Drug preference procedures may be used to assess the abuse liability of drugs in human volunteers. These procedures usually measure subjects' choice of a drug versus a placebo, under controlled, double-blind conditions. Depending upon the conditions of the studies (e.g. subject population, environmental conditions of testing), drugs that are known to be abused are also preferred in these laboratory procedures. To assess the abuse liability of an unknown test drug, the frequency of choice of the test drug is compared to choice of a standard drug with known abuse potential: preference for the test drug, relative to the standard, is then taken as an indicator of its relative potential for abuse. A number of methodological variables must be considered when designing and interpreting choice studies, including the characteristics of the subjects, the range of doses tested, whether choices were spaced widely apart (e.g. one a day) or closely together (e.g. one immediately after another), and whether the study was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions or in the subjects' normal daily environments. The conditions for testing the abuse liability of an unknown compound must be selected based on the existing literature with similar, known drugs of abuse.


Domain-independent meaning representation of text has received a renewed interest in the NLP community. Comparison plays a crucial role in shaping objective and subjective opinion and measurement in natural language, and is often expressed in complex constructions including ellipsis. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework for jointly capturing the semantic structure of comparison and ellipsis constructions. Our framework models ellipsis and comparison as interconnected predicate-argument structures, which enables automatic ellipsis resolution. We show that a structured prediction model trained on our dataset of 2,800 gold annotated review sentences yields promising results. Together with this paper we release the dataset and an annotation tool which enables two-stage expert annotation on top of tree structures.


This paper is concerned with the dynamics of autonomous agents in performing distributed problem-solving tasks. The goal of this work is to show: 1) how certain tasks may be handled by breeds of distributed agents self-reproduced by other agents in response to their local environment and 2) how the behavioral repository of the agents may be constructed based on some well-defined dynamical systems models. The breeds of agents progressively generated in the course of distributed problem-solving are referred to as agentlets. The specific task for demonstrating this dynamical systems-based agentlet-oriented approach is the one in which the agents are required to search and mark certain feature locations in a two-dimensional (2-D) search space by way of divide-and-conquer. In so doing, individual agents may have different dynamical motion, depending on when and where they are bred. This paper provides a detailed description of the agents of different dynamics and shows how the agentlets proceed with this task by moving according to their well-defined dynamics, breeding their offspring agents in the environment., and fine-tuning their dynamical systems parameters. In addition, it is proven that in the given example task, the designed agentlets will guarantee to reach all the feature locations in the search space.


Although they are a majority of the South African population, African women in South Africa remain on the periphery of the margins of our communities. They are women who, although are a majority, mostly remain without a voice. Does it occasion any surprise then that they continue to be the face of violence in our contexts? It is a fact that the present South African landscape is characterised by, among other social evils, the violent acts perpetrated against women and children. That South Africa ranks among the leading countries in the world with appalling statistics on violence against women is well known. Such violence against a section of the South African population is entrenched by, among others, pronounced patriarchies, female voicelessness, dangerous masculinities and violent biblical hermeneutics. The latter hermeneutics is buttressed by some violent sacred texts interpreted in our predominantly patriarchal contexts. The present article seeks, among others, to bring a voice to the muted voice of the pilegesh in the text of Judges 19 by challenging gender-based violence both in the biblical text and in the African-South African context.


Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of carbon dioxide in high-pressure flames has been identified as a broad continuum (200-450 nm) with a faint superimposed structure. Signal variations correlate well with absorption cross-sections obtained from recent shock tube experiments. Linear dependence of CO2 UV-LIF signal intensity versus pressure and laser fluence offers unique potential for imaging high-pressure flames. High-pressure flame (40-60 bar) imaging of carbon dioxide UV laser-induced fluorescence with 226 nm excitation is demonstrated in a CH4/air flat flame.


The multifunctional organic bridging ligand, 2-phenyl(3,4-dimethyl)-1-H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (H3DMPhIDC), was reacted with Cd(II) ions to form a luminescent metal–organic framework, [Cd(HDMPhIDC)(H2O)]n (1), which has been successfully synthesized and structurally characterized. MOF 1 shows 1D chain structure and good recognition performance for Fe3+ ions. The luminescent quenching efficiency for iron(III) is 89.46% and the detection limit is 3.98 × 10−6 M in aqueous solution. The recognition mechanism of Fe3+ has been explored by UV-Vis and PXRD determinations. Furthermore, the proton conduction of MOF 1 has been investigated. Interestingly, 1 has a high proton conductivity value of 1.30 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 100 °C and 98% RH. The large activation energy indicates that proton transfer in 1 through the vehicular mechanism.


This article will discuss the issues at stake when cooperation between library and faculty on information literacy (IL) is initiated and explored by using an action research approach. Research on and experiences from cooperation between faculty libraries and faculties indicate that several teaching programmes have not integrated IL into the curriculum nor have they established a formalised cooperation between library and faculty on IL. Participants in the project were three librarians, six lecturers, one library manager, two directors of programme and two project managers from VIA University College, Denmark. The data for this study originates from focus group interviews, process protocols, records of reflective sessions and support meetings as well as from mail correspondences. Results indicate that formal cooperation between librarians and educators is necessary and provides the needed access to the other's understanding of IL, the curriculum, pedagogical professionalism and mutual roles. A joint conceptual understanding of IL is important for making this teamwork work. Librarians need access to programme documents and knowledge on students' level of learning and on course work. Co-teaching supports the librarian in developing pedagogical skills. Educators have diverging experiences with IL which can be a problem when challenging students on IL for their assignments. IL is everyone's business and local dissemination of an agreed curriculum intervention throughout a programme is important. Leadership and re-sources are also significant if the integration of IL is to be possible.


Based on some features in lead-zinc sintering process (LZSP), such as large time delay and strong non-linearity, an intelligent integrated method for quality prediction based on back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and improved grey system (IGS) is presented. First, the compositions of agglomerate are predicted by BPNN and IGS models. Then, a recursive entropy algorithm for the weighting coefficients is devised from the viewpoint of the information theory and an intelligent integrated prediction model (IIPM) is established. The compositions of sinter agglomerate are predicted by integrating the two prediction models. Application results show that the IIPM has higher prediction precision than that of single model and the proposed intelligent integrated method settles the modeling problem of the quality in the LZSP.


Large multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with tens or hundreds of antennas have shown great potential for next generation of wireless communications to support high spectral efficiencies. However, due to the non-deterministic polynomial hard nature of MIMO detection, large MIMO systems impose stringent requirements on the design of reliable and computationally efficient detectors. Recently, lattice reduction (LR) techniques have been applied to improve the performance of low-complexity detectors for MIMO systems without increasing the complexity dramatically. Most existing LR algorithms are designed to improve the orthogonality of channel matrices, which is not directly related to the error performance. In this paper, we propose element-based lattice reduction (ELR) algorithms that reduce the diagonal elements of the noise covariance matrix of linear detectors and thus enhance the asymptotic performance of linear detectors. The general goal is formulated as solving a "shortest longest vector reduction" or a stronger version, "shortest longest basis reduction," both of which require high complexity to find the optimal solution. Our proposed ELR algorithms find sub-optimal solutions to the reductions with low complexity and high performance. The fundamental properties of the ELR algorithms are investigated. Simulations show that the proposed ELR-aided detectors yield better error performance than the existing low-complexity detectors for large MIMO systems while maintaining lower complexity.


Introduction: Today, bullying is one of the most common problems in schools. Many quantitative researches have been conducted to understand the different aspects of this phenomenon, but very few qualitative researches have been performed in this area. Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine bullied students' experiences of victimization in order to understand the nature of victimization more deeply.
Method: This qualitative research has been based on the interpretative paradigm and conducted using the phenomenological approach. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 bullied students who had the inclusion criteria. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's method.
Results: The findings revealed three main themes of "reasons for victimization", "the consequences of victimization", and "ways to deal with bullying" and twelve subthemes.
Conclusion: Investigation of experiences of bullied students revealed that victimization has various psychological, social, behavioral, and academic consequences for these students. Moreover, data analysis showed that schools and families are major factors in the incidence of bullying and can also have a major role in dealing with bullying.
Keywords: bullying, phenomenology, Vivtim Students.


The growing demand for a very high speed and bandwidth over wireless communications makes the millimeter wave (mm-wave) "60 GHz" a great choice to be studied and used in order to achieve this desire. While the propagating signal of this frequency can be easily blocked by any obstacle or body that faces it, This paper aims to solve this problem by using the Square Loop (SL) Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) in such a way to provide a stronger reflected signal to those shadowed positions as a result from the variety of the signal paths and enhancing the received signal power. As a result, minimizing the effect of human bodies which can attenuate 60 GHz signal. Keywords60GHz; Frequency Selective Surface; Human Modeling; Millimeter Wave.


By understanding the factors that impact how different people think, feel, or act, psychologists can gain insight that will allow them to predict how individuals are likely to behave in certain situations. One construct that has received recent attention in relation to personality is entitlement. A small number of studies have previously found relationships between specific personality traits and several narrow conceptualizations of entitlement. However, these studies have consistently studied entitlement from the perspective of a maladaptive trait that is closely tied to narcissism. Therefore, the current study examined the relationship between the Big Five Personality Traits and two different conceptualizations of psychological entitlement. A Pearson's product-moment correlation was run to assess the relationship between each of the Big Five Personality Traits and entitlement as measured by the PES and the three factors of the EAQ (Active Entitlement, Passive Entitlement, and Revenge Entitlement). Extraversion was high for the PES and Active Entitlement but low for Revenge Entitlement, while Agreeableness was high for Passive Entitlement but low for Revenge Entitlement and the PES. Revenge Entitlement and PES show some overlap as maladaptive traits that are characterized by low Agreeableness. Revenge Entitlement emerged as the component of entitlement that was most closely associated with the Big Five Personality Traits, showing negative relationships will all of the personality traits except for Neuroticism.


Background: In response to the increasing complexity of the health care system, the field of health advocacy has emerged. However, little is known about factors that may influence a person's likelihood of hiring a health advocate. Purpose: This study was designed to examine factors that influence a person's likelihood of hiring a health advocate. Methods: The participants were 889 randomly selected community members who were assigned to read one of six vignettes. Social support and confidence in the health care system were manipulated in the vignettes. Social support was either high or low and overall confidence was high, moderate, or low. The dependent variables were participants' likelihood of hiring a health advocate and the hourly rate participants were willing to pay for a health advocate for six different services. Results: The results indicated that social support did not affect the likelihood of hiring a health advocate; however, confidence in the health care system did affect the likelihood of hiring a health advocate. Participants who read vignettes, in which the patient was described as having lower overall confidence levels, indicated a greater likelihood of hiring a health advocate than participants who read the vignettes in which the patient was described as having high confidence. Conclusions: More research is needed to determine other factors that may influence the likelihood of hiring a health advocate and whether hiring a health advocate is a cost-effective way to improve the quality of health care by reducing the number of medical mistakes and improving patient-provider communication.


The rapid expansion of Victorian London laid bare public health challenges that various philanthropic movements had recognised but been unable to meet. A growing indigent population was living in rookeries with unreliable water supplies and inadequate sewage disposal.1 Street children, whom Lord Shaftesbury referred to as 'nobody's', suffered from fevers as well as chronic scabies, ringworm and ophthalmia. The introduction of fever hospitals by British cities, principally London, came to meet the needs of sick children on the necessary scale even though they were ultimately to prove redundant and of questionable value to children.

Until 1867 provision for London's sick was the responsibility of nearly 40 different poor law unions; but in that year Parliament created the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) to provide 'joined-up'care for London's ill and infirm poor, including children with fevers.2 Up until then, to avoid the spread of infection within the existing voluntary hospitals, febrile patients were mostly excluded even though, as Sir John Simon wrote: 'I cannot conceive any cases having more claim to hospital treatment than those cases of typhoid fever [and so other fevers] which the rules would rigidly exclude'.3 Those hospitals were anyway in no position to meet the numerical demands made by London's frequent epidemics.

It was, however, one thing to legislate for fever hospitals, another to get them built. The smallpox epidemic of 1871–1873 set off a prolonged controversy about the aerial spread of infection4 and householders often opposed the local siting of a fever …


Most GIS systems process huge amounts of data but lack the capability to produce useful knowledge and actionable information. Unless GIS information generates a Bayesian update (a surprise or information that decision makers cannot anticipate), this GIS remains weak and a simple storage of dead data. Furthermore, even if this GIS stores valuable data, it still remains weak if it lacks the ability to generate the decision support that users need. This work in progress aims at adding decision support capabilities to a standard law enforcement GIS in terms of two main features: 1) visual decision support at the functional management and control levels in remote locations of police stations protecting their urban zones, and 2) evidence-based decision support at the strategic management level in the police department protecting the conurbation constituting the urban zones under its jurisdiction. The visual decision aids employ dynamic choropleth maps that are revised on a monthly basis. The evidence-based decision process is provided using Dempster and Shafer theory. While some of the tools are primarily used by police departments to devise effective policing strategies, police chiefs supervising the police stations can also locally benefit from adopting them. This study provides a numerical example to demonstrate the working of the proposed decision aids.


Inconsistencies between scientific theories have been studied, by and large, from the perspective of paraconsistent logic. This approach considered the formal properties of theories and the structure of inferences one can legitimately draw from theories. However, inconsistencies can be also analysed from the perspective of modelling practices, in particular how modelling practices may lead scientists to form opinions and attitudes that are different, but not necessarily inconsistent (from a logical point of view). In such cases, it is preferable to talk about disagreement, rather than inconsistency. Disagreement may originate in, or concern, a number of epistemic, socio-political or psychological factors. In this paper, we offer an account of the 'loci and reasons' for disagreement at different stages of the scientific process. We then present a controversial episode in the health sciences: the studies on hypercholesterolemia. The causes and effects of high levels of cholesterol in blood have been long and hotly debated, to the point of deserving the name of 'cholesterol wars'; the debate, to be sure, isn't settled yet. In this contribution, we focus on some selected loci and reasons for disagreement that occurred between 1920 and 1994 in the studies on hypercholesterolemia. We hope that our analysis of 'loci and reasons' for disagreement may shed light on the cholesterol wars, and possibly on other episodes of scientific disagreement.


Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a neurodegenerative disease with a complex pathogenesis that is so far not understood. Currently, there is no treatment for PKAN and most of the available treatments are directed towards alleviating the symptoms associated with the disease. Recently we have established a Drosophila model for PKAN and by using this model we have identified a novel compound, Pantethine, which can rescue the disease symptoms in the Drosophila model for PKAN. As a step forward, it will be essential to test the potential of pantethine in a mammalian/mice model with an ultimate goal of finally be able to treat PKAN patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the toxicity of orally administered pantethine in wild type C57BL/6J mice. In-creasing concentrations of pantethine were administered orally to different groups of mice. Daily activity, general performance, total water intake and body weight were monitored for 3 weeks. Histological analysis was done for the assessment of toxic affects of pantethine in various organs. Oral administration of pantethine up to 15mg/ml of drinking water was tolerable without any adverse effects in the wild type mice. Pantethine dose of 45mg/ml of drinking water resulted in decrease in body weight of 40 %. In summary, we show that pantethine is tolerable in wild-type mice and can be used for further tests in the PKAN disease mouse model.


Manufacturing industries are moving towards mass personalization, which refers to the rapid production of individualized products, with large scale efficiencies. This shift from push-type mass customization to pull-type mass personalization will pose critical operational challenges to manufacturing businesses, with complexities ranging from effective requirements elicitation to design, manufacturing, commissioning and after-sales support. Aiming at addressing these challenges, a feasible operational framework for enabling efficient manufacturing automation for mass personalization is proposed in this paper. A key element of this operational framework is the Digital Thread, which streamlines information flow associated with design, manufacturing, maintenance and servicing of a personalized product, each of which are represented as Digital Twins. An As-Designed Digital Twin is created from the beginning of the product co-design process, which then evolves into the subsequent design and manufacturing process and systems resulting in As-Designed Digital Twin evolving to As-Planned Digital Twin and then to As-Built Digital Twin. The personalized product, after it's commissioning and installation constitutes the As-Maintained Digital Twin of the product, which stores product data related to field performance. The data exchange and communications between these Digital Twins that reside in the various departments of the organization and the management systems create a seamless Digital Thread, capturing the lifecycle information of each personalized product. Personalized product is proposed to be developed through a self-organizing shopfloor, working on a multi-agent mechanism and controlled by a central agent control algorithm, which can coordinate and provide individualized process plans. The Digital Twins, interlinked by a Digital Thread and realized by a self-organizing shopfloor, thus result in increased level of automated control in engineering and manufacturing. To validate the feasibility of this proposed framework, we tested the information flow in the Digital Thread with a case study in the construction industry. Finally the challenges faced by such an automation framework and the area of future work are also discussed.


Successful deployment of Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) requires self-organising, self-configuring, security, and mobility support. However, these characteristics can be exploited to perform security attacks against the Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL). In this paper, we address the lack of strong identity and security mechanisms in RPL. We first demonstrate by simulation the impact of Sybil-Mobile attack, namely SybM, on RPL with respect to control overhead, packet delivery and energy consumption. Then, we introduce a new Intrusion Detection System (IDS) scheme for RPL, named Trust-based IDS (T-IDS). T-IDS is a distributed, cooperative and hierarchical trust-based IDS, which can detect novel intrusions by comparing network behavior deviations. In T-IDS, each node is considered as monitoring node and collaborates with his peers to detect intrusions and report them to a 6LoWPAN Border Router (6BR). In our solution, we introduced a new timer and minor extensions to RPL messages format to deal with mobility, identity and multicast issues. In addition, each node is equipped with a Trusted Platform Module co-processor to handle identification and off-load security related computation and storage.


Abstract Purpose. The aim of this study was to investigate what bowel organ and delivered dose levels are most relevant for the development of 'emptying of all stools into clothing without forewarning' so that the related dose-responses could be derived as an aid in avoiding this distressing symptom in the future. Material and methods. Of the 77 gynecological cancer survivors treated with radiotherapy (RT) for gynecological cancer, 13 developed the symptom. The survivors were treated between 1991 and 2003. The anal-sphincter region, the rectum, the sigmoid and the small intestines were all delineated and the dose-volume histograms were exported for each patient. The dose-volume parameters were estimated fitting the data to the Relative Seriality (RS), the Lyman and the generalized Equivalent Uniform Dose (gEUD) model. Results. The dose-response parameters for all three models and four organs at risk (OARs) were estimated. The data from the sigmoid fits the studied models best: D50 was 58.8 and 59.5 Gy (RS, Lyman), γ50 was 1.60 and 1.57 (RS, Lyman), s was 0.32, n was 0.13 and a was 7.7 (RS, Lyman, gEUD). The estimated volume parameters indicate that the investigated OARs behave serially for this endpoint. Our results for the three models studied indicate that they have the same predictive power (similar LL values) for the symptom as a function of the dose for all investigated OARs. Conclusions. In our study, the anal-sphincter region and sigmoid fit our data best, but all OARs were found to have steep dose-responses for 'emptying of all stools into clothing without forewarning' and thus, the outcome can be predicted with an NTCP model. In addition, the dose to the four studied OARs may be considered when minimizing the risk of the symptom.


not only some of the most quoted passages of all scripture, such as the Beatitudes, but many ambiguous texts as well, e.g., Jesus' statement that he did not come to abolish the Law (5:17). Even the opening and closing verses of the sermon are problematic. The introduction suggests Jesus is instructing only his disciples (5:1-2) but the ending concludes with the reaction of the crowds who &dquo;were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes&dquo; (7:28). No reaction of the disciples to the sermon is noted in Matthew's text. Brooks' approach to the sermon is therefore novel in its attempt to &dquo;understand how the disciples heard what Jesus said&dquo; (p. xi). In providing primarily a good running commentary on the text, the author employs literary criticism to recreate the disciples' response as a means for elucidating the sermon. This is done, however, without reference to the characterization of the disciples within Matthew's gospel and is therefore methodologically suspect. More useful are Brooks' efforts to show how one saying leads to another within the sermon. Also questionable is Brooks' insistence on the intimate rela-


Single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP‐A) analyses are increasingly being introduced in routine genetic diagnostics of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Despite this, only few studies that have compared the diagnostic value of SNP‐A with conventional chromosome banding have been published. We here report such a comparison of 296 ALL cases, the largest series to date. Only genomic imbalances >5 Mb and microdeletions targeting the BTG1, CDKN2A/B, EBF1, ERG, ETV6, IKZF1, PAX5, and RB1 genes and the pseudoautosomal region 1 (PAR1) were ascertained, in agreement with recent guidelines. Of 36 T‐cell ALL cases, the karyotypes of 24 cases (67%) were revised by SNP‐A analyses that either revealed additional imbalances >5 Mb or better characterized the changes found by G‐banding. Of 260 B‐cell precursor (BCP) ALL cases, SNP‐A analyses identified additional copy number alterations, including the above‐mentioned microdeletions, or better characterized the imbalances found by G‐banding in 236 (91%) cases. Furthermore, the cytogenetic subtype classification of 41/260 (16%) BCP ALL cases was revised based on the SNP‐A findings. Of the subtype revisions, 12/41 (29%) had clinical implications as regards risk stratifying cytogenetic groups or genotype‐specific minimal residual disease stratification. We conclude that SNP‐A analyses dramatically improve the cytogenetic characterization of both T‐cell and BCP ALL and also provide important information pertinent to risk stratification of BCP ALL.


The UG-2 chromitite layer in the upper critical zone of the Rustenburg Layered Suite is one of the prominent platinum-group element enrichment zones of the c. 2.06 Ga Bushveld Complex (South Africa). Eleven biotite crystals were selected from a production concentrate from the Impala Platinum mine and degassed incrementally with a CO2 laser. The apparent age spectra display widely varying characteristics, ranging from essentially 100% concordant to strongly discordant (in some cases undulatory) as a result of various degrees of chloritization of the grains. The least discordant spectra (seven grains, 90–100% 39Ar released) yield integrated and plateau ages ranging from 2037 to 2049 Ma (relative to the Fish Canyon sanidine standard at 28.02 Ma) and share a weighted mean age of 2042.4 ± 3.2 Ma (2σ, excluding systematic errors). This age is slightly younger than existing constraints from U–Pb dating (c. 2055–2061 Ma), which seem to indicate a cooling rate of around 20 °C/Ma. However, the recently inferred c. 1% bias between currently used calibrations of the 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb systems implies a very rapid cooling rate for the Bushveld Complex between 700 and <500 °C. The possibility of subtle bias as a result of recoil artefacts must be considered. In all cases, the heterogeneous age spectra yielded older apparent plateau ages, revealing the likelihood for erroneous conclusions to be drawn from less complete data sets.


We present an architecture and tools for verifying implementations of security protocols. Our implementations can run with both concrete and symbolic implementations of cryptographic algorithms. The concrete implementation is for production and interoperability testing. The symbolic implementation is for debugging and formal verification. We develop our approach for protocols written in F#, a dialect of ML, and verify them by compilation to ProVerif a resolution-based theorem prover for cryptographic protocols. We establish the correctness of this compilation scheme, and we illustrate our approach with protocols for Web services security


An absence of dystrophin in muscle has a massive impact throughout muscle development, and Duchene Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is one of the consequences. The disruption of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) is caused by a mutation in the dmd gene, which effects muscle integrity, resulting in progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. In this study, dfd13 (dystrophin-deficient) and C2C12 (non-dystrophic) myoblasts were cultured in low mitogen conditions for 10 days to induce differentiation; however, dfdl3 myoblasts did not achieve terminal differentiation. It has been suggested that Pax7 may play a major role during myogenesis, therefore its expression pattern and transport protein were examined for any impairments. It was established that Pax7 localises in the cytoplasm of dystrophindeficient myoblasts and high expression is retained during differentiation. Colocalisation of Pax7 with subcellular markers analysis indicated that Pax7 is synthesised during the proliferative state. Pax7 was shown to possess a nuclear location signal and KPNA2 was suggested as escort protein for Pax7 translocation into the nucleus. The PTEN-PI3K/Akt signalling pathway was investigated and protein synthesis regulation and Fox03 was found to be impaired. Autophagy related genes were found to be highly expressed; however, LC3 lipidation and autophagy flux showed a reduction upon differentiation, indicating defective autophagy. The contribution of PTEN overexpression was assessed in relation to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activation of the unfolding protein response (UPR). It was established that a reduction in ER stress and changes to UPR activation lead to apoptosis. Finally, minidystrophintransfection of both types of myoblasts was utilised to examine the effect, especially in dystrophin-deficient myoblasts. Minidystrophin improved protein synthesis activation and increased autophagy (increased LC3 lipidation), suggesting that minidystrophin ameliorates dystrophic events at the level of autophagosome formation. To conclude, destabilisation of the plasma membrane owing to a dystrophin mutation causes cell signalling alterations which minidystrophin restoration can partly improve.


Twenty enrolled nurses (ENs), 20 registered nurses (RNs) and 20 physicians working in intensive care in northern Sweden narrated 255 stories about their experience of being in ethically difficult care situations. The ENs' stories mainly concerned problems relating to relationship ethics, the stories narrated by the physicians mainly concerned problems relating to action ethics, while the RNs' stories gave equal attention to both kinds of problems. The most common theme of both the RNs' and the physicians' stories was that of too much treatment. An obvious similarity between the ENs, RNs and physicians was that they saw themselves as equally lacking in influence in ethically difficult care situations. The only apparent difference between the three groups, however, was that the ENs brought up relationship problems more often than the others. Thus, the differences between the RNs and the physicians were fewer than usually reported in the literature. This might be related to the specialization of intensive care.


For pt.I, see ibid., vol.27, no.6, p.4416-37 (1991). Application of deterministic and stochastic quantitative inversion techniques to configurations similar to those treated in Pt.I by tomographic techniques is discussed. The defects are modeled as cylindrical inhomogeneities concealed within a homogeneous nonmagnetic metallic half-space. Values of the conductivity within the anomaly cross section have to be retrieved from multifrequency anomalous fields observed on a line above and parallel with the surface on the damaged block when a known time-harmonic source illuminates the block. Such quantitative imaging involves the ill-posed inversion of a Fredholm first-kind integral equation with exponentially damped kernel and requires some kind of regularization. In a deterministic context, an iterative algorithm provides a regularized generalized inverse, with the inconvenience that the stopping parameter should be appropriately chosen. In a stochastic context. Kalman filtering rapidly yields a good estimate of the conductivities, which could lead to a more precise but costlier solution. >


ABSTRACT Women have long remained invisible in representations of artisanal mining in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Based on original field data, this paper seeks to fill that gap. It shows how women come to mining sites with the hope of finding a degree of security, economic possibilities and the start of a new life. Contrary to what dominant discourses on the "resource curse" and sexual violence towards women have suggested, women may find a degree of protection in mining areas. We take the analysis beyond the "push" and "pull" factors with which migration is usually explained, to understand women's motivation to move into mining areas as complex and changing. The study situates women's movement to the mines within their life trajectories which are shaped by violence and various forms of insecurity. The notion of social navigation is brought in to understand how they cope with gender discrimination, challenges and risks in the mining economy. The paper shows how push and pull factors merge over time and how some women succeed in creating new sources of revenue and manage to mitigate the situation of vulnerability in which they find themselves.


The authors describe a computationally efficient and accurate method for simulating a DC superconducting quantum interference device's (SQUID's) V- phi (voltage-flux) and I-V characteristics which has proven valuable in evaluating and improving various SQUID readout methods. The simulation of the SQUID is based on fitting of previously acquired data from either a real or a modeled device using the Fourier transform of the V- Phi curve. This method does not predict SQUID behavior, but rather is a way of replicating a known behavior efficiently with portability into various simulation programs such as SPICE. The authors discuss the methods used to simulate the SQUID and the flux-locking control electronics, and present specific examples of this approach. Results include an estimate of the slew rate and linearity of a simple flux-locked loop using a characterized DC SQUID.<<ETX>>


Offshore Wave Energy Limited's "OWEL" wave energy converter is a novel design that uses the forward surging motion of deep water waves to capture and compress air. Uni-directional compressed air flow is used by the device to drive a turbine and generator to produce electricity. Previous experimental studies provided useful initial information about the general operating principles and basic trends in device performance. This paper serves as a progress update of the small scale, 2D experimental work being carried out at the University of Southampton. Testing has investigated the relationships between device performance and wave characteristics as well as trialling a series of different geometric configurations of the model


A series of investigations have been performed to study secular trends of motor neuron disease (MND) morbidity and mortality in Sweden, to identify time and/or space clusters, if any, and to uncover risk factors. The occurrence of the disease was estimated from incidence, prevalence and mortality rates, and the strength of various determinants was evaluated by means of the case-control approach, using population controls. The studies comprised different periods of time between 1961 and 1990.The mortality rate from MND in Sweden, for both genders taken together, doubled from 1961 to 1985, reaching 2.5 per 100,000 person-years, and the incidence rates were of a similar magnitude. The age-specific mortality rates peaked at 70 to 75 years of age. Regarding separate birth cohorts the peak was less clear, however, and the mortality rates tended to increase continuously with advancing age. An epidemic of MND was identified in the county of Skaraborg during the period 1973-1984, when three times as many males as expected had onset of MND, especially involving the farm-working population. In the community surveys involving the counties of Viirmland and Skaraborg the 50% survival rate was slightly more than two years.Among males high adjusted odds ratios were obtained for electricity work (0R=6.7, 95% Cl 1.0-32.1), welding (0R=3.7, 95% Cl 1.1-13.0) and exposure to impregnating agents (0R=3.5, 95% Cl 0.9-13.1). Heredity with regard to a neurodegenerative disease and/or thyroid disease yielded OR=2.1, 95% Cl 1.0-4.3. The highest odds ratio was found for the combination of such heredity, exposure to solvents and male gender (0R=l5.6, 95% Cl 2.8-87.0).In sum, an increase in MND seems to have taken place during the last few decades. The regional epidemic especially among males in agricultural work, the high risk estimates regarding some occupational exposures of mainly chemical nature, and the interaction with heredity, indicate that environmental factors might play a role in the pathogenesis of MND, and that a subpopulation might be particularly susceptible.


This study examined factors (e.g., ad values and social networking advertising characteristics) influencing consumers' attitudes and behavioural intention towards three types of social networking advertising (SNA) on Facebook – home page ad, social impression ad, and organic impression ad. Findings demonstrate that peer influence had the most significant impacts on attitude and behavioural intention across all types of SNA. The significant interaction term of invasiveness and privacy concern indicates that both attitude and behavioural intention were diminished, particularly when perceived invasiveness and privacy concern were high simultaneously. In addition, results suggest that attitudes towards the ad played a mediating role between SNA characteristics and behavioural intention. Lastly, among the types of SNA, consumers preferred organic impression ads that featured friends' names on their newsfeed more than paid ads located on the sidebar of their Facebook pages.


A high quality digital ionosonde called the Chinese Academy of Sciences digital ionosonde (CAS-DIS) has been developed for investigations of the ionosphere. Two important features are used for the CAS-DIS; first, the technique of analog down-conversion has been replaced by the new approach of digital down-conversion technology. Secondly, to solve the problem of large instantaneous receiving bandwidth in digital receivers, an analog narrowband tracking filter is used for the CAS-DIS. The center frequency of the filter tracks the carrier frequency transmitted in real-time, to ensure that the frequency components are filtered out of the effective bandwidth. This report describes the system architecture of the CAS-DIS, its main features, and its test results for ionosphere detection.


Previously we suggested that interaction between voltage-gated K+ channels and protein components of the exocytotic machinery regulated transmitter release. This study concerns the interaction between the Kv2.1 channel, the prevalent delayed rectifier K+ channel in neuroendocrine and endocrine cells, and syntaxin 1A and SNAP-25. We recently showed in islet β-cells that the Kv2.1 K+ current is modulated by syntaxin 1A and SNAP-25. Here we demonstrate, using co-immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemistry analyses, the existence of a physical interaction in neuroendocrine cells between Kv2.1 and syntaxin 1A. Furthermore, using concomitant co-immunoprecipitation from plasma membranes and two-electrode voltage clamp analyses in Xenopus oocytes combined with in vitro binding analysis, we characterized the effects of these interactions on the Kv2.1 channel gating pertaining to the assembly/disassembly of the syntaxin 1A/SNAP-25 (target (t)-SNARE) complex. Syntaxin 1A alone binds strongly to Kv2.1 and shifts both activation and inactivation to hyperpolarized potentials. SNAP-25 alone binds weakly to Kv2.1 and probably has no effect by itself. Expression of SNAP-25 together with syntaxin 1A results in the formation of t-SNARE complexes, with consequent elimination of the effects of syntaxin 1A alone on both activation and inactivation. Moreover, inactivation is shifted to the opposite direction, toward depolarized potentials, and its extent and rate are attenuated. Based on these results we suggest that exocytosis in neuroendocrine cells is tuned by the dynamic coupling of the Kv2.1 channel gating to the assembly status of the t-SNARE complex.


BACKGROUND
The international classification criteria for Sjögren's syndrome necessitate the presence of either extractable nuclear antibody or a characteristic focal inflammatory infiltrate in a minor salivary gland. Thus, patients who are extractable nuclear antibody-negative will need to have a labial salivary gland biopsy, which is an invasive procedure associated with morbidity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability of ultrasound imaging of the major salivary glands as a predictor of the histology to explore whether ultrasound can help in stratifying Sjögren's patients and reduce the need for biopsy.

METHODS
The records of 85 patients suspected of having Sjögren's syndrome and who have had biopsy and ultrasound were analysed retrospectively. The histology and the ultrasound were reported by experts independently. The reporting was impartial as the examiners were blinded to the results of the other investigations and to the diagnosis.

RESULTS
Out of the 85 patients, 34 had positive ultrasound, 29 of whom also had positive histology. Fifty-one patients had negative ultrasound, of whom 49 were also negative for histological features of Sjögren's syndrome. The results show that the ultrasound had a positive predictive value of 85% and a striking negative predicative value of 96% of the histology results. The overall concordance between the ultrasound and the histology was 91% (Kappa = 0.826).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that potentially the ultrasound has a role in stratifying patients who are extractable nuclear antibody-negative and can help to prioritize the biopsy for those who have sonographic evidence of SS.


This paper investigates whether offers of commitment contracts, in the form of self-imposed choice-set restrictions and penalties with no financial upside, are well-targeted tools for addressing self-control problems. In an experiment on gym attendance (N = 1,248), we examine take-up of commitment contracts, and also introduce a separate elicitation task to identify actual and perceived time inconsistency. There is high take-up of commitment contracts for greater gym attendance, resulting in significant increases in exercise. However, this is take-up is influenced both by noisy valuation and incorrect beliefs about one's time inconsistency. Approximately half of the people who take up commitment contracts for higher gym attendance also take up commitment contracts for lower gym attendance. There is little association between commitment contract take-up and reduced-form and structural estimates of actual or perceived time inconsistency. A novel information treatment providing an exogenous shock to awareness of time inconsistency reduces demand for commitment contracts. Structural estimates of a model of quasi-hyperbolic discounting and gym attendance imply that offering our commitment contracts lowers consumer surplus, and is less socially efficient than utilizing linear exercise subsidies that achieve the same average change in behavior.


Olivine-type LiFePO4/C composite cathode materials were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method in an inert atmosphere. Glycerin, glucose and citric acid were added as different conductive precursors before the formation of the crystalline phase. The effects of the carbon source on the properties of as-synthesized cathode materials were investigated. SEM and LSD measurement indicate that the particle size of the samples produced by glycerin and glucose distributed in a narrow way, while the particle of the sample produced by citric acid varied from submicron to several micron. The galvanostatically charge and discharge tests show that the material obtained by glucose gives a maximal specific discharge capacity of 142.5 mAh•g-1 in the first cycle. Further AC impedance measurements reveal the sample produced by glucose shows the lowest charge transfer resistance.


This paper illustrates the experiences of rural deaf children as they interact with health facilities in the county of St. Patrick in southern Trinidad. Statistics on the total number of deaf children that exist either in Trinidad or in the county of St. Patrick are not available. Nevertheless a Central Statistical Office (CSO) Report, based on the results of Trinidad and Tobago 2000 Census, reveals that there are a total of 5,319 persons with hearing disabilities in the country. The Marge Report (1984) examined 500 children in Trinidad and Tobago and found that one in six of the children had a disability. In discussing disability and children, Dr. Bratt, in a newspaper article, stated that "most of these disabled children remain undiagnosed and receive inadequate treatment. Their rights as citizens have been denied, their potential and abilities remain unexplored and their usefulness to society is completely overlooked." He went on to state that as a result, "the lifestyle of the disabled child or adult is often one of frustration, fear, failure and even despair" (Trinidad Guardian, 20 March 2002). The Trinidad and Tobago government, through a multidisciplinary committee, which included representatives from key organizations representing the disabled, developed a draft policy statement on Persons with Disabilities since September 1993 to: eliminate marginalization and discrimination; encourage self-reliance and promote involvement and participation and promote opportunities for a better quality of life for persons with disabilities. This document has not as yet been legalized.


The routes in IP networks are determined by the IP destination address and the routing tables in each router on the path to the destination. Hence all the IP packets follow the same route until the route is changes due to congestion, link failure or topology updates. IPv4 tried using Type of Service (TOS) field in the IP header to classify traffic and that did not succeed as it was based on fair self-classification of applications in comparison to the network traffic of other applications. As multimedia applications were quite foreign at the initial IPv4 stage, TOS field was not used uniformly. As there are different existing Quality of Service (QoS) paradigms available, IPv6 QoS approach was designed to be more flexible. The IPv6 protocol thus has QoS-specific elements in Base header and Extension headers which can be used in different ways to enhance multimedia application performance. In this paper, we plan to survey these options and other QoS architectures and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Some basic simulation for various queuing schemes is presented for comparison and a new queuing scheme prioritized WFQ with RR is proposed.


Quality teaching is a strategic objective for universities; thus, there is an expectation that university teachers design high quality learning experience for their students. The field of learning design has developed over the past 15 years as a way to support teachers in their design work. There has been significant research and development work that has focused on creating support tools to help teachers plan, develop and deliver learning experiences. However, little is known about what supports teachers access and use when they design and overall how teachers undertake their design work. This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that investigated the types of supports 30 teachers from 16 Australian universities reported using in their design work. Data was collected from semi-structured interviews, and the results show that participants accessed a variety of supports depending on their design need. The kind of support participants accessed in their design work were colleagues, literature, workshops and seminars, conferences, institutional support services, and enrolment in postgraduate study. How participants explained using these supports can be characterised as varied, personalised, dynamic and networked. Based on these results, implications for the learning design field are discussed with recommendations for future research.


A concern with competitiveness is as apparent in India as it is elsewhere in the global economy. This
interest rests alongside the oft repeated argument that calls for up-skilling and the on-going
enhancement of vocational education and training (VET) so as to meet the needs of industry. Pilz, in
this edited book, has brought together a number of papers that address Indian VET and its role in
the preparation for work. The book is encyclopaedic in its coverage of VET, both formal and
informal, and its various manifestations in India. Pilz invited each of his contributors to address
seventeen key questions (figure 2 p21): these ranged from programme aims, institutional location,
curriculum (compulsory as well as elective components), responsibility for design and
implementation, the prescribed and enacted curriculum, pedagogy, through to learner expectations
and so on.


Noise signals generated by rotating machines such as diesel engines, cutting machines, fans, etc. may be modeled as noisy sinusoidal signals which can be successfully suppressed by narrowband active noise control (ANC) systems. In this paper, the statistical performance of such a conventional filtered-X LMS (FXLMS) based narrowband ANC system is investigated in detail. First, difference equations governing the dynamics of the system are derived in terms of convergence of the mean and mean square estimation errors for the discrete Fourier coefficients (DFC) of the secondary source. Steady-state expressions for DFC estimation mean square error (MSE) as well as the remaining noise power are then developed in closed forms. A stability bound for the FXLMS in the mean sense is also derived. Extensive simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity of the analytical findings.


PURPOSE
To determine the effect of folic acid (FA) on experimental testicular ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in rats.

METHODS
Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups. The control group received physiologic saline orally. The sham-operated group received physiologic saline orally then exposed to midline laparotomy without clamping the IR. The I/R rats received oral gavage of the saline then subjected to 1h ischemia /24h reperfusion, period. In folic acid (2mg/kg+IR) rats received oral gavage of the FA (2mg/kg) then subjected to 1h I/24h R. groups 5-6 received FA (5 and 10 mg/kg), then subjected to 1 h I/24 h, respectively. At the end of the study, semen samples were collected for spermatozoa characteristics. The left testis was removed for histological analysis and superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) measurement.

RESULTS
Spermatozoa mobility, mortality (%) significantly decreased in I/R group (P<0.05). Dose dependent increase observed on spermatozoa mobility, mortality (%) using different levels of the FA (2, 5 and 10 mg/kg) treated rat (P<0.05). Tissue MDA levels significantly increased in I/R rat (P<0.05) while FA (2, 5 and 10mg/kg) in a dose dependent manner decreased I/R-induced MDA (P<0.05). Experimental I/R significantly decreased SOD and GPx activity (P<0.05). Administration of the FA (2, 5 and 10mg/kg) significantly increased tissue SOD and GPx activity in I/R rat (P<0.05). Seminiferous tubules degenerated and loss of spermatogenesis with few spermatocytes was observed in degenerated testis tubules in I/R rat. Orally administration of the FA (5 and 10 mg/kg) improved testis characteristics with few normal seminiferous tubules and spermatocyte in seminiferous tubules in experimental I/R-induced rat.

CONCLUSION
The treatment of folic acid had a benefit effect against ischemia-reperfusion.


BACKGROUND
The role of hypermobility of the first tarsometatarsal joint in the etiology of hallux valgus deformity is controversial. Consequently, the need to include an arthrodesis of this joint in the surgical treatment of hallux valgus has been questioned. We designed a study to evaluate the role of arthrodesis of the first tarsometatarsal joint on the outcome of surgical treatment of hallux valgus.

METHODS
A prospective, blinded, randomized study was performed to compare the results of a distal osteotomy of the first metatarsal (the Hohmann procedure) with those of an arthrodesis of the first tarsometatarsal joint combined with a soft-tissue procedure of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (the Lapidus procedure) for correction of a symptomatic hallux valgus deformity. One hundred and one feet of eighty-seven patients were included in the study. Fifty feet had a Hohmann procedure, and fifty-one had a Lapidus procedure. The mobility of the first tarsometatarsal joint was assessed in the preoperative clinical examination. On the basis of this examination, two subgroups were identified: sixty-eight feet with a hypermobile first tarsometatarsal joint and thirty-three feet with a nonhypermobile first tarsometatarsal joint. The patients were assessed clinically and radiographically at two years after the operation.

RESULTS
There was a significant improvement in the score on the great toe metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society and in the pain score following both procedures (p < 0.001). With the numbers available, no significant difference between the two procedures or between the subgroups of feet with a hypermobile first tarsometatarsal joint and those with a nonhypermobile joint could be identified. The patient satisfaction rating did not differ either between the two procedures or between the two subgroups. The radiographic results of the two methods were also similar, except for shortening of the first metatarsal, which was significantly greater (p < 0.001) in the Hohmann group, and plantar flexion of the first metatarsal, which was greater in the Lapidus group.

CONCLUSIONS
These short-term results were satisfactory and were comparable with those in previous isolated reports on these two procedures. As no significant differences between the two procedures or between the two subgroups (feet with a hypermobile first tarsometatarsal joint and those with a nonhypermobile joint) were found on clinical assessment, the theory that patients with hallux valgus and a hypermobile first tarsometatarsal joint should be managed with a Lapidus procedure was not supported.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapeutic study, Level I-1a (randomized controlled trial [significant difference]). See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Looking through display products like MicroOptical, Microvision, etc. which are popular in the wearable computer community, to our knowledge, none of them are wireless. A wireless display is more convenient for the user. This feature will enable the user to put it on and take it off as and when he requires on the move. This paper reports the design and implementation of a wireless display system for a wearable computer. We have selected a wireless version of `Personal Monitor' eyeglasses whose transmitter and receiver are efficient but are a bit bulky and not suitable for our application. Our contribution is to reduce the size and volume of the existing transmitter and receiver, at least by ten times. The proposed system can display signals from both VGA and analog video sources. The size and power consumption of the system are satisfactory and suitable for our wearable computer system. It can also be used by other systems and applications with minor modifications.


Abstract An assay system has been established for the sexual induction in the OH strain, an exclusively fissiparous (asexual) strain, of Dugesia ryukyuensis by feeding them with sexually matured worms of Bdellocephala brunnea, an exclusively oviparous (sexual) species. In this assay system, asexual worms gradually differentiated sexual organs, namely the ovary, testis, genital pore and yolk gland in this order, and eventually mated and laid cocoons filled with fertilized eggs. Although the OH strain worms were believed not to have any sexual organs, a pair of undeveloped ovaries with a few oogonia were detected by an intensive histological search. Along with the progression of sexualization, five distinct stages were histologically recognized: In the first stage, the ovaries became larger enough to be externally apparent; oocytes appeared first at stage 2; the primordial testes emerged at stage 3; a genital pore opened, yolk gland primordia developed and spermatocytes appeared at stage 4; and finally at stage 5 matured spermatozoa and yolk glands were formed. Worms in stages 1 and 2 but not in later stages returned asexual if feeding on B. brunnea was interrupted. Furthermore, when the worms at stage 3 onwards were cut posterior to the ovaries, all the tail regenerants developed eventually into fully sexualized worms. Taking these results in account, we have concluded that the process of sexualization has a point-of-no-return between stages 2 and 3. It is likely also that the testes, even the primordia, play an important role in the maintenance and development of sexuality.


Globally, ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) avoidance efforts rely primarily on local knowledge of the fish being consumed, its collection location, and association with illnesses. In 2016, several fish that appeared to be hybrids between a local commercially prized species, Ocyurus chrysurus, and a regionally prohibited species Lutjanus apodus (due to CFP concerns), were caught nearshore in United States Virgin Islands waters, leading to confusion regarding the safety of consuming the fish. The hybrid status of the fish was verified as O. chrysurus (male) × L. apodus (female) by comparing two sets of gene sequences (mitochondrial CO1 and nuclear S7). Using an in vitro mouse neuroblastoma (N2a) assay, one of the hybrid fish exhibited a composite cytotoxicity of 0.038 ppb Caribbean ciguatoxin-1 (C-CTX-1) equivalents (Eq.); a concentration below the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance level for safety in fish products for CFP (0.1 ppb C-CTX-1 Eq.) but approximately 2× above the maximum described in the commercially prized parent species (0.019 ppb C-CTX-1 Eq./g). C-CTX-1 was confirmed in the hybrid sample by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The second hybrid fish tested negative for CTXs. This research confirms hybridization between two species with contrasting commercial statuses, discusses CTX accumulation implications for hybridization, and provides a methodology for future studies into novel CFP vectors, with the goal of providing critical information for fishermen and consumers regarding CFP risk management.


Purpose – This paper aims to propose a liquidity management solution for Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) that concurs with sustainable development and financial stability. Design/methodology/approach – The study is a qualitative research. It uses the exploratory research methodology, specifically the content analysis approach, to gather primary data and identify and interpret relevant secondary data and Sharīʿah concepts. The purpose is to develop a liquidity management solution for IFIs. The proposal is based on the Unleveraged Green Investment Trust (UGIT) model, which is consistent with Basel III regulatory requirements. In developing the UGIT model, the exploratory research was complemented by a case study to examine the UGIT solution for the particular case of renewable energy. Findings – The model demonstrates how financial innovation can meet both financial stability and sustainable development objectives, thereby achieving the spirit of Islamic finance. The structure further highlights the importance of regulatory and fiscal frameworks to enhance liquidity management and investor appeal for green financial instruments. Originality/value – This study suggests a structure of UGIT to enable IFIs to meet their liquidity management needs while promoting sustainable development.


For iteroparous organisms, life history theory predicts a trade-off between current reproductive expenditure and probable future reproductive output. A high current investment in reproduction may entail costs, by decreasing an organism's chances of surviving to reproduce again and/or decreasing its future fecundity. Both of these costs of reproduction may be present in squamate reptiles, and because viviparous animals carry their offspring for longer, they may experience greater costs than do similar oviparous taxa. We examined the costs of reproduction in both oviparous and viviparous forms of the lizard, Lerista bougainvillii, to address three questions: (1) Are any costs of reproduction incurred by reproducing female L. bougainvillii? (2) If so, what is the nature of these costs? and (3) Are the costs greater for live-bearers than for egg-layers? Some of the variables measured showed the intuitively predicted costs, but many showed different, and sometimes surprising, patterns. For example, despite being burdened with their offspring, gravid females (both egg-layers and live-bearers) had faster running speeds than their non-reproductive counterparts. This counter-intuitive result may be due to a shift in escape strategy, to less frequent stopping and turning, by reproductive lizards. Contrary to prediction, the costs of reproduction do not appear to be significantly greater for viviparous L. bougainvillii than for their oviparous conspecifics. Live-bearers have larger body sizes, which may offset the predicted increase in costs associated with the evolution of viviparity. Thus, while straightforward in theory, actually measuring the costs of reproduction is a very complex task. Ecological differences between taxa, behavioral shifts by reproductive individuals, and seasonal shifts in behavior or performance can all make it difficult to determine what costs are present in different groups of organisms. Given this complexity, attempts to model the costs of reproduction on the basis of any single index (other than lifetime reproductive success) will likely be applicable only to small groups of ecologically similar taxa.


Modern machine learning techniques, such as deep neural networks, are transforming many disciplines ranging from image recognition to language understanding, by uncovering patterns in big data and making accurate predictions. They have also shown promising results for synthesizing new designs, which is crucial for creating products and enabling innovation. Generative models, including generative adversarial networks (GANs), have proven to be effective for design synthesis with applications ranging from product design to metamaterial design. These automated computational design methods can support human designers, who typically create designs by a time-consuming process of iteratively exploring ideas using experience and heuristics. However, there are still challenges remaining in automatically synthesizing 'creative' designs. GAN models, however, are not capable of generating unique designs, a key to innovation and a major gap in AI-based design automation applications. This paper proposes an automated method, named CreativeGAN, for generating novel designs. It does so by identifying components that make a design unique and modifying a GAN model such that it becomes more likely to generate designs with identified unique components. The method combines state-of-art novelty detection, segmentation, novelty localization, rewriting, and generative models for creative design synthesis. Using a dataset of bicycle designs, we demonstrate that the method can create new bicycle designs with unique frames and handles, and generalize rare novelties to a broad set of designs. Our automated method requires no human intervention and demonstrates a way to rethink creative design synthesis and exploration. For details and code used in this paper please refer to http://decode.mit.edu/projects/creativegan/.


In the near future the injection system of the proton linac at DESY will be upgraded. Two different types of H/sup -/-sources are operated at DESY. The new rf-driven volume source is free of cesium. On a long-term basis this source is planned to replace the present operating magnetron source. For reasons of reliability of the proton linac and for further developments of ion sources a parallel operation of two sources should be possible at the Alvarez linac. Each source has a separate RFQ to accelerate the ions to an energy of 750 keV. A new transport line with one dipole, 8 quadrupoles and one intermediate buncher was designed to match the beam between both RFQs and the Alvarez linac. The codes COPPOC and TRANSPORT were used to determine the length of the transport line and the parameters of the dipole and the buncher. Because of the high current of 20 mA and above the estimation of the space charge forces is of special interest. The macro-particle-code PARMTRA takes into account the particle-to-particle electric forces among all particles. The properties of the beam line have been studied in connection with the effects on the final beam quality after acceleration with the 50 MeV Alvarez linac.


OSNs is increasing day by day by using which people can exchange their knowledge, data or can share different information by connecting to the internet. In cyberspace people can make new friends easily by communicating with each other by using online social networks (OSNs). OSN users' existing social relationship can be characterized as 1-hop trust relationship, and further establish a multi-hop trust chain during the recommendation process. The social relationship on the OSNs is an asymmetric context-aware trust relationship between two friends, in which the privacy concerns are regarding their identities and social relationships, as well as the recommended information during the information exchange, all of which should be well addressed. In this paper, we propose a trust-based privacy-preserving friend recommendation scheme for OSNs, where OSN users apply their attributes to find matched friends, and establish a social relationship with strangers via a multi-hop trust chain to protect privacy of social networks and to establish a trust based recommendation by trust of existing users.


Efficiency improvement and color optimization of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) were achieved via employing blue host DPVBi doped with blue fluorescent, BCzVBi. The structure of high efficient WOLED device was composed of ITO/NPB/DPVBi:BCzVBi-6%/MADN:DCM2-0.5%/Bphen/Liq/Al. WOLED doped by blue fluorescent BCzVBi exhibits 6.19 cd/A of luminous efficiency and 15400 cd/m2 of maximum luminescence. It also performs 480 cd/m2 of luminance at 5.7 V and 15400 cd/m2 at 12.9 V with CIE(x,y) coordinates of (0.33, 0.32) and (0.32, 0.32), respectively. Hole carrier and energy transfer from DPVBi to BCzVBi are proposed to explain the observed phenomena.


The study of three temporal series (1954, 1976 and 2003) of aerial photos of the Era Valley (Tuscany) made it possible to draw three landuse maps of the Roglio Torrent Basin at a 1:10000 scale. This was eventually reduced to one single sheet containing the 1954 and 1976 maps at a 1:50000 scale and the 2003 map at 1:40000 scale. Maps were digitalized in a GIS software, with which they were analysed both in terms of space and of time variations. In particular, the «seminativi» landuse class, which is the most frequent in the area, went constantly reducing from 1954 to 2003. moving from an original overall extension of 83,6 km2 to the 2003 67,6 km2. Most of this abandoned land experienced a progressive re-naturalization, becoming first «cespuglieti» and eventually «bosco misto». This latter passed from a 1954 occupation of 43,9 km2 to a 66,1 km2 in 2003. Urban and sub-urban areas, mostly present at low altitude, increased of 2,6 km2. The constant decrease of the «oliveti» (16,2 km2) is particularly relevant not only for economic implications, but also for the consequences on soil erosion that the abandonment of this agricultural practice might cause. Changes thus recorded have had consequences on the processes of hydro-erosion, even though the complexity of such processes on men-affected soils does not allow a certain prediction of their possible reaction to the changes of landuse in the latest decades. Climatic analysis in the Roglio T. basin shows that there is an overall increase in the hydrical deficit and a decrease of the surplus from the first decades of the XXI century to the present, with possible consequences on soil erosion processes.


This Benchmark Report with educational aspects presents a straightforward and direct implementation of ARGESIM Benchmark C7 'Constrained Pendulum' in MATLAB and in EXCEL: the given models are implemented without any change, and the tasks are directly simulated without any rearrangement. Central issue of this benchmark is the detection and handling of a state event: when the pendulum hits or releases a pin, pendulum length and angular velocity are changing discontinuously. The MATLAB approach makes use of the event termination feature of the ODE solvers, and a MATLAB script loops between long and short pendulum and handles the event changes. The EXCEL approach solves the overall ODEs by Euler algorithm (a simple EXCEL recursion). The events are synchronized with the chosen time step (detection with delay), and handled by distinction of cases in any state update (no event, hit, release, velocity jump). The MATLAB implementation is straightforward but makes use of different models necessary. The EXCEL implementation shows that a spreadsheet tool – not really designed for simulation can do simulation by direct implementation of ODE algorithms, but event-handling causes elaborate case-bycase analysis. Introduction Figure 1: Pendulum hitting a pin.


Objective
To elucidate perspectives on opioids and opioid use from hospitalized veterans with comorbid chronic pain using qualitative methods.

Design
This was an analysis of individual qualitative interviews. The semistructured interview guide was developed by a hospitalist with clinical expertise in pain treatment with guidance from a medical anthropologist. Interviews aimed to understand participants' experiences of chronic pain.

Setting
A Midwestern Veterans Health Administration inpatient hospital unit.

Subjects
Nineteen inpatient veterans with a history of chronic pain or antecedent opioid use.

Methods
Recently admitted veterans were screened for chronic pain diagnosis on admission and antecedent opioid use. Eligible veterans were approached to participate in an in-person interview during their hospitalization.

Results
The following themes were identified in relation to opioid use: other patients as the problem (by misusing opioids resulting in broad limits to opioid access), empathy for providers (perceived to be working under prescribing constraints), and opioids as a last resort.

Conclusions
Although participants were not specifically questioned about opioid medications, discussion of opioids was prevalent in discussions of chronic pain. Findings suggest the potential utility of engaging hospitalized veterans in conversations about opioids and alternative pain management strategies.


We present two perimeter daylighting systems that passively redirect beam sunlight further from the window wall using special optical films, an optimized geometry, and a small glazing aperture. The objectives of these systems are (1) to increase daylight illuminance levels at 4.6-9.1 m (15-30 ft) from the window aperture with minimum solar heat gains and (2) to improve the uniformity of the daylighting luminance gradient across the room under variable solar conditions throughout the year. The designs were developed through a series of computer-assisted ray-tracing studies, laser visualization techniques, and photometric measurements and observations using physical scale models. Bi-directional illuminance measurements in combination with analytical routines were then used to simulate daylight performance for any solar position, and were incorporated into the DOE-2.1E building energy analysis computer program to evaluate energy savings. Results show increased daylight levels and an improved luminance gradient throughout the year compared to conventional daylighting systems.


A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of human serum albumin (HSA) was established based on the ternary complex-formation reaction of HSA with o -sulfophenylfluorone (SPF) as a xanthene dye and metal ion (niobium(V) and bismuth(III)) in the presence of a dispersion agent. This new method enabled the determination of HSA in the range of 1–15 µg/ml HSA by measuring the difference of the absorbance at 530 nm between HSA-SPF-metal ion and SPF-metal ion solutions. In the determination of HSA, this method is about 2-times more sensitive than the Pyrogallol Red-molybdenum(VI) method (PR method), which accounts for more than 80% of the quantification methods for urinary protein assays in Japan. There was no significant difference between the results obtained by the present method and the PR method for human urine samples. The binding process between the SPF-metal complex and HSA was studied by determining the binding parameters and the thermodynamic parameters.


The transition to democracy and the experience of globalization have transformed the ways Korea as a nation defines its national identity. Rising public attention and acceptance of human rights issues have resulted in discernable political changes in the areas of human rights, but sexual minorities are still left outside such positive developments. Building on the existing scholarly literature on gay rights in Korea, this article examines the problems of sexual minorities and their fight against them in the military, mass media, the educational system, and the courts. It also highlights the key points of contention and obstacles to underpinning the current state of sexual minorities and discusses the likely future trajectory of the gay rights movement in Korean society.


Purpose

In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, entrepreneurship is not a very popular option among women. The low rate of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females is attributed to factors that are specific to females in GCC region. The purpose of this paper is to understand these variables and their interrelationships that lead to low rate of adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females in GCC region.

Design/methodology/approach

The research followed a two-stage process; first, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify barriers to female entrepreneurship in GCC region. In the second stage, the identified barriers were modeled using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling technique to construct a hierarchical structure and the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification approach to analyze the control power and dependence among these barriers.

Findings

The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.

Practical implications

This research will help policy makers to focus on variables that are most important and requires immediate attention for the development and empowerment of female entrepreneurship in the GCC region. The paper suggests future course of action to provide an impetus to efforts aimed at improving female entrepreneurship in the GCC region.

Originality/value

The policy makers in the GCC region have accorded high priority to entrepreneurship to reduce the dependence of population on government jobs. This research is one of the few studies on female entrepreneurship conducted in GCC region to understand the impediments that limit the adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice by women.


The political dimension of water becomes highly important not only because of its scarcity, but also as a result of its sharing across national boundaries. Approximately 40% of the global population lives in tranboundary water basins, emphasizing the need for cooperation and harmonization of policies. Hence, the need for "Hydrodiplomacy" rose under the framework of sustainable development and international cooperation. Especially in Greece, management of transboundary rivers is of major importance, since roughly 25% of the country's renewable resources are "imported" as in four out of the total five transboundary rivers Greece is the downstream country. The lack of transboundary water agreements between Greece and its neighboring countries (except with Bulgaria) is affecting greatly the international cooperation and the status of the water resources. Hence, the implementation of appropriate methodologies is crucial for the promotion of the integrated management of these areas. This study refers to five transboundary basins in Northern Greece and introduces the principles of "Hydrodiplomacy" in their management.


The electrophoretic mobility of three beta-blocker drugs, i.e. nadolol, oxprenolol and pindolol, in sodium acetate buffer containing different concentrations of methanol varying from 0 to 100 percent have been determined by a capillary electrophoresis instrument. The generated experimental data have been employed to evaluate the accuracy of a mathematical model to calculate the electrophoretic mobility at different concentrations of methanol. The proposed model is: In µm=¦c In µc+¦w In µw+K1 ¦c ¦w+K2 ¦²c ¦w. Where µ is the electrophoretic mobility, ¦ is the volume fraction, subscripts m, c and w are the mixed water-methanol, pure methanol and pure water, respectively, K1 and K2 are the model constants. The proposed model produced accurate results and the average percentage deviation between experimental and calculated mobilities was 1.21% for the data sets studied. This percentage error could be considered as an acceptable error where the relative standard deviation for the repeated experiments is around 2%.


A Q550 high strength steel was selected at two different cooling rates through ultra-fast cooling process, and its microstructures and strengthening mechanisms were analyzed. The results show the bainite transformation temperature of the steel decreased with the increasing of cooling rate.The ultra-fast cooling process can improve the performance of Q550 compared with the conventional cooling process, and the yield strength, tensile strength and elongation are 600MPa, 755MPa and 19%, and - 20 °Cimpact energy is 253J, and good strength and toughness are obtained under ultra-fast cooling process. The microstructure of this steel is bainite and good strength and toughness are caused by the refinement of bainite and fine precipitates. Ultra-fast cooling technology improves the strength and toughness of this steel effectively.


This book explores how rural gender relations are changing in a globalizing world. It integrates experiences across the globe through the discussion of four key themes in rural gender research: agriculture, international development, gender identities and mobility. The first section (chapters 2-6) examines how mobility affects men and women in rural areas. It explores gender differences in mobility patterns and analyses how mobility affects rural gender identities and relations. The second section (chapters 7-11) focuses on agricultural change, the response of individuals within farm households and the implications for gender relations in rural areas. The third section (chapters 12-17) focuses on the construction of identities and the changes occurring in the definition of rural femininity and masculinity as a result of rural transformations. The fourth section (chapters 18-23) examines the role of international development policies in advancing women's well-being in the less developed parts of the world and some of the unintended consequences of such interventions. The contributors to this book present empirical work from the global North and South.


CONTEXT
Vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms are associated with a variety of diseases, which may translate into an effect on mortality.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the associations between VDR gene variants and mortality among older people.

DESIGN
The analyses were conducted in a population-based, prospective cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Adequate DNA analysis was performed in 923 men and women (≥65 years). We aimed to assess the associations between mortality and the VDR polymorphism FokI, three haplotypes of the Cdx2 and GATA polymorphisms, and three haplotypes of the BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI polymorphisms.

RESULTS
During the median follow-up of 10.7 years, 480 participants deceased (51%). Homozygosity for the Cdx2-GATA haplotype 1 allele was associated with a 30% higher mortality risk compared to the absence of alleles (hazard ratios (HR) 1.30, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.01-1.68). Adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels did not affect this HR. The number of copies of the Cdx2-GATA haplotype 1 allele was associated, although not significantly, with an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures (0 copies=reference, HR, 95% CI: 1 copy 2.01, 0.99-4.07 and 2 copies 1.81, 0.87-4.18). After adjustment for osteoporotic fractures, homozygosity for the Cdx2-GATA haplotype 1 allele was no longer associated with higher mortality risk (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.83-1.41).

CONCLUSIONS
The Cdx2-GATA haplotype 1 allele was related to increased mortality risk, which may be partly explained by osteoporotic fractures. As the biological mechanism is uncertain and this study size is limited, our results should be interpreted as hypothesis generating.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw on literature underpinning social support to explore individual level considerations when designing social support systems for academic entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws from literature in the fields of entrepreneurship, organisational support, stress and coping, and conservation of resources theory to conceptualise social support in an academic entrepreneurship setting.FindingsProvides an expanded definition and a framework of social support. The definition signals the complex nature of delivering social support by considering mechanisms through which the concept is operationalised. These include the content of social support, relationships it occurs within, mode of delivery of support and finally outcomes of such support. A social support influencer pentagram is presented of elements that, together, or separately may affect how individuals seek, receive or perceive support in the academic entrepreneurship context. The framework may also have implications for organisations in other contexts.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should explore the content, delivery mode and timing of support sought and/or received and perceived as helpful and the types of relationships within which these might occur. The impact of this on academic entrepreneurship and variation of these inputs and outputs with respect to the types of actors involved should be considered. It underscores the need, in empirical research, for in-depth understanding of the context of each incident of support regardless of organisational context.Practical implicationsThis paper illustrates the challenges of designing a supportive culture and the conceptual contribution forewarns policy makers of the need to design multi-faceted, flexible and adaptive social support systems.Originality/valueThis paper seeks to establish the value and complex nature of social support as a medium to encourage academic entrepreneurship by providing a broader definition of social support and a framework of elements that may affect whether individuals seek, receive or perceive support within the academic entrepreneurship setting. To our knowledge, it is one of the first papers in an academic entrepreneurship setting which recognises the dual separate paths [based on stress and coping theory (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989)] from the perception of support and the objective support itself to entrepreneurial outcomes. The proposed framework also seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of the ways in which social systems might influence the success of an individual academic's entrepreneurial endeavours and those of others with whom they interact. It also contributes to the wider social support literature by providing a better understanding of how individuals might break resource loss spirals (Hobfoll et al., 2018).


Power is a fundamental force in social relationships and is pervasive throughout various types of interactions. Although research has shown that the possession of power can change the power holder, the full extent of power's consequences on individuals' decision-making capabilities and social interactions within organizations is not fully understood. The goal of this paper is to review, synthesize, and critique the literature on power with a focus on its organizational and managerial implications. Specifically, we propose a definition of power that takes into account its three defining characteristics—having the discretion and means to enforce one's will—and summarize the extant literature on how power influences individuals' thoughts, emotions, and actions both in terms of prosocial and antisocial outcomes. In addition, we highlight important moderators of power and describe ways in which it can be studied in a more rigorous manner by examining methodological issues and pitfalls with regard to its measurement and manipulation. We also provide future research directions to motivate and guide the study of power by management scholars. Our desire is to present a thorough and parsimonious account of power's influence on individuals within an organizational context, as well as provide a foundation that scholars can build upon as they continue to make consequential contributions to the study of power.


Group contingencies are recognized as a potent intervention for addressing challenging student behavior in the classroom, with research reviews supporting the use of this intervention platform going back more than four decades. Over this time period, the field of education has increasingly emphasized the role of research evidence for informing practice, as reflected in the increased use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. In the current article, we continue this trend by applying recently developed between-case effect size measures and transparent visual analysis procedures to synthesize an up-to-date set of group contingency studies that used single-case designs. Results corroborated recent systematic reviews by indicating that group contingencies are generally effective—particularly for addressing challenging behavior in general education classrooms. However, our review highlights the need for more research on students with disabilities and the need to collect and report information about participants' functional level.


We have further investigated dimethylarsinic acid because of its possible gametocidal activity, using the prolific-seeding pearl millet, Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.) Stapf and C. E. Hubb. Seed set, pollen stainability, chromosome pairing, length of tillers, and other characteristics were evaluated. Foliar-spray applications (183 grams per hectare) at early growth stages selectively modified floral structures, the gynoecium being the most sensitive. Multiple and intermediately modified pistils were observed in single spikelets. A significant increase in number of chromosome univalents in microsporocytes was associated with treatment dose and seed set was markedly reduced. No one causal factor was found to have a dominant influence on sterility, although selective interference with normal tissue differentiation and retarded cell elongation of floral structures played an important part


We combine the recent determination of the evolution of the cosmic density of molecular gas (H2) using deep, volumetric surveys, with previous estimates of the cosmic density of stellar mass, star formation rate and atomic gas (H i), to constrain the evolution of baryons associated with galaxies averaged over cosmic time and space. The cosmic H i and H2 densities are roughly equal at z ∼ 1.5. The H2 density then decreases by a factor to today's value, whereas the H i density stays approximately constant. The stellar mass density is increasing continuously with time and surpasses that of the total gas density (H i and H2) at redshift z ∼ 1.5. The growth in stellar mass cannot be accounted for by the decrease in cosmic H2 density, necessitating significant accretion of additional gas onto galaxies. With the new H2 constraints, we postulate and put observational constraints on a two-step gas accretion process: (i) a net infall of ionized gas from the intergalactic/circumgalactic medium to refuel the extended H i reservoirs, and (ii) a net inflow of H i and subsequent conversion to H2 in the galaxy centers. Both the infall and inflow rate densities have decreased by almost an order of magnitude since z ∼ 2. Assuming that the current trends continue, the cosmic molecular gas density will further decrease by about a factor of two over the next 5 Gyr, the stellar mass will increase by approximately 10%, and cosmic star formation activity will decline steadily toward zero, as the gas infall and accretion shut down.


A major obstacle to transplantation tolerance is humoral immunity. In this paper, we demonstrate that the intrinsic developmental propensity of the B lymphocyte compartment for acquisition of self-tolerance can be harnessed to induce humoral unresponsiveness to transplanted alloantigens. In the current study, when transitional B cells developed in the presence of donor lymphoid cells, the mature B lymphocyte compartment failed to mount a donor-specific alloantibody response to an organ transplant—despite unrestrained acute T cell-mediated allograft rejection. Specifically, we generated an experimental system wherein a B6 strain B cell compartment developed de novo in the presence of F1 (B6xBALB/c) lymphoid cells and in a T cell-deficient setting. Following establishment of a steady-state B cell compartment, these B6 mice were transplanted with heterotopic cardiac allografts from allogeneic BALB/c donors. The mice were then inoculated with purified syngeneic B6 T cells. As expected, all cardiac allografts were acutely rejected. However, the B lymphocyte compartment of these mice was completely inert in its capacity to form a BALB/c-specific alloantibody response. Using an alloantigen-specific Ig transgenic system, we demonstrated that this profound degree of humoral tolerance was caused by clonal deletion of alloreactive specificities from the primary B cell repertoire. Thus, de novo B cell compartment development at the time of transplantation is of critical importance in recipient repertoire "remodeling" to a humoral tolerant state. The Journal of Immunology , 2011, 186: 000–000.


: This prospective, 30-month study evaluates mouth restorations performed under general anesthesia on 219 patients at the Stomatology Unit of the National Institute of Pediatrics. The authors analyze characteristics of patients, treatments performed and complications.


Emerging trends toward cloud computing and virtualization have been opening new avenues to meet enormous demands of space, resource utilization, and energy efficiency in modern data centers. By being allowed to host many multi-tier applications in consolidated environments, cloud infrastructure providers enable resources to be shared among these applications at a very fine granularity. Meanwhile, resource virtualization has recently gained considerable attention in the design of computer systems and become a key ingredient for cloud computing. It provides significant improvement of aggregated power efficiency and high resource utilization by enabling resource consolidation. It also allows infrastructure providers to manage their resources in an agile way under highly dynamic conditions.
However, these trends also raise significant challenges to researchers and practitioners to successfully achieve agile resource management in consolidated environments. First, they must deal with very different responsiveness and performance requirements of different applications, while handling dynamic changes in resource demands as applications' workloads change over time. Second, when provisioning resources, they must consider management costs such as power consumption and adaptation overheads (i.e., overheads incurred by dynamically reconfiguring resources). Dynamic provisioning of virtual resources entails the inherent performance-power tradeoff. Moreover, indiscriminate adaptations can result in significant overheads on power consumption and end-to-end performance. Hence, to achieve agile resource management, it is important to thoroughly investigate various performance characteristics of deployed applications, precisely integrate costs caused by adaptations, and then balance benefits and costs. Fundamentally, the research question is how to dynamically provision available resources for all deployed applications to maximize overall utility under time-varying workloads, while considering such management costs.
Given the scope of the problem space, this dissertation aims to develop an optimization system that not only meets performance requirements of deployed applications, but also addresses tradeoffs between performance, power consumption, and adaptation overheads. To fulfill the goal, first, I have studied performance characteristics of enterprise multi-tier applications, and then built an adaptation engine to optimize end-to-end performance through dynamic resource provisioning techniques in a consolidated server environment. Second, I have investigated the impact of adaptation overheads on end-to-end response time and then integrated such transient adaptation costs into the adaptation engine to balance performance benefit and cost by developing analytical models and a novel optimization search algorithm.
This dissertation makes two distinct contributions. First, I show that adaptations applied to cloud infrastructures can cause significant overheads on not only end-to-end response time, but also server power consumption. Moreover, I show that such costs can vary in intensity and time scale against workload, adaptation types, and performance characteristics of hosted applications. Second, I address multi-dimensional optimization between server power consumption, performance benefit, and transient costs incurred by various adaptations. Additionally, I incorporate the overhead of the optimization procedure itself into the problem formulation. Typically, system optimization approaches entail intensive computations and potentially have a long delay to deal with a huge search space in cloud computing infrastructures. Therefore, this type of cost cannot be ignored when adaptation plans are designed. In this multi-dimensional optimization work, scalable optimization algorithm and hierarchical adaptation architecture are developed to handle many applications, hosting servers, and various adaptations to support various time-scale adaptationdecisions.