AIMS
Binary transgenic (BT) mice with doxycycline (DOX)-suppressible cardiac-specific overexpression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) exhibit progressive heart failure (HF), QRS prolongation, and death following DOX withdrawal. However, the molecular basis and reversibility of the electrophysiological abnormalities in this model were not known. Here, we assess the mechanisms underlying ET-1-mediated electrical remodelling, and its role in HF.

METHODS AND RESULTS
BT vs. non-BT littermate controls were withdrawn from DOX and serially studied with ultrasound biomicroscopy, octapolar catheters, multielectrode epicardial mapping, histopathology, western blot, immunohistochemistry, and qRT-PCR. Abnormalities in ventricular activation and -dV/dt were detected as early as 4 weeks after transgene activation, when the structure and function of the heart remained unaffected. By 8 weeks of ET-1 overexpression, biventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction, myocardial fibrosis, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy were observed. Intracardiac and epicardial electrograms revealed prolonged conduction and ventricular activation, reduced -dV/dt, and abnormal atrioventricular nodal function. Within 4 weeks of ET-1 induction, connexin 40 (Cx40) protein and Cx43 mRNA, protein, and phosphorylation levels were reduced by 36, 64, 93, and 69%, respectively; Na(v)1.5 mRNA and protein levels were reduced by 30 and 50%, respectively, as was Na(+) channel conductance. Importantly, the associated electrophysiological abnormalities at this time point were reversible upon suppression of ET-1 overexpression and completely prevented the development of structural and functional remodelling.

CONCLUSION
ET-1-mediated electrical remodelling correlates with reduced Cx40, Cx43, and Na(v)1.5 expression and decreased Na(+) channel conductance and precedes HF. The sequence and reversibility of this phenotype suggest that a primary abnormality in electrical remodelling may contribute to the pathogenesis of HF.


Abstract Cylindrical fuel pins with wires are the design of choice for tightly packed fuel arrays. However, it is important to investigate novel fuel configurations in order to increase the thermal margins. Hence, new fuel designs have been studied for the epithermal option of the light water-cooled IRIS core. These designs are also of potential use in other tightly packed, epithermal advanced core designs. First, design equations have been used to determine number, height, and size of the principal features (clad, gap, fuel cross-sectional area) of the novel fuel configurations under investigation. Then, performance indices have been introduced to relate fuel geometrical characteristics to selected thermal-hydraulic parameters, such as pressure drop, critical heat flux (CHF), fuel centerline temperature, and clad surface temperature and stress distribution. Finally, variously shaped fuel configurations, including cylindrical, triangular, square, and hexagonal, have been ranked according to the performance indicators. The hexagonal fuel pins, both twisted and straight, proved to be good solutions for the epithermal tight core of the light water-cooled IRIS reactor, with performances comparable to those of the cylindrical fuel with wires. In particular, for water-to-fuel ratios ~0.33, the twisted hexagonal shape is the preferable design with a reduction of the total pressure drop by 16% and an increase of the CHF margin by 200%, compared to the traditional cylindrical pins with grids. Furthermore, the straight hexagonal shape allows flatter subchannel velocity profiles, wall shear stress, and wall temperature distributions. However, geometric constraints unfortunately do not allow application of the twisted hexagonal shape for smaller water-to-fuel ratios, which is a design regime of more favorable epithermal neutronics performance. In this regime, the cylindrical pins with wires are the solution of choice.


This paper is dedicated to practical research in the field of automated testing and analysis of software that features a graphical user interface. Current tendencies in user interface development favour semi-automatic approaches that employ human experts to create and prepare test suites. The ever-increasing complexity of software leads to decreased effectiveness of these approaches, especially when one considers large amounts of computational resources available during development. We present a fully automatic approach to dynamic analysis of program graphical interfaces. Our approach is based on the open-source GUITAR tool, which we have identified among other industrial and academic tools as the one closest to full automation. While highly efficient, GUITAR nevertheless has certain drawbacks and limitations which might cause insufficient accuracy in modelling the graphical interface structure and its individual elements. In turn, these limitations lead to fragments of graphical interface not getting processed during analysis or cause incorrect (i.e. not reproducible in practice) test cases to be generated. Our contributions include a set of modifications: incremental graphical interface model generation, improved identification of graphical interface element attributes and side effects, and finally a test case generation algorithm that focuses on reaching unprocessed graphical interface elements to check their functionality and improve the model. We have tested our modifications on a set of open source projects originally checked by GUITAR developers and achieved positive results: increased precision of GUI structure model and theoretically can decrease number of inapplicable test cases. Finally, we discuss several potential improvements for future work, including, in particular, the use of dynamic symbolic execution methods.


Abstract Objective: To find out the prevention effects of folic acid supplements during different pregnancy periods on neural tube defects (NTDs) and the relationship of folic acid supplements with the other NTDs' primary preventive measures. Methods: A 1:1 case-control study was conducted. Four hundred and fifty-nine women who delivered or gestate infants/fetuses with NTDs in the last two years were randomly selected as cases and were matched with women who delivered babies without obvious birth defects as controls. Results: For anencephaly, folic acid supplementation during the periconceptional period and preconceptional period has a 57–83% reduction in risk of NTDs(ORs ranged from 0.17 to 0.43). For spina bifida, folic acid supplementation during the periconceptional period has a 79% reduction in risk of NTDs (OR = 0.21). For encephalocele, folic acid supplementation during the periconceptional period has a 67% reduction in risk of NTDs (OR = 0.33). The prevention effects on NTDs were significant when these preventive measures combined with folic acid supplements during the periconceptional period, with OR 0.04, 0.07, 0.10 and 0.11. Conclusion: The specific effects of folic acid supplementation during different periods show the reduction in the risk of NTDs, anencephaly, spina bifida, encephalocele. During periconceptional period, folic acid supplements have preventive effects on all NTDs' subtypes.


The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) blockers infliximab and etanercept and the recombinant interleukin 1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist anakinra are effective in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, information in the medical literature and public domain is used to consider the safety of these biologic agents. TNF-alpha inhibition with infliximab has been associated with reactivation of tuberculosis and possibly development of other opportunistic infections (histoplasmosis, listeriosis. and pneumocystis). Exacerbations of multiple sclerosis and other central nervous system events have been reported with etanercept and infliximab. Recently, a review of preliminary data from an ongoing phase II study suggests that infliximab may worsen congestive heart failure. On the basis of clinical trials, there appears to be a higher incidence of serious infections seen in anakinra patients compared with controls; the particular combination of anakinra and etanercept may be associated with a higher incidence of serious infections and clinically significant leukopenia. Additional data are needed to understand whether all these safety issues are unique to an individual biologic agent or representative of a class effect. At this time, treating physicians must carefully weigh the benefits of these new biologics against their risks, particularly in patients at risk of infection.


Making use of the adiabatic hyperspherical approach, we report a calculation for the energy spectrum of the ground and low-excited states of a two-dimensional helium in a magnetic field. The results show that the ground and low-excited states of helium in low-dimensional space are more stable than those in three-dimensional space and there may exist more bound states.


Passive components, active components, and interconnecting substrates are the fundamental building blocks for an electronic system, and nowadays, a large percentage of the printed circuit board (PCB) surface area is taken up by the surface-mounted discrete passive components. Embedding these discrete components into the board structure has become the primary method to further miniaturize electronic systems. Besides the size reduction, embedded passives offer many other advantages. Reduced cost and improved electrical performance can be expected, and are actually another two major driving forces of embedded passive technology. To enable embedded passives, materials that satisfy the requirements of fabrication, electrical performance, and mechanical performance need to be developed. We report the innovative development of a low-cost high dielectric constant polymer-based composite that combines the advantages of polymer-ceramic and polymer-metal systems for embedded capacitor application. This novel material uses low cost self-passivated aluminum particles as the filler for the polymer composites. The thin self-passivated Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ layer forms a nanoscale insulating boundary outside of the metallic spheres, which has dramatic influence on the electrical behavior of the resulting composites. The nanoscale insulating oxide layer allows the aluminum composites to have a high dielectric constant as a percolation system; on the other hand, the insulating oxide layer confines the electrons within an aluminum particle, thus keeping a very low loss of the composites.


This chapter is an analytical state-of-the-art in the history of Muslim diplomacy in Central Europe. It proposes to conduct a multipolar European political history, to qualify the importance of Western European courts in the relationships between the Christian-ruled Europe and the Ottoman world, but also to highlight the role of both personal networks and unofficial agents. Focusing mainly on Ottoman, North African and Moroccan embassies in the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Prussia, he underlines the existence of ancient and structured trans-imperial social worlds, which create the conditions for political commensurability between Christian and Muslims rulers. Finally, this chapter significantly reduces the importance of the model of the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648 in the construction of a European political history.


In this paper, we propose a simple means of designing and analyzing a sequential procedure for comparing survival data from three treatments with the goal of eventually identifying the best treatment. Our procedure consists of the concatenation of two sequential tests, as is suggested by Siegmund (1993, Annals of Statistics 21, 464-483) for instantaneous normal responses. The first sequential test is a global test that attempts to detect an overall treatment effect. If one is found, the least promising treatment is eliminated and a second sequential test attempts to identify the better of the two remaining treatments. Although there are three different information time scales to consider corresponding to each pairwise comparison, we show that under certain conditions they may be approximated by a single time scale. This enables us to gain insight into the problem of censored survival data from the more easily understood case of instantaneous normal data. Also, it eliminates the need for intensive computations and simulations for the design and analysis of the procedure.


Here we study the static potential for the two quarks and two antiquarks system. First this is done using the tetraquark operator, which has been previously used to calculate the static potential. This is found to give good results in the region where the tetraquark is expected to be the ground state, however failing outside it. To repair this, we resort to a variational method. This let us study the first excited state besides the ground state of the system in two different particle dispositions, one where the quarks are on the same side of a rectangle and the other where they are at opposite sides. Results for the field components and for the lagrangian density are presented.


Labour law – comprising individual employment laws and the collective regulation of work by trade unions and employers – is inherently political. It not only involves the legal regulation of the work relationship but also broader policy choices about the nature of society and the distribution of resources. As a result, any sophisticated study of the discipline mandates an understanding of both labour law's legislative content as well as the social, political and economic context within which it has evolved and within which its legislation plays out. 'European Labour Law' is no different in this regard. National understandings of twenty-eight labour law systems permeate the politics surrounding the development of a 'social' Europe and vice versa. This exchange between law and politics takes place on different levels with national ideas moving across borders, percolating to the EU level, and EU decisions filtering down to the national level. Notwithstanding the general recognition that law and politics go hand in hand in providing an understanding of the development of a social side to European integration, the extent to which scholars of 'European Labour Law' have regard to other disciplines is limited. This chapter discusses the shortcomings of this approach and suggests that insights from the EU studies literature on Europeanisation could help labour law scholars to better understand the impact of 'European Labour Law' on national labour law systems and, as a result, provide us with valuable future research agendas.


Ice disturbance is frequently cited as having a major role in structuring benthic communities in shallow polar waters, and yet comprehensive field studies on the direct effects of ice disturbance are rare. This thesis aimed to describe the role of ice disturbance in determining benthic community structure at sites around Rothera Point, Adelaide Island (67° 34.5' S, 68° 07.0' W). The work comprised of two main components; a range of observational studies to describe the general effects of ice disturbance, and an experimental quantification of the disturbance pressure, which was then used to make novel links between disturbance and community structure.

A photographic survey using depth transects (0-35 in depth) at three sites showed that benthic assemblages changed continuously along a bathymetric gradient. Assemblages were most patchy at shallow depths and the relative abundance of sessile forms increased with depth, which suggested that disturbance intensity was greatest in the shallows. The immediate effects of iceberg impacts were also investigated. Communities within newly formed iceberg scours were sampled and compared with those in undisturbed areas; scoured assemblages were 95% lower in mean macrofaunal abundance and 75.9% lower in species richness. The recovery of three scour assemblages was monitored for ~30 months following the disturbance event. Scoured assemblages became increasingly similar to undisturbed assemblages over time and marked spatial variability was observed in both scoured and unscoured zones.

Experimental markers were designed to detect iceberg impacts and were deployed as 24 grids at four depth increments and two study sites. Markers were surveyed regularly for two years to quantify the frequency of iceberg impacts, which varied significantly with depth, site, season and year. The intensity of disturbance was greatest in the shallows (0-5 m depth) and significantly reduced at 25 m depth. Variation between site and season could be largely explained by the duration of winter fast ice. Extensive sampling at each of the disturbance grids showed that disturbance intensity has a significant and wide-ranging influence on macrobenthic community structure.


Article History: Received 14, February, 2015 Received in revised form 23, February, 2015 Accepted 13, March, 2015 Published online 28, March, 2015 A study on the nutritional status and academic achievement of 135 Lambani school children was conducted at Hoovinahadagali taluk, Bellary district during 2012-13. All the children of 9-11 years of age studying in 4th and 5 standards were selected from 5 government primary schools. The nutritional status was assessed by using anthropometric measurements (height and weight), academic achievement interms of previous year grades. The results revealed that there were highly significant differences found in mean height and weight of children with respect to their NCHS norm values in both groups by age and gender. About 40 per cent of children had normal nutritional status while 60 per cent of children indicated short, long or chronic type of malnutrition. With respect to academic achievement It was interesting to note that 37.03 per cent children secured B grade followed by A (28.14%), B (16.29%), C (11.85%) and lastly A (6.7%) grade. It was observed that 2.22 per cent secured A+ grade in younger age group while exactly double (4.44%) in older age group. In B+ achievers 5.18 per cent belonged to 9 year age group while 11.11 per cent 10 year of age group. There was positive and highly significant difference found between nutritional status with academic achievement, Hence increase in the nutritional status of children inturn the academic achievement.


This paper is on qualitative interpolation of spatial data. By considering the nature and magnitude of such data, they are very important in the spatial analysis process of natural phenomena. Qualitative data used in this research is related to soil color defined from morphological description of field-collected samples. The methodology was established through the followed steps: data acquisition; qualitative interpolation; phenomenon representation and visualization. The outcomes got from such procedure concerning the qualitative interpolation of the attribute color allow visualizing and representing the spatial variation of this morphological property.


Aim Despite effective treatment for recent hepatitis C (HCV) infection, side-effects and adherence concerns limit its use among people who inject drugs (PWID). This study evaluated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and social functioning following infection and during recent HCV treatment. Methods The Australian Trial of Acute Hepatitis C studied the natural history and treatment of recent HCV infection. HRQoL (SF-12v2) and social functioning (Opiate Treatment Index score) were measured over 48 weeks and their impact on treatment uptake, adherence and virological response were assessed. Results Of 163 participants, 111 received treatment (HCV n = 74, SVR 55%; HCV/HIV n = 37, SVR 74%). 116 (71%) were male, 124 (76%) ever injected drugs, with 55 (36%) injecting recently and 28/55 (51%) reported needle/syringe sharing. At baseline, median physical and mental HRQoL was 54 units (IQR 46–58) and 46 (35–54) (reference median: 50), respectively, and median social functioning score was 11 units (7–17). Higher social function (<10 vs ≥15) predicted increased treatment uptake (AOR 3.43, 95%CI 1.01–11.6, p = 0.048) and higher SVR (AOR 5.11, 95%CI 1.30–20.15, p = 0.020). After adjustment, treated participants had lower physical (-4.90 units, 95%CI -6.33 to -3.48, p<0.001) and mental HRQoL (-3.7 units, 95%CI -5.55 to -1.86, p<0.001) at on-treatment visits, but HRQoL returned to baseline levels during follow-up. Conclusions Social functioning can predict recent HCV treatment uptake and SVR. Efforts to maximise social stability may improve treatment response. Pegylated-interferon treatment is associated with reduced HRQoL on-treatment in an already vulnerable population of PWID that would be better served by interferon-free regimens particularly in treated target at PWID to prevent transmission. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00192569


Multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens pose a serious public health threat, especially in hospital settings. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) contributes to this threat by facilitating the rapid spread of genes conferring antibiotic resistance, enhanced virulence, and environmental persistence between nosocomial pathogens. Despite recent advances in microbial genomics, studies of HGT in hospital settings remain limited in scope. The objective of this study was to identify and track the movement of MGEs within a single hospital system using unbiased methods. We screened the genomes of 2,173 bacterial isolates from healthcare-associated infections collected over an 18-month time period to identify nucleotide regions that were identical in the genomes of bacteria belonging to distinct genera. These putative MGEs were found in 196 isolates belonging to 11 different genera; they grouped into 51 clusters of related elements, and they were most often shared between related genera. To resolve the genomic locations of the most prevalent MGEs, we performed long-read sequencing on a subset of representative isolates and generated highly contiguous, hybrid-assembled genomes. Many of these genomes contained plasmids and chromosomal elements encoding one or more of the MGEs we identified, which were often arranged in a mosaic fashion. We then tracked the appearance of ten MGE-bearing plasmids in all 2,173 genomes, and found evidence supporting the transfer of plasmids between patients independent from bacterial transmission. Finally, we identified two instances of likely plasmid transfer across genera within individual patients. In one instance, the plasmid appeared to have subsequently transferred to a second patient. By surveying a large number of bacterial genomes sampled from infections at a single hospital in a systematic and unbiased manner, we were able to track the independent transfer of MGEs over time. This work expands our understanding of HGT in healthcare settings, and can inform efforts to limit the spread of drug-resistant pathogens in hospitals.


This paper presents the development of a web-based wireless sensor network application for monitoring water pollution using Zigbee and WiMax technologies. The developed system consists of a local Zigbee network, capable of acquiring various water quality parameters, a WiMax network and a host computer for web based monitoring. The system is designed to collect and process information, thus making decisions in realtime via a remote web server. The data is sent from sensor nodes through the Zigbee gateway to the web server via WiMax network, thus allowing users to remotely monitor the water quality from their offices instead of gathering data from the scence. Experimental results demonstrate the ability of the sensor network to monitor water pollution in real time. This system can be easily configured to support other applications, such as e-health and security.


This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Abstract— In this letter, a new bit rate adaptation decision taking technique is proposed based on the observations that ambient illumination context has an effect on the perceived video quality. Motion activity and structural complexity characteristics of a video content are utilized as the content related contexts in the proposed technique. Experimental results demonstrate that a significant amount of bit rate can be saved while maintaining the perceptual quality same by adapting the video content according to different ambient illumination conditions using this technique. Subjective assessment results show that the proposed adaptation technique is capable of exploiting the changes in ambient illumination level for bit rate adaptation without sacrificing the perceived visual quality.


This study aims to obtain the results of how much value is formed from the relationship between issues and stock prices, and how the dynamics that occur between issues on stock prices and any increase or decrease in stock prices are related to repetitive issues. The technique used in this research is using Social Network analysis, Investment, Market Efficient, Market Analysis, Sentiment Analysis sentiment analysis, the data used is based on User Generated Content (UGC), where the data is taken from social media which contains content created in looking for issues related to stock prices, and the movement of rising and falling stock prices taken from the IDX. The result of this research are stock issues are influenced by positive sentiment from the market with a positive response of 81% and a negative 19%. In addition, 63% are influenced by micro (small) scale external issues. The classification results generated using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model are more suitable than the Naïve Bayes Classifier (NBC).


Refusals to license intellectual property (IP) present one of the thorniest issues in antitrust law. Such activity is privileged under the IP regime, the foundation of which is the right to exclude. But it may be punished under antitrust law, which focuses on competition. The courts have promulgated a number of inconsistent tests in determining whether IP refusals to license constitute monopolization. They have granted absolute immunity to the patentee, applied various rebuttable presumptions, and examined whether an essential facility was denied. Throughout this disarray, the Supreme Court has stayed on the sidelines. But the decision of Verizon Communications Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, L.L.P. (Trinko), which addressed a telephone company's refusal to share its network with rivals, provides a range of clues as to how the Court would treat IP refusals to license. In this short symposium piece, I analyze six elements of the Trinko opinion that shed light on the Court's likely treatment of such conduct. In particular, I examine the Court's general themes of the benefits of monopoly power, the dangers of sharing, and the costs of antitrust, and specific treatment of claims addressing refusals to deal, essential facilities, and monopoly leveraging. I conclude that the Court's likely deference to IP refusals to license would support lower court cases proffering immunity and not support intent-based rebuttable presumptions or essential facility approaches. In short, Trinko will make it more difficult for plaintiffs to challenge IP refusals to license.


In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in multiresolution representations that also perform a multidirectional analysis. These representations often yield very sparse representation for multidimensional data. The shearlet representation, which has been derived within the framework of composite wavelets, can be extended quite trivially from 2D to 3D. However, the extension to 3D is not unique and consequently there are different implementations possible for the discrete transform. In this paper, we investigate the properties of two relevant designs having different 3D frequency tilings. We show that the first design has a redundancy factor of around 7, while in the second design the transform can attain a redundancy factor around 3.5, independent of the number of analysis directions. Due to the low redundancy, the 3D shearlet transform becomes a viable alternative to the 3D curvelet transform. Experimental results are provided to support these findings.


ABSTRACT This research present an integrated process for the extraction and purification of betanin from fruit of Opuntia ficus-indica. The extraction process was evaluated using different solvents (water, acetonitrile, ethanol and tetrahydrofuran), and then integrated into the purification process using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS). The optimum conditions for extraction was with THF and the purification conditions determined to be 43 wt% of THF and 6 wt% of sodium citrate buffer (pH 5.5) at 25°C. A purification factor of 13.7 ± 0.5 fold, with a partition coefficient of betanin for salt-rich phase and the antioxidant capacity was increased ≈ 65%.


This paper employs a stochastic frontier production function and technical inefficiency effects model to measure and explain the technical efficiency of Thai manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Cross-sectional firm-level data from the industrial census conducted in 2007 is used. A simple average technical efficiency levels in all categories of manufacturing SMEs analysed in 2007 is found to be low, indicating a high degree of technical inefficiency in the production process. Despite reform measures aimed at improving firm performance, Thai manufacturing SMEs have remained predominantly labour intensive. The technical inefficiency effects model reveals that firm size, firm age, skilled labour, firm location, ownership type, foreign investment and exporting are key factors contributing to SME technical efficiency. The paper concludes that government policy have been largely ineffective and should place more attention on creating an enabling environment to foster SME growth, enhance technology and encourage the development of an environment, infrastructure and facilities conducive to enhancing the business operation of SMEs in order to enhance their technical efficiency.


Amongst the reforms altering the European railway industry in the last two decades, the new provisions on rail (or transport) regulators' renovated powers and independence have been little analysed by the literature. This study aims to quantitatively determine the impact of economic regulation on European railways efficiency and qualitatively identify the role of rail regulators across Europe.
The quantitative analysis considers a sample of European railway systems for the period 2002-2010, and measures economic regulation by employing a purposely developed index rather than dummy variables, as widely utilised by previous literature. The findings differ depending on the way outputs are measured, with regulation producing cost reductions either when combined with vertical separation or when accompanied by competition. However, the combined impact of vertical separation and average levels of regulation only reduces costs when train density is below the sample mean.
The qualitative analysis is based on the design of a questionnaire on rail regulation, collecting first-hand evidence from 20 regulators, infrastructure managers and railway operators across Europe. The questions take into account the findings of a specific literature review on a set of ideal characteristics germane to regulators in railways and comparable industries. Regulators seem to have achieved the necessary requirements in order to effectively operate. Independence is guaranteed on paper and in action, high levels of transparency render regulators accountable, and when intervention is requested, their responses appear prompt. On the other hand, the approval of track access charging schemes, together with the monitoring of the efficiency and quality of the infrastructure managers' performances, only at times fully involves the regulators.
Overall, from both analyses a complex scenario emerges, wherein strong economic regulation produces greater benefits in lightly dense contexts and when accompanied by vertical separation and effective competition.


ABSTRACT Studying migratory behavior of bats is challenging. Thus, most information regarding their migratory behavior is anecdotal. Recently, however, fatalities of migratory bats at some wind energy facilities across North America have provided the opportunity and impetus to study bat migration at fine spatial and temporal scales. Using acoustic monitoring and carcass searches, we examined temporal and spatial variation in activity levels and fatality rates of bats at a wind energy facility in southern Alberta, Canada. Our goals were to better understand the influence of weather variables and turbine location on the activity and fatality of hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) and silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and to use that understanding to predict variation in fatality rates at wind energy facilities and recommend measures to reduce fatalities. Overall activity of migratory bats and of silver-haired bats increased in low wind speeds and warm ambient temperatures, and was reduced when the wind was from the North or Northeast, whereas hoary bat activity increased with falling barometric pressure. Fatalities of migratory bats in general increased with increased activity of migratory bats, increased moon illumination, and falling barometric pressure and were influenced by the interaction between barometric pressure change and activity. Fatalities of silver-haired bats increased with increased activity, moon illumination, and winds from the south-east. Hoary bat fatalities increased with falling barometric pressure. Our results indicate that both the activity and fatality of migratory bats are affected by weather variables, but that species differ in their responses to environmental conditions. Spatially, fatalities were not influenced by the position of turbines within a turbine row, but were influenced by the location of turbines within the facility. Our findings have implications for our understanding of bat migration and efforts to reduce fatalities at wind energy facilities. To maximize the reduction of bat fatalities, operators of wind energy facilities could incorporate migratory bats' response to environmental variables, such as barometric pressure and fraction of moon illuminated, into their existing mitigation strategies.


The difficulty of reliably removing an established lucerne pasture before cropping has been identified as a major problem with phase-farming systems on mixed farms. A series of experiments were undertaken on established lucerne stands at the Ginninderra Experimental Station in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and at the Temora Research Station in southern New South Wales (NSW) to compare the ability of grazing, either alone or in combination with herbicides, to remove a lucerne pasture. A pilot study at the Ginninderra Experimental Station in 1998–99 utilised a high stocking rate (30 dry sheep equivalents [dse]/ha), while the main study at the Ginninderra Experimental Station and the Temora Research Station in 1999–2000 used a lower stocking rate (10–12 dse/ha) considered to be closer to farmer practice in the region. Continuous grazing at the high stocking rate removed 73% of the lucerne stand over 3 months. In contrast, the stocking rates applied in the main study proved too low to substantially impact on lucerne survival at both the ACT and NSW sites (13–23% removal) under the good seasonal conditions experienced in 1999–2000 even though the pastures were continuously grazed for 8–9 months. The use of herbicides both alone or in conjunction with grazing greatly improved lucerne removal in both studies. However, herbicide efficacy was variable (53–100% removal), and seemed to be related to the time of year it was applied, the period of lucerne regrowth or the amount of rainfall before herbicide application. An additional on-farm study was undertaken near Junee Reefs in southern NSW between 2001 and 2003 that compared the survival of a range of lucerne cultivars under simulated hay-cutting (mown) and commercial grazing regimes. Dry conditions during 2002–03 resulted in a decline in lucerne frequency at about 50% in mown control plots. Grazing increased the stand decline, particularly for many winter-active cultivars where lucerne frequency was reduced by up to 70–93%. It was concluded that: (i) continuous grazing for prolonged periods can be effective at removing lucerne, but the rate of lucerne loss will be influenced by both stocking rate and rainfall; (ii) the application of herbicides can improve lucerne removal either in association with, or in the absence of grazing; however, herbicide efficacy appeared to be dependent upon the physiological status of the lucerne plants and/or the environmental conditions before application; and (iii) cultivar responses indicated that lucerne types could potentially be developed for phase-farming systems with increased susceptibility to grazing mismanagement.


Here we presented some theoretical conclusions about the nonlinear links in island bird communities. It is proved, that the relations between the specific biodiversity, structure and entropy of biogeocenosis are nonlinear. The optimal level of diversity in island bird communities does not depend on the carrying capacity. The optimal level of species diversity and the corresponding value of the total population (biomass) increases with carrying capacity and available ecological niches. The population diversity is the basis for community adaptation towards the unstable environment. Species diversity allows the community as a whole to be more efficient and to use the resources of environment more efficient by differentiating of ecological niches. The species diversity indices do not strive to stable constant, they increase along with species abundance but these dependences are rather nonlinear.


Today, in the world of competition, it is necessary for organizations to formulate structured management plans to operate in these conditions. One of the most important issues that can be investigated in depth can make organizations successful in the field of competition, the issue of supply chain management. A new point of view is a financial point of view. Therefore, in the current research, the aim is to provide a solution to improve the performance of the sustainable supply chain by identifying the financial components affecting it. In this way, using the soft systems methodology, approach, the problem of unstructured sustainable supply chain management from the financial point of view is expressed, and then by analyzing it, the image of different players of the drawing system and their root definition is raised. In the following, a conceptual model of activities is presented using the root definition and then the model is compared with the real world. Finally, the desired changes to improve and develop the actual system are identified and programs implemented to improve the performance and increase the profitability of the supply chain management system. Finally, the financial, monetary, sustainability and risk dimensions were identified as the four main factors affecting the sustainable supply chain. The results of this study will be effective for designing improvement patterns in sustainable supply chain management.


A fundamental logical problem in the Bayesian inference of a series system's failure probability is described, a practical means for its mitigation is discussed, and its application to space launch vehicles is illustrated. The problem is the ldquoBayesian Anomaly,rdquo the difference in the system's failure probability per operation inferred from prior estimates, and test or operational experience applied at a lower-level of the system; and from the convolution of the same priors, and of the same experience applied at the system level (or any level above the first). In particular, unlike in a classical inference, the mean estimates differ critically. Although it is not possible to entirely resolve the problem, a practical procedure for mitigating it, establishing consistency among the mean and variance estimates at the two levels, is delineated.


Profiled membranes (also known as corrugated membranes, micro-structured membranes, patterned membranes, membranes with designed topography or notched membranes) are gaining increasing academic and industrial attention and recognition as a viable alternative to flat membranes. So far, profiled ion exchange membranes have shown to significantly improve the performance of reverse electrodialysis (RED), and particularly, electrodialysis (ED) by eliminating the spacer shadow effect and by inducing hydrodynamic changes, leading to ion transport rate enhancement. The beneficial effects of profiled ion exchange membranes are strongly dependent on the shape of their profiles (corrugations/patterns) as well as on the flow rate and salts' concentration in the feed streams. The enormous degree of freedom to create new profile geometries offers an exciting opportunity to improve even more their performance. Additionally, the advent of new manufacturing methods in the membrane field, such as 3D printing, is anticipated to allow a faster and an easier way to create profiled membranes with different and complex geometries.


Cardiovascular disease poses a major challenge for the 21st century. Although good control of blood pressure and type 2 diabetes and reducing low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels can improve cardiovascular outcomes, a substantial residual risk remains existed after treatment in most patient populations. Recently, many efforts have been directed at finding the important role of low high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, high triglycerides, especially triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and lipoprotein (a) in the metabolism of atherosclerotic plaque formation Therefore, based on the recent evidence, identification and treatment of these risk factors may play a role in optimizing therapeutic strategy, particularly in high risk subjects along with conventional treatment. In clinical practice, adequate attention should be paid when screening and managing residual cardiovascular risk factors in dyslipidemia in term of individualized approach. The ongoing trials will give more answers to elucidate this important area.


Based on a groundbreaking five-year study, analysing data on 200 management practices gathered over a 10-year period, "What Really Works" reveals the effectiveness of practices that really matter - the ones that, if followed rigorously, ensure sustained business success. With hundreds of well-known management practices and prescriptions promoted by consultants and available to business, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a company? Which do little or nothing? Based on the 'Evergreen Project', a massive, five-year study involving the business school faculties of 10 universities, the authors set out to find the management practices that truly promote long-term growth and success. Their findings will revolutionise the art and practice of business management. The book shows that there are essentially six management practices that all successful companies must master simultaneously. They range from focusing on a strategy of growth to maintaining the depth and quality of human talent in the organisation.


Taking a deliberately narrow conception of security, defined as the organizational effectiveness of regimes, this paper considers recent incidents of violence in Central Asia (the second revolution in Kyrgyzstan; events in Osh, Zhanaozen and Pamir; and various "terrorist" incidents) to ask which factors have shown their potential to cause conflict and destabilization. In light of this, the paper discusses the sources of legitimacy and state capacity in Central Asian states, concluding that they are "Machiavellian principalities".


BACKGROUND
No-reflow phenomenon after reperfusion treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is becoming more recognized today. The effective treatment for no-reflow has not been reported.

OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy for replenishing qi, nourishing yin, and promoting blood circulation on AMI patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS
This study was conducted from January 2005 to March 2006 using a double-blinded, randomized method. Thirty-five AMI patients (Killip I-II) were first diagnosed as ST segment elevation AMI and obtained primary PCI. They were recruited from People's Hospital, Peking University. All patients' symptoms accorded with qi-yin deficiency syndrome and blood stasis syndrome. They were randomly and double blindly divided into control group (18 cases) and treatment group (17 cases). The patients in the control group received Western medicine treatment, and the patients in the treatment group were treated with Western medicine plus American ginseng and Salviae miltiorrhizae preparations. They were all treated for 3 months.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Before and after 3-month treatment, the TCM symptoms were observed and scored. At the state of baseline and dobutamine stress, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), wall motion score (WMS), WMS index and normal cardiac muscle percentage (NCMP), and the myocardial contrast echocardiography index k, which reflects myocardium microcirculation perfusion, were detected.

RESULTS
After 3-month treatment, the TCM symptoms in the treatment group were improved as compared with the control group (X(2)=4.118, P=0.042). At the state of dobutamine stress, LVEF in the treatment group after treatment was higher than those in the control group (t=2.130, P=0.041) and before treatment (t=2.345, P=0.032). Although the number of the segments with increased k value was more than that in the control group, there was no significant difference.

CONCLUSION
TCM therapy for replenishing qi, nourishing yin and promoting blood circulation can improve the clinical symptoms and quality of life of the AMI patients undergoing PCI, and is beneficial to myocardium microcirculation. Thus, it may be an alternative cardioprotective treatment strategy for successful myocardial microcirculation in AMI patients after reperfusion.


We use first-principles calculations to investigate the structural and transport properties of various Cu/Ta(N)/Cu interface stacks, which are representative of the metal interfaces located at the bottom of vertical interconnects in state-of-the-art back-end-of-line technology. In particular, we consider approximately 2-nm thick layers of several different Ta-based barrier layers sandwiched between two Cu(111) layers, including TaN, α-Ta, β-Ta, and a bilayer TaN/ α-Ta structure. Our results highlight that the bilayer Cu/TaN/ α-Ta/Cu structure shows both an attractive combination of low electrical resistance and superior dielectric adhesion. We also find that inelastic phonon transport across the interface structures is largely determined by the frequency overlap of the bulk-like phonon density of states of each metal layer. Our results are fed into a simple interconnect performance benchmarking model based on a single-driver signal wire, where we find that metal barrier optimization can result in a net 2.5% stage delay reduction without comprising reliability.


Efficiency as well as sustainability regarding road infrastructure can only be achieved when construction and maintenance also work efficiently and sustainably. Therefore a deeper knowledge of the complex material-vehicle-environment interaction is needed to develop an improved relationship between pavement deterioration and material, environment and vehicle parameters. In order to create an enhanced rule for this interaction, it is necessary to combine comprehensive material testing with statistical, analytical and numerical methods that have been developed in the last 50 years. This can only be achieved if the research is done on a European level by EURODEX, a EUuropean ROad Damage EXperiment. Results from this experiment will lead to an improved pavement performance and deterioration model that can be used for various means. On the one hand it will be a strong tool for a fair and sustainable transport pricing on European roads, on the other hand it can be used to make pavement design and construction as well as maintenance more efficient and economic. This report of deliverable D7, Outline of a new empirical Road Damage Experiment, gives a preliminary design and layout for EURODEX. Therefore an inventory of European ALT facilities is provided, the most important factors for pavement deterioration, distress and performance are described and guidelines for common data acquisition, data storage and retrieval are given. Furthermore a strategic plan for EURODEX has been developed within this WP. Basic information on pavement engineering and a detailed analysis of pavement deterioration factors, pavement distress, as well as current modelling of pavement performance and methods of maintenance and reconstruction are given in Appendix A.


We give a first contribution to the homogenization of many-body structures that are ex- posed to large deformations and obey the noninterpenetration constraint. The many-body structures considered here resemble cord-belts like they are used to reinforce pneumatic tires. We establish and analyze an idealized model for such many-body structures in which the subbodies are assumed to be hyperelastic with a polyconvex energy density and shall exhibit an initial brittle bond with their neighbors. Noninterpenetration of matter is taken into account by the Ciarlet-Necas condition and we demand deformations to preserve the local orientation. By studying Γ-convergence of the corre- sponding total energies as the subbodies become smaller and smaller, we find that the homogenization limits allow for deformations of class special functions of bounded variation while the aforementioned kinematic constraints are conserved. Depending on the many-body structures' geometries, the ho- mogenization limits feature new mechanical effects ranging from anisotropy to additional kinematic constraints. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of predeformations in order to provide approxima- tions for special functions of bounded variation while preserving the natural kinematic constraints of geometrically nonlinear solid mechanics.


Tissue slice to medium ratios of 3H-1-norepinephrine (3H-1-NE) were used to study the effect of ouabain on uptake of norepinephrine. The effects of ouabain were studied in slices of heart and spleen from three different species: rat, guinea pig, and dog. The drug produced a species as well as a concentration dependent inhibition of norepinephrine uptake in both types of tissue. In order of decreasing sensitivity, the following relationship between species was observed: dogs greater than guinea pigs greater than rats. Since 3H-1-norepinephrine uptake under the present experimental conditions represents uptake into sympathetic nerve terminals, it was concluded that Na+-K+-ATPases of sympathetic nerve terminals have species dependent differences in ouabain sensitivity similar to those of myocardium.


In order to fabricate solar cells with the highest possible values of efficiencies, material type, layer thickness and doping have to be properly selected. It can be achieved if light absorption and carrier generation are maximized and losses minimized. The same parameters that increase carrier generation, can increase certain types of losses. Parameters which reduce one type of losses, tend to increase the other types. Structural complexity of these devices combined with already mentioned conflicting requirements create vast parameter space which is highly uneven and contains a huge number of local minima and maxima. It makes it difficult for the most of search methods to locate the global maximum. Therefore, heuristic optimization is crucial for solving problems as complex as this one.
To find the optimal combination of these parameters, genetic algorithm is used with drift-diffusion model and all material parameters calculated as a function of energy gap. This way we have very realistic material parameter set which, together with detailed losses modeling, provide reliable results. To test the model, findings were compared with the record setting devices. Results were in agreement, which makes the model trustworthy. Two types of devices were optimized: multi-junction solar cells (MJSC) and photon energy converters (PEC). In case of MJSCs, parameters which were optimized are thicknesses, impurity concentrations, energy gaps and optimal current. And in case of PECs, thicknesses, impurity concentrations and optimal current were optimized. The optimization was repeated with different types of losses accounted in order to see how each one of them affects the overall efficiency. From the results of optimization it was possible to see what are the main drawbacks in the device efficiency and how to overcome them.
Calculations were carried out with ASTM G173−03 Global tilted solar spectrum in case of MJSCs and laser with intensity of 5W/cm2 and wavelength of 855nm in case of PECs. The absorption was calculated from kppw code.
The maximum efficiencies achieved for the unconstrained device are 30.158%,41.479%, 45.669%, 50.775% and 53.653% for MJSC devices with one, two, three, four and five subcells, respectively, when all types of losses are taken into account. In case of the series constrained device, the results are 31.080%, 42.467%, 48.276%, 50.777%, 53.653%, 54.917% and 55.317% for devices with up to seven subcells, respectively, when all types of losses are taken into account, as well. The values for the PECs are 69.431%, 68.838%, 66.676% and 65.698% for one, five, ten and fifteen subcells, respectively. This time all losses are accounted as well. If the model is applied to the record setting devices, the results are 32.34% for 2JSC and 38.1%, while actual, measured, values are 31.6±1.5% and 37.9±1.2%, respectively, which is an outstanding match.
Detailed device parameters obtained through the optimization process are presented. Examination of those results leads to possible recipe how to fabricate the highest possible efficiency devices. It was concluded that the radiative recombination is the most dominant type of losses in III-V semiconductors and can be suppressed by increasing the material's energy gap. Diffusion dark current can be suppressed by increasing the energy gap as well, while the doping levels shoud be increased. On the other hand, Auger recombination can be reduced by decreasing the doping, while the increase of energy gap reduces Auger much more than the other two. This leads to significant drop in efficiency when the algorythm tries to suppress the Auger, in comparison when only the two other types of losses are accounted. Nevertheless, the suppression of all losses leads to more efficient devices. This analysis can be a guide the future experiments and indicate how much more efficiency can be achieved with these devices, which materials to target and how to correctly balance between various contradicting requirements imposed by the nature of semiconductor materials.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the roles of public spaces in promoting community relations and sense of place in a coastal community, which are both important elements of sustainable community development. This study investigated how activities in public spaces can foster community relations, thereby affecting sense of place, and described how public spaces are used by local residents.

Design/methodology/approach
The Ban-Chaytalae community in the coastal area of Samutsakorn province, Thailand, was selected as a case study. This community has plentiful wetland resources, which provide various benefits for local people, and several areas in the community are used as public spaces for various activities, such as social interactions, recreation, sports, learning activities and cultural and traditional practices. In-depth interviews with residents in the community were conducted, and a questionnaire was administered in the Ban-Chaytalae community during August-December 2017.

Findings
The results of content analysis revealed that several places in the community are utilised as public spaces, including shrines, commercial shops, transportation routes, the coast and spaces between homes. Moreover, the results of path analysis revealed that engaging in cultural, traditional, community development and socialising activities had direct effects on residents' sense of place and indirect effects on sense of place through community relations.

Research limitations/implications
The study findings implied that land development policy should avoid the deterioration of public places, and furthermore, public spaces should be developed to facilitate activities that can strengthen the active roles of citizens in sustainable community development.

Originality/value
This study provided empirical evidence on the role of public activities and spaces in promoting community relations and sense of place. The study results imply that the quality and quantity of public spaces where cultural, socialising and community development activities are performed should be conserved. Any development that might change these public spaces has the potential to affect people's ways of living, which, in turn, influences social relationships and sense of place.


A novel action of leptin on bone formation has recently been described in animals. However, in humans, studies provide data, that, are less conclusive. So far, few studies investigated the leptin-bone density association in males. Moreover, it has been suggested that GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 may be major players in the hormonal or paracrine pathways that regulate bone cell metabolism. Also, leptin has been shown to modulate the GH/IGF pathway. The aim of this study was to clarify further this issue by investigating (a) the influence of serum levels of leptin, GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 on bone mass in various skeletal sites and, (b), the relationship between leptin and the GH/IGF axis. 363 healthy individuals were investigated. BMD and serum leptin, GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 serum levels were assessed. Our results indicate that 11% of healthy males had bone density with T scores ≤2.5 SD. No significant differences were found between men with normal and those with reduced BMD with regards to serum leptin, GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels. A positive correlation was found between BMD and leptin levels in FN and T, and a negative one between leptin and IGF-1 levels. Further studies are needed before we reach final conclusions.


The use of a taser by law enforcement can substitute for either a gun (a more-violent technology) or a mildly-violent technology (such as pepper spray or hands-on tactics). Which is used affects both the severity of harm when used and the amount of resistance, which affects how often it must be used. Thus, does the adoption of a less-violent technology lead to more or less violence? This question is addressed in an application to the adoption of tasers by law enforcement officials. A game-theoretic model is developed and environments where resistance to arrest and expected harm both increase and decrease are identified.


The aim of this paper is to describe Flannery O'Connor's stories as the repetition of a pattern that consists in, through sickness, changing good country people into good men. Therefore, sickness, in O'Connor's oeuvre, has to be described as a blessing, an idea that the writer herself would gladly approve of. To prove it, this paper takes into consideration the way O'Connor described the debilitating disease that would end up by killing her. The usual portrait critics make of O'Connor's work consists in randomly applying catchwords like South, Catholic or Grotesque. Contrarily to these critics' description, the somehow systematic approach to O'Connor's stories here proposed does not in any way serve to reduce and simplify the writer's work, but to enhance its mystery and manners. What this paper tries to demonstrate is that, through the analysis of the plot of O'Connor's short stories, we can have access to her personal theology. A theology that, although pictured so ghastly in tales full of rapes, delusions and murders, is profoundly optimistic. O'Connor's aim as a writer is, thence, to prove that redemption and revelations are only dependent of an awareness regarding our own death, an awareness only sickness, in its many forms, can bring.


With the inception of the World Wide Web, the amount of data present on the Internet is tremendous. This makes the task of navigating through this enormous amount of data quite difficult for the user. As users struggle to navigate through this wealth of information, the need for the development of an automated system that can extract the required information becomes urgent. This paper presents a Question Answering system to ease the process of information retrieval. Question Answering systems have been around for quite some time and are a sub-field of information retrieval and natural language processing. The task of any Question Answering system is to seek an answer to a free form factual question. The difficulty of pinpointing and verifying the precise answer makes question answering more challenging than simple information retrieval done by search engines. The research objective of this paper is to develop a novel approach to Question Answering based on a composition of conventional approaches of Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language processing (NLP). The focus is on using a structured and annotated knowledge base instead of an unstructured one. The knowledge base used here is DBpedia and the final system is evaluated on the Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) 2004 questions dataset.


The paper describes two approaches for deriving the mean, standard deviation and probability density function of the method uncertainty for five axial capacity pile design methods, namely the API, Fugro, ICP, NGI and UWA methods. A new unified database of pile load tests recently developed in a joint industry research project (Lehane et al., 2017) is used for the quantification of method uncertainty. The focus of this paper is on the statistical description of the method uncertainty parameters for each of the pile design methods for predicting the axial capacity of piles in sand and in clay. Probabilistic calculations of the axial pile capacity for typical offshore piles using the above five design methods (API, Fugro, ICP, NGI and UWA methods) showed that method uncertainty is a major contributor to the uncertainty in pile foundation capacity. The method uncertainty has therefore a strong influence on the calculated annual probability of failure, and thus on the associated safety level. Establishing the statistics of the error in a capacity prediction model from the measured values (Qm) in pile load tests and the calculated values (Qc) of pile capacity requires careful consideration of several factors. Issues of importance to the derivation of method uncertainty statistics include the effect of different sized databases for the different pile design methods, the effect of case histories with particularly low Qm/Qc values and the possible dependence of method uncertainty on pile length and/or pile diameter. The paper presents two different interpretations for the characterization of method uncertainty and demonstrates their application through a case study for an offshore piled jacket. The effect of method uncertainty on the calculated annual probability of failure is illustrated.


Osteoarthritis is a common problem in general practice and a major indication for NSAIDs. Many patients with osteoarthritis are elderly and therefore particularly at risk from adverse reactions. Co-morbidity and co-prescription may lead to drug interactions. For these reasons, safe NSAIDs are the first choice for this disease.


This study examines support for climate adaptation planning and the role of perceived risk, uncertainty, and trust on adaptation of U.S. coastal communities. This assessment is based on the analysis of web-based questionnaires (n = 137) among state, local, and non-government organization (NGO) planners in Alaska, Florida, and Maryland. Ordinal regression and correlation analysis were used to assess which factors are related to support for adaptation during two planning stages. Findings from this study suggest the influence of perceived risk, uncertainty, and trust on support for climate change adaptation (CCA) varies across two stages of adaptation planning (support for the development of plans and willingness to allocate human and financial resources to implement plans). The disaggregation of planning entities into different study areas and levels of management revealed significant differences in the relationship between perceived risk, uncertainty, and trust and support for CCA planning. These findings have implications for the design of communication and engagement strategies.


Abstract Small-sided games (SSGs) are effective for soccer-specific aerobic endurance training. To date, no study has investigated the effect of stop-ball (SB-SSG) rule on the physiological responses to SSG. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of SB-SSG vs. small-goals (SG-SSG) rules on physiological responses during a 3 vs. 3 SSG in young soccer players. Twelve male amateur young soccer players (age, 14.0 ± 0.7 years; body mass, 51.8 ± 8.0 kg; height, 164 ± 7 cm) randomly performed either SB-SSG or SG-SSG for 4 × 4 min separated by 2 min of recovery on a 20 × 15 m pitch. During the SB-SSG, participants were instructed to stop the ball with the soles of their boots in a 15 × 1 m surface behind the pitch bottom line; whereas during the SG-SSG, the participants were instructed to score to a mini-goal (i.e., 1 × 0.5 m). During each test session, the mean heart rate (HR), the post-SSG rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scores and blood lactate concentrations ([La−]) were recorded. Results showed that SB-SSG induced significantly higher mean HR (178 ± 3 vs. 174 ± 3 bpm; P < 0.05) and [La−] (4.66 ± 0.98 vs. 4.16 ± 1.02 mol · L–1; P < 0.05) than SG-SSG. However, there was no significant difference between SB-SSG and SG-SSG for the RPE scores. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates the effectiveness of SB-SSG in SSG training. Indeed, SB-SSG can influence the effort intensity in SSG (i.e., resulted in a higher intensity than SG-SSG). Therefore, coaches have the possibility to choose between SB-SSG and SG-SSG rules during training sessions according to their physical and technical objectives.


Pearls are greatly valued by the jewelry industry as shiny organic gems. Their glossiness, results of a defense mechanism against foreign particles. Pearls (Hyriopsis cumingii) are produced from a natural biomineralization process controlled by organic molecules. Pearl biocrystal is a hybrid composite: organic / mineral (3 % / 97 %). The regular form of pearl mineralization is aragonite, an orthorhombic polymorph of calcium carbonate. Each biocarbonate plateletis a polygranular composite of aragonite nanograinsstuck by proteins. It diffracts as a single crystal and is so called mesocrystal. Platelets have a polygonal shape, few hundreds of nanometersthick, whichstack along the c-axis with chitin organic 'cement'. This layered structure produces the well-known 'pearly' aspect. Sometimes, pearls show a biomineralization defect characterized by a lack of shine (also called 'milky pearl'). It has been established that this defect is related to the change in crystallization form: from orthorhombic aragonite to hexagonal vaterite [1]. Fig. 1: SEM observation of the interface: same area as seen with cathodoluminescence (CL, left) and in secondary electron mode (SE, right)


We present a new method for image taxonomy. Our formulation shows how the combination of automated metadata-based analysis and knowledge-acquisition tools can help build better image search applications. We build on top of existing metadata-based techniques to image taxonomy and combine them to human assistance, in order to guarantee some minimal level of semantic soundness. Knowledge from humans is acquired thru their interaction with CAPTCHAs, which application is shown here in an innovative way. We believe this new application of CAPTCHA is a promising opportunity for knowledge acquisition because it takes advantage of a very special moment: since humans are willing to take a CAPTCHA test to access some resource, it might be possible to take advantage of this moment to extract meaning from human's response to the CAPTCHA test, in a collaborative fashion.


Research using network models in psychology has proliferated over the last decade. The popularity of network models has largely been driven by their alternative explanation for the emergence of psychological attributes—observed variables co-occur because they are causally coupled and dynamically reinforce each other, forming cohesive systems. Despite their rise in popularity, the growth of network models as a psychometric tool has remained relatively stagnant, mainly being used as a novel measurement perspective. In this dissertation, the goal is to expand the role of network models in modern psychometrics and to move towards using these models as a tool for the validation of assessment instruments. This paper presents three simulation studies and an empirical example that are designed to evaluate different aspects of the psychometric network approach to assessment: reducing redundancy, detecting dimensions, and estimating loadings. The first simulation evaluated two novel approaches for determining whether items are redundant, which is a key component for the accuracy and interpretation of network measures. The second simulation evaluated several different community detection algorithms, which are designed to detect dimensions in networks. The third simulation evaluated an adapted formulation of the network measure, node strength, and how it compares to factor loadings estimated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the simulations demonstrate that network models can be used as an effective psychometric tool and one that is on par with more traditional methods. Finally, in the empirical example, the methods from the simulations are applied to a real-world dataset measuring personality. This example demonstrated that these methods are not only effective, but they can validate whether an assessment instrument is consistent with theoretical and empirical expectations. With these methods in hand, network models are poised to take the next step towards becoming a robust psychometric tool.


Within the framework of crystal plasticity the grain refinement observed in metals exposed to severe plastic deformation(SPD) is interpreted as an energy minimization process. For a crystalline solid it is less energetically costly to be fragmented in small regions(subgrains) deformed by a reduced number of slip systems and fitted together by local reorientations than to be deformed by homogeneous multislip.The energy minimization enhanced by hardening tends to reduce the size of the subgrains. On the other hand, the refinement increases the area of the boundaries between the subgrains, hence, it increases interface energy. Thus, the size of the subgrains is the result of a competition between these two tendencies:the internal and dissipative energy tend to decrease the refined structural size, whereas the interface energy opposes this tendency. Moreover, the formed substructure pattern follows the orientation of the active slip systems. The effective rotation of the active slip systems, which is a basic charac-teristic of SPD processing techniques, enhances the refinement process. It is proposed that the effective rotation causes a continuous reconstruction of the substructure pattern. The hindered destruction of the previous pattern leads to an increased hardening thus reducing the size of the subgrains. The proposed approach is demonstrated in the analysis of the refinement process induced by high pressure torsion and the results are correlated with the available observations.


This research examines the impact of parking pricing and parking availability on potential travel mode substitution among current drivers, in four case study areas in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). It serves to evaluate opportunities to decrease private vehicle usage among the GTA's workforce. More specifically, the objective of this study is to analyze whether and to what extent parking pricing and parking availability alter drivers' willingness to change their mode of transportation. Results from ordered logit models demonstrated that a driver's willingness to change their mode of transportation was statistically correlated with parking cost and parking availability. Parking availability also impacted the correlation between parking pricing and drivers' willingness to change their mode of transportation. The results from this MRP suggests that interventions focused on reducing driving for commuting purposes may focus on changing parking pricing, but depending on the availability of parking, the impacts of such policy/ program may be different.


Pyrophosphorolysis, the removal of nucleoside chain-terminators by a pyrophosphate (PPi) acceptor molecule, and a similar mechanism (nucleotide-dependent chain-terminator removal) which uses ATP as an acceptor molecule have been proposed as mechanisms of zidovudine (AZT) resistance. Recombinant HIV-1 wild-type reverse transcriptase (RT) and a mutant RT enzyme containing the AZT/thymidine analog resistance mutations D67N/K70R/T215Y were analyzed for pyrophosphorolysis and nucleotide-dependent chain-terminator removal activities. Our results confirm that pyrophosphorolysis and nucleotide-dependent chain-terminator removal are potential mechanisms of AZT and d4T resistance. However, tenofovir is less efficiently removed by pyrophosphorolysis and by nucleotide-dependent mechanisms. These results are consistent with the minor changes in susceptibility to tenofovir of the AZT/thymidine analog-resistant HIV RT mutants and the corresponding resistance of these mutants to AZT. The inability to remove tenofovir efficiently by these mechanisms may contribute to the durability of the HIV RNA response observed in patients treated with the oral prodrug, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate.


Rolling-element bearings are widely used in various mechanical and electrical facilities; accordingly, a reliable real-time bearing condition-monitoring system is very useful in industries to detect bearing defects at both incipient and advanced levels to prevent machinery performance degradation and malfunctions. The objective of this paper is to develop an enhanced diagnostic (ED) scheme for bearing fault diagnostics. This scheme consists of modules of classification and prediction. A neurofuzzy (NF) classifier is proposed to effectively integrate the strengths of several signal-processing techniques (or resulting representative features) for a more positive assessment of bearing health conditions. A multistep NF predictor is employed to forecast the future states of the bearing health condition to further enhance the diagnostic reliability. The effectiveness of this ED scheme is verified by experimental tests that correspond to different bearing conditions.


Women across the world are standing their ground against political exclusion in conflict and post-conflict situations, but more must be done to ensure that a gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive approach is used. This inclusive approach would guarantee that all women have the opportunity to participate in building the rule of law and strengthening democracy and that all women have a voice in decision-making processes post-conflict. Sustainable peace requires the inclusion of all groups affected by conflict in all stages of the peace-building process. Some progress has been made through a series of United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) on women, peace and security, beginning with UNSCR 1325 in 2000, to give women a place at the table in post-conflict peace building and reconciliation. However, women with disabilities are missing and ignored and have not had a role in these processes. Women with disabilities are excluded both in practice and formally through the various UNSCRs and policy documents, including the UNSCR 1325 Indicators and the UNSCR 1325 National Action Plans each country is to prepare to implement UNSCR 1325 and to measure progress. This paper reviews the history of the development of the UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security framework, including the requirement for the development of UNSCR 1325 National Action Plans. The paper then reviews a sample of National Action Plans issued to date and explores the extent of coverage of issues of concern to women and girls with disabilities within these documents. Pittfalls in coverage are enumerated and analyzed in light of the requisite international human rights legal perspectives and the extent to which the input of organizations of women with disabilities were sought and/or included. Finally, recommendations are set forth to address the gaps.


A wide variety of antioxidant properties are attributed to ginger (Zingiber officinale) and several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have investigated the effect of ginger intake on major oxidative stress (OS) parameters. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of using ginger to improve OS levels. Medline, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched up until March 2020 to gather RCTs that evaluated the impact of ginger intake on the levels and activity of OS parameters in adult subjects. Means and standard deviations for relevant OS variables were extracted and evaluated to assess the quality of the trials based on the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials. The gathered data were pooled and expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI). Twelve trials were included in this review. Ginger intake was shown to significantly increase glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity (SMD: 1.64; 95% CI: 0.43, 2.85; I2  = 86.8%) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (SMD: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.73; I2  = 42.8%) and significantly decrease malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (SMD: -0.69; 95% CI: -1.26, -0.12; I2  = 85.8%) compared to control groups. Ginger supplementation also non-significantly associated with an increase in CAT activity (SMD: 1.09; 95% CI: -0.07, 2.25; I2  = 87.6%). This systematic review and meta-analysis presents convincing evidence supporting the efficacy of ginger supplementation on improving OS levels. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: In health sciences, OS, due to its pivotal role in the pathophysiology of several chronic diseases, is a subject with a long history. Recent research strives for a safe, ideal, and effective antioxidant. Ginger is herbal medicine, which has been widely used in traditional and complementary medicine. Proving the antioxidant effect and potential benefit of ginger has positive clinical implications for the application of this practical herb.


We describe the complex structure in the highest (now mined-out) levels of the world-class Martha Hill gold-silver deposit, Coromandel peninsula, which is hosted in late Miocene andesitic rocks. A northeast-striking block of rock 360 m long and up to 100 m wide was occupied by a complex vein network dominated by northeast-striking gold-silver lodes up to 30 m thick. Gold production was entirely from quartz veins. The mineralization is embedded in the following geological history: (1) deposition of the host volcanic rocks, (2) initial tectonic fracturing, (3) intrusion of clastic dikes and sills, (4) start of hydrothermal alteration, (5) main phase of faulting, (6) main phase of veining, (7) erosion and deep oxidation, (8–11) deposition of further volcanic material, including prominent rhyolites, and formation of present topography. Veins occupied fractures but also followed a network of preexisting, mostly normal faults with a small to medium amount of displacement. Faulting involved northwest-southeast, north-south, and east-west extension, implying complex 3-D strain. Clastic dikes of carbonaceous sandstone intruded during the faulting phase. Fault rocks were mostly brittle cataclasites or breccias, but some clay-rich zones displayed ductile structures. Many veins overprinted faults, with a change from shear-mode to opening-mode deformation. Stockwork veins formed a mesh composed of two orthogonal sets: one with northeast-southwest– and northwest-southeast–striking veins, including the dominant mineralized lodes, and the other with north-south– and east-west–striking veins. Although northwest-striking veins were earliest, during the main vein phase, opening oscillated between all the vein directions, with the two main lodes in the open pit area, the Martha and the Welcome, capturing most of the strain. A variety of vein and breccia textures indicate repeated structurally controlled vein opening events that were associated with changes in the physical and chemical conditions of the mineralizing fluid. A special concentration of structural features facilitated focusing of fluid flow to produce this world-class deposit, which contrasts with the less well endowed vein systems around it. The overall tectonic control was dominated by northwest-southeast extension and dip-slip deformation. The 3-D strain in this area was not only due to local interference of differently oriented structural features but also to the superposition of regional tectonic north-northwest and northeast trends associated with migration of a subduction zone past the Coromandel peninsula. This demonstrates that structural control in an epithermal mineral deposit may originate from a number of different tectonic controls at different scales.


This paper offers a new reading of the political thought of the mid-Victorian jurist and intellectual James Fitzjames Stephen. Contrary to impressions of Stephen as a conservative or religious authoritarian, this article recognizes the liberal character of Stephen's thought, and it argues that investigating Stephen's liberalism holds lessons for us today about the structure of liberal theory. Stephen, the paper demonstrates, articulated robustly both technocratic and pluralistic visions of politics. Perhaps more stridently than any Victorian, he put forward an argument for the necessity and legitimacy of expert rule against claims for popular government. Yet he also insisted on the plurality of perspectives on public affairs and on the ineluctable conflict between them. Because both of these facets existed in his work, he fit within the liberal ranks, but he did not show how the two dimensions fit together. The tension that we discover from reading Stephen is, the article concludes, not peculiar to him, but a permanent feature of liberal theories, which always include both technocratic and pluralistic elements.


AbstractResection can be used to measure the velocity of a glacier even where the co-ordinates of rock stations are unknown. The method is an adaptation of conventional semi-graphic resection and requires that the rock stations (targets) can be identified on a map. It can be extended to cover further points resected with the same targets even if there is no map. Stations whose velocities have been determined can then be used as control for detailed studies, thus avoiding the necessity to visit rock stations which, in rugged country, may be inaccessible.


Many communities with different ethnic and religious origins participated in and/or developped close political, military and economic relationships with the Ottoman Empire following the conquests and the expansion of sovereignty realized. Ottoman warfare with its pragmatic characteristic, managed to adopt these communities from different origins to its military supply organization. The Empire granted various fiscal privileges and economic rights in return for the military tasks they took on. The Cossacks whose relationships with the Ottoman Empire can be dated back a long time are one of these communities with their different tribes and branches. The weakening of the Ottoman dominance in the Caucasia and the territorial loss because of the decline following the mid18th century brought about the problems related with the settlement of the pro-Ottoman Cossack communities in the mainland and the revision of their economic statutes. The settlement process and the socio-economic position of the Agnad Cossacks which is one of the prominent Pro-Ottoman Cossack branch, related with their military functions are evaluated in this study. In this context the aim of this study is to put forward the changes in the socio-economic positions of the communities which had military importance and various religious or ethnic origin that come out in the historical process.


Real-time high-resolution mesoscale predictions using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) over the Great Lakes region are evaluated for the 2002/03 winter and 2003 summer seasons using surface and upper-air observations, with a focus on near-surface and boundary layer properties that are important for applications such as air quality and fire weather predictions. The summer season predictions produce a cold bias in maximum daily temperature and a warm bias in minimum temperature that together lead to a good prediction of daily mean temperature but a smallerthan-observed diurnal temperature cycle. In winter, the predicted near-surface temperatures are lower both day and night, yielding good agreement with the observed amplitude of the diurnal temperature cycle but relatively large cold bias in daily mean temperature. The predicted temperatures in the boundary layer are also systematically lower than the observed temperatures in the two seasons. The cold bias is consistent with the wetter-than-observed lower atmosphere in the model prediction, which in turn can be attributed to an inadequate specification of soil moisture. In both seasons, the model produced substantially more precipitation in all categories, especially in the heavy precipitation category, and the overprediction is primarily associated with more widespread area coverage in the model prediction. The chances of producing a false precipitation forecast are substantially higher than missing an observed precipitation event. Small systematic errors are found in the predictions of low-level winds, but above the boundary layer, the predicted winds are predominantly from the west, while the observed winds are from the west-northwest. The model is able to capture the general development and evolution of the lake–land breezes in areas surrounding Lake Michigan during summer, although errors exist in the strengths of the breezes and the timing of their transition. Predicted early morning inversions are slightly stronger than observed in winter and weaker than observed in summer. The weak summer morning inversion results in a rapid inversion breakup followed by an earlier growth of a mixed layer after sunrise. Despite the head start, the predicted mixed-layer heights in late afternoon are lower than those observed, suggesting that either the predicted surface sensible heat flux may be too low or the boundary layer flux divergence may be too high. Decreasing horizontal grid spacing from 12 to 4 km results in little improvement in the predictions of near-surface and boundary layer properties except for precipitation, for which the model bias is significantly reduced by the increase in horizontal resolution. The cold and wet biases and errors in inversion strengths and mixed-layer development call for extra caution when using products from mesoscale forecasts in applications such as air pollution and fire weather prediction.


A new procedure for the tracing of rays in inhomogeneous media is described. The method is based on a polynomial solution of the differential equation for ray paths. The index of refraction is expressed in a polynomial in the optical-axis-direction coordinate and in the coordinate in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis. The technique is incorporated into a lens-design program to provide optimization of gradient indices. The results of the methods have been verified in two other ways.


Cells in the lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) of rhesus macaques respond vigorously and in
spatially-tuned fashion to briefly memorized visual stimuli. Responses to stimulus presentation,
memory maintenance, and task completion are seen, in varying combination from neuron to neuron.
To help elucidate this functional segmentation a new system for simultaneous recording from multiple
neighboring neurons was developed. The two parts of this dissertation discuss the technical
achievements and scientific discoveries, respectively. Technology. Simultanous recordings from multiple neighboring neurons were made with four-wire
bundle electrodes, or tetrodes, which were adapted to the awake behaving primate preparation.
Signals from these electrodes were partitionable into a background process with a 1/f-like spectrum
and foreground spiking activity spanning 300-6000 Hz. Continuous voltage recordings were sorted
into spike trains using a state-of-the-art clustering algorithm, producing a mean of 3 cells per site.
The algorithm classified 96% of spikes correctly when
tetrode recordings were confirmed with simultaneous
intracellular signals. Recording locations were verified with a new technique that creates
electrolytic lesions visible in magnetic resonance imaging, eliminating the need for histological processing.
In anticipation of future multi-tetrode work, the chronic chamber microdrive, a device for
long-term tetrode delivery, was developed. Science. Simultaneously recorded neighboring LIP neurons were found to have similar preferred
targets in the memory saccade paradigm, but dissimilar
peristimulus time histograms, PSTH).
A majority of neighboring cell pairs had a difference in preferred directions of under 45° while the
trial time of maximal response showed a broader distribution, suggesting homogeneity of tuning with
het erogeneity of function. A continuum of response characteristics was present, rather than a set of
specific response types; however, a mapping experiment suggests this may be because a given cell's
PSTH changes shape as well as amplitude through the response field. Spike train autocovariance was
tuned over target and changed through trial epoch, suggesting different mechanisms during memory
versus background periods. Mean frequency-domain spike-to-spike coherence was concentrated
below 50 Hz with a significant maximum of 0.08; mean time-domain coherence had a narrow peak
in the range ±10 ms with a significant maximum of 0.03. Time-domain coherence was found to be
untuned for short lags (10 ms), but significantly tuned at larger lags (50 ms).


It has been argued that traditional quasi-experimental approaches to evaluation do not adequately measure, or take account of, perceptual processes that could contribute to the effectiveness of organizational-level interventions. Using longitudinal data with added process measures at time 2 gathered from 11 intervention projects in Denmark, this paper used structural equation modelling (n = 462) to explore the impact of employees' direct appraisals of the intervention itself on intervention outcomes. Perceived influence on the content of interventions was directly linked to voluntary participation in these interventions. Participants' appraisals of the activities within an intervention were found to fully mediate the relationships between exposure to interventions and outcome measures (changes in working conditions, behavioural stress and job satisfaction). The results of the study indicate that employees' appraisal of the intervention itself can play an important role in determining the success or failure of a variety of organizational-level interventions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Industrial companies face the particular challenge of developing new products and services in traditionally goods-centered environments. Using panel data from 558 German industrial companies, this article analyzes the financial performance consequences of product and service innovations. The analysis confirms a positive impact of product innovations on both revenue and profitability growth, whereas the profitability of an average industrial company remains unaffected by its service innovation activities, pointing to the challenge of managing the costs of service innovation in goods-centered environments. A moderation analysis provides a finer grained view: Isolating mechanisms, such as the complexity of market offerings and financial innovation barriers, disrupt the link between innovation and profitability growth for both innovation types. Specifically, they make service innovations more profitable but have detrimental effects on product innovation profitability. Factors that traditionally hinder financial success with product innovations actually provide effective safeguards for service innovations.


We have developed an automated technique to accurately register the CT and SPECT scans of the liver of patients treated with radioactive microspheres for tumour targeting assessment. An anthropomorphic phantom was used to validate the accuracy of the registration algorithm. The phantom liver and three fiducial markers placed on its surface were filled with 99mTc. The phantom was scanned with CT and SPECT scanners in different positions. The liver volume was contoured on the CT scans from which a three-dimensional liver mask was created. By constraining the liver volume to the volume obtained from the CT scans, another liver mask was automatically created from the SPECT images. An adaptive simulated annealing algorithm was used to minimize the difference between the two volumes formed by the two sets of masks. The algorithm involved rigid transformation of the SPECT mask to reach the optimization goal. The accuracy of the algorithm was evaluated by the superposition of the fiducial markers on the CT and SPECT. The registered SPECT overlaid on the CT scan of the phantom showed congruence of the fiducial markers on CT and SPECT images within 1 mm. The technique was applied to a patient image set who received the microsphere infusion procedure. The registered CT and SPECT images of the patient showed that the majority of the activity was concentrated in the tumour, indicating a successful tumour targeting.