High-k gate materials, such as HfO2, are unstable on silicon and form low permittivity interfacial oxides when heated. A single layer of silicon nitride grown prior to gate dielectric deposition could serve as a diffusion barrier to prevent oxide formation. A monolayer film of surface amine groups will be chemically similar to surface hydroxyl groups, and could also serve as a seed layer to promote the nucleation of a high-k film. The deposition of amines (≡Si-NH2 or ≡Si-NH-Si≡) on chlorine and hydrogen terminated Si(100) at low temperature (<100°C) was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). UV-Cl2 exposures (0.1-10 Torr Cl2 at 25-150°C, 10-600 s, 1000 W Xe lamp) were used to terminate Si(100) with Cl atoms. Exposure to NH3 (0.1-1000 Torr, 75°C, 5-60 min) replaced Cl atoms with up to 0.3 ML of amine groups, as measured by XPS. Cl atoms served as reactive leaving groups, lowering the overall activation energy barrier for nitridation. Alternatively, UV photons with energy greater than 5.7 eV were used to photodissociate NH3 molecules, yielding NH2 photofragments that reacted with the H-terminated Si(100) surface. At a UV photon flux of 19 mW/cm2, the N coverage increased with time and saturated at ~1 ML. Significant oxygen was observed on the surface due to H2O contamination in the source gas.


This chapter is devoted to Smart Grid communication system and its cyber security. A classification of power system communication (PSC) systems according to their requirements is given in Section 5.2. They are classified into (i) real-time operational communication systems, (ii) administrative operational communication systems, and (iii) administrative communication systems. This is followed by discussing the existing electric power system communication infrastructure and highlighting its limitation in Section 5.3. In particular the following have been covered: (i) overview of current PSC systems and their characteristics, (ii) shortcomings of current PSC systems, and (iii) characteristics of future PSC systems that suit Smart Grid requirements. Smart Grid communication system infrastructure was then discussed under Section 5.4. The topics discussed in this section include (i) fundamental functions of the Smart Grid communication infrastructure, (ii) architecture of Smart Grid communication infrastructure, (iii) Smart Grid communication infrastructure challenges, and (iv) standardization efforts by industry. Finally, in Section 5.5 cyber security of power systems/Smart Grid was then discussed. It begins with giving definition of cyber infrastructure and cyber security. This is then followed by discussing security of power systems and cyberattacks. The Smart Grid cyber security was then discussed, which covered (i) Smart Grid cyber-security challenges, (ii) emerging Smart Grid cyber-security technologies, (iii) compliance versus security, and (iv) Smart Grid cyber-security standards.


Multiple myeloma (MM), a type of malignant tumor, is characterized by dysplasia of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow. People with MM will have damaged organs or tissues due to secretion of large amounts of monoclonal immunoglobulin or fragments (M protein). Despite improved survivability by novel treatment strategies over the last decade, MM is still incurable by current therapies. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), with length of more than 200 nucleotides, have been reported to act as important regulators in many diseases, including MM. Recent studies have reported aberrant lncRNA expression in MM; these dysregulated lncRNAs can play oncogenic and/or tumor-suppressive roles in the development and progression of MM. In this article, we present a general overview on the role of lncRNAs in MM pathogenesis and discuss their potential as prognostic biomarkers and targets for treatment.


This study addresses the question of what principles need to be incorporated into the daily life of women in leadership positions to assist in their success. It is framed around the work of Carlos Castaneda, who describes the path of a warrior in metaphorical terms through seven principles of power: (1) knowing the battleground; (2) discarding the unnecessary; (3) choosing battles; (4) taking risks; (5) seeking retreat; (6) compressing time; and (7) exercising power. Each principle is defined and discussed as it is applied to a warrior's philosophy and to the philosophy of educational leadership. Two female principals are used as case models to illustrate these seven principles of power and the theoretical framework they provide. The principles offer a possibility for a metaphoric frame for interpreting and understanding successful leadership and establishing cultures in new schools, while serving as a vehicle for communicating the findings of the research, and turning insights into disciplined systems for success and survival. The work of Castaneda provides a guide to interpretive analysis of those intangible facets that are reflected in qualitative research and assist in interpretation of the work in the field, making it especially appropriate for work based on narrative, such as this study. (Contains 27 references.) (RT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.


The purpose of this work was to compare CT low-contrast detectability between two reconstruction algorithms, filtered back-projection (FBP) and advanced modeled iterative reconstruction (ADMIRE). A phantom was designed with a range of low-contrast circular inserts representing 5 contrast levels and 3 sizes. The phantom was imaged on a third-generation dual-source CT scanner (SOMATOM Definition Force, Siemens Healthcare) under various dose levels (0.74 – 5.8 mGy CTDIVol). Images were reconstructed using different settings of slice thickness (0.6 – 5 mm) and reconstruction algorithms (FBP and ADMIRE with strength of 3-5) and were assessed by eleven blinded and independent readers using a two alternative forced choice (2AFC) detection experiment. A second observer experiment was further performed in which observers scored the images based on the total number of visible object groups. Detection performance increased with increasing contrast, size, dose, with accuracy ranging from 50% (i.e., guessing) to 87% with an average inter-observer variability of ±7%. The use of ADMIRE-3 increased performance by 5.2% resulting in an estimated dose reduction potential of 56-60%. The results from the second experiment also showed increased number of visible object groups for increasing dose, slice thickness, and ADMIRE strength. The score difference between FBP and ADMIRE was 0.9, 1.3, and 2.1 for ADMIRE strengths of 3, 4, and 5, respectively, resulting in estimated dose reduction potentials between 4-80%. Overall, the data indicated potential to image at reduced doses while maintaining comparable image quality when using ADMIRE compared to FBP.


Morphine glucuronide upon acid hydrolysis and in the presence of formaldehyde solution is converted to three primary compounds as determined by gas chromatography. The importance of this conversion as it pertains to the total quantity of morphine in formaldehyde-fixed specimens is discussed. A request for quantitation--in a suspected case of morphine overdose after the body had been embalmed but before an autopsy could be performed--initiated the research discussed in this article.


This rapid, simple amidolytic assay of protein C activity in whole plasma involves activation by protein C activator from the venom of Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix (Protac) and use of a Cobas Fara spectrophotometer programmed for kinetic assay. Plasma is incubated with activator venom in the presence or absence of antibody to human protein C in the instrument, chromogenic substrate (S-2366) is added, and the absorbance is measured at 405 nm. The difference between the absorbance of the sample plasma with and without antibody to human protein C correlated well with protein C antigen as assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the Laurell rocket technique in normal subjects, patients being treated with warfarin, and patients with liver cirrhosis or disseminated intravascular coagulation. Our mean value for protein C in normal subjects is 115.9 (SD 16.7)% for amidolytic activity, 103.0 (SD 17.4)% for ELISA, and 97.2 (SD 18.1)% for the rocket technique. The high value for normal subjects presumably includes some nonspecific amidolytic activity activated by the activator venom, as indicated by measurable activity in immuno-depleted protein C-deficient plasma. Within-run and between-run CVs were less than 5% at low, normal, and high concentrations of protein C amidolytic activity.


A series of novel bifunctionalized photochromic monomers were synthesized, focusing on those with polymerizable acrylic/methacrylic groups attached to both ends of an azobenzene core via flexible spacers. The phase behaviour of the monomers was investigated using DSC, polarizing optical microscopy and X‐ray diffraction. The change in UV‐vis absorbance of the monomers under illumination with non‐polarized/polarized UV light was studied for both solutions and thin films; also studied was its relaxation in the dark. On illumination with LPUV light, in‐plane reorientation of the molecules normal to the polarization of the exciting UV light, and aggregation of the molecules in the films, were found.


Barkhausen emission (BE) and magnetoacoustic emission (MAE) measurements have been made on a fractured steel bar. The MAE profile shows a large initial peak and a small final peak, whereas the BE profile contains an initial peak and a large central peak. These observation suggest that the process of domain nucleation involves the enlargement of residual domains that surround the defects, and is a result of the unpinning of the trapped domain walls. In the maximum field, the residual domains confined by the walls are not completely annihilated due to the strong demagnetizing field surrounding the defects, causing the final BE and MAE peaks to be small. Also, in the low field region of the BE profile, the large central peak indicates that the elongated grains have enhanced the motion of the 180/spl deg/ walls. After the bar has been annealed, we found that (i) the differences in magnitude between the initial and final peaks of both BE and MAE profiles are narrowed because of the fewer defects, and (ii) the overall BE and MAE signals are reduced as a result of the coarsening of ferrite and cementite grains.


Various cropping systems for yam production were tested in the runoff plots at the Olive River Watershed where soil losses were measured. Yellow yam yields ranged between 42 and 63 t/ha, but differences were not significant for either of the two experimental years. Marketable yields were 47% to 57% of the gross yields. When yam was intercropped with Irish potato, gross yields of potato ranged from 12 to 14 t/ha. Marketable yields were 80 to 85% of the gross yields. The lower yam yields in treatments with more than one intercrop were offset by the extra cash flow produced by the intercrops. When the 2-year data were pooled, significant yield differences between treatments were obtained, indicating that intercrops affect yam yields adversely. The Napier grass buffer strip produced 42 to 48 t/ha/yr (green weight). Alternative soil conservation measures, other than bench terracing, such as hillside ditches and grass buffer strips, and intercropping with yam, increased production and crop diversification in hillsides; are relatively cheaper, simpler, easier to construct, and very effective in terms of soil conservation in the hillsides.


A winner of the John S. Knight Assignment Sequence Prize, this sequence originates from Medieval Studies 101, Aspects of Medieval Culture: Turning the Other Cheek�Pacifism in Medieval Europe. The series of three essays (the fourth, fifth, and sixth in the semester) springs from the question on which students have written since the beginning of the course: "What comes to mind when you hear the word 'pacifism'?" The three assignments are designed to help students analyze and critique their understanding of pacifism. Preparatory writing includes frequent Blackboard postings on the readings, small at-home reading and writing exercises, and the in-class study and writing of a medieval genre, the summa, in the form of a modern mini- summa. 16 page pdf


Purpose: To evaluate the benefit of PET/MR imaging in diagnostic process of patients with inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. Methods and Materials: 51 patients were selected for PET/MR imaging due to inflammation of unknown aetiology, these represent 2.5 % of all PET/MR examinations (total of 2056 examinations; Signa; GE) acquired in tertiary referral hospital since 7/2016. All patients underwent intensive investigation lasting at least 20 days (screening x-rays; abdominal ultrasound, dedicated CT or MRI focused in clinical suspect). Clinical (fever; artralgia; weight loss; night sweating) and laboratory (CRP, leukocytes) were monitored and correlated with PET/MR findings. Based on suspected aetiology patients were divided into 3 groups - fewer of unknown origin (26), unknown infection (13) and rheumatic disease (12). Patients were followed up until the aetiology was diagnosed or symptoms faded away. Results: In 26 (51%) patients diagnosis was proved, in 22 (43%) patients symptoms disappeared, in 3 patients symptoms persisted without explanation. PET/MR strongly supported or changed the diagnosis in 42% of cases (70% in subgroup of rheumatoid infections). As most important marker of conclusive PET/MR was shown artralgia and elevated level of CRP at the time of examination, which were present in 54% of diagnosed cases. PET/MR proved diagnosis of rheumatoid disease in 18 patients (50% without any clinical suspicion), overall sensitivity was up to 89% and specificity 100%, negative predictive value was 85%. Conclusion: PET-MRI is a useful tool in the evaluation of inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology especially in patients with suspected rheumatoid disease.


Data on global financial statistics demonstrate that total losses from fraudulent transactions around the world are constantly growing. The issue of payment fraud will be exacerbated by the digitalization of economic relations, in particular the introduction by banks of the concept of "Bank-as-a-Service", which will increase the burden on payment services. The aim of this study is to synthesize effective models for detecting fraud in digital payment systems using automated machine learning and Big Data analysis algorithms. Approaches to expanding the information base to detect fraudulent transactions have been proposed and systematized. The choice of performance metrics for building and comparing models has been substantiated. The use of automatic machine learning algorithms has been proposed to resolve the issue, which makes it possible in a short time to go through a large number of variants of models, their ensembles, and input data sets. As a result, our experiments allowed us to obtain the quality of classification based on the AUC metric at the level of 0.977‒0.982. This exceeds the effectiveness of the classifiers developed by traditional methods, even as the time spent on the synthesis of the models is much less and measured in hours. The models' ensemble has made it possible to detect up to 85.7 % of fraudulent transactions in the sample. The accuracy of fraud detection is also high (79‒85 %). The results of our study confirm the effectiveness of using automatic machine learning algorithms to synthesize fraud detection models in digital payment systems. In this case, efficiency is manifested not only by the resulting classifiers' quality but also by the reduction in the cost of their development, as well as by the high potential of interpretability. Implementing the study results could enable financial institutions to reduce the financial and temporal costs of developing and updating active systems against payment fraud, as well as improve the effectiveness of monitoring financial transactions


A new series of KuQuinones (KuQs) have been synthesized and employed as dye-sensitizers for NiO-based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSSCs). KuQs are pentacyclic quinoid compounds which are characterized by a fully conjugated structure that is responsible for the strong and broad absorption in the visible spectrum. The HOMO/LUMO states of KuQs considered here have matching energy levels with the upper edge of the NiO valence band and I−/I3− redox potential energy. These features render such compounds suitable for NiO sensitization in p-DSSCs. The new carboxylic acid-substituted KuQ derivatives proposed here differ in the length of the alkyl chain. The JV characteristic curves and the external quantum efficiency spectra have been recorded. The results showed that the performances of KuQ-sensitized cells were similar to that of the benchmark sensitizer erythrosine B (Ery B), despite the lack of electronic conjugation between the anchoring group and the light absorbing unit. This result led us to hypothesize that the photoinduced charge transfer between the excited KuQ dyes and the NiO electrode occurred through space and not via chemical bonds as it usually occurs in these systems. The mechanism of charge transfer through space has been supported by data from IR spectroscopy.


In this study, a corpus of expert-graded essays, based on a standardized scoring rubric, is computationally evaluated so as to distinguish the differences between those essays that were rated as high and those rated as low. The automated tool, Coh-Metrix, is used to examine the degree to which high- and low-proficiency essays can be predicted by linguistic indices of cohesion (i.e., coreference and connectives), syntactic complexity (e.g., number of words before the main verb, sentence structure overlap), the diversity of words used by the writer, and characteristics of words (e.g., frequency, concreteness, imagability). The three most predictive indices of essay quality in this study were syntactic complexity (as measured by number of words before the main verb), lexical diversity (as measured by the Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity), and word frequency (as measured by Celex, logarithm for all words). Using 26 validated indices of cohesion from Coh-Metrix, none showed differences between high- and low-proficiency essays and no indices of cohesion correlated with essay ratings. These results indicate that the textual features that characterize good student writing are not aligned with those features that facilitate reading comprehension. Rather, essays judged to be of higher quality were more likely to contain linguistic features associated with text difficulty and sophisticated language.


The particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based stochastic evolutionary algorithm, noted for its capability of searching for the global optimum of complex problems. Particles flying out of the solution space will lead to invalid solutions. So often in engineering applications, boundary condition is used to confine the particles within the solution space. In this paper, a new boundary is proposed, which is called as escape boundary. The solution space is divided into three sections, that is, the inside,escape boundary and the outside of the boundary. The location of the global solution in the solution space, accordingly has two types, that is, the global optimum around the center of the solution space, and the global optimum close to the escape boundary. The proposed boundary is introduced into the PSO algorithm, and is compared to the damping boundary. The experimental results show that the PSO based on escape boundary has better search ability and faster convergence rate.


Mangifera indica leaves have been in use in folk medicine since ancient time, for the treatment and/or management of numerous health complications. In this study, total phenols and flavonoids contents, as well as in vitro antioxidant activities of ethanol, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts of M. indica leaves were determined and compared. The in vitro antioxidant activities were determined using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power, and inhibition of lipid peroxidation assays, respectively. The total phenols were found to be present in the descending order of; ethanol extract > ethyl acetate extract > n-hexane extract, while flavonoids were observed in the descending order of; n-hexane extract > ethanol extract > ethyl acetate extract. The maximum percentage DPPH radical scavenged (at 100 μg/mL), ferric reducing power (at 400 μg/mL) and inhibitory activity on lipid peroxidation (at 400 μg/mL) exhibited by the ethanol extract (94.40%, 88.73%, and 84.05%, respectively) were significantly greater (p < 0.05) than the ethyl acetate extract (79.46%, 68.74%, and 79.73%, respectively at 400 μg/mL) as well as n-hexane extract (45.30%, 58.79%, and 67.78%, respectively at 100 and 400 μg/mL). It can be concluded that the extracts possess anti-oxidant activities and may be employed in the treatment and/or management of oxidative stress related diseases.
Keywords: Mangifera indica; phenolics; flavonoids; antioxidant; DPPH radical;


By taking advantage of computer's processing power, an unlimited number of variations and parameters in both spatial and environmental can be provided while following the same set of rules and constraints. This paper focuses on using the tools of parametric urbanism towards a more responsive environmental and sustainable urban morphology. It presents an understanding to Parametric Urban Comfort Envelope (PUCE) as an interactive computational assessment urban model. In addition, it investigates the applicability potentials of this model to generate an optimized urban form to Borg El Arab city (a new Egyptian Community) concerning the human comfort values specially wind and solar envelopes. Finally, this paper utilizes its application outcomes -both visual and numericalto extend the designer's limitations by decrease the concern of controlling and manipulation of geometry, and increase the designer's awareness about the various potentials of using the parametric tools to create relationships that generate multiple geometric alternatives. Keywords—Assessment model, human comfort, parametric urbanism, sustainable urban morphology.


Abstract The Natural History Museum (NHMUK) fossil reptile collections contain a set of specimens sent to Arthur Smith Woodward in 1908 by the Argentinian palaeontologist, Florentino Ameghino. This collection includes a skull and other material of Cricosaurus, a metriorhynchid thalattosuchian (or 'sea crocodile'), a group of marine crocodylomorphs that existed from at least the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Handwritten labels in Spanish, probably by Ameghino, and notes in English signed by Smith Woodward are still with the specimens. Using Ameghino and Smith Woodward's correspondence to investigate the history of the specimens, we have determined that they came from the Vaca Muerta Formation of the Neuquén Basin in Patagonia, they were in the fossil collection of the Museo Nacional, Buenos Aires (MNBA) and that Ameghino loaned them to Smith Woodward for a study that was never published. Therefore, they will be returned to Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'Bernardino Rivadavia', Buenos Aires. These fossils, although not the most impressive, are probably the first metriorhynchid material collected in South America.


Abstract In a survey of the brown dorcopsis, Dorcopsis muelleri, on Salawati Island, Papua, Indonesia, 2 new species were found in the stomach. Dorcopsistrongylus ewini n. sp. can be differentiated from its congeners in having the proximal end of the spicule twisted and from Dorcopsistrongylus labiacarinatus in having shorter intestinal diverticula and in the proportions of the elements of the ovejector. Dorcopsistrongylus salawatiensis n. sp. can be differentiated from its congeners in having bilobed lateral lip-like elements and an elongated terminal bulb of the esophagus. A survey of other Dorcopsis and Dorcopsulus spp. may reveal more species of Dorcopsistrongylus.


Author(s): Do, Alexander; Burke, William J; Auslander, David M; White, Richard M; Wright, Paul K | Abstract: A research team at the University of California, Berkeley was tasked with addressing technical questions arising from the implementation of residential programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs) in California to meet updates to Title 24 building code related to PCTs. The purpose of the project was to perform research, development, and demonstration tasks to: validate the California Energy Commission's PCT vision, answer technical issues related to system integration and implementation, recommend a suitable technology for a statewide one-way communication system for PCTs, and develop a methodology to study the impact of PCTs on electrical demand. The team performed several tasks to achieve these goals.The team validated the Energy Commission's vision by concluding that it was possible for manufacturers to develop PCTs that: met the proposed Title 24 system interface requirements, could be sold at a retail price less than $100, and could be manufactured within the Energy Commission's planned Title 24 timeline. This conclusion was the result of a concept for a minimum functionality PCT that was published as a bill of materials and validated with a working proof-of-concept demonstration.The team researched PCT system interfaces and identified technical issues related to system integration and implementation that should be considered as part of the policy, technology, and system design related to PCT implementation.The team reviewed technologies that could be used for statewide PCT communication and recommended the Radio Data System (RDS) technology as a suitable solution. The team demonstrated the feasibility of this technology and developed a site survey tool and methodology to study its real-world performance.Finally, the team developed a load group simulation to characterize the result of PCT pricing and control signals and used the simulation to study certain demand response scenarios. The team found that rebound peak from demand response events can be significant and that strategies to manage this peak should be investigated further.


Every human want to be prestige and useful for theirself, family and God. Every people hunger as someone who responsible and able to determine what to do and what can be better choice for theirself and social life. Every people wish to make interpersonal relationship with everyone also being love any other, because can get people feel valuable, useful, happiness and meaningfull. Therefore interpersonal relationship skill is need because as social human, someone wish to be accept, and social confession about their existence. Confession about their existence mean people
wish to get everything what they want also be valuable and useful for someone else, whereabout basic requirement everybody are will to meaning their life. There is the purpose of research is to know correlation between interpersonal relationship skill with the meaning of life for unemployment graduate. The variable of this research is interpersonal relationship skill as free variable and the meaning of life as depend variable. Data is collected with interpersonal relationship skill scale and the meaning of life scale. Data is collected from 50 unemployment graduates who stay in Dau subdistrict and Malang regency. Whereas data analisis by Product Moment correlation with SPSS version 13.00 computer program. Result from data analisis obtain coefisien correlation (r calculation) = 0,625 with signification (p) = 0,000 sign that there is any positive correlation and very significant between interpersonal relationship skill with the meaning of life, that mean if increase of interpersonal relationship skill will follow by increasing the meaning of life. Also say that lower of interpersonal relationship skill will follow by lowering the meaning of life. There is effective contribition interpersonal relationship skill variable about the meaning of life = 39.1% looking from determinan coefisien (r2) = 0,391. That mean interpersonal relationship skill give contribution 39,1% about the meaning of life whereas remaining 60,1% is another variable which unresearch.


Purpose: This study investigates career aspirations and preferences of members of the "Millenial" generation which are relevant to study their career choices and how decisions are made. Career aspirations have an impact on career decisions and evaluations of one's own career (Derr, 1986; Derr & Laurent, 1989). These subjective career orientations are the product of one's "motives, values, talents, and personal constraints" (Chompookum & Derr, 2004: 409). Thus, internal career orientations serve as principles for individual career choices, career desires and perspectives (Chompookum & Derr, 2004). Generally, career decision making process is complex and contextual factors are relevant for occupational choice based on factors like expected salary and prestige (Betz, Heesacker, & Shuttleworth, 1990; Nauta, Epperson, & Kahn, 1998; Ng et al., 2010). Design/Methodology: Empirically, this study looks at the perception of contextual factors like job characteristics and attributes. Survey was conducted with students from an Austrian University (n=370). The data were analysed utilizing mapping procedures and choice based con-joint analysis and simulations of different job scenarios. Results: Study participants placed an importance on the factors working climate, and opportunities for advancement, meaningful work experience, work-life balance. There is a popularity of certain job offers in relation to specializations during university education. Limitations: Cross-sectional design that includes job preferences for conducting a con-joint analysis. Research Practice/Implications: Perception of job characteristics and attributes have consequences for organizations. Originality/Value: Analysing career aspirations and preferred job characteristics using con-joint analysis and simulations.


I study a scoring auctions implemented in Brazil to sell oil exploration rights. Differently from most sales of this kind, bidders had to submit a multi-dimensional bid that included a bonus and an exploratory program. A non-linear scoring rule determined the winner. I propose a method to estimate the underlying primitive distribution of tract values and exploration commitment costs. Estimating the distribution of those primitives allows the evaluation of counterfactual revenues in alternative bidding schemes. I find that a first price auction would imply a 9.7% higher revenue from the sales examined.


Classical approaches to QoS provisioning in IP networks are difficult to apply in all-optical networks. This is mainly because there is no optical counterpart to the store-and-forward model that mandates the use of buffers for queuing packets during contention for bandwidth in electronic packet switches. Since plain IP assumes a best effort service model, there is a need to devise mechanisms for QoS provisioning in IP over wavelength-division multiplexing networks. Such mechanisms must consider the physical characteristics and limitations of the optical domain. This article presents a classification and survey of proposals for QoS provisioning and enforcement in IP-over-WDM networks. The different QoS proposals surveyed cover three major optical switching methods: wavelength routing, optical packet switching, and optical burst switching.


Word embeddings have been found to provide meaningful representations for words in an efficient way; therefore, they have become common in Natural Language Processing sys- tems. In this paper, we evaluated different word embedding models trained on a large Portuguese corpus, including both Brazilian and European variants. We trained 31 word embedding models using FastText, GloVe, Wang2Vec and Word2Vec. We evaluated them intrinsically on syntactic and semantic analogies and extrinsically on POS tagging and sentence semantic similarity tasks. The obtained results suggest that word analogies are not appropriate for word embedding evaluation; task-specific evaluations appear to be a better option.


Feature selection is one of the most important issues in improving the data classification process. It greatly influences the accuracy of the classification. There are many evolutionary algorithms used for this purpose, such as the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in discrete space through the Binary PSO concept. The BPSO optimization algorithm derives its mechanism from the default PSO algorithm but in discrete space. In this research, a hybrid approach was proposed between the BPSO algorithm and Mutual Information (MI) to obtain subsets of features through two basic phases: the first is to use the BPSO algorithm to determine the features affecting the data classification process by relying on an objective function. In the second phase, the MI method is used to reduce the number of features identified by the BPSO method. The results of the proposed algorithm have demonstrated efficiency and effectiveness by obtaining higher classification accuracy and using fewer features than default methods.


State-of-the-art deep learning methods have shown a remarkable capacity to model complex data domains, but struggle with geospatial data. In this paper, we introduce SpaceGAN, a novel generative model for geospatial domains that learns neighbourhood structures through spatial conditioning. We propose to enhance spatial representation beyond mere spatial coordinates, by conditioning each data point on feature vectors of its spatial neighbours, thus allowing for a more flexible representation of the spatial structure. To overcome issues of training convergence, we employ a metric capturing the loss in local spatial autocorrelation between real and generated data as stopping criterion for SpaceGAN parametrization. This way, we ensure that the generator produces synthetic samples faithful to the spatial patterns observed in the input. SpaceGAN is successfully applied for data augmentation and outperforms compared to other methods of synthetic spatial data generation. Finally, we propose an ensemble learning framework for the geospatial domain, taking augmented SpaceGAN samples as training data for a set of ensemble learners. We empirically show the superiority of this approach over conventional ensemble learning approaches and rivaling spatial data augmentation methods, using synthetic and real-world prediction tasks. Our findings suggest that SpaceGAN can be used as a tool for (1) artificially inflating sparse geospatial data and (2) improving generalization of geospatial models.


A genetic analysis of samples from the chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) bycatch from the 2011 Bering Sea walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) trawl fishery was undertaken to determine the overall stock composition of the sample set. Samples were genotyped for 11 microsatellite markers and results were estimated using the current chum salmon microsatellite baseline. In 2011, genetic samples were collected systematically as part of a special project to reduce sample biases that exist in collections from previous years that have the potential to affect stock composition analysis results. One genetic sample was collected for every 31.1 chum salmon caught in 97% of the midwater trawl fishery that was sampled. Evaluation of sampling based on time, location, and vessel indicated that the genetic samples were representative of the total bycatch. Based on the analysis of 1,472 chum salmon bycatch samples collected throughout the 2011 Bering Sea trawl fishery, the Eastern Gulf of Alaska (GOA)/Pacific Northwest (PNW) stocks dominated the sample set (38%), with moderate contributions from East Asian (17%), North Asian (18%), and Western Alaska (16%) stocks, and smaller contributions from Upper/Middle Yukon River (9%) stocks. The estimates for the 2011 chum salmon bycatch sample set differed from the 2005–2010 estimates, indicating a change in the consistency of the regional stock contributions across the previous 6 years, possibly due to the larger proportion of bycatch caught later in the season and in the more southeastern NMFS reporting areas in 2011. There were significant spatial differences in stock distribution, with the Asian stocks dominating the central Bering Sea area and the Eastern GOA/PNW stocks dominating the southeastern Bering Sea. Analysis of temporal groupings revealed changes in stock composition during the course of the season with decreasing contribution of East Asia and Upper/Middle Yukon stocks and increasing contribution of Eastern GOA/PNW stocks over time.


Abstract In this paper, we present findings from interviews conducted with people who walk with dogs. Drawing on new walking studies and animal geographies as our theoretical framework, we adopt the view that walking is more than just walking; it is often a highly sensual and complex activity. We argue that walking with dogs represents a potentially important cultural space for making sense of human–animal relations. We show how the personalities of both dog and walker can shape not only walking practices, but also the human–animal bond. We contend that the walk is a significant arena where relations of power between animal and human are consciously mediated. We also provide evidence which indicates the contested nature of walking practices and spaces. We conclude that the dog walk is a useful practice through which to examine human–animal relations and thus to contribute to the field of animal geographies.


ABSTRACT: Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of endovascular treatment for chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency on chronic fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Methods. Severity of fatigue was measured with Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) in 340 patients before the treatment and after 6-month follow-up. Results. We found statistically significant improvement of fatigue. After the treatment, mean FSS score dropped from 4.7 to 3.8. However, these post-procedural changes were not evenly distributed. While the patients with no fatigue (FSS<2.0) or mild/moderate fatigue (FSS 2.0-3.9) did not report significantly changed fatigue, the patients with severe fatigue (FSS≥4.0) experienced a statistically significant drop of FSS scores, which in this subgroup was 1.21. Such variables as the patients' gender, age, duration of the disease, or localization of vascular lesions did not influence the level of postprocedural improvement of fatigue. Conclusion. Our results confirm the findings of the previous studies that have found a positive effect of endovascular treatment on chronic fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Despite all limitations of our study, improved fatigue, especially when severe, appears to be an encouraging finding, which warrants further study in this area.


ABSTRACT Alcohol use among persons living with HIV (PWH) can lead to poor disease outcomes. Disclosure of alcohol consumption to physicians is critical to inform HIV care. HIV stigma is associated with poor care engagement, and this relationship is partially mediated by depression. However, less is known about how HIV stigma and depression affect reporting of alcohol use to care providers. We used baseline data from an HIV intervention trial of 330 adult PWH in Baltimore, MD. We fit a path model to examine whether HIV stigma was associated with increased depression symptoms and whether higher levels of depression were, in turn, associated with underreporting of alcohol use to physicians. Among PWH reporting past 6-month alcohol use (n = 182, 55%), 64% met symptom criteria for probable depression, 58% met criteria for hazardous drinking, and 10% reported not disclosing alcohol use to their physician. HIV stigma was associated with higher levels of depression (β = 0.99, p < .0001); depression was associated with a lower likelihood of alcohol disclosure (β = −0.04, p < .0001); and depression mediated the indirect pathway from stigma to alcohol disclosure (β = −0.04, p < .01). Methods to augment or strengthen alcohol self-report may be useful in HIV care, particularly among PWH experiencing HIV stigma and depression.


Objective To compare rotations to failure and tip separation length of a nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) rotary instrument within a simulated mesio-buccal canal of a mandibular molar with a conventional or contracted endodontic cavity. Methods Two identical lithium disilicate #30 crowns were milled. A conventional or contracted endodontic cavity was prepared. A custom glass tube was fabricated with taper and length replicating a mesio-buccal canal, including buccal and lingual curvature, and placed at the mesio-buccal orifice of each crown, held in a silicone mold. Instrumentation was simulated using 30/.04 Ni-Ti rotary files following manufacturer recommended 1.8 Nm torque and 500 RPM (n=20 per access type). Instrumentation was video recorded to determine time (seconds) and rotations to failure. The length of broken tips was measured. The experimental data were compared using a t-test (significance level 0.05). Stresses in the instruments were examined using finite element analysis. Results Number of rotations to failure (mean±standard deviation) was 599±126 for conventional and 465±65 and for contracted access; tip separation lengths (mean±standard deviation) were 3.99±0.29 for conventional and 4.90±1.02 mm for contracted access. Number of rotations to failure and tip separation lengths were significantly different between the two access openings (p<0.001). Finite element analysis confirmed higher file curvature and accompanying higher stress levels with contracted access and the maximum stress further from the tip. Conclusion Within the limitations of this study, the contracted access caused earlier failure of the Ni-Ti instrument with longer tip separation lengths than the conventional access due to higher stresses towards the middle section of the instrument.


The physiotherapists analyse gait patterns to recognize normal and pathological gait movements. The difficulty of the gait analysis can be high due to patterns' complexity and variability. The gait patterns are affected by the characteristics of the individual (gender, age, weight and height) and the walking speed. In this paper, it is proposed a Machine Learning (ML) algorithm to generate knee angle patterns in sagittal plane, which is one of the joints used during the walk. The ML algorithm can generate a specific reference of normal knee pattern depending on individual's characteristics and walking speed. This specific reference provides a personalized gait analysis. To this end, three ML approaches are compared: an Artificial Neural Network (ANN), an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and a Multi-output Support Vector Regression (MSVR). Using the patterns of healthy people collected by a vision system, authors show that ELM outperforms ANN and MSVR. The ELM can generate specific reference knee patterns for female and male gender. The reference knee patterns generated by the ELM can be used by a gait analysis system which the team proposes to future work. The main goal of the gait analysis system is to evaluate and classify the severity of gait pathology through the comparison of the real pattern of an individual with the specific reference pattern generated by the ML approach. The proposed gait analysis system can help physiotherapy team in the gait pathology diagnosis and evaluation of future pathologies. Index Terms ANN, FBNN, ELM, MSVR, gait analysis, knee pattern


Residual stresses play an important role in the performance of machined components and structures, namely, in the following aspects fatigue life, corrosion resistance and part distortion. This article will give a brief review on residual stresses during machining of materials with special emphasis in stainless steel. The case study presented in the current work reported on residual stresses in machining of stainless steel AISI 316 using FEM analysis.


Previously, dose emission below 30 L min−1 through DPI has not been routinely determined. However, during routine use some patients do not achieve 30 L min−1 inhalation flows. Hence, the aim of the present study was to determine dose emission characteristics for low inhalation flows from terbutaline sulphate Turbuhaler. Total emitted dose (TED), fine particle dose (FPD) and mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of terbutaline sulphate Turbuhaler were determined using inhalation flows of 10–60 L min−1 and inhaled volume of 4 L. TED and FPD increase significantly with the increase of inhalation flows (p <0.05). Flows had more pronounced effect on FPD than TED, thus, faster inhalation increases respirable amount more than it increases emitted dose. MMAD increases with decrease of inhalation flow until flow of 20L min−1 then it decreases. In vitro flow dependent dose emission has been demonstrated previously for Turbuhaler for flow rates above 30 L min−1 but is more pronounced below this flow. Minimal FPD below 30 L min−1 suggests that during routine use at this flow rate most of emitted dose will impact in mouth. Flow dependent dose emission results suggest that Pharmacopoeias should consider the use variety of inhalation flows rather than one that is equivalent to pressure drop of 4 KPa.


BACKGROUND
Workplace compensation claims datasets represent an important source of information on work-related injuries. This study investigated the concordance between hospital discharge records and workers' compensation records for work-related serious injuries among a cohort of sawmill workers in British Columbia (BC), Canada. It also examined the extent to which workers' compensation capturing patterns varied by cause, severity of injuries, and demographic characteristics of workers.

METHODS
Work-related injuries were identified in hospitalization records between April 1989 and December 1998, and were matched by dates and description of injury to compensation records.

RESULTS
The agreement between the hospital records and compensation records was good (kappa = 0.84, P < 0.01). A lower claim reporting rate for work-related hospitalization was observed for older and non-white workers. More serious injuries defined by longer length of stay and emergency admissions were more likely to be reported. Falls, struck against, and overexertion injuries had lower reporting rates; whereas, machinery-related, cutting/piercing, and caught in/between injuries had higher reporting rates.

CONCLUSIONS
When compared with hospital discharge records, the compensation agency underreported incidents of serious work-related injuries by 10-15% among the sawmill workers.


Transmission of Hepatitis C (HCV) continues via sharing of injection equipment between people who inject drugs (PWID). Network‐based modelling studies have produced conflicting results about whether random treatment is preferable to targeting treatment at PWID with multiple partners. We hypothesise that differences in the modelled injecting network structure produce this heterogeneity. The study aimed to test how changing network structure affects HCV transmission and treatment effects. We created three dynamic injecting network structures connecting 689 PWID (UK‐net, AUS‐net and USA‐net) based on published empirical data. We modelled HCV in the networks and at 5 years compared prevalence of HCV 1) with no treatment, 2) with randomly targeted treatment and 3) with treatment targeted at PWID with the most injecting partnerships (degree‐based treatment). HCV prevalence at 5 years without treatment differed significantly between the three networks (UK‐net (42.8%) vs. AUS‐net (38.2%), p < 0.0001 and vs. USA‐net (54.0%), p < 0.0001). In the treatment scenarios UK‐net and AUS‐net showed a benefit of degree‐based treatment with a 5‐year prevalence of 1.0% vs. 9.6% p < 0.0001 and 0.15% vs. 0.44%, p < 0.0001. USA‐net showed no significant difference (29.3% vs. 29.2%, p = 0.0681). Degree‐based treatment was optimised with low prevalence, moderate treatment coverage conditions whereas random treatment was optimised in low treatment coverage, high prevalence conditions. In conclusion, injecting network structure determines the transmission rate of HCV and the most efficient treatment strategy. In real‐world injecting network structures, the benefit of targeting HCV treatment at individuals with multiple injecting partnerships may have been underestimated.


In ceramic-on-ceramic total hip arthroplasty (THA), modular acetabular component with a sandwich insertion was developed and evaluated mid-term clinical results. 35 hips had undergone cementless ceramic-on-ceramic THA with sandwich cup (Kyocera, Kyoto, Japan). The mean duration of follow-up was 5 years. 6 hips had undergone component revisions. The reasons for revision included infection in 1 hip, dislocation with loosening in 2 hips, alumina liner fractures in 2 hips, and cup dissociation in 1 hip. All femoral and acetabular components showed no loosening in the unrevised hips at the time of the last follow-up. None of the 29 unrevised hips had osteolysis.


We present the first spectral study of the X-ray emit- ting stellar sources in M31 in the energy band from 0.1 to 10 keV. We find that the globular cluster sources have spectral characteristics consistent with those of the Milky Way object, namely that the spectrum can be described by a thermal model with 6-20 keV from 2 to 10 keV. Evidence of high ab- sorption in some of these sources is most likely an indication that they lie in or behind the HI ring in the disk of the galaxy. We also find one peculiar globular cluster source, with spectral characteristics more typically associated with either High Mass X-ray Binaries or black hole candidates. We therefore suggest that either the source has been wrongly identified with a globular cluster or that the system contains a Black Hole. We confirm earlier report that the spectrum of the bulge of M31 is consistent with the superposition of many LMXB spectra. It is likely that a large fraction of the 15-30 keV detection obtained from the PDS instrument is associated with the bulge, thus extending the spectral data for this complex of sources up to 30 keV. The high energy part of the spectrum can be parameterized with typical LMXB spectra, while at low energies an additional component is required. No significant variability is observed within the BeppoSAX observation, while a few sources appear to have varied (bright- ened) since ROSAT and Einstein observations.


Nashville, Tennessee—Corn may be the domesticated version of the bushy and inedible weed called teosinte, but you wouldn't know it to look at the two plants. Corn ears, for instance, are covered with hundreds of soft, edible kernels, while teosinte flowers are studded with just a dozen or so, all firmly encased in armor. At the national meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology here 3 weeks ago, however, scientists reported that the change from inedible to edible could come from mutations in just one small stretch of teosinte DNA. Not only does the work support the growing notion that minor genetic changes can result in large evolutionary leaps, but researchers suggest it may even point toward a way of engineering similar improvements in other cereal or grain plants.


The Roberts Court emerges at a critical juncture in the development of Commerce Clause doctrine. While the Commerce Clause doctrine implicates concerns for federalism and separation of powers, both of which are rooted in the earliest part of our constitutional history, the new Court presents an ideal opportunity to critically assess existing doctrines and to develop new analytical paradigms. The Rehnquist Court succeeded for the first time in sixty years in imposing substantive limits on the scope of this important source of Congressional power. That Court proved far less successful, however, in developing a coherent normative theory that reconciles the new doctrinal limitations with the traditional broad scope of the post-New Deal Commerce Clause cases. This Article's new game theoretical analysis satisfies these objectives by offering a compelling normative account of Commerce Clause doctrine and a framework for applying the new methodology to actual cases. The Rehnquist Court announced the new Commerce Clause doctrine in the 1995 decision, Lopez v. United States, which struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act. The Lopez Court changed the longstanding test governing the scope of Congress's Commerce Clause powers, set out in the infamous 1942 case, Wickard v. Filburn. While prior cases had used "economic" to qualify the effects that the underlying regulated activity had on commerce, the Lopez Court instead used economic to qualify the activity itself. In the 2000 decision, Morrison v. United States, the Court applied the non-economic activities test to strike down the civil remedies provisions of the Violence Against Women Act despite extensive Congressional findings. Most recently, in the 2005 case, Gonzales v. Raich, the Supreme Court applied this test to sustain the Controlled Substances Act's complete ban on private use of marijuana, as applied to two women who had cultivated or otherwise acquired marijuana for the treatment of severe pain pursuant to the California Compassionate Use Act, despite the apparent local nature of the regulated activity. Notably, the Raich Court produced four separate opinions, none of which offered a satisfying framework that reconciles the expansive post-New Deal Commerce Clause precedents with the recent retrenchments represented in Lopez and Morrison. This Article traces the Lopez Court's doctrinal modification, explores its implications, and offers an alternative game theoretical analysis that considers the need for a central coordinating authority to effectuate the Congressional policy enacted pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Drawing upon the prisoners' dilemma and the multiple Nash equilibrium bargaining game, this Article grounds the larger goals of the Commerce Clause doctrine in an effort to ensure that Congress has the necessary regulatory authority with which to implement desired policies substantially affecting interstate commerce that states, acting in their individual capacities, would either be unable to implement or would be prone to obstruct. The analysis reconciles the expansive post-New Deal Commerce Clause cases with the more recent retrenchments, embodied in Lopez and in Morrison. While this Article will offer a critical assessment of the Lopez non-economic activities test and of the application of that test in Raich, its larger objective is consistent with the doctrine's goals as expressed by now-retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The goal of Commerce Clause doctrine is to allow Congress to "regulate more than nothing . . . but less than everything." Satisfying these objectives is essential to preserving the integrity of our federal constitutional system which, in contrast with its state counterparts, rests upon the concept of delegated rather than plenary powers. This Article's analysis, which uses game theory to satisfy these goals, should have broad appeal to members of the Roberts Court.


The role of myofibroblasts in tissue repair and fibrosis is well documented, but the source of these myofibroblasts is unclear. There is evidence of a circulating population of fibrocytes that can home to areas of injury and contribute to myofibroblast populations. Previously, we have shown that the bone marrow is a source of myofibroblasts for many tissues including the gut, lung, and kidney and that this phenomenon is exacerbated by injury. We now show that the bone marrow can contribute to myofibroblast and fibroblast populations in tumor stroma in a mouse model of pancreatic insulinoma. Mice transgenic for the rat insulin promoter II gene linked to the large-T antigen of SV40 (RIPTag) develop solid β-cell tumors of the pancreas. Approximately 25% of myofibroblasts in these pancreatic tumors were donor-derived, and these were concentrated toward the edge of the tumor. Thus, the development of tumor stroma is at least in part a systemic response that may ultimately yield methods of targeting new therapy.


Circadian and photoperiodic phenomena serve to organize the temporal pattern of various biological processes. While the former generates endogenous daily rhythms, the latter is related to seasonality. In Drosophila melanogaster, the gene timeless (tim) encodes a cardinal component of the circadian clock and also contributes to photoperiodism, which is observed as an adult reproductive diapause. In this work, natural tim variants were examined for diapause across different temperatures and photoperiods. The newly derived allele, ls-tim, exhibited consistently higher diapause levels than the ancestral one, s-tim, implicating a putative adaptive advantage in the seasonal European environment and providing a perfect substrate for the recently proposed scenario of directional selection. To investigate further genetic links between circadian and photoperiodic mechanisms, classical clock mutations and transgenes were placed on a natural congenic background and assayed for locomotor activity behaviour and diapause response. Surprisingly, the results not only highlighted the importance of tim, and its natural alleles, but also revealed the participation of other clock components in diapause, suggesting that both daily and seasonal timers might have molecularly coevolved. The phenotypic effects promoted by ls-tim arise from the protein isoform LTIM, which expresses an additional N-terminal fragment. To study the adaptive significance of the N-terminal residues, including putative phosphorylation sites, a number of mutagenized TIM constructs were generated and functionally analysed. At the molecular level, it was demonstrated that both the N-terminus length and the order of its residues are important variables modulating the interaction dynamics between TIM and CRYPTOCHROME (CRY). At the behaviour level, the overall amino acid composition, rather than a particular order, appeared to be more critical for the phaseshift responses. Interestingly, despite the functional importance of the N-terminus, a deletion mapping analysis revealed that CRY directly binds to a protein sequence located at TIM C-terminus.


Recent research has revealed that many machine-learning models and the datasets they are trained on suffer from various forms of bias, and a large number of different fairness metrics have been created to measure this bias. However, determining which metrics to use, as well as interpreting their results, is difficult for a non-expert due to a lack of clear guidance and issues of ambiguity or alternate naming schemes between different research papers. To address this knowledge gap, we present the Fairness Metrics Ontology (FMO), a comprehensive and extensible knowledge resource that defines each fairness metric, describes their use cases, and details the relationships between them. We include additional concepts related to fairness and machine learning models, enabling the representation of specific fairness information within a resource description framework (RDF) knowledge graph. We evaluate the ontology by examining the process of how reasoning-based queries to the ontology were used to guide the fairness metric-based evaluation of a synthetic data model.


The isolation and purification of the antibiotic lambdamycin are described. The physicochemical properties of the chromoglysoide lambdamycin resemble those of chartreusin. In this paper we compare the physicochemical properties of chartreusin and antibiotic X 465 with lambdamycin (alpha D, UV, IR). Lambdamycin is identified with chartreusin.


The Arctic and Boreal Region (ABR) is subject to extensive land cover change (LCC) due to elements such as wildfire, permafrost thaw, and shrubification. The natural and anthropogenic ecosystem transitions (i.e. LCC) alter key ecosystem characteristics including land surface temperature (LST), albedo, and evapotranspiration (ET). These biophysical variables are important in controlling surface energy balance, water exchange, and carbon uptake which are important factors influencing the warming trend over the ABR. However, to what extent these variables are sensitive to various LCC in heterogeneous systems such as ABR is still an open question. In this study, we use a novel data-driven approach based on high-resolution land cover data (2003 and 2013) over four million km2 to estimate the impact of multiple types of ecosystem transitions on LST, albedo, and ET. We also disentangle the contribution of LCC vs. natural variability of the system in changes in biophysical variables. Our results indicate that from 2003 to 2013 about 46% (∼2 million km2) of the region experienced LCC, which drove measurable changes to the biophysical environment across ABR over the study period. In almost half of the cases, LCC imposes a change in biophysical variables against the natural variability of the system. For example, in ∼35% of cases, natural variability led to −1.4 ± 0.9 K annual LST reduction, while LCC resulted in a 0.9 ± 0.6 K LST increase, which dampened the decrease in LST due to natural variability. In some cases, the impact of LCC was strong enough to reverse the sign of the overall change. Our results further demonstrate the contrasting sensitivity of biophysical variables to specific LCC. For instance, conversion of sparsely vegetated land to a shrub (i.e. shrubification) significantly decreased annual LST (−2.2 ± 0.1 K); whereas sparsely vegetated land to bare ground increased annual LST (1.6 ± 0.06 K). We additionally highlight the interplay between albedo and ET in driving changes in annual and seasonal LST. Whether our findings are generalizable to the spatial and temporal domain outside of our data used here is unknown, but merits future research due to the importance of the interactions between LCC and biophysical variables.


Radioactive isotope renography has been a useful clinical procedure but, with only qualitative interpretation of the renogram, it is subject to diagnostic error. A statistical analysis of an approach to quantitation using the criteria of T max and T ½ has been performed. With upper limits of normal set at 4 min and 7 min, respectively, for these criteria, 2 of 22 normal subjects showed false-positive results and 18 of 114 patients with proved renal disease had false-negative results. The analysis indicated that this simple and rapid quantitative approach led to a reasonable degree of accuracy.


Obesity is a well Known risk factor of metabolic complications and cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, associations between anthropometric measurements and fat distribution and risk factors for cardiovascular disease have been demonstrated in several populations. To study the association of various measures of adiposity including total body adiposity (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), percentage of body fat (%BF), with leptin and lipid profile. To study the association between leptin and lipid profile. Serum samples collected from 129 individuals, admitted to Tikrit Teaching Hospital in Tikrit city from February 2013 to January 2014. All individuals had hormonal assay of leptin, and lipid profile, glucose. These samples were divided into three groups of according of BMI. Group 1: (Normal Weight females n=45), Group 2: (Over Weight females n=46), Group 3: (Obese females n=38). The statistical analysis (students t-test) exhibited significant (P> 0.0001) elevation for leptin and lipid profile (Cholesterol, Triglyceride, VLDL, LDL) while significant (P> 0.0001) decrease for HDL in over weight and obese groups compared with normal weight groups. The correlation coefficient (r) between Leptin and other parameters calculated with regression plot showed a positive correlation between Leptin with cholesterol, triglyceride, VLDL while a negative correlation with HDL, and paraoxonase in over weight and obese group. Circulating leptin levels appear to be one of the best biological markers of obesity and hyperleptinemia is closely associated with several risk factors related to obesity syndrome. Leptin act as atherosclerotic factors. K ey wo rd s


Reduced sizes of music files due to compression technologies has allowed for piracy to become a rampant problem on the Internet even in the absence of significant bandwidth. However given the large sizes of video files, movies are still largely pirated by duplicating DVDs, VCDs and other physical media. Conventionally DVD formats have differed across various regions in the world albeit for controlling theatrical releases of movies. This paper formulates an analytical model to study the implication of varying technology standards of DVD players across different regions on the piracy of movies. This research identifies conditions under which consumers will engage in global and regional piracy. Our findings show that maintaining separate technology standards across regions is effective in not only thwarting global piracy but it also allows movie studios to create variable quality movies and engage in discriminatory pricing. While consumers may still engage in local piracy, the overall profits to the firm under variable technology standards are shown to be higher then when a common DVD standard is adopted across all regions. The paper concludes with recommendations for research and practice.


We provide a first comprehensive account of the dynamics of Eurozone countries from the creation of the Euro to the Great recession. We model each country as an open economy within a monetary union and analyze the dynamics of private leverage, fiscal policy and spreads. Our parsimonious model can replicate the time-series for nominal GDP, employment, and net exports of Eurozone countries between 2000 and 2012. We then ask how periphery countries would have fared with: (i) more conservative fiscal policies; macro-prudential tools to control private leverage; (iii) a central bank acting earlier to limit sovereign spreads; and (iv) the possibility to recoup the competitiveness they lost in the boom. To perform these counterfactual experiments, we use U.S. states as a control group that did not suffer from a sudden stop. We find that periphery countries could have stabilized their employment if they had followed more conservative fiscal policies during the boom. This is especially true in Greece. For Ireland, however, given the size of the private leverage boom, such a policy would have required buying back almost all of the public debt. Macro-prudential policy would have been helpful, especially in Ireland and Spain. However, in presence of a spending bias in fiscal rules, macro-prudential policies would have led to less prudent fiscal policies in the boom. Central bank actions would have stabilized employment during the bust but not public debt. Finally, if these countries had been able to regain in the bust the competitiveness they lost in the boom, they would have experienced a shorter and milder recession.


Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) is a powerful imaging technique that can probe the complex structure of the body, revealing structural trends which exist at scales far below the voxel resolution. Tractography utilises the information derived from DW-MRI to examine the structure of white matter. Using information derived from DW-MRI, tractography can estimate connectivity between distinct, functional cortical and sub-cortical regions of grey matter. Understanding how seperate functional regions of the brain are connected as part of a network is key to understanding how the brain works. Tractography has been used to deliniate many known white matter structures and has also revealed structures not fully understood from anatomy due to limitations of histological examination. However, there still remain many shortcomings of tractography, many anatomical features for which tractography algorithms are known to fail, which leads to discrepancies between known anatomy and tractography results. With the aim of approaching a complete picture of the human connectome via tractography, we seek to address the shortcomings in current tractography techniques by exploiting new advances in modelling techniques used in DW-MRI, which provide more accurate representation of underlying white matter anatomy. This thesis introduces a methodology for fully utilising new tissue models in DWMRI to improve tractography. It is known from histology that there are regions of white matter where fibres disperse or curve rapidly at length scales below the DW-MRI voxel resolution. One area where dispersion is particularly prominent is the corona radiata. New DW-MRI models capture dispersion utilising specialised parametric probability distributions. We present novel tractography algorithms utilising these parametric models of dispersion in tractography to improve connectivity estimation in areas of dispersing fibres. We first present an algorithm utilising the the new parametric models of dispersion for tractography in a simple Bayesian framework. We then present an extension to this algorithm which introduces a framework to pool neighbourhood information from multiple voxels in the neighbournhood surrounding the tract in order to better estimate connectivity, introducing the new concept of the neighbourhood-informed orientation distribution function (NI-ODF). Specifically, using neighbourhood exploration we address the ambiguity arising in 'fanning polarity'. In regions of dispersing fibres, the antipodal symmetry inherent in DW-MRI makes it impossible to resolve the polarity of a dispersing fibre configuration from a local voxel-wise model in isolation, by pooling information from neighbouring voxels, we show that this issue can be addressed. We evaluate the newly proposed tractography methods using synthetic phantoms simulating canonical fibre configurations and validate the ability to effectively navigate regions of dispersing fibres and resolve fanning polarity. We then validate that the algorithms perform effectively in real in vivo data, using DW-MRI data from 5 healthy subjects. We show that by utilising models of dispersion, we recover a wider range of connectivity compared to other standard algorithms when tracking through an area of the brain known to have significant white fibre dispersion - the corona radiata. We then examine the impact of the new algorithm on global connectivity estimates in the brain. We find that whole brain connectivity networks derived using the new tractography method feature strong connectivity between frontal lobe regions. This is in contrast to networks derived using competing tractography methods which do not account for sub-voxel fibre dispersion. We also compare thalamo-cortical connectivity estimated using the newly proposed tractography method and compare with a compteing tractography method, finding that the recovered connectivity profiles are largely similar, with some differences in thalamo-cortical connections to regions of the frontal lobe. The results suggest that fibre dispersion is an important structural feature to model in the basis of a tractography algorithm, as it has a strong effect on connectivity estimation.


The entire nucleotide sequence (approximately 20 kbp) spanning the human immunoglobulin IgM (mu) and IgD (delta) heavy chain constant region genes has been determined from DNA of mu-delta producing chronic lymphocytic leukemic B cells. As in the murine IgM + IgD double-producing B cells, no rearrangement has occurred in the C mu-C delta region in the leukemic cells. The C mu locus is highly conserved between mouse and human with the exception of the nucleotide sequence between the C mu 4 and mu M1 exons, which has diverged dramatically. The intergenic sequence between human C mu and C delta is three times larger than the analogous region in the mouse and contains notable features absent from the mouse, including a 443 bp segment that is 96% identical to a 442 bp sequence that occurs just 3' to the heavy chain enhancer, a 366 bp sequence that is directly repeated with 76% homology, and 12 tandem copies of a 35 bp sequence. The human C delta gene contains two additional exons relative to mouse C delta, but shares with the mouse the unique distal location of both secreted and membrane coding segments. Several polymorphisms in the human population have been identified in the intergenic region and in C delta but not in C mu.


This paper is on Bayesian inference for parametric statistical models that are defined by a stochastic simulator which specifies how data is generated. Exact sampling is then possible but evaluating the likelihood function is typically prohibitively expensive. Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) is a framework to perform approximate inference in such situations. While basic ABC algorithms are widely applicable, they are notoriously slow and much research has focused on increasing their efficiency. Optimisation Monte Carlo (OMC) has recently been proposed as an efficient and embarrassingly parallel method that leverages optimisation to accelerate the inference. In this paper, we demonstrate an important previously unrecognised failure mode of OMC: It generates strongly overconfident approximations by collapsing regions of similar or near-constant likelihood into a single point. We propose an efficient, robust generalisation of OMC that corrects this. It makes fewer assumptions, retains the main benefits of OMC, and can be performed either as post-processing to OMC or as a stand-alone computation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed Robust OMC on toy examples and tasks in inverse-graphics where we perform Bayesian inference with a complex image renderer.


Abstract The effectiveness of the traditional risk analysis approach is enhanced by the integration of the fuzzy logic and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. In fact, human decisions are ambiguous and blurred and do not fit to express with absolute numerical values. For this reason, it is more realistic to use verbal variables in modeling human decisions. In this paper, a new fuzzy based hazard evaluation approach is proposed to deal with the risk assessment process. The proposed methodology consists on MCDM with a fuzzy system which includes a hybrid structure consists the Pythagorean Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (PFAHP) method with cosine similarity, and also Neutrosophic Analytic Hierarchy Process (NFAHP) to support facing of uncertainty in the risk assessment process for asphalt production, laying and coating services which are important and should be examined in terms of occupational health and safety. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to propose facing uncertainty in the hazard evaluations and risk assessment for asphalt production, laying, and coating services. As an outcome of the analysis by the proposed method, according to PFAHP and NFAHP methodologies the criterions "manometer size" and "calibration" are found to be most critical factors, respectively.


Title of dissertation: GEOMETRIC REPRESENTATIONS AND DEEP GAUSSIAN CONDITIONAL RANDOM FIELD NETWORKS FOR COMPUTER VISION Raviteja Vemulapalli Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Rama Chellappa Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Representation and context modeling are two important factors that are critical in the design of computer vision algorithms. For example, in applications such as skeleton-based human action recognition, representations that capture the 3D skeletal geometry are crucial for achieving good action recognition accuracy. However, most of the existing approaches focus mainly on the temporal modeling and classification steps of the action recognition pipeline instead of representations. Similarly, in applications such as image enhancement and semantic image segmentation, modeling the spatial context is important for achieving good performance. However, the standard deep network architectures used for these applications do not explicitly model the spatial context. In this dissertation, we focus on the representation and context modeling issues for some computer vision problems and make novel contributions by proposing new 3D geometry-based representations for recognizing human actions from skeletal sequences, and introducing Gaussian conditional random field model-based deep network architectures that explicitly model the spatial context by considering the interactions among the output variables. In addition, we also propose a kernel learning-based framework for the classification of manifold features such as linear subspaces and covariance matrices which are widely used for image set-based recognition tasks. This dissertation has been divided into five parts. In the first part, we introduce various 3D geometry-based representations for the problem of skeleton-based human action recognition. The proposed representations, referred to as R3DG features, capture the relative 3D geometry between various body parts using 3D rigid body transformations. We model human actions as curves in these R3DG feature spaces, and perform action recognition using a combination of dynamic time warping, Fourier temporal pyramid representation and support vector machines. Experiments on several action recognition datasets show that the proposed representations perform better than many existing skeletal representations. In the second part, we represent 3D skeletons using only the relative 3D rotations between various body parts instead of full 3D rigid body transformations. This skeletal representation is scale-invariant and belongs to a Lie group based on the special orthogonal group. We model human actions as curves in this Lie group and map these curves to the corresponding Lie algebra by combining the logarithm map with rolling maps. Using rolling maps reduces the distortions introduced in the action curves while mapping to the Lie algebra. Finally, we perform action recognition by classifying the Lie algebra curves using Fourier temporal pyramid representation and a support vector machines classifier. Experimental results show that by combining the logarithm map with rolling maps, we can get improved performance when compared to using the logarithm map alone. In the third part, we focus on classification of manifold features such as linear subspaces and covariance matrices. We present a kernel-based extrinsic framework for the classification of manifold features and address the issue of kernel selection using multiple kernel learning. We introduce two criteria for jointly learning the kernel and the classifier by solving a single optimization problem. In the case of support vector machine classifier, we formulate the problem of learning a good kernel-classifier combination as a convex optimization problem. The proposed approach performs better than many existing methods for the classification of manifold features when applied to image set-based classification task. In the fourth part, we propose a novel end-to-end trainable deep network architecture for image denoising based on a Gaussian Conditional Random Field (CRF) model. Contrary to existing discriminative denoising approaches, the proposed network explicitly models the input noise variance and hence is capable of handling a range of noise levels. This network consists of two sub-networks: (i) a parameter generation network that generates the Gaussian CRF pairwise potential parameters based on the input image, and (ii) an inference network whose layers perform the computations involved in an iterative Gaussian CRF inference procedure. Experiments on several images show that the proposed approach produces results on par with the state-of-the-art without training a separate network for each noise level. In the final part of this dissertation, we propose a Gaussian CRF model-based deep network architecture for the task of semantic image segmentation. This network explicitly models the interactions between output variables which is important for structured prediction tasks such as semantic segmentation. The proposed network is composed of three sub-networks: (i) a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based unary network for generating the unary potentials, (ii) a CNN-based pairwise network for generating the pairwise potentials, and (iii) a Gaussian mean field inference network for performing Gaussian CRF inference. When trained end-to-end in a discriminative fashion the proposed network outperforms various CNN-based semantic segmentation approaches. GEOMETRIC REPRESENTATIONS AND DEEP GAUSSIAN CONDITIONAL RANDOM FIELD NETWORKS FOR COMPUTER VISION


Statecraft, or the art of conducting a state's affairs with other states, is as old as human civilization. So too is diplomacy, the form statecraft takes in time of peace.In this comprehensive treatment, distinguished diplomat Chas Freeman describes the fundamental principles of the art of statecraft and the craft of diplomacy. The book draws on the author's years of experience as a practicing diplomat but also his extensive reading of the histories of ancient India, China, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and the Islamic world as well as modern Europe, Asia, and the Americas.Among numerous other subjects, the book addresses the role of intelligence, political actions, cultural influence, economic measures, and military power, as well as diplomatic strategy and tactics, negotiation, and the tasks and skills of diplomacy.


ABSTRACT This article reports a benefit–cost evaluation of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) of the City University of New York (CUNY). ASAP was designed to accelerate associate degree completion within 3 years of degree enrollment at CUNY's community colleges. The program evaluation revealed that the completion rate for the examined cohort increased from 24.1% to 54.9%, and cost per graduate declined considerably (Levin & Garcia, 2012; Linderman & Kolenovic, 2012). The returns on investment to the taxpayer include the benefits from higher tax revenues and lower costs of spending on public health, criminal justice, and public assistance. For each dollar of investment in ASAP by taxpayers, the return was $3 to $4. For each additional graduate, the taxpayer gained an amount equal to a certificate of deposit with a value of $146,000 (net of the costs of the investment). Based on these estimated returns, a cohort of 1,000 students enrolled in ASAP would generate net fiscal benefits for the taxpayer of more than $46 million relative to enrolling in the conventional degree program. ASAP results demonstrate that an effective educational policy can generate returns to the taxpayer that vastly exceed the public investment required.


When nonlactating Holstein cows (685 +/- 59 kg) were fed chopped timothy hay (9% CP, 7.0 kg/d) 12 times daily, the steady-state ruminal ammonia concentration was 2.6 mM, and the specific activity of ammonia production by mixed ruminal bacteria was 27.4 nmol/mg of protein-1.min-1. The addition of soybean meal (53% CP, 1 or 2 kg/d) to the basal diet caused a linear increase in ruminal ammonia (7.0 and 12.4 mM, respectively; P < .001), but there was only a small increase in the specific activity of ammonia production (30.7 and 33.8 nmol/mg of protein-1.min-1, respectively; P < .05). The addition of monensin (350 mg/d) to the diets caused more than a 30% decrease (P < .01) in ruminal ammonia at all levels of soybean supplementation, and there was a similar decrease (P < .001) in the specific activity of ammonia production. Before monensin addition, the most probable number of bacteria that could utilize peptides and amino acids, but not carbohydrates, as an energy source for growth was 5.8 to 7.0 x 10(6)/mL. When monensin was added to the diets, these bacteria decreased (P < .001) nearly 10-fold. Based on these results, it seemed that monensin inhibited highly active amino acid-fermenting ruminal bacteria, and this inhibition, in turn, decreased ruminal amino acid deamination and ammonia production. Because monensin did not increase soluble protein, peptides, or amino acids in ruminal fluid, it did not seem that the decrease in ammonia increased flow of dietary amino N to the lower gut.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Objective. To investigate the therapeutic effects of ipriflavone on postmenopausal syndrome and osteoporosis in women. Methods. A randomized and double-blind study was conducted. Sixty postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were chosen and they were randomly divided into three groups: Treatment group I was given oral compound calcium acid chelate and Vitamin AD guttate; treatment group II was given oral compound calcium acid chelate, Vitamin AD guttate and ipriflavone; Control group was given placebo and compound calcium acid chelate. The postmenopausal syndrome, bone mineral density (BMD), and bone biochemical markers were assessed 6 and 12 months after the treatment. Results. In treatment group II, hot flush and ostalgia syndromes were dramatically relieved, BMD and serum calcium level increased markedly and alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase decreased markedly, comparing with treatment group I and control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Ipriflavone could inhibit bone resorption and promote bone formation. It is an effective drug for the prevention and treatment to menopausal syndrome and osteoporosis. Ipriflavone could be used as a supplement to estrogen replacement treatment.


Our molecular understanding of clinical conditions progressing from acute organ injury to irreversible dysfunction is limited. We used renal transplantation as a model to characterize the transcriptional response along the transition from acute kidney injury to allograft fibrosis in humans. The integrated analysis of 163 transcriptomes with machine learning techniques identified shared and divergent transcriptional trajectories determining distinct clinical outcomes in a heterogeneous population. The molecular map of renal responses to injury was validated in a mouse ischemia-reperfusion injury model and highlighted early markers of disease progression. This generally applicable approach opens the way for an unbiased analysis of progressive diseases.


_________________________________________________________________ Tongkling is a traditional music from Glodogan village, Bawen District, Semarang Regency. Tongkling is always invited to take part in Merti Dusun and Kirab Budaya events in Semarang regency. The purpose of this research is to analyze the form of performance and social action in Tongkling art. The method used in this research was qualitative with sociological approach. The technique of data collection were observation, interview, and document study. The technique of data validity used triangulation technique and data analysis technique that follow interactive model analysis stages. The research results show that the form of Tongkling art presentation are divided into traditional and electric types. The traditional types is presented during carnival while electric types is presented on the stage. The social action of the society is also developing, the beginning was for patrolling, and nowadays, this art is for enliven Kirab Budaya and Merti Dusun evenst in Semarang Regency. The research implication of Tongkling Ortega for the society in Glodogan village is for social interaction and for preserving the existence of Tongkling in traditional events. Tongkling Ortega art increases the art treasury in Semarang Regency.


This study investigates the seismic structure and anisotropy in the crust beneath Madagascar and southeastern Africa, using receiver functions. The understanding of seismic anisotropy is essential for imaging past and present deformation in the lithosphere–asthenosphere system. In the upper mantle, seismic anisotropy mainly results from the orientation of olivine, which deforms under tectonic (fossil anisotropy) or flow processes (in the asthenosphere). In the crust, the crystallographic alignment of amphiboles, feldspars (plagioclase) or micas or the alignment of heterogeneities such as fractures, add to a complex geometry, which results in challenges to understanding the Earth's shallow structure. The decomposition of receiver functions into backazimuth harmonics allows to characterize orientations of lithospheric structure responsible for azimuthally varying seismic signals, such as a dipping isotropic velocity contrasts or layers of azimuthal seismic anisotropy. By analysing receiver function harmonics from records of 48 permanent or temporary stations this study reveals significant azimuthally varying signals within the upper crust of Madagascar and southeastern Africa. At 30 stations crustal anisotropy dominates the harmonics while the signature of a dipping isotropic contrast is dominant at the remaining 18 stations. However, all stations' backazimuth harmonics show complex signals involving both dipping isotropic and shallow anisotropic contrasts or more than one source of anisotropy at shallow depth. Our calculated orientations for the crust are therefore interpreted as reflecting either the average or the interplay of several sources of azimuthally varying signals depending of their strength. However, comparing information between stations allows us to draw the same conclusions regionally: in both southern Africa and Madagascar our measurements reflect the interplay between local, inherited structural heterogeneities and crustal seismic anisotropy generated by the current extensional stress field imposed by the southward propagation of the East-African Rift System. A final comparison of our crustal orientations with SKS orientations attributed to mantle deformation further probes the interplay of crustal and mantle anisotropy on SKS measurements.


The pathogenic bacteria Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis form spores encased in a protein coat surrounded by a balloon-like exosporium. These structures mediate spore interactions with its environment, including the host immune system, control the transit of molecules that trigger germination and thus are essential for the spore life cycle. Formation of the coat and exosporium has been traditionally visualized by transmission electronic microscopy on fixed cells. Recently, we showed that assembly of the exosporium can be directly observed in live B. cereus cells by super resolution-structured illumination microscopy (SR-SIM) using the membrane MitoTrackerGreen (MTG) dye. Here, we demonstrate that the different steps of coat formation can also be visualized by SR-SIM using MTG and SNAP-cell TMR-star dyes during B. cereus sporulation. We used these markers to characterize a subpopulation of engulfment-defective B. cereus cells that develops at a suboptimal sporulation temperature. Importantly, we predicted and confirmed that synthesis and accumulation of coat material, as well as synthesis of the σK-dependent protein BxpB, occur in cells arrested during engulfment. These results suggest that, unlike the well-studied model organism Bacillus subtilis, the activity of σK is not strictly linked to the state of forespore development in B. cereus.


The basic aim of the study was to document a case study of uterine didelphys, a rare clinical condition in Nili-Ravi buffalos. An approximately 54 months old buffalo with the history of repeat breeding was brought to the Sahala slaughter house Islamabad. During ante mortem examination, trans-rectal palpation revealed the increased cervical diameter with a poorly described external oss. Upon passing artificial insemination rod, was felt only in one side of narrow uterine body. After slaughtering, gross examination revealed the presence of two cervical openings. Upon dissection, it was revealed that the opening in separate uterine horn is due to presence of band of tissue, although uterine horn consistency was normal. Both ovaries were cyclic. As far as biometric measurements are concerned cervix was 7.5 cm long and 7 cm in diameter. While ovaries were 2.5 cm and 3 cm long and 1 cm in diameter. There is no common uterine body to both horns. The length of left and right horn was 15 cm and 16.5 cm respectively. This is an interesting case which broadens the spectrum of causes of repeat breeding.


BACKGROUND: Accident are the secondary cause of mortality in Iran, background of its occurrence and mortality are not wholly understood. The aim of this paper is to explain seasonal occurrence and mortality pattern of traffic accidents in Isfahan population, Iran. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analytic study. We extracted data on traffic accidents for Isfahan Province from the Ministry of Health (MOH). For analysis independent t test, ANOVA test, chi-square test was used. To calculate the odds ratio of death in hospital from traffic accidents, logistic regression model was used. Results: The highest hospital admission for traffic accidents was seen during the summer and lowest during the autumn, they increased 43.35%, 97.8% and 03.5% during the spring, summer and winter, respectively than the autumn. odds ratio for death from traffic accident during spring were (1.88 CI 95% 0.98-1.42), summer (1.4 CI95% 1.18-1.67) and in autumn (1.4 CI95% 1.15-1.7),in male were (1.33 CI95% 1.15-1.54) and in age group 21-40 were (1 CI95% 0.87-1.16),41-60 (1.62 CI95% 1.36-1.92),61≥(3.94 CI95% 3.3-4.71) and in out of urban-rural (2.44 CI95% 2.09-2.85),rural (3.1 CI95% 2.64-3.64) and in motor vehicles(1.5 CI95% 1.3-1.73)and in pedestrians(1.76 CI95% 1.5-2.06). Conclusion: There are seasonal variations in occurrence and mortality due to traffic accidents. The highest occurrence of traffic accident was during summer, and the lowest rate in autumn. The highest in hospital mortality rate was observed in summer and the lowest in winter. After adjusting the model, the risk of in-hospital mortality was significant for gender,age,season, type of accidents and accident place. Language: en


We solve the q-state Potts model with anti-ferromagnetic interactions on large random lattices of finite coordination. Due to the frustration induced by the large loops and to the local tree-like structure of the lattice this model behaves as a mean-field spin glass. We use the cavity method to compute the temperature-coordination phase diagram and to determine the location of the dynamic and static glass transitions, and of the Gardner instability. We show that for q⩾4 the model possesses a phenomenology similar to the one observed in structural glasses. We also illustrate the links between the positive- and the zero-temperature cavity approaches, and discuss the consequences for the coloring of random graphs. In particular, we argue that in the colorable region the one-step replica symmetry-breaking solution is stable towards more steps of replica symmetry breaking.


This paper proposes a model for t-Government and highlights the research agenda needed to increase understanding of transformational government and the processes involved in furthering the agenda of the t-Government. In particular, both an operational and a conceptual model for the effective involvement of citizens and businesses in government functioning have been proposed. This will help to define an agenda for t-Government research that emerges from national UK strategy and policy for e-Government. The main threads of tGovernment encompass: (1) A citizen-centric delivery of public services or e-inclusion, (2) A shared services culture to maximize value added to clients, (3) The effective delivery and management of resources and skills within government or professionalism. All three threads should be addressed principally from the perspectives of delivery, evaluation and participation in view of benefit realisation as envisioned by Government strategic planning and policy directives (CabinetOffice, 2005). The management of change dimension of these phenomena have been included in the research agenda. In particular, research is needed to reshape the discourse towards emphasising a citizen centric approach that defines, develops, and benefits from public service. Decision makers in Government will need models of Governance that fulfil transformational objectives. They will also need models of benefits realisation within a strategic Governance framework. It has been argued that t-Government research should be addressing these relative voids.


In 2003 Anastassiades and Lehotay described the "quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe" (QuEChERS) method for the multi-class, multiresidue analysis of pesticides in fruit and vegetables. The QuEChERS method allows to obtain high quality results with a minimum number of steps and a low solvent and glassware consumption. The QuEChERS method based on liquid–liquid partitioning with acetonitrile followed by a cleanup step with dispersive-SPE (Solid Phase Extraction). The aim of this study was to check the usefulness of the QuEChERS method coupled with gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD) in analysis of pesticide residues in food. Ready-to-use QuEChERS reagents kits and own-weighed reagents have been applied. In recovery experiment for 15 selected pesticides, three matrices belonging to different groups – carrots (high carotenoids content), raspberry (highly acidic matrix) and tomatoes (high water content) – have been used, according to the SANCO/10684/2009 guideline and PN-EN 15662:2008 requirements. Fourteen compounds showed a recovery in the range of 70–120% and only one compound (trifluralin in raspberry) presented a recovery lower than 70% at the 0.5 mg/kg fortification level. The repeatability was satisfying with a RSD lower than 20% apart from trifluralin in raspberry (27.16%).