realistic image synthesis the incoming light from the environment is particularly important. In this work we focus on capturing the incoming light in the form of the radiance map using a common mobile device. This involves the reconstruction of the spherical panorama sky-dome in high dynamic range (HDR) quality and save it to a usable data format. Our setup requires a common smartphone devices with an additional fish-eye lens attached to the camera. In this paper we discuss the calibration of our setup and the implementation of selected tone mapping operator (TMO) allowing satisfactory display of HDR images on the mobile device screen. Built-in cameras on mobile devices do not generally capture the HDR image. In this work, we describe an algorithm for capturing an HDR image on the Android platform. Using an optimization method we are able to acquire the camera response curve needed in the reconstruction of the HDR image from multiple snapshots. Subsequent HDR panoramas represent radiance sphere-maps of the incoming light from an environment. These radiance sphere-maps are useful in realistic image synthesis to illuminate the objects in the 3D scenes.


Abbreviations: Aβ: Amyloid β peptide; Ach: Acetylcholine; AD: Alzheimer's Disease; BDNF: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; BFCSNs: Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Septal Neurons; DGy: Dentate Gyrus; GN: Granule Neuron; LTP: Long-Term Potentiation; NGF: Nerve Growth Factor; NT-3: Neuro-Trophin-3; p75NTR: p75 NeuroTrophin Receptor; SGZ: Sub-Granular Zone; SST: Somatostatin; SSTR3: SST Receptor 3; SVZ: Sub-Ventricular Zone; TA Transit-Amplifying; tPA: tissue Plasminogen Activator.

The key role of p75NTR in the generation of DGy GNs. In this cheme, a neuro-trophin (BDNF or NGF) in the DGy SGZ activates cilial p75NTR, the signals from which stimulate progenitor cell proliferation and the generation of rapidly proliferating TA precursor neurons. After several rounds of proliferation, the TA precursor neurons stop proliferating and signals 6 from the cilial SSTR3 and BDNF•TrkB complexes stimulate them to mature, enter the granule cell layer and serve transiently as intensive long-term potentiation (LTP)- generating, super-sensitive encoders of novel multi-modal inputs flowing along the perforant pathway from the entorhinal cortex. Normally, half or more of the newborn cells may die without reaching the granule cell layer. But NGF produced in the DGy from proNGF by tPA-generated plasmin forms NGF•Trk A complexes that stimulate BFCSNs to make Ach and release it in the hippocampus, which promotes newborn neurons survival and thus neurogenesis and memory formation. Eventually, the successful neurons lose their hyper-responsiveness and become loaded with old 'memories', retire, and are replaced with new recorders.

The Aβ peptides accumulating in the early stages of AD also stimulate cilial p75NTR like the neuro-trophins and with this the proliferation of granule cell progenitors and their TA progeny. But the additional neurogenesis expected from this stimulation fails and neurogenesis drops because proNGF can no longer be converted into mature NGF because of a developing shortage of plasmin resulting from an Aβ1-42-induced fall in tPA. But proNGF preferentially binds and activates the p75NTR•sortilin complexes instead of NGF•TrkA complexes on the BFCSN axons. The retrograde flow of p75NTR•sortilin signals down the axons kills the BFCSNs and stops the hippocampal supply of ACh that would otherwise promote the survival of the TA precursor neurons. Furthermore, TA neurons that do survive are prevented from further maturing by the lack of SST?a hallmark of the AD brain?and the consequent silencing of SSTR3 signaling.

More than 90% of the murine DGy GNs have a ~4-µm-long cilium protruding from them. These cilia are loaded with p75NTR, the signals from which can stimulate granule cell progenitor proliferation, and also with SSTR3 (not shown), the signals from which can drive the postmitotic maturation of newborn neurons.

So what might the cilially restricted p75NTR do for adult neurogenesis? Key clues to its function are: (i) proliferating (i.e., BRDU-positive) cells in the DGy SGZ express p75NTR; and (ii) knocking out p75NTR reduces the proliferating cells and hippocampal neurogenesis by 59%-79% [12,13]. Although we do not yet know whether the progenitor cells in the other adult neurogenesis region, the SVZ [1], also confine p75NTR to their primary cilia, BDNF-, NGF- or Aβ 1-42-induced p75NTR signaling stimulates their proliferation and neurogenesis without requiring BDNF's or NGF's corresponding TrkB or TrkA co-receptors. Therefore, cilial p75NTR is a driver of the proliferative stage of adult neurogenesis.

The ability of the proliferogenic cilial p75NTR to bind and be activated by Aβ 1-42 can explain a so far mysterious aspect of adult neurogenesis in early AD. Progenitor cell proliferation and adult neurogenesis normally decline with age, and it would be expected to at least continue dropping with the approach of AD. But the ability of Aβ 1-42 to activate the proliferogenic p75NTR reverses this trend and progenitor cell proliferation counter-intuitively increases in the early Aβ 1-42-accumulating stages of AD. While this is happening, the pro-NGF-activated axonal p75NTR.sortilin complexes induced by the accumulating Aβ 1-42 start killing BFCSNs and cutting off the hippocampal supply of ACh. Also counter-intuitively despite the increased Aβ 1-42/p75NTR-driven progenitor cell proliferation, neurogenesis is not increased because fewer TA neurons can survive without the support of ACh and because the cilial SSTR3 receptors needed for maturation and memory functions are silenced by the lack of SST in AD brains.

In conclusion: Cilial p75NTR must now be part of models of adult neurogenesis in the DGy and memory formation and of the cognitive decline in aging and AD brains.

Note: This work is partly presented at 5th Global Experts Meeting on Parkinsons, Huntingtons & Movement Disorders, Oct 30-31, 2019 Tokyo, Japan


The authors determined the GSTM1 genotype of 190 Caucasian women with invasive squamous cell cervical cancer in western Washington State between January 1986 and June 1994 and of 206 controls. It was found that 53% of cases and 57% of controls had the GSTM1 null genotype. The age-adjusted odds ratio associated with GSTM1 null genotype was 0.8 (95% confidence interval 0.6,1.3). The lack of association between cervical cancer risk and GSTM1 genotype was true both for smokers and nonsmokers of cigarettes and for heavy and light smokers. These data suggest that women with the GSTM1 null genotype are not at increased risk of cervical cancer. Am J Epidemiol 1999; 150:568-72.


The diffraction of Lamb waves by a finite delamination situated on a random plane parallel to the symmetric plane of a laminated plate is taken into account. Two imaginary planes are introduced to solve the problem by adopting the method of mode matching. By taking an appropriate finite number of terms of the infinite expansion series and some selected points on the two imaginary planes through convergence and precision tests, a matrix equation is obtained to evaluate the expansion coefficients numerically. Reflection coefficients versus the normalized length a/h and the relative location h1/h of the delamination are calculated in the low-frequency domain, the relative errors are found to be less than 1%. Results obtained indicate that the theory developed in this paper is meaningful for the detection of both the size and the location of a delamination in a laminated plate by cooperating with experimental techniques for the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technology.


Background: Cycling efficiency is a measure of the power output to power input and is a key determinant of cycling performance (Hopker et al., 2013: Journal of Applied Physiology, 115, 723-729). However, the determinants of cycling efficiency are yet to be fully elucidated. Past research has demonstrated that the majority of energetic cost that arises from endurance exercise can be attributed to the exercising muscle (Poole et al., 1992: Journal of Applied Physiology, 72, 805-810), however cycling efficiency is commonly determined by measuring pulmonary oxygen consumption. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether cycling efficiency calculated from pulmonary oxygen uptake was reflective of indices of local muscle oxygenation and oxygen consumption measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.Methods: Thirteen competitive cyclists (30 ± 14 years, 173 ± 10 cm, 73 ± 2 mL.kg-1.min-1) performed a 120-minute bout of steady state cycling at 60 % maximum minute power (MMP), determined from a preceding maximal incremental exercise test performed on a separate occasion. Measurements of expired air were taken at minute 5 and then every 30 minutes throughout the rest of the steady state trial. Power input was calculated from the measured VO2 and its energetic equivalent according to the nonprotein respiratory quotient. Power output was recorded as the average power output over the gas collection time. Cycling Gross Efficiency (GE) was calculated as the product of work accomplished / energy expended x 100%. Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to assess the Tissue Saturation Index (TSI%), oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), total hemoglobin (tHb) and muscle oxygen consumption (mVO2) of the Vastus Lateralis muscle. NIRS measurements were taken at the same time as sampling of expired gases. To normalize the concentration changes in the NIRS signal, a 2-minute resting baseline was recorded prior to the cycling bout, which was then subtracted from all the NIRS measurements (except TSI%). Data were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA to assess changes over time. Results: As shown in Figure 1, GE significantly decreased over the duration of the steady state cycling trial (p=0.002), as did TSI% (p<0.001). O2Hb increased over time, but this was not significant (p=0.332). Both HHb and tHb significantly increased over time (p<0.01). There was a mean increase in mVO2 over the first 30 minutes of exercise, but then a progressive decrease for the remaining 90 minutes of the trial. However changes were not significant (p=0.289). Discussion: Tissue oxygenation of the Vastus Lateralis muscle significantly reduced over the 2-hour bout of cycling, which was mirrored by reductions in GE. The largest reductions in TSI% and GE occurred during the first 30 minutes of the trial, which is also reflected in the HbO2 concentration. tHb increased over the 2-hours cycling suggesting increased central delivery to the working muscle in an attempt to maintain the level of oxygen availability to the working muscle. However, it can be seen from the TSI(%) and mVO2 that tissue oxygenation and muscle oxygen consumption both decline over the 2–hour period of cycling. Conclusion: Reductions in muscle tissue oxygenation and mVO2 during 2-hours of cycling at mirrored by GE calculated from whole body oxygen consumption.


Single-crystal diamond tools can be used for cutting high precise parts with high efficiency, but it is very difficult to abrade it, which is one of study purposes in this paper. This project can be done on the high precise machine tools by using a diamond abrasive wheel with super fine grain size. In this paper, the abrading mechanism is represented, an efficient abrasive method is invented, the major factors which have an important effect on abrasive efficiency and accuracy are discussed, such as abrasive wheel grain size, bonding agent, hardness, speed, pressure and feeding speed etc and some results raising abrasive efficiency and accuracy are obtained. By using the single-crystal diamond tool abraded by author, the degree of roughness of the parts can come up to Ra0.05.


Paramoniezia suis Maplestone et Southwell, 1923 is redescribed from the type and only specimen, and is considered to be a genus inquirendum and species inquirenda, possibly based on a host misidentification. Paramoniezia phacochoeri Baylis, 1927 is redescribed from new material from Phacochoerus africanus (Gmelin) from South Africa and is transferred to Moniezia Blanchard. 1891 as M. phacochoeri (Baylis, 1927) comb. n. A redescription of M. mettami Baylis, 1934, also from Ph. africanus, establishes the independence of the two congeneric species parasitizing warthogs. A new genus, Phascolocestus, is erected for Paramoniezia johnstoni Beveridge, 1976 from vombatid marsupials as Phascolocestus johnstoni (Beveridge, 1976) comb. n., and additional host and distributional data are provided for this species.