The Community Land Model (CLM) is the land component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and is used in several global and regional modeling systems. In this paper, we introduce model developments included in CLM version 5 (CLM5), which is the default land component for CESM2. We assess an ensemble of simulations, including prescribed and prognostic vegetation state, multiple forcing data sets, and CLM4, CLM4.5, and CLM5, against a range of metrics including from the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMBv2) package. CLM5 includes new and updated processes and parameterizations: (1) dynamic land units, (2) updated parameterizations and structure for hydrology and snow (spatially explicit soil depth, dry surface layer, revised groundwater scheme, revised canopy interception and canopy snow processes, updated fresh snow density, simple firn model, and Model for Scale Adaptive River Transport), (3) plant hydraulics and hydraulic redistribution, (4) revised nitrogen cycling (flexible leaf stoichiometry, leaf N optimization for photosynthesis, and carbon costs for plant nitrogen uptake), (5) global crop model with six crop types and time‐evolving irrigated areas and fertilization rates, (6) updated urban building energy, (7) carbon isotopes, and (8) updated stomatal physiology. New optional features include demographically structured dynamic vegetation model (Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator), ozone damage to plants, and fire trace gas emissions coupling to the atmosphere. Conclusive establishment of improvement or degradation of individual variables or metrics is challenged by forcing uncertainty, parametric uncertainty, and model structural complexity, but the multivariate metrics presented here suggest a general broad improvement from CLM4 to CLM5.


Undoubtedly, BRICS have considerable influence in the world. The leaders of BRICS countries decided to create new financial and economic infrastructure and, hence, documents and resolutions adopted by BRICS countries and relevant G20 documents can be considered to be of great importance. A detailed analysis of these documents enables us to trace the turning points in the development of BRICS countries and recognize key factors, which further influence effective cooperation and collaboration.In this regard, it seems important to study the role of BRICS in the international arena, analyzing the importance of joint BRICS' declarations on the collaboration and cooperation within BRICS, the problems of reforming international monetary and financial institutions, and establishing new financial and economic infrastructure establishment.Certainly, the establishment of new financial and economic infrastructure is extremely complicated. In this article the author shows that BRICS countries decided that it was necessary not only to reform existing institutions, but also to establish new ones, such as the BRICS Development Bank.


Electricity is one of the key determinants for economic growth of a nation.  Over the past decade or so, hydropower projects (HEP) around the world have attracted much attention concerning the environmental and social impacts that have arisen from such developments. Construction and operations of dams have always been associated with changes in the physical and biological environment. No doubt electricity generation is the need of the hours for development, but the large projects do involve the submersion of forests and the displacement of people. Socio-economic and cultural impacts arising from project construction and environmental transformations are rooted in the complex interactivity between social and biophysical environments. Human communities are integral components of their environment as well as potential agents for environmental change. Hence environmental changes in settled areas are often profoundly interlinked with subsequent changes that occur within society. The interests of local must be listened to and taken care of during the planning and the policy makers must adopt a model or strategies so that the impacts and effects of such type developmental activities can be minimized and local people who are living in the vicinity as well as who have sacrificed their belongings. To maximize the positive impacts and mitigate the negative environmental, social and economic impacts sustainability of water resources projects is required.  This paper refers the perception of the public with regards to the impact of the Sorang HEP and other development activities and need for sustainable development to maintain balance with the environment of hilly and fragile area. Keywords : Hydropower Projects (HEP), Socio-economic, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Sustainability.


Abstract Markov chain analysis of changes in the number and size of cotton gin firms in West Texas was conducted assuming stationary and non-stationary transition probabilities. Projections of industry structure were made to 1999 with stationary probability assumptions and six sets of assumed conditions for labor and energy costs and technological change in the non-stationary transition model. Results indicate a continued decline in number of firms, but labor, energy, and technology conditions alter the configuration of the structural changes.


The improvements in structured lighting based 3D optical camera measurement systems have made these non-contact inspection systems more applicable. In this paper, a basic calibration problem, caused by systematical errors particular to structured lighting based 3D optical camera systems, is addressed. The analysis of these errors is discussed and two model-based approaches, line model (LM) and area model (AM), are proposed to model the pattern of systematical error. The main step of either approach is to build a lookup table based on collected planar data at predetermined working distances and orientation angles. The lookup table is then used to correct the systematical error existing in the inspected data. The experimental results show that the proposed approaches effectively improve inspection accuracy.


Home-based health monitoring systems are currently being used to support early detection of abnormal conditions and prevention of its serious consequences. Many patients can benefit from continuous ambulatory monitoring as a part of a diagnostic procedure, optimal maintenance of a chronic condition or during supervised recovery from an acute event or surgical procedure. An evolution of this approach is the use of the mobile infrastructure and wearable technology, which mainly provides more freedom to their users. While these approaches use mobile communication devices just as a router of health information, we argue that such devices can make use of reasoning mechanisms so that they can take decisions and provide a better health care support to their users. This paper discusses the specification of a deductive health monitoring system, where its components are represented by assistant agents running in mobile devices and using a low cost wireless communication protocol (SMS) to exchange knowledge with a central root. Requirements for communication protocol and agent reasoning, based on a production system, are shown in details together with some practical experiments.


Whilst the Therapeutic Jurisprudence ("TJ") paradigm and related movements have proliferated across jurisdictions worldwide, England and Wales has significantly lagged behind. This thesis examines the therapeutic quality of Manchester Review Court ("MRC") using TJ lenses. MRC is a specialist court in England and Wales, which possesses a problem-solving rationale by bringing offenders back for regular review of recovery and law-compliance on the core Drug Rehabilitation Requirement ("DRR") component. There is no detail of MRC in the accessible literature, no mention on the UK Justice Innovation website, not in the media, not in any policy document, nor is there a court handbook or website outlining objectives and expected practice. However, MRC arguably represents the remains of the six England and Wales Drug Court pilots, established during the early noughties, and which since appear to have been closed down. In the absence of available literature, the aim of this thesis is to provide a groundwork of knowledge to a significantly underexplored area. Positing both "wine" and "bottle" (Wexler, 2014) level research questions, it uses mixed methods (standardised observations, surveys, and interviews) as well as an enveloping ethnographic stage to answer the two-tiered questions within an overall qualitative genre. The methods are justified using the Critical Realism paradigm and data points are brought together using a triangulation rationale within a broader case study approach. One of the original contributions of this thesis is positing a new empirical tool to measure the therapeutic quality of the wine ("judicial interpersonal skills") within problem-solving court contexts. To do so, it uses Principal Component Analysis to arrange eighteen sub-skills on three measurement scales: "harnessing therapeutic support", "engaging therapeutic dialogue" and "inspiring therapeutic change". Implementing these scales for measurement of the "wine" data suggests that the magistrates' interpersonal skills at MRC were largely TJ infused and the most prominent of the eighteen sub-skills exhibited within their interactions were: "understanding the complexity of Alcohol and Other Drugs recovery", "motivating individual", "giving the offender a voice", and "setting realistic goals". However, extending the analysis towards the bottle (laws, provisions, rules, and procedures), the data indicates that the wine was operated within a significantly anti-therapeutic bottle. Where England and Wales' current criminal justice system is emphasising privatisation, centralisation, and austerity measures, the bottle remains unfriendly and is thwarting effective application of TJ at MRC. If MRC were repackaged in a way that subscribes to the current criminal justice climate without eroding other core values and priorities, this would invariably pave way for a more successful future for problem-solving court craft. This, in turn, could help in tackling deep-seated current social and human issues surrounding recidivism, addiction, and austerity.


Rolling element bearings are one of the most common mechanical components used in a wide variety of rotating systems. The performance of these systems is closely associated with the health of bearings. In this study, a nonlinear time series analysis method i.e. recurrence analysis is utilized to assess the health of bearings using time domain data. The recurrence analysis acquires the quantitative measures from the recurrence plots and provides an insight to the system under investigations. Experiments are performed to generate the vibration data from the healthy and faulty bearing. Eight recurrence quantitative analysis measures and five time-domain measures are used for the investigations. Three artificial intelligence techniques: rotation forest, artificial neural network and support vector machine are employed to quantify the diagnosis performance. Results highlight the ability of recurrence analysis to identify the health state of the bearing at the early stage and superior diagnosis accuracy of the proposed methodology.


This dissertation consists of four empirical essays all related to children and parents' labor supply, earnings and income in Finland. In the essays the problem of unobserved heterogeneity has been attacked in various ways. In the first essay, identical adult twins are used to estimate the impact of children on lifetime earnings and income. Identical twins share not only the same family but the same genes, hence such unobserved factors as family background and innate ability can be controlled for in the estimation. This is the closest possible similarity between two persons. The results suggest that both mothers and fathers have around 30 to 40% higher lifetime earnings compared to childless women and men even after controlling for family background and innate ability. The positive and large effect on mothers' earnings is a surprising result and against previous empirical evidence – though the focus of earlier research has typically been on the immediate years following childbirth. Although there are several potential explanations for such a large effect, the size of the found effect is surprisingly great. The second essay studies the effect of income on fertility by using job loss due to a plant closure as a source of exogenous variation in household income. Unlike previous studies, this essay focuses on couples and the impact of joint family income on fertility. The results show that the woman's job loss has a negative effect on fertility, while the man's has no impact on fertility. This suggests that the income effect is not the main mechanism through which job loss influences couples' fertility behavior. Career concerns, especially in the case of highly educated women, seem to be a much more important determinant. The result is similar to the one found in a previous study of the effects of female job loss. The third essay exploits the exogenous variation in family size, caused by the families' preference to have both boys and girls, to study the impact of children on parents' labor supply and income. The results suggest that another child has a sizeable negative impact on the maternal employment of cohabiting and married mothers, while there is no effect on the labor supply of single mothers. The labor supply response of Finnish mothers is much larger than found in the previous empirical studies in the US, the UK and Sweden using the same identification strategy. However, the relatively large maternal labor supply effects are in line with the earlier Finnish research. I find that another child has no impact on labor supply of fathers. In the fourth essay, the wages after maternity and paternity leaves are studied. However, in this essay the chosen method is less suitable in tackling the unobserved heterogeneity: being unmarried in the 1995 is a poor predictor of being childless: If one is not married in the 1995 no longer necessarily means one is without children in the years 2001 and 2002. In this essay, a maternity leave is associated with a reduction in wage after returning to employment. However, this association seems to be only short-lived. A paternity leave has no or only a small positive effect on wages.


Abstract The presentation of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) in pediatric populations has several important distinctions from that in adults, especially among prepubertal patients, in which there is no apparent association with gender or obesity. Pediatric patients are more likely to be asymptomatic or present with atypical symptoms than their adult counterparts, posing a diagnostic challenge in some cases. It is important to be aware of the ways in which diagnostic criteria for IIH are modified from that of adults. Ideal treatment practices and the natural history of pediatric IIH remain unclear. Acetazolamide is the mainstay of medical treatment, but some patients with significant visual loss may require surgical intervention. Multicenter studies to accrue a large number of cases and future prospective studies will help to better define pediatric IIH and to formulate consensus guidelines for treatment and management of these patients.


The neurological wake-up test, NWT, is a clinical monitoring tool that can be used to evaluate the level of consciousness in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) during neurocritical care (NCC). Since patients with severe TBI or SAH are often treated with mechanical ventilation and sedation, the NWT requires that the continuous sedation is interrupted. However, interruption of continuous sedation may induce a stress response and the use of the NWT in NCC is controversial.The effects of the NWT on intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) were evaluated in 21 patients with TBI or SAH. Compared to baseline when the patients were sedated with continuous propofol sedation, the NWT resulted in increased ICP and CPP (p<0.05). Next, the effects of the NWT on the stress hormones adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine were evaluated in 24 patients. Compared to baseline, the NWT caused a mild stress response resulting in increased levels of all evaluated stress hormones (p<0.05). To compare the use of routine NCC monitoring tools, the choice of sedation and analgesia and the frequency of NWT in Scandinavian NCC units, a questionnaire was used. The results showed that all 16 Scandinavian NCC units routinely use ICP and CPP monitoring and propofol and midazolam were primary choices for patient sedation in an equal number of NCC units. In 2009, the NWT was not routinely used in eight NCC units whereas others used the test up to six times daily.Finally, intracerebral microdialysis (MD), brain tissue oxygenation (PbtiO2) and jugular bulb oxygenation (SjvO2) were used in 17 TBI patients to evaluate the effect of the NWT procedure on focal neurochemistry and cerebral oxygenation. The NWT did not negatively alter interstitial markers of energy metabolism or cerebral oxygenation.In conclusion, the NWT induced a mild stress response in patients with TBI or SAH that did not result in a detectable, significant secondary insult to the injured brain. These results suggest that the NWT may safely be used as a clinical monitoring tool in the NCC of severe TBI and SAH in a majority of patients.


REPORT OF A CASE A 38-year-old man, a native of Somalia, presented to the dermatology clinic for examination of a slightly tender nodule on the dorsum of his foot (Fig 1). When the nodule was first noted 2 years previously, its diameter was 1 cm. The lesion changed little over the next 1½ years. Within the 6 months immediately before presentation, the mass steadily enlarged and became slightly painful. The patient gave no history of local trauma or any similar lesions elsewhere. He denied fever, chills, sweats, weight loss, cough, or lymphadenopathy. The patient's medical history was significant for progressive glomerulonephritis, which eventuated in renal transplantation several years before the lesion developed. As a result, he had been treated with prednisone, azathioprine, and cyclosporine. The nodule was excised intact and displayed a gross appearance reminiscent of an epidermoid cyst (Fig 2). Representative microscopic fields from the hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections are shown


In recent years there has been an increasing academic interest in how welfare states solve the care deficit resulting from the growing populations of the elderly on the one hand and significant changes in traditional family care structures on the other hand: increasing female employment rate, changes in family and household structures and cultural attitudes, but still widespread traditional imbalances between partners' commitment to reproductive work.
Whereas mainstream research devotes its attention above all to the interpersonal configuration of care regimes, there has been a shift in feminist research to the growing importance of transnational care work within the emergence of global labor markets. It was stated that nearly all western welfare states depend to various degrees on migrant care work both in service provision due to staff shortages and in private households due to the changes mentioned above. In particular, the welfare states belonging to the so-called conservative-corporate regimes such as Italy and Germany recourse to privately paid migrant female carers often living in their employer's household and being strongly vulnerable to exploitation. For this doctoral thesis, Italy and Germany have been chosen as interesting cases for a comparison because of their rapid demographic and social development, which should have provoked political pressure towards new and adequate caring arrangements. For all structural similarities between the countries of this regime, the Mediterranean countries represent a discrete regulation type of welfare state due to specific features of their socio-economic development, labor market, migration regime and a strong familialism.
Italy has a long tradition in employing migrant care workers in private households whereas in Germany this is quite a new development. The question therefore is, if Italy displays an extraordinary case resulting from its specific features and history or whether both countries show similar reasons for and characteristics of transnational care arrangements.
Deriving from theories of welfare regimes, of concepts of social care as well as of migration this doctoral thesis applies an explicit binary analysis approach using secondary sources, survey data, policy documents and legislations to analyse interconnections of social developments, the care regime and the related labor market as well as the migration regime.
The main finding concerning the Italian situation is that the country has undergone a radical and mostly uncoordinated marketization of care quite early and within this framework has developed a strong dependence on migrant care work in service delivery as well as in private households. These developments were based on a temporally rising economic prosperity, the beginning of irregular migration, the attraction of existing ex-post regularization measures, which consistently have been boosting both the demand for new irregular migration and the shadow economy. The state not only supported these trends but endowed families with generous cash of free use so that even the economically not well-off were able to hire migrant care work. The latter were also enabled to purchase private care on the market due to the political strengthening of an enduring familialism that goes far beyond a lack of public services in-kind and further measures of defamilialisation that are generally taken into account when it comes to comparing social policies.
Concerning the German situation on the other hand, the implementation of the statutory long-term insurance scheme has led to a certain degree of defamilialisation and the social right of the individual (person) to opt for services in-kind which are not dependent on the public annual budget at hand or the place of living as in Italy. The benefits deriving from the cash-for-care scheme are mostly low and therefore not sufficient for paying a migrant carer, so that privately hiring migrant care workers is restricted to quite well-off people. The latter also results from the involvement of recruitment agencies whose emergence is connected to the german labour migration policy in the course of the EU enlargement whereas the employment of irregular third nationals – the main source a cheap labour force in Italy – has to be neglected in Germany.


The adsorption and diffusion of Li, Na, K and Ca atoms on a Mo2C monolayer are systematically investigated by using first principles methods. We found that the considered metal atoms are strongly bound to the Mo2C monolayer. However, the adsorption energies of these alkali and earth alkali elements decrease as the coverage increases due to the enhanced repulsion between the metal ions. We predict a significant charge transfer from the ad-atoms to the Mo2C monolayer, which indicates clearly the cationic state of the metal atoms. The metallic character of both pristine and doped Mo2C ensures a good electronic conduction that is essential for an optimal anode material. Low migration energy barriers are predicted as small as 43 meV for Li, 19 meV for Na and 15 meV for K, which result in the very fast diffusion of these atoms on Mo2C. For Mo2C, we found a storage capacity larger than 400 mA h g−1 by the inclusion of multilayer adsorption. Mo2C expands slightly upon deposition of Li and Na even at high concentrations, which ensures the good cyclic stability of the atomic layer. The calculated average voltage of 0.68 V for Li and 0.30 V for Na ions makes Mo2C attractive for low charging voltage applications.


Potassium channels are responsible for the selective permeation of K+ ions across cell membranes. K+ ions permeate in single file through the selectivity filter, a narrow pore lined by backbone carbonyls that compose four K+ binding sites. Here, we report on the two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectra of a semisynthetic KcsA channel with site-specific heavy (13C18O) isotope labels in the selectivity filter. The ultrafast time resolution of 2D IR spectroscopy provides an instantaneous snapshot of the multi-ion configurations and structural distributions that occur spontaneously in the filter. Two elongated features are resolved, revealing the statistical weighting of two structural conformations. The spectra are reproduced by molecular dynamics simulations of structures with water separating two K+ ions in the binding sites, ruling out configurations with ions occupying adjacent sites.


RoY GOODET I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SECURITY Security in personal property has become enormously important both within a country and in relation to cross-border transactions. Without an adequate legal regime for personal property security rights, it is almost impossible for a national economy to develop. Indeed, the World Bank considers the role of security so central in promoting economic growth that before making a loan to a developing country it will normally seek to establish to what extent a sound legal system for the creation and protection of security interests is or will be in place. At the international level, a number of factors have contributed to the increased dependence on security rights in cross-border transactions and the need to ensure that a security interest taken in one country will be recognized in others and will be enforceable both before and upon the debtor's insolvency. They include the following: (a) A sharp move toward the privatization of firms previously in the public sector, with the consequent conversion of sovereign risk to enterprise risk and the replacement of unsecured with secured lending; (b) The huge growth in the size and financing of big-ticket items, such as aircraft, oil tankers, and satellites; (c) The expansion of multinational syndications to finance loans and projects too large to be handled by the banks of any one country; (d) The development of multinational enterprises with assets distributed around the globe, so that the collateral given for loans is no longer located in a single country; (e) The securitization of secured transactions, with the need to ensure a good market rating and acceptability; and The internationalization ("globalization") of securities markets, coupled with the immobilization of tangible securities in depository institutions, leading to the substitution of rights in accounts for rights in underlying securities dispersed among financial centers around the world-in short, a move from security in things to security in bundles of rights. II. KEY LEGAL PROBLEMS The growth and internationalization of security interests have led to increased concerns as to whether a security interest created in one country will be recognized and enforceable in another country in broadly the same way as in the place of birth, and whether such an interest will be valid and enforceable against a liquidator or trustee in a foreign winding-up or bankruptcy. A number of factors contribute to these concerns. First, there are wide differences in philosophy and legal culture concerning the extent to which security should be recognized at all and the conditions necessary for the validity of a security interest. Common law jurisdictions, which are generally sympathetic to the concepts of party autonomy and self-help, have a liberal attitude towards security. This attitude allows security interests to be taken with a minimum of formality over both present and future assets to secure existing and future indebtedness. In addition, they allow universal security rather than require specific security. By contrast, civil law jurisdictions have been more cautious in their approach to nonpossessory security and have been anxious about the "false wealth" which such practices are perceived as permitting. So in these jurisdictions one finds, in varying degrees, requirements of specificity or individualization of collateral, the need for a new post-acquisition act of transfer to give in rem effects to security in after-acquired property, requirements of notice to the debtor as a condition of the validity (not merely priority) of an assignment of debts, and restrictions on self-help remedies such as possession and sale of the collateral. Second, there are acute differences in the legal characterization of security rights. In most jurisdictions outside North America (whether civil law or common law), a sharp distinction is drawn between retention of title under sale and lease contracts on the one hand and security stricto sensu on the other. …


Purpose: TGFβ signaling plays a key role in tumor progression, including malignant glioma. Small-molecule inhibitors such as LY2157299 monohydrate (LY2157299) block TGFβ signaling and reduce tumor progression in preclinical models. To use LY2157299 in the treatment of malignancies, we investigated its properties in a first-in-human dose (FHD) study in patients with cancer. Experimental Design: Sixty-five patients (58 with glioma) with measurable and progressive malignancies were enrolled. Oral LY2157299 was given as a split dose morning and evening on an intermittent schedule of 14 days on and 14 days off (28-day cycle). LY2157299 monotherapy was studied in dose escalation (part A) first and then evaluated in combination with standard doses of lomustine (part B). Safety was assessed using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0, echocardiography/Doppler imaging, serum troponin I, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels. Antitumor activity was assessed by RECIST and Macdonald criteria. Results: In part A, 16.6% (5/30) and in part B, 7.7% (2/26) of evaluable patients with glioma had either a complete (CR) or a partial response (PR). In both parts, 15 patients with glioma had stable disease (SD), 5 of whom had SD ≥6 cycles of treatment. Therefore, clinical benefit (CR+PR+SD ≥6 cycles) was observed in 12 of 56 patients with glioma (21.4%). LY2157299 was safe, with no cardiac adverse events. Conclusions: On the basis of the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity in patients with glioma, the intermittent administration of LY2157299 at 300 mg/day is safe for future clinical investigation. Clin Cancer Res; 21(3); 553–60. ©2014 AACR.


Insulin attenuates vascular contraction via inhibition of voltage-operated Ca2+ channels and by enhancement of endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Thus it has been suggested that hypertension-associated insulin resistance results from an insensitivity to the hormone's effects on vascular reactivity. This hypothesis has been strengthened by reports that thiazolidinediones, a class of insulin-sensitizing agents, lower blood pressure and improve insulin responsiveness in hypertensive, insulin-resistant animal models. We tested the hypothesis that troglitazone enhances the vasodilating effect of insulin via inhibition of voltage-operated Ca2+ channels in vascular smooth muscle cells. Rat thoracic aortic rings (no endothelium) were suspended in tissue baths for isometric force measurement. Rings were incubated with 0.1 DMSO vehicle (control), troglitazone (10(-5) M), insulin (10(-7) U/l), or both troglitazone and insulin (1 h) and then contracted with phenylephrine (PE), KCl, or BAY K 8644. Troglitazone increased the EC50 values for PE and KCl. Contractions to BAY K 8644 in troglitazone-treated rings were virtually abolished. Insulin alone had no effect on contraction. However, when insulin was combined with troglitazone, the EC50 values for PE and KCl were further increased. Additionally, the maximum contractions to both PE (14 +/- 4% of control) and KCl (12 +/- 2% of control) were reduced. Measurement of Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]) with fura 2-AM in dispersed vascular smooth muscle cells indicated that neither insulin nor troglitazone alone altered PE-induced increases in intracellular [Ca2+]. However, troglitazone and insulin together caused a significant reduction in PE-induced increases in intracellular [Ca2+] (expressed as percentage of preincubation stimulation to PE: 47 +/- 10%, treated; 102 +/- 13%, vehicle). These results demonstrate that troglitazone inhibits Ca2+ influx and that it acts synergistically with insulin to attenuate further vascular contraction via inhibition of voltage-operated Ca2+ channels.


. The photodetachment of negative ions inside a two-dimensional microcavity has been studied by many researchers. As to the photodetachment of negative ions in the three-dimensional microcavity, the research is relatively little. In this paper, we study the photodetachment cross-section of H − ion inside a three-dimensional cubical microcavity for the first time. We have observed the classical dynamics of the photodetached electron inside the cubical microcavity and found out its closed orbits. Then we calculate the photodetachment cross-section of this system. It is shown that owing to the interference effects of the electron wave travelling along various closed orbits, oscillatory structures appear in the photodetachment cross-section. And the oscillatory structures depend on the laser polarization sensitively. Compared to the photodetachment of H − ion inside a square microcavity, in photodetachment of H − ion in cubical cavity the number of the closed orbits is increased and the oscillatory structure in the photodetachment cross-section becomes much more complex. Through our study, researchers can gain a deep understanding on the correspondence of the classical dynamics and the quantum mechanics. Our study may guide future experimental research in the field of the photodetachment electron dynamics inside a three-dimensional microcavity.


The reform of Primary Healthcare in the city of Rio de Janeiro created various needs for improvement of the network, one of which was professional training/qualification of doctors to practice at this level of care. To respond to this the Municipal Health Department took the initiative of structuring the Residency Program in Family and Community Medicine. This paper aims to describe the experience of implementation of this program in the context of the reform of primary healthcare. It also reports on the process of structuring of the program to meet the objectives proposed by the reform, and how this is reflected in the network, and suggests investments in studies that can indicate impacts generated by the Program.


A 9-month-old intact male Weimaraner dog was referred because of pica, as an aggravating factor for a food intolerance problem. The detailed history and the behavioral examination revealed not only pica but also impulse-control problems, increased excitability, destructiveness, attention deficits and inability to relax. Hyperkinesis was discarded considering normal vital signs and the non-clear paradoxical effect during the central nervous system (CNS) stimulant test. The presumptive diagnosis was hyperactivity. Treatment  initially included avoiding conflict situations and never reinforcing nor punishing the dog if these occurred, as well as reinforcing calm states, increasing both play and exercise and starting with obedience training sessions. The dog really improved at home but not outside, which led the owners to drastically shorten walks. This situation, in turn, made the dogs' behavior worse, as he showed redirected aggression toward the owners when they tried to move him away from any new social and non-social stimuli during the walk. The improvement of the dog was finally achieved through management measures and behavioral therapy combined with fluoxetine (1.5 mg/kg, PO, q 24h), castration and the control of medical problems. The negative role of confinement of hyperactive dogs as a consequence of their excessive behavior, other contributing factors to canine hyperactivity, as well as the effect of medical conditions on behavioral problems are discussed.


The aim of this study was to seek an improved understanding of the factors governing the intake by calves of silage as a sole feed and of the effect on silage intake of different types of concentrate fed with silages of different qualities. A large number of research silage analyses were obtained and the possibility of classifying them into groups of similar chemical composition investigated. Classification of a wide range of silages into distinct groups was found to be possible using the multivariate statistical method, cluster analysis. Silages could be classified into four distinct groups on the basis of toluene dry matter, pH, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and lactic acid. Further silages could be easily allocated to these groups provided that they had been analysed for the above eight parameters. Silages with a more limited analysis of oven dry matter, pH, total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen were not found to have sufficiently detailed analysis for classification into the same groups. Four linked trials were conducted where the intakes of silages of different types fed with different concentrates were investigated. A silage representative of each of the four classification types, namely a low pH, normal, high dry matter and poorly fermented silage, were fed with five different concentrate types: a standard concentrate, the standard concentrate plus bicarbonate, high starch, high fibre and high protein concentrates. Five twelve week old Friesian calves were allocated to each treatment. The type of silage fed significantly affected silage intake. Intake of the high dry matter silage was markedly higher than the rest. When offered any of these silages without a supplement the animals ate significantly more silage than the animals offered this silage plus a concentrate. There were no significant differences in silage intake between concentrate types but there was a trend, however, for the fibre and bicarbonate supplements to produce the lowest substitution rates. The applicability of single variable prediction equations (based on NDF and crude protein) in predicting the intake of the four experimental silages as a sole feed was investigated. Subsequently more complex multi-variable equations (based on fermentation characteristics and energy values) were used to predict the intake of silage as part of a mixed diet. The single variable equation by LaForest et al (1986) based on NDF was found to be as accurate in predicting silage intake as the complex equations by Rook et al (1990) based on fermentation characteristics. This suggests that factors other than fermentation characteristics are important in determining silage intake.


Sixty-two elementary pre-service teachers enrolled in a mathematics methods course were asked to "draw math" at the beginning and end of the semester. These drawings were used to examine the initial perceptions and how these changed by the end of the semester of methods and field experiences. Findings describe the various drawings and possible meanings behind the drawings. These drawings help explain the vision of mathematics that teacher candidates have before and after exploring teaching methods and implementing these methods with elementary students. This study provides insight into the experiences and images that pre-service teachers associate with both positive and negative emotions towards mathematics. Rich student dialogue about the drawings led to teacher reflection on how their emotions, attitudes, and experiences influence the way they teach mathematics to students.


Background: Atypical movement patterns in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been reported. Compared with typical developing (TD) children, children with ASD took more time to complete a point-to-point movement (Dowd et al., 2012), but adults with ASD performed faster horizontal arm swings than their typical counterparts (Cook et al., 2013). Incongruent kinematic results are common in the literature, which may imply that the kinematic features in ASD are task-dependent, but this is yet not well understood. Smart tablet gameplay has been proposed as a new paradigm to measure the movement features of ASD in young children (Anzulewicz et al., 2016). In this study, smart tablet games were employed to test for kinematic differences in autism, and the effect of the task. Objectives: The study aims to compute the swipe kinematics during smart tablet gameplay, and to compare these characteristic movements between ASD and TD children within different gameplay contexts. Methods: 37 ASD children (mean age: 4.5 years) and 45 age-matched TD children were recruited in the study. The children were shown two smart tablet games: "sharing" and "creativity" games. In the sharing game, the children were tasked to share the food pieces to four characters; in the creativity game, the children were tasked to select an object, trace the lines, and colour the object. Their touch trajectories on the smart tablet (iPad mini, Apple Inc.) were recorded during gameplay. The food-to-target swipes in the sharing game and the swipe gestures in the creativity game were identified using a customized MATLAB script. The travelled distance, duration, and speed of each swipe were calculated. For the sharing game, the difference between the travelled distance and the optimal distance (i.e. the straight line) was also calculated. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to determine kinematic differences between ASD and TD groups. Results: A total of 4785 food-to-target swipes were identified in the sharing game (ASD: 1585 swipes; TD: 3200 swipes) while 6178 swipes were identified in the creativity game (ASD: 2793 swipes; TD: 3385 swipes). Significant differences between ASD and TD were observed in the sharing game that ASD demonstrated slower food-to-target swipes than TD (median of 50.12 mm/s vs. 58.84 mm/s), and that they deviated from the optimal distance more than TD (median of 3.9 mm vs. 2.59 mm). There was no significant difference in the optimal distance. By contrast, ASD showed significantly faster gestures than TD (median of 81.77 mm/s vs. 60 mm/s) in the creativity game. Conclusions: The study compared the swipe kinematics between ASD and TD children in two smart tablet gameplay contexts. ASD demonstrated slower movement than TD in a goal-oriented food-to-target task, deviating more from the optimal trajectory. In contrast, ASD performed faster swipe gestures than TD in a relatively unconstrained creativity game. These data are the foundations to allow an understanding of how movement is controlled in autism within different contexts. Further, characterising movement features in ASD during smart tablet gameplay supports the development of algorithms that enable the early identification of ASD in serious game paradigms.


The first step in the infection of human T lymphocytes by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is attachment to the target cell receptor, the CD4 antigen. This step may be vulnerable to attack by antibodies, chemicals, or small peptides. Dextran sulfate (molecular weight approximately 8000), which has been given to patients as an anticoagulant or antilipemic agent for more than two decades, was found to block the binding of virions to various target T lymphocytes, inhibit syncytia formation, and exert a potent inhibitory effect against HIV-1 in vitro at concentrations that may be clinically attainable in human beings. This drug also suppressed the replication of HIV-2 in vitro. These observations could have theoretical and clinical implications in the strategy to develop drugs against HIV types 1 and 2.


This paper presents our design and experience with Andromeda, Google Cloud Platform's network virtualization stack. Our production deployment poses several challenging requirements, including performance isolation among customer virtual networks, scalability, rapid provisioning of large numbers of virtual hosts, bandwidth and latency largely indistinguishable from the underlying hardware, and high feature velocity combined with high availability. Andromeda is designed around a flexible hierarchy of flow processing paths. Flows are mapped to a programming path dynamically based on feature and performance requirements. We introduce the Hoverboard programming model, which uses gateways for the long tail of low bandwidth flows, and enables the control plane to program network connectivity for tens of thousands of VMs in seconds. The on-host dataplane is based around a highperformance OS bypass software packet processing path. CPU-intensive per packet operations with higher latency targets are executed on coprocessor threads. This architecture allows Andromeda to decouple feature growth from fast path performance, as many features can be implemented solely on the coprocessor path. We demonstrate that the Andromeda datapath achieves performance that is competitive with hardware while maintaining the flexibility and velocity of a software-based architecture.


The present study was undertaken to evaluate antistress and immunomodulatory activity of aqueous extract of Momordica charantia (MC). Antistress activity was evaluated by measuring the swimming time in mice and cold immobilization induced stress for 10 days in rats, using Withania somnifera (100mg/kg) as reference standard. Immunomodulatory activity was evaluated by carbon clearance assay and percentage adhesion of neutrophils to nylon fibers using Levamisole as reference standard. The degree of protection was determined by measuring gastric ulceration, adrenal gland and spleen weights and by measuring levels of serum glucose, AST and ALT. Swiss albino mice of either sex were divided into 4 groups such as normal control, MC lower dose (450 mg/kg, p.o), MC higher dose (900 mg/kg, p.o) and standard group, treated with standard drug Levamisole (50 mg/kg, p.o). MC increased the swimming time in mice significantly (P<0.001) and the results are comparable to that of standard Withania somnifera. MC has also significantly (P<0.001) reversed the cold immobilization induced changes in glucose, AST, ALT, ulcer score, weight of adrenal gland and spleen. MC improves the phagocytic index in a dose dependent manner. MC at higher dose significantly (P<0.001) increased the percentage of adhesion of Neutrophils to nylon fibers when compared with the normal control animals. The results were comparable with that of standard drug levamisole. Momordica charantia has significant antistress, immunomodulatory activity.


The impact of the use of fortified powdered whole milk (9 mg of iron and 65 mg of vitamin C/100 g of milk) on the hemoglobin levels of children under 2 years of age was evaluated, over a period of 6 months, in 107 children enrolled in municipal Day Care Centers (DCC) and in 228 seen at a Basic Health Care Unit (BHCU). Before the beginning of the intervention, 66.4% of the children in the DCC and 72.8% of those seen at the BHCU had hemoglobin levels under 11.0 g/dl. After 6 months of fortified milk intake, these percentages fell to 20.6% and 18.0% respectively. The average hemoglobin before the intervention was 10.3 g/dl in the DCC and 10.5 in the BHCU. After 6 months these increased to 11.6 g/dl in the populations studied. Concerning the nutritional condition, evaluated according to Gomez's criteria, 57% of the DCC children presented an improvement, 41.1% showed changes and only 1.9% became worse. In the BHCU, 11.4% presented better condition, 70.6% remained the same and 18% worsened, which demonstrated differences in response regarding improvement of nutritional condition, when fortified milk was used in closed and open environments. The authors conclude that the utilization of enriched foods is an excellent alternative in the treatment of iron deficiency in populations of children under 2 years of age.


Template decomposition followed by confocal fluorescence microscopy reveals a tetragonal-pyramidal intergrowth of subunits in micrometer-sized nearly cubic SSZ-13 zeolite crystals. In order to accentuate intergrowth boundaries and defect-rich areas within the individual large zeolite crystals, a treatment with an etching NaOH solution is applied. The defective areas are visualized by monitoring the spatial distribution of fluorescent tracer molecules within the individual SSZ-13 crystals by confocal fluorescence microscopy. These fluorescent tracer molecules are formed at the inner and outer crystal surfaces by utilizing the catalytic activity of the zeolite in the oligomerization reaction of styrene derivatives. This approach reveals various types of etching patterns that are an indication for the defectiveness of the studied crystals. We can show that specially one type of crystals, denoted as core-shell type, is highly accessible to the styrene molecules after etching. Despite the large crystal dimensions, the whole core-shell type SSZ-13 crystal is utilized for catalytic reaction. Furthermore, the confocal fluorescence microscopy measurements indicate a nonuniform distribution of the catalytically important Brønsted acid sites underlining the importance of space-resolved measurements.


The monitoring of ecosystems alterations has become a crucial task in order to develop valuable habitats for rare and threatened species. The information extracted from hyperspectral remote sensing data enables the generation of highly spatially resolved analyses of such species' habitats. In our study we combine information from a species ordination with hyperspectral reflectance signatures to predict occurrence probabilities for Natura 2000 habitat types and their conservation status. We examine how accurate habitat types and habitat threat, expressed by pressure indicators, can be described in an ordination space using spatial correlation functions from the geostatistic approach. We modeled habitat quality assessment parameters using floristic gradients derived by non-metric multidimensional scaling on the basis of 58 field plots. In the resulting ordination space, the variance structure of habitat types and pressure indicators could be explained by 69% up to 95% with fitted variogram models with a correlation to terrestrial mapping of >0.8. Models could be used to predict habitat type probability, habitat transition, and pressure indicators continuously over the whole ordination space. Finally, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to relate spectral information from AISA DUAL imagery to floristic pattern and related habitat quality. In general, spectral transferability is supported by strong correlation to ordination axes scores (R2 = 0.79–0.85), whereas second axis of dry heaths (R2 = 0.13) and first axis for pioneer grasslands (R2 = 0.49) are more difficult to describe.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Clinical trials are currently examining the role of local therapy in metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa). While the safety of RP in localized disease is proven, few studies have looked at perioperative complications and cost of cytoreductive RP (cRP). We used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to study the inpatient morbidity, and cost of cRP in the United States (US). METHODS: Analyzing the NIS dataset from 2008-2014, we identified 90,662 patients (weighted estimate 449,025 in the US) who underwent RP for nonmetastatic disease, and 1,173 patients (weighted estimate 5,835) who underwent cRP for mPCa (see Fig. 1). Outcomes of interest were inpatient complications, individual complications, hospital stay, and total cost. Covariates included age, race, Charlson Comorbidity score, insurance status, rural/semi-urban/urban location, income, hospital location (rural/urban), teaching status, geographical location of hospital, and hospital volume. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of metastatic disease on morbidity after adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Inpatient complication rates were 14.9% (13,688/91,835) overall, 14.9% (13,464/90,662) in the nonmetastatic group, and 19.1% (224/1,173) in the cRP group (p = 0.01). On multivariable analysis, metastasis was an independent predictor of inpatient complications (OR 1.329; 95% CI: 1.077-1.640; p = 0.01). The cRP group also had higher rates of blood transfusion (6.9% [82/1,173] vs 4.3% [3,869/90,662]; p < 0.001), longer hospital stay (median 1.25 vs 0.97 days; p < 0.001), and higher cost (median $14,123 vs $11,591; p < 0.001) compared to the nonmetastatic group (see table 1). Majority of cRP was performed in urban teaching hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: cRP is associated with higher inpatient morbidity, longer hospital stay, and higher cost compared to RP for nonmetastatic disease. This information may be valuable for informed decision-making in practice and before recruiting patients in clinical trials on this subject. Figure. No caption available. Table. No title available. Source of Funding: None


We propose a novel algorithm to smooth and simplify simultaneously range images and also triangle meshes derived from those images. These data sets often suffer from noise and over-sampling. To overcome these issues, smoothing from image processing and simplification from computer graphics attempt to minimize noise and reduce complexity, respectively. Typically, these algorithms are separate and distinct steps, but we combine them into one algorithm. We employ surface normal voting to generate robust orientation estimates and then extend the quadric error metric framework to smooth noise while simplifying the surface. We demonstrate the capabilities of this algorithm with both synthetic and real data. The proposed algorithm provides significant noise smoothing improvement when compared to the standard Garland and Heckbert (1998) quadric simplification algorithm.


Carriers usually deploy traffic engineering (TE) technologies coupled with network control plane protocol suites, such as MPLS and GMPLS, to offer value added network connectivity services to their customers. However, automated Quality of Service across multiple carriers still remains a challenge for Network Service Providers, and many stumbling blocks exist due to the complex integration of different business and operation systems (BSS/OSS). In this paper we discuss a specific aspect of the Network Service and Business Plane: the computation of route offers and the association of the price information with the standard route descriptions and metrics. Route offers are the prerequisite for the description of the potential components of an end-to-end inter-carrier network service. Route offers are a mandatory input data for a network service negotiation and its subsequent instantiation in the control and transport planes. To this purposes, this work proposes a Path Computation Element integrated with the service plane (Service PCE), which is capable of computing route offers with price information. The communication between the service plane and the Service PCE is realized via Path Computation Element Protocol. This protocol also needs extensions in this new framework, as structured price data are not supported by the standards.


Hydroxyapatite is regarded as one of the most significant emerging biomaterials owing to its biocompatibility with bone/enamel. In the present study, tungsten doped hydroxyapatite (W-HAp) nanoparticles have been synthesized via chemical precipitation followed by annealing at different temperatures (800, 1000 and 1200 °C) and characterized with XRD and FESEM, along with EDS, TEM, XPS and DTA-TGA. Morphological changes as well as newly formed phases arise in each sample, and the samples also exhibit high mechanical strength and better Young's modulus as a result of the effects of annealing temperature. The maximum dielectric constant/electric polarization is observed for the W-HAp10 composite, whereas the frequency dependent tangent loss and frequency dependent capacitance are similar for the W-HAp8 and W-HAp12 samples. The anti-bacterial activity of W-HAp10 against Gram-negative (E. coli) and Gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria has been explored through a mortality assay, MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration), MBC (minimum bactericidal concentration), ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation, fluorescence microscopy, and cell wall degradation under FESEM. The bioactivity of W-HAp10 has been monitored in simulated body fluid (SBF) and is attributable to the formation of apatite on its surface. These significant results suggest that the influence of temperature (at 1000 °C) along with tungsten doping in hydroxyapatite will be beneficial for the advancement of pathogen-free biomaterials with dielectric activity for medicinal applications.


In this modern age, brands are more concentrating on consumers' quality of life style as these reflect their status symbol or social class through the company's products. The current study is aimed to check the effect of brand name, awareness, and price and brand quality on the brand loyalty of the product of automobiles, after that brand loyalty effect is examined on the product purchase intention specifically in South Asian context. For checking the effect of the variables brand name, brand awareness, brand price and brand quality were considered as independent variables and brand loyalty was considered as a dependent variable. The study was correlational as it shows the relationship of different dependent and independent variables. This study has been conducted through a survey design. The population was considered as the citizens of Bahawalpur, one of the oldest stateS in South Asian region and for the data collection random sampling technique was used. A total number of 300 questionnaires were distributed randomly to the users of automobile in the Bahawalpur out of which 287 responses were received after deducting the omission and errors. Different hypotheses were tested in this research for relationships of variables, out of which five were accepted and the one which was about the effect of brand price on brand loyalty was rejected. The collected data were analyzed after using different statistical techniques and it shows that brand awareness, name, quality has a direct and positive impact on the brand loyalty of the product and on the other hand there is also a positive effect of brand loyalty on the purchase intention of the product.


The purpose of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is to measure soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS). The measurement of SSS using microwave radiometry requires a very sensitive instrument. In SMOS, the image is formed using the interferometric technique complemented by the average brightness temperature, or zero baseline, to set the absolute level of the image. Therefore, the measurement of the zero baseline is very critical for the success of the mission. In this paper, the radiometric resolution and stability of the radiometers dedicated to the measurement of zero baseline on SMOS are estimated. The results of a measurement campaign carried out in an anechoic electromagnetic compatibility chamber are used. The results show that the zero-baseline radiometers have the potential for relative accuracy better than 20 mK, depending on the integration scenario, satisfying the mission requirement for SSS retrieval.


Abstract:Laos is a landlocked country with limited natural resources. As a communist country, Laos is often assumed to be a close ally of China as it is an ideological companion and a "satellite" state that depends on China's economic blessing. The authors argue that Laos is actually aware that it is cornered among difficult geopolitical relations and is striving for a certain autonomy in domestic and foreign policies. This article will enhance the understanding of the dynamics and options available to the Southeast Asian state other than those suggested by international relations theories. It also serves to contribute to the emerging studies on the effect of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the response of the countries along it.


Giant-cell arteritis (GCA) is a visually devastating disease that often progresses to severe bilateral vision loss if untreated. Diagnosis of GCA is made challenging by the protean nature of the disease and the lack of a simple test that is both highly sensitive and specific. Choroidal filling delay on fluorescein angiography (FA) has been touted as a highly characteristic feature of GCA-related vision loss, although knowledge of both the sensitivity and specificity of this finding remains unproven. We report our experience of delayed choroidal filling on FA in a series of seven patients referred to an academic neuro-ophthalmology practice due to concern for GCA. Despite the FA findings, our examination, diagnostic testing, and long-term follow-up excluded the diagnosis of GCA in all cases, suggesting that choroidal perfusion abnormalities may occur in the absence of GCA. When evaluating a patient for acute vision loss, the astute clinician must remain cognizant of the limitations of FA in the diagnosis of GCA.


The recent US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have renewed the debate over whether military interventions intended to impose democracy in a foreign state are consistent with liberal principles. The liberal political tradition within the United States has often been divided over this question. At issue is what place, if any, military force should have in a foreign policy dedicated to promoting goals such as the spread of electoral democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law.


Abstract This paper demonstrates that the capabilities approach offers a number of conceptual and evaluative benefits for understanding social innovation and—in particular, its capacity to tackle marginalisation. Focusing on the substantive freedoms and achieved functionings of individuals introduces a multidimensional, plural appreciation of disadvantage, but also of the strategies to overcome it. In light of this, and the institutional embeddedness of marginalisation, effective social innovation capable of tackling marginalisation depends on (a) the participation of marginalised individuals in (b) a process that addresses the social structuration of their disadvantage. In spite of the high-level ideals endorsed by the European Union (EU), social innovation tends to be supported through EU policy instruments as a means towards the maintenance of prevailing institutions, networks and cognitive ends. This belies the transformative potential of social innovation emphasised in EU policy documentation and neglects the social structuration processes from which social needs and societal challenges arise. One strategy of displacing institutional dominance is to incorporate groups marginalised from multiple institutional and cognitive centres into the policy design and implementation process. This incorporates multiple value sets into the policy-making process to promote social innovation that is grounded in the doings and beings that all individuals have reason to value.


Using bi-criteria decision making analysis, a new model for test suite minimization has been developed that pursues two objectives: minimizing a test suite with regard to a particular level of coverage while simultaneously maximizing error detection rates. This new representation makes it possible to achieve significant reductions in test suite size without experiencing a decrease in error detection rates. Using the all-uses inter-procedural data flow testing criterion, two binary integer linear programming models were evaluated, one a single-objective model, the other a weighted-sums bi-criteria model. The applicability of the bi-criteria model to regression test suite maintenance was also evaluated. The data show that minimization based solely on definition-use association coverage may have a negative impact on the error detection rate as compared to minimization performed with a bi-criteria model that also takes into account the ability of test cases to reveal error. Results obtained with the bi-criteria model also indicate that test suites minimized with respect to a collection of program faults are effective at revealing subsequent program faults.


Electrodes for cortical stimulation need to deliver current to neural tissue effectively and safely. We have developed electrodes with a novel annular geometry for use in cortical visual prostheses. Here, we explore a critical question on the ideal annulus height to ensure electrical stimulation will be safe and effective. We implanted single electrodes into the motor cortex of anesthetized rats and measured the current required to evoke a motor response to stimulation, and the charge injection capacity (CIC) of the electrodes. We compared platinum iridium (PtIr) electrodes with different annulus heights, with and without a coating of porous titanium nitride (TiN). Threshold charge densities to evoke a motor response ranged from 12 to 36 μC.cm-2.ph-1. Electrodes with larger geometric surface areas (GSAs) required higher currents to evoke responses, but lower charge densities. The addition of a porous TiN coating did not significantly influence the current required to evoke a motor response. The CIC of both electrode types was significantly reduced in vivo compared with in vitro measurements. The measured CIC was 72 and 18 μC.cm-2.ph-1 for electrodes with and without a TiN coating, respectively. These results support the use of PtIr annular electrodes with annulus heights greater than 100 μm (GSA of 38, 000 μm2). However, if the electrodes are coated with porous TiN the annulus height can be reduced to 40 μm (GSA of 16,000 μm2).


Wear is often of definite influence in the service life of mechanical components and has been recognised as one of the major causes of failure in engineering practice. It is noted that although extensive attention has been paid to phenomenological studies like surface morphology analysis for wear assessment, the physical mechanism of wear particle formation remains unclear. This paper proposes a micro damage and fracture model to simulate the process of wear particle generation. An explicit finite element (FE) formulation is employed to capture the nonlinearities involved. Unlike existing FE analysis (FEA), any initial sub-fractures underlying the wear surface are no longer required. Crack initiation and propagation as well as the corresponding mesh updating are implemented in an automatic fashion associated with the explicit FE framework. The results presented are in good agreement with experimental observation and the reports in existing literature.


Beam-beam deflection feedback acting within the crossing time of a single bunch train may be needed to keep linear collider beams colliding at high luminosity. In a short-pulse machine such as the Next Linear Collider (NLC) this feedback must converge quickly to be useful. The non-linear nature of beam-beam deflection vs. beam-beam offset in these machines precludes obtaining both rapid convergence and a stable steady-state lock to beam offsets with a linear feedback algorithm. We show that a simply realizable programmable non-linear amplifier in the feedback loop can linearize the feedback loop, approximately compensating the beam-beam deflection non-linearity. Performance of a prototype non-linear amplifier is shown. Improvement of convergence and stability of the beam-beam feedback loop is simulated.


All-electron total-energy local-spin-density studies of the electronic and magnetic properties of fcc Fe(001) as overlayers or sandwiches with Cu(001) were undertaken in order to understand the following: (1) the surface (interface) magnetism of fcc Fe(001), (2) the effect of nonmagnetic Cu on the magnetization of Fe and (3) the effect of the reduced coordination number on the magnetic coupling of Fe layers near the surface and interface. From our systematic studies of (i) one and two layers of Fe on Cu(001) and (ii) one and five layers of Fe sandwiched by Cu, it is concluded that the Fe magnetic moment is enhanced on the surface (to 2.85mu/sub B/) and the surface (interface) Fe layer is predicted to couple ferromagnetically to the subsurface (subinterface) Fe layer (in contrast to the antiferromagnetic behavior in the bulk fcc Fe). The effect of the nonmagnetic Cu overlayers decreases slightly (by 0.25..mu../sub B/) the magnetic moments of Fe at the Fe/Cu interface from those of the free-standing surfaces, indicating the persistence of the two-dimensional magnetization at the interface. Magnetic hyperfine fields are compared among various magnetic states; the interface Fe atoms are found to experience a larger hyperfine field than the inner layers for themore » magnetic ground state due to the retention of antiferromagnetic coupling between Fe layers away from the interface. Electronic charge-density, work-function, and single-particle spectra are presented and discussed. The calculated energy dispersions agree well with a recent photoemission measurement by Onellian et al.« less


Abstract Breinlia mackerrasae n.sp. is described from the short-nosed bandicoot Isoodon macrourus. It bears most similarity to B. dentifera, but differs in having larger spicules and in the arrangement of the anal papillae. Female worms from a 'mumut' (Peramelidae) are described, but as no males are available, their taxonomic status remains uncertain. These are the first records of Breinlia from peramelid marsupials.


Solving riddles involves association of ideas, analysis of metaphors, and discovery of analogies. Therefore, promoting this type of children's entertainment is a way to develop creative thinking. However, there is a problem: traditional riddles are literary forms that correspond to a pre-digital era. How can we increase its acceptance among the digital natives? One way might be creating audiovisual riddles specially designed for YouTube. In this research we made five prototypes of audiovisual riddles with different creative characteristics and validated them among 8-12 years old students. The validation results helped us to identify the attitudes, reactions, interpretations and ways of thinking of children when they try to solve such riddles. We also identified the resources of language and creative formats that fit best in audio-visual riddles. The outcome of this research emphasizes the need to correctly formulate the audiovisual riddle statements and their «clues» for children; this way we assure an intellectual and emotional satisfaction when solving them. It also concludes that reading or listening to traditional riddles are cognitive and sensory experiences that are very different from interacting with the same riddle in a multimedia language. Finally, we discuss and analyze the mediating role of the teacher and the importance of collaborative learning in educational projects using digital technologies.


The Software Engineering Institute publishes a set of key practices describing "what" should be done by an organization developing software, but not "how" to achieve it. Each organization has the responsibility to develop and implement a company standard process. For such a process to be effective, the software project teams must accept it as adding value to their development efforts, and be capable of utilizing it efficiently. Thus, failure to achieve stated goals can have its root cause in either the process or its implementation. Both an appropriate process and a rational implementation are required. The Lockheed Fort Worth Company is implementing a Standard Software Process. This process incorporates continuous process improvement based upon project experience.<<ETX>>


Chlorins that bear a gem-dimethyl group, which attributes their resistance to oxidation, are of interest for applications in photomedicine. Herein, we present the synthesis and the photophysical properties of two geminal-dimethyl chlorins (dihydroporphyrins) and their free base counterparts that act as efficient singlet oxygen generators and thus exhibit potential for use in photodynamic therapy (PDT) as anticancer or antimicrobial agents upon further derivatization. A complete characterization of their spectral and photophysical properties is accompanied by density functional calculations (DFT) as well as time dependent (TD) DFT to investigate the features of the frontier molecular orbitals. To demonstrate the potential of these compounds, standard palladium mediated reaction yielded a porphyrin-chlorin dyad in moderate yield.


Abstract Recent changes in the media environment make it easier than ever for people to actively shape their news repertoires according to their habits, needs, and preferences. As convenient as these practices seem, they may favor the development of misperceptions such as "news finds me" perception (NFM) and make it easier for some people to disconnect from news and political content. Building on the conceptualization of news avoidance as a general disposition and its consequential behaviors, this study jointly examines key individual-level predispositions that may motivate intentional news avoidance. Based on a two-wave survey collected in the United States, our results largely corroborate previous work showing the association of political interest, news overload, and trust in professional news with news avoidance, and stress the importance of including the NFM in the theoretical and empirical modelling of news avoidance. Our analyses also suggest that the linkages between these individual-level antecedents and news avoidance are contingent upon the design and robustness of the empirical tests, with NFM yielding the most consistent association across models.


Abstract. Methods for exploratory data analysis and exploratory spatial data analysis (or ESDA) are useful to identify outliers, clusters, skewed distributions and correlations (see Figure 1 for examples implemented in our GeoDa software). Researchers routinely use these methods to find insights. However, what motivated this project is that, by default, it is easier to find insights that confirm the expected. Often, in fields like geography, statistics or computer science, available software and data drive the choice of research questions and the process of how we explore data. Typical insights gained this way are descriptive, like where a cluster is located or whether variables are correlated. To be sure, expected insights are reassuring. And descriptive insights are important. But instead of stopping here we want to build on them to also find insights that are new and relevant – we want to discover the unexpected (Anselin, 1998; Kielman & May, 2009). And, while we do need to know where clusters and outliers are – as researchers, we also want to go further and explain why these patterns exist (Good, 1983). In this project we presume that there are ways for structuring the process of data exploration that make it more likely to discover unexpected and explanatory insights (Platt, 1964). This presentation summarizes results from a summer 2020 lab where we started experimenting with how to do this using our Center's GeoDa software. The summer lab was directed by Julia Koschinsky of the University of Chicago's Center for Spatial Data Science. Marcos Falcone helped mentor five young University of Chicago and high school students for 7–10 weeks (majoring in statistics, computation, geography, political science, and economics). Our approach was to draw on philosophy of science and scientific reasoning to understand how the discovery of unexpected and explicable insights can work. We then tried to translate this to research designs for ESDA. Finally, we implemented the designs in replicable prototype examples for teaching and learning spatial research at the undergraduate or high school level. For instance, in terms of scientific reasoning, classic work on causal explanations (Mill, 1843) augments the typical current focus on correlations by also highlighting the need to assess the plausibility of your own explanation versus alternatives. This requires a mindset and practice of rigorously testing how our explanations might be wrong (Popper, 1959) rather than confirming that they're right (Nuzzo, 2015; Kahneman, 2011). To do this requires an iterative exchange between data and explanations – referred to as abductive reasoning, as it combines inductive and deductive approaches (Peirce, 1878; Heckman and Singer, 2017). We used Sherlock Holmes stories and the famous John Snow cholera case to illustrate the structure of these scientific reasoning concepts for a high school context (Coleman, 2019; cf Konnikova, 2013; Vinten-Johansen, 2020). Scientific reasoning goes back hundreds of years. Our challenge this summer and from here on has been to translate this reasoning to research designs that are applicable to modern interactive ESDA tools. Each of us developed four prototype resources for teaching and learning ESDA in GeoDa that we will develop further (Fig. 2): 1) protocols for how this could be done; 2) case examples to apply and revise the protocol; 3) GeoDa demo scripts to make the examples replicable; and 4) cleaned data and documentation. These resources will be released as part of a GeoDa Cookbook in the near future. Fig. 3 illustrates one of the protocols that differs from how ESDA is typically navigated. The starting point is the exploration of patterns in the outcome variable of interest. Next is the formulation of alternative explanations whose patterns plausibly match those of the outcome variable. Then we draw on quasi-experimental research designs to structure the testing of this match (Shadish et al., 2002). Finally, data about the hypothesized explanations are analyzed with ESDA and regressions to test or reformulate the hypotheses as part of an abductive process.


Agricultural extension is one of the most important aspects on which modernization of agriculture and rural areas in Vojvodina depend. Unfortunately, in relation to the farmer's needs, extension in Vojvodina is not developed enough. In Vojvodina, currently operate 13 agricultural stations and only 82 experts whose primary goal is to provide extension. Problem could be relatively successfully solved by creating local extension service consisting of agricultural experts who have lost /or will loose/ their jobs and those who were unemployed until now. Local extension service would be part of current system of agricultural stations and their extension programs.


Introduction. With Industry 4.0 and Work 4.0 entering the world, modern education is undergoing transformations in terms of educational practices, skillsets and competencies, teaching and learning methodologies (including flipped classroom, blended learning, self-regulated learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, student-centred pedagogy), digital tools used at all educational levels, as well as barriers and challenges. This string of changes is covered by the new buzzword "Education 4.0". It is not so far finally defined. There are various explanations of the concept. Most align with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Industry 4.0. The JLE editorial aims to overview the emerging research field of Education 4.0 aligned with Industry 4.0, outlining the potential lines of research for JLE authors.
Industry 4.0. The transformation of production at large is beginning on the basis of a set of innovative technologies and completely brand-new processes. Their combination constitutes the underpinning of Industry 4.0.
Skillsets in Education 4.0. There are numerous views of the skills needed for graduates ready for Industry 4.0. One of the most replicated lists embraces the 10 skills offered by the World Economic Forum in 2016 with later updates. Most researchers outline numerous technical, communication, digital, and cognitive skills as a skillset of Industry 4.0.
Teaching and Learning in Education 4.0. The traditional pedagogy or face-to-face learning, still dominant worldwide, is going to combine with innovative approaches, including, e-learning, and blended learning as a mixture of e-learning ang face-to-face learning. In addition, all student-centered technologies add to the future pedagogical landscape: self-regulated learning, project-based learning, flipped classroom, etc.
Research on Education 4.0. The authors searched the Scopus for the documents related to "Education 4.0" to find that the total of 483 results unevenly distributed from 2010 to 2023, with a high of 137 in 2022. The analysis of the publications on Education 4.0 proves that the research field is developing fast, though publications authored by researchers from the developing countries prevail in the search results. At the same time, most of the selected publications came out in the Scopus-indexed low-quartile or discontinued journals. A disproportionately low number of articles published by the authors from the OECD countries depletes the quality of the research field.
Conclusion. The editorial overview of the concept of Education 4.0 may serve as a topical guidance for researchers at large and potential JLE authors focused on educational research. Further studies in the field may cover skillsets and competencies for Industry 4.0; teaching and learning approaches in Education 4.0; new educational frameworks and environments.


Elastic ligation, a simple therapeutic treatment of hemorrhoids, consists of placing a small rubber ring at the base of the hemorrhoid. This breaks it down anatomically, by ischemic necrosis. It is most called for in cases of hemorrhoidal dropsical swelling, involving separate, often prolapsed, cluster. This treatment may be carried out in conjunction with sclerosant injections. Painful incidence cannot always be avoided, but cases of severe hemorrhage are rare. The results of this treatment are often spectacular, especially if it is used discriminately, and it often supplants surgery.


Using a unique measure of unmet need that taps into several dimensions of informal long-term care, the present study included data from 694 informal caregivers of persons suffering from dementia at different times in the caregiving career (e.g., at home, following institutionalization, following the death of the care recipient). Multivariate regression models found that unmet need for either confidante or formal support had key implications for caregivers' emotional distress in each of the care situations. The findings suggest that conceptual models should incorporate unmet need as a viable predictor of caregiving outcomes and that assessment of unmet need may provide guidance in the development of more refined psychosocial and community-based intervention protocols.


Parameter learning strongly amplifies the impact of macroeconomic shocks on marginal utility when the representative agent has a preference for early resolution of uncertainty. This occurs as rational belief updating generates subjective long-run consumption risks. We consider general equilibrium models with unknown parameters governing either long-run economic growth, rare events, or model selection. Overall, parameter learning generates long-lasting, quantitatively significant additional macroeconomic risks that help explain standard asset pricing puzzles. (JEL C52, D83, E13, E32, G12)


The closed-loop control of rehabilitative technologies by neural commands has shown a great potential to improve motor recovery in patients suffering from paralysis. Brain–machine interfaces (BMI) can be used as a natural control method for such technologies. BMI provides a continuous association between the brain activity and peripheral stimulation, with the potential to induce plastic changes in the nervous system. Paraplegic patients, and especially the ones with incomplete injuries, constitute a potential target population to be rehabilitated with brain-controlled robotic systems, as they may improve their gait function after the reinforcement of their spared intact neural pathways. This paper proposes a closed-loop BMI system to control an ambulatory exoskeleton—without any weight or balance support—for gait rehabilitation of incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The integrated system was validated with three healthy subjects, and its viability in a clinical scenario was tested with four SCI patients. Using a cue-guided paradigm, the electroencephalographic signals of the subjects were used to decode their gait intention and to trigger the movements of the exoskeleton. We designed a protocol with a special emphasis on safety, as patients with poor balance were required to stand and walk. We continuously monitored their fatigue and exertion level, and conducted usability and user-satisfaction tests after the experiments. The results show that, for the three healthy subjects, 84.44 ± 14.56% of the trials were correctly decoded. Three out of four patients performed at least one successful BMI session, with an average performance of 77.6 1 ± 14.72%. The shared control strategy implemented (i.e., the exoskeleton could only move during specific periods of time) was effective in preventing unexpected movements during periods in which patients were asked to relax. On average, 55.22 ± 16.69% and 40.45 ± 16.98% of the trials (for healthy subjects and patients, respectively) would have suffered from unexpected activations (i.e., false positives) without the proposed control strategy. All the patients showed low exertion and fatigue levels during the performance of the experiments. This paper constitutes a proof-of-concept study to validate the feasibility of a BMI to control an ambulatory exoskeleton by patients with incomplete paraplegia (i.e., patients with good prognosis for gait rehabilitation).


If we wish to use metal clusters as magnetic materials and dipole materials, it is necessary to assemble the clusters to attain a certain material size. However, the types of building-block clusters suitable for assembly are currently very limited, and thereby we have little information on the factors required to assemble metal clusters and the physical properties and functions of such assembled structures. In this research, we found the following four points about thiolate (SR)-protected gold–platinum alloy (Au4Pt2) clusters ([Au4Pt2(SR)8]0); (1) [Au4Pt2(SR)8]0 is a metal cluster that can be used as a building block to form one-dimensional (1D) connected structures (1D-CS) via inter-cluster Au–Au bonds (aurophilic bond); (2) although all [Au4Pt2(SR)8]0 clusters have similar structures, the intra-cluster ligand interactions vary depending on the ligand structure. As a result, the distribution of the ligands in [Au4Pt2(SR)8]0 changes depending on the ligand structure; (3) the differences in the distributions of the ligands influence the inter-cluster ligand interactions, which in turn affects the formation of 1D-CS and changes the connected structure; and (4) the formation of 1D-CS decreases the band gap of the clusters. These results demonstrate that we need to design intra-cluster ligand interactions to produce 1D-CS with desired connecting structures.


A performance analytic model based on packet arrival rate is proposed for IEEE 802.11 DCF (distributed coordination function) in infrastructure-based WLAN (wireless local area network). The model does not only take into account the factors of number of terminals, traffic loads, the binary exponential back-off mechanism, but also analyzes the impact of the finite queue system at the MAC (medium access control) layer. Each terminal is modeled as an M/M/1/K queue, and the virtual time slot is introduced to discretize the state of the queue system. Based on this, a three dimensional discrete time Markov chain is used to model the system. By using the model, normalized throughput, packet delay and packet losing ratio are obtained. Simulation results show that the proposed model can validly predict the performance of the DCF under various packet arrival rates.


Dynamic imaging of the vocal tact is important for modeling speech
through the acoustic-articulatory relation. The average duration of each sound is
about 80ms. Movements of each articulator, in particular the tongue, should be
captured with sufficient precision. Current clinical techniques use X-ray video
fluoroscopy which involves ionizing radiation. Real-time MRI allows direct recording
of speech motion [1] but is intrinsically limited in terms of resolution and SNR.
Synchronization of MRI with an acoustic device is possible [2] but requires motion of
vocal system to be highly reproducible. In this work we propose an optimized setup
for achieving dynamic MRI of speech with high spatial and temporal resolution based
on a combination of: an MR-compatible acoustic device allowing simultaneous
recording of speech during MRI; and a retrospectively gated, motion-compensated
image reconstruction that can deal with the variability of the subject repeating the
same sentence over the acquisition.


The new knowledge and its applications are bound to give rise to legal questions. The purpose of this article is to provide an insight into the legal questions that arise as a consequence of the developments described above. In order to gain a first understanding of the questions that have already been raised, the laws in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States have been studied. Furthermore, it has been investigated whether these questions exhibit a need for legal intervention. In this respect the authors have discerned four themes that may serve as a basis for structuring the discussion about intervention.


Occurrence of the scribbled leather jacket file fish,
Aluterus scriptus, measuring 670 mm in length and
of 1350 g in weight, was recorded for the first time at
Kasimedu Fisheries Harbour, Chennai on 24th June
2011. It was caught in multi-day trawlers at a depth
of 60-80 m. Scribbled leather jacket file fishes
belonging to family Monacanthidae are distributed
from tropical to subtropical region.


While recent research has suggested the tremendous potential of electronic health records (EHR) to transform healthcare, there remains a limited understanding of the best ways to utilize EHR data to improve clinical decision-making. Healthcare analytics based on EHR data may be able to offer a solution to the challenging goal of providing effective clinical decision support in chronic care. This paper takes a first step towards data-driven, evidence-based healthcare analytics in information systems research. Following the paradigms of design science and predictive analytics research, we propose, demonstrate and evaluate a design framework of risk prediction in the context of chronic disease management. Our framework draws on a large longitudinal real-world EHR dataset and evidence based guidelines to support data- and science-driven clinical decision making. We choose diabetes and coronary heart disease as our experimental cases, each with thousands of patients in their respective cohorts. The results of the experiments suggest that our design can achieve an accurate and reliable predictive performance and that the design is generalizable across chronic diseases. The design artifact and the experimental results contribute to the IS knowledge base and provide important theoretical and practical implications for design science, predictive analytics, and health IT research.


The rib cage, such as the thoracic spine and ribs, influences glenohumeral mobility and the development of shoulder disorders.

 To evaluate movements of the ribs, thoracic vertebrae during bilateral arm elevation and to clarify the characteristic influences of age and gender.

 Subjects comprised 33 healthy individuals divided into a young group (10 males, 7 females; mean age, 25 years) and a middle-aged group (8 males, 8 females; mean age, 52 years). Chest CT was performed with two arm positions: arms hanging downwards; and arms elevated at 160°. Images were three-dimensionally reconstructed to evaluate rib movement, extension angle of thoracic vertebrae.

 Maximal movement was observed at the fifth rib, and rib movement decreased with increasing distance from the fifth rib in both the groups. In males, movement of the second to fourth ribs was smaller in the middle-aged group than in the young group (p < 0.05). Movement of the first to ninth ribs was smaller in females than in males (p < 0.05). No significant difference in the extension angle of the thoracic vertebrae was found.

 Fifth rib movement is the largest among all ribs during bilateral arm elevation. Reduction of upper rib movement initially arises as an age-related degradation in males. Women exhibit less rib movement during bilateral arm elevation.


We study the important problem of tracking moving targets in wireless sensor networks. We try to overcome the limitations of standard state of the art tracking methods based on continuous location tracking, i.e. the high energy dissipation and communication overhead imposed by the active participation of sensors in the tracking process and the low scalability, especially in sparse networks. Instead, our approach uses sensors in a passive way: they only record and judiciously spread information about observed target presence in their vicinity; this information is then used by the (powerful) tracking agent to locate the target by just following the traces left at sensors. Our protocol is greedy, local, distributed, energy efficient and very successful, in the sense that (as shown by extensive simulations) the tracking agent manages to quickly locate and follow the target; also, we achieve good trade-offs between the energy dissipation and latency.


The purpose of the paper is to recall the main features of Keynes's theory of income distribution in order to evaluate those recent contributions that go under the label of new Keynesian theory. To this end, a succinct overview of some leading pre-Keynesian theories and of Keynes approach in his Treatise on Money is first offered. After that, some exercises with the set of hypotheses on which the Treatise is based and a discussion of the General Theory clarify the theoretical operation proposed by Keynes. It is finally argued that the new Keynesian contributions are both analytically faulty and not coherent with Keynes's vision of the working of the capitalist system.


This paper describes VR Sketchpad, a pen-based computing environment for inputting and locating 3D objects in a virtual world. Designer can use the transparency layers to quickly trace and extract any image underlay from other application software. The 3D scene generation has three levels of complexity: simple extrusion of any drawn lines of shapes (i.e., straight or curved wall and column extrusion), solid modelling from a given geometric object representation (spheres, cones and boxes), and complex configuration with objects from graphics library (furniture layout).


Text classification must sometimes be applied in a low-resource language with no labeled training data. However, training data may be available in a related language. We investigate whether character-level knowledge transfer from a related language helps text classification. We present a cross-lingual document classification framework (CACO) that exploits cross-lingual subword similarity by jointly training a character-based embedder and a word-based classifier. The embedder derives vector representations for input words from their written forms, and the classifier makes predictions based on the word vectors. We use a joint character representation for both the source language and the target language, which allows the embedder to generalize knowledge about source language words to target language words with similar forms. We propose a multi-task objective that can further improve the model if additional cross-lingual or monolingual resources are available. Experiments confirm that character-level knowledge transfer is more data-efficient than word-level transfer between related languages.


Background and Purpose— Calcification has been associated with carotid plaque stability; however, an acceptable in vivo method to define plaques based on this component remains to be developed. The purpose of our study was to compare calcified and noncalcified volumes of carotid artery culprit symptomatic plaques with asymptomatic plaques using multidetector computed tomography. Methods— We identified 102 patients with ≥50% stenosis using NASCET criteria by multidetector computed tomography angiography between January 2004 and May 2006, which included 35 symptomatic (stenosis: 82.0±11.9%) and 67 asymptomatic patients (stenosis: 79.4±10.8%). Total plaque volume, noncalcified plaque volume, calcified plaque volume, and calcified/total ratio were measured for the 102 index plaques causing stenosis. Results— In a model including age, stenosis, and cardiovascular risk factors, calcified plaque volume/total plaque volume was significantly inversely associated with the occurrence of symptoms (P=0.012; odds ratio, 0.047; 95% CI, 0.004 to 0.511). There was a notable overlap in the calcified plaque volume/total plaque volume ratio between 0% and 45% for symptomatic and asymptomatic plaques. However, calcification >45% of the total plaque was very specific: 97.1% (34/35) for absence of symptoms (sensitivity: 28.4% 19/67). No significant association between total plaque volume, noncalcified plaque volume, or calcified plaque volume and symptomatology was found. Conclusion— The proportion of carotid plaque calcification, rather than absolute volume, is associated with stability in patients with stenosis. Specifically, for a subset of patients, plaque calcification >45% of the total volume may represent a clinically useful cutoff. The carotid plaque calcium ratio, determined by multidetector computed tomography volume measurements, may help noninvasively risk stratify patients with asymptomatic stenosis.