Explosive lining is a new method to construct underground space in soil. By making the most of compressibility of soil and thixotropy of concrete under explosive loading, this method offers an efficient path to form a cavity and its concrete support layer synchronously. In order to investigate the forming effect, a series of contrastive laboratory tests, including explosive lining method and conventional explosive compaction method, were performed under same soil and explosive conditions. Results show that measured dynamic stress and displacement by explosive lining method are higher than that of by conventional explosive compaction method under same equivalent radius, and the range of compact region in soil is larger too. Similarly, the physical and mechanical performance indexes of soil, such as water content and cohesion are superior to that of by conventional explosive compaction. It is approved that an even thickness concrete support layer can be formed in one-shot forming process by explosive lining, and there is no evident cranny region in the soil around the cavity.


Crashworthiness is the ability to protect its occupant by absorbing the energy of impact during a collision. A crush initiator is one way to increase crashworthiness criteria at collision. The most widely applied crush initiator applications are holes, wall thickness reduction, grooves, notch, bead and corrugated. This study discussed making a functional model from the crashworthiness criteria which is known by CFE and SEA. Variable used variations of the crush initiator in the form of circular holes with different rotation angles and diameters. The rotation angle referred to in this study was 2 holes which are rotated based on the midpoint of the hole distance to the radial axis of the hole. The crush initiator was placed in a square column at each side with steel material. Besides, the wall thickness variable was added which can increase the energy absorption during a collision. The method used numerical simulation and experimental dynamic loading. The numerical simulation used the explicit finite element method by using ESI PAM-Crash. Both methods used the drop test model by using impact transferability. Impact transferability was rigid which was used to transfer impact loading during impact conditions. Experimental was used to validate the function model which was obtained through the least square method with sampling from numerical simulations. The results showed the same patterns produced by the functional and experimental models using the Taguchi method (L9) with 3 runs. The maximum of this pattern is 23% for CFE and 17% for SEA. Meanwhile, the average error of the S/N ratio shows 8.77% for CFE and 2.16% for SEA. This model function could be used by a crashworthy designer to estimate the value of CFE and SEA.


ABSTRACT Racial/ethnic inequality is a common feature of urban life. This paper attempts to identify spatial structures that contribute to disparities in White and minority incomes. In a study of 49 core based statistical areas (CBSAs) in the U.S., we analyze 2016 data on racial/ethnic income inequality, 2010 data on minority-White segregation, and 2014 data on job accessibility through transit, driving and pedestrian transportation networks. We find that Black and Latino incomes are far lower than White incomes where the former are more segregated and if transit, driving, and pedestrian networks are more efficient, i.e., residents can access a larger proportion of metro area employment opportunities during the morning rush hour. For Latinos, these effects are independent of each other. For Blacks, they are substitutes. We conclude by offering various explanations for why transit and pedestrian networks, in particular, could contribute to racial inequality.


A novel multi-functional polymer composite (MPC) with both excellent shear stiffening (ST) performance and magnetorheological (MR) effect is prepared by dispersing magnetic particles into shear stiffening polymer matrix. Besides having the magnetically dependent mechanical properties (MR effects), this multi-functional MPC automatically changes its rheological behavior in response to external shear stimuli. The mechanical properties of this smart composite can be alternatively achieved by varying the particle's types and contents. Upon applying a shear stress with excitation frequency from 1 Hz to 100 Hz, the storage modulus (G′) of the MPC increases from 102 to 106 Pa, demonstrating an excellent ST effect. Interestingly, the ST effects of the MPC are also tunable by varying the external magnetic field, and the area of G′ could be greatly increased and precisely controlled. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism is proposed and discussed. It is believed that the "cross bonds" and the particle chains induced by the magnetic field are due to the excellent multi-functional stimulus-response properties.


Privacy invasion, surveillance and profiling are some identified vulnerabilities as a consequence of trusting context-aware technologies such as smart-phones. With PC-enabled e-commerce transactions, the technological ecosystem was smaller with a corresponding simpler chain of trust. Context-aware technologies such as smart-phones are increasingly being used in initiating and completing commercial transactions. It is argued that newer and richer understanding of the issue of trust informed by mobile commerce is important. Research is needed to understand the nature of trust in context-aware technologies. This might lead on the one hand to valuable insights into the effect of the awareness of risks on user behavior and on the other hand, to suggestions on what can or should be done from the retailer or provider's side to enhance the communication of risks and privacy issues to users.


Abstract. The article deals with the growing importance of philanthropy regarding German urban development in recent years. Between the opposing poles of financial shortage of public authorities and increasing concentration of private assets, the financial and local engagement of wealthy citizens open up creative leeway for urban policy. Two nationwide surveys in 467 cities respectively 5000 foundations in 22 cities as well as 24 qualitative interviews with various decision makers from policy, administration, economy and foundation system provide the empirical basis for this article. Key findings of the article are two systematisations. One systematisation categorizes German cities regarding their level of philanthropy activity. The other systematisation outlines different project types concerning the strategy and procedure of cooperation between philanthropists and local authorities.


Mythic narratives occupy a privileged position in human cultures, and relate not only the creation of the world, plants, animals and people, but also the origin of social values, rituals and institutions. The pre-eminence given to myths and their explanatory value, means that these narratives are much more than the recollection of fantastic events in the deep past. The study of myths have relied on a wide range of approaches, variously stipulating that these are the product of the social unconscious, the fabricated fantasies of the rulers to bolster their claims to power, or the indistinct recollections of actual events in the distant past — beyond the reaches of orally-transmitted extra-social memory. Here we present a particular mythic motif, involving the defeat of a giant celestial bird, with solar attributes, at the hands of a culture hero or heroic twins. While we will focus on this motif and its distribution across Mesoamerican cultures, it bears remarking that similar motifs occur among Amerindian cultures in both North and South America. Together this collection of myths can be ascribed to a series of mythic cycles, wherein culture heroes set out to vanquish monsters and make the world a place suitable for the creation of humanity. Surprisingly, several Old World myths also exhibit such remarkable structural and substantial similarities, that these point to distant, yet common prehistoric origins and widespread diffusion, rather than independent and coincident convergence.


Although reductive dehalogenation by anaerobic microorganisms offers great potential for the degradation of halocarbons, little is known about the biochemical mechanisms involved. It has previously been demonstrated that the dehalogenase activity involved in 3-chlorobenzoate dehalogenation by Desulfomonile tiedjei DCB-1 is present in the membrane fraction of the cell extracts. We report herein the purification of a 3-chlorobenzoate-reductive dehalogenase from the cytoplasmic membrane of D. tiedjei DCB-1. The dehalogenase activity was monitored by the conversion of 3-chlorobenzoate to benzoate with reduced methyl viologen as a reducing agent. The membrane fraction of the cell extracts was obtained by ultracentrifugation, and the membrane proteins were solubilized with either the detergent CHAPS (3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethyl-ammonio]-1-propanesulfonate) or Triton X-100 in the presence of glycerol. The solubilized dehalogenase was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation and a combination of anion exchange, hydroxyapatite, and hydrophobic interaction chromatographies. This procedure yielded about 7% of the total dehalogenase activity with a 120-fold increase in specific activity. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the purified dehalogenase consisted of two subunits with molecular weights of 64,000 and 37,000. The enzyme converted 3-chlorobenzoate to benzoate at its highest specific activity in 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at 38 degrees C. The enzyme was yellow and probably a heme protein. The enzyme had an adsorbance peak at 408 nm. The dithionite-reduced enzyme displayed absorbance peaks at 416, 522, and 550 nm. The dithionite-reduced enzyme was able to complex with carbon monoxide. The nature of the heme chromophore is currently unknown.


Asialofetuin (ASF) coupled to Sepharose has been used to isolate a Mr 30,000 protein from Triton X-100 extracts of the baby hamster kidney cell line BHK21 C13. Binding to ASF-Sepharose was specific for terminal beta-galactosyl residues. The lectin requires detergent for optimal solubilization and binding is independent of Ca2+ or reducing reagents. The lectin was labelled in a lactoperoxidase-catalysed iodination of intact BHK21 C13 cells, suggesting that it is associated with the cell surface. Antibodies to the lectin identify in Western blotting cross-reactive components in established cell lines of kidney (MDCK, NRK) and non-kidney (L, CHO, 3T3) origin. In young adult hamsters, the lectin is expressed in colon and duodenum and in lesser amounts in ileum, stomach, lung, liver and testes but is absent in kidney. The lectin is expressed in late embryonic and newborn hamster kidney but expression declines during 14 days after birth. Immunofluorescent staining of cryostat sections of newborn hamster kidney and intestine show that the lectin is expressed at apical epithelial surfaces. The presence of the lectin at the luminal surface of kidney tubules suggests a tubular origin for the BHK21 C13 cell line. Possible functions of the Mr 30,000 lectin in kidney development are discussed.


Design knowledge incorporates knowledge and information about designed objects and their attributes, as well as about methods and means for undertaking the design process. Such design knowledge is articulated in several different representations or languages. This paper presents a typology of the languages of engineering design, emphasizing the representation of designed objects and the articulation and representation of the cognitive processes of design. Design languages include verbal or textual statements, drawings and graphics, formulas, and numbers. Still other design languages follow from computational styles. The languages of design and their computer-based implementations are empirical in origin, since observation reveals that these languages are derived not from an overarching theory, but from our experience in trying to understand what we do when we: talk about designed objects, articulate design processes, and teach computers how to do these things as well. Next to presenting a typology of the languages of engineering design, and discussing the role of these languages in design activity, the paper also discusses the possibility of automating design activity through the design and manufacture of expert systems for product design. We will be looking at one of the most advanced systems of this sort, the PRIDE system, and use our study of PRIDE to discuss the possibilities and limits of automating design through the use of expert systems. 2 Empirical Constructs for Representing Objects and Articulating Processes


Background: Age estimation and gender determination in victim identification are some of the most common and important applications of forensic sciences. Radiology can give assistance in this field. The various paranasal air sinuses play a significant role in this aspect as they tend to remain intact even after mass disasters like explosions and are extremely reliable.

Aim: The aim of this study is to measure the right and left maxillary and frontal air sinus dimensions and their application in age determination and gender identification.

Materials and Methods: Twenty Posteroanterior (PA) skull radiographs were used for the study. The width, length and distance across the right and left sinuses were measured using the Planmeca Romexis Viewer software. The data obtained were then subjected to descriptive and discriminative analysis.

Results: The average area of the frontal sinus was greater in males (2012.59 ± 1032.87) than in females (1536 ± 932.76). The left frontal area (2258.03 ± 1368.23) was greater than the right (2012.59 ± 1032.87) in both males and females. The average distance across the maxillary sinus was more in females (147.41) than in males (148.14).

Conclusion: Gender determination and age estimation form the most important steps in victim identification especially in cases of disaster. Both, the maxillary and frontal air sinus dimensions can be very useful in forensic sciences.


. The digital factory paradigm comprises a multi-layered integration of the information related to various activities along the factory and product lifecycle manufacturing related resources. A central aspect of a digital factory is that of enabling the product lifecycle stakeholders to collaborate through the use of software solutions. The digital factory thus expands outside the actual company boundaries and offers the opportunity for the business and its suppliers to collaborate on business processes that affect the whole supply chain. This paper discusses an interoperability architecture for digital factories. To this end, it delves into the issue by analysing the main challenges that must be addressed to support an integrated and scalable factory architecture characterized by access to services, aggregation of data, and orchestration of production processes. Then, it revises the state of the art in the light of these requirements and proposes a general architectural framework conjugating the most interesting features of service-oriented architectures and data sharing architectures. The study is exemplified through a case study.


Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics is a broad subject. Grossly speaking, it deals with systems which have not yet relaxed to an equilibrium state, or else with systems which are in a steady non-equilibrium state, or with more general situations. They are characterized by external forcing and internal fluxes, resulting in a net production of entropy which quantifies dissipation and the extent by which, by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, time-reversal invariance is broken. In this thesis we discuss some of the mathematical structures involved with generic discrete-state-space non-equilibrium systems, that we depict with networks in all analogous to electrical networks. We define suitable observables and derive their linear regime relationships, we discuss a duality between external and internal observables that reverses the role of the system and of the environment, we show that network observables serve as constraints for a derivation of the minimum entropy production principle. We dwell on deep combinatorial aspects regarding linear response determinants, which are related to spanning tree polynomials in graph theory, and we give a geometrical interpretation of observables in terms of Wilson loops of a connection and gauge degrees of freedom. We specialize the formalism to continuous-time Markov chains, we give a physical interpretation for observables in terms of locally detailed balanced rates, we prove many variants of the fluctuation theorem, and show that a well-known expression for the entropy production due to Schnakenberg descends from considerations of gauge invariance, where the gauge symmetry is related to the freedom in the choice of a prior probability distribution. As an additional topic of geometrical flavor related to continuous-time Markov chains, we discuss the Fisher-Rao geometry of nonequilibrium decay modes, showing that the Fisher matrix contains information about many aspects of non-equilibrium behavior, including non-equilibrium phase transitions and superposition of modes. We establish a sort of statistical equivalence principle and discuss the behavior of the Fisher matrix under time-reversal. To conclude, we propose that geometry and combinatorics might greatly increase our understanding of nonequilibrium phenomena.


Background The increasing ubiquity of 'smart' devices opens up new possibilities for presenting data. Technology-enhanced learning is a rapidly evolving field, and much progress is made by finding new use for audio-visual technology. Some of these innovations can be difficult to communicate adequately in the traditional paper-based format required for poster presentation. The use of augmented reality (AR) tags in posters offers intriguing new possibilites for incorporating multimedia resources in scientific posters. Innovation This approach was piloted in our poster 'Perceptual failure: an underrecognised source of error'. The study on which this poster was based tested for perceptual errors (change- and inattentional-blindness) using video based materials.1 It is known that insight into perceptual errors is very poor,2 and most people do not recognise that they could be vulnerable to these effects until they are demonstrated to them. The poster created to describe this work was therefore designed to incorporate AR tags using the free 'Aurasma' app, available on Apple iOS (iTunes store), and Android (Google Play). These tags are easy to design and incorporate, and require very little computing knowledge. The technology has an established user base and tags can be made public or private, and can be time-limited. Improvements Incorporation of AR tags makes for a visually interesting poster that attracts an audience, particularly amongst tech-savvy users. The advantages are that resources can be demonstrated and not simply described. The use of multimedia allows a new freedom to include information that would simply have been impossible previously. Messages AR tags are simple to set up, and require little prior knowledge. The technology is reasonably mature, and the hardware is already highly prevalent. The opportunities afforded by this new innovation offer a wealth of novel applications in data presentation. References Greig P, Higham H, Nobre A. Failure to perceive clinical events: an under-recognised source of error. Resuscitation 2014;85:952–6 Levin DT, Momen N, Drivdahl S. Change blindness blindness: the metacognitive error of overestimating change-detection ability. Vis cogn. 2000;7(3):397–412


Managing regulatory compliance is increasingly challenging and costly for organizations world-wide. While there is evidence that research on compliance management is on the increase, to facilitate industry-relevance there is a need to inform future research directions with empirical insights from practice. In this paper, we present the results of an empirical study that examines challenges in managing regulatory compliance, derived from Australian compliance management practitioners. The insights from the study are complemented by results from a set of interviews with compliance management experts. The study reveals the consolidated views of challenges in managing regulatory compliance as experienced by practitioners and as perceived by the experts in the Australian compliance industry. The results indicate core challenges that are agreed on by both stakeholder groups. In particular, the speed of regulatory changes/updates, organisational culture, risk management, scarcity of resources and a lack of value-add perception of compliance are considered the most critical five challenges. We present a discussion of these challenges and highlight their importance for Information Systems research.


EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO PERINATAL ULTRASOUND RADIATION ON INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE AUDITORY SYSTEM Jennifer Burnett Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology Master of Science: Neuroscience Ultrasound (US) has become a standard procedure used during pregnancy to document the health and development of a fetus. When ultrasound was first developed, some researchers urged caution, suggesting that the possibility of hazard should be kept under constant review. Given the routine application of fetal ultrasound imaging, any possibility of deleterious developmental effects resulting from its use is an important public health issue. Rats have a well characterized central nervous system whose neurochemical pathways and neuronal electrophysiology qualitatively correspond to those of humans. Because of this, we opted to use Wistar rats as an animal model to document effects from ultrasound exposure. We exposed one group of rats on prenatal days 15 and 20 for fifteen minutes. A control group was exposed subjected to similar conditions, however no ultrasound exposure was given. A third group was exposed for ten minutes each on post natal days (PND) 2 and 3 while a fourth control group was exposed to the same conditions as group three with no ultrasound exposure. The rats were then watched for developmental delays. When the rats reached the appropriate age, they were given a locomotor task to test for appropriate motor responses. Acoustic startle and prepulse inhibition tests were administered to test for sensorimotor gating, hearing, and motor response. Finally, a brainstem auditory evoke potential test was given to track auditory threshold and appropriate neural firing at various auditory nuclei. Postnatally US exposed rats showed a decreased acoustic startle response and prenatally exposed rats exhibited a speeding up in components of the brainstem auditory evoked potential test.


There is wide agreement that corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) systems within the brain are activated by stressful stimuli. There is also mounting evidence for the role of bombesin (BN)-like peptides in the mediation of the stress response. To date, however, the extent to which other stimuli increase the activity of these peptidergic systems has received little attention. In the present investigation we validated and used in vivo microdialysis sampling followed by ex vivo radioimmunoassays to monitor the release of CRH and BN-like peptides during appetitive (food intake) and stressful (restraint) events. It is demonstrated for the first time that the in vivo release of CRH and BN-like peptides at the central nucleus of the amygdala was markedly increased by both stressor exposure and food ingestion. In fact, the meal-elicited rise of CRH release was as great as that associated with 20 min of restraint stress. Paralleling these findings, circulating ACTH and corticosterone levels were also increased in response to both food intake and restraint. Contrary to the current views, these results indicate that either food ingestion is interpreted as a "stressful" event by certain neural circuits involving the central amygdala or that the CRH- and BN-related peptidergic systems may serve a much broader role than previously envisioned. Rather than evoking feelings of fear and anxiety, these systems may serve to draw attention to events or cues of biological significance, such as those associated with food availability as well as those posing a threat to survival.


Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue has major morphologic and functional similarities to Peyer's patches found in the gut. Both possess a lymphoepithelium with selective antigen sampling properties, both appear in the apparent absence of direct antigen stimulation, both contain a high percentage of cells bearing IgA sdurface immunoglobulin and both can repopulate the bronchial and gut lamina propria with IgA containing cells. Good evidence now exists (and will be reviewed) in support of the concept of a common mucosal immunologic system. Cells potentially sensitized at or in a mucosal tissue such as the gut or lung would then migrate to the draining lymph node, thence into the circulation and localize in a variety of mucosal tissues. Factors involved but not essential for such localization include antigen. Lymphoblasts derived from the lung tend to go back to the lung. Similarly, gut derived lymphoblasts have a predilection for the gut. However, available evidence supports the concept of integrated systemic and mucosal immune systems. Several factors must be taken into account in analysis of the products of local mucosal immune reactions and in developing approaches to achieve optimal humoral immunity at any mucosal surface.


: Using quantitative methods (radioautography using thymidine label, DNA cytophotometry and mitotic index definition) proliferative properties of the vascular wall main cell differons (endothelium, smooth myocytes and fibroblasts) were investigated in 60 rats during postnatal and reparative morphogenesis. Most pronounced DNA synthesis was noted to occur in aortal endothelium in newborn animals and in fibroblasts of adventitia in 1 and 6 months and old aged (2.5 years) rats. In various vessel types of adult animals significant differences of label incorporation in fibroblasts of adventitia were not revealed whereas endothelial daily proliferation pool varies significantly showing minimal value (0.5%) in inferior caval vein and maximal (6%)-in capillaries. During the regenerative morphogenesis of aorta, caused by adventita cryodestruction proliferative activity elevation was noted in all the cell types, most reactive of them being smooth myocyte differon of the media.


Book synopsis: The Singer-Songwriter in Europe is the first book to explore and compare the multifaceted discourses and practices of this figure within and across linguistic spaces in Europe and in dialogue with spaces beyond continental borders. The concept of the singer-songwriter is significant and much-debated for a variety of reasons. Many such musicians possess large and zealous followings, their output often esteemed politically and usually held up as the nearest popular music gets to high art, such facets often yielding sizeable economic benefits. Yet this figure, per se, has been the object of scant critical discussion, with individual practitioners celebrated for their isolated achievements instead. In response to this lack of critical knowledge, this volume identifies and interrogates the musical, linguistic, social and ideological elements that configure the singer-songwriter and its various equivalents in Europe, such as the French auteur-compositeur-interprete and the Italian cantautore, since the late 1940s. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of this figure in the post-war period, how and why its contours have changed over time and space subsequently, cross-cultural influences, and the transformative agency of this figure as regards party and identity politics in lyrics and music, often by means of individual case studies. The book's polycentric approach endeavours to redress the hitherto Anglophone bias in scholarship on the singer-songwriter in the English-speaking world, drawing on the knowledge of scholars from across Europe and from a variety of academic disciplines, including modern language studies, musicology, sociology, literary studies and history.


Diagnostics for linear regression models have largely been developed to handle nonsurvey data. The models and the sampling plans used for finite populations often entail stratification, clustering, and survey weights. In this article we adapt some influence diagnostics that have been formulated for ordinary or weighted least squares for use with unclustered survey data. The statistics considered here include DFBETAS, DFFITS, and Cook's D. The differences in the performance of ordinary least squares and survey-weighted diagnostics are compared in an empirical study where the values of weights, response variables, and covariates vary substantially.


The electrical appliances shared with PLC modems in the same powerline network generate noises. Among them, impulsive noises are the main source of interference resulting in signal distortions and bit errors during data transmission. Many impulsive noise models were proposed in the literature. They share the same impulsive noise definition: "unpredictable noises measured at the receiver side". This definition leads to the modelling of thousands of impulsive noises whose plurality would very likely come from the diversity of paths that the original impulsive noise took. In this paper, an innovative modelling approach is applied to impulsive noises which are henceforth studied directly at their sources. Noise at the receiver is considered as the noise model at the source filtered by the powerline channel. Effective in-device sources of impulsive noises are identified and classified into six classes, from which representative noises are proposed. Based on impulsive modelling at source, a receiver side model is finally proposed.


Mesopelagic fishes play critical ecological roles by sequestering carbon, recycling nutrients, and acting as a key trophic link between primary consumers and higher trophic levels. They are also an important food source for harvestable economically valuable fish stocks and a key link between shallow and deep-sea ecosystems. Despite their relevance, mesopelagic ecosystems are increasingly threatened by direct and indirect human activities while representing some of the largest and least understood environments on Earth. The composition, diversity, and other aspects of the most basic biological features of numerous mesopelagic groups of fishes are still poorly known. Here, we provide the first integrative study of the biodiversity of mesopelagic fishes of the southwestern Tropical Atlantic (SWTA), based on two expeditions in northeastern Brazil in 2015 and 2017. A full list of mesopelagic fishes of the region is provided, including rare species and new records for the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone and the indication of potentially new species in groups such as the Stomiiformes and Beryciformes. Key aspects of the diversity of mesopelagic fishes of the region were also assessed, considering different depth strata and diel periods. At least 200 species, 130 genera, 56 families, and 22 orders of the Teleostei and one shark (Isistius brasiliensis, Dalatiidae, Squaliformes) were recorded, including potentially eight new species (4%) and 50 (25%) new records for Brazilian waters. Five families accounted for 52% of the diversity, 88% of specimens collected, and 66% of the total biomass: Stomiidae (38 spp., 8% of specimens, 21% of biomass), Myctophidae (34 spp., 36%, 24%), Melamphaidae (11 spp., 2%, 7%), Sternoptychidae (9 spp., 26%, 10%), and Gonostomatidae (7 spp., 16%, 4%). During the day, richness and diversity were higher at lower mesopelagic depths (500–1000 m), with contributions of typically bathypelagic species likely associated with seamounts and oceanic islands. At night, richness and diversity increased at epipelagic depths, indicating the diel ascension of several species (e.g., myctophids and sternoptychids) that can endure temperature ranges of up to 25°C. Information on the geographic distribution of several rare species worldwide is also provided.


Two classic theories maintain that aging evolves either because of alleles whose deleterious effects are confined to late life or because of alleles with broad pleiotropic effects that increase early-life fitness at the expense of late-life fitness. However, empirical studies often reveal positive pleiotropy for fitness across age classes, and recent evidence suggests that selection on early-life fitness can decelerate aging and increase lifespan, thereby casting doubt on the current consensus. Here, we briefly review these data and promote the simple argument that aging can evolve under positive pleiotropy between early- and late-life fitness when the deleterious effect of mutations increases with age. We argue that this hypothesis makes testable predictions and is supported by existing evidence.


The distribution of the major solutes, particularly potassium, in the berry pericarp of the grape variety Tarrango was investigated. The osmotic potentials (ψ π ) of the skin and pulp were the same, viz. -5.6 MPa. Glucose and fructose accounted for 84% of the pulp ψ π , although the contribution of these sugars to skin ψ π was significantly less, viz. 58%. The tartrate to malate ratios were 0.4 and 2.4 in the skin and pulp, respectively. The mean concentration of K in the skin was ca 300 m M which was four to five times higher than the concentration in the pulp. Although crystals of a calcium salt (tartrate?) were seen in cryo-scanning electron micrographs of hypodermal cells, crystalline K salts were never observed. The calculated contribution of skin K and complementary anion to skin ψ π was ca 20%. X-ray microprobe mapping of Tarrango hypodermal cells showed that K was not uniformly distributed across the skin. Similar observations were made for Shiraz berries. This inhomogeneity of K accumulation results in some cells with vacuolar concentrations between 0.5 and 1.0 M . It is proposed that malate is the predominant complementary anion to K in high-K hypodermal cells, and the likely salt to acid balance in the vacuole of these cells results in pH levels significantly greater than the pH level of the pulp, viz. 5 or higher. While K occurs largely as a soluble salt, the high Ca content of the skin (48 m M ) probably leads to the precipitation of the greater part of the tartrate as crystalline bundles of calcium tartrate. The preferential sequestering of K in the skin is indicative of a very rudimentary homoeostatic process which assists in regulating K levels in the pulp.


In order to elucidate the hydrogen effect on the atomic configuration in the Ni-Nb-Zr glassy alloys, we measured Ni, Nb, and Zr K-edge XAFS spectra of the Ni-Nb-Zr glassy alloy films with two different chemical compositions, i.e., Ni42Nb28Zr30 and Ni36Nb24Zr40, and their hydrogen-charged ones, i.e., (Ni42Nb28Zr30)0.91H0.09 and (Ni36Nb24Zr40)0.89H0.11. The Fourier transforms of the XAFS oscillations of these samples clearly shows that there is a significant difference in the structural response between the Zr30at.% and the Zr40at.% alloys when hydrogen atoms are charged. The curve-fitting analysis indicates that the hydrogenation does not alter the local alignment around the three metal atoms for the Zr30at.% alloy, but for the Zr40at.% alloy; it elongates the inter-atomic distances of Zr-Zr, Zr-Nb and Nb-Ni. On the basis of the curve fitting analysis, we propose the distorted icosahedral Zr5Ni5Nb3 cluster models. The XANES spectra at each (Ni, Zr and Nb) edge of (Ni36Nb24Zr40)0.89H0.11 also present the distinct shape from the other samples. The pre-edge peak (shoulder) vanishes or weakens, suggesting the conversion of the electronic state of the metal ions owing to the hydrogenation. The post-edge energy region shows clear multi-scattering effects from hydrogen atoms by charging these.


The study endeavors Urdu translation and validation of Deception as a Conflict Management Technique Scale (DCMTS). A total of 545 respondents were engaged for the two phased study through convenience sampling. Phase 1 involved forward and backward translation of DCMTS, Phase 2 established its psychometric properties. The reliability & validity of the scale was established using test-retest method & between language validity (English and Urdu versions) of DCMTS, in addition to convergent & discriminant validity with selected sub-scales of Personality Assessment Questionnaire (Urdu adult version). EFA shown factor structure with five principal dimensions; besides confirmatory factor analysis, GFI confirmed good fit of model to data with good values appearing for internal consistency. The findings authenticate that DCMTS is an easy-to-use tool & can be used by counselors and HR professionals to determine the possibility of use of deception. The DCMTS Urdu version will be helpful in clear understanding of the construct regarding the items for Urdu populaces.
Keywords: Deception, Urdu translation, reliability and validity, factor analysis


This article seeks to recover the experience and agency of refugee women during the process of rehabilitation after Partition, focusing on technical training.2 It explores the ideas that underpinned the process of rehabilitating refugee women in the immediate years following the Partition of India in August 1947, within the Bombay state. This article contributes to attempts in the historiography to challenge conventional histories of Partition that have marginalised women and focuses on recovering the agency of refugee women in rebuilding and reshaping their lives.3 It will be argued that the Bombay state's notions of gender shaped and informed the type and content of rehabilitation that unattached refugee women4 received. Whilst the state showed little evidence of any genuine concern regarding the welfare of refugee women, unofficial organisations designed and implemented various schemes to rehabilitate refugee women. This article will reveal the fraught and unequal relationship, between a relatively absent state, and these unofficial organisations.


One of the most notable changes in the epidemiology of esophageal cancer (EC) is the rising incidence and prevalence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) in developed countries. The aim of this systematic review was to collect and summarize all the available evidence regarding lifestyle, diet, and EAC risk. We searched the PubMed and Scopus databases in January 2021 for studies providing information about lifestyle, diet, WCRF/AICR recommendations, and EAC risk; published in English; without a time filter. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to assess risk of bias. The results are stratified by risk factor. A total of 106 publications were included. Half of the case-control studies were judged as high quality, whilst practically all cohort studies were judged as high quality. Body mass index and waist circumference were associated with increased EAC risk. Physical activity did not appear to have a significant direct role in EAC risk. A diet rich in fruit, vegetables, and whole grains appeared to be more protective than a Western diet. Alcohol does not seem to be related to EAC, whereas smokers, particularly heavy smokers, have an increased risk of EAC. Prevention remains the best option to avert EAC. Comprehensible and easy to follow recommendations should be provided to all subjects. Protocol ID number: CRD-42021228762, no funds received.


A fundamental goal of fisheries management is sustainable harvesting and the preservation of properly functioning populations. Therefore, an important aspect of management is the identification of demographically independent populations (stocks), which is achieved by estimating the movement of individuals between areas. A range of methods have been developed to determine the level of connectivity among populations; some measure this directly (e.g. mark-recapture) while others use indirect measures (e.g. population genetics). Each species presents a different set of challenges for methods that estimate levels of connectivity. Metanephrops challengeri is a species of nephropid lobster that supports a commercial fishery and inhabits the continental shelf and slope of New Zealand. Very little research on population structure has been reported for this species and it presents a unique set of challenges compared to finfish species. M. challengeri have a short pelagic larval duration lasting up to five days which limits the dispersal potential of larvae, potentially leading to low levels of connectivity among populations. The aim of this study was to examine the genetic population structure of the New Zealand M. challengeri fishery.  DNA was extracted from M. challengeri samples collected from the eastern coast of the North Island (from the Bay of Plenty to the Wairarapa), the Chatham Rise, and near the Auckland Islands. DNA from the mitochondrial CO1 gene and nuclear ITS-1 region was amplified and sequenced. The aligned dataset of DNA sequences was then used to estimate levels of both genetic diversity and differentiation, and examine demographic history. Analyses of population structure indicate that M. challengeri from the Auckland Islands region are genetically distinct from M. challengeri inhabiting the Chatham Rise, and those collected from waters off the eastern coast of the North Island. There appears to be gene flow among the sampling sites off the eastern coast of the North Island and on the Chatham Rise, but some isolation by distance was detected. These results indicate that some of these populations may be demographically uncoupled. Genetic diversity estimates combined with Bayesian skyline plots and demographic history parameters suggest that M. challengeri populations have recently undergone a size expansion.  The genetic structuring between the Auckland Islands site and all others may be due to a putative habitat disjunction off the Otago shelf. In contrast, a largely continuously distributed population along the eastern coast of the North Island and the Chatham Rise most likely promotes gene flow as larvae can be transported limited distances by oceanic currents. Historical changes in climate may have influenced the patterns of present-day structure and genetic diversity of M. challengeri, by altering habitat availability and other characteristics of their environment. This study provides evidence that species which appear to have limited dispersal potential can still maintain connected populations, but there are situations where large breaks in suitable habitat appear to limit gene flow. The results of this study will help inform stock structure of the M. challengeri fishery, which will enable stock assessments to be more precisely aligned to natural population boundaries.


There has been limited research examining the role of geographic factors in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among adolescent girls. This study is one of the first to investigate and identify community-level geographic factors that may be associated with HPV vaccine uptake in the United States. We analyzed data from the 2011 and 2012 National Immunization Survey-Teen to examine associations of HPV vaccine initiation (receipt of at least one dose based on healthcare provider records) among female adolescents aged 13 to 17 years (N = 20,565) with ZIP code level geographic factors that were linked to the survey. Analyses were conducted using weighted logistic regression that included state-random effects. HPV vaccine initiation was approximately 53% in both 2011 and 2012. Racial composition and urban/rural residence were both independently associated with vaccine initiation (P = < 0.05). Initiation was higher among girls living in communities where the majority (>50%) of the population was Hispanic compared to communities where the majority of the population was non-Hispanic white (69.0% vs 49.9%; Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.55, 95% CI, 1.33–1.80). Girls living in high population density areas (urban) had higher HPV vaccine initiation compared to those living in low population density areas (rural) (56% vs 44.6%; AOR 1.37, 95% CI, 1.13–1.65). Initiation was also higher among girls living in the most impoverished communities compared to girls living in the least impoverished communities (61% vs 50.4%), but community-level poverty was not significant in the adjusted analysis. Higher HPV vaccination coverage in poor urban communities with a high proportion of racial/ethnic minorities may be partly attributable to targeted interventions and the continued effectiveness of the Vaccines for Children program (VFC), which provides recommended vaccines at no cost to eligible children. Learning more about factors that influence higher HPV vaccination initiation rates among certain groups might inform intervention strategies for groups with lower initiation rates.


In 2005, IPTS launched a project which aimed to assess the developments in eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning in the 10 New Member States at national, and at cross-country level. At that time, the 10 New Member States were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. A report for each country was produced, describing its educational system and the role played by eLearning within both the formal education system and other aspects of lifelong learning. Each report then analyzes, on the basis of desk research and expert interviews, the major achievements, shortcomings, drivers and barriers in the development of eLearning in one of the countries in question. This analysis provides the basis for the identification and discussion of national policy options to address the major challenges and to suggest R&D issues relevant to the needs of each country – in this case, Latvia. In addition to national monographs, the project has delivered a synthesis report, which offers an integrated view of the developments of eLearning in the New Member States. Furthermore, a prospective report looking across and beyond the development of the eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning areas has been developed to summarize policy challenges and options for the development of eServices and the Information Society towards the goals of Lisbon and i2010. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.


Individual responsibilities and individual capabilities are becoming increasingly important in public policies of European welfare states. Therefore, it is said that European welfare states develop in the direction of social investment states. In this article we argue that the shift towards the social investment state may lead to new social risks and new inequalities. Building upon Bonoli's (2005) seminal article, we introduce the concept of 'social investment risks' to refer to these risks. In this article we explore and identify the development towards a social investment state in detail by focusing on different social policy trends in different welfare areas and by analysing their impact on the individual level. We deconstruct the underlying assumptions of the social investment paradigm and reflect on the role of individual capabilities and social capital in the social investment state. We assess to what extent the distribution of these capabilities creates new social risks and new inequalities. Dealing with these new inequalities and new social risks may be considered as new challenges for welfare states. Therefore, this article innovatively expands the borders of current-day welfare state research and explores the consequences of the social investment paradigm.


In this paper, a segmented specular reflection solar concentrator is proposed. Many mirrors are arranged in the same plane, and all the reflected rays fall on the cylindrical focal surface. The glass mirrors are placed in different positions, tilt angles and widths, and reflect light without blocking each other. Through the theoretical analysis of this type of concentrating system, in the same space span, with the increase of the installation height of the cylindrical focal surface, the concentrating ratio and area utilization rate gradually increase. The area utilization ratio is related to the ratio of mirror installation span and receiver height, and the concentrating ratio is linear to the number of mirrors. Through multiple groups of photothermal experimental analysis, it can be concluded that under the same heat collection temperature, the greater the radiation intensity received of the heat collecting tube, the higher the heat collection efficiency of the solar collecting system.


Submitted 2020-07-06 | Accepted 2020-07-31 | Available 2020-12-01 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.mi-fpap.214-216 Insects are one of the proposed responses to the increasing request of alternative feed/food productions with high production yield and low environmental impact. Insect production offers a new sustainable alternative for unexploited or underexploited resources, in accordance with the waste hierarchy principles. Insects constitute a reliable alternative or addition to feed due to their nutritional characteristics (e.g. protein content, amino acid profile and/or digestibility levels). Edible insects may be part of human foods mostly as ingredients in already well-known products or integration of insect-based foods into existing diets. In the near future research is needed to increase knowledges and support the insect industry to a considerably scale up to reach competitive price and high-quality products. Keywords: entomophagy, novel food, environment, protein, fat Reference Finke, M. D., Rojo, S., Roos, N., van Huis, A., & Yen, A. L. (2015). The European Food Safety Authority scientific opinion on a risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 1(4), 245–247. https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2015.x006 Gasco, L., Biancarosa, I., & Liland, N. S. (2020). From waste to feed: A review of recent knowledge on insects as producers of protein and fat for animal feeds. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2020.03.003 Kroeckel, S., Harjes, A.-G. E., Roth, I., Katz, H., Wuertz, S., Susenbeth, A., & Schulz, C. (2012). When a turbot catches a fly: Evaluation of a pre-pupae meal of the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as fish meal substitute — Growth performance and chitin degradation in juvenile turbot (Psetta maxima). Aquaculture, 364–365, 345–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2012.08.041 Lock, E. J., Biancarosa, I., & Gasco, L. (2018). Insects as raw materials in compound feed for aquaculture. In Halloran, A. et al. (eds.) Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems. Springer International Publishing (pp. 263–276). Mancini, S., Moruzzo, R., Riccioli, F., & Paci, G. (2019). European consumers' readiness to adopt insects as food. A review. Food Research International, 122, 661–678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2019.01.041 Murefu, T. R., Macheka, L., Musundire, R., & Manditsera, F. A. (2019). Safety of wild harvested and reared edible insects: A review. Food Control, 101, 209–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.03.003 Nischalke, S., Wagler, I., Tanga, C., Allan, D., Phankaew, C., Ratompoarison, C., Razafindrakotomamonjy, A., & Kusia, E. (2020). How to turn collectors of edible insects into mini-livestock farmers: Multidimensional sustainability challenges to a thriving industry. Global Food Security, 26, 100376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100376 Sogari, G., Amato, M., Biasato, I., Chiesa, S., & Gasco, L. (2019). The potential role of insects as feed: A multi-perspective review. Animals, 9(4), 119. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9040119 van Huis, A. (2013). Potential of insects as food and feed in assuring food security. Annual Review of Entomology, 58, 563-583. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153704 van Huis, A. (2020). Insects as food and feed, a new emerging agricultural sector: a review. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 6(1), 27–44. https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2019.0017 van Huis, A., & Oonincx, D. G. A. B. (2017). The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 37(5), 43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-017-0452-8 van Huis, A., & Tomberlin, J. K. (2017). Insects as food and feed : from production to consumption. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers. van Huis, A., Van Itterbeeck, J., Klunder, H., Mertens, E., Halloran, A., Muir, G., & Vantomme, P. (2013). Edible insects. Future prospects for food and feed security. In FAO Forestry Paper (Vol. 171). Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf


Quantum computing is performed on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware in the short term. Only small circuits can be executed reliably on a quantum machine due to the unavoidable noisy quantum operations on NISQ devices, leading to the under-utilization of hardware resources. With the growing demand to access quantum hardware, how to utilize it more efficiently while maintaining output fidelity is becoming a timely issue. A parallel circuit execution technique has been proposed to address this problem by executing multiple programs on hardware simultaneously. It can improve the hardware throughput and reduce the overall runtime. However, accumulative noises such as crosstalk can decrease the output fidelity in parallel workload execution. In this paper, we first give an in-depth overview of state-of-the-art parallel circuit execution methods. Second, we propose a Quantum Crosstalk-aware Parallel workload execution method (QuCP) without the overhead of crosstalk characterization. Third, we investigate the trade-off between hardware throughput and fidelity loss to explore the hardware limitation with parallel circuit execution. Finally, we apply parallel circuit execution to VQE and zero-noise extrapolation error mitigation method to showcase its various applications on advancing NISQ computing.


Random walks are at the heart of many existing network embedding methods. However, such methods have many limitations that arise from the use of traditional random walks, e.g., the embeddings resulting from these methods primarily capture proximity (communities) among the vertices as opposed to structural equivalence/similarity (roles). In this work, we introduce the Role2Vec framework which uses the flexible notion of attributed random walks, and serves as a basis for generalizing existing methods such as DeepWalk, node2vec, and many others that leverage random walks. Our proposed framework enables these methods to be more widely applicable by learning functions that capture the behavioral roles of the nodes. We show that our proposed framework is effective with an average AUC improvement of 16.55% while requiring on average 853x less space than existing methods.


Protein–polymer hybrids are used in a variety of fields including catalysis, detection, and therapeutics. The grafting-from method for the synthesis of these biohybrids has gained popularity due to the ease of synthesis and purification. In this method, an initiator or chain transfer agent (CTA) is ligated onto an amino acid residue, typically lysine or cysteine, and polymers are subsequently grown in situ. In this manuscript, we report the preparation of protein polymer hybrids by grafting-from a previously overlooked acidic amino acid residue (glutamic and aspartic acid) and compare our results to protein polymer hybrids, grafted from the traditional lysine residue. Herein, we conjugated an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator to acidic amino acid residues and lysine residues and grew polymers from Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase (TL). N-[3-(N,N-Dimethylamino)propyl] acrylamide was grafted from the TL initiator, and the enzymatic activity of protein polymer hybrids was compared. We found that the acidic residues are easily modified with multiple ATRP initiators and polymers are readily grown. Additionally, the hybrids grafted from acidic residues demonstrated a 50% increase in enzyme activity compared to those grafted from lysine residues. Moreover, the activity was higher than that of native lipase TL in both cases. The polymers that were grafted-from the acid residues tended to provide the hybrids with a higher activity at elevated temperatures. These results point to a new amino acid ligation strategy for preparing protein polymer hybrids via a grafting-from method.


ABSTRACT In the Western Highlands of Cameroon, natural ecosystems have been significantly degraded, fostering other land-use types like bamboo stands. However, knowledge of the potential contribution of bamboo to climate change mitigation within the framework of payment for ecosystem services remains limited. This study sought to identify bamboo richness and estimate carbon stocks of dominant bamboo species in the context of payment for ecosystem services. Data collection combined information from local informants and biomass data of the main bamboo species. Bamboo biomass was collected by destructive method. The results obtained allow the identification of nine bamboo taxa in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. We found for Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys aurea 13,330 ± 7718 and 38,010 ± 3361 culm ha−1, respectively. Total carbon stocks of bamboo estimated at 122.71 tC ha−1 for B. vulgaris and 125.41 tC ha−1 for P. aurea were not significantly different between bamboo species (Kruskal–Wallis test, p = .908). For bamboo areas in the Western Highlands, the monetary value of ecosystem services linked to bamboo carbon stocks is 1503 ± 624 USD ha−1 ranging from 1486 to 1519 USD ha−1 depending on the bamboo species. The monetary value of bamboo carbon stocks potential should help decision makers to consider adopting bamboo species as one of the sustainable strategies to restore degraded ecosystems.


Size selectivity of sorting grid was studied for Randall's threadfin bream in the Gulf of Antalya, Mediterranean Sea. Trawling's were carried out in October December 2012, with a traditional bottom trawl net (600 mesh around the mouth). The fish totally retained in upper codend (catches) and bottom codend (escapes) were used to estimate the selectivity. Selectivity data analyzed as covered cod-end method by means of a logit function of Maximum Likelihood Method. The Kolmogorov – Smirnov test (KS – test) was applied in order to determine the difference between size groups of escapes and catches codends. The percentages of the total catch in terms of weight were 68% retained and 32% escaped. Mean L50 value of Randall's threadfin bream was calculated as 13.19 ± 0.48 cm. Total weight of Randall's threadfin bream caught in hauls was 12.996 kg. The results confirm that using sorting grid fixed mesh codend gave higher L50 value than size selectivity studies by using Hand-Woven Slack Knotted mesh codend.


In the recent communication of my paper on a "Fourth Sensation in Colour Vision," in April last, attention was called to the case of night-blind eyes as throwing light on the question of the functions of the rods and cones in the retina in regard to colour and colourless vision. I cited two cases of congenital stationary night-blindness, which, through the kindness of Mr. Nettleship, were brought to my laboratory for examination in view of certain researches in which Prof. (now Colonel) Watson and myself were together interested. As Colonel Watson has been long at the Front in France, and as he conducted a principal part of the only partially completed examination, I hesitated to give the details without his collaboration. I have now obtained his acquiescence in my request that I should communicate the results obtained to the Royal Society. I now do so. As a matter of fact, I had worked out the observations before my colleague left me for the Front some 2½ years ago, and these results I have put in the following communication: I may say that any other form of night-blindness than those to which the late Mr. E. Nettleship introduced us would have been useless for the investigation on which we were engaged, as, if it were not so, night-blindness due to disease might call in question some of the deductions to be made. Mr. Nettleship's investigations of the family to which they belonged, and its history, left no doubt that we were dealing in our two cases with genuine cases of congenital stationary types.


Objective To investigate differences in manifestations and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection between those with and without rheumatic disease. Methods We conducted a comparative cohort study of patients with rheumatic disease and COVID-19 (confirmed by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 PCR), compared in a 1:2 ratio with matched comparators on age, sex and date of COVID-19 diagnosis, between 1 March and 8 April 2020, at Partners HealthCare System in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. We examined differences in demographics, clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 infection. The main outcomes were hospitalisation, intensive care admission, mechanical ventilation and mortality. Results We identified 52 rheumatic disease patients with COVID-19 (mean age, 63 years; 69% female) and matched these to 104 non-rheumatic disease comparators. The majority (39, 75%) of patients with rheumatic disease were on immunosuppressive medications. Patients with and without rheumatic disease had similar symptoms and laboratory findings. A similar proportion of patients with and without rheumatic disease were hospitalised (23 (44%) vs 42 (40%)), p=0.50) but those with rheumatic disease required intensive care admission and mechanical ventilation more often (11 (48%) vs 7 (18%), multivariable OR 3.11 (95% CI 1.07 to 9.05)). Mortality was similar between the two groups (3 (6%) vs 4 (4%), p=0.69). Conclusions Patients with rheumatic disease and COVID-19 infection were more likely to require mechanical ventilation but had similar clinical features and hospitalisation rates as those without rheumatic disease. These findings have important implications for patients with rheumatic disease but require further validation.


In real world application, video security is becoming more important now-a-days due to the happening of unwanted events in our surroundings. Moving object detection is a challenging task in low resolution video, variable lightening conditions and in crowed area due to the limitation of pattern recognition techniques and itlooses many important details in the visual appearance of the moving object. In this paper we propose a review on unusual event detection in video surveillance system. Video surveillance system might be used for enhancing the security in various organizations, academic institutions and many more areas.


Equitable outcomes are a critical component of working towards sustainability in agriculture. How does sustainable agricultural intensification's tenet of increased productivity on the same area of land relate to prevailing genderand age-biased land tenure systems? Does the emphasis on a non-expansion of agricultural land imply redistributing control over land and the benefits gained from it to facilitate equitable outcomes? These questions guided a comparative qualitative study in intensification contexts in matrilineal and patrilineal communities in Ghana and Malawi. Using Kabeer's framework of institutional analysis, we go beyond a focus on the household to include other domains (community, market and government processes) that shape smallholders' access to land. We conducted a total of 102 semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with male and female community leaders, market and government actors as well as household members. They reveal where respondents observed recent changes in agricultural land allocation and if/how they would imagine a fair redistribution of land. Possible pathways to redistribution mentioned by respondents include more equitable land inheritance patterns which village heads would champion in their families and communities, government control of land prices to ease market access for less well-off social groups, and gender/youth-sensitive legal education in rural areas. In the household domain, some interviewees proposed earlier land transfers from one generation to the next. Questions on a potential redistribution were also met with resistance, especially among advantaged landholders who justified prevailing systems. In general, limiting agricultural land expansion was seen as fostering gender imbalances if it is not mediated. We conclude that investments in agricultural intensification should facilitate equitable outcomes by supporting consensus-based institutional changes and creating positive synergies between multiple domains.


Regulatory T cells (Treg) suppress antitumor immunity, yet the mechanism for how they accumulate in tumors is unclear. The IL33/ST2 signaling axis in Tregs is crucial for the accumulation of Tregs in the tumor microenvironment. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are enriched in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and suppress antitumor immunity; however, the molecular mechanism underlying the accumulation of Tregs in the TME is poorly understood. In various tumor models, tumor-infiltrating Tregs were highly enriched in the TME and had significantly higher expression of immune checkpoint molecules. To characterize tumor-infiltrating Tregs, we performed bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and found that proliferation-related genes, immune suppression–related genes, and cytokine/chemokine receptor genes were upregulated in tumor-infiltrating Tregs compared with tumor-infiltrating CD4+Foxp3− conventional T cells or splenic Tregs from the same tumor-bearing mice. Single-cell RNA-seq and T-cell receptor sequencing also revealed active proliferation of tumor infiltrating Tregs by clonal expansion. One of these genes, ST2, an IL33 receptor, was identified as a potential factor driving Treg accumulation in the TME. Indeed, IL33-directed ST2 signaling induced the preferential proliferation of tumor-infiltrating Tregs and enhanced tumor progression, whereas genetic deletion of ST2 in Tregs limited their TME accumulation and delayed tumor growth. These data demonstrated the IL33/ST2 axis in Tregs as one of the critical pathways for the preferential accumulation of Tregs in the TME and suggests that the IL33/ST2 axis may be a potential therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy.


The discipline of spintronics with magnetic insulators (MI) has attracted extensive attention in both research and application interests. Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) is a ferrimagnetic insulator which is called the spin Seebeck insulator, for its supports of pure spin currents generation. Non-magnetic metals (NM) with strong spin-orbit interaction (e.g. Pd, Pt), are used as either spin current generator or detector based on the spin Hall effect (SHE) or the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). The combination of these two types of material plays a very important role in spintronics. One the other hand, a recent magneto-transport study shows strong evidence of a magnetic proximity effect in thin Pt films deposited on YIG. It is desirable to have more experimental evidence in distinguishing the two effects qualitatively and quantitatively. In my work here, the induced magneto-transport effects at NM/MI interface will be discussed in details, including induced independent spin moments at the interface and disentanglement of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR), as well as the fabrication of YIG thin films and devices.Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has emerged as a preferred technique to deposit complex oxide thin films, heterostructures, and superlattices with high quality. The general PLD techniques will be discussed in Chapter I, with examples of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and Fe3O4 thin films fabrication and characterization. In Chapter II, I will discuss our approach to grow YIG films on (110)- and (111)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates. In both orientations, we have successfully grown epitaxial YIG thin films confirmed by the patterns of the reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The layer-by-layer mode was achieved with lower laser repetition rate than reported by other groups. For both orientations, the atomic force microscopy images showed that the YIG surface was extremely flat, and flat terraces were found with the atomic step height on film surface. The magnetic properties were measured with in-plane easy-axis and very narrow coercive field, which was almost independent of temperature. The in-plane magnetic anisotropy was explored as well. This work paves the way to engineering anisotropy of the thin films for YIG-based magnetic devices.As a thin layer of NM (e.g. Pd, Pt) was deposited on the MI thin film like YIG, NM developed both low- and high-field magneto-transport effects that were absent in standalone NM or thick NM on YIG. While the low-field magnetoresistance (MR) peaks of NM tracked the coercive field of the YIG film, the much larger high-field MR and the anomalous Hall effect (AHE-like) did not appear to have any relationship with the bulk YIG magnetization. The high-field MR had a sign reversal at some intermediate temperature for both Pd and Pt, and the magnitude of AHE-like signal of Pd increased with decreasing temperature, while that of Pt had sign reversal. The distinct high-field magneto-transport effects in NM/MI structures had been investigated with different NM film thickness and some control samples, and were shown to be caused by interfacial local moments in NM. Besides, both a clear resistivity minimum and a ln(T) temperature dependence were observed at low temperatures in thin NM films, suggesting that the Kondo effect may be relevant. Detailed discussions about the origin of these effects will be presented in Chapter III.The AMR effect, evidence for a proximity induced magnetic moment in Pt/YIG bilayer, was previously found absent in experiments with a rotating magnetic field applied at room temperature. Instead, the observed magnetoresistance was attributed to a new type of effect called SMR that is caused by magnetization-dependent spin current reflection at the interface. In both Pd/YIG and Pt/YIG bilayers, however, we have observed that SMR and AMR coexist over a wide range of temperatures with AMR dominating at low temperatures. Detailed experimental results were shown of the temperature dependence and field dependence of the two types of magnetoresistance, to disentangle AMR and SMR quantitatively. While AMR is likely caused by the proximity induced magnetization in NM that saturates at relatively low fields, at higher magnetic fields when additional interfacial magnetic moments are gradually aligned, the spin current reflection effect and consequently SMR are greatly enhanced. The detailed analysis and discussions will be presented in Chapter IV.


Functionally distinct regions of the brain are thought to possess a characteristic connectional fingerprint – a profile of incoming and outgoing connections that defines the function of that area. This observation has motivated efforts to subdivide cortical and subcortical areas using their patterns of connectivity. However, it remains unclear whether these connectomically-defined subregions of the brain can be distinguished at the molecular level. Here, we combine high-resolution diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with comprehensive transcriptomic data to show that connectomically-defined subregions of the striatum carry distinct transcriptional signatures. Using data-driven clustering of diffusion tractography, seeded from the striatum, in 100 healthy individuals, we identify a tripartite organization of the caudate and putamen that comprises ventral, dorsal, and caudal subregions. We then use microarray data of gene expression levels in 19 343 genes, taken from 98 tissue samples distributed throughout the striatum, to accurately discriminate the three connectomically-defined subregions with 80-90% classification accuracy using linear support vector machines. This classification accuracy was robust at the group and individual level. Genes contributing strongly to the classification were enriched for gene ontology categories including dopamine signaling, glutamate secretion, response to amphetamine, and metabolic pathways, and were implicated in risk for disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and Parkinson's disease. Our findings highlight a close link between regional variations in transcriptional activity and interregional connectivity in the brain, and suggest that there may be a strong genomic signature of connectomically-defined subregions of the brain.


Determining the appropriate sample size for a study, whatever be its type, is a fundamental aspect of biomedical research. An adequate sample ensures that the study will yield reliable information, regardless of whether the data ultimately suggests a clinically important difference between the interventions or elements being studied. The probability of Type 1 and Type 2 errors, the expected variance in the sample and the effect size are the essential determinants of sample size in interventional studies. Any method for deriving a conclusion from experimental data carries with it some risk of drawing a false conclusion. Two types of false conclusion may occur, called Type 1 and Type 2 errors, whose probabilities are denoted by the symbols σ and β. A Type 1 error occurs when one concludes that a difference exists between the groups being compared when, in reality, it does not. This is akin to a false positive result. A Type 2 error occurs when one concludes that difference does not exist when, in reality, a difference does exist, and it is equal to or larger than the effect size defined by the alternative to the null hypothesis. This may be viewed as a false negative result. When considering the risk of Type 2 error, it is more intuitive to think in terms of power of the study or (1 − β). Power denotes the probability of detecting a difference when a difference does exist between the groups being compared. Smaller α or larger power will increase sample size. Conventional acceptable values for power and α are 80% or above and 5% or below, respectively, when calculating sample size. Increasing variance in the sample tends to increase the sample size required to achieve a given power level. The effect size is the smallest clinically important difference that is sought to be detected and, rather than statistical convention, is a matter of past experience and clinical judgment. Larger samples are required if smaller differences are to be detected. Although the principles are long known, historically, sample size determination has been difficult, because of relatively complex mathematical considerations and numerous different formulas. However, of late, there has been remarkable improvement in the availability, capability, and user-friendliness of power and sample size determination software. Many can execute routines for determination of sample size and power for a wide variety of research designs and statistical tests. With the drudgery of mathematical calculation gone, researchers must now concentrate on determining appropriate sample size and achieving these targets, so that study conclusions can be accepted as meaningful.


Agri-data analysis is growing rapidly with many parts of the agri-sector using analytics as part of their decision making process. In Ireland, the agri-food sector contributes significant income to the economy and agri-data analytics will become increasingly important in terms of both protecting and expanding this market. However, without a high degree of accuracy, predictions are unusable. Online data for use in analytics has been shown to have significant advantages, mainly due to frequency of updates and to the low cost of data instances. However, agri decision makers must properly interpret fluctuations in data when, for example, they use data mining to forecast prices for their products in the short and medium term. In this work, we present a data mining approach which includes wavelet analysis to provide more accurate analysis of when events which may appear to be outliers, are instead patterns representing events that may occur over the duration of the data stream and then are used for predictions by an ARIMA modelling approach. Our evaluation shows an improvement over more established uses of wavelet analysis in conjunction with ARIMA as we attempt to predict prices using agri-data.


This final rule sets forth standards for health insurance issuers consistent with title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, referred to collectively as the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, this final rule outlines Exchange and issuer standards related to coverage of essential health benefits and actuarial value. This rule also finalizes a timeline for qualified health plans to be accredited in Federally-facilitated Exchanges and amends regulations providing an application process for the recognition of additional accrediting entities for purposes of certification of qualified health plans.


Motion and locomotion planning have a wide area of usage in different fields. Locomotion planning with premade character animations has been highly noticed in recent years. Reinforcement Learning presents promising ways to create motion planners using premade character animations. Although RL-based motion planners offer great ways to control character animations but they have some problems that make them hard to be used in practice, including high dimensionality and environment dependency. In this paper we present a motion planner which can fulfill its motion tasks by selecting its best animation sequences in different environments without any previous knowledge of the environment. We combined reinforcement learning with a fuzzy motion planer to fulfill motion tasks. The fuzzy control system commands the agent to seek the goal in environment and avoid obstacles and based on these commands, the agent select its best animation sequences. The motion planner is taught through a reinforcement learning process to find optimal policy for selecting its best animation sequences. To validate our motion planner's performance, we implemented our method and compared it with a pure RL-based motion planner.


Management by objectives is intrinsic to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Swedish environmental policy. We describe three approaches to formulating objectives via model-assisted dialogue with local stakeholders concerning eutrophication in a coastal drainage area in south-eastern Sweden: a WFD eco-centred approach based on 'natural state'; Swedish environmental policy reformulated into quantified reduction goals; and a participatory approach based on local stakeholder definitions of desirable environmental status. Despite problems with representation, we conclude that local stakeholder participation in formulating local goals could increase goal functionality and robustness when adapting and implementing national and EU WFD goals at the local level.


Aiming at those problems faced by armored force which carried out real communication countermeasure training under complex electromagnetic environment, a simulation system was developed. Based on the analysis about threats faced by armored communication and the process of armored communication countermeasure, the system function and the federation member structure were designed, and the system was realized in the end by the distributed simulation technology of HLA. This system showed good performance of scalability and reusability, so it is suitable for the training of armored force.


Two giants of evolutionary theory, Sewall Wright and R. A. Fisher, fought bitterly for over thirty years. The Wright-Fisher controversy forms a cornerstone of the history and philosophy of biology. I argue that the standard interpretations of the Wright-Fisher controversy do not accurately represent the ideas and arguments of these two key historical figures. The usual account contrasts the major slogans attached to each name: Wright's adaptive landscape and shifting balance theory of evolution versus Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection. These alternative theories are in fact incommensurable. Wright's theory is a detailed dynamical model of evolutionary change in actual populations. Fisher's theory is an abstract invariance and conservation law that, like all physical laws, captures essential features of a system but does not account for all aspects of dynamics in real examples. This key contrast between embodied theories of real cases and abstract laws is missing from prior analyses of Wright versus Fisher. They never argued about this contrast. Instead, the issue at stake in their arguments concerned the actual dynamics of real populations. Both agreed that fluctuations of nonadditive (epistatic) gene combinations play a central role in evolution. Wright emphasized stochastic fluctuations of gene combinations in small, isolated populations. By contrast, Fisher believed that fluctuating selection in large populations was the main cause of fluctuation in nonadditive gene combinations. Close reading shows that widely cited views attributed to Fisher mostly come from what Wright said about Fisher, whereas Fisher's own writings clearly do not support such views.


The growth of traffic densities has increased the concentrations of air pollutants, especially in city centres. Although the natural immune system of the human body can withstand low levels of exposure to air pollutants, exposure to high levels of air pollutants can lead to adverse health effects and even death. These high exposure levels are often present at city centres, due to high traffic densities at these areas. Therefore, in this research is explored if exposure levels to air pollutants can be decreased by improving traffic distributions. In this research the benefits and challenges are explored of a traffic load balancing system that has the objective to improve the air quality locally, while bounding the length of the detours that are needed to achieve this. Traffic dispersion is achieved by influencing routes of individual drivers by a collective navigation system. A weighted combination of travel time and air pollutant emissions is minimized to achieve lower air pollution exposure levels to citizens, while drivers maintain short travel times. Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) is used to bound the vehicle emissions locally, while the emission of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is minimized globally. For each car an emission trace is constructed using an emission model. The emission traces are combined to form a time-dependent emission map. This time-dependent emission map is used for the exploration of routes that have a lower impact on the health of people that live near these routes. The approach is evaluated by simulation on real-life maps with an estimation of the traffic demand. The weighted combination approach is configured and compared to a base case where the drivers would only optimize their travel time. Using the simulation, it is shown that the exceedance of local thresholds of the NOx concentrations can be reduced, with only a small increase in travel time. Furthermore is explored what the effect is if only a part of the drivers would participate in the constructed load balancing system, while the other drivers would optimize their own travel time. By simulation is shown that even if only a part of the drivers would participate in this traffic load balancing system, the air quality can still be improved with a marginal cost of additional travel time.


Outsourcing cancer immunotherapy Successful cancer immunotherapy depends on a patient's T cells recognizing tumor-specific mutations and then waging a lethal attack. Despite tumors harboring many mutations, most individuals have very few T cells that respond to these so-called "neo-antigens." Strønen et al. isolated T cells from healthy donors that responded to predicted neo-antigens expressed by melanomas taken from three patients, sometimes including neo-antigens that the patient's own T cells ignored (see the Perspective by Yadav and Delamarre). Testing whether such an outsourcing strategy could improve clinical outcomes will be an important next step. Science, this issue p. 1337; see also p. 1275 T cells from healthy human donors may be an important resource for outsourcing cancer immunotherapy. Accumulating evidence suggests that clinically efficacious cancer immunotherapies are driven by T cell reactivity against DNA mutation–derived neoantigens. However, among the large number of predicted neoantigens, only a minority is recognized by autologous patient T cells, and strategies to broaden neoantigen-specific T cell responses are therefore attractive. We found that naïve T cell repertoires of healthy blood donors provide a source of neoantigen-specific T cells, responding to 11 of 57 predicted human leukocyte antigen (HLA)– A*02:01–binding epitopes from three patients. Many of the T cell reactivities involved epitopes that in vivo were neglected by patient autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Finally, T cells redirected with T cell receptors identified from donor-derived T cells efficiently recognized patient-derived melanoma cells harboring the relevant mutations, providing a rationale for the use of such "outsourced" immune responses in cancer immunotherapy.


Abstract— Noble gas data from Martian meteorites have provided key constraints about their origin and evolution, and their parent body. These meteorites have witnessed varying shock metamorphic overprinting (at least 5 to 14 GPa for the nakhlites and up to 45–55 GPa (e.g., the lherzolitic shergottite Allan Hills [ALH] A77005), solar heating, cosmic‐ray exposure, and weathering both on Mars and Earth. Influences on the helium budgets of Martian meteorites were evaluated by using a new data set and literature data. Concentrations of 3He, 4He, U, and Th are measured and shock pressures for same sample aliquots of 13 Martian meteorites were determined to asses a possible relationship between shock pressure and helium concentration. Partitioning of 4He into cosmogenic and radiogenic components was performed using the lowest 4He/3He ratio we measured on mineral separates (4He/3He = 4.1, pyroxene of ALHA77005). Our study revealed significant losses of radiogenic 4He. Systematics of cosmogenic 3He and neon led to the conclusion that solar radiation heating during transfer from Mars to Earth and terrestrial weathering can be ruled out as major causes of the observed losses of radiogenic helium in bulk meteorites. For bulk rock we observed a correlation of shock pressure and radiogenic 4He loss, ranging between ˜20% for Chassigny and other moderately shocked Martian meteorites up to total loss for meteorites shocked above 40 GPa. A steep increase of loss occurs around 30 GPa, the pressure at which plagioclase transforms to maskelynite. This correlation suggests significant 4He loss induced by shock metamorphism. Noble gas loss in rocks is seen as diffusion due to (1) the temperature increase during shock loading (shock temperature) and (2) the remaining waste heat after adiabatic unloading (post shock temperature). Modeling of 4He diffusion in the main U, Th carrier phase apatite showed that post‐shock temperatures of ˜300 °C are necessary to explain observed losses. This temperature corresponds to the post‐shock temperature calculated for bulk rocks shocked at about 40 GPa. From our investigation, data survey, and modeling, we conclude that the shock event during launch of the meteorites is the principal cause for 4He loss.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seizes control of cellular cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) to promote viral replication. HIV-1 Vpr and HIV-2/simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Vpr and Vpx engage the cullin4 (CUL4)-containing ubiquitin ligase complex (CRL4) to cause polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of host proteins, including ones that block infection. HIV-1 Vpr engages CRL4 to trigger the degradation of uracil-N-glycosylase 2 (UNG2). Both HIV-1 Vpr and HIV-2/SIV Vpr tap CRL4 to initiate G2 cell cycle arrest. HIV-2/SIV Vpx secures CRL4 to degrade the antiviral protein SAMHD1. CRL4 includes either cullin4A (CUL4A) or cullin4B (CUL4B) among its components. Whether Vpr or Vpx relies on CUL4A, CUL4B, or both to act through CRL4 is not known. Reported structural, phenotypic, and intracellular distribution differences between the two CUL4 types led us to hypothesize that Vpr and Vpx employ these in a function-specific manner. Here we determined CUL4 requirements for HIV-1 and HIV-2/SIV Vpr-mediated G2 cell cycle arrest, HIV-1 Vpr-mediated UNG2 degradation, and HIV-2 Vpx-mediated SAMHD1 degradation. Surprisingly, CUL4A and CUL4B are exchangeable for CRL4-dependent Vpr and Vpx action, except in primary macrophages, where Vpx relies on both CUL4A and CUL4B for maximal SAMHD1 depletion. This work highlights the need to consider both CUL4 types for Vpr and Vpx functions and also shows that the intracellular distribution of CUL4A and CUL4B can vary by cell type.


System testing is often performed by means of a comprehensive test suite that spans the functional requirements of a software product ("Big Bang" testing). This suite is then run repeatedly after each modification or fix until a satisfactory pass rate is achieved. Such testing does not lend itself to treatment with traditional reliability models which, in keeping with their origins in hardware, assume that each fault is fixed upon discovery and that the relevant temporal variable is calendar or execution time. In this paper, a model using ordinal time, measured by baselined development configurations, is presented. The use of this model in combination with an empirical mapping of test case failures to product code faults allows for rapid tracking of testing progress. The use of the model as an aid to project management in the testing phase of a project is illustrated.


Oxygen surface groups, which are typically present on the surface of activated carbon, have a decisive effect on the achieved dispersion of active phases, which affects the electronic properties of the surface sites and stabilizes the materials against sintering phenomena. Therefore, the desorption of oxygen surface groups during the decomposition–reduction of the metal salt precursors of the fresh carbon‐based catalysts can lead to surface reconstruction of the metal nanoparticles, which can significantly affect their catalytic activity. In this work, the oxidation states of Ru atoms supported on both an activated carbon thermally treated to remove all oxygen groups and the untreated material were studied during the reduction process. The precursor to prepare these catalysts is Ru(NO)(NO3)3. The main results were obtained by using in situ X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure analysis of the Ru K‐edge under conditions comparable to the temperature‐programmed reduction experiments. The different reduction mechanism observed in each of the catalysts, of a multistep nature if oxygen surface groups are present and single‐step in the case of clean graphitic surfaces, can be regarded as a typical metal–support interaction. Moreover, differences in both the final Ru oxidation state and the subsequent interaction of the active phase with the support are the main cause of the five‐times higher catalytic activity observed in the presence of the catalyst without surface oxygen groups for the NH3 decomposition reaction.


In-patients suffering from major depressive disorder (endogenous subtype) were randomly allocated to treatment by either traditional ECT with constant-voltage modified sine-wave stimuli (n = 17) or modern, constant-current brief-pulse ECT (n = 14). All treatments were bilateral and monitored by simultaneous recording by EEG. The severity of depressive illness was assessed the day before treatment, after three treatments, and seven days after the last treatment. The improvement and final depression rating scores, the likelihood of recovery, and the average number of treatments received were virtually identical in the two groups. We concluded that the policy of bilateral suprathreshold modern ECT monitored by EEG is as efficacious as traditional ECT.


Ultrasonic metal welding (USMW) is a new and emerging concept used in the industries over the past twenty years and serving to the manufacturing sectors like aviation, medical, microelectronics, automotive and much more due to various hurdles faced by conventional fusion welding process. USMW is a clean and reliable technique in which the welding takes place with a high energy, no flux or filler metal needed, longer tool life and it takes very short time (less than one second) to weld materials in a perfect controllable environment with greater efficiency.To acquire high vibration amplitude in USMW, there is a necessity to design a welding system that consists of components like a booster and horn. The principal purpose of these parts is to amplify the input amplitude of vibration so that the energy transferred to the welding spot should be sufficient for creating a joint. In the present study, new type of booster and horn are proposed and modelled with adequate precision not only to produce high-quality welds but also to solve a lot of issues faced while designing these types of ultrasonic tools. The modal analysis module of finite element method (FEM) is used to
analyze the effects of different step lengths and fillet radius on its natural frequency of 20 kHz, ensuring that these components will be in a resonating condition with other parts of the system. It is found that there were 1.11 % and 2.52 % errors in the length calculation of both parts. Similarly, 0.61 % error is obtained for both while calculating the magnification ratio. However, such low levels of errors may be considered to be insignificant. The dynamic analysis has also been performed to find out the stress distribution in both parts under cyclic loading conditions. Due to these cyclic loading conditions, the nodal regions (hot areas) are under highly stressed, and the relevant temperature field is consequently determined. The results obtained from the simulation, and experimental results were found to be close to each other and an error of 2% was noticed. Other welding components are also fabricated such as anvil, specimen-holder and backing plate for producing a satisfactory weld. Meanwhile, the complex mechanism behind the USMW has been addressed and modelled analytically. This model can predict the forces as well as temperatures those occur during the welding process and also explains the effects of various material properties and surface conditions on the weld behaviour. The experiments have been performed on the aluminium, copper, brass and stainless steel metal sheets with a number of different configurations, anvil designs, and surface conditions. The fundamental aspect of this study is to control the process parameters like vibration amplitude, weld pressure and weld time so that, an appreciable weld strength can be obtained. Thus, tensile shear and T-peel failure load studies suggest that increase in vibration amplitude means the increase of scrubbing action between the faying surfaces, resulting a better bonding strength. Similarly, increase in weld pressure also increases these weld failure loads and reach a peak value at a particular pressure. But, subsequently, these failure loads decrease due to suppression of relative motion between sheets and initiation of cracks. Excessive weld time also causes cracks around the weld spot. Likewise, if the thickness of the sheets increased, weld strengths are also increased
due to absorption of more amount of ultrasonic energy. Moreover, the highest weld interface temperatures and weld areas are observed at the end of weld time because of the larger plastic deformation at the mating surfaces. For all the experiments, first anvil design shows maximum failure loads due to its non-cutting width and angle of knurls. Likewise, on the increase of surface roughness, the tensile shear, and T-peel failure loads decrease. It is found that, in lubricating condition, the highest failure loads are obtained. Furthermore, the polynomial regression, artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) methods are developed and compared for each performance measure so that the whole welding process can be accurately described by a best predictive model. A welding mechanics based numerical model has been developed which can predict the temperatures during USMW process for various surface conditions. For all the experimental investigations, the predictive results show good agreement with the experimental values. In addition to it, acoustic softening during ultrasonic welding is found to very significant for the reduction in yield strength of the weld material up to 95 %. It is seen that the quality of welding depends on the material properties, process parameters, and thickness of the workpiece. The present investigation also explains in details the effect of process parameters on the responses through metallurgical analysis. A quality lobe of welding like "under weld", "good weld" and "over weld" is proposed after observing the fractured samples in optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM). Meantime, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X- ray diffraction (XRD) analyses are also used to reveal the thickness of interatomic diffusion and IMCs along the weld interface.


Magnetically recyclable Hoveyda–Grubbs catalyst can be readily assembled using magnetic nanoparticles as support, and this catalyst combines convenient recyclability and excellent activity on ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions.