A poorly understood but important factor in random testing is the selection of a maximum length for test runs. Given a limited time for testing, it is seldom clear whether executing a small number of long runs or a large number of short runs maximizes utility. It is generally expected that longer runs are more likely to expose failures - which is certainly true with respect to runs shorter than the shortest failing trace. However, longer runs produce longer failing traces, requiring more effort from humans in debugging or more resources for automated minimization. In testing with feedback, increasing ranges for parameters may also cause the probability of failure to decrease in longer runs. We show that the choice of test length dramatically impacts the effectiveness of random testing, and that the patterns observed in simple models and predicted by analysis are useful in understanding effects observed in a large scale case study of a JPL flight software system.


Di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) was used as a new plasticizer for poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and the effects of DINCH and tributyl citrate ester (TBC) on the morphology, mechanical and thermal properties, and durability of PLA were compared. DINCH has limited compatibility with PLA, leading to PLA/DINCH blends with phase separation in which DINCH forms spherical dispersed phase. TBC is compatible with PLA and evenly distributed in PLA. Plasticized PLA with 10 and 20 phr DINCH have a constant glass transition temperature (Tg) of 50°C and are stiff materials with high elongation at break and impact strength. TBC could significantly decrease the Tg and increase the crystallinity of PLA, and PLA/TBC (100/20) blend is a soft material with a Tg of 24°C. The durability of plasticized PLA was characterized by weight loss measurement under water immersion, mechanical properties, and thermal analysis. The results reveal that PLA/DINCH blends have better water resistance and aging resistance properties than PLA/TBC blends, which is attributed to the relatively high hydrophobicity of DINCH and high Tg of PLA/DINCH blends.


Face clustering is a promising way to scale up face recognition systems using large-scale unlabeled face images. It remains challenging to identify small or sparse face image clusters that we call hard clusters, which is caused by the heterogeneity, \ie, high variations in size and sparsity, of the clusters. Consequently, the conventional way of using a uniform threshold (to identify clusters) often leads to a terrible misclassification for the samples that should belong to hard clusters. We tackle this problem by leveraging the neighborhood information of samples and inferring the cluster memberships (of samples) in a probabilistic way. We introduce two novel modules, Neighborhood-Diffusion-based Density (NDDe) and Transition-Probability-based Distance (TPDi), based on which we can simply apply the standard Density Peak Clustering algorithm with a uniform threshold. Our experiments on multiple benchmarks show that each module contributes to the final performance of our method, and by incorporating them into other advanced face clustering methods, these two modules can boost the performance of these methods to a new state-of-the-art. Code is available at: https://github.com/echoanran/On-Mitigating-Hard-Clusters.


Abstract. To resolve the mechanisms behind the major climate
reorganisation, which occurred between 0.9 and 1.2 Ma, the recovery of a suitable 1.5
million-year-old ice core is fundamental. The quest for an Oldest Ice
core requires a number of key boundary conditions, of which the poorly known
basal geothermal heat flux (GHF) is lacking. We use a transient
thermodynamical 1-D vertical model that solves for the rate of change of
temperature in the vertical, with surface temperature and modelled GHF as
boundary conditions. For each point on the ice sheet, the model is forced
with variations in atmospheric conditions over the last 2 Ma and modelled
ice-thickness variations. The process is repeated for a range of GHF values
to determine the value of GHF that marks the limit between frozen and melting
conditions over the whole ice sheet, taking into account 2 Ma of climate
history. These threshold values of GHF are statistically compared to existing
GHF data sets. The new probabilistic GHF fields obtained for the ice sheet
thus provide the missing boundary conditions in the search for Oldest Ice.
High spatial resolution radar data are examined locally in the Dome Fuji and
Dome C regions, as these represent the ice core community's primary drilling
sites. GHF, bedrock variability, ice thickness and other essential criteria
combined highlight a dozen major potential Oldest Ice sites in the vicinity
of Dome Fuji and Dome C, where GHF could allow for Oldest Ice.


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most widespread human pathogens, and plays major roles in chronic gastritis and gastric cancer. CD74 of gastric epithelial cells has recently been identified as an adhesion molecule to urease in H. pylori. In this study, we found that CD74 is highly expressed in a constitutive manner in NCI-N87 human gastric carcinoma cells at both the protein and mRNA levels as compared with Hs738St./Int fetal gastric cells. Subsequently, a novel cell-based ELISA able to rapidly screen the suppressive agents of CD74 expression was established. NCI-N87 cells were treated separately with 25 different food phytochemicals (4–100 µM) for 48 h and subjected to our novel assay. From those results, a citrus coumarin, bergamottin, was indicated to be the most promising compound with an LC50/IC50 value greater than 7.1, followed by luteolin (>5.4), nobiletin (>5.3), and quercetin (>5.1). Our findings suggest that these CD74 suppressants are unique candidates for preventing H. pylori adhesion and subsequent infection with reasonable action mechanisms.


In this paper, I pose a new research challenge – to develop intelligent agents that exhibit radical autonomy by responding to sudden, long-term changes in their environments. I illustrate this idea with examples, identify abilities that support it, and argue that, although each ability has been studied in isolation, they have not been combined into integrated systems. In addition, I propose a framework for characterizing environments in which goal-directed physical agents operate, along with specifying the ways in which those environments can change over time. In closing, I outline some approaches to the empirical study of such open-world learning.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how staff at various levels perceive and understand hospital accreditation generally and in relation to quality improvement (QI) specifically. Design/methodology/approach In a newly accredited Danish hospital, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews to capture broad ranging experiences. Medical doctors, nurses, a quality coordinator and a quality department employee participated. Interviews were audio recorded and subjected to framework analysis. Findings Staff reported that The Danish Healthcare Quality Programme affected management priorities: office time and working on documentation, which reduced time with patients and on improvement activities. Organisational structures were improved during preparation for accreditation. Staff perceived that the hospital was better prepared for new QI initiatives after accreditation; staff found disease specific requirements unnecessary. Other areas benefited from accreditation. Interviewees expected that organisational changes, owing to accreditation, would be sustained and that the QI focus would continue. Practical implications Accreditation is a critical and complete hospital review, including areas that often are neglected. Accreditation dominates hospital agendas during preparation and surveyor visits, potentially reducing patient care and other QI initiatives. Improvements are less likely to occur in areas that other QI initiatives addressed. Yet, accreditation creates organisational foundations for future QI initiatives. Originality/value The authors study contributes new insights into how hospital staff at different organisational levels perceive and understand accreditation.


Lexical-semantic competency in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) &egr;4 carriers was used as an endophenotype, and gray matter volume in MCI &egr;4 carriers/noncarriers and in noncarrier controls was compared. Residual gray matter volumes were correlated with age of acquisition values for words from a category fluency task, an index of semantic competency. MCI patients had significantly impoverished lexical-semantic output compared with controls, more marked in MCI &egr;4 carriers. Smaller volumes in the left hippocampus, bilateral regions of the uncus, and posterior cingulate cortex were associated with a tendency to retrieve earlier acquired words in the category fluency task in MCI &egr;4 carriers, whereas poor semantic performance in MCI noncarriers was associated with smaller volumes in the left uncus, bilateral regions of the parahippocampal gyrus, and hippocampus, and also in a large number of neocortical regions. There was a significant semantic competency by genotype interaction in the left perirhinal cortex, in a number of left frontal and temporal areas and in the right inferior parietal lobule and precuneus. MCI &egr;4 carriers, when compared with noncarriers, had lower gray matter volume values confined to the right precuneus and the cerebellum bilaterally, but the converse comparison showed that MCI noncarriers had lower values in extensive frontal, temporal, and parietal regions of the neocortex. Similar brain volumetric variations linked to genotype were found in minimal-to-mild AD. The results suggest a relatively specific impact of apolipoprotein E (APOE) &egr;4 burden and underline the value of linguistic assessment in preclinical diagnosis.


This paper was earlier saved in academia.com. site. But it might be also interesting to multiple readers on vixra.com. The sound transmission loss of windows at very low frequencies cannot be interpreted by the theory of infinitely large partitions. Here, the bending wave resonances are essential but not the only contributors. The low sound radiation coefficient and "niche effect" are also important. The goal is to illustrate such phenomena via simplified theoretical models and experimental results. In particular, the role of low sound radiation is interpreted using the sound radiation model of a piston inside the aperture cut in a rigid baffle between the source and receiving rooms. The "niche effect" is compared to the low-frequency sound transmission via symmetric triple windows (where the middle element is the real window and the role of the edge leaves is played by the air masses entrained at the aperture edges). In addition to the previously published results, the new experimental data are provided to support this theory in the "double-niche" case: the aperture consists of two in-series halves with different areas, and the window is installed in the smaller one. Such simple models can also be utilized to interpret the experimental sound transmission data for relatively small partitions mounted in the aperture made in a thick wall between two rooms. The paper may be helpful for students and engineers engaged in measurements of the sound transmission loss.


The suicide rate in Korea is increasing rapidly. Suicide has become a major public health problem in Korea. This article will review the essential elements required for the building of a cost-effective system for suicide prevention, as well as the currently existing services in Korea. Both a high-risk approach and a population approach are adjudged to be necessary for effective suicide prevention. Like any other community mental health problem, the problem of suicide can be most effectively managed when it is approached via a process of surveillance, risk factor analysis, intervention design and evaluation, and intervention implementation. In 2004, the Korean government has established a five-year plan for suicide prevention. Local governments, including the Seoul Municipal government, have recently implemented suicide prevention service programs. After reviewing the services currently in place in Korea, we will advance some suggestions regarding future tasks which may contribute to more effective suicide prevention.


Bernstein, J., and Meyer, R. (1967). Parenchymal maldevelopment of the kidney. In Practice of Pediatrics, vol. III, chapter 26. Ed. by V. C. Kelley. Harper and Row, Hagerstown, Maryland. Wilcock, A. R., and Emery, J. L. (1970). Deformities of the renal tract in children with meningomyelocele and hydrocephalus, compared with those of children showing no such central nervous system deformities. Britishyournal of Urology, 42, 152.


ABSTRACT English language learners are a growing demographic in secondary, two-year, four-year and research institutions where many students encounter their first course in statistics. In the statistics education literature, recent calls have been made to improve statistical education for underserved student populations, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Some have investigated how ELLs interpret instructional material and classroom practices in the statistics classroom. This study uses a sequential mixed methods approach to investigate how Spanish-speaking ELLs may respond differently to assessment items about measures of center and variation. Comprehensive analyses of this type are essential in order to identify bias and ensure fair comparisons across participant populations. Findings indicate that ELLs do not comprehend context or understand some statistical terms in the same way as non-ELLs. Study limitations, implications, and recommendations are discussed.


ABSTRACT The identification of novel antiretroviral agents is required to provide alternative treatment options for HIV-1-infected patients. The screening of a phenotypic cell-based viral replication assay led to the identification of a novel class of 4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazol-6-one (pyrrolopyrazolone) HIV-1 inhibitors, exemplified by two compounds: BI-1 and BI-2. These compounds inhibited early postentry stages of viral replication at a step(s) following reverse transcription but prior to 2 long terminal repeat (2-LTR) circle formation, suggesting that they may block nuclear targeting of the preintegration complex. Selection of viruses resistant to BI-2 revealed that substitutions at residues A105 and T107 within the capsid (CA) amino-terminal domain (CANTD) conferred high-level resistance to both compounds, implicating CA as the antiviral target. Direct binding of BI-1 and/or BI-2 to CANTD was demonstrated using isothermal titration calorimetry and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift titration analyses. A high-resolution crystal structure of the BI-1:CANTD complex revealed that the inhibitor bound within a recently identified inhibitor binding pocket (CANTD site 2) between CA helices 4, 5, and 7, on the surface of the CANTD, that also corresponds to the binding site for the host factor CPSF-6. The functional consequences of BI-1 and BI-2 binding differ from previously characterized inhibitors that bind the same site since the BI compounds did not inhibit reverse transcription but stabilized preassembled CA complexes. Hence, this new class of antiviral compounds binds CA and may inhibit viral replication by stabilizing the viral capsid.


The tumor suppressor p53 is the central mediator of cell-cycle arrest, senescence, and apoptosis. p53 protein levels increase upon various cellular stresses to prevent the improper proliferation of cells harboring DNA damage. Under normal conditions, cells keep p53 protein levels suppressed due to its main antagonist, MDM2. This oncogenic protein acts on p53 as an E3 ubiquitin ligase for the polyubiquitination of p53 and its subsequent proteasomal degradation. Activating the p53 pathway is one of the prime targets for novel cancer therapeutics because almost all human cancers have inactivated p53 either by a mutation or by a defect in its regulators, such as the overexpression of MDM2. In this study, we aimed to construct three methods for the screening of novel compounds generated by in silico design and organic synthesis and attempted to inhibit the protein-protein interaction between p53 and MDM2. We generated HCT116 p53-/- MDM2-/- cell lines as a novel assay system through CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing for studying the activity of candidate small molecule compounds targeting the p53-MDM2 interaction. We also constructed a Fluorescent Two-Hybrid (F2H) assay system for highcontent screening of these compounds in real time in living cells and finally a surface plasmon resonance assay for high-throughput screening of these compounds in vitro.


Ascitic fluid samples from 10 patients with ovarian carcinoma and 10 with cirrhosis of the liver were examined for their content of components of the fibrinolytic system. Large amounts of fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (F.D.P.) were found in the ascitic fluid in all patients with malignant tumors, but not in the other group. Determination of F.D.P. may therefore make it possible to differentiate between malignant and non-malignant ascitic fluid.


PURPOSE
The CyberKnife delivers a large number of beams originating at different non-planar positions and with different orientation. We study how much the quality of treatment plans depends on the beams considered during plan optimization. Particularly, we evaluate a new approach to search for optimal treatment plans in parallel by running optimization steps concurrently.

METHODS
So far, no deterministic, complete and efficient method to select the optimal beam configuration for robotic SRS/SBRT is known. Considering a large candidate beam set increases the likelihood to achieve a good plan, but the optimization problem becomes large and impractical to solve. We have implemented an approach that parallelizes the search by solving multiple linear programming problems concurrently while iteratively resampling zero weighted beams. Each optimization problem contains the same set of constraints but different variables representing candidate beams. The search is synchronized by sharing the resulting basis variables among the parallel optimizations. We demonstrate the utility of the approach based on an actual spinal case with the objective to improve the coverage.

RESULTS
The objective function is falling and reaches a value of 5000 after 49, 31, 25 and 15 iterations for 1, 2, 4, and 8 parallel processes. This corresponds to approximately 97% coverage in 77%, 59%, and 36% of the mean number of iterations with one process for 2, 4, and 8 parallel processes, respectively. Overall, coverage increases from approximately 91.5% to approximately 98.5%.

CONCLUSION
While on our current computer with uniform memory access the reduced number of iterations does not translate into a similar speedup, the approach illustrates how to effectively parallelize the search for the optimal beam configuration. The experimental results also indicate that for complex geometries the beam selection is critical for further plan optimization.


This paper tests the opportunity-cost theory using a panel of Spanish firms during the period 1991-2010. Under this theory, productivity-enhancing activities, such as R&D investment, should increase during downturns because of the fall in their relative cost – in terms of forgone output. This would imply that business cycles may have a (positive) long-term impact on productivity growth. In the spirit of Aghion, et al. (2007) we allow the impact of the cycle on R&D to vary between firms with different access to credit, finding that credit constraints may reverse the countercyclicality of R&D, even if it is optimal for them. We go one step further and explore whether other productivity-enhancing activities, like on-the-job training and the purchase of patents, follow a similar pattern. We find that on-the-job training expenditures are countercyclical and, unlike R&D investment, credit constraints seem not to affect their cyclical behavior. Investments in other intangibles, such as patent purchases, are found to be acyclical, also irrespective of financial constraints, which could suggest some kind of substitution between R&D and patent purchases over the cycle. Finally, complementarities between the different intangible investments and the traditional productive factors (labor and capital) are also investigated via production function estimates, in order to assess potential indirect effects of the cycle on long-run growth.


We propose a new task to benchmark scene understanding of embodied agents: Situated Question Answering in 3D Scenes (SQA3D). Given a scene context (e.g., 3D scan), SQA3D requires the tested agent to first understand its situation (position, orientation, etc.) in the 3D scene as described by text, then reason about its surrounding environment and answer a question under that situation. Based upon 650 scenes from ScanNet, we provide a dataset centered around 6.8k unique situations, along with 20.4k descriptions and 33.4k diverse reasoning questions for these situations. These questions examine a wide spectrum of reasoning capabilities for an intelligent agent, ranging from spatial relation comprehension to commonsense understanding, navigation, and multi-hop reasoning. SQA3D imposes a significant challenge to current multi-modal especially 3D reasoning models. We evaluate various state-of-the-art approaches and find that the best one only achieves an overall score of 47.20%, while amateur human participants can reach 90.06%. We believe SQA3D could facilitate future embodied AI research with stronger situation understanding and reasoning capability.


his paper proposes the interesting nonlinear behavior of light known as bifurcation, where the use of such behavior in a micro ring resonator to form the secure digital codes for optical packet switching application is demonstrated. A new concept of the stop-start bits in an optical packet switching protocol is formed by using the bifurcation codes. The bifurcation is introduced when light is input into a nonlinear micro ring device, where the refractive index of an InGaAsP/InP is one of device parameters. The other parameters of the device are coupling coefficient (K) and the ring radius (R), where the ring radii used are ranged from 5-10 microns. Simulation results obtained have shown that the packet switching data can be secured by using the generated start-stop bits as the secured codes.


84 specimens of the sea hake Merluccius capensis and 60 of M. paradoxus were investigated parasitologically along the coast of Namibia in 1988. Between both fish species there was a high coincidence. 18 species of parasites could be stated. Distinction is remarkable between the north and south parts of the investigation area with a boundary at about 25 degrees 30' south. Southern to this border line of probably different fish stocks Brachiella merluccii is absent and the prevalence of Scolex pleuronectis and Leptotheca spec. is significantly higher. In M. capensis parasitation by Leptotheca spec., Anthocotyle merluccii and Anisakis spec. 1. is increasing with higher age groups. In M. paradoxus parasitation by Leptotheca spec. and Anthocotyle merluccii is decreasing with higher age groups and that of Clestobothrium crassiceps remains the same level.


Background: Acute T-cell leukemia lymphoma (ATLL) tumor cells generally express CD2/CD3/CD5, but lack CD7. These T cells are usually CD4+CD8- and strongly express CD25, although some variability in this basic pattern may be found. Here we report a case with a very unusual CD1a positive phenotype. Methods: Samples from peripheral blood, bone marrow aspirate, lymph node and CSF obtained from a 45 year old male patient with a T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder were immunophenotyped by multiparametric flow cytometry Analysis of HTLV-I genome integration in tumoral cells was performed by PCR. Results: Neoplastic T cells were cCD3, CD2/CD5/CD30/CD25 and CD1a positive, but CD3/CD7/CD4/CD8/CD34/CD10/TdT negative. Serology and integration of HTLV-I were positive. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge CD1a expression has not been previously described in this entity. Its detection raised the differential diagnosis with acute T lymphoblastic leukemia. The rest of the phenotypic markers, the morphology of the neoplastic cells, and the demonstration of HTLV-I genome integration provided the final diagnosis. © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society.


Objectives Meniscal tears have been linked to knee osteoarthritis progression, presumably by impaired load attenuation. How meniscal tears affect osteoarthritis is unclear; subregional examination may help to elucidate whether the impact is local. This study examined the association between a tear within a specific meniscal segment and subsequent 2-year cartilage loss in subregions that the torn segment overlies. Methods Participants with knee osteoarthritis underwent bilateral knee MRI at baseline and 2 years. Mean cartilage thickness within each subregion was quantified. Logistic regression with generalised estimating equations were used to analyse the relationship between baseline meniscal tear in each segment and baseline to 2-year cartilage loss in each subregion, adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, tear in the other two segments and extrusion. Results 261 knees were studied in 159 individuals. Medial meniscal body tear was associated with cartilage loss in external subregions and in central and anterior tibial subregions, and posterior horn tear specifically with posterior tibial subregion loss; these relationships were independent of tears in the other segments and persisted in tibial subregions after adjustment for extrusion. Lateral meniscal body and posterior horn tear were also associated with cartilage loss in underlying subregions but not after adjustment for extrusion. Cartilage loss in the internal subregions, not covered by the menisci, was not associated with meniscal tear in any segment. Conclusion These results suggest that the detrimental effect of meniscal tears is not spatially uniform across the tibial and femoral cartilage surfaces and that some of the effect is experienced locally.


Background: Oral candidiasis is a common opportunistic infection of the oral cavity caused by an overgrowth of Candida species, the commonest being Candida albicans. Candida albicans is a harmless commensal organism inhabiting the mouths but it can change into pathogen and invade tissue and cause acute and chronic disease. Dentures predispose to infection with Candida in as many as 65% of elderly people wearing full upper dentures. Purpose: The purpose of this case report is to discuss thrush in patient wearing full denture which rapidly developed. Case: This paper report a case of 57 year-old man who came to the Oral Medicine Clinic Faculty of Dentistry Airlangga University with clinical appearance of pseudomembranous candidiasis (thrush). Case Management: Diagnosis of this case is confirmed with microbiology examination. Patient was wearing full upper dentures, and from anamnesis known that patient wearing denture for 24 hours and he had poor oral hygiene. Patient was treated with topical (nystatin oral suspension and miconazole oral gel) and systemic (ketoconazole) antifungal. Patient also instructed not to wear his denture and cleaned white pseudomembrane on his mouth with soft toothbrush. Conclusion: Denture, habit of wearing denture for 24 hours, and poor oral hygiene are predisposing factors of thrush and it can healed completely after treated with topical and systemic antifungal.


This article reads the sense of futurity pervading Rushdie's Fury, particularly the depiction of a pre-9/11 New York in which the future is said to have already arrived, by placing Rushdie's depiction of globalization at the turn of the century in dialogue with theories of neoliberalism and space–time compression. Both in Fury and in his non-fiction works from this period (collected in Step Across This Line), Rushdie critiques neoliberal globalization as a utopian inflation of human expectations tinged with the foreboding sense of a coming catastrophe. In both Fury and the contemporaneously written New York Times opinion piece "Two Crashes", the July 2000 crash of Concorde Flight 4590 illustrates not only the neoliberal drama of expectation and disappointment, but also the acceleration of daily life resulting from instantaneous and ubiquitous global media. Fury's meticulous and frenzied account of pre-9/11 New York may be read as an attempt to develop aesthetic strategies to capture a moment not only of increasing acceleration but also of the premonition of impending catastrophe. However, what distinguishes Fury from the attempt in previous novels such as Midnight's Children to poke holes in the utopian promises of nationalist ideologies is a sense of disillusionment with the aesthetic as an autonomous space from which to unmoor the subject's fixed coordinates in time and space. Instead, Fury is Rushdie's greatest creative risk (as he has described it in interview) precisely because of the sense of extreme close-up wherein the novel attempts to match neoliberalism's politics of time with its own aesthetics of speed, while at the same time losing the distance necessary for aesthetic reflection. From this point of view, the article reads Fury's conclusion as an ambivalent return to the literal and the secular in contrast to the utopian and apocalyptic.


Eighteen special education teachers explored one prominent example of three-dimensional virtual worlds, namely Second Life. This study aimed to (a) determine their perception of the effectiveness of a systematic 7-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training workshop in terms of enabling them to make informed decisions about the usability of virtual worlds for students with social skills challenges and (b) determine whether there was a teacher change of attitude resulting from engagement in this systematic workshop. The seven steps are described in detail. The teachers' change of attitude was statistically significant with a large effect size. The teachers' feedback on the effectiveness of the training program resulted in 14 practical guidelines, which informed the revised 4-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training model that can be used both in general and special education with minor adjustments depending on the teacher and student population.


This paper extends the univariate Theory of Connections, introduced in (Mortari, 2017), to the multivariate case on rectangular domains with detailed attention to the bivariate case. In particular, it generalizes the bivariate Coons surface, introduced by (Coons, 1984), by providing analytical expressions, called constrained expressions, representing all possible surfaces with assigned boundary constraints in terms of functions and arbitrary-order derivatives. In two dimensions, these expressions, which contain a freely chosen function, g(x, y), satisfy all constraints no matter what the g(x, y) is. The boundary constraints considered in this article are Dirichlet, Neumann, and any combinations of them. Although the focus of this article is on two-dimensional spaces, the final section introduces the Multivariate Theory of Connections, validated by mathematical proof. This represents the multivariate extension of the Theory of Connections subject to arbitrary-order derivative constraints in rectangular domains. The main task of this paper is to provide an analytical procedure to obtain constrained expressions in any space that can be used to transform constrained problems into unconstrained problems. This theory is proposed mainly to better solve PDE and stochastic differential equations.


This is the final chapter of The AIG Story, a book about the growth of a large international insurance company that pioneered the opening of new markets and helped forge milestone international trade agreements, followed by an account of its near-destruction, first at the hands of an overzealous state attorney general and underwhelming board of directors, and then, as detailed in this chapter, at the hands of federal government officials overwhelmed by a financial crisis they could not understand. This chapter begins in mid-2008, when AIG's losing financial products bets presented the company with a huge liquidity problem, though it commanded nearly a trillion dollars in assets that made it entirely solvent. The world's largest banks faced both liquidity and solvency problems that threatened a global financial meltdown. Swooping into the maelstrom, the U.S. Treasury and New York Fed engineered a solution that portrayed AIG as the greatest villain of the crisis and its treatment by the government as a rescue of the company. The truth is more complex and this chapter of the book explains, in what Kirkus has aptly described, reviewing the book, as "a useful contribution to the ongoing shaping of the story of the recent financial crisis."


The status of many carnivore populations is of growing concern to scientists and conservationists, making the need for data pertaining to carnivore distribution, abundance, and habitat use ever more pressing. Recent developments in "noninvasive" research techniques - those that minimize disturbance to the animal being studied - have resulted in a greatly expanded toolbox for the wildlife practitioner.Presented in a straightforward and readable style, "Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores" is a comprehensive guide for wildlife researchers who seek to conduct carnivore surveys using the most up-to-date scientific approaches. Twenty-five experts from throughout North America discuss strategies for implementing surveys across a broad range of habitats, providing input on survey design, sample collection, DNA and endocrine analyses, and data analysis. Photographs from the field, line drawings, and detailed case studies further illustrate on-the-ground application of the survey methods discussed.Coupled with cutting-edge laboratory and statistical techniques, which are also described in the book, noninvasive survey methods are efficient and effective tools for sampling carnivore populations. "Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores" allows practitioners to carefully evaluate a diversity of detection methods and to develop protocols specific to their survey objectives, study area, and species of interest. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the study of carnivores, from scientists engaged in primary research to agencies or organizations requiring carnivore detection data to develop management or conservation plans.


Recent work on heritage and social media has highlighted how social media offer new possibilities for citizens to share memories, identities, local culture and heritage, and thus constitute a more participatory and democratic platform (Giaccardi 2012). Social media encourage and enable new forms of engagement and interpretations of the heritage through user-generated content, personal reflections, interactions with others, and sharing of visual materials. As a result the experience of heritage has become more personal, performative and visual in character. New digital technologies are also used by heritage institutions such as museums to involve local communities in the co-production of heritage (for example through the use of Facebook, Instagram). The visual nature of social media engagement needs to be emphasised as the act of taking and sharing photos is quite central (Freeman 2010). Another important feature is the mobile nature of social media that enables real-time heritage engagements through smartphones, QR tagging, and apps, which reinforces the lived and performative aspects of heritage. Social media can support both the formation of new publics or communities by enabling strangers to share memories and experiences with places, historical events, and cultural practices, as well as enable existing communities to strengthen their ties and help them remember and experience their own heritage in new ways.This paper discusses how different actors in China today use a wide range of digital technologies to mediate, visualise and celebrate local traditions and heritage. The mediatization of the cultural heritage increasingly takes place through film on digital video sharing sites and on social media platforms such as WeChat. These digital technologies enable Chinese citizens and local communities to bypass traditional heritage institutions as they now themselves are able to celebrate and document local history and cultural practices. This may also include heritage that official institutions have overlooked or do not acknowledge as heritage. New online communities have emerged around new topics of interests, specific cultural practices and architecture, or centre around place-based identities. This paper focuses on different groups such as local communities, heritage enthusiasts, informal networks and formal organizations, but also addresses the use of social media by official heritage institutions. Many informal networks, organizations, and official bodies have recently set up special WeChat groups that provide information and document local history. For individuals and local groups social media practices are however embedded in offline heritage practices, including travel and participation in different cultural events, and the paper also addresses these online/offline connection and embeddness. The paper is based on long-term ethnographic work, both online and offline, participation in different heritage activities as well as interviews with members of different heritage WeChat groups and other actors. (Less)


The superplastic bulging capabilities of Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates with 0.8mm in thickness with high energy beam welding methods namely plasma arc welding (PAW), electron beam welding (EBW) and laser beam welding (LBW) are studied in virtue of superplastic bulging tests. Superplastic bulging tests are performed at the superplastic forming temperature 925°C under 1MPa gas pressure. The superplastic bulging capability is represented by the maximum relative bulging height h after fracture. Experimental results suggest that all of butt-welded plates with high energy beam welding methods possess good superplastic bulging capability. Among them, the maximum relative bulge height of LBW is the highest, that of EBW is slightly lower and that of PAW is the lowest. The higher the input energy density is, the bigger the bulge height will be. Furthermore their microstructure evolutions of various weld metals during superplastic bulging were systematically analyzed via metallographical tests. The relation between the microstructure of weld metal and its superplasticity is found. Metallographical analysis shows that the microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V weld metal with high energy beam welding methods is composed of fine acicular martensite. The higher the input energy density is, the finer the martensite structure will be. Upon heating, this martensite changes to a basketweave-like structure and upon bulging, the martensite structure have the trend of transforming to fine equiaxed grain. This can explained the reason why the Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates with high energy beam welding methods have excellent superplastic bulging capability.


OBJECTIVES
(1) To describe temporal patterns of office visits for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and stimulant treatment for 5- to 14-year-old US youths; (2) to compare youth visits for ADHD with and without melication according to patient demographics, physician specialty, reimbursement source, and comorbid diagnoses; and (3) to compare office visits for youths with ADHD in relation to common medication patterns (stimulants alone, stimulants with other psychotherapeutic medication, and nonstimulant psychotherapeutic medications alone).

DESIGN
Survey based on a national probability sample of office-based physicians in the United States.

SETTING
Physician offices.

PARTICIPANTS
A systematically sampled group of office-based physicians.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
National estimates of office visits for ADHD and psychotherapeutic drug visits for ADHD for each year and for a combined 8-year period.

RESULTS
Youth visits for ADHD as a percentage of total physician visits had a 90% increase, from 1.9% in 1989 to 3.6% in 1996. Stimulant therapy within ADHD youth visits rose from 62.6% in 1989 to 76.6% in 1996. While the majority of non-ADHD youth visits were conducted by primary care physicians, one third of ADHD youth visits were managed by psychiatry and neurology specialists. Health maintenance organization insurance was the reimbursement source for 17.9% of non-ADHD youth visits but only 11.7% of ADHD youth visits. Complex medication therapy was more likely to be prescribed by psychiatrists and less likely to be related to visits with health maintenance organization reimbursement.

CONCLUSIONS
National survey estimates in the 1990s confirm the substantial increase in visits for youths diagnosed as having ADHD, with more than three quarters of these visits associated with psychotherapeutic medication treatment. Physician specialty and reimbursement source variables identify distinct patient populations with a gradient in psychotherapeutic medication patterns from single-drug standard (stimulant) therapy to complex multidrug treatment regimens for which evidence-based scientific information is lacking.


Keeping Transcription Going In cells, the DNA double-stranded helix (dsDNA) is mostly supercoiled—either under- or overwound. RNA polymerase (RNAP) must transcribe though this supercoiled DNA. Furthermore, the act of transcription, which involves opening the double helix and threading the separated strands through the enzyme, generates supercoiling ahead and behind the polymerase. Ma et al. (p. 1580) used single-molecule methods to measure the upstream and downstream torque forces of Escherichia coli RNAP. The upstream torque was sufficient to disrupt dsDNA structure, and the stalled RNAP could also backtrack along the DNA. Release of the torsional stress allowed RNAP to resume transcription in vitro. RNA polymerase is a potent DNA-based torsional motor than can restart transcription after release of DNA supercoiling stress. In cells, RNA polymerase (RNAP) must transcribe supercoiled DNA, whose torsional state is constantly changing, but how RNAP deals with DNA supercoiling remains elusive. We report direct measurements of individual Escherichia coli RNAPs as they transcribed supercoiled DNA. We found that a resisting torque slowed RNAP and increased its pause frequency and duration. RNAP was able to generate 11 ± 4 piconewton-nanometers (mean ± standard deviation) of torque before stalling, an amount sufficient to melt DNA of arbitrary sequence and establish RNAP as a more potent torsional motor than previously known. A stalled RNAP was able to resume transcription upon torque relaxation, and transcribing RNAP was resilient to transient torque fluctuations. These results provide a quantitative framework for understanding how dynamic modification of DNA supercoiling regulates transcription.


IMPORTANCE
Zentangle® is a self-help art modality purported to have repetitive, mindful, and meditative qualities. It can be a cost-effective intervention, but its effect on affective well-being has been underresearched.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the immediate and 2-wk postintervention effects of Zentangle delivered by a certified Zentangle teacher on affective well-being in the general population.

DESIGN
Two-armed parallel-groups pilot randomized controlled trial.

PARTICIPANTS
Thirty-eight participants from a nonclinical population.

INTERVENTION
Participants were randomized into the Zentangle group, which participated in a 2-hr Zentangle class and were encouraged to practice for 2 wk, or the waitlist control group. Participants learned basic Zentangle principles and drew two Zentangles under the teacher's instructions.

OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form were used to assess positive and negative affect; depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms; and self-compassion.

RESULTS
Significant reductions in negative affect were found in the Zentangle group compared with the waitlist control group at both immediate and 2-wk postintervention assessments (ds = 1.04 and 0.79, respectively, p < .001). Participants who practiced Zentangle for >80 min per week had a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms and an improvement in self-compassion (ds = 0.84 and 0.24, ps < .05 and .005, respectively). No significant between-groups difference was found for other measures.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Our results shed light on the effects of Zentangle on improving affective well-being in the general population. With sufficient practice, Zentangle can also help improve self-compassion and reduce anxiety. What This Article Adds: The results of this study could provide information to determine whether Zentangle can be used as a tool in occupational therapy intervention to improve affective well-being.


Drug design is a crucial step in the drug discovery cycle. Recently, various deep learning-based methods design drugs by generating novel molecules from scratch, avoiding traversing large-scale drug libraries. However, they depend on scarce experimental data or time-consuming docking simulation, leading to overfitting issues with limited training data and slow generation speed. In this study, we propose the zero-shot drug design method DESERT (Drug dEsign by SkEtching and geneRaTing). Specifically, DESERT splits the design process into two stages: sketching and generating, and bridges them with the molecular shape. The two-stage fashion enables our method to utilize the large-scale molecular database to reduce the need for experimental data and docking simulation. Experiments show that DESERT achieves a new state-of-the-art at a fast speed.


In the Nuclear Professional School, the University of Tokyo (UTNS), we are constructing an X-band linear accelerator that consists of an X-band thermionic cathode RF gun and X-band accelerating structure. This system is considered for a compact inverse Compton scattering monochromatic X-ray source for the medical application. The injector of this system consists of the 3.5-cell coaxial RF feed coupler type X-band thermionic cathode RF gun and an alpha-magnet. The X-band accelerating structure is round detuned structure (RDS) type that developed for the future linear collider are fully adopted. So far, we have constructed the whole RF system and beam line for the X- band linac and achieved 2 MeV electron beam generation from the X-band thermionic cathode RF gun. In addition, we achieved 40 MW RF feeding to the accelerating structure. The laser system for the X-ray generation via Compton scattering was also constructed and evaluated its properties. In this paper, we will present the details of our system and progress of beam acceleration experiment and the performance of the laser system for the Compton scattering experiment.


We project that within the next two decades, half of the world's population will regularly (every second summer on average) experience regional summer mean temperatures that exceed those of the historically hottest summer, even under the moderate RCP4.5 emissions pathway. This frequency threshold for hot temperatures over land, which have adverse effects on human health, society and economy, might be broached in little more than a decade under the RCP8.5 emissions pathway. These hot summer frequency projections are based on adjusted RCP4.5 and 8.5 temperature projections, where the adjustments are performed with scaling factors determined by regularized optimal fingerprinting analyzes that compare historical model simulations with observations over the period 1950–2012. A temperature reconstruction technique is then used to simulate a multitude of possible past and future temperature evolutions, from which the probability of a hot summer is determined for each region, with a hot summer being defined as the historically warmest summer on record in that region. Probabilities with and without external forcing show that hot summers are now about ten times more likely (fraction of attributable risk 0.9) in many regions of the world than they would have been in the absence of past greenhouse gas increases. The adjusted future projections suggest that the Mediterranean, Sahara, large parts of Asia and the Western US and Canada will be among the first regions for which hot summers will become the norm (i.e. occur on average every other year), and that this will occur within the next 1–2 decades.


The Coastal Climate Resilient Infrastructure Project (CCRIP) is a $150 million rural infrastructure project which was implemented in 12 districts of Bangladesh since 2013, and is due to be completed by the end of 2019. The project is funded by IFAD, the ADB, KfW of Germany, and the Government of Bangladesh. The project aims to improve the connectivity of farms and households in the face of climatic shocks, focusing on one of the most shock-prone areas of one of the most shock-prone countries in the world. The main component of the project is the construction of improved markets and market connecting roads, that are designed to remain useable during the monsoon season. This is expected to improve sales of on-farm produce, along with access to inputs as well as opportunities for off-farm income generation, leading to increased productivity and income. The project also aims to improve women's empowerment by employing Labour Contracting Societies (LCS), consisting mainly of destitute women, to carry out some of the construction work. This impact assessment focuses on the activities funded by IFAD, which includes the strengthening of markets and roads at the community and village levels. Using data from an in-depth household questionnaire covering 3,000 treatment and control households, combined with extensive qualitative interviews, we analyse the project's impact on a range of impact indicators relating to income; crop, fish and livestock production and sales; assets, food security and education; financial inclusion; and women's empowerment. We assess impact on the whole sample, as well as for a range of sub-groups, including by geographic location, location within the market catchment area, and by livelihood activity, integrating findings from the qualitative data to help to explain the mechanisms that shaped the project's impact. Regarding on-farm activities, we find that, despite a lack of impact on productivity, income from selling crops and fish increased significantly (by 104 and 50 per cent, respectively). However, we do not find a similar increase in income from the sale of livestock and livestock products. The lack of impact on productivity was seemingly caused by persisting issues with accessing high-quality inputs during the monsoon season, as well as households having limited capital to purchase these inputs. Despite this, the project increased the amount of produce that was sold, the amount that was sold at a market rather than from home or the farm gate, and increased the likelihood of growing cash crops, leading to the large increase in on-farm income. As well as improving on-farm income, the project also increased income from wage labour, which together produced a positive impact on total income of 11 per cent, along with a four per cent reduction in poverty. This increased prosperity was also reflected in reduced food insecurity and increased ownership of households assets.


Arab Media – Power and Weakness provides an assessment of the emergent field of Arab media studies. The 13 articles of the volume, most written by veterans in the field, discuss issues related to the effects, audiences, contexts, ethics, economy, law and culture of Arab media. The book's introduction by editor Kai Hafez ties this plethora of material together in an ambitious attempt to outline current research on the links between Arab politics, society and media, and to point to some of the conclusions and problems we can extract from the literature. Hafez is interested in how the political economy structures the content of media, in the production process itself, as well as in the effects media have on politics and society.


Geometric iteration (GI) is one of the most efficient curve- or surface-fitting techniques in recent years, which is famous for its remarkable geometric significance. In essence, GI can be thought of as the sum of iterative methods for solving systems of linear equations, such as progressive iterative approximation (PIA) which relies on the theory of Richardson iteration. Thus, when the curve- or surface-fitting error is at a desired level, we want to have as few iterations as possible to improve efficiency when dealing with large data sets. Based on the idea of successive over-relaxation (SOR) iteration, we formulate a faster PIA curve and surface interpolation scheme using classical non-uniform cubic B-splines, named SOR-PIA. The genetic algorithm is utilized to estimate the best approximate relaxation factor of SOR-PIA. Similar to standard PIA, SOR-PIA can also be regarded as a process in which the control points move in one direction, but it can greatly reduce the number of iterations in the iterative process with the same fitting accuracy. By comparing with the standard PIA and WPIA algorithms, the effectiveness of the SOR-PIA iterative interpolation algorithm can be verified.


Achaete-scute-like 2 (ASCL2) is a transcription factor containing a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) domain and is a downstream target of Wnt signaling in intestinal stem cells. Bufalin is the primary active ingredient in Chan Su, a traditional Chinese medicine obtained from the skin and parotid venom glands of toads. The purpose of this study was to research the anti-invasion and anti-metastasis activity of bufalin in gastric cancer and to identify the potential mechanism. Bufalin inhibited gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis, suppressed cancer cell colony formation, and inhibited the growth of subcutaneous xenografted tumors in nude mice. Furthermore, bufalin inhibited ASCL2 expression and down-regulated the expression of invasion-related genes such as MMP2, MMP9, and vimentin, thereby suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in gastric cancer. A Wnt signaling inhibitor (XAV939) down-regulated invasion and the expression of ASCL2, β-catenin, and vimentin but up-regulated E-cadherin expression. In nude mice, bufalin inhibited the tumorigenic behavior of gastric cancer cells, induced cancer cell apoptosis, and regulated invasion-related gene expression. Together, our results suggest that bufalin arrests invasion and metastasis and that its mechanism of action may involve down-regulating Wnt/ASCL2 expression.


The high silicon cast iron is a very attractive material because of its corrosion and abrasion resistance and also the ability to work at high temperature. The additional advantage of this material is the low production cost. Unfortunately, the material, despite the attractive properties, makes considerable inconveniences during the manufacturing process [1, 2]. The applications, these days, are limited to corrosion resistance. It has for example a high resistance for sulphuric acid. But also as electrode for cathodic corrosion resistance, it is still very popular [3]. This material is back slowly for industrial applications but still missing detailed knowledge, for example about the influence of technological parameters on the quality of the alloy, etc. In this paper the research results of crystallization process of alloyed cast iron with high silicon content were presented. Two alloys with a silicon content at 17 and 19% were chosen to research. The results of crystallization process were based on thermal derivative analysis TDA [4, 5]. Using the recorded data a derivative of the temperature variation was calculated, what allowed to determine the characteristic points of the crystallization process. The results made possible to identify the phase transitions in the studied alloys and to describe phases that were shown during the metallographic examination.


Abstract What does it mean to be humble? We argue that humility is an epistemically and ethically aligned state of awareness – the experience of ourselves as a small part of a larger universe and as one among a host of other morally relevant beings. So conceived, humility can be operationalized and measured along the dual dimensions of low self-focus and high other-focus and is distinct from other related constructs (e.g., modesty and open-mindedness). We discuss our newly developed scale (Study 1 and 2), and provide preliminary validation using self-report (Study 3) and behavioral measures (Study 4), showing that humility is related to people's general ethical orientation (e.g., empathy, universalism/benevolence, and civic responsibility), their well-being (e.g., sense of autonomy, life-purpose, and secure attachment), mature religious beliefs/practices, and reactions to disagreement – specifically, people high in humility sat closer and less angled away from their conversation partner with whom they disagreed. Together, this provides support for our new Dual-Dimension Humility Scale.


Background: Patients receiving breast conservation therapy have a lifelong risk of local recurrence. To minimize this risk, surgeons have explored various approaches to examining the surgical margins of the resection specimen. If tumor cells are found at the margin, there is a high probability that residual tumor remains in the surgical cavity. This review examines published reports about standard and innovative approaches to assessing surgical margins, the clinical significance of margin size, and risk factors for positive margins. Methods: Published literature abstracted in Medline was reviewed using the Gateway site from the National Library of Medicine. Conclusions: It is still not clear whether obtaining a radical margin will decrease the rate of local recurrence after breast conserving surgery. What is clear is that it is absolutely unacceptable to have tumor cells directly at the cut edge of the excised specimen, regardless of the type of post-surgical adjuvant therapy. © 2002 Excerpta Medica Inc. All rights reserved.


Abstract : The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), the largest municipally owned electric utility in the United States, has been the monopoly supplier of electricity to the city's 1.4 million business and residential customers. DWP has provided reliable service, low residential rates, and substantial payments from operating income to the city. However, it now faces major challenges as California proceeds to deregulate, restructure, and introduce competition into the electricity sector. Since 1998, investor-owned utilities (lOUs), such as Southern California Edison, have been required to offer their customers "direct access" to competitive electricity suppliers. Cities with municipal utilities may decide for themselves whether or not to open their markets, but pressure to allow customers more choices will intensify over the next several years. In response, DWP has implemented a series of measures to reduce its operating costs and has set a goal of paying off all or most of its debt on generating plants by 2003. At that point, DWP would be better prepared to compete with other electricity suppliers if the city council decides to open the Los Angeles market. However, DWP's general manager and others have questioned whether DWP, organized as a city department and subject to the checks and balances of city governance, will be able to compete effectively. This report examines DWP governance issues in the context of electricity deregulation and restructuring and discusses alternative structures for governing DWP as a municipally owned utility. The study explicitly does not consider privatization or sale of DWP electric power operations or assets.


In this work calcium phosphate (CaP) compounds with different PO(3-)(4)/HPO(2-)(4) R molar ratios in the 0.65-149 range were synthesized. In fact, all these CaPs contain different amounts of HPO(2-)(4) and PO(3-)(4) ions as well as the amorphous precursors (tricalcium phosphate and octacalcium phosphate) of hydroxyapatite deposition, which was shown by in vitro and in vivo measurements. Spectroscopical IR and Raman results showed the presence of bands whose intensity ratio can be related to the molar ratio R; in particular, the Raman I(962)/I(987) and the IR I(1035)/I(1125) intensity ratios were characterized as markers of the molar ratio. For these CaP compounds a nucleation model, which was based on the ability of HPO(2-)(4) ions to form strong H bonds with PO(3-)(4) ions, was proposed.


Oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors can show anomalous behavior under bias stress. Two types of anomalies are discussed in this paper. The first is the shift in threshold voltage (VTH) in a direction opposite to the applied bias stress, and highly dependent on gate dielectric material. We attribute this to charge trapping/detrapping and charge migration within the gate dielectric. We emphasize the fundamental difference between trapping/detrapping events occurring at the semiconductor/dielectric interface and those occurring at gate/dielectric interface, and show that charge migration is essential to explain the first anomaly. We model charge migration in terms of the non-instantaneous polarization density. The second type of anomaly is negative VTH shift under high positive bias stress, with logarithmic evolution in time. This can be argued as electron-donating reactions involving H2O molecules or derived species, with a reaction rate exponentially accelerated by positive gate bias and exponentially decreased by the number of reactions already occurred.


The aim of the present work was to carry out a bioguided isolation of antiviral chemical constituents from an ethanol extract of leaves from Arrabidaea pulchra (Cham.) Sandwith (EEAPL) that had shown in vitro activity in a previous screening using DNA and RNA viruses. The activity of EEPAL was evaluated against the DNA viruses Human herpesvirus 1 (HSV-1) and Vaccinia virus Western Reserve (VACV-WR) as well as against the RNA viruses Murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), and Dengue virus 2 (DENV-2) by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric assay. Cytotoxicity was determined in LLCMK2 and Vero cells and the Selectivity Indexes (SI) were calculated. The most potent effect was observed against DENV-2 (EC50 46.8 ± 1.6 µg mL−1; SI 2.7). For HSV-1 and VACV-WR EC50 values > 200 µg mL−1 were determined, while no inhibition of the cytopathic effect was observed with EMCV. Bioguided fractionation of EEAPL by partition between immiscible solvents followed by chromatography over a Sephadex LH20 column afforded two arylpropanoid glycosides, verbascoside (AP 1) and caffeoylcalleryanin (AP 2), along with a terpenoid, ursolic acid (AP 3). AP 1 and AP 3 exhibited similar anti-DENV-2 profiles, with SI values of 3.8 and 3.1, respectively, while AP 2 was the most effective anti-DENV-2 constituent, with a SI of 20.0. Our results show that A. pulchra leaves ethanol extract (EEAPL) affords compounds with antiviral activity, mainly against DENV-2.


Tobermorite nano-scale powder was synthesized from potassium feldspar ore from Henan province Lushi country in China. In the present research work, its adsorption property to Cd2+ was studied. The factors of adsorption such as pH values, traction time, initial concentration, and temperature were studied. The adsorption equation was curvefitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm and the thermodynamics adsorption was analyzed. By the orthogonal experiment and single-factor experiment of the adsorption, the optimized conditions of the adsorption for Cd2+ were achieved: the reaction temperature is 40°C, the reaction time is 20 min, the initial concentration of aqueous solution is 20 mg•L-1 and pH value is 6.0. Under these conditions the adsorption efficiency of Cd2+ can reach 99.89%. The orthogonal experimental results show that the order of effect on adsorption efficiency was the initial concentration, pH value, reaction temperature, reaction time. In different temperatures, the results show that isothermal Langmuir equation can describe the isothermal adsorption characteristics of Cd2+ on tobermorite. Thermodynamic parameters can be drawn: the G was negative and with increasing temperature H increased, so the adsorption process is a spontaneous reaction to the heat.


BACKGROUND
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common form of heart disease and a leading cause of death worldwide. Extensive clinical and statistical studies have identified several factors that increase the risk of CAD and myocardial infarction.

AIM
To investigate the relationship between severity of CAD, anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

METHODS
A total of 225 patients (116 men, 109 women) who underwent elective coronary angiography were included. All patients were assessed for the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and ongoing medications. A biochemical examination of blood was performed in all patients before the procedure. The 225 patients were divided into three groups (a control group, and minimal and significant CAD groups) based on their Gensini score, which evaluates the severity of CAD. The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) was used to measure HRQoL. Anxiety and depression were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

RESULTS
A significant positive correlation was found between HADS and Gensini scores (HADS-anxiety: r = 0.139, p = 0.038; HADS-depression: r = 0.156, p = 0.019). A significant positive correlation was also determined between NHP-total and Gensini scores (r = 0.145, p = 0.029). According to the NHP, energy (p = 0.048) and physical mobility status (p = 0.021) were better in the control group than they were in the CAD groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrates that anxiety, depression, and HRQoL are related to CAD severity. Therefore, emotional status and HRQoL should be evaluated during routine clinical treatment of CAD.


This article looks at the values of market-based equities (common stocks) based on the relative investment valuation, analyzed with several earnings multiples in global lodging markets in 2014. To be specific, we compare the value of various common stock portfolios sorted for four geographical regions with those relative value investment metrics so that we can make a solid judgment about bullish and bearish markets demonstrating investors' confidence or stagnancy, anomalies in prices indicating under and overvalued stocks, and outperforming lodging portfolios in global markets. Common stock prices in portfolios are standardized, utilizing earnings parameters such as Current Price/Earnings Ratio (PE) and its variants (Trailing and Forward PE), Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG), and The Market Value of Debt and Equity free of Cash-to-EBITDA (Value/EBITDA). Linking the relative value with earnings proxies and the stock portfolios, which are extracted in a homogeneous industry but are sorted from heterogeneous regions, primary findings of this study reveal that western and eastern markets have outperformed the Latin markets in regard to future earnings estimate, earnings growth, and excessive returns from the invested capital.


We have investigated the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) in the regulation of the Cyp2a5 gene. The C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mouse strains with a genetically determined difference in AHR function were used to study the CYP2A5 induction by typical AHR ligands, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p -dioxin (TCDD) and 3-methylcholantrene. The CYP2A5 mRNA upregulation in these mouse strains showed a difference in response, typical for AHR -regulated genes, both by TCDD in cultured primary hepatocytes and by 3-methylcholantrene in vivo . In primary hepatocytes, TCDD caused a 3-fold elevation of the CYP2A5 protein level and a similar induction of the CYP2A5-catalyzed coumarin 7-hydroxylation activity. In reporter gene assays, the Cyp2a5 promoter region –3033 to +10 mediated a 2-to 5-fold induction of luciferase activity by TCDD treatment in primary hepatocytes and in Hepa-1 hepatoma cells with an intact AHR/ARNT complex. In Hepa-1 variant cell lines with deficiencies in the AHR/ARNT complex, the absence of ARNT abolished the induction. A putative AHR response element (XRE) was identified in the Cyp2a5 promoter at the position –2514 to –2492 and found to interact with the AHR/ARNT heterodimer. Transfection experiments combined with mutation of the XRE site indicated that the site partly mediates the TCDD induction of Cyp2a5 . An additional AHR-dependent mechanism also regulates the proximal promoter of the Cyp2a5 gene. In conclusion, our studies showed that AHR ligands upregulate Cyp2a5 transcriptionally by an AHR/ARNT-dependent mechanism and established Cyp2a5 as a novel AHR-regulated gene.


Background: Blood culturing remains the mainstream tool to inform an appropriate treatment in hospital-acquired bloodstream infections and to diagnose any bacteremia. Methods: A retrospective investigation on the prevalence of Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) and their resistance in hospitalized patients by age, sex, and units from blood cultures (BCs) was conducted from January 2018 to April 2020 at Sant'Elia hospital, Caltanissetta, southern Italy. We divided the patient age range into four equal intervals. Results: Multivariate demographic and microbiological variables did not show an association between bacteria distributions and gender and age. The distribution by units showed a higher prevalence of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii in the intensive care unit (ICU) and Escherichia coli in the non-intensive care units (non-ICUs). The analysis of antibiotic resistance showed that E. coli was susceptible to a large class of antibiotics such as carbapenem and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. K. pneumoniae showed a significant susceptibility to colistin, tigecycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. From the survival analysis, patients with E. coli had a higher survival rate. Conclusions: The authors stress the importance of the implementation of large community-level programs to prevent E. coli bacteremia. K. pneumoniae and E. coli susceptibility patterns to antibiotics, including in the prescription patterns of general practitioners, suggest that the local surveillance and implementation of educational programs remain essential measures to slow down the spread of resistance and, consequently, increase the antibiotic lifespan.


The Pillow Lava sequence overlying the Troodos Igneous Complex of Cyprus contains sulphide mineralization within tectonic zones of variable width and extent, and some of these have been mined since ancient times. Previous I.P. and other geophysical work showed that the location of concealed zones presents considerable problems. In this study a new attempt using modern highpower equipment was made to assess the usefulness of the I.P. method in Cyprus. After an orientation survey over a sulphide body 125 m deep, Time-Domain I.P. and Resistivity surveys using the pole-dipole configuration with a spacing of 50 m were carried out over six different areas where the mineralization occurs in different modes and grades. The data were plotted on pseudosections which conveyed very useful information on the location, extent and depth of the polarizing body. The resistivities of the barren rocks were generally low, between 5 and 30 ohm-meters. The zones of high grade sulphide mineralization had equally low resistivities which increase with decreasing sulphide content. The N.T.I. was found to attain high values over the mineralization. The amplitude varied mainly according to the size, depth and location of the body with respect to the geophysical grid. The highest anomalous values were observed when both poles of the receiver were over concealed or exposed mineralized bodies. This clearly imposes limitations on the detection of narrow zones, particularly at depth. The values of the I.P. voltage were observed at sixteen times between 0.035 and 0.78 sec. for n = 2 on all the lines. The I.P. decay was investigated both as an exponential decay and as a log time decay. In the first the electromagnetic and true chargeability components were found to attain in general high values over the mineralization but without any significant variations between the disseminated and higher grade mineralization. On the log time axis the I.P. decay was found to consist of a short and fast decaying linear component, and a later and slower curved component. Some of the parameters which describe this shape were found to have much different values over the different grades of mineralization implying thus a distinction between disseminated and high grade mineralization on the basis of the decay curve.


Soil nutrients in dairy manure composts vary depending on the original manure or other additives, with consequent effects on crop production. An experiment addressing the effects of single applications of dairy compost of high quality (HQC) or low quality (LQC) at the incorporation rates of 0, 45, and 90 Mg ha−1 on corn (Zea mays L.) silage yields, forage quality, and soil nutrients was conducted in 2004 and 2005. The composts were incorporated prior to planting in 2004, which were also compared with the performance of two commercial fertilizer levels (N-P-K) at high (HIF, 336-98-93) or low rates (LIF, 168-49-47). Compost treatment plots received annual split applications of supplemental inorganic N at 224 or 336 kg ha−1. Through the two growing seasons, corn silage yields ranged from 17 to 25 Mg ha−1 yr−1 depending on compost quality and compost application rates. Corn silage yields in plots with HQC were generally greater than LQC in 2004, but yields did not differ in 2005. Total apparent N recovery did not differ between compost qualities or among compost rates. Soil pH of LQC treatments averaged 8.1 after the second season and remained higher than that of HQC which ranged from 7.4 to 7.6. Electrical conductivity (EC) of soils from HQC plots was 14% lower than that of LQC in 2004 and became similar to that of LQC in 2005. Soil P and K levels in LQC were greater than HQC and were greatest in the 90 Mg ha−1 rate. Based on these data, there is no advantage of using the higher quality compost with greater OM.


The North Atlantic Ocean underwent an abrupt temperature increase of 9 °C at high latitudes within a couple of decades during the transition from Heinrich event 1 (H1) to the Bolling warm event, but the mechanism responsible for this warming remains uncertain. Here we address this issue, presenting high-resolution last deglaciation planktic and benthic foraminiferal records of temperature and oxygen isotopic composition of seawater (δ 18 Osw) for the subtropical South Atlantic. We identify a warming of ~6.5 °C and an increase in δ 18 O sw of 1.2‰ at the permanent thermocline during the transition, and a simultaneous warming of ~3.5 °C with no significant change in δ 18 O sw at intermediate depths. Most of the warming can be explained by tilting the South Atlantic east-west isopycnals from a flattened toward a steepened position associated with a collapsed (H1) and strong (Bolling) Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). However, this zonal seesaw explains an increase of just 0.3‰ in permanent thermocline δ 18 O sw . Considering that δ 18 O sw at the South Atlantic permanent thermocline is strongly influenced by the inflow of salty Indian Ocean upper waters, we suggest that a strengthening in the Agulhas leakage took place at the transition from H1 to the Bolling, and was responsible for the change in δ 18 O sw recorded in our site. Our records high-light the important role played by Indian-Atlantic interocean exchange as the trigger for the resumption of the AMOC and the Bolling warm event.


The spectral theory of graphs provides a bridge between classical signal processing and the nascent field of graph signal processing. In this paper, a spectral graph analogy to Heisenberg's celebrated uncertainty principle is developed. Just as the classical result provides a tradeoff between signal localization in time and frequency, this result provides a fundamental tradeoff between a signal's localization on a graph and in its spectral domain. Using the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian as a surrogate Fourier basis, quantitative definitions of graph and spectral "spreads" are given, and a complete characterization of the feasibility region of these two quantities is developed. In particular, the lower boundary of the region, referred to as the uncertainty curve, is shown to be achieved by eigenvectors associated with the smallest eigenvalues of an affine family of matrices. The convexity of the uncertainty curve allows it to be found to within ε by a fast approximation algorithm requiring O(ε-1/2) typically sparse eigenvalue evaluations. Closed-form expressions for the uncertainty curves for some special classes of graphs are derived, and an accurate analytical approximation for the expected uncertainty curve of Erd-s-Rényi random graphs is developed. These theoretical results are validated by numerical experiments, which also reveal an intriguing connection between diffusion processes on graphs and the uncertainty bounds.


This paper is devoted to the study of various maximal ergodic theorems in noncommutative -spaces. In particular, we prove the noncommutative analogue of the classical Dunford-Schwartz maximal ergodic inequality for positive contractions on and the analogue of Stein's maximal inequality for symmetric positive contractions. We also obtain the corresponding individual ergodic theorems. We apply these results to a family of natural examples which frequently appear in von Neumann algebra theory and in quantum probability.


The Spoleto Festival U.S.A. is a seventeen day international arts festival held annually in Charleston, South Carolina. While the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. perpetuates many of the cultural practices of the hegemonic community of Charleston, it also participates in negotiations of culture on the contemporary global stage. The Festival and the City rely on one another to constitute an identity that is consumable for a tourist and/or festival audience, and this relationship became even more urgent after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Hurricane Hugo serves as a peripeteia of the self-fashioning and self-reflexive narrative shaped by the Charleston elite since the 18th century, and the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. serves as the agent of its denouement. This function of the festival impulse in the contemporary urban setting of Charleston, South Carolina will be the focus of this dissertation, which will examine the relationship between the "placedness" of the historical city and the "placelessness" of the festival atmosphere. This study will identify the features of the festival impulse that engage history, memory, and community and negotiate the territory between "place" and "space". It will compare the historical imaginary of the city with its contemporary identity as an international tourist destination and identify the strategies employed by the festival to destabilize homogenous worldviews and remap the geography of memory in Charleston's past and present.


Scalable routing is one of the key challenges in designing and operating large scale MANETs. Performance of routing protocols proposed so far is only guaranteed under various limitation, i.e., dependent of the number of nodes in the network or needs the location information of destination node. Due to the dependency to the number of nodes in the network, as the number of nodes increases the performance of previous routing protocols degrade dramatically. We propose Cluster Overlay Dynamic Source Routing (CODSR) protocol. We conduct performance analysis by means of computer simulation under various conditions - diameter scaling and density scaling. Developed algorithm outperforms the DSR algorithm, e.g., more than 90% improvement as for the normalized routing load. Operation of CODSR is very simple and we show that the message and time complexity of CODSR is independent of the number of nodes in the network which makes CODSR highly scalable.


In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, the issue of the choice of exchange rate regime for East Asian (EA) countries re-emerged. The crisis had demonstrated, amongst other things, that unilateral exchange rate regimes (including de facto dollar pegging) hadnt coped very well in the 1990s faced with massive capital inflows into the region (Kwan et al., 1998), with the possible exceptions of Singapore and Taiwan. The immediate response to the crisis was that a corner solution might be better. Either keep convertibility and fix the currency, preferably backed up with a currency board, but abandon monetary independence; or keep monetary policy and convertibility but abandon currency management and adopt a free float. But a hard peg is perceived to be too rigid for most countries in EA and the potential costs of a clean float are seen to be too great for emerging economies with weak financial infrastructure because of the risks of serious currency misalignment and destabilising speculation. The objective of this paper is to address some of these counterfactuals by looking at the impact of alternative exchange rate regimes on the volatility of the NEER and the bilateral rate against the US$ for nine EA countries after the Asian financial crisis. 9 Our counterfactuals include a UBP, a CBP, and a hard peg against the US$, but in contrast to previous counterfactual exercises, such as Williamson (1998a) and Ohno (1999) which compute the weights for effective exchange rates on the basis of simple bloc aggregates, we apply a more disaggregated methodology using a larger number of trade partners. We also utilize ARCH/GARCH techniques to obtain estimates of heteroskedastic variances to better capture the time-varying characteristics of volatility for the actual and simulated exchange rate regimes.


A substantial body of research indicates that the probability students will be effective within both traditional (face-to-face or classroom-based) and Computer-Based Learning Environments (CBLE) is a function of their level of Self Regulated Learning (SRL) skills (Zunbrunn, Tadlock & Roberts, 2011; Winters, 2000). Students who do not possess SRL skills demonstrate enhanced probability of distraction, an inability to deal with the material, cognitive overload and importantly for student engagement, issues with goal orientation and intrinsic motivation. Scaffolding can compensate for some deficiencies in SRL. In the case of CBLEs, students also have problems with software and technology (Jiang et al, 2009). Devolder et al (2012) stress a greater need for Scaffolding in CBLEs than in traditional SRL environments This paper reports on the high levels of student performance, individual student engagement and student-student engagement observed in an online 'immersion-style' six-credit module in Introductory Social Psychology undertaken over a two-week period in June 2013. The students interacted with the material and each other from remote sites throughout Ireland. The online module embedded design principles that maximized the use of pedagogical, architectural and technological scaffolds in its construction. The bulk of the cognitive and motivational scaffolds were integrated into the content of 34 Learning Activities (both individual and group-based). Administrative scaffolds were provided in part by an Animated Pedagogical Agent; technological scaffolds were inherent in the architecture of the module. On the basis of feedback from five sources (student performance; individual student activity and student-tostudent interactions monitored by count and content; an online survey, an independently-run focus group, and individual student unsolicited commentary), the authors argue that although Student Engagement can often be no more than rhetoric, with the judicious use of scaffolds, Student Engagement is demonstrably achievable in the case of CBLEs


This book review symposium critically evaluates Penelope Anthias' recent text Limits to Decolonization: Indigeneity, Territory, and Hydrocarbon Politics in the Bolivian Chaco (Cornell University Press 2018). Through deep ethnographic attention, Anthias' text evaluates Indigenous struggles for territory in the context of "post-neoliberal" Bolivia under the Evo Morales administration, showing the variegated and nuanced politics of autonomy in an era of hydrocarbon extraction and increasingly contradictory state-Indigenous relations. The text examines the "limits" of rights and state-led territorial titling processes to radically challenge the racialized extractive geographies that shape the Bolivian Chaco region. In so doing, Anthias' ethnography provides a rich analysis of how Guarani Indigenous peoples are reshaping their relations with non-Indigenous landowners and the hydrocarbon industry to advance new forms of territorial autonomy and self-determination with significant ramifications on Indigenous studies in Latin America. This book review symposium draws from a session at the 2019 American Association of Geographers Conference, featuring two leading geographers who share their critical readings of Limits to Decolonization with a conclusion by Anthias that responds to the written reviews.


Adipose tissue inflammation and fibrosis appear to be mediated by adipocytes and contribute to insulin resistance. Since vitamin D (25(OH)D) has anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects, expression of its receptor in adipocytes and macrophages suggests that 25(OH)D signaling could mediate paracrine effects within adipose tissue and improve insulin resistance. We performed a randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial to examine the effects of repleting vitamin D in 25(OH)D-deficient ( 30 ng/ml was associated with reductions in adipose tissue expression of inflammatory (0.6-0.7-fold decreased expression of TNF-α, IL-6, iNOS and PAI-1) and pro-fibrotic (0.4-0.8-fold decreased expression of TGF-β1, HiF1α, Collagen I, V, VI and MMP7) genes, decreased collagen VI immunofluorescence (19% reduction, p=0.02) and improved hepatic insulin sensitivity, assessed as suppression of endogenous glucose production (EGP) during hyperinsulinemic clamp studies (1.28 ± 0.20 vs. 0.88 ± 0.18 mg/kg/min, p=0.03). To determine whether vitamin D's effects are mediated through adipocytes, we studied an adipocyte-specific vitamin D receptor knockout mouse model (Adiponectin-Cre+VDR+/ fl) after 12 weeks on high fat diet. Despite no differences in body weight or adiposity, VDR KO mice exhibited increased adipose tissue expression of several pro-inflammatory (Tnf-α, iNos, Pai-1, Mcp-1 and F4/80; 4-10 fold) and pro-fibrotic genes (Tgf-β1, Collagen VI, and Tsp1; 2-4 fold), in concert with hepatic insulin resistance during 2h hyperinsulinemic (4 mU/kg/min)-euglycemic clamps (EGP 10 ± 3 vs. 3 ± 2 mg/kg/min in WT, p = 0.021). These human and rodent studies establish a beneficial role of vitamin D in restraining adipose tissue inflammation and fibrosis as well as hepatic insulin resistance, and suggest that normalizing 25(OH)D levels could have metabolic benefits in targeted individuals. Disclosure E. Lontchi-Yimagou: None. S. Kang: None. K. Zhang: None. A. Goyal: None. J. You: None. P. Kishore: None. E. Rosen: None. M. Hawkins: None.


Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder, with a strong genetic component. Previous research has shown that medial temporal lobe atrophy is a common feature of FTD. However, no study has so far investigated the differential vulnerability of the hippocampal subfields in FTD. Objectives: We aimed to investigate hippocampal subfield volumes in genetic FTD. Methods: We in6/2/2018vestigated hippocampal subfield volumes in a cohort of 75 patients with genetic FTD (age: mean (standard deviation) 59.3 (7.7) years; disease duration: 5.1 (3.4) years; 29 with MAPT, 28 with C9orf72, and 18 with GRN mutations) compared with 97 age-matched controls (age: 62.1 (11.1) years). We performed a segmentation of their volumetric T1-weighted MRI scans to extract hippocampal subfields volumes. Left and right volumes were summed and corrected for total intracranial volumes. Results: All three groups had smaller hippocampi than controls. The MAPT group had the most atrophic hippocampi, with the subfields showing the largest difference from controls being CA1-4 (24–27%, p < 0.0005). For C9orf72, the CA4, CA1, and dentate gyrus regions (8–11%, p < 0.0005), and for GRN the presubiculum and subiculum (10–14%, p < 0.0005) showed the largest differences from controls. Conclusions: The hippocampus was affected in all mutation types but a different pattern of subfield involvement was found in the three genetic groups, consistent with differential cortical-subcortical network vulnerability.


Abstract. The growth of ice crystals in presence of supercooled liquid droplets
represents the most important process for precipitation formation in the
mid-latitudes. However, such mixed-phase interaction processes remain relatively unknown, as capturing the complexity in cloud dynamics and microphysical
variabilities turns to be a real observational challenge. Ground-based radar
systems equipped with fully polarimetric and Doppler capabilities in high
temporal and spatial resolutions such as the S-band transportable atmospheric
radar (TARA) are best suited to observe mixed-phase growth processes. In this
paper, measurements are taken with the TARA radar during the ACCEPT campaign
(analysis of the composition of clouds with extended polarization
techniques). Besides the common radar observables, the 3-D wind field is also
retrieved due to TARA unique three beam configuration. The novelty of this
paper is to combine all these observations with a particle evolution
detection algorithm based on a new fall streak retrieval technique in order
to study ice particle growth within complex precipitating mixed-phased cloud
systems. In the presented cases, three different growth processes of ice
crystals, plate-like crystals, and needles are detected and related to the
presence of supercooled liquid water. Moreover, TARA observed signatures are
assessed with co-located measurements obtained from a cloud radar and
radiosondes. This paper shows that it is possible to observe ice particle
growth processes within complex systems taking advantage of adequate
technology and state of the art retrieval algorithms. A significant
improvement is made towards a conclusive interpretation of ice particle
growth processes and their contribution to rain production using fall streak
rearranged radar data.


This study, with the object of observing the domestic research trend on Landscape, examines the study period and trends by means of investigation and analysis of thesis published at landscape view-related the journal. The findings are as follows: Landscape research commenced in 1973 with Korea Institute of Landscape Architecture, but the activity was very poor until the early 1980's. Thereafter, as interest in view gets increased with the Olympic, the number of related theses and conferences participating in the study increased accordingly before and after the year of 1988. Since 2000, the development has been drastically accelerated with 20-30 theses publicized every year. As for the number of theses publicized and the publication periods according to the conference, KILA, publicizing 135 works, has the biggest part, and this is the only conference that has publicized theses consistently so far since 1973. It turned out that this conference takes the key role in landscape study regarding the number of thesis publicized, the share, and steadiness. In the meantime, it turned out that Korean Society of Civil Engineer has reported no thesis. Although 50-100% of the reported theses had leaned upon KILA until 1993, ever since then, the increase of the total number of landscape-related theses and diversified study report among conferences are followed by the even percentage and number of theses reported. As for the comparison of study subjects, the study on artificial(city) landscape view, which makes up 46%, turned out to be twice as much as natural landscape view, which makes up 24%. As for study subject analysis according to conferences, it turned out that specialization combining the specific characteristics of each conference and certain landscape-related studies, and the expansion of study areas have been shown.


We present an attention-based model for recognizing multiple objects in images. The proposed model is a deep recurrent neural network trained with reinforcement learning to attend to the most relevant regions of the input image. We show that the model learns to both localize and recognize multiple objects despite being given only class labels during training. We evaluate the model on the challenging task of transcribing house number sequences from Google Street View images and show that it is both more accurate than the state-of-the-art convolutional networks and uses fewer parameters and less computation.


In 1996, the Pacific Rim Region of the General Services Administration (GSA), as part of its ongoing efforts to meet energy efficiency goals, embraced an ambitious plan to renovate building automation systems at the Phillip Burton Federal Building located at 450 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco - a 1.4 million ft 2 (130 000 m 2 ), 22-story structure. The project's design cycle coincided with ASHRAE's release of the BACnet standard for building automation communications. GSA and its design team decided to deliver this project as not only a major conservation effort, but also the first large-scale demonstration of a multi-vendor, BACnet automation network.'


For the task of moving a set of indistinguishable agents on a connected graph with unit edge distance to an arbitrary set of goal vertices, free of collisions, we propose a fast distance optimal control algorithm that guides the agents into the desired formation. Moreover, we show that the algorithm also provides a tight convergence time guarantee (time optimality and distance optimality cannot be simultaneously satisfied). Our generic graph formulation allows the algorithm to be applied to scenarios such as grids with holes (modeling obstacles) in arbitrary dimensions. Simulations, available online1, confirm our theoretical developments.


The demographic development in many industrialised societies and markets with a growing power of the customers augments the importance of user-centred design approaches. In this regard it is crucial for design engineers to understand how the use of a product is affecting the prospective user physically and emotionally. In this contribution an attempt is made to quantify physical
effects on the human body during the interaction with technical systems. We present an approach to visualise biomechanical stress quantities obtained from simulations with musculoskeletal human models within CAD engineering environments. The objective is to enable designers to intuitively estimate how their solutions will influence the physical state of the user. The topic is relevant for the design of technical artefacts that are characterised by a close interaction with people. This comprises ergonomic questions in product design but also the planning of manufacturing processes as well as the development of medical devices for training and rehabilitation.


Introduction: Gender dysphoria (GD) (DMS-5) is a condition marked by increasing psychological suffering that accompanies the incongruence between one's experienced or expressed gender and one's assigned gender. Manifestation of GD can be seen early on during childhood and adolescence. During this period, the development of undesirable sexual characteristics marks an acute suffering of being opposite to the sex of birth. Pubertal suppression with gonadotropin releasing hormone analogs (GnRHa) has been proposed for these individuals as a reversible treatment for postponing the pubertal development and attenuating psychological suffering. Recently, increased interest has been observed on the impact of this treatment on brain maturation, cognition and psychological performance. Objectives: The aim of this clinical report is to review the effects of puberty suppression on the brain white matter (WM) during adolescence. WM Fractional anisotropy, voice and cognitive functions were assessed before and during the treatment. MRI scans were acquired before, and after 22 and 28 months of hormonal suppression. Methods: We performed a longitudinal evaluation of a pubertal transgender girl undergoing hormonal treatment with GnRH analog. Three longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), regarding Fractional Anisotropy (FA) for regions of interest analysis. In parallel, voice samples for acoustic analysis as well as executive functioning with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC-IV) were performed. Results: During the follow-up, white matter fractional anisotropy did not increase, compared to normal male puberty effects on the brain. After 22 months of pubertal suppression, operational memory dropped 9 points and remained stable after 28 months of follow-up. The fundamental frequency of voice varied during the first year; however, it remained in the female range. Conclusion: Brain white matter fractional anisotropy remained unchanged in the GD girl during pubertal suppression with GnRHa for 28 months, which may be related to the reduced serum testosterone levels and/or to the patient's baseline low average cognitive performance.Global performance on the Weschler scale was slightly lower during pubertal suppression compared to baseline, predominantly due to a reduction in operational memory. Either a baseline of low average cognition or the hormonal status could play a role in cognitive performance during pubertal suppression. The voice pattern during the follow-up seemed to reflect testosterone levels under suppression by GnRHa treatment.