At present a large number of different charts are used for prediction of gestational age from sonar biparietal diameter (BPD). In this report the reasons for these observed differences are presented. Additionally, the usefulness of all these charts is questioned because a) the mean differences in 7059 BPDs derived by the B-scan from four large fetal population studies are not significantly different from zero and b) BPDs obtained by B scan are statistically comparable to gray-scale or real-time BPDs if medium gain is used. Thus, it is our suggestion that a chart showing the composite mean BPD values of all four studies be used universally for prediction of fetal age. Finally, the guidelines of using sonar BPD as an index of gestational age are presented and the role of the obstetrician in interpreting BPD data is emphasized.


Disparities between the in situ and satellite values at the positions where in situ values are obtained have been the main handicap to the smooth modeling of the distribution of ocean chlorophyll. The blending technique and the thin plate regression spline have so far been the main methods used in an attempt to calibrate ocean chlorophyll at positions where the in situ field could not provide value. In this paper, a combination of the two techniques has been used in order to provide improved and reliable estimates from the satellite field. The thin plate regression spline is applied to the blending technique by imposing a penalty on the differences between the satellite and in situ fields at positions where they both have observations. The objective of maximizing the use of the satellite field for prediction was outstanding in a validation study where the penalized blending method showed a remarkable improvement in its estimation potentials. It is hoped that most analysis on primary productivity and management in the ocean environment will be greatly affected by this result, since chlorophyll is one of the most important components in the formation of the ocean life cycle.


There is an increasing emphasis on building and maintaining brand equity as the primary driver of success for service organisations, such as holiday resorts and hotels. Limited research on customer-based brand equity within the South African hotel context has been conducted. This study examined the dimensions of brand equity and compared the differential effect that they had on brands within three hotel categories (low, medium and high priced) in South Africa. Convenience sampling was used to obtain a return of 169 self-administered questionnaires in the Gauteng metropolitan area. The results suggest that the hotels did not differ on the dimensions of brand image and brand loyalty; however, they did differ on perceived quality. As perceived quality received is based on customers' expectations, hotels are required to provide quality services so as to meet customers' expectations. The research findings imply that the hotels' communication and operational efforts are effective in creating comprehensive brand equity. Focusing on brand equity from a customer's perspective enables marketing managers to determine how their marketing efforts contribute to the value of their brands in the mind of the customer. However, more effort should be made to improve the perceived quality within each of the hotel chains. Suggestions for future research are offered.


Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genotypes of gray wolves and coyotes from localities throughout North America were determined using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Of the 13 genotypes found among the wolves, 7 are clearly of coyote origin, indicating that genetic transfer of coyote mtDNA into wolf populations has occurred through hybridization. The transfer of mtDNA appears unidirectional from coyotes into wolves because no coyotes sampled have a wolf-derived mtDNA genotype. Wolves possessing coyote-derived genotypes are confined to a contiguous geographic region in Minnesota, Ontario, and Quebec, and the frequency of coyote- type mtDNA in these wolf populations is high (> 500%). The ecological history of the hybrid zone suggests that hybridization is taking place in regions where coyotes have only recently become abundant following conversion of forests to farmlands. Dispersing male wolves unable to find conspecific mates may be pairing with female coyotes in deforested areas bordering wolf territories. Our results demonstrate that closely related species of mobile terrestrial vertebrates have the potential for extensive genetic exchange when ecological conditions change suddenly.


4-Aminobiphenyl (4-ABP)-DNA adducts and p53 overexpression were evaluated in laryngeal biopsies from 38 patients by immunohistochemical methods. Samples were categorized as tumors (n = 9), polyps (n = 28) or normal tissue (n = 1). 4-ABP-DNA adducts were evaluated with a quantitative immunoperoxidase method using monoclonal antibody 3C8 in both the lesion and adjacent tissue. Relative staining intensity data showed a log-normal distribution and values found in adjacent tissue from smokers were significantly higher (median: 173.5, geometric mean: 159.9) than those measured in adjacent tissue from non-smokers (median: 75.5, geometric mean: 7.40). Statistical significance was assessed both by non-parametric testing on raw data (P = 0.0007 on rank sum test) and by parametric testing on log-transformed data (P = 0.0002 on an unpaired t-test). Furthermore, relative staining intensity in the lesional tissue showed the same significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in patients affected by polyps, whereas no significant difference was detected in patients with laryngeal tumors. Overexpression of p53, also measured with an immunoperoxidase method, was observed in 44% of the malignant tumors and in 3.5% of the polyps. This work demonstrates that 4-ABP-DNA adducts can be evaluated in laryngeal tissue and are related to smoking exposure.


The performance of young and newly founded firms depends largely to the human capital of the firm owner. The entrepreneur is therefore one of the main success factors for the firm. Yet entrepreneurs differ considerably in their background and characteristics. Particularly, founders' individual entrepreneurial experience is a property that might be crucial for firm development, though it is part of the firm's human capital, too. Business failures, namely bankruptcies, may trigger the transition from being a novice entrepreneur to becoming an entrepreneur who is entrepreneurially experienced. About 3 percent of novice entrepreneurs who file for bankruptcy reestablish afterwards. On average, slightly more than 15 months will elapse until such 'fallen' entrepreneurs venture out anew. They differ from entrepreneurs not willing or able to take a second chance in several respects.


In the most extensive robot evolution systems, both the bodies and the brains of the robots undergo evolution and the brains of 'infant' robots are also optimized by a learning process immediately after 'birth'. This paper is concerned with the brain evolution mechanism in such a system. In particular, we compare four options obtained by combining asexual or sexual brain reproduction with Darwinian or Lamarckian evolution mechanisms. We conduct experiments in simulation with a system of evolvable modular robots on two different tasks. The results show that sexual reproduction of the robots' brains is preferable in the Darwinian framework, but the effect is the opposite in the Lamarckian system (both using the same infant learning method). Our experiments suggest that the overall best option is asexual reproduction combined with the Lamarckian framework, as it obtains better robots in terms of fitness than the other three. Considering the evolved morphologies, the different brain reproduction methods do not lead to differences. This result indicates that the morphology of the robot is mainly determined by the task and the environment, not by the brain reproduction methods.


ABSTRACT

Radiative forcing by particulate matter (PM2.5) has been estimated for a period of one year (January–December 2015) over Delhi and Pune (polluted urban metro cities in India). In situ observations of PM2.5 and black carbon (BC) over both the cities were obtained from the ground-based System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) network of stations. Observations have shown that PM concentrations over Pune had a strong diurnal cycle as compared to Delhi in all the seasons. Also, comparisons of the mode values and seasonal frequency distributions (FDs) over Pune and Delhi showed that pollution levels over Delhi were consistently above National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The mean monthly PM2.5 values ranged from 61.5 to 162.9 over Delhi and from 17.4 to 74.05 over Pune. The BC mass contribution to PM2.5 was found to be 10% to 25% over Pune. However, the contribution of BC to PM2.5 was up to 35% over Delhi. Radiative forcing due to PM2.5 (PRF) over both the sites was estimated using the Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) model along with the Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model. The PRF in the atmosphere was between +7.73 Wm–2 and +14.51 Wm–2 over Delhi and between +3.12 Wm–2 and +12.15 Wm–2 over Pune. Sensitivity experiments showed that the impact of the increase in the hygroscopicity of the aerosols on the PRF was overshadowed by the net changes in albedo.


The early marine migration of 55 Atlantic salmon post-smolts tagged with acoustic transmitters was automatically monitored using 13 to 25 km long arrays of receivers deployed inside the Bay of Fundy, a coastal system on the east coast of Canada. The survival of post-smolts from groups with short- and long-term transmitters in coastal habitat up to 10 km from the river was 92 to 100%, indicating a successful transition to salt water and departure. Migration for 68 to 77% of postsmolts followed a direct route and it was rapid (transit time usually <12 h). Post-smolts initially migrated ina south to south-west direction( i.e. orientation towards the mouth of the bay) and they were aggregated near the coast. Post-smolts with long-term transmitters were monitored 20 km from the river where they continued to be aggregated, moving near the coast through a 'commoncorridor', an d their survival to that poin t was at least 84 %. Post-smolts from both groups travelled heading out of the coastal system during ebb tides. Flood tides interrupted migration, and they caused changes in travel direction and delays in departure for post-smolts not leaving by a direct route. Monitoring of coastal habitat inside the Bay of Fundy intercepted 62% of migrating post-smolts with long-term transmitters returning after an initial absence of 2 to 22 days. Returning post-smolts displayed a resident behaviour, using the habitat monitored inside the Bay of Fundy during July and August.


Combined control dynamic systems comprise both parts of discrete systems: real-time activated discrete dynamic systems as well as discrete event dynamic systems. The combination of cyclically recurring processes with stochastically generated events significantly intervenes into the control, while also affecting the choice of the right sample period, as it is necessary to process all the generated interruptions within the cycle. The current monograph focuses on the analysis of combined control systems and determination of the stochastic event element of the sample period. It proposes an appropriate sample period for combined control systems and introduces a methodology for determining the impact of a stochastic element on the system stability and properties. The main contribution of the monograph is the design of an adaptive algorithm for events processing and auto-correction of the event element of sample period.


The treatment of cavernovenous leak consists of the ligation resection of the deep dorsal vein and the cavernous veins when the arterial inflow is normal. When the penile arterial inflow is reduced, deep dorsal vein arterialization can improve the venous leakage.


This article critically analyses housing inadequacy in Nigeria and its effects. The study is exploratory in nature and used qualitative methodology. Key findings suggest that protests, informal settlements, health challenges, shack fires, flooding, violence and criminality, corruption and xenophobic attacks are the ramifications of housing inadequacy in Nigeria. This study used relevant review of literature, document and policy review, and a qualitative inquiry of secondary sources with regards to housing inadequacy in West Africa/ Nigeria and its ramifications to answer the research questions. Through the Federal Housing Authority, the government needs to engage the private sector, state-owned enterprises, States and Local Governments to unlock strategic parcels of land suitable for human settlements development, which provision, especially for low-income groups should be at subsidized rates. The country needs an efficient, formidable and incorruptible Ministry of Housing Development that is able to perform the huge task of spatial integration.


Current standard of burn wound evaluation is based on digital photography of wounds examined by a burn specialist. Due to subjectivity of this approach, automated burn wound analysis systems are being developed by researchers. Those systems should contain three major components: segmentation of burn images, feature extraction, and classification of segmented regions into healthy skin, burned skin, and background. The first purpose of this study is to examine various methods in each of these steps and to achieve the best combination. Comparing the performance of segmentation-based classification approach versus deep learning is the second goal of the study. SegNet-based semantic segmentation was implemented as a deep learning approach. The best combination to successfully classify the images into skin, burn, and background regions was found to be the fuzzy c-means algorithm for the segmentation part, and a multilayer feed-forward artificial neural network trained by the back-propagation algorithm for the classification part. Having an F
-score of 74.28% in the classification of images captured without a protocol, the proposed scheme managed to achieve similar results with deep learning, which had an F
-score of 80.50%.


Cosmetics are care substances used to enhance the appearance of the human body. Lipsticks, lipbalm, pomades are the cosmetic preparations used for lips. They may be derived from natural sources and many being synthetics. Lipsticks have become an almost universal constituent of makeup kits. Lipsticks put skillfully can substantially alter and enhance the apparent characteristics of the users lips.


How many of us ever take the time to think about the history of Ireland's sporting sites? This book urges us to do just that. From national stadia to local pitches, from exclusive golf courses to derelict sites of former sporting glory, it explores the spaces where ordinary people have congregated and community identities have been formed; why sporting sites are located in particular places and how they have changed over time; what kinds of men and women have gathered together in these venues to compete, spectate or place a bet. Tracing the history of sport in modern Ireland, the authors explain the impact of railways, the military, landed wealth, local tradesmen and national politics on the development of the built sporting landscape. The story of Ireland's sporting heritage is told through the history of sites ranging from the familiar to the less well known; from the fishing estate in Ballynahinch, County Galway, developed by the record-breaking cricketer Ranji, or the racecourse at Down Royal where a winning horse in 1690 went on to serve the Williamites in the Battle of the Boyne. From Grand Prix to lawn tennis, Places we Play delves into all aspects of Ireland's sporting sites. The site of the first All-Ireland hurling final in Offaly is now home to a supermarket while the site in Belfast's Ormeau Park where North of Ireland Cricket Club played is now a housing estate. The heritage of Ireland is usually thought of in terms of landscape, big houses, battlefields, language and civic buildings. However, while Ireland is often termed 'sports mad', there has been no recording or celebration of the heritage built around Ireland's sporting activities. This book explores how Ireland developed a sporting infrastructure, celebrates significant sites across the country, and highlights why such spaces are important to the history of Ireland. From the Aviva stadium to the smallest GAA club, from exclusive golf clubs to derelict sites of former sporting glory, Ireland is dotted with sporting spaces. With the emergence of teams and seasons, sports clubs had to think about where they would play. Grounds and tracks were purchased, stands erected and facilities built. These places form a central part of Ireland's heritage with their richness of history, architecture and sporting endeavour.


One of the last Nobel Prizes for Medicine and Physiology of this century was awarded to Gunther Blobel for his pioneering work on the mechanisms of secretion in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. This prize for molecular cell biology followed that awarded to George Palade, Christian DeDuve and Albert Claude in 1974 and demonstrated that the control of the subcellular localization of proteins is achieved by molecular machines that read 'addresses' that are embedded in the primary sequence of a protein. In the case of secretory proteins, these addresses are known as signal sequences. Sorting of proteins from their site of synthesis to their final destination is now known to be a key cellular process, which, if impaired, can give rise to lethal defects. Gunther Blobel and his group established an experimental approach that is now used by numerous researchers to study secretory pathways. The analysis of the secretory pathway by George Palade and his collaborators in the 1960s took advantage of advanced ultrastructural analysis and cell-fractionation procedures. Subsequently, in the 1970s, a number of investigators recognized that further studies at the molecular level were required. For this purpose, Gunther Blobel, together with Bernhard Dobberstein, set up an assay that was one of the first to reconstitute in vitro the translocation of a nascent polypeptide chain across vesicles derived from the rough endoplasmic reticulum. This in vitro assay led the researchers to establish the signal-peptide hypothesis, which was first proposed by David Sabatini and Gunther Blobel in 1971. The complete characterization of the translocation machinery itself, which is composed of ribonucleoprotein complexes and integral membrane proteins, was achieved after much effort and imaginative studies performed by several research groups from different countries. The in vitro assay not only was used by numerous investigators in the field but it also provided the conceptual framework necessary for unravelling of the molecular machinery involved in the different steps of the intracellular transport of proteins. At the beginning of the 1980s, James Rothman and his colleagues developed another type of in vitro assay, which was based upon the use of fractions derived from different membrane compartments and cytosolic extracts. The goal of these researchers was to reconstitute the specific fusion between a donor membrane and an acceptor membrane. In less than one decade, the assay was refined to the point where it became a very powerful tool for biochemical characterization of cellular machines that move proteins from one organelle to another. Membrane-fusion assays allow the identification not only of protein complexes but also of the energy requirements of the fusion events. Several groups who focus on the endocytic pathway have subsequently developed similar assays. While the biochemical experiments were in progress, Randy Scheckman and his colleagues launched a genetic approach to study secretory pathways, using yeast as a model system. Because of the high degree of conservation of this essential cellular function, gene product(s) identified in yeast have mammalian homologues that were characterised simultaneously by the biochemical approaches described above. Together, these strategies gave rise to a molecular description of the minimal protein machinery necessary for the numerous transport pathways in eukaryotic cells. As with all experimental methods designed by biologists, however, even the powerful reconstitution and genetic approaches had their limitations. Fortunately, another original strategy emerged, in which cells could be permeabilized by physical trauma or chemical treatments so that small holes appeared in the plasma membrane. This procedure empties cells of their cytoplasmic components but maintains their structural organization and allows investigators to reintroduce well-defined products such as activator(s) or inhibitor(s). The permeabilized-cell strategy has opened new possibilities for future studies, because one now has biochemical access to information contained in the structural organisation of cells - information that is lost in cell-extract and genetics-based studies. Most investigators in the field had faith in the specificity of the biochemical reactions of the transport processes and were less interested in the efficiency of the process in vivo. The importance of this lapse of attention to detail became evident when the reaction rates in the in vitro systems were compared with those during normal physiological membrane transport in vivo. Consequently, it was only after the discovery of molecular motors that reaction rates were studied seriously and the role of motor proteins was considered in experiments designed by groups interested in molecular analysis of membrane trafficking. However, one should note the interest of those who developed in vitro assays for membrane transport in studies of the roles of molecular motors in movement of intracellular cargo along microtubules or microfilaments. The myriad of molecular motors that move the various molecular cargos along cellular tracks in opposite directions is bewildering. Another challenge for the future, well illustrated by studies that take advantage of recombinant DNA technology, will be to describe the spatial and temporal plasticity of the protein that make up machines that participate in vesicular trafficking. In this respect, the use of chimeric proteins tagged with the green fluorescent protein(s) is already very significant but still only in its infancy. The systematic use of videomicroscopy recording, which allows subsequent quantitative and multiparametric analysis at the single-cell or multicellular level, has allowed development of new perspectives on membrane trafficking. Our knowledge of the numerous proteins capable of forming molecular machines will be facilitated by the complete description of the genomes of model organisms - whether or not we study them in a unicellular or a multicellular context. Looking ahead, more research should be done on membrane trafficking and its regulation by the cytoskeleton in different cell types. Although numerous studies have already been performed on polarized cells, such as epithelial cells and neurons, many differentiated cell types have not been investigated at all. Moreover studies of cell differentiation during development or during physiopathological processes are still scarce and, here too, more research is needed to characterise the molecular features of trafficking during these processes. The pioneering work by numerous investigators over the past thirty years indeed provides a solid basis for future investigation in this research area. Certainly, these illuminating studies have opened new avenues and point to exciting challenges for the next generation of molecular cell biologists, who will experience even more spectacular discoveries.


The combined hydatid disease was surgically treated in 101 patients. Among them three groups were distinguished: hydatid disease of the right lung and liver (n=51); bilateral lung and liver affection (n=33); hydatid disease of the left lung and liver (n=17). The method of choice in treatment of the left lung and liver diaphragmatic surface hydatid disease is the one-stage closed echinococcectomy by Delbe. Two- or three-stage operation is indicated in cases of bilateral echinococcosis. The surgical excision should be started from the mostly affected organ or from the site were complications are mostly expected. Patients with the combined hydatid disease of the left lung and liver are to experience the two-stage echinococcectomy. Operations should be performed in the range from 2 to 4 months. The overall lethality of the analyzed cohort was 10,2%.


Introduction: To correlate dose from ionizing radiation with cell kill probability, viability and clonogenic assays are often performed following in vitro irradiation of cells in 96-well culture plates. The objective of this work was to examine how dose to adherent cells in 96-well culture plates depended on the conditions in which the irradiations were performed. The aim was to provide support for standardized irradiation setup conditions so that in vitro cell assays can be more precisely compared. Materials and Methods: 96-well culture plates were exposed to a 6 MV photon beam from a linear accelerator. Dose measurements were performed by securing a piece of EBT3 Gafchromic film to the underside of each plate. Each well contained either 200 μl of tap water or canine osteosarcoma cells (OSCA 40) in 200 μl of media. Exposures were performed to assess the dependence of dose to the depth of measurement, the thickness of the backscatter material, the field size, and the position of a plate within the treatment field. Results: Culture plate doses demonstrated a strong dependence on backscatter material thickness and field size. Providing less than 0.5 cm of water equivalent backscatter material resulted in a mean measured underdose of more than 3% for a 30 × 30 cm2 field. Decreasing the field size to 13 × 9 cm2 yielded a mean measured dose within 0.5% of the prescribed dose. At the central-axis depth where maximum dose occurs (dmax = 1.5 cm), irradiation of four plates simultaneously resulted in a mean measured dose 3.5% higher than measurements of single plates placed in the center of the field. Conclusions: Inadequate consideration of in vitro irradiation setup conditions is likely to result in discrepancies between prescribed and delivered doses. Such discrepancies can be minimized by providing 5 cm of backscatter material and 10 cm of buildup material; and by exposing one centrally located plate at a time.


Immigration and House Prices in the UK This article studies the effect of immigration on house prices in the UK. It finds that immigration has a negative effect on house prices and presents evidence that this negative effect is due to the mobility response of the native population. Natives respond to immigration by moving to different areas and those who leave are at the top of the wage distribution. This generates a negative income effect on housing demand and pushes down house prices. The negative effect of immigration on house prices is driven by local areas where immigrants have lower education. JEL Classification: J61, R21


James Woodward develops in his book Making Things Happen (2003) an account of causation and explanation based on the concept of intervention. An intervention, in turn, parallels the concept of experimentation—widely used in the sciences—and offers an intuitive grasp of the more complex notions of causation and explanation, so Woodward's theory could provide a methodologically useful basis for scientific practice involving causation. In this essay I argue that both Woodward's theory of causation and of explanation suffer from important metaphysical problems as well as crucial practical difficulties, and they are ultimately unsuccessful. Metaphysical problems of his theory of causation derive from the fact that an intervention is essentially a counterfactual notion, but Woodward fails to determine with precision what are the truth conditions for counterfactuals. In addition, his theory lacks a clear notion possibility to make sense of those counterfactuals. The practical aspect of his theory of causation as a methodology for science also suffers from serious problems, since in order know a specific causal claim it is required to have a vast background knowledge about other causal relations, demanding too high epistemic standards. Finally I argue that Woodward's theory of explanation, which comprehends both causal and non-causal explanations, faces a decisive counterexample


In explainable artificial intelligence, there is increasing interest in understanding the behaviour of autonomous agents to build trust and validate performance. Modern agent architectures, such as those trained by deep reinforcement learning, are currently so lacking in interpretable structure as to effectively be black boxes, but insights may still be gained from an external, behaviourist perspective. Inspired by conceptual spaces theory, we suggest that a versatile first step towards general understanding is to discretise the state space into convex regions, jointly capturing similarities over the agent's action, value function and temporal dynamics within a dataset of observations. We create such a representation using a novel variant of the CART decision tree algorithm, and demonstrate how it facilitates practical understanding of black box agents through prediction, visualisation and rule-based explanation.


In order to counteract the soil sudden movements as a result of seismic actions, a disconnection between the primary components of a specific structure was needed, so that the efforts can not be transmitted on vertical direction. Thus occurred the need for isolation systems that can be attached to the base of structure, between foundation and superstructure. The isolation systems based on dry friction have been successfully used worldwide. At the beginning, simple isolation systems with sliding on a single spherical surface were used and later double systems have been designed which have two main sliding surfaces. In this paper it is shown the working principle of double isolation systems based on dry friction depending on the main variables involved and the linear forcedisplacement diagrams obtained from the case studies using different values.


Pulmonary valve movement and the related acoustic phenomena were investigated using high speed strip-chart echoand phonocardiographic recording. The opening of the pulmonary valve had no definite relationship to the acoustic phenomena, whereas the pulmonary ejection sound was closely related in time to the early systolic maximal opening of the valve. The concomitant pulmonary ejection systolic murmur faded away by the time of the mid-systolic semi-closure of the valve, where the tiny extrasound occurred in a half of cases. The pulmonary component of the second heart sound occurred after the valve closure, and the time lag maximally reached up to 50 msec. Pulmonary hypertension tended to minimize this delay, giving the so-called single loud second heart sound. Graham Steell murmur started with the pulmonary component of the second heart sound and reached up to the isometric contaction phase beyond the first heart sound.


Devi Novita Swary. 1410130048. A Study of Students' problems in Learning English
Speaking at The Second Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Talaga.
Speaking is the important one from the four skills. As Ur (1991: 120) states that from
all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) speaking seems intuitively the
most important: people who know a language are referred to as "speaker" of that language, as
if speaking included all other kinds of knowing. But however there are so many problems on
it faced by some students. So the research was interested to know and investigated the
students" problems in learning English speaking and also find some ways to solve it. This
research take place at SMP Negeri 1 Talaga, the samples are consist of 26 students and it was
conducted on April 10th 2014 until May 25th 2014. To collecting the data, the researcher used
depth observation, depth interview and documentation. Credibility, transferability,
dependability and conformability was used as the validity of the research. Then the researcher
used data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification in technique of
analysis data.
According to the depth obseravation, the researcher found that the ability of the
students of SMP Negeri 1 Talaga was in low level. Most of the students cannot be able to
speak by using English, although in very simple phrase or sentences. There are only a few
students who have good skill in English especially in English speaking. The researcher
concludes that the students have problems in tems of learning English speaking.
To know the students" problems in learning English speaking, the researcher used
depth observation and also interview. Low of vocabulary mastering, limited of grammar
knowledge and pronunciation, shyness, nervousness, fear of making mistakes, lack of
confidence, limited of practice, minimum opportunities, environment factor, mother tongue
used dominantly, low of motivation are the kinds of students" problems in learning English
speaking.
There are some ways to solve the problems in learning English speaking, both from
the students" and the teachers" sides. More practice, increase the vocabulary mastery, increase
the motivation, use the interesting strategy, give opportunities to all students, keep to speak
English, jouin the extra class of English are the ways to solve the kinds of problems in
learning English speaking.
In learning English speaking, every student has their own problems on it either from
the students themselves or from the others factors. In this research, the researcher found at
least 12 problems in learning speaking and some ways to solve that problems which have to
be known or even applied both by students and teachers.
Key Terms: Students"s Problems, Learning English speaking


ABSTRACT A 2016 review of literature about automation, algorithms and politics identified China as the foremost area in which further research was needed because of the size of its population, the potential for Chinese algorithmic manipulation in the politics of other countries, and the frequency of exportation of Chinese software and hardware. This paper contributes to the small body of knowledge on the first point (domestic automation and opinion manipulation) and presents the first piece of research into the second (international automation and opinion manipulation). Findings are based on an analysis of 1.5 million comments on official political information posts on Weibo and 1.1 million posts using hashtags associated with China and Chinese politics on Twitter. In line with previous research, little evidence of automation was found on Weibo. In contrast, a large amount of automation was found on Twitter. However, contrary to expectations and previous news reports, no evidence was found of pro-Chinese-state automation on Twitter. Automation on Twitter was associated with anti-Chinese-state perspectives and published in simplified Mandarin, presumably aimed at diasporic Chinese and mainland users who 'jump the wall' to access blocked platforms. These users come to Twitter seeking more diverse information and an online public sphere but instead they find an information environment in which a small number of anti-Chinese-state voices are attempting to use automation to dominate discourse. Our understanding of public conversation on Twitter in Mandarin is extremely limited and, thus, this paper advances the understanding of political communication on social media.


There is an increasing interest in free space optics (FSO) communication systems among data service providers. The cost of installing a new fiber network in an urban environment is often very expensive, and a less expensive method is needed. A high-speed data link, for example, can be designed using either optical or millimeter-wave (MMW) point-to-point communication systems. The optical system is often the preferred method because of its simplicity and security. The data rate for short distance FSO systems in an ideal condition can exceed one Gbit/sec. However, both MMW and optical links are susceptible to adverse weather conditions. The traditional method to estimate the effects of an atmospheric channel is to calculate the attenuation characteristics based on the size distribution and concentration of particles along the signal path length. From the signal attenuation rate, the bit-error rate is usually estimated. This approach, however, does not consider the propagation characteristics of modulated signals. We give a numerical method to calculate the waveform of an intensity modulated optical signal through a layer of fog and cloud. Our approach takes into account the multiple scattering effects and reveals a substantial amount of waveform distortion.


The presence of crack-like defects can cause an uneven distribution of the electric current density in a cracked conductor. To investigate the perturbation of the magnetic field resulting from the disturbed electric current, computational modeling of the magnetostatics is attempted on an infinite conductive plate, which contains an elliptic hole and is subjected to uniform current flow at infinity. Both 2-D and 3-D analyses are considered in this study. The 2-D analysis requires certain crucial assumptions and the governing Maxwell's equations are solved analytically in elliptic coordinates. The 3-D numerical computation is based on superposition of the elementary solution, whose derivation utilizes the Biot-Savart law. To improve the efficiency of the 3-D calculation, an adaptive mesh refinement algorithm is implemented in the numerical discretization. Finally, through a comparative study, the validity of the introduced simplifications in the 2-D analysis is benchmarked with the 3-D computational results. The present study shows that the 2-D solution predicts the upper bound for the out-of-plane component of the magnetic field perturbed by the elliptical hole, whose semi-major axis does not exceed ten times the thickness of the plate.


In this work a bench scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier was built to work with an aerosol sampling and measuring system in order to study char fragmentation phenomenon during biomass gasification process. Both barbeque char and wood pellets were gasified in CO2 (20 vol.%) -N2 mixture and steam (30 vol.%)-N2 mixture, respectively. An aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) was used to measure fragmented char particles during the whole gasification process. For the wood pellet gasification case, major fragmentation was observed during the devolatilization stage, which should be attributed to the combined effect of primary fragmentation and attrition. The aerodynamic diameter of those elutriable particles which can be measured by the current system was in the range of 0.5-8 µm. During the char gasification stage, a distinct mode of char fragments was produced in the size range of 1-7 µm in either case. The total mass concentration of elutriable particles gradually increased when gasification of char started, and then decreased while the reaction approached completion.


Today's distributed and high-performance applications require high computational power and high communication performance. Recently, the computational power of commodity PCs has doubled about every 18 months. At the same time, network interconnects that provide very low latency and very high bandwidth are also emerging. This is a promising trend in building high-performance computing environments by clustering - combining the computational power of commodity PCs with the communication performance of high-speed network interconnects. There are several network interconnects that provide low latency and high bandwidth. Traditionally, researchers have used simple microbenchmarks, such as latency and bandwidth tests, to characterize a network interconnects communication performance. Later, they proposed more sophisticated models such as LogP. However, these tests and models focus on general parallel computing systems and do not address many features present in these emerging commercial interconnects. Another way to evaluate different network interconnects is to use real-world applications. However, real applications usually run on top of a middleware layer such as the message passing interface (MPI). Our results show that to gain more insight into the performance characteristics of these interconnects, it is important to go beyond simple tests such as those for latency and bandwidth. In future, we plan to expand our microbenchmark suite to include more tests and more interconnects.


A comprehensive theory of gravitational quantum states of ultracold neutrons in a rough waveguide is presented. The theory covers recent experiments in which the ultracold neutrons were beamed between a mirror and a rough scatterer and absorber. The results are in very good agreement with experimental data. The analysis is based on a recently developed theory of quantum transport in waveguides with rough absorbing and scattering walls. The calculation is done using two methods: an exact transport equation and a simplified model of biased scattering-driven diffusion of neutrons between quantum states. Both sets of results are in excellent agreement with each other. The exit neutron count is sensitive to the amplitude and the correlation radius (lateral size) of surface inhomogeneities and to the overall time of flight (length of the waveguide). The results indicate that it is possible to choose the waveguide parameters in such a way so to observe the quantum size effect in neutron count\char22{}the quantum steps that correspond to individual quantum states\char22{}even in a weak roughness regime. Away from the obvious limiting cases, the results are not very sensitive to the ratio of the particle energy to the absorption threshold. The main unresolved issue, which is related to a complexity of required calculations for a ``real'' experimental cell, is the lack of accurate information on the occupation numbers of neutrons entering the waveguide. Our analysis indicates that the initial occupancies of all gravitational states are expected to be the same except for the smallest values of the waveguide width.


Todays online social networks (OSNs) allow a user to share his photos with others and tag the co-owners, i.e., friends who also appear in the co-owned photos. However, it is not uncommon that conflicts may arise among the co-owners because of their different privacy concerns. OSNs, unfortunately, offer only limited access control support where the publisher of the shared content is the sole decision maker to restrict access. There is thus an urgent need to develop mechanisms for multiple owners of the shared content to collaboratively determine the access rights of other users, as well as to resolve the conflicts among co-owners with different requirements. Rather than competing with each other and just wanting ones own decision to be executed, OSN users may be affected their peers concerns and adjust their decisions accordingly. To incorporate such peer effects in the strategy, we formulate a model to simulate an emotional mediation among multiple co-owners. Our mechanism, called CAPE, considers the intensity with which the co-owners are willing to pick up a choice (e.g. to release a photo to the public) and the extent to which they want their decisions to be affected by their peers actions. Moreover, CAPE automatically yields the final actions for the co-owners as the mediation reaches equilibrium. It frees the co-owners from the mediation process after the initial setting, and meanwhile, offers a way to achieve more agreements among themselves.


The evolution of ozone (O3) and 13 volatile or- ganic compounds (VOCs) in the boundary layer of Mexico City was investigated during 2000-2004 to improve our un- derstanding of the complex interactions between those trace gases and meteorological variables, and their influence on the air quality of a polluted megacity. A tethered balloon, fitted with electrochemical and meteorological sondes, was used to obtain detailed vertical profiles of O 3 and meteorological parameters up to 1000 m above ground during part of the di- urnal cycle (02:00-18:00 h). VOCs samples were collected up to 200 m by pumping air to canisters with a Teflon tube attached to the tether line. Overall, features of these profiles were found to be consistent with the formation of an upper residual layer during nighttime carrying over a fraction of the O3 from the previous day that contributes to the background concentration in surrounding regions. At the same time the release of heat stored in the urban surface forms a shallow unstable layer close to the ground, where the nocturnal emis- sions are trapped. After sunrise an O3 balance is determined by photochemical production, entrainment from the upper residual layer and destruction by titration with nitric oxide, delaying the ground-level O3 rise by 2 h. The subsequent evolution of the conductive boundary layer and vertical dis- tribution of pollutants are discussed in terms of the energy balance, the presence of turbulence and the atmospheric sta- bility.


Temporary low water levels can have a major impact on the loading capacity of inland ships, and as a consequence on the transport capacity of the overall waterborne supply chain. Insight in the capacity reducing effect of temporarily lowered water levels is important for the design and operation of robust transport chains on the one hand, and for the optimisation of fairway maintenance and long-term infrastructure development on the other. Knowledge on the effects of low water is clearly available at the level of individual ship owners, who adapt their transport operations to changing environmental circumstances, but less accessible at an aggregated level to assess the effects on the overall transport capacity of an inland waterway network. Based on a range of field observations and information collected from individual ships, this article introduces a general model to define the effect of low water constraints on the deadweight capacity and payload of inland ships, for which only the type, length, and beam of the vessel serve as input.


Background: People with HIV experience a range of health-related challenges that rehabilitation services are well-positioned to address. The purpose of this study was to explore professional knowledge and views about HIV rehabilitation among HIV specialists and rehabilitation professionals in Canada. Methods and Findings: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional postal survey with a random sample of rehabilitation professionals (physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and physiatrists) (N = 1058) and the known population of HIV specialists (physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, psychologists, and dietitians) in Canada (N = 214). Two-thirds (67%) of rehabilitation professionals disagreed that rehabilitation professionals possess adequate knowledge and skills to assess and treat people living with HIV. The majority of all respondent groups felt that rehabilitation professionals who work with people living with HIV require specialized HIV training. Approximately one-third (32%) of rehabilitation professionals who had served people living with HIV stated they received some HIV training as part of their professional degree. Conclusions: This was the first national survey to explore HIV specialist and rehabilitation professionals' knowledge and views about HIV rehabilitation. Findings indicate the need for interprofessional education, training, and mentorship of health professionals to address the gap between the needs of people living with HIV and rehabilitation services provision.


The influence of emotional stress was studied on different links of the structure-functional system providing perception of a stimulus and choice of an adequate to signals voluntary motor reaction. Presentation of emotionally meaningful words was shown to change significantly and nonequivalently the process of stimulus recognition and the value of reaction time. The changes were more brief in persons with inborn emotional lability and significantly longer in those after the brain injury. It was shown that emotional factors might significantly change (delay) the process of decision making.


Previous molecular genetic analyses identified a region of deletion at 13q21 in a variety of human cancers, suggesting the existence of a tumor suppressor gene(s) at this locus. In our earlier study on prostate cancer, the region of deletion was confined to a 3.1 cM interval between D13S152 and D13S162. At present, however, no known gene located in this interval has been firmly implicated in cancer, and the region remains too large for gene identification. To fine‐map the area of interest, we established a contig of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones, narrowed the region of deletion by loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and homozygosity‐mapping‐of‐deletion (HOMOD) analyses in different types of cancers, and tested a candidate gene from the region for mutation and alteration of expression in prostate cancers. The contig consisted of 75 overlapping BAC clones. In addition to the generation of 47 new sequence‐tagged‐site (STS) markers from the ends of BAC inserts, 76 known STS and expressed sequence tag markers were mapped to the contig (25 kb per marker on average). The minimal region of deletion was further defined to be about 700 kb between markers D13S791 and D13S166 by LOH analysis of 42 cases of prostate cancer, and by HOMOD analysis of eight prostate cancer cell lines/xenografts and 49 cell lines from cancers of the breast, ovary, endometrium, and cervix, using 18 microsatellite markers encompassing the deletion region. A gene that is homologous to the WT1 tumor suppressor gene, AP‐2rep (KLF12), was mapped in this region and was analyzed for its expression and genetic mutation. In addition to low levels of expression in both normal and neoplastic cells of the prostate, this gene did not have any mutations in a group of aggressive prostate cancers and cell lines/xenografts, as assessed by the methods of polymerase chain reaction‐single strand conformational polymorphism analysis and direct sequencing. These studies suggest that a 700 kb interval at 13q21 harbors a tumor suppressor gene(s) that seems to be involved in multiple types of cancer, and that the AP‐2rep gene is unlikely to be an important tumor suppressor gene in prostate cancer. The BAC contig and high‐resolution physical map of the defined region of deletion should facilitate the cloning of a tumor suppressor gene(s) at 13q21. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


One of Europe's old nations steeped in history, Ukraine is today an undisputed independent state. It is a democracy and has transformed into a market economy with predominant private ownership. Ukraine's postcommunist transition has been one of the most protracted and socially costly, but it has taken the country to a desirable destination. * Aslund's vivid account of Ukraine's journey begins with a brief background, where he discusses the implications of Ukraine's history, the awakening of society because of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, the early democratization, and the impact of the ill-fated Soviet economic reforms. He then turns to the reign of President Leonid Kravchuk from 1991 to 1994, the only salient achievement of which was nation-building, while the economy collapsed in the midst of hyperinflation. The first two years of Leonid Kuchma's presidency, from 1994 to 1996, were characterized by substantial achievements, notably financial stabilization and mass privatization. The period 1996-99 was a miserable period of policy stagnation, rent seeking, and continued economic decline. In 2000 hope returned to Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko became prime minister and launched vigorous reforms to cleanse the economy from corruption, and economic growth returned. The ensuing period, 2001-04, amounted to a competitive oligarchy. It was quite pluralist, although repression increased. Economic growth was high. * The year 2004 witnessed the most joyful period in Ukraine, the Orange Revolution, which represented Ukraine's democratic breakthrough, with Yushchenko as its hero. The postrevolution period, however, has been characterized by great domestic political instability; a renewed, explicit Russian threat to Ukraine's sovereignty; and a severe financial crisis. The answers to these challenges lie in how soon the European Union fully recognizes Ukraine's long-expressed identity as a European state, how swiftly Ukraine improves its malfunctioning constitutional order, and how promptly it addresses corruption.


Macro-economic forecasts typically involve both a model component, which is replicable, as well as intuition, which is non-replicable. Intuition is expert knowledge possessed by a forecaster. If forecast updates are progressive, forecast updates should become more accurate, on average, as the actual value is approached. Otherwise, forecast updates would be neutral. The paper proposes a methodology to test whether forecast updates are progressive and whether econometric models are useful in updating forecasts. The data set for the empirical analysis are for Taiwan, where we have three decades of quarterly data available of forecasts and updates of the inflation rate and real GDP growth rate. The actual series for both the inflation rate and the real GDP growth rate are always released by the government one quarter after the release of the revised forecast, and the actual values are not revised after they have been released. Our empirical results suggest that the forecast updates for Taiwan are progressive, and can be explained predominantly by intuition. Additionally, the one-, twoand three-quarter forecast errors are predictable using publicly available information for both the inflation rate and real GDP growth rate, which suggests that the forecasts can be improved.


As Southeast Asia entered the twenty-first century, the procedures and practices associated with democracy had become important social facts in many parts of the region. By the 1990s, competitive elections in Thailand and in the Philippines had (re)emerged as the primary mechanism for the assumption of state office. By the turn of the century, Indonesia, the region's most populous country, had likewise experienced two peaceful transfers of presidential office, as well as the country's freest and fairest election since 1955. Meanwhile, opposition parties made strong showings in federal elections in Malaysia, seizing control over state assemblies and increasing their share of seats in the national legislature. The papers presented (extracts of which are reproduced in this Special Report) and the discussions that took place at the LSE IDEAS Southeast Asia International Affairs workshop held in February this year, captured a vibrant phenomenon in the democratic process in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand which makes full use of the offerings of ICT (information and communication technology) while also employing the more traditional means of garnering political support.


The denial of the humanness of certain individuals or groups has long been a source of violent conflicts, atrocities, and exploitation. It was only recently, however, that the more subtle and implicit forms of dehumanisation attracted critical attention. In certain social contexts, any individual can be subjected to treatment that negates his or her human qualities.The medical encounter can be identified as a situation in which the individual often feels deprived of human qualities. Medical dehumanisation is often alluded to in Sylvia Plath's late poems, but it is explicitly foregrounded in "Tulips" and "The Surgeon at 2a.m." While the first poem depicts the process of dehumanisation from the perspective of the patient complicit in her objectification, the second conveys the dehumanising attitudes of the medical practitioner. Through the close reading of these poems, this paper argues that medical dehumanisation turns individuals, not into machines which can never completely lose their functionality, but into functionless, inert matter.


A discussion of prevailing mass transit business models in Australia and further afield - and a look at future prospects for evolution and refinement. Across Australia, each capital city has a unique mass transit business model in place. These models are often the result of slow evolution from historic precedent, or sometimes the consequence of sharp changes in direction and policy. A progressive view of the mass transit business would take in lessons from high-performing exemplars overseas. In the United States, certain transit agencies perform strongly on cost recovery and planning, while also being subject to rigorous requirements for open reporting and accountability. The privatised UK market offers an interesting insight into future prospects for franchising arrangements in Australian markets. In East Asia, a property-centric rail business model produces outstanding outcomes in operator profitability, strategic license, and land-use integration. This paper engages observationally with the business strategies, strategic approaches, and commercial performance of selected urban rail industry frameworks. Growth-oriented, commercially responsive business postures seem to offer an opportunity for positive change in the Australian industry.


The Swiss government has signed the Paris Climate Agreement and various measures need to be implemented in order to reach the target of a 50 % reduction in CO2 emissions in Switzerland by 2030 compared with the value for 1990. Considering the fact that the production of cement in Switzerland accounts around 2.5 million tonnes for CO2 emissions of which corresponds to roughly 7 % of the country's total CO2 emissions, the following article examines how this amount could be put to meaningful use in order to create a new value-added chain through CO2 methanation, and thus reduce the consumption and import of fossil fuels in Switzerland. With power-to-gas technology, this CO2, along with regenerative hydrogen from photovoltaics, can be converted into methane, which can then be fed into the existing natural-gas grid. This economic case study shows a cost prediction for conversion of all the CO2 from the cement industry into methane by using the technologies available today in order to replacing fossil methane imports.


This paper reports one aspect of a research program devoted to the topic of production control in multi-story building construction. Preplanning using the line of balance technique attempts to solve planning problems by making production process clearer and simpler. A preplanning method is presented which needs little detailed information about productivities and work volumes and may be rapidly produced. The plan brings an overall view of the project by grouping the main activities that are highly interdependent. The concept on the best rhythm for each group of activities focus on the sequencie of work, continuity of labor team working and completeness rather than on pure schedule goals. Many characteristics of the method support lean construction concepts, such as waste elimination, variances minimization, flexible planning and scheduling sequencing. Using line of balance concepts also suggests some control tools which are being experimented on aplication cases and are briefly described.


The structure and principle of silicon micro-machined gyroscope used for rotating carrier is introduced. The dynamic equations of axially moving are derived by analyzing three-axis moving of MEMS three-axis simulator. The result of simulation shows three moving locus of the head of rolling airframe missile, and three output signals from silicon micro-machined gyroscope which fix on inner plate of three-axis simulator, some rules of three output signals of three moving locus are gained. The signal of the gyroscope couples the frequency of the rotating carrier which makes the coning motion, so the frequency of the coning motion is contained when detecting the frequency of the rotating carrier using the signal of the gyroscope. By analyzing the output signals using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm, subtracting the frequency of the rotating carrier, and the relative error is only 1.25% by detecting the self-rotating frequency of the rotating carrier.


In the present paper an approach is presented to the speed control of permanent magnet synchronous motors without mechanical transducers. The rotor position, which is an essential component of any vector control scheme, is calculated through the instantaneous stator flux position and an estimated value of the load angle. A closed-loop state observer is implemented to compute the speed feedback signal. Experimental results on a laboratory tested motor drive are presented to validate the proposed procedure. >


We analyse modelling techniques for the large-scale structure formed in scalartensor theories of constant Brans-Dicke parameter which match the concordance model background expansion history and produce a chameleon suppression of the gravitational modification in high-density regions. Thereby, we use a mass and environment dependent chameleon spherical collapse model, the Sheth-Tormen halo mass function and linear halo bias, the Navarro-Frenk-White halo density profile, and the halo model. Furthermore, using the spherical collapse model, we extrapolate a chameleon mass-concentration scaling relation from a ΛCDM prescription calibrated to N -body simulations. We also provide constraints on the model parameters to ensure viability on local scales. We test our description of the halo mass function and nonlinear matter power spectrum against the respective observables extracted from large-volume and high-resolution N -body simulations in the limiting case of f(R) gravity, corresponding to a vanishing Brans-Dicke parameter. We find good agreement between the two; the halo model provides a good qualitative description of the shape of the relative enhancement of the f(R) matter power spectrum with respect to ΛCDM caused by the extra attractive gravitational force but fails to recover the correct amplitude. Introducing an effective linear power spectrum in the computation of the two-halo term to account for an underestimation of the chameleon suppression at intermediate scales in our approach, we accurately reproduce the measurements from the N -body simulations. ar X iv :1 31 2. 12 92 v1 [ as tr oph .C O ] 4 D ec 2 01 3


ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study is to analyse the factors associated with a negative childbirth experience from the perspective of the women who gave birth vaginally. Background: A negative birth experience can pose a risk for both the maternal/newborn health and the health of the community by disturbing the physical and spiritual health of the woman/family. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with 11 mothers who gave birth vaginally assisted by midwives in a state hospital. The data were collected using in-depth interviews and analysed using the thematic analysis technique. Results: The factors causing the women to have negative birth perceptions were analysed under four main themes: challenges/difficulties encountered, the inadequate communication of health professionals, embarrassment/privacy and inadequate hospital facilities. The mothers indicated that they had experienced their births negatively due to personal reasons such as the inability to cope with labour pain, inability to push, hospital policies such as interventions at birth and hunger. In addition, some of the participants stated that they had difficulty and felt embarrassed during vaginal examinations. Conclusion: The sociocultural characteristics of mothers, hospital facilities and rules, medical and traditional practices at birth, inadequate empathic communication of health professionals and reproductive health policies can lead to negative childbirth experiences.


Introduction: Texting has become more prevalent in general practice as a tool to communicate with patients. The ICGP issued guidelines on the use of texting in general practice in 2007, however, the Data Protection Commission Office, suggested that texts should be limited to appointment reminders and general announcements e.g. flu vaccines. The main objectives of this study were to: assess extent of use and purpose of texting by General Practitioners (GPs) to communicate with patients and to determine the attitudes of GPs and patients in regards to the perceived risks and benefits of texting in general practice. Methods: A mixed methods study based in Cork City and County from November 2015 to September 2016 that involved: GP phone surveys (n=389) to determine the number of GPs that use texts to communicate with their patients; further GP phone surveys were carried out with 'texters' (n=25), and 'non-texters' (n=26); a patient satisfaction survey (n=78) was conducted in 3 practices and a focus group with GPs (n=6). Results: The total number of 'texters' included 38% (n=148) of all GPs contacted, however the majority were 'non-texters' at 62% (n=241). Time management was identified as the most important advantage of texting among 'texters' (80%) and non-texters (50%) and confidentiality was reported to be the biggest disadvantage among both groups at 32% and 69% respectively. The majority of 'texters' (76%) did not have a written policy about texting in their practice. 53% of 'non-texters' suggested that they would use texting if it was endorsed by the ICGP or their medical indemnifier. Most patients (99%) were happy to receive texts from their GP, fast test results were identified as the biggest advantage (32%) and 53% of patients did not identify any disadvantage to receiving texts from their GP. The main themes from the focus group included the risks and benefits of texting, the main risks were: incorrect phone numbers, confidentiality and consent issues. The benefits of texting included: communicating general practice information, time saving and the use of GP software to facilitate fast communication via texting. Discussion: Texting is a common method used by GPs to communicate with their patients. In a busy practice setting, texting can facilitate time management strategies for GPs and provide patients with fast test results. However, GPs need further support and advice if they are to communicate safely with patients through texting. Collaborative efforts are required from medical indemnifiers, the ICGP and the Data Protection Commission to provide clear guidelines for GPs to protect patient confidentiality. Limitations: The results from the GP surveys should be interpreted with caution due to the relatively small sample size, however the key findings from surveys with patients and GPs compared favourably with the main themes identified in the focus group with GPs. Suggestions for future research: National surveys with GPs and patients are required to determine the generalisability of the current findings. Additionally, focus groups with representatives from the ICGP, medical indemnity firms and the Data Protection Commission would provide a useful forum to establish safe communication guidelines with patients for GPs.


Introduction: The European Union Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) called its member countries to achieve a good ecological status for all inland and coastal water bodies by 2015 (EU, 2000). However, the River Zenne (Belgium) is far from this objective. Therefore, an interuniversity and multidisciplinary project "Towards a Good Ecological Status in the River Zenne (GESZ)" was launched to evaluate the effects of wastewater management plans on the river. In the framework of this project, different models have been developed and integrated using the Open Modelling Interface (OpenMI) (Gregersen et al., 2007). The hydrologic, physically-based, semi-distributed Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) (Arnold et al., 1998) is hereby used as one of the model components in the integrated modelling chain in order to model the upland catchment processes. The assessment of the uncertainty of this hydrologic model is an essential part for decision making, in order to design robust management strategies that take the predicted uncertainties into account. Hereby, it needs to be considered that the model uncertainty does not only stem from the parameter uncertainty, but also from the uncertainty on the input data (e.g, rainfall), the uncertainty on the calibration data (e.g., stream flows) and the uncertainty on the model structure. These sources of uncertainty have already been considered and treated in the SWAT model of the River Zenne (Leta et al., 2013). The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of considering the different sources of uncertainty on the model parameter distributions and model outputs. For the assessment processes, we applied the differential evolution adaptive metropolis that uses sampling from the past states and snooker update to generate candidate points in each individual chain, (DREAM(zs)) algorithm (Vrugt et al., 2009).


Background: Radiotherapy, as an adjuvant treatment, plays a well-known role in prevention of locoregional recurrence in breast cancer patients. This study aims to investigate the impact of radiotherapy in patients with N1 disease.Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed the characteristics and treatment outcomes of 316 patients with a biopsy proven diagnosis of breast carcinoma and 1-3 positive axillary lymph nodes. The patients received treatment between 1995 and 2014. The patients had a median follow-up of 60 (range: 6-182) months.Results: This study was conducted on 316 patients with a median age of 48 (range: 26-86) years. Among patients, 215 underwent modified radical mastectomy and 101 had breast-conserving surgery before adjuvant treatment. Indeed, 259 patients received radiotherapy (radiation group) and 57 did not (control group). There was locoregional recurrence in one control group patient and two patients in the radiation group. Multivariate analysis results indicated hormone receptor status as an independent prognostic factor for the 5-year disease-free survival rate. Estrogen and progesterone receptor negativity (HR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.02-3.19, P=0.043) also had a negative influence on the 5-year disease-free survival rate. However, radiotherapy had no significant effect on disease-free survival (P=0.446) and overall survival (P=0.058) rates.Conclusion: The results showed that adjuvant radiotherapy had no prognostic impacts on locoregional and distant disease control in breast cancer patients with N1 disease.


We have developed a simple, robust, and fully transversal approach for the a-la-carte fabrication of functional multimeric nanoparticles with potential biomedical applications, validated here by a set of diverse and unrelated polypeptides. The proposed concept is based on the controlled coordination between Zn2+ ions and His residues in His-tagged proteins. This approach results in a spontaneous and reproducible protein assembly as nanoscale oligomers that keep the original functionalities of the protein building blocks. The assembly of these materials is not linked to particular polypeptide features, and it is based on an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach. The resulting nanoparticles, with dimensions ranging between 10 and 15 nm, are regular in size, are architecturally stable, are fully functional, and serve as intermediates in a more complex assembly process, resulting in the formation of microscale protein materials. Since most of the recombinant proteins produced by biochemical and biotechnological industries and intended for biomedical research are His-tagged, the green biofabrication procedure proposed here can be straightforwardly applied to a huge spectrum of protein species for their conversion into their respective nanostructured formats.


Since the introduction of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in 1967, and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) 10 years later, several major clinical trials have been conducted comparing the two therapeutic strategies, such as the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation (BARI) (1) and the Coronary Angioplasty versus Bypass Revascularization Investigation (CABRI) (2) trials. The seven-year outcome data of the BARI trial (involving 1,829 patients) demonstrated that CABG carried a significant survival benefit over PTCA and this was particularly pronounced in diabetic patients (1). In addition, nearly 60% of the patients treated with PTCA had to undergo repeat revascularization procedures and half of them relied on CABG as a subsequent therapy (1). Nevertheless, the past two decades have witnessed a rapid progression of PTCA technology, in particular the development of intra-coronary stents. Drug-eluting stents (DES) especially, appear to have impacted significantly on the current daily practice of treating patients with coronary artery disease (3). These advances and their immediate influence on clinical practice provide a good example of how technology may shift the paradigm of medicine. Consequently, the mechanism and technique of revascularization needs to be redefined in the present era.


The effects of three treatments of fibrolytic enzymes (cellulase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum (CEL), xylanase from rumen micro-organisms (XYL) and a 1:1 mixture of CEL and XYL (MIX) on the in vitro fermentation of two samples of Pennisetum clandestinum (P1 and P2), two samples of Dichanthium aristatum (D1 and D2) and one sample of each Acacia decurrens and Acacia mangium (A1 and A2) were investigated. The first experiment compared the effects of two methods of applying the enzymes to forages, either at the time of incubation or 24 h before, on the in vitro gas production. In general, the 24 h pre-treatment resulted in higher values of gas production rate, and this application method was chosen for a second study investigating the effects of enzymes on chemical composition and in vitro fermentation of forages. The pre-treatment with CEL for 24 h reduced (p < 0.05) the content of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) of P1, P2, D1 and D2, and that of MIX reduced the NDF content of P1 and D1, but XYL had no effect on any forage. The CEL treatment increased (p < 0.05) total volatile fatty acid (VFA) production for all forages (ranging from 8.6% to 22.7%), but in general, no effects of MIX and XYL were observed. For both P. clandestinum samples, CEL treatment reduced (p < 0.05) the molar proportion of acetate and increased (p < 0.05) that of butyrate, but only subtle changes in VFA profile were observed for the rest of forages. Under the conditions of the present experiment, the treatment of tropical forages with CEL stimulated their in vitro ruminal fermentation, but XYL did not produce any positive effect. These results showed clearly that effectiveness of enzymes varied with the incubated forage and further study is warranted to investigate specific, optimal enzyme-substrate combinations.


Husserl famously argues that it is essential to perception to present the perceived object in perspectives. Hence, there is no̶and there cannot be̶perception without perspectival givenness. Yet, it seems that there are counterexamples to this essentialist claim, for we seem to be able to imagine beings that do not perceive in perspectives. Recently, there have been some accounts in the literature that critically discuss those counterexamples and assess to what extent they succeed in challenging Husserl's essentialist claim. In this paper I discuss three different answers to these counterexamples, all of them are found wanting. I offer a novel solution, taking into account some crucial findings of the contemporary debate about imagination and modality. I argue that this new solution is capable of fully vindicating Husserl's essentialist claim. Finally, I reconstruct Husserl's own way to treat such counterexamples, in order to showcase the notion of modality Husserlian phenomenology relies on. I argue for the hitherto widely underappreciated point that Husserl's transcendental phenomenology cannot appeal to strictly absolute modality but that the kind of modality in Husserlian phenomenology is conditional on the facticity that we have the transcendental structure we do in fact have.


The search for newer species-specific antigens from
prevalent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)
associated with active disease will add substantially to
improve the presently available diagnostic tools. We
studied the protein profiles of 13 sonicate antigens (S1–
S13) prepared from the prevalent strains. The humoral
immune response was also studied in 30 normal
and 30 tuberculosis (TB) patients. The sonicate antigens
S10 and S12 showed maximum differential protein
bands in low molecular mass region of 10–30 kDa on
SDS–PAGE. Our ELISA results showed significant
increase in Mtb-specific IgG antibodies in TB plasma
for H37Rv, followed by PPD, S1 and S10 antigens.
Immunoblot analysis of S10 antigen showed specific
recognition pattern at low molecular mass region by TB
plasma alone with 12–77% positivity of protein bands.
Thus the sonicate antigen S10 was found to be discriminatory
by ELISA and Western blot and hence a
good candidate for further purification of its individual
proteins to be evaluated for diagnosis.


Getting the message across: a critical consideration of selected political cartoons on AIDS in South Africa. ... to survive ... in this immensely stressful profession, the political cartoonist has to sit down each day with a blank sheet of paper, absorb every aspect of the day's news, produce anything up to six roughs by mid-morning and then create a cartoon which is topical, well drawn, features recognisable caricatures of leading celebrities, is in some indefinable but powerful sense 'telling', and also, if possible, is spiced (but not necessarily so) with some large grains of wry humour. But the most important thing is always the message--without that it fails completely ... (Bryant 1997: 61-2). This article analyses a selection of AIDS-related political cartoons by a range of South African cartoonists and considers how effectively they convey their messages. The term 'cartoon' connotes something inconsequential and lightweight, but this article is premised on the assumption that cartoons are a serious form of commentary, offering important oppositional viewpoints on social and political issues. Spitulnik (2002) describes them--together with certain other forms of discourse as 'alternative communicative spaces'. The phenomenon of AIDS has been politicised wherever it has occurred in the world, but this process has been especially marked in South Africa, where it seems virtually impossible to discuss the epidemic without referring to the political background which has affected its course so dramatically. It is beyond dispute that the policies of the post-apartheid government have exacerbated the mortality rate from AIDS in South Africa. (14) The period of South African history following the first democratic election in April 1994 has been marked by dramatic political and social change. The peak of the AIDS epidemic coincided with the changeover to democracy, (15) so that the disruption caused by AIDS complicated an already turbulent period of social transformation. In this process, the discourse of AIDS has become inseparably entangled with the discourse of politics. Cartoonists have highlighted the political dimensions of the epidemic in diverse and creative ways. The political cartoon falls into the genre of satire, traditionally a discourse of power and attack, criticising and mocking aspects of the discursive context in which it is rooted. Most AIDS-related satire in South Africa challenges those in positions of power, exposing the negative consequences of their decisions. The main targets are politicians, the authors and agents of government health policies. As Jerry Robinson observes, 'cartoonists are functioning subversives, waging war on the powerful, the exploiters, and the privileged. In the tradition of Tom Paine, (16) cartoons of political satire are the revolutionary essays of our time' (1981: 7). Satire usually incorporates the elements of criticism and ridicule, and entails what Bogel terms the 'satiric triangle' (1995: 52), formed by the satirist, reader and 'satiric object' (the target of the criticism), but some cartoons simply present a perspective on the status quo, and the cartoonist is saying little more than 'this is the way it is' (Press 1981: 75). The qualities of cartoons can be more fruitfully explored when applied to actual texts, so before further general discussion, particular examples will be analysed. In the first example of a cartoon that is more descriptive than satirical, one by Jeremy Nell ('Jerm'), (17) AIDS is presented as one of the threats to the young South African democracy. The cartoon shows the inside of a ballot box in which a vote is being deposited in the April 1994 elections. Lurking inside the box are a number of fierce-looking, germ-like creatures, apparently eager to devour the ballot. These creatures are labelled 'Poverty', 'Crime', 'Corruption', 'Racism' and 'AIDS'. (It should be noted that the cartoon was created at the end of 2010, so the cartoonist is taking a retrospective look at what he believes has undermined and continues to undermine 'Freedom' in South Africa over the previous sixteen years. …


Evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) is a key concept in evolutionary game theory. ESS provides an evolutionary stability criterion for biological, social and economical behaviors. In this paper, we develop a new approach to evaluate ESS in symmetric two player games with fuzzy payoffs. Particularly, every strategy is assigned a fuzzy membership that describes to what degree it is an ESS in presence of uncertainty. The fuzzy set of ESS characterize the nature of ESS. The proposed approach avoids loss of any information that happens by the defuzzification method in games and handles uncertainty of payoffs through all steps of finding an ESS. We use the satisfaction function to compare fuzzy payoffs, and adopts the fuzzy decision rule to obtain the membership function of the fuzzy set of ESS. The theorem shows the relation between fuzzy ESS and fuzzy Nash equilibrium. The numerical results illustrate the proposed method is an appropriate generalization of ESS to fuzzy payoff games.


Over the last few years, a change in one of the classical paradigms in Control Systems has been happening. Partially due to the increase of the computational power, there exists now the possibility of having intelligent sensors and actuators which may take actions in a distributed fashion. This way, there is no longer the need for a centralized controller or data fusion station, which is really well suited for Networked Control Systems. This led the way to the development of distributed control and sensor fusion frameworks and there is still a a great amount of research to be done in this field.Since there is no longer a central station containing all the information but instead there are several distinct agents controlling or monitoring the system, communication between these agents is now necessary. Thus one important aspect in these kind of systems is security, regarding not only the communications between agents but also a possible malfunction of one or several agents. The scope of this thesis is to study methods to detect possible misbehaviors and security breaches in the communications between agents from a control theoretical perspective. In this sense, a specific kind of distributed controller - the consensus problem - will be analyzed under the effect of faults and communication attacks. A Fault Detection and Isolation method will be used in order to detect these events using only the local information available. An example regarding power systems will also be given, where a decentralized state estimator is used in order to detect faults within an area, requiring only local information.


Introduction
 Novel agents are incorporated into a backbone of multi-agent chemotherapy and tandem transplantation in successive Total Therapy (TT) protocols for multiple myeloma (MM) patients. The TT protocols extend the duration of remission with a significant proportion of patients achieving long-term disease control. However, a small percentage of patients have documented late relapse and we theorize that these relapses are indolent with overall good clinical outcome. While even a late relapse is seemingly an undesirable outcome, defining the clinical implications is imperative to understanding the impact on long-term prognosis and management.
 Methods
 Our MM database was interrogated to identify patients that presented with relapsing disease ≥ 10 years from diagnosis and were treated on TT protocols. All patients had myeloma markers every 2 to 3 months and bone marrows with either PET-CT or MRI at least once a year. In the group of patients with documented relapse, we obtained the pattern of relapse, clinical and laboratory markers, cytogenetics, FISH, gene expression profile (GEP), bone marrow (BM) minimal residual disease (MRD), imaging (PET-CT and MRI, use of salvage transplant, and response assessment including best response to treatment. Patterns of relapses were evaluated based on elevated serum myeloma markers, BM plasmacytosis and presence of macrofocal relapse/extramedullary disease. Clinical relapses were classified based on the International Myeloma Working Group criteria. Indolent relapse was defined as a biochemical relapse with a rising M-protein or free light chains, less than 30% bone marrow plasmacytosis involvement, absence of focal lesion on imaging and of CRAB criteria, low riskGEP70 signature at relapse or no abnormal metaphase cytogenetics.
 Results
 A total of 2055 patients were enrolled and treated on successive TT protocols (TT1 to TT7) of which 658 patients had ≥10 years follow up from initial study enrollment. Among these 658 patients, 8% (53/658) had a clinical relapse ≥ 10 years from diagnosis. The median time to clinical relapse was 11. 8 years (range, 9.8 - 17.6). Median age at the time of relapse was 67.7 years with 28% being females.
 Gene expression profiling showed that 45% (24/53) belonged to the molecular CD2 and LB subgroups. The most common pattern of relapse is with BM plasmacytosis in 49% (26/53) with 36% (19/53) presenting with CRAB clinical features. Focal lesions by MRI and/or CT-PET were present in 35.8% (19/53). Overall, 56.6% (30/53) of patients had indolent relapses; of these 9 and 7 belonged to the CD2 and LB molecular subgroups, respectively. BM MRD assessment by 8-color flow cytometry was available in 17 patients and MRD positivity preceded clinical relapse by a median 17.9 months (range: 0 - 60.8). Forty-one patients required treatment for disease relapse with 11 patients managed expectantly without treatment. While most patients (73.1%, 30/41) received initial treatment with either PI/IMiD/PI IMiD combinations, 8 patients later underwent salvage ASCT. A response of ≥ VGPR was attained in 70% (31/47) of the treated patients with the large majority (87%) achieving a sCR/CR. The overall survival from relapse at 5 years was 73.3% (95% CI: 55.0% to 85.1%). A total of 14/53 patients died during follow-up;7 patients died to progressive disease; 6 of these 7 presented with focal lesions detected on imaging and had an aggressive relapse. Three patients died to treatment related complications, 1 had an unrelated pneumonia, the cause of death was indeterminate in 2 and unknown in 1. Overall, in these 14 patients, median time to death from initial diagnosis was 15.4 years (range: 11.8 - 18.0) and a median time to death from relapse was 3.2 years (range: 0.3 - 6.0).
 Conclusions
 Late relapses (>10 years) in MM are a rare event occurring in 8% of long-term survivors and accounting for 2.6% of all patients treated on the TT protocols. Intriguingly, most patients with late relapsing MM belong to the GEP subtype LB and CD2 and accounted for 51% of the indolent relapses. These findings have clinical implications and emphasizes the importance of extended and close follow-up even in patients with prolonged clinical remission.

 van Rhee: Karyopharm: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotech: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; EUSA: Consultancy; CDCN: Consultancy.


Background: An important determinant of a medical student's behaviour and performance is the department's teaching and learning environment. Evaluation of such an environment can explore methods to improve educational curricula and optimise the academic learning environment. Aim: The aim is to evaluate the educational environment of undergraduate students in the Department of Family Medicine as perceived by students. Setting: This descriptive quantitative study was conducted with one group of final-year students (n = 41) enrolled in 2018, with a response rate of 93% (n = 39). Students were in different training sites at SMU. Methods: Data were collected using the Dundee Ready Educational Environmental Measure (DREEM) questionnaire. Total and mean scores for all questions were calculated. Results: The learning environment was given a mean score of 142/200 by the students. Individual subscales show that 'academic self-perception' was rated the highest (25/32), while 'social self-perception' had the lowest score (13/24). Positive perception aspects of the academic climate included: student competence and confidence; student participation in class; constructive criticism provided; empathy in medical profession; and friendships created. Areas for improvement included: provision of good support systems for students; social life improvement; course coordinators being less authoritarian and more approachable; student-centred curriculum with less emphasis on factual learning and factual recall. Conclusion: Students' perceptions of their learning environment were more positive than negative. The areas of improvement will be used to draw lessons to optimise the curriculum and learning environment, improve administrative processes and develop student support mechanisms in order to improve students' academic experience.


Silica has been widely used as non-black reinforcing filler, however, the filler-filler interaction has been an important issue. Cure characteristic and mechanical properties of the rubber compound and rubber vulcanizate were affected both by filler-rubber interaction and filler-filler interaction. There have been, presently, a number of natural fillers which are also used as fillers for the rubber, i.e. fly ash, sawdust and zeolite. This work therefore will study the effect of second filler added into the 13% Si-69 treated precipitate silica (PSi) filled natural rubber compounds. It was revealed that the scorch and cure time of the rubber compound increased with the content of treated PSi. This was the effect of excess of the silane treated onto PSi which would agglomerate and form the cluster of polysiloxane and would then be able to absorb vulcanizing accelerator resulting in extending the scorch and cure time of the rubber compounds. However, this effect was over ruled with the reinforcing effect as could be seen by the increasing, with the contents of PSi, of maximum torque and mechanical properties of the vulcanizates. The NR compounded with treated PSi content of 20 phr selected to study the effect of excess silane on the cure characteristic of hybrid fillers NR composite. The addition of sawdust led to longer scorch time and cure time but not much change of the maximum torque. As expected, the modulus of the rubber vulcanizate increased with the sawdust content whereas the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased with the sawdust content. The incorporation of zeolite could accelerate the cure reaction therefore both scorch time and cure time decreased. The maximum torque also increased with the content of zeolite. Both modulus and tensile strength increased with the content of the zeolite whereas elongation at break tended to be unchanged. In the case of using fly ash as the second filler, the cure time tended to be unchanged. However, the maximum torque tended to be increased with the content of fly ash. It was found that the modulus, tensile strength increased but elongation at break decreased. Interestingly, the excess of Si-69 used effect pronouncedly for the addition of zeolite and fly ash cases as the excess silane could promote the interaction between fillers surface and rubber molecule accept for sawdust


Abstract : An investigation was conducted on the environmental effects of open water dredged material disposal at the Eatons Neck Disposal Site in central Long Island Sound, New York. However, because of local political and public opposition to the dredging project, the field investigation was terminated after Phase I, a 12-month baseline survey of the disposal site and surrounding area. Phase I data, therefore, were used to describe environmental conditions at the Eatons Neck Disposal Site as they were four years after cessation of disposal operations. Dredged material, building rubble, and other materials were dumped at the site for about 70 years (1900 to 1971); 9,841,000 cu m of dredged sediments were placed at the site from 1954 to 1971. Results of hydrodynamic, bathymetry, and sediment studies showed no evidence of dispersion of dredged material from the site. Thus it appears that the Eatons Neck site is suitable, from a confinement standpoint, for the disposal of dredged sediments. Measured current velocities were typically 30 cm/sec 2 m above the bottom; net tidal displacement of water was to the west or southwest at speeds 6 cm/sec. Bathymetric shielding by Cable and Anchor Reef contributed to the reduced flow at the site. Water chemistry data indicated that there were various types of spatial gradients in the central sound. It appears, in summary, that any effects of the presence of dredged material at the site on nutrients, metals, and other chemical variables in the central sound are minimal and are probably overshadowed by effects of sewage effluents and other river inputs.


Focused Ion Beam (FIB) is one of the important machining techniques to fabricate diamond sensors/detectors used for drug analysis, chemical analysis and bio-sensing applications. In-depth understanding of the high energy collision process and the residual damage induced along the trace of gallium ion could undoubtedly facilitate the development and improvement of performance of such devices through the optimization of machining processes. Based on the merit offered by large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method and the new progress made in high performance computing technique (HPC), a new atomistic modelling system was proposed in this paper to investigate the high energy collision process involved two gallium ions. The simulation results indicated that the energetic ion collision process comprises a bombardment event with a pulse temperature and a lateral relative long period annealing recrystallization process. The peak temperature for the second ion collision was 129.2 K higher than the first one, which indicates the alternation of the thermal conductivity of diamond due to the formation of amorphous (sp2 graphite-like) structure during the first ion collision and annealing process. Besides giving the damage configuration and distribution in diamond after fully recrystallization, the simulation also used coordination number (CN) and radius distribution function (RDF) to revel the change of diamond lattice structure after the collision process, which provided an insight of damage induced by FIB process.


As Web services have matured, they've also acquired the need for asynchronous push capabilities. Early Web services, such as those for getting traffic or weather reports or for performing currency exchange-rate calculations, were seemingly all remote procedure calls-oriented. In an RPC system, the receiver typically performs the requested service and sends a response back to the caller over the same connection on which the request arrived, which means the details required by the service for sending a reply are implicit in the RPC network connection. Unfortunately, these kinds of implied communication details are wholly inadequate for asynchronous push Web services.


This paper presents a novel approach to detect traffic congestion on roads in a natural open world scene observed from TV cameras placed on poles or buildings. In this system, three algorithms are proposed to estimate the road status. They are based on background subtraction, frame differencing and time-spatial image respectively. The experimental results on real road traffic congestion estimation show that the time-spatial method is the most robust in complex lighting and traffic environment. The detailed algorithms and the comparison results are given in the paper.


Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond allow coherent spin state manipulation and optical readout at room temperature, which has powerful applications in nanoscale sensing. Nanophotonic structures such as plasmonic waveguides, nanoantennae, metamaterials, and metasurfaces can enhance the detected fluorescence rate from such broadband emitters. The fluorescence of the coupled emitter is directed into confined plasmonic modes with high photonic density of states. However, an accurate spin readout requires both high photon counts and a strong contrast between the spin states, both of which can be influenced by the Purcell effect. We introduce a novel method for measuring the spin contrast in large nitrogen-vacancy ensembles. We use this method to study how the photonic density of states must be engineered in order to minimize the uncertainty of spin readout in dense NV ensembles. We describe these results using a kinetic model of the nitrogen-vacancy's internal dynamics.