We propose Active Surrogate Estimators (ASEs), a new method for label-efficient model evaluation. Evaluating model performance is a challenging and important problem when labels are expensive. ASEs address this active testing problem using a surrogate-based estimation approach that interpolates the errors of points with unknown labels, rather than forming a Monte Carlo estimator. ASEs actively learn the underlying surrogate, and we propose a novel acquisition strategy, XWED, that tailors this learning to the final estimation task. We find that ASEs offer greater label-efficiency than the current state-of-the-art when applied to challenging model evaluation problems for deep neural networks.


Visual feature detection with limited resources of simple robots is an essential requirement for swarm robotic systems. Robots need to localize their position, to determine their orientation, and need to be able to acquire extra information from their surrounding environment using their sensors, while their computational and storage capabilities might be very limited. This paper evaluates the performance of an experimental framework, in which environmental elements such as landmarks and QR-codes are considered as key visual features. The performance is evaluated for environmental light disturbances and distance variations and feature detection speed is thoroughly examined. The applicability of the approach is shown in a real robot scenario by using epuck robots. Finally, the results of applying the approach to a completely different setting, i.e., simulation of pheromones using glowing trail detection, are presented. These results indicate the broad applicability range of the developed feature detection techniques.


In 1931 and 1932, George Vaillant and Sigvald Linné excavated 34 burials and 17 offerings dating to the Early Postclassic period (a.d. 900–1150). The features were located on the ruins of the Classic-period site of Teotihuacan and within the boundaries of a roughly 25–50 ha zone identified by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project as having a dense Early Postclassic-period occupation. The results of Vaillant's excavations have not been published. An examination of the Vaillant–Linné data sheds new light on Early Postclassic-period mortuary ritual and social organization. The identification of several types of burials shows that local people conducted primary and secondary mortuary rituals and indicates the presence of at least two social strata at the site. The content of the burials and offerings supports a division of the Early Postclassic period into two local phases, Mazapan (ca. a.d. 900–1000) and Atlatongo (ca. a.d. 1000–1100/1150), with these features dating to the earlier phase.


Digital intermediaries such as Google and Facebook are seen as the new powerbrokers in online news, controlling access to consumers and with the potential even to suppress and target messages to individuals. Academics, publishers and policymakers have raised concerns about the implications of this new power, from the impact on media plurality to implications for democratic discourse, freedom of speech and control over public opinion formation. After reviewing academic literature that has raised this concern and public policy addressing it, this paper aims to examine the empirical foundations for these claims. Through secondary analysis of industry data on referrals of online news traffic, the authors find that intermediaries do have the potential to exert significant influence over distribution of online news. The authors however find that not all news that is filtered through intermediary services is subject to the same shaping and editorial forces, in part, because user agency is also an important factor. The role of intermediaries in news distribution is thus complex; headline numbers do not translate automatically into influence due to the complex interplay and exchange between user agency and the editorial influence of intermediaries.,This paper is based mainly on a secondary analysis of publicly available data on news referrals, and some data provided by news publishers along with re-analysis of regulatory data from Ofcom and previously unpublished data from the BBC and SimilarWeb. These data sources are combined for the first time to investigate claims regarding the current controversy about media plurality, algorithmic power and transparency.,The paper finds that evidence that intermediaries wield concentrated editorial power is mixed. While other, non-intermediated news distribution platforms such as TV and the press remain highly important, online is heading towards being the most important distribution platform, particularly for younger demographics. The authors found that intermediaries such as search and social control access to a significant proportion of online news content. Not all use of intermediaries is indicative of online gatekeeping however. User agency also determines how content is prioritised and thus consumed. The news consumed is therefore a product of a complex interplay between user agency and intermediary influence. In contrast to traditional discussions of media power and its regulation (for example the notion of mass media plurality); it is thus not possible to make inferences on influence simply by noting the market share of intermediaries. The role of intermediaries is much more subtle and opaque.,This paper is mainly based on publicly available data. It is crucial to find out what is possible with such data as regulators with responsibility for monitoring and regulating media plurality are similarly limited to such data. The implications are that further research with a wide range of methods and data sources will be necessary to update research on media plurality and diversity.,The implications of these findings are that independent public authorities should have access to much more revealing data about public opinion formation processes, including referrals and other data currently held only by publishers. The three stage analytical framework will be of use to regulators and policymakers currently looking into these issues.,Civil society and public debate about digital intermediaries is currently intensively discussed in policy debate. Taking these debates forward will depend on whether existing public policy frameworks (such as limits on news plurality) are able to accommodate the new challenges such as intermediary influence on news distribution and public opinion formation.,The recent special issue of INFO, including contributions from Mansell and Helberger, raised a range of similar issues with regard to media plurality and intermediaries. These papers did not seek empirically to examine in depth, using all available publicly relevant data, the implications for media pluralism and diversity in one particular media market. The paper is theoretically original, contains some previously unpublished data and an entirely new empirical and theoretical analysis. The models and tables are previously unpublished.


Cardiac pathology registers the highest mortality rate among all the other diseases. The aim of the present study is to establish coronary artery segments with the most frequent localization of atherosclerotic lesions. The investigation showed that, most frequently, atherosclerotic lesions are localized at the level of the big coronary arteries, such as the anterior interventricular branch, right coronary artery and left circumflex artery. Similar values of vascular atherosclerotic lesions were found at the level of the Ist diagonal branch, possibly due to its hemodynamic features, similar to those of the anterior descendent branch.


Networked systems of autonomous mobile agents have emerged in a variety of applications such as collaborative robotics, unmanned aerial/ground vehicles, mobile sensor networks and disaster relief operations. These agents utilize wireless communications for distributed computing, control and decision-making. Due to their limitations on energy supply, design and implementation of efficient distributed algorithms are crucial for these systems. This paper reviews different design aspects of networks of collaborative vehicles. We survey existing methods of addressing physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer, routing, and geometric connectivity issues for such networks and show limitations of these designs that address only single layer issues. We argue that a system engineering framework is needed for the design of such systems.


P175 Figure 1 Pre and Postpirfenidone treatment Paediatric Respiratory Disease P176 DIAGNOSING ASTHMA IN CHILDREN USING SPIROMETRY: EVIDENCE FROM A BIRTH COHORT STUDY CS Murray, P Foden, LA Lowe, H Durrington, A Custovic, A Simpson. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Imperial College, London, UK 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209333.319 Background NICE draft guidance for the diagnosis of childhood asthma proposes algorithms based on four tests of lung function (FEV1/FVC ratio, bronchodilator reversibility [BDR], FeNO, PEFR variability); a minimum of two tests must be positive to make a diagnosis. For FEV1/FVC ratio, the proposed cut-off for a positive test is <70%, or the lower limit of normal (LLN), which is neither defined nor widely available. In this algorithm, spirometry is the first-line investigation, and children with FEV1/ FVC > 70% are not offered BDR. However, the diagnostic test accuracy for FEV1/FVC and BDR is unknown. Within the setting of a population-based birth cohort we investigated the value of FEV1/FVC and BDR in diagnosing asthma. Methods We assessed study participants at clinical follow-up at age 16 years using validated questionnaires and lung function measurement. Spirometry was measured according to ATS/ERS guidelines. Using the Asthma UK reference equations, we calculated LLN for FEV1/FVC. BDR was considered positive if FEV1 increased by >12% following administration of 400 mg of salbutamol. Current asthma was defined as all three of: (1) doctordiagnosed asthma ever, (2) wheezing in the previous 12 months and (3) current use of asthma treatment. We assigned children negative to all three features as a non-asthmatic control group. Results Spirometry was available for 630 children (325 boys, age range 13.1–16.9 years), of whom 74 (11.7%) had current asthma and 403 were assigned as non-asthmatic controls. FEV1/FVC was significantly lower among asthmatics (84.1% vs. 89.2%, p < 0.001, Figure 1). Ten children (1.6%) had FEV1/FVC <70% (two in asthma group). Discriminative ability of FEV1/ FVC < 70% was poor (Receiver operating characteristic curve, AUC = 0.70; sensitivity = 2.7% [2/74], specificity = 98.8% [398/403]). For the calculated FEV1/FVC LLN (74.8% for boys, 78.2% for girls), 28 children (4.4%) had FEV1/FVC<LLN (11 in asthma group). Discriminative ability of FEV1/FVC<LLN was poor (sensitivity 14.9% [11/74]; specificity 97.0% [391/403]). BDR was positive in 54 children (8.7%), of whom 12 had asthma. Discriminative ability of BDR was poor (AUC = 0.64, sensitivity = 16.2% [12/74], specificity = 93.5% [373/399]). Combining these two tests did not result in a better diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity = 2.7%, specificity = 99.0%). Conclusions FEV1/FVC < 70% or <LLN, and BDR > 12% have a poor diagnostic accuracy as tests for childhood asthma. P177 HIGH PREVALENCE OF UNRECOGNISED ASTHMA IN CHILDREN WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE M Akthar, G Ruiz, S Chakravorty, C Bossley, D Rees, A Gupta. Kings College Hospital,


Throughout the history of computational linguistics the rule-based and the statistics-based approaches appeared as competing rather than complementary threads of research. Even today, many view the success of the Xerox rule-based taggers as a threat to the more statistically oriented tag-gers, just as a few years ago the IBM statistical approach was viewed as a threat to rule-based systems of machine translation. The historical importance of the AT&T work on weighted transducers lies in the fact that for the rst time it makes possible a genuine integration of the two approaches. Under the heading of \speech-natural language integra-tion" we usually nd the shotgun marriage of two completely disjoined systems, each with its own distinct theoretical apparatus and algorithmic building blocks. In contrast, here we nd surprisingly smooth integration, both in terms of underlying theory and in terms of shared algorithms. This is a very signiicant accomplishment, and the main goal of my comments is to situate it as a particular stage of a constant developmental trend towards greater integration. I will ask how much the good sides of the rule-based and the data-based approaches have been preserved, and what, if anything, has been lost by taking this approach. I will also ask how far the present approach can be pushed, and ooer some speculative remarks on future directions. First let me take a clear and unambiguous stance on the rule-based vs. statistics-based debate: rules are better. As a simple illustration, consider Fig. 1 which shows the performance of a bank check OCR system developed by the author 2] under three conditions: using a bigram language model, a nite state grammar, and a combination of the two. As it is evident from Fig. 1, the rule-based system fares much better than the statistics-based, and in fact the latter adds very little to the performance of a system already containing the former. So the question is not so much an overar-ching philosophical problem of whether rules are better, but rather the more mundane practical problem of nding the rules. To the extent that the rules, constrains and representations constituting the grammar are devised by grammarians like Quirk and Greenbaum 3], computational linguists can get a free ride, and they should avail themselves of the opportunity. But to the extent that Quirk et al. represent the culmination of an extremely sophisticated descriptive tradition of a singularly deeply researched language, it appears very unlikely …


Introduction Traumascape -of the "White Man's Dreaming"? Terra cognita vs Terra incognita Interweaving Demonic and Daimonic Associations in Collective Memory (Annex A) -Demonic associations and demonisation -Unusual, unsayable, unsaid, untruth -and denial -Prefiguration: Van Diemen's Land as strategic pioneer in the treatment of dissent and otherness -Daimonic associations: imaginative, aesthetic, inspirational or spiritual -Refiguration of "the other" through fantasy Memory Challenges at the Edge of the World (Annex B) -Symbolic journey -to the "Edge of the World" -Dubious associations -with the "Centres of the World" -Amnesia at the "Edge of the World" -a key to unrealistic optimism? -Mnemonic devices for collective remembrance Import of Nothingness and Emptiness through Happening and Mattering (Annex C) -Varieties of nothingness and emptiness -Questionable understanding of emptiness and nothingness -"Mattering" and "Happening" -"Nothing" emerging through combinations of "mattering" and "happening" -Dynamic complexification: integration of "no time" -Emergence of "nothing": creating "cognitive shelters" and "cognitive vehicles" -Emergence of "nothing": globalization as exemplar -Emergence of "nothing": "import" of significance -Polarization and the dynamics of nothingness Conclusion: Transforming the Edge of the World through Voiding the Centre References


Why some multicultural individuals think and identify differently to others is a question that is yet to be clearly answered. We suggest that a key antecedent to psychological differences among multiculturals is early immersive culture mixing, or experiencing multiple cultures simultaneously at home while growing up. We propose that innate multiculturals (defined as individuals who have experienced early immersive culture mixing) are cognitively guided by a single hybrid cultural schema and have a hybrid cultural identity. This would make them fundamentally different from achieved multiculturals (individuals who have become multicultural in other ways), who should possess multiple distinct cultural schemas and cultural identities. A quasi-experiment indicated that, as predicted, innate multiculturals were guided by a single cultural frame with respect to attribution and locus of attention, whereas achieved multiculturals switched between different cultural frames. Innate multiculturals also reported a more integrated cultural identity than did achieved multiculturals. These findings open a new avenue in multiculturalism research, with important potential implications of early immersive culture mixing for a range of individual outcomes such as creativity.


Historically, rotor cyphers have been used in order to secure written communications. Mechanical machines provided continuous streams of characters for encoding secret messages that were sent to the other part of the continent by means of telephone cables or radio. Several people tried in vain to tackle them but only those bold enough were successful. In Sweden, the Siemens and Halske T52 was used by the Germans during World War II and Arne Beurling was one of those bright people that successfully broke it. This thesis aims to recreate his steps applying modern concepts to the task, breaking the Geheimschreiber. In order to do that, a recreation of the machine has virtually been built and several German texts encyphered. The techniques used, involving Recurrent Neural Networks, have proven to be effective in breaking all XOR wheels with different crib sizes removing the random factor introduced by the cypher. However, if this method can be applied to real war intercepts remains to be seen.


Information theoretic learning (ITL) criteria have emerged useful for mitigating degradations caused by unknown non-Gaussian noise processes in future wireless communication systems. Specifically, the reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) based approaches relying on ITL based learning criteria are envisioned to provide near-optimal mitigation of unknown hardware impairments and non-Gaussian noises. Among several ITL criteria, the recent works find the minimum error entropy with fiducial points (MEEF) promising due to its guarantee of unbiased estimation and generalization over generic noise distributions. However, MEEF based learning approaches are known to depend on an accurate kernel-width initialization. Also, the optimal value of this kernel-width is well-known to vary temporally and across deployment scenarios. To remove the dependency on kernel-width, a hyperparameter-free MEEF based adaptive algorithm is derived using random-Fourier features with sampled kernel widths (RFF-SKW). In addition, a detailed convergence analysis is presented for the proposed hyperparameter-free MEEF, which promises a near-optimal error-floor independent of step-size and guarantees convergence for a wide range of step sizes. The promised hyperparameter-independence and improved convergence for the proposed hyperparameter-free MEEF are validated by computer simulations considering different case studies.


Traffic safety data for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE and Bahrain, are analysed here and compared with EU countries. The comparison is based on data gathered for over three decades considering death frequencies and rates. The predicted values for the coming decade, based on best regression fits, are also analysed. The gathered data for the various GCC countries are probably presented for the first time in the literature. While the traffic fatalities in the GCC countries increased from 3,531 during 1980 to 9,685 deaths during 2011, those in 15 EU countries dropped from 59,879 deaths to 20,764. It is expected that roadway deaths in both will reach 10,700 by the year 2021. The fatality rates per population for the GCC countries as a whole were shown to be substantially higher than those in EU countries. While the rates for EU countries were shown to be around 13.5 deaths per 100,000 population during the 80s, those in the GCC countries were in the range of 22 to 27. The current rates for the EU countries are around 5.5. Those in the GCC countries are around 23 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. As per regressed models, EU fatality rates will continue dropping towards zero in about 10 years' time; those for GCC countries will stay in the range of 20 deaths per 100,000 population. There are many contributory factors leading to such high rates of traffic deaths in GCC countries. These include lack of measurable long term safety plans, inconsistent handling of traffic safety strategies, poor involvement of NGOs, poor coordination between various stakeholders, poor research involvement in the traffic safety crises and limited post accident rehabilitation centres.


Objective The aim of this study was to determine the surgical outcomes and renal function following salvage surgery for bilateral Wilms tumor (BWT). Summary background data The challenge for the surgeon treating BWT lies in striking a fine balance between renal preservation and oncological clearance. Methods This is a retrospective review of medical records in a tertiary care hospital in India. Nine children with BWT who presented between 2005 and 2015 were reviewed and followed up through telephone. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Seven (78%) of nine children were boys and two (22%) were syndromic. Six (67%) children presented at less than 1 year of age. Eight (89%) children presented with an abdominal mass. There were no metastases at presentation. All children underwent trucut biopsy and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Six children underwent surgery: four underwent bilateral nephron sparing surgery (NSS) and two underwent unilateral nephrectomy with contralateral NSS. Tumor recurred in two children. The mean follow-up was 38 months (range: 5–108 months). Creatinine clearance (CrCl) improved postoperatively in all children. Postoperative hypertension was transient and resolved with improvement in CrCl. Conclusion Children with BWT in the Indian subcontinent may be younger than those in the rest of the world. NSS yields good outcomes even for recurrences. Postoperative hypertension is transient in the majority of patients and correlated with improvement in CrCl. Prognosis is related to operability and syndromic association.


Despite high rates of comorbidity between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disordered eating, there is little in the way of empirical research or practice guidelines to inform the treatment of these frequently co-occurring disorders. Clinicians who provide treatment for this patient population must navigate complicated decisions about whether these problems are best treated concurrently or sequentially, and which treatment approaches and modalities are most appropriate for the patient. The current clinical case describes the treatment of a female soldier who was admitted to a 25-day, trauma-focused inpatient program 3 months after she experienced military sexual trauma. Although treatment initially targeted her PTSD symptoms, she later disclosed her ongoing struggles with disordered eating, which raised complex questions about the most effective treatment approach. This case study illustrates the intricate link between PTSD and disordered eating, and highlights important clinical considerations relevant to the assessment and treatment of these commonly comorbid disorders.


Automatic analysis of scanned historical documents comprises a wide range of image analysis tasks, which are often challenging for machine learning due to a lack of human-annotated learning samples. With the advent of deep neural networks, a promising way to cope with the lack of training data is to pre-train models on images from a different domain and then fine-tune them on historical documents. In the current research, a typical example of such cross-domain transfer learning is the use of neural networks that have been pre-trained on the ImageNet database for object recognition. It remains a mostly open question whether or not this pre-training helps to analyse historical documents, which have fundamentally different image properties when compared with ImageNet. In this paper, we present a comprehensive empirical survey on the effect of ImageNet pre-training for diverse historical document analysis tasks, including character recognition, style classification, manuscript dating, semantic segmentation, and content-based retrieval. While we obtain mixed results for semantic segmentation at pixel-level, we observe a clear trend across different network architectures that ImageNet pre-training has a positive effect on classification as well as content-based retrieval.


This work deals with the management of landscape at water territories and water areas. The work is focused on a case study in the prefecture of Corinthia, Greece. Algorithms and remote sensing / GIS technology are used to develop a model of comparative temporal approach to the landscapes of principal urban area which is located at coastal zone to provide information for flood protection. Algorithms using remote sensing / GIS technology of best practices are also developed for the coordination of public policies in the field of integrated interventions at modern urban water landscapes compatible to the methods for flood protection.


This essay thinks through the centrality of the concept of "the World" to theorizations of affect and the presumed correlation between feeling and world—that is, the notion that affective experience is necessarily generative of world(s)—that operates as an uninterrogated maxim in both contemporary and classical theories of affect. Focusing on the figure and question of the World and its grammars of relation(ality) and becoming, this essay considers the implications of an insistence on worlding in the context of anti-Blackness. It argues that the sustenance of the very concept of the World necessitates a foreclosure of Black affect's destructive drive. Black affect is therefore an impossibility within the World, as that unbearable negativity which drives us toward its necessary destruction. In light of this, the essay argues further that the tendency toward an uncritical embrace of affect as a mode of world-forming within strains of Black critical theory—represented by turns to "the otherwise"—performs a sublimation of Black affect's radical negativity, as encapsulated in the desire for the End of the World.


The design of the optimal codebook for a given codebook size and input source is a challenging puzzle that remains to be solved. The key problem in optimal codebook design is how to construct a set of codevectors efficiently to minimize the average distortion. A minimax criterion of minimizing the maximum partial distortion is introduced in this paper. Based on the partial distortion theorem, it is shown that minimizing the maximum partial distortion and minimizing the average distortion will asymptotically have the same optimal solution corresponding to equal and minimal partial distortion. Motivated by the result, we incorporate the alternative minimax criterion into the on-line learning mechanism, and develop a new algorithm called minimax partial distortion competitive learning (MMPDCL) for optimal codebook design. A computation acceleration scheme for the MMPDCL algorithm is implemented using the partial distance search technique, thus significantly increasing its computational efficiency. Extensive experiments have demonstrated that compared with some well-known codebook design algorithms, the MMPDCL algorithm consistently produces the best codebooks with the smallest average distortions. As the codebook size increases, the performance gain becomes more significant using the MMPDCL algorithm. The robustness and computational efficiency of this new algorithm further highlight its advantages.


Movement of cells plays a critical role in the development of cancer. Analyzing the motility of cells in appropriate cell culture models is therefore an important tool for cancer researchers. Live cell imaging is particularly well suited to capture dynamic processes in cell culture. The CytoSMART™ Device is an easy-to-use, small and affordable live cell monitoring system suitable for the label-free analysis of cell motility within a standard cell culture incubator. Label-free approaches offer the benefit of cell analysis without potential cytotoxic or other side-effects of the used markers or dyes on the cells. This presentation shows the suitability of the CytoSMART™ Device for the analysis of different cancer-relevant assays. The formation of new blood vessels is required to ensure sufficient nutrient and oxygen supply and to allow solid tumors to grow beyond a certain size. This process can be mimicked in cell culture models in so-called tube formation assays. In this study, Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) were seeded on Engelbreth-Holm Swarm Sarcoma derived Basement Membrane Extract (BME). The resulting formation of endothelial tubes was monitored with the CytoSMART™ Device. Subsequently, the average length of the formed tubes as well as the number of closed tube circles was quantitatively determined. In addition, the impact of Suramin on tube formation was evaluated as an example for a tube formation inhibiting compound. The migration of cancer cells is also required for the growth and in particular the metastasis of tumors. In a first example, the closure of a so-called wound or scratch in a confluent monolayer of cancer cells was monitored with the CytoSMART™ Device. Determining the migration speed of the cells by measuring the speed of wound closure is a simple assay to determine the migration potential of cancer cells. Modifying the cancer cells, e.g. by knocking down specific genes with siRNA, can help to identify genes that play a role in cell migration. Compounds that are expected to reduce cell motility and therefore reduce the metastasis potential of cancer cells can be easily tested. In a second example, the invasion of cancer cells into a three-dimensional (3D) matrix was analyzed. Tumor cells were embedded in a cancer-relevant matrix and their invasion into the 3D matrix was documented with the CytoSMART™ Device. While this type of model is slightly more difficult in set-up and analysis compared to simple scratch assays, it may reflect better the in vivo situation where solid tumors develop within three-dimensional tissues. The images captured with the CytoSMART™ System were quantitatively analyzed using appropriate software. Overall, the CytoSMART™ System is an easy-to-use, small and affordable live cell imaging system suitable for the label-free analysis of different cancer-relevant assays. Citation Format: Stefanie Buesch, Sabine Schaepermeier, Theresa D9Souza, Bodo Ortmann, Claudia Schwartz, Jenny Schroeder. Simple and easy monitoring of tube formation and migration assays with the CytoSMART TM Live Cell Imaging System [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 822. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-822


The dynamics of information dissemination in social networks is of paramount importance in processes such as rumors or fads propagation, spread of product innovations or "word-of-mouth" communications. Due to the difficulty in tracking a specific information when it is transmitted by people, most understanding of information spreading in social networks comes from models or indirect measurements. Here we present an integrated experimental and theoretical framework to understand and quantitatively predict how and when information spreads over social networks. Using data collected in Viral Marketing campaigns that reached over 31,000 individuals in eleven European markets, we show the large degree of variability of the participants' actions, despite them being confronted with the common task of receiving and forwarding the same piece of information. This have a profound effect on information diffusion: Firstly, most of the transmission takes place due to super-spreading events which would be considered extraordinary in population-average models. Secondly, due to the different way individuals schedule information transmission we observe a slowing down of the spreading of information in social networks that happens in logarithmic time. Quantitative description of the experiments is possible through an stochastic branching process which corroborates the importance of heterogeneity. Since high variability of both the intensity and frequency of human responses are found in many other activities, our findings are pertinent to many other human driven diffusion processes like rumors, fads, innovations or news which has important consequences for organizations management, communications, marketing or electronic social communities.


This article investigates improvements in the learning performance of trainees involved in an E-Learning programme in an industrial setting. To measure efficiency in E-Learning, our research develops a learning improvement indicator, defined as the difference in the learning outcome of a trainee before and after a certain period of time. The learning outcome, concretely, is measured by the test results of the trainees. In this regard, the test results should be evaluated both before and after taking the E-Learning course and / or before and after applying a specific action in the E-Learning environment. The experimental results in our industrial setting have indicated that there is room for improvement in the trainees' learning outcomes. We investigated the social networks that are implicitly formed by trainees and trainers in the E-Learning environment. The position of the trainee in these implicit social networks of the E-Learning setup proves to be correlated with the learning outcome. Methods that can improve the learning outcome by using the implicit social networks of trainees and tutors, as well as using social network engineering in order to influence the learning outcome - by placing the trainee in the appropriate position in the social network - are currently being investigated. In this research we provide an overview of the results gathered until now and propose a framework for future discussion.


Although high voltage direct current (DC) shock is a standard technique to terminate ventricular fibrillation (VF), it can cause severe pain and tissue damage. The exact effect of the DC electric field, which can depolarize the heart during VF is still unknown. We hypothesized that low-energy DC field in combination with pacing (pacing+DC) could terminate VF by affecting the ventricular propagation pattern. In six Langendorff-perfused isolated rabbit hearts with the ablated sinoatrial (SA) node, the DC field was delivered to the left ventricle (cathode) and right ventricle (anode). We designed a timed protocol using LabVIEW programming that delivers pacing, DC and pacing+DC stimuli for two seconds time intervals each. The pacing pulse (with varying pacing cycle length: 300ms-30ms) was delivered to the apex. Transmembrane voltage was recorded with optical mapping technique for 16 seconds at a sampling rate of 2ms/frame. We crushed the sinoatrial node to reduce the heart rate. The baseline activation appeared to have endocardial origins with a mean escape ventricular rate of 60 ± 5bpm at baseline. The DC field (30mA-60mA) alone increased the mean heart rate to 120±5bpm. Although DC alone terminated VF in a few cases, the rate of termination was very low (6.2%). However, when pacing+DC was applied, it was possible to terminate VF in 34 of 130 episodes in six rabbits. The rate of successful defibrillation of VF with pacing+DC was significantly higher than that with DC alone (20% vs 6.2%, p<0.01). Pacing alone never terminated the VF. In conclusion, DC field may affect the conduction velocity in normal condition. Pacing+DC intervention could lead to regularization of VF propagation and eventually to termination. Further improvement of this approach may offer a higher success rate of defibrillation with lower energy requirements.


This column assesses trade costs for manufacturing industries in the EU. It demonstrates that, although tariffs on trade within the EU were abolished decades ago, significant barriers remain, and countries continue to integrate. Today, the most substantial policy-induced costs are technical barriers to trade, such as packaging and labelling requirements.


This paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed questionnaires measuring self‐rated understanding and ability about assessment criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE students' understandings suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naïve epistemological beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE students' understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE students' self‐rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the transition to HE.


Observations of rotational modulations of brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets allow the characterization of condensate cloud properties. As of now, rotational spectral modulations have only been seen in three L-type brown dwarfs. We report here the discovery of rotational spectral modulations in LP261-75B, an L6-type intermediate surface gravity companion to an M4.5 star. As a part of the Cloud Atlas Treasury program, we acquired time-resolved Wide Field Camera 3 grism spectroscopy (1.1–1.69 μm) of LP261-75B. We find gray spectral variations with the relative amplitude displaying only a weak wavelength dependence and no evidence for lower-amplitude modulations in the 1.4 μm water band than in the adjacent continuum. The likely rotational modulation period is 4.78 ± 0.95 hr, although the rotational phase is not well sampled. The minimum relative amplitude in the white light curve measured over the whole wavelength range is 2.41% ± 0.14%. We report an unusual light curve, which seems to have three peaks approximately evenly distributed in rotational phase. The spectral modulations suggests that the upper atmosphere cloud properties in LP261-75B are similar to two other mid-L dwarfs of typical infrared colors, but differ from that of the extremely red L-dwarf WISE0047.


INTRODUCTION:
Teaching communication is perceived to be of importance in dental education. Several reports have been published worldwide in the educational literature describing modifications of the dental curriculum by implementing the teaching of communication skills. Surveys which evaluate the current state of training and assessment of communication skills in dental education in different countries exist already in some countries, but little information is available about German-speaking countries.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
In a cross-sectional study with the aim of a census, all 36 dental schools in Germany (30), Austria (3), and Switzerland (3) were surveyed.
RESULTS:
The present survey revealed that at 26 of the 34 dental schools (76%), communication skills training has been . Training of communication skills mainly takes place between the 6th and the 9th semester. Ten schools were able to implement a partly longitudinal curriculum, while the other sites only offer stand-alone courses. Of the 34 dental schools, six assess communication skills in a summative way. Three of those schools also use formative assessments for their students. Another seven sites only use formative assessment. From the various formats of assessment, OSCE is mentioned most frequently.
CONCLUSION:
The necessity to train and assess communication skills has reached German-speaking dental schools. The present survey allows an overview of the training and assessment of communication skills in undergraduate dental education in German-speaking Europe.


This paper presents the findings of a study investigating how the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) can help organizations to tackle the different business challenges brought about as a consequence of the recent global financial crisis including those associated with planning, cost reduction and increasing competition. The study focuses on the experiences of employees based within the leading concrete and cement producer 'Lafarge-Jordan'. Using a qualitative approach and the use of convenience sampling, a questionnaire was developed to gather the views of the company's employees on the perceived impact of TQM in their organization on its ability to meet different business challenges. 73 employees completed the survey. Partial Least Squares (PLS) were chosen using SmartPLS 3 software with a two-stage approach in measurement and structural model testing. The results showed that customer focus and senior management support are the two most important variables that enhance the ability to face different types of challenges. Integrative relationships with suppliers and continuous improvement were found also to have a significant impact on reducing quality costs to help overcome competition. Based on the previous literature and results, this research recommends the orientation towards greater employee involvement because they are the cornerstone to successful TQM; further, it is more advantageous to analyze both the soft and hard effects of TQM to overcome challenges.


Abstract The continual suppression of emotions during fight or flight reactions results in atrophy and endogenous toxicosis in noradrenergic neurons. Diminished synaptic levels of norepinephrine are associated with depression. During periodic detoxification crises excess norepinephrine and other metabolites flood synapses. The norepinephrine overexcites postsynaptic neurons and causes symptoms ranging from mild anxiety to violent behavior. Some of the other metabolites, which may include dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, peptides, amino acids, and various metabolic waste products, are bound by noradrenergic receptors and alter neurotransmission. When they prevent norepinephrine from exciting postsynaptic neurons, depression returns. A mechanism is proposed for the binding of norepinephrine and for the effects of the other metabolites, many of which have been thought to be neurotransmitters. The diverse receptor proteins presumed to be specific for false neurotransmitters may instead encode specific memories. The shift in depressive and excitatory behavior is characteristic of nearly all nervous and mental disorders, including addictions, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and psychosomatic disorders. When toxins accumulate in regions of the brain that control specific activities, the symptoms observed will be related to those activities, giving rise to supposedly distinct disorders that represent the same detoxification process. Recovery can be facilitated by therapy and self-help measures that involve the releasing and redirecting of repressed emotions. Full text: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~er26/toxicmind.html


Intravascular ultrasound is a catheter-based imaging modality that was developed to investigate the condition of coronary arteries and assess the vulnerability of coronary atherosclerotic plaques in particular. Since its introduction in the clinic 20 years ago, use of intravascular ultrasound innovation has been relatively limited. Intravascular ultrasound remains a niche technology; its clinical practice did not vastly expand, except in Japan, where intravascular ultrasound is an appraised tool for guiding percutaneous coronary interventions. In this qualitative research study, we follow scholarship on the sociology of innovation in exploring both the current adoption practices and perspectives on the future of intravascular ultrasound. We conducted a survey of biomedical experts with experience in the technology, the practice, and the commercialization of intravascular ultrasound. The collected information enabled us to map intravascular ultrasound controversies as well as to outline the dynamics of the international network of experts that generates intravascular ultrasound innovations and uses intravascular ultrasound technologies. While the technology is praised for its capacity to measure coronary atherosclerotic plaque morphology and is steadily used in clinical research, the lack of demonstrated benefits of intravascular ultrasound guided coronary interventions emerges as the strongest factor that prevents its expansion. Furthermore, most of the controversies identified were external to intravascular ultrasound technology itself, meaning that decision making at the industrial, financial and regulatory levels are likely to determine the future of intravascular ultrasound. In light of opinions from the responding experts', a wider adoption of intravascular ultrasound as a stand-alone imaging modality seems rather uncertain, but the appeal for this technology may be renewed by improving image quality and through combination with complementary imaging modalities.


We address emerging threats to the security of photonic networks as these networks become heterogeneous being opened to the upper layers, other operators, and end users. We review the potential threats, mainly loss of the confidentiality of user data transmitted through optical fibers and disturbances of network control, both of which could seriously damage the entire network. We then propose a novel conceptual model of a secure photonic network by introducing a quantum key distribution (QKD) network to its legacy structure. Secure keys generated by the QKD network are managed by key management agents (KMAs) and used to encrypt not only user data but also control signals. The KMAs cooperate with the generalized multiprotocol label-switching controller for secure path provisioning and drive photonic and modern crypto engines in appropriate combinations. Finally, we present a roadmap of a deployment scenario, starting from niche applications such as mission critical and business applications and the next. Digital cinema distribution through a photonic network is presented as an example of a niche application.


Abstract. A total of 1,33,507 eggs obtained from 7864 pullets of two selected White Leghorn strains over four generations representing 304 sires and 1669 dams were incubated. The unhatched eggs were broken-open for examination of embryonic development and classified as early-dead (0-11d), late-dead (12-22d) and pips. The sire component heritabilities (%) pooled over years in the two strains, respectively were 10.5±3.4 and 11.0±3.2 for total incubation mortality; 2.2 ± 2.2 and 5.1 ± 2.4 for early-dead; 6.8 ± 3.0 and 8.0 ± 3.0 for late-dead and 8.7 ± 3.1 and 4.8 ± 2.4 for pips. Total embryonic mortality as well as its three components had high genetic correlations amongst each other. However, the genetic correlations of pipping mortality with early and late mortality were weaker as compared with those of early and late mortality.


Heat Transfer is the science that predicts the energy transfer across the materials as result of the temperature difference. It is well known that there are three fundamental modes of heat transfer namely Conduction, Convection and Radiation. It has become exceedingly important for an engineer to possess a clear understanding of the principles of heat transfer and its applications to a large number of problems. Engineers are constantly confronted with the need to maximize or minimize the heat transfer rates and to maintain the integrity of materials under conditions of extreme temperatures. In order to determine the temperature distribution across the walls of combustion chambers and nozzles that possess hot gases, heat transfer coefficient is an important parameter to be evaluated in heat transfer analysis as the heat transfer in the engine components takes place mainly by convection from the hot gases to the surrounding walls.  It is necessary to combine equations of motion with those of heat conduction. Therefore the need for fluid flow analysis becomes evident while solving heat transfer problems, especially when the heat source is in the form of high temperature fluids as in the case of Propulsion systems. In recent years there has been a vast increase in interest in supersonic combustion in connection with flight propulsion. In the typical propulsion unit,   propellants enter the combustion chamber, gets ignited and escapes through the nozzle at very high speeds which are supersonic in nature. Because of these gases escaping through the nozzle the rocket receives momentum in the opposite direction according to Newton's Third Law of Motion. The present work deals with the heat transfer analysis of the uncooled -combustion chamber. The study includes the temperature distributions across the thickness of the combustion chamber and estimation of the maximum time upto which the system can withstand the temperature under given operating conditions. A VB script code is developed to obtain the temperature distributions with respect to the time across the walls of the combustion chamber. Based on the heat transfer analysis, the maximum permissible test durations are estimated for the present uncooled combustion chamber of different materials with various configurations.. In order to increase the test duration, a cooling system is proposed for further studies.


Russia The article describes various options for speeding up calculations on computer systems. These features are closely related to the architecture of these complexes. The objective of this paper is to provide necessary information when selecting the capability for the speeding process of solving the computation problem. The main features implemented using the following models are described: programming in systems with shared memory, programming in systems with distributed memory, and programming on graphics accelerators (video cards). The basic concept, principles, advantages, and disadvantages of each of the considered programming models are described. All standards for writing programs described in the article can be used both on Linux and Windows operating systems. The required libraries are available and compatible with the C/C++ programming language. The article concludes with recommendations on the use of a particular technology, depending on the type of task to be


In this paper we show how regime-switching vector error correction models can be used to assess the effects of food scares on price transmission along the food marketing chain. Our empirical implementation focuses on the impacts of the BSE crisis on price relationships and patterns of transmission among farm and retail markets for bovine in Spain. Monthly prices are used over the 1996-2005 period. A BSE food scare index is developed in order to measure the scale of the food scare crisis. Results suggest that the crisis affects beef producers and retailers differently. While consumer prices are not found to adjust to the crisis, producer prices do, though only when the scale of the food scare reaches certain minimum levels.


The aim of this study was to determine the antifungal agents and boric acid susceptibility to the azole-resistant Candida species, as well as clinical outcomes following treatment with antifungal agents that are commonly prescribed in Dar es Salaam and boric acid which is not available in Tanzania market. Microscopic examination of the vaginal discharge during prolonged therapy with three antifungal agents (clotrimazole, miconazole, and nystatin) and boric acid were carried out. Samples were collected from 150 women of reproductive age group (13 to 45 years) with chronic vaginal candidal infections. The samples were cultured in Sabouraud's dextrose agar (supplemented with 0.005% chloramphenicol and 0.05% cycloheximide) followed by aerobic incubation for 48 hours at 37oC in order to obtain pure cultures. Identification was done by Gram stain, while the test for ability to ferment and assimilate different sugars was done on API Candida and API 20C AUX. The stock cultures of Candida albicans (ATCC 32354), Candida glabrata (ATCC2001) and Candida guilliermondii (ATCC6260) were used as controls. Patients were dispensed together with 10 ml syringes for self douching of boric acid solution, and three commonly used antifungal vaginal drugs for Candida vaginitis. The results revealed a total of 167 Candida species dominated by C. albicans 116 (69.46%), followed by C. glabrata 21 (12.57%), C. krusei 8 (4.8%), C. tropicalis 7 (4.2%), C. famata 6 (3.59%), C. lusitaniae 5 (3.0%), C. parapsilosis , Trichosporon 2 (1.2%) and C. guilliermondii 1(0.6%). The results further showed that out of 116 C. albicans isolates, 23 (19.83%) were resistant to clotrimazole while 14 (12.1%) were resistant to miconazole in vitro test. Interestingly, all C. albicans isolates and the nonalbicans candida species were very sensitive to boric acid at a very low MIC values (0.025μg/ml). Generally, the overall success rate for clotrimazole in treating C. albicans infections was 41.7%, miconazole 56.5%, nystatin 77.3% and boric acid 100%. This study shows that, compared to other commonly used drugs in the country, the best performance of boric acid envisage the need to update the national treatment guidelines for the treatment of Candida vaginitis. Key words: Non-albicans Candida species, azole resistance, boric acid.


Background and Objectives. The authors recently determined that intravascular injection of an epinephrine test dose reliably produced an increase in heart rate ≥ 20 beats/min in young individuals. However, aging is associated with a significant reduction in beta-adrenergic responsiveness. This study was designed to determine whether aging decreases the magnitude of heart rate (HR) increase after intravascular injection of epinephrine. Methods. Heart rate and systolic blood pressure were recorded during randomized and double-blind injections of 3 mL lidocaine plain or lidocaine with 10 or 15 μg epinephrine in 30 elective surgical patients between 21 and 81 years old. Results. Increasing age was associated with smaller increases in HR after intravascular injection of epinephrine. The reduction in HR increase was statistically significant after 10 μg (P = .006, r 2 = .24), but not after 15 μg (P = .25, r 2 = .05) of epinephrine. Heart rate increases were of greater magnitude for patients younger than 40 years old (P = .01 for 10 μg epinephrine, and P = .03 for 15 μg epinephrine). One patient (of 11) over 60 did not respond to the 15 μg test dose with tachycardia. Aging did not alter systolic blood pressure increases after 10 or 15 μg epinephrine (P = .27, r 2 = .04 and P = .4, r 2 = .03, respectively). Conclusions. Aging is associated with a reduction in the magnitude of HR increase after intravenous injection of epinephrine. The results suggest that to detect an intravascular injection in healthy people, a test dose containing 10 μg epinephrine will suffice before the age of 40. However, even 15 μg epinephrine will not be totally reliable in older patients, owing to decreased beta-adrenergic responsiveness.


This article attempts to highlight quantitatively the growth and development of world literature on hemophilia in terms of publications output as per SCOPUS database (2003-2017). During 2003-2017 a total of 13503 papers were published by the scientists in the field of hemophilia. The average number of publications published per year was 900. The highest number of publications 1095 was published in 2012. Out of 13503 contributions, only 18.48% (2495 papers) of single authored and rest of 11008 papers (81.52%) were multi authored. The study identifies active institutions and country-wise distributions of hemophilia research output. The yearly analysis of data shows that there is a rapid growth of literature from 2011 onwards. There were 126 countries involved in the research in this field. USA is the top producing country with 3986 authorships (29.52%) followed by United Kingdom with 1438 authorships (10.65%). Still, in an international sense, relative productivity of India is low and requires more focused research and development.


Based on the bound-to-continuum active region design, we shall present a high performance continuous-wave (CW) quantum-cascade laser. In contrast to high performance lasers based on a two-phonon resonance transition and a narrow linewidth (< 165 cm-1), the device presented here exhibits a spontaneous emission full-width at half-maximum as large as 295 cm-1. Thus, such devices are very suitable for broadband tuning. At 30degC, it shows a maximum output power and slope efficiency of 188 mW and 500 mW/A, as well as a threshold current density of only 1.79 kA/cm2. Furthermore, at this temperature, the device demonstrates an internal differential quantum efficiency of 71% and a wall plug efficiency of 2.0%. The maximum CW operation temperature reached is 110degC. A thermal resistance of 4.3 K/W was attained by epi-down mounting on diamond submounts. The waveguide losses of 14 cm-1 are explained by intersubband absorption in addition to free-carrier absorption.


Location-Based Services (LBS) are information and entertainment services, accessible with mobile devices and making use of the position of the mobile device. Although LBS are now widely used, better results could be obtained by merging information issued by severai services. Inter-LBS collaboration is still uncommon althongh a lot of work is done on service orchestration languages such as WS-BPEL 2.0. One of the obstacles is that LBS are created and updated on the fly. This dynamism makes manual composition scenario update difficult. To tackle this problem, we introduce TransportML, a middleware for inter-LBS collaboration, in an automatic fashion. TransportML relies on technologies such as Web services and semantic Web. In this platform, services are discovered and collaboration scenarios are elaborated on the fly. As a consequence, the platform is auto-adaptive and composition scenario maintenance is no longer required.


Chile's 'health guarantees' approach to providing universal and equitable coverage for quality healthcare in a dual public-private health system has generated global interest. The programme, called AUGE, defines legally enforceable rights to explicit healthcare benefits for priority health conditions, which incrementally covered 56 problems representing 75% of the disease burden between 2005 and 2009. It was accompanied by other health reform measures to increase public financing and public sector planning to secure the guarantees nationwide, as well as the state's stewardship role. We analysed data from household surveys conducted before and after the AUGE reform to estimate changes in levels of unmet health need, defined as the lack of a healthcare visit for a health problem occurring in the last 30 days, by age, sex, income, education, health insurance, residence and ethnicity; fitting logistic regression models and using predictive margins. The overall prevalence of unmet health need was much lower in 2009 (17.6%, 95% CI: 16.5%, 18.6%) than in 2000 (30.0%, 95% CI: 28.3%, 31.7%). Differences by income and education extremes and rural-urban residence disappeared. In 2009, people who had been in treatment for a condition covered by AUGE in the past year had a lower adjusted prevalence of unmet need for their recent problem (11.7%, 95% CI: 10.5%, 13.2%) than who had not (21.0%, 95% CI: 19.6%, 22.4%). Despite limitations including cross-sectional and self-reported data, our findings suggest that the Chilean health system has become more equitable and responsive to need. While these changes cannot be directly attributed to AUGE, they were coincident with the AUGE reforms. However, healthcare equity concerns are still present, relating to quality of care, health system barriers and differential access for health conditions that are not covered by AUGE.


To determine if in vivo administration of granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) affects production of B lymphocytes in the bone marrow, mice were treated with the cytokine and the kinetics of B cell production was analyzed. After 1 wk of GM-CSF treatment, the number of B cell progenitors that express the B220 Ag had fallen fivefold and surface IgM expressing B cells were barely detectable. Although cellularity in the spleen had increased two-fold, due in part to an increase in the number of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells, splenic B cell levels were not affected by the GM-CSF treatment. Although numbers of marrow B cells and their immediate progenitors declined due to cytokine treatment, cells capable of rapidly restoring B lymphopoiesis were present in that tissue. After cessation of GM-CSF treatment, B lymphopoiesis resumed in the marrow of the mice and rebounded to supernormal levels at 1 wk after the last GM-CSF injection. This effect may be due to actions of GM-CSF on the B lymphopoietic support capability of the marrow environment, because the overproduction of B cells was not observed when marrow from the GM-CSF donors was used to reconstitute sublethally irradiated severe combined immunodeficient mice.


The fasting plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels were measured prospectively in 41 consecutive patients with xanthelasma seen over a four-year period. The study group included 25 women and 16 men with mean ages of 60 and 56 years, respectively. Each patient had clinical evaluation for medications or illnesses that might affect plasma lipid levels before entry into the study. The most striking lipid abnormality was the preponderance of decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In 94% of the study population, HDL-C values were less than the mean values of the age-matched reference population. For men the mean HDL-C level was 30.8 mg/dl (vs 45 mg/dl in the reference population, P less than .001); for women the mean HDL-C level was 33 mg/dl (vs 50 mg/dl, P less than .001). The total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglyceride levels of those in the study were not significantly different from those of the patients in the reference population. Evaluation of cardiac risk based solely on HDL-C levels showed 80% of the study population to have three to four times the average risk. This study points out the high probability of decreased HDL-C levels in patients with xanthelasma. Since the level of HDL-C has been shown to be inversely related to the incidence of cardiovascular disease, it may be prudent to evaluate HDL-C levels and do a thorough cardiovascular evaluation in patients with xanthelasma.


One model for corrosion crack initiation and propagation in metals is reviewed. The model incorporates three physical processes operating at the metal-environment interface ? material dissolution, passive film formation and surface straining. The dissolution triggers surface advance; the passivation restrains the access of the environment to bare metal; the deformation causes for passivity breakdown. An essential advantage of the model is that it allows for formulating the crack development as a mechanical moving boundary problem, without the need for a specific crack growth criterion. The problem is solved using a finite elements and a moving boundary tracking procedure. The simulations demonstrate how cracks form and grow in a single continuous course. Key results for plane cracks nucleating from surface pits in an elastic-plastic material body under low-cycle fatigue load are presented. The developed cracks morphology is found independent of the initial pit size. Plasticity is found to influence the curvature at the tip of the nucleated corrosion cracks, but not its width. Mathematical and finite element analyses of stationary cracks with appropriate geometry are involved to explain the behaviour predicted by the model. The most important evolution length parameter, the width of the corrosion crack, is found to depend on the size constraints of the tracking procedure. This limits the validity of the model to the crack nucleation stage. It is concluded that the model is deficient for determining all length scales of a developed crack observed in reality. Physical processes to be considered in an advanced model are proposed and discussed.


Clinical research over the last decade has confirmed the helpful role of bisphosphonates in the management of patients with bone metastases secondary to breast cancer and other malignancies. This role is also expanding in myeloma and in the management of osteoporosis. Current clinical research in oncology is focusing on their potential for the prevention of skeletal complications of malignant disease and the development of bone metastases while basic researchers are developing compounds of higher potency and, perhaps, higher therapeutic efficacy. One of the earliest agents to be investigated, etidronate, is effective in the management of malignant hypercalcemia and, when used orally and intermittently, results in reduced bone loss in osteoporosis. However, it does not appear to reduce pain in patients with malignant disease. Clodronate has been shown to be an effective agent in the management of hypercalcemia and can be used as a single intravenous infection for this purpose. Clodronate is also effective in some patients in reducing bone pain and improving mobility. When used orally, it can, as can pamidronate, reduce the skeletal complications of breast cancer such as hypercalcemia, bone fractures and bone pain. It may have fewer gastrointestinal side effects than oral pamidronate. There is emerging evidence that bisphosphonates may delay or prevent the clinical appearance of bone metastases as well as reduce other skeletal complications. Trials of adjuvant bisphosphonates such as clodronate and pamidronate in operable breast cancer are currently under way in Europe and North America.


Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is one of the most economically and environmentally important grass species for the temperate zone. It maintains effective self-incompatibility (SI), which promotes outbreeding as well as limits the efficient production of inbred lines and hybrids. SI in L. perenne is controlled by the S and Z loci, mapping to linkage groups 1 and 2, respectively. None of the gene products has been identified so far. Comparative mapping has identified regions on rice chromosomes 5 (R5) and 4 with synteny to regions of L. perenne genome containing the S and Z loci, respectively. Markers were developed from the syntenic rice genomic region to refine the S and Z maps. The closest flanking markers had a map distance of 2 cM from S and 0.2 cM from Z. SI cDNA libraries were developed from in-vitro pollinated stigma subtracted with unpollinated stigma to identify SI components and SI response related genes. Through a BLAST search, candidates identified from the SI libraries that were orthologous to sequences on the S and Z flanking regions on rice R4 and R5 were the prime candidate SI genes. Altogether ten SI candidate genes were identified with incompatible response associated differentially expression pattern: a rapid increase in expression within two minutes after pollen-stigma contact and reaching a maximum between 2-10 minutes, implying their roles in the SI response. Attempts were carried out to determine the linkage relationships between the identified candidates and the S or Z loci. Large fine scale mapping populations were developed individually for the S and Z loci to generate high resolution maps of S and Z towards map-based cloning. Tightly linked markers were identified mapping at a distance of 1.4 cM from S and 0.9 cM from Z. The studies performed in this project have implications on both the underlying genetic control and the associated biochemical responses involved in L. perenne SI. The closely linked markers for S or Z could be applied in future marker assisted selection breeding programmes and map-based cloning.


Structural universals have been introduced in the philosophical literature on examples such as chemical molecules composed of bonded atoms of different kinds. They are useful to handle complex abstract entities such as designs of artefacts, shapes, strings, words and texts, relevant in many areas of applied ontology. We use graph-theory as a unifying framework to review and compare the formal accounts proposed by Armstrong, Bennett and Mormann. We then propose a more expressive account, combining features of Bennett's and Mormann's proposals, able to model both the mereology of complex states of affairs and the structure of the particulars involved in them. Structural universals are explicitly represented; their structure, where a same universal can be part of a structural universal several times over, can be read off the graphs representing complex states of affairs.


This paper describes several years of experience in planning and implementing an interdisciplinary Workshop For Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WOFIE) where design students develop new solutions and business plans in collaboration with graduate students from social sciences, human sciences and other technical disciplines. The project is a strategic initiative with the aim of strengthening the university students' ability to develop new products and business models in relation to societal and environmental needs and challenges. The paper describes tools and methods to handle such projects with many pedagogical, cross-disciplinary, logistic and administrative challenges in executing such a large-scale workshop on multiple locations with students from different disciplines. Until now workshop has been carried out using a strict sequential phase orientated pedagogical approach, which analyses of the evaluations has pointed out as a problem. On that basis it has been decided that future workshops are based on an activity orientated pedagogical approach, where activities are executed, when it is relevant regarding contribution to the result for the individual group. The developing of the WOFIE methodology has been done under the following dogmas: 1) Asynchronous process between the groups, 2) A qualified progress outlined for supervisors and Location Leaders. The author of this paper has been part of a development group restructuring the approach into to an activity-based matrix combining a sequential perspective with a semi autonomous asynchronous supervision perspective with the possibility to adapt and iterate when necessary.


The federal courts are split on whether a request to accommodate an employee's commute to work is a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A majority of courts take the position that such a request is inherently unreasonable either because commuting occurs outside of the work environment or because granting such a request would amount to impermissible preferential treatment. A minority of courts, in contrast, find that commuting-related requests are not unreasonable per se and that the appropriateness of such requests should be determined on a case-by-case basis. This article contends that those courts following the majority position take a mistaken categorical approach to reasonable accommodation analysis. Courts, instead, should undertake an individualized analysis that focuses on the effectiveness of the requested accommodation and whether such an accommodation would impose an undue hardship. More broadly, this article asserts that concerns about preferential treatment and the inside/outside distinction should not automatically defeat an otherwise effective reasonable accommodation.


Different medicinal plants have the potential of antibacterial and antifungal activities. Therefore, this research was executed to assess the antibacterial and antifungal activities of different fractions i.e. water (H2O), chloroform (CHCl3), n-hexane (C6H14) and ethyl acetate (C4H8O2) of Convolvulus leiocalycinus and Haloxylon griffithii by applying Agar well diffusion method. Bacterial strains of four types i.e., 3 gram-negative and 1 gram-positive namely Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a fungal strain like PBF-1 were used to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activities in the selected plant extracts. The water, chloroform, ethyl acetate and nhexane fractions of C. leiocalycinus exhibited antibacterial activities of 7, 7, 7 and 6mm zone of inhibition respectively against S. aureus bacteria. Consequently, the same four fractions of H. griffithii displayed antibacterial activities against S. aureus 8, 8, 9 and zero mm zone of inhibition respectively. Considering the antifungal activity, the ethyl acetate fraction of C. leiocalycinus showed strong inhibition i.e., ++. But in H. grifithii, only the n-hexane fraction gave partial inhibition in antifungal activity. These results indicated that the ethyl acetate fraction of C. leiocalycinus exhibited strong antifungal activity as compared with the same fraction of H. griffithii showing that C. leiocalycinus is more potent as compared to H. griffithii. This justifies the usage of both plants in traditional medicines in future. It is also suggested that the use of entire extract of both the plants in foods can improve their shelf life.


The sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 by the United Nations (UN) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development collectively serve as a universal guide for developed and developing countries in their national policies and international cooperation aimed at combating global challenges. The SDGs build on the outcomes of the Global Partnership for Development Co-operation (GPEDC), the foundations of which were laid in the 20th century. This article explores the system of international development cooperation as it evolved in the UN from 1946 until the adoption of the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000. It analyzes the resolutions and official records of the main UN bodies, with emphasis on the General Assembly (GA) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Content analysis of the records reveals the delegations' positions, interests, contradictions and tensions which may have been concealed by the smooth text of the resolutions.Four development decades culminated in adoption of the Millennium Declaration. Each stage had its achievements and problems. The main principles, mechanisms and areas of cooperation were molded in early sessions of the GA and ECOSOC. The creation of development support instruments began in mid-1940s, when the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA) and later the UN Special Fund were established. The dollar monopoly was entrenched. The expansion of international trade and removal of barriers to trade issues gained prominence in UN resolutions in the 1950s. In 1960 the goal of increasing flows of assistance and capital to developing countries to 1% of the combined national incomes of economically developed countries was set for the first time.The period from 1961-1970 was marked by the adoption of the Programme for International Development Co-operation - including the First United Nations Development Decade and the World Food Programme (WFP), the establishment of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and by the elaboration of the international development strategy for the second development decade. The need for international monetary reform was debated in conjunction with the UN's pursuit of a solution to the problems of rising debt and international liquidity.The key milestones of the second decade include the gradual integration of development and environment issues, efforts to resolve the international monetary crisis and alleviate the rising debt burden, an increase of pledged targets for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the WFP and Special Fund, the decision on the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, efforts to implement the differential treatment principle with regard to developing countries within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), adoption of theInternational Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, and a failed attempt to launch "global negotiations on restructuring of international economic relations on the basis of the principles of justice and equality in order to provide for steady economic development."In the third decade, progress was made toward strengthening the science and technology capacity as well as the industrial and resource development capacity of developing countries. The UN endorsed the Global Strategy for Health for All by the Year 2000, adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development and theInternational Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade. The transition to a sustainable development model was a major achievement. The economic recession,high rates of interest, inflation and mounting deficits, the problems of liquidity and balance of payments, protectionism and structural imbalances in the world economy required a comprehensive decision on the reform of the international monetary system. However, global negotiations were deadlocked due to the position taken by the Group of 7 (G7) that the independence of the specialized agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) should be guaranteed. Despite efforts by the Group of 77 (G77) to deal comprehensively with thefull range of economic issues, the G7's insistence on the 1982 Versailles summit formula blocked global negotiations, definingthe system'srigidity for many years to come and contributing to its failure to prevent the 1998 and 2008 crises.The Agenda for Development adopted in June 1997 and the UN Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 became the landmarks of the fourth decade and development cooperation history.The international community came a long way in building and consolidating development cooperation in the second half of the 20th century. The UN became a cradle and a driver of this process and was a factor in its success. Indisputable achievements resulting from collective efforts over 55 years include a consistent consolidation of its foundational programme documents from the first development decade to the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs), continuous improvement of the review and appraisal process, integration of environmental issues into the development agenda, establishment of key development cooperation institutions and a significant increase in financing for development. However, efforts to create the conditions for sustained progress and development restructuring of the international economic system taking account of the interests of developing countries failed. The 21st century inherited the systemic problems of the international monetary and trade systems.


The nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) catalyzes the oxidation of l-arginine to l-citrulline and NO through consumption of oxygen bound to the heme. Because NO is produced close to the heme and may bind to it, its subsequent role in a regulatory mechanism should be scrutinized. We therefore examined the kinetics of NO rebinding after photodissociation in the heme pocket of human endothelial NOS by means of time-resolved absorption spectroscopy. We show that geminate recombination of NO indeed occurs and that this process is strongly modulated by l-Arg. This NO rebinding occurs in a multiphasic fashion and spans over 3 orders of magnitude. In both ferric and ferrous states of the heme, a fast nonexponential picosecond geminate rebinding first takes place followed by a slower nanosecond phase. The rates of both phases decreased, whereas their relative amplitudes are changed by the presence ofl-Arg; the overall effect is a slow down of NO rebinding. For the isolated oxygenase domain, the picosecond rate is unchanged, but the relative amplitude of the nanosecond binding decreased. We assigned the nanosecond kinetic component to the rebinding of NO that is still located in the protein core but not in the heme pocket. The implications for a mechanism of regulation involving NO binding are discussed.


In this paper, the concept of sustainability consciousness, an individual's experience and awareness of sustainable development, is introduced. Based on UNESCO's definition of sustainable development, a sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ) is theoretically and empirically developed. Using the data of 638 respondents from Sweden aged 18–19 years old, the scale is developed in two versions. The long version (SCQ‐L) can be used to measure individuals' environmental, social and economic knowingness, attitudes and behaviour (nine valid and reliable subscales), in addition to the second order constructs of sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes and sustainability behaviour, as well as the third order construct, sustainability consciousness. For the short version (SCQ‐S) 27 items were identified that can be used to measure the second and third order constructs. Both versions of the scale present excellent psychometric quality. Possible applications of the questionnaire instruments in the context of evaluation of sustainability policies, practices and stakeholder engagement are discussed.


We report evidence for persistent giant and rapid X-ray variability in the radio-quiet, ultrasoft, strong Fe II, narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809. Within a 30 day ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI) monitoring observation at least five giant amplitude count rate variations are visible, with the maximum observed amplitude of variability being about a factor of 60. We detect a rise by a factor of about 57 in just two days. IRAS 13224-3809 appears to be the most X-ray variable Seyfert known, and its variability is probably nonlinear. We carefully check the identification of the highly variable X-ray source with the distant galaxy, and it appears to be secure. We examine possible explanations for the giant variability. Unusually strong relativistic effects and partial covering by occulting structures on an accretion disc can provide plausible explanations of the X-ray data, and we explore these two scenarios. Relativistic boosting effects may be relevant to understanding the strong X-ray variability of some steep spectrum Seyferts more generally.


Using a three-year panel of 4,058 Mozambican households surveyed in 2002 and 2005, we measure how PA adult mortality due to illness affects rural household size and number of adult members, crop and non-farm income, total household income, and asset levels. First difference estimations indicate that the effects of PA mortality vary considerably by the gender and household position of the deceased individual as well as by region. Results show that significant reductions in household size, income, and assets are more likely found in the event of a PA male death rather than a PA female death. In the North/Center of the country, a PA male head death can result in loss of 25% of crop income; in the South, such a death results in an average loss of 88% of non-farm income. In spite of these significant reductions in income, we do not find significant reductions in total income per AE among affected households, and they are not more likely to have ex post income/AE below the expenditure-based poverty line relative to non-affected households. However, due to significant asset losses and lower ex post landholding/AE relative to the non-affected population, affected households may be increasingly vulnerable to adverse income and assets shocks, especially those households that have suffered a PA male death.


Bacteria, which prey on other microorganisms, are commonly found in the environment. While some of these organisms act as solitary hunters, others band together in large consortia before they attack their prey. Anecdotal reports suggest that bacteria practicing such a wolfpack strategy utilize antibiotics as predatory weapons. Consistent with this hypothesis, genome sequencing revealed that these micropredators possess impressive capacities for natural product biosynthesis. Here, we will present the results from recent chemical investigations of this bacterial group, compare the biosynthetic potential with that of non-predatory bacteria and discuss the link between predation and secondary metabolism.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of users' simulated experience in a virtual store and to show the subsequent impact of that experience on engagement. The outcome of that engagement is examined in relation to enjoyment, satisfaction and purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The method comprised an experiment comparing users' perceptions of a standard 2D online clothing store with an enhanced, immersive one that aimed to provide shopping value approaching that of a traditional store by using a 3D experience where participants wore special glasses and a data glove.

Findings

Results demonstrate the major role of telepresence components in simulated experience and the critical role of that experience, along with hedonic and utilitarian values, in engagement. Purchase intention is influenced by satisfaction, which is in turn influenced by enjoyment and engagement. Engagement in turn is influenced by utilitarian and hedonic value and the experience of product simulation or telepresence, which is composed of control, colour and graphics vividness, and 3D authenticity. In the immersive, 3D environment, experience is more associated with engagement and enjoyment, leading to greater purchase intention. The immersive, 3D environment, thus, has the potential to rival traditional shopping in terms of experience, resulting in higher sales for retailers and satisfaction for consumers.

Originality/value

This work has evaluated a robust model of purchase intention and demonstrated it to hold not only in a 3D environment on a conventional computer platform, but also in an immersive one, where participants wear special glasses and a data glove.


At first sight the fields of magic and science do not have much of an overlap. This notion however is completely untrue for the fairly long period between 1860 and 1930. A surprisingly high number of scientists and inventors of this time were fascinated by spiritualism and believed in the existence of paranormal forces. Marie Curie for example regarded mediumistic séances as "scientific experiments" and thought it possible to discover in spiritualism the source of an unknown energy that would reveal the secret of radioactivity. Thomas Ava Edison for his part announced an extension to his phonograph in 1921 that would extract thoughts and feelings from dead bodies in order to store and play them back. He claimed that this was possible due the existence of "life units" tiny energy particles that are the scientifically proved equivalent to the human soul Away from ideological judgment these examples illuminate an interesting crossover between the utopian vision of a boundless technology that helps to reveal even more mysteries of the immaterial world and an anti-modernist thought-space that is filled and nourished by ghost stories, an animistic world outlook and a dazzling array of esoteric philosophies. In this context the praxis of the commercial magical show plays a very interesting and intermediate roll that connects and correlates these two assumed opposite spheres.


The revitalization of democracy requires some fundamental structural changes in order to avoid the nightmarish scenarios that Charles Fried outlined,(1) scenarios that might in fact, in the current political climate and constitutional regime, be enacted into law. Currently, there are serious problems with American democracy, including low participation in electoral politics and low voting rates. Indeed, these offer powerful evidence of the high levels of public cynicism about how this nation conducts itself in its collective affairs. What does this level of apparent political malaise reveal? The answer stems from two very simple facts: first, we demand too much from our democratic institutions; and second, we fail to direct and organize political deliberation by constraining the permissible outcomes that we are able to achieve through these democratic processes. In other words, the major structural weakness of American democracy today is that it has become a pure political majoritarian machine, unconstrained and unmoored by any discernible constitutional principle.(2) I believe that the only way in which we can revitalize and improve our level of discourse and deliberation is to change fundamentally the constitutional ground rules in which our political institutions operate. One common prescription for improving democracy dwells on our need for more thoughtful deliberation about the common good. Yet every time I hear the clarion call for more deliberative democracy, I put my hand on my wallet. So, in this moment of disinterested reflection, I ask myself why I assume this defensive posture. The unfortunate answer is that a political democracy, as we now have it, contains no substantive limitations that define the outer boundaries of proper political deliberation. Charles Fried talked about the brute fact that today "We the People" are entitled to regulate, for example, whether you smoke or whether you carry guns.(3) Additionally, it is certainly commonplace that democracy can now regulate the size of your hallway leading to your bathroom so as to make sure that it will be able to accommodate a wheelchair,(4) and when you may visit a medical specialist under the so-called Patient's Bill of Rights.(5) The last example is especially telling because it illustrates a basic transformation in political orientation. The real (1791) Bill of Rights was directed to limit the ability of political institutions to trench on private rights. The new Bill of Rights empowers the government to coerce one person to act in ways that may benefit another. This rhetorical switch allows more governmental intrusions into what used to be private space and private transactions. To avoid this current slippage, we should think less about democracy and more about republicanism.(6) To make my meaning clear, I treat republicanism in a narrow, somewhat formalistic way, by which I mean res publica.(7) A sound constitution must make sure that public deliberation is directed towards public matters, just as the Latin suggests. It therefore becomes incumbent on us to develop a theory whereby public matters are not expanded insensibly to include whatever topic the public happens to fancy or worry about at any given time. The point of departure for this analysis turns on the instructive concurrence between economics and politics, namely, in the technical economic definition of public goods: things that cannot be provided to one unless they are simultaneously provided to all. No matter how I examine the problem, I cannot understand how the minimum price charged for the sale of a quart of milk (which was found to be "affected with the public interest" in Nebbia v. New York(8)), or the size of my hallway in my house, or my choice of job, counts as a public good under any plausible rendition of that definition. By hewing to that economic definition in politics, we may find a way, probably the only constitutional way, to sweep the table clean so that doubters are not able to argue that it is only rank political bias or opportunism that keeps these matters out of the political domain. …


Behçet's disease is a recurrent inflammatory disorder that affects several systems besides skin and eye. It is known that the disease may show an onset with neurological involvement. We report a 37-year-old woman who had acute onset of left internuclear ophthalmoplegia, which resulted from an ischemic lesion at midbrain, with a long-lasting history of oral aphthae and genital ulceration. The laboratory workup revealed no pathology suggesting any other disease thought of in differential diagnosis. The patient was treated with high-dose methyl-prednisolone and colchicine and showed marked improvement. This case is presented because it is relatively rare for Behçet's disease to affect the tegmentum of the brainstem where the medial longitudinal fibers are located.


Abstract The virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) trajectories during some geomagnetic polarity reversals of different ages are marked by anisotropic behaviour. This recurrent phenomenon may be reflected in the paleomagnetic data, even if the transitional field was not completely recorded. As the long-scale geomagnetic variations have a confined oscillatory character, the VGP paths from stratigraphically controlled sequences may be described on the basis of sine and cosine functions, even if time is not the independent variable. Here we considered longitude (or space) as the independent variable which had to be 'unrolled' to overcome the 360° repetitions as the VGPs moved around the geographic pole. Sixteen VGP series from the Early Cretaceous Serra Geral lava flows of southern Brazil were analysed using a modified version of the periodogram for uneven data series, and a combination of information approach. The combination of all the spectra, as in a stacking procedure, reduces noise and results in a smooth curve highlighting features of interest. We found a set of highest correlation wavelengths of approximately 167, 190, 209, 257, 277 and 368°. Phase analyses using two different methods revealed strikingly good coherence for some of these wavelengths, indicating that they are not only artefacts of the spectral analysis. Similar analysis of magnetostratigraphic data from the Icelandic Magmatic Province indicated that the two datasets may have wavelengths of approximately 165 and 270° in common. These results suggest quasi-periodic behaviour, possibly with sub-harmonic instabilities owing to the modulating effect of inner Earth's anisotropies influencing the pole trajectory.


This history explores the nature of postwar advocacy for women's higher education, acknowledging its unique relationship to the expectations of the era and recognizing its particular type of adaptive activism. Linda Eisenmann illuminates the impact of this advocacy in the postwar era, identifying a link between women's activism during World War II and the women's movement of the late 1960s. Though the postwar period has been portrayed as an era of domestic retreat for women, Eisenmann finds otherwise as she explores areas of institution building and gender awareness. In an era uncomfortable with feminism, this generation advocated individual decision making rather than collective action by professional women, generally conceding their complicated responsibilities as wives and mothers. By redefining our understanding of activism and assessing women's efforts within the context of their milieu, this innovative work reclaims an era often denigrated for its lack of attention to women.


Abstract Background There is a known high prevalence of genetic and clinical syndrome diagnoses in the paediatric cardiac population. These disorders often have multisystem effects, which may have an important impact on neurodevelopmental outcomes. Taken together, these facts suggest that patients and families may benefit from consultation by genetic specialists in a cardiac neurodevelopmental clinic. Objective This study assessed the burden of genetic disorders and utility of genetics evaluation in a cardiac neurodevelopmental clinic. Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients evaluated in a cardiac neurodevelopmental clinic from 6 December, 2011 to 16 April, 2013. All patients were seen by a cardiovascular geneticist with genetic counselling support. Results A total of 214 patients were included in this study; 64 of these patients had a pre-existing genetic or syndromic diagnosis. Following genetics evaluation, an additional 19 were given a new clinical or laboratory-confirmed genetic diagnosis including environmental such as teratogenic exposures, malformation associations, chromosomal disorders, and single-gene disorders. Genetic testing was recommended for 112 patients; radiological imaging to screen for congenital anomalies for 17 patients; subspecialist medical referrals for 73 patients; and non-genetic clinical laboratory testing for 14 patients. Syndrome-specific guidelines were available and followed for 25 patients with known diagnosis. American Academy of Pediatrics Red Book asplenia guideline recommendations were given for five heterotaxy patients, and family-based cardiac screening was recommended for 23 families affected by left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Conclusion Genetics involvement in a cardiac neurodevelopmental clinic is helpful in identifying new unifying diagnoses and providing syndrome-specific care, which may impact the patient's overall health status and neurodevelopmental outcome.